Monster Tide

Lu Yuanming watched the endless meteors fall from the sky, and heard the roars of countless monsters around him. He turned to Charlie, Peter, and Tang Zhean and said, "Let's go, leave immediately, we're going back to the base!"

Naturally, no one objected. The current situation was too bizarre. After killing over a hundred monsters during the day, the monsters in this area had become very scarce, which was why they had decided to set up camp in this dilapidated hotel building.

Suddenly, a drastic change occurred. An unknown number of monsters appeared around them. In such a situation, Lu Yuanming would never risk the lives of those around him, so retreating to the base's defensive positions was the best plan.

In recent days, the construction around the bank base had never stopped. Especially after Lu Yuanming exchanged Colorless Light Particles for enough tools and large metal processing machinery, the organization's biggest task, besides planting a large amount of Potatoes, was building the base. The most important defensive facilities were prioritized. As long as they were within the defensive facilities, they couldn't say they could fight a hundred with one, but at least they could guarantee they wouldn't be ambushed and surrounded by monsters. This alone was incomparable to the Wilderness.

Only Tang Zhean in the team seemed to want to say something but stopped. However, at this moment, everyone followed Lu Yuanming's instructions, immediately packed up their camping gear, and organized their weapons. When Lu Yuanming gave the order, they began to run downstairs towards the main street with him.

But the team had only gone down two floors when newly deceased civilians began to fall in the Stairwell. And it wasn't just one or two, but more than ten civilians appeared in this building.

They were shouting loudly. Some were in a panic, some were still trapped in the scene of their death in the Material World, and some immediately swarmed them upon seeing Lu Yuanming and his group.

These people who had just fallen from the Material World had no idea about the Afterlife. A large portion of them were still doubting if they had truly died. This kind of shouting and chaos was the easiest way to attract monsters. Just like when Lu Yuanming first fell from the Material World, before he had figured out whether to bring these newcomers along, a large number of monsters had already flooded into the building he was in.

The newly appeared monsters were humanoid creatures without skin. Their skin surface was grotesque red muscle. At the same time, these monsters had no human eyes, nose, or ears. Their entire faces were blank, with only a huge and grotesque mouth occupying one-third of their faces. This mouth was filled with incredibly sharp, needle-like teeth. Their bodies were taller than ordinary humans, and their hands and feet were not like human hands and feet, but more like animal claws.

These monsters pounced from the darkness. Immediately, some of the newly fallen people were caught. They screamed as they were dragged into the darkness by the monsters. The remaining survivors could only hear the cracking sounds of chewing and bones tearing. In just one encounter, seven or eight people were killed by these monsters. Moreover, their numbers were extremely large, and they kept pouncing from the darkness. For a time, all the living people in this building were plunged into immense fear, and this fear further triggered greater chaos, making it easier for these monsters to hunt.

When this chaos spread to Lu Yuanming and his group, before Lu Yuanming could say anything, his soldiers had already opened fire. Whether it was monsters or civilians, anyone who dared to approach was being shot at.

Lu Yuanming looked at the civilians who were shot dead in shock. He immediately turned his gaze to Tang Zhean.

Tang Zhean understood Lu Yuanming's thoughts almost instantly. He quickly walked to Lu Yuanming's side and said in a low voice, "They are different from us... The US police have no concept of protecting civilians, let alone the military. Moreover, we are not the US government army. At this time, it is naturally more important to save our own lives."

"...I know," Lu Yuanming said in a deep voice.

Yes, he knew, but he still felt distressed.

Tang Zhean patted his arm and said, "Relax, it's not your fault. No one expected the first collapse to come so soon."

Lu Yuanming stopped in his tracks without a word. As he stopped, everyone else also stopped. They vigilantly aimed their guns into the darkness. As soon as there was any movement, they would unleash a barrage of gunfire, regardless of whether the sound was made by a monster or a human.

"Hold your positions! Charlie, you're in charge here. Assign the defensive direction for each Firearm. Don't attack everything you hear. Also... try to protect the civilians as much as possible when they are confirmed harmless..."

As Lu Yuanming said this, his body glowed, and a golden-red full-body armor appeared on his body, covering him. At the same time, he held a steel Spear in his left hand and a semi-automatic rifle in his right. With an acceleration of his feet, he charged straight into the darkness.

Everyone exclaimed in unison. Charlie and Peter even wanted to intercept Lu Yuanming, but as soon as they raised their hands, Lu Yuanming had already disappeared into the darkness of the Stairwell. This made everyone look at Charlie.

Charlie was anxious and angry, but it was too late to say anything. He could only roar, "Three people per group, each guarding a direction, forming a circular defensive formation... Let those civilians in!!"

