Black-Backed Ape Swarm

Jiangkou.

The ten-kilometer coastal highway was littered with wreckage. Dozens of super-aquatic monsters had attacked along the way, and thousands of lives had been left behind on this short stretch of road.

A fire of frustration burned in Wang Ji's chest.

"We made it! We finally made it!" the young second lieutenant said, his voice trembling.

Wang Ji nodded heavily.

"This is Jiangkou, Jiangkou Town. The road ahead follows the Luan River all the way north. Although it's still along a river, the Luan River is small—only a hundred meters wide and two or three meters deep. Super monsters can't easily travel along this channel!" the young second lieutenant explained.

The Luan River flowed from north to south, merging into the Baiyang River here at Jiangkou. As the road turned north and veered away from the Baiyang River, the ten-kilometer-long great escape along the riverside highway finally came to an end.

"Splash!"

A tentacle as thick as a waist swept across!

Damn it! How is it still coming? This isn't scientific!

Wang Ji's focus had relaxed for just a split second, and he was too slow to react. Forced into a corner, he exerted all his strength and slashed his blade at the tentacle. The limb felt like a rubber tire—absorbing, rebounding, and sliding. Wang Ji's force of several thousand kilograms only managed to carve a twenty-centimeter-deep gash.

Wang Ji watched helplessly as the tentacle coiled toward him.

"Get out of the way!" A violent force from behind shoved Wang Ji aside, and then, he watched in horror as the young second lieutenant was snatched away by the tentacle.

"You..." Wang Ji felt his mind go blank. He had been saved? This guy... was he a blockhead? He'd thrown his life away just to save him! What a pig-headed fool!

Wang Ji wanted to cry, but he forced himself to hold it back. This is a simulation! A simulation! It's not real! It's not real!

Wang Ji muttered to himself.

"Bang! Bang! Bang..." Intense gunfire poured out.

Wang Ji looked toward the river channel and saw a monster with a body over ten meters long and eight tentacles, each a hundred meters long, emerging from the water.

The channel was only three meters deep; as the monster moved, the river could no longer conceal its massive frame.

Now that the monster was exposed, the guns and artillery finally had a target to kill.

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

Several mortar shells and rockets fired at the monster in succession. Ten minutes later, the gunfire ceased, and the monster's severed limbs littered the riverbed.

"Do you want to avenge him?" A resonant voice rang out.

"What?" Wang Ji looked up, dazed.

"If you do, follow me!" The speaker was a soldier in his thirties or forties, holding the rank of major. His eyes were cold and sharp, his movements efficient. If he were wearing a suit, he would have looked more like an elite lawyer.

Wang Ji followed him blankly. The major pointed ahead. "There! Do you see it?"

"Huh?"

"There's a pack of Black-Backed Apes! They've attacked us many times. Many of Li An's comrades died because of them. Help us wipe them out, and I think Li An would be very happy," the major said.

"Li An?" Wang Ji asked.

"The second lieutenant who just saved you—that was Li An. Are you willing to help?"

"Fine!" Wang Ji nodded. Although the major's words made him feel inexplicably uncomfortable, Wang Ji still wanted to help. After all, he was still seething with suppressed anger and an inexplicable sense of grief that he needed to vent.

"Roar! Woo..."

This was a hastily assembled assault squad. The team of fifteen consisted entirely of martial artists. There were also many snipers and machine guns aimed at the area. However, those using firearms could only serve as long-range support. After all, once this pack of commander-level Black-Backed Apes started moving, long-range weapons couldn't lock onto them. Not unless they carpet-bombed the area with missiles.

But the world was in total chaos; the production of precision weapons had stalled, and missiles were becoming scarcer by the day. How could they be wasted so easily?

"Ooh... ooh-ooh-ooh..." The apes beat their chests and roared, their cries shrill and savage. As soon as Wang Ji