Enemies Meet

Though the number of Sprinters charging the outpost below was large, they were mostly only First Order.

Team Five was an elite squad to begin with, all members at Second-tier, and even had Qin Wu at Third-tier—their combat strength went without saying.

Moreover, these Low Sequence Calamities possessed little intelligence, far inferior to the [Skin Painter] Jiang Mian had encountered before.

Of course, Calamities on the [Nightmare] path were inherently smarter than other Calamities, the most "human-like" among them.

Under Li Huan and Qin Wu's charge, they quickly carved out a path and successfully linked up with Xiong Yu Squad inside the outpost.

It didn't take long; they basically bulldozed their way through. The remaining Sprinters seemed to sense danger and retreated like a tide, leaving only devastation in their wake.

Jiang Mian only had time to fire five "Incendiary Bullets," and the harvest was still decent.

Never before had she "eaten" this much in one go. She felt her core was filled to the brim, and deep in her soul, there was a trembling pleasure. Her advancement progress had pushed forward by about a third.

Just one session, and the gains were plentiful.

At this rate, she would be able to advance again soon!

"Sister Su, they've retreated."

Jiang Mian put away her gun and shrank back into the vehicle.

"Got it."

Su Wanning understood and started the car, driving toward the outpost.

However, Jiang Mian suddenly detected a faint, peculiar aura and instinctively looked out the window.

If the Sprinter's aura was like the smell of fish, then this aura was like the [Skin Painter] from before—a faint scent of stinky tofu.

'A Calamity on the [Nightmare] path, huh...'

She made a judgment in her mind. Sure enough, even if these low-intelligence Calamities craved flesh and blood, they wouldn't gather in large numbers without reason, nor would they purposefully attack a fully fortified outpost.

At the outpost entrance.

"Old Qin! Ah, Old Qin!"

Xiong Yu wiped the blood and sweat from his face, a hint of relief in his tone.

"Old Xiong, what's going on? A bunch of Sprinters shouldn't have pushed you to this point, right?"

"Exactly!"

Xiong Yu slapped his thigh and said through gritted teeth:

"There's a commander behind these things. Otherwise, with these brainless creatures alone, there's no way they'd break through our defenses!"

"I figured. Their movements were too organized. What is it?"

Xiong Yu shook his head:

"Should be a Heart Eater. Not sure where it's hiding. One of our [Radiance] brothers got taken out by it."

Sequence 137, [Nightmare] path, [Heart Eater]. It had the ability to twist minds and drive lower-level Calamities. Once it grew into a real threat, it was extremely troublesome.

Qin Wu naturally understood its danger, but now that the enemy had slipped into the Mist, tracking it would be too risky.

"By the way."

Xiong Yu recalled the devastatingly powerful Incendiary Bullets from earlier and asked:

"Did you bring heavy weapons this time? Those shots just now were dead accurate. I almost didn't recognize you guys."

"No."

Qin Wu tilted his chin toward the approaching off-road vehicle.

"It's our squad's newbie. She fired those shots with her 'cannon.'"

"'Cannon'?"

Xiong Yu was puzzled for a moment, then realized what Qin Wu meant, his face full of disbelief.

"Does that thing really have that much power?"

Having served in City Defense for so many years, he was familiar with all standard-issue weapons.

In response to readers' requests, we now offer VIP membership with ad-free viewing.

Click to view.

Even equipped with the highest-grade specialized ammunition, that thing could never produce the bombardment-like effect from before.

Qin Wu shook his head without further explanation, turning his gaze to the now-stationary off-road vehicle.

The rear door opened, and the first thing to catch Xiong Yu's eye was a pair of clean black short boots.

Then, a girl in a standard black Combat Suit stepped out, cradling in her arms a sniper rifle he knew all too well.

The girl had delicate features, and the glasses on her face gave her a quiet, scholarly air, making her seem out of place in the surroundings.

"Huh?"

Xiong Yu's eyes darted between the girl and the long rifle in her arms, almost as tall as she was, and he was momentarily speechless.

In his imagination, an attack with that kind of power would have massive recoil—at the very least, it would take a burly, broad-shouldered man to handle it.

But this person before him...

"Hello."

Jiang Mian noticed Xiong Yu's intense gaze, tightened her grip on the rifle in her arms, and offered him a polite greeting.

"She's Jiang Mian, the new trainee on our team. Sequence 48...[Eye of the Storm]."

Qin Wu's voice sounded beside him, answering his confusion.

Oh, a high-tier sequence, then that's fine.

"Hello hello, nice to meet you, nice to meet you..."

Xiong Yu swallowed the question on the tip of his tongue and responded to Jiang Mian with considerable enthusiasm.

He didn't know how she'd done it, but since she was a legendary high-tier sequence, being able to amplify ordinary gunfire to this extent was at least plausible...

Still, Jiang Mian's appearance made it impossible for Xiong Yu to connect her with a humanoid artillery platform.

Let's not dwell on that for now—almost every member of his squad was wounded and needed treatment, and cleanup had to be handled too.

Su Wanning immediately threw herself into medical work.

Li Huan and Gu An cleared the battlefield. These Sprinters had almost no usable parts on them, so there was no need to call the Cleaning Squad to collect anything.

Qin Wu quickly exchanged information with Xiong Yu, preparing for the follow-up cleanup.

A moment later, personnel sent by the city gradually arrived and began repairing the outpost's defenses, while Team Five only needed to stand guard on the sidelines.

Jiang Mian stood quietly on the top floor of the outpost, watching the bustling figures coming and going below.

From their conversations, she learned that incidents like this had been happening frequently lately, so no one found them unusual anymore.

Just as she was staring blankly at the distant Mist, she vaguely spotted a convoy heading toward the outpost.

That direction... not from Base City. An exploration team? Or someone else?

Jiang Mian understood that the outpost's function wasn't just for vigilance—it also served as a landmark in the Mist.

In recent years, Base City No. 144 had deepened its exchanges with neighboring cities, so people passing through was normal.

It seemed they planned to rest here.

The convoy stopped in the open ground outside the outpost. There were Awakened in Combat Suits, as well as ordinary workers carrying tools with weary faces.

'People from the Construction Bureau?'

She recognized them at a glance. In her memory, her father's work uniform had been exactly the same as those workers'.

The leader of the Awakened group was tall and exuded the aura of a Third-tier.

The moment Jiang Mian's gaze fell on him, he sensed it, looked up, and met her eyes. His pupils contracted slightly.

'It's her...'

Li Tian had a strong impression of Jiang Mian's appearance and recognized her instantly.

'What's going on? Did it fail?'

His brow furrowed almost imperceptibly. Last time, he'd put out a bounty in that place; logically, it should have been enough to attract those desperados to act.

But now... Jiang Mian was not only completely unharmed but also wearing a City Defense uniform. Which Awakened team was she training with?