Old Acquaintance

Lin Yi's gaze rested on the screen of his phone.

The screen was silently playing a video that had clearly been filmed by a passerby on a mobile phone, the footage shaking violently.

The location appeared to be the capital of Su Province, where Helu City was located—a central plaza in Lan Jing City—with the backdrop being that famous, cloud-piercing landmark, the Zi Feng Tower.

Yet at this moment, a dark purple giant snake, its size impossible to describe in words, was coiled around the top of this iconic building.

Just the half of its body exposed above the clouds was enough to make one think of the World Serpent from mythology.

The giant snake's hideous head was raised high, and as its barb-covered tongue flickered, a thick, crimson flame erupted like a waterfall of lava!

The camera zoomed in frantically, shaking, as several Armed Helicopters circling near the giant snake attacked desperately with machine guns and rockets, like moths to a flame.

But the machine gun rounds, capable of tearing through tanks, only sparked sporadically against the giant snake's dark, scale-covered body.

Just then, a rocket whistled and struck the snake's body, the flames of the explosion swallowing it instantly.

A second later, as the smoke cleared, the spot where the giant snake had been hit showed only slightly charred scales; its skin hadn't even been broken!

The giant snake, however, seemed to have been provoked. It opened its maw wide, and a more terrifying pillar of fire swept out. A helicopter that couldn't dodge in time was instantly engulfed in flames, disintegrating in the air like a paper toy before exploding into a burning wreck.

Chen Yu looked up at Lin Yi, noticing that Lin Yi's brows were tightly locked. He glanced at the claw marks on Lin Yi's body that had nearly shredded his armor, pursed his lips, and ultimately said nothing, only using a trembling finger to swipe the screen.

The scene switched.

This time, it was a view of the sky filmed from the ground.

Two fighter jets were engaged in a low-altitude dogfight with a giant eagle whose wingspan blotted out the sun, its entire body covered in feathers with a blue-black metallic luster. The giant eagle was as fast as lightning, its wing edges flashing with sharp, cold light.

Just then, a missile trailing a plume of smoke whistled in from afar—likely an over-the-horizon strike launched by other jets or ground forces—and it looked like it was about to hit the giant eagle!

However, the giant eagle suddenly opened its beak, and a blinding, air-distorting bolt of blue-white lightning shot out, intercepting the missile with precision.

BOOM!

The missile exploded in mid-air.

Almost simultaneously, the giant eagle performed an incredible, sharp dive, its razor-sharp wings grazing the wings of the fighter jets.

The fighter jet wings were severed instantly as if by a hot knife through butter. The unbalanced jet tumbled, trailing thick smoke and fire, and plummeted into the distance.

Chen Yu silently tapped the screen, and the scene switched again.

This time, it was the vast ocean.

The person filming must have been on a destroyer or frigate of the United States, because what they were filming was an aircraft carrier flying the American flag.

And this ultimate power, which symbolized human maritime hegemony, was now like a leaf in a raging storm.

An Abyssal Beast in the shape of a giant squid, of unimaginable size and covered in suction cups and hideous mouthparts, was tightly coiled around the hull of the carrier with tentacles as thick as skyscrapers. The ship's guns and missiles hitting it were like a tickle.

As the massive steel ship let out a heart-wrenching groan, the enormous hull was actually flipped over by those terrifying tentacles, and countless carrier-based aircraft and personnel fell into the sea like ants.

"This isn't even the most exaggerated part... Brother Yi, look at this... is it, is God punishing us..."

As Chen Yu spoke, he swiped his finger, and a video with immense impact appeared on the phone screen.

The background of the video seemed to be a continuous range of snow-capped mountains; it appeared to have been filmed by a mountaineer.

Amidst the clouds, an Eastern dragon with a slender, powerful build was winding and coiling. Its body was not covered in scales, but rather a layer of flowing, azure lightning energy shield. Countless tiny arcs of electricity danced and crackled on the surface of the shield.

More than a dozen fighter jets, having presumably exhausted their missiles, were circling the dragon and attacking frantically with machine guns.

The chains of fire from the machine guns and the over-the-horizon missiles trailing smoke bombarded the blue shield as densely as holiday fireworks.

However, every attack, the moment it touched the shield, was like a stone dropped into the ocean, merely stirring up weak ripples of energy before being completely annihilated, unable to reach even a single scale of the dragon.

Just then, the person filming the video seemed to have discovered something, and the camera zoomed sharply toward the distant horizon.

A massive missile, trailing a long plume of smoke and moving at an astonishing speed, was tearing through the sky, whistling toward the giant dragon in the air with the force of a thunderbolt. That unique trajectory and speed... it was a ballistic missile!

BOOM!

The missile struck the dragon with precision, and a massive fireball, brighter than the sun, erupted in the high altitude!

A terrifying shockwave spread instantly, tearing apart and pushing away the surrounding clouds. The intense flash even caused the phone screen to instantly overexpose, turning a stark white.

A few seconds later, the intense light faded, and the image recovered.

High in the sky, the massive fireball and smoke produced by the explosion were slowly spreading and dissipating.

And in the center of that smoke...

The giant dragon covered in the blue lightning shield was completely unscathed!

It even stretched its body elegantly, as if it had just been brushed by a breeze.

The surface of the shield still shimmered with blue light, and the arcs of electricity still crackled and danced; it seemed as if not even the tiniest ripple had appeared.

The giant dragon lowered its head slightly. It seemed to have grown bored; it simply swiped a claw through the void, and as a blue ripple burst forth and expanded, the surrounding fighter jets were instantly swept by the wave and exploded in mid-air simultaneously!

The video ended abruptly at this point.

"They are all 'old acquaintances'..."

Lin Yi's expression was grave as he sighed inwardly.

"Even tactical nukes aren't doing much... Brother Yi, look at this... and this... we're all going to die soon, aren't we..."

Chen Yu didn't even look up, muttering under his breath while his fingers swiped incessantly across his phone screen.

On the streets, packs of Corrosive Abyss Wolves were tearing into the fleeing crowds, the acid spraying from their tails melting through vehicles and walls alike.

Inside the subway station, Abyssal Beasts with humanoid shapes but skin like jagged rock, steam hissing from their joints, smashed through the turnstiles with massive stone fists and charged into the terrified masses.

In the city park, a deformed giant hound with multiple heads, spitting toxic mist and shards of ice, was locked in a fierce battle with a squad of police, their light weaponry having little effect on its hide...

Lin Yi stopped watching the videos; he had seen far too many of these things in his past life. Instead, he keenly sensed that something was wrong with Chen Yu's state of mind.

"Enough!"

"A Yu! That's enough!"

Lin Yi grabbed Chen Yu's hand, stopping him from scrolling further. At the same time, he scanned the room and noticed that most people looked ashen-faced and dazed. He couldn't help but raise his voice, speaking in a deep, steady tone:

"Everyone, listen to me! It is not time to despair yet! The authorities still have high-yield nuclear weapons they haven't used..."

"Besides, I just killed two of those monsters outside, and they... they left behind something very special!"