Battle Begins

After the wall finally cracked and collapsed, the beasts outside poured through the breach.

Leading the charge was the boar-type monster they had most feared seeing in the control room. Its bristles gleamed faintly like metal, and its forehead and body were covered in wounds—the result of ramming the wall and being caught in the explosion.

Most of the beasts still alive were similarly thick-skinned and tough. The rest had been killed in the blast.

Of the more than thirty beasts, nearly ten were pigs, and about as many were cattle. The rest were dogs, along with a few cats.

Fortunately, all the beasts were covered in wounds, and they should have little strength left to fight.

Nearly two hundred people had gathered inside the wall. Each held a weapon, all high-quality weapons they had purchased earlier. Their cold gleam promised that once they struck, they would not stop until they drew blood.

Among the crowd, the directors who had come were the most experienced fighters. With them leading the charge, everyone surged forward.

Each director took on a beast, keeping four occupied. The remaining employees paired off six to a beast.

But beasts were beasts, and humans were humans. The difference between them was plain to see.

The beasts' physical strength was beyond human reach, while their intelligence was no match for mankind's.

The directors managed to hold the beasts back, but couldn't kill them. Before long, they were getting hurt themselves.

The employees weren't doing much damage, but they kept attacking the beasts' wounds, steadily making them worse.

In the middle of the fighting, the pig-like beast battling Lin Chenxing suddenly let out a loud squeal and kicked backward with its hind legs. But it kicked at nothing; there was no one behind it.

After buying the weapons, Xingyan Group had selected several employees with exceptional aim and sent them to hide outside the perimeter, where they could look for a chance to provide support.

That arrow had struck the pig-like beast right in the rump.

Its kick disrupted the beast's rhythm. Lin Chenxing seized the opening and thrust his spear into its eye.

The agony of having an eye pierced wasn't something the pig-like beast could easily endure. Its attack turned into a desperate struggle.

Seeing this, Lin Chenxing twisted the shaft again and again, churning the spearhead around inside the beast's eye socket. Blood gushed out, and its struggles gradually slowed.

"I finally killed one." Lin Chenxing braced one hand on his knee and leaned on the spear with the other. He looked around and realized that this was the first beast they had killed since the herd charged in.

A wave of dread washed over him. Though exhausted, he had no choice but to use whatever strength he had left to help the others finish off the remaining beasts as quickly as possible.

As long as the wall remained unrepaired, more beasts could still get in. If that happened, everyone would be in danger.

Lin Chenxing saw that the employees fighting together were doing relatively well. They could wear their beasts down little by little. The directors, however, were in the worst shape. Nearly all of them were injured, and Ma Tianxing was in the worst condition.

Ma Tianxing was facing a cat-like beast, twice the size of an ordinary cat, with unusually large ears. Whenever Ma Tianxing swung his axe, the beast's ears would twitch, letting it dodge the blow by a hair's breadth.

The cat-like beast had been toying with Ma Tianxing throughout their fight. As a result, he was running out of strength, and his swings were growing weaker.

Lin Chenxing lifted his spear and leaned back, letting its tip scrape along the ground as he charged toward the cat-like beast, sending up a trail of sparks. When he drew close, he thrust at its waist from the side.

But the beast's ears twitched again, and it pulled its hindquarters away in the opposite direction. The spear swept right past it.

Lin Chenxing stopped short, lowered the spear, then jerked it upward, bringing it down against the cat-like beast's belly.

Seeing his chance, Ma Tianxing brought both axes down on the beast's back.

Caught between them, the cat-like beast tried to dart forward through the gap, but still took a hit. Its back was split open by a huge gash, its belly was visibly dented, and blood began to seep from its mouth. Its speed dropped considerably.

The two of them immediately struck again: one chopped at the cat's head, while the other swung the spear shaft into the wound on its back.

The cat-like beast finally had nowhere left to run and died on the spot.

Leaning on his axe, Ma Tianxing pushed himself upright and looked at Lin Chenxing. Gasping for breath, he said, "Chenxing, I owe you one. Without you, I'd have died here."

Lin Chenxing smiled and leaned on his spear. "Let's not talk about that. We need to hurry and help the others finish off these beasts."

Ma Tianxing nodded. "You take Old Gao. I'll go help Old He."

Lin Chenxing answered and immediately charged toward Gao Zheng with his spear.

Seeing how decisive Lin Chenxing was, Ma Tianxing smiled too and prepared to head for He Qishun.

But He Qishun seemed to have gotten some kind of help. The beast fighting him suddenly faltered, and He Qishun took the opportunity to slide beneath it, slicing open its belly. The beast had only taken a few steps before it collapsed and died.

He Qishun raised his knife, propped himself up, and sat on the ground. Seeing Ma Tianxing hurrying toward him, he smiled and waved, then pointed toward Guo Qichang, the last director still fighting.

Ma Tianxing immediately turned and ran toward Guo Qichang.

Guo Qichang had started practicing martial arts earlier than any of the other directors, but his greatest strength lay in fist and palm techniques, which put him at a disadvantage against the beasts.

He was wearing a pair of knuckle dusters. One hand gripped the cow's horn, his body pressed against its head, while his other fist pounded again and again into the head of a bovine-type monster.

The bovine-type monster's eyes were bloodshot. Under Guo Qichang's strength, its head drooped lower and lower, but its body continued to strain forward.

If nothing interfered, the fight between man and beast would likely continue until one of them was completely exhausted.

Ma Tianxing came up behind the cow and swung his axe straight at its leg.

The leg snapped, and with its balance and support gone, the bovine-type monster toppled toward the side where it had been struck.

Guo Qichang seized the chance and swung himself onto the beast. Punch after punch, he smashed wounds into its head. Its skull gradually fractured, and the spot he kept striking slowly caved in. The bovine-type monster stopped moving.

But Guo Qichang still wasn't sure it was dead. He kept pounding it a few more times, and only after confirming that it had lost its life did he slowly topple backward, gasping for breath.