Nightmare Difficulty

The three toy robots marched in perfect unison; though their speed was not fast, they brought immense terror and pressure upon the mercenaries.

"Open fire!" A Ping shouted immediately.

At a time like this, there was no need to worry about whether these toys were being controlled by someone; eliminating them first was certainly the right move.

"Rat-tat-tat!" A dense volley of gunfire erupted suddenly.

"Clang! Clang!" The bullets struck the zombie robots, producing crisp metallic clangs. The concentrated firepower sent them stumbling and swaying, and before long, they were smoking and lying motionless on the ground.

"Phew~" All the mercenaries breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, it wasn't some kind of ghost or monster. What humans fear are things that are unknown and invincible, but that certainly does not include toys like these!

However, just at this moment, the faint sound of footsteps came from the darkness in the distance, and then, to the horror of everyone present, row after row of zombie robots marched toward them in neat formation.

Each row of these zombie robots was spaced two or three meters apart, with three in each row, their designs identical to the ones before.

The originally comical zombie shuffle was now filled with a terrifying, eerie sensation.

"Quick... open fire!" A Ping screamed in terror.

Violent, dense gunfire erupted once more, and some mercenaries even pulled out grenades and threw them, blowing up a large group of zombie robots in one go.

Yet, it was all to no avail. These zombie robots seemed endless; one batch was knocked down, and another appeared, coming in a continuous stream.

"Click! Click!" A mercenary emptied his magazine, yet he continued to pull the trigger in a panic.

Ammunition is finite, and the mercenaries' firepower finally developed a gap, allowing the zombie robots to close within three meters.

One mercenary, who had been slightly further forward, was the first to be reached by a zombie robot. With a loud "Boom!", the mercenary was blown to pieces.

Strapped to the backs of those robots were, in fact, explosive shells.

"Retreat! Slowly retreat! Keep the fire going without interruption!" A Ping yelled in terror. He thought of the exploding imps Lao Liu had mentioned earlier—could this be what they were? Could there really be a ghost ship?

The mercenaries fought as they retreated. Fortunately, the zombie robots were not fast and maintained a constant pace, giving them time to adjust their formation.

"A Ping! What is happening?" Captain Ruan's voice came through the walkie-talkie; clearly, those in the rear had heard the gunfire as well.

"Cap... Captain, so many zombie robots! That... that ghost ship, it's playing Plants vs. Zombies with us!!"

A Ping was incoherent at this moment, clearly believing in the ghost ship theory and defining the enemy as that very vessel.

On the other end, veins bulged on Captain Ruan's forehead. Plants vs. Zombies? Don't start spouting nonsense! Speak like a human being!

Unfortunately, the noise on the other side was too loud, and A Ping no longer had time to report the situation in more detail.

Captain Ruan put down the walkie-talkie with a grim expression. The gunfire was getting closer; A Ping and his men were clearly fighting a retreating battle and would soon be pushed back to this location by the enemy.

Who exactly are these enemies?! Why are they attacking us? What do we have that makes them want to take action?

He did not immediately head to the front line but calmed down to ponder for a moment. Suddenly, he turned his head sharply toward the large door at the end of the corridor.

Could it be... that the other party is here to rescue someone?

If not for that, they would have no reason to go to such great lengths. The ghost act was likely to keep him from knowing their true purpose—they wanted to paralyze us! That's it! It must be!

Only the police or the military would have the capability to mobilize such heavy firepower! They must be here to save someone!

Therefore! Rushing out is unlikely to work, but if we capture the people inside as hostages, there might still be a glimmer of hope!

A sneer of realization appeared on Captain Ruan's face!

"You two, go and secure the people inside first!" Captain Ruan ordered two of his subordinates.

"Yes, Captain!" Although they didn't understand why the captain would create complications while facing such a formidable enemy, the two immediately carried out their leader's command.

The two arrived at the door and exchanged a nod. One of them stepped forward, preparing to kick open the large hole that had been cut into it.

"Uh..." The man froze the moment he reached the door, standing there motionless.

"What are you doing! Hurry up and do it!" Seeing his subordinate dawdling, Captain Ruan cursed in dissatisfaction.

"No... it's not that, Captain. This door, it... it..." The subordinate pointed at the large door, his face full of disbelief.

The others were stunned and looked toward the door. To everyone's utter shock, the door that had just been cut with a man-sized opening now showed no signs of being cut at all; it was as smooth as new, and one would believe it had just come off the factory floor.

The corridor fell silent once more. Everyone stared blankly at the door, their hair standing on end.

"This... this is... a ghost... a ghost wall!" Feng Ge, who had been trembling on the sidelines, was so terrified by this eerie sight that his soul seemed to leave his body, and he collapsed to the ground.

When everyone had arrived earlier, they had all seen it—the obvious cutting marks. Unless one was blind, they couldn't have been mistaken.

Yet, it had actually recovered! This was beyond the scope of what a normal person could comprehend.

Even Captain Ruan could no longer remain calm. His combat experience was rich and his judgment sharp, but in this situation, even Sherlock Holmes would likely be at a loss for words.

Everyone fell into extreme terror, and that Lao Liu kept muttering, "Ghost ship! Ghost ship! It must be it!"

This was naturally no ghost wall, but rather Nie Yun having infiltrated a small batch of Mechanical Insect earlier. While everyone was distracted by the gunfire outside, he had quietly repaired the door to prevent these people from being cornered and doing something to harm Chu Xiaoxiao.

The zombie Xiaolang were naturally not there because Nie Yun was bored enough to toy with these mercenaries, but to buy time while drawing their attention away.

Now that the safety of the hostage was guaranteed, he no longer needed to let the "Mercenaries vs. Zombies" game continue.

Under Nie Yun's control, the advancing zombie robots suddenly stopped in their tracks.

Seeing this, the mercenaries couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief and stop firing, looking at them with confusion.

Could it be out of power?

"Alright, you have met the requirements for the game to level up. Next up is Nightmare difficulty!"

A boy's voice suddenly emanated from within the body of the lead zombie robot, his tone carrying a hint of mockery.

A Ping was shocked to the core upon hearing this, but before they could even make a move, a silver light flashed across the faces of all the zombie robots, and their expressions suddenly shifted with a "swish."

In their cute, wide eyes, two teardrops were now hanging!

It was as if they had suddenly transitioned from a ghostly, terrifying horror movie set to a cute children's theater, leaving one feeling an extreme sense of awkwardness with nowhere to vent it.

Is the world changing too fast, or is the director just completely lacking in integrity?