On the other side, Lu Yuanming charged into the darkness alone. He immediately felt danger approaching. At the same time, data and information began to appear on his full-coverage helmet. Although it was a full-coverage helmet, in Lu Yuanming's eyes, it was a semi-transparent infrared view, and it also had biological target identification information similar to a shooting game interface. In a short moment, Lu Yuanming discovered six monsters and eight civilians fleeing.

Armor!

This was the name of his golden-red full-body armor.

This wasn't just a full-body armor; it was a piece of extraordinary equipment that had absorbed Xu's power.

This armor had several characteristics. The first was that it would automatically disperse in its normal state, only manifesting when needed with a single thought, similar to nano-armor functionality.

The second was that this armor had almost no weight, yet possessed incredibly strong defensive capabilities. Furthermore, the armor itself would automatically heal over time, so there was no need to worry about scratches or breaches.

The third characteristic was that the armor had electronic-like features, such as infrared vision and the ability to automatically tag enemies and civilians.

Therefore, even in the pitch-black darkness, Lu Yuanming could see everything clearly. The monsters hiding in the shadows had nowhere to escape. Lu Yuanming, who charged into the darkness, immediately entered kill mode.

His two-meter-four frame was filled with explosive power, and his movement speed was much faster than an ordinary person's. His reaction speed also far surpassed that of a normal human. In the blink of an eye, he was beside a Skinless Monster. As the Skinless Monster attempted to ambush him, Lu Yuanming's Spear pierced its side, pinning it to the wall.

With a thrust and a drag, Lu Yuanming killed the Skinless Monster. He didn't waste a second. He pulled back his Spear, flicked it, and flung away the monster's black blood before charging towards another.

The civilians who had fallen into the darkness cried out in panic as they ran. They saw a tall, golden-red armored figure charging towards them. The Spear in his hand thrust forward, and the monster that had been relentlessly pursuing them couldn't even last a second before its head was pierced and it was instantly killed. Before the civilians could cry out again, the armored figure roared, "Calm down! Don't make a sound. Run towards the main hall ahead. Remember not to obstruct the formation or block the trajectory!"

After speaking, the armored figure, ignoring their cries, plunged back into the darkness.

In just a few minutes, Lu Yuanming had killed over ten Skinless Monsters in the darkness and rescued more than ten civilians. From the hall behind him, where Charlie and the others were defending, came a barrage of gunfire, indicating that monsters had appeared at their location as well.

Lu Yuanming was about to turn back to reinforce them, but the next second, he abruptly stopped. A massive claw descended from the ceiling, completely shattering the stairwell he was about to step on, simultaneously blocking his path to reinforce.

A giant Skinless Monster, at least nine meters tall, appeared before him. Simultaneously, normal Skinless Monsters began to rush out from the surrounding darkness. In just a few seconds, Lu Yuanming was surrounded by five normal Skinless Monsters and one Super Giant Skinless Monster. These Skinless Monsters encircled him. As the Super Giant Skinless Monster roared, the normal Skinless Monsters all pounced.

The semi-automatic rifle in Lu Yuanming's hand began to fire. At the same time, the steel Spear in his other hand was thrust forcefully towards the Super Giant Skinless Monster. This super giant monster also swiped its palm towards Lu Yuanming.

In an instant, Lu Yuanming's perception of time entered a super slow-motion state again. He saw his Spear thrust forward, making contact with the palm skin of the Super Giant Skinless Monster. Then, the spear tip pierced the monster's skin and embedded itself, creating a through-and-through wound on the giant's palm. The giant palm made no attempt to dodge and continued to strike at him...

With a muffled thud, Lu Yuanming was sent flying, crashing into a wall. He broke through the wall and flew out, landing on the street with another muffled thud.

On the street, there were dense crowds of monsters: Skinless Monsters, monsters resembling Man-wolves, a Stitched Monster that was equally huge, bloated, and composed of a large number of Human corpses, and the Super Giant Man-faced Dog whose tracks he had been searching for but never found!

These monsters were slaughtering the humans who had fallen onto the street. Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of humans had become their prey. The ground was covered in blood, remains, flesh, and bones...

Lu Yuanming stood up from the ground. His Armor: Steel was unharmed. His body was also almost completely unharmed. With a Spear in one hand and a semi-automatic rifle in the other, the blow that had sent him out of the building and the damage from falling nearly ten meters had been almost entirely absorbed by Armor: Steel.

However, hundreds of monsters surrounded him, eyeing him menacingly. At the same time, the Super Giant Skinless Monster leaped down from the building.

"...What a bountiful harvest."

Lu Yuanming muttered, then looked at the remaining ten Colorless Light Particles floating around him. He grasped three of them, hesitated slightly, then released one. He only held two Colorless Light Particles and absorbed them.

Immediately, a faint light emanated from Lu Yuanming, spreading over his entire body like flames.

The next second, Lu Yuanming stomped his foot, and he charged towards the nearest monster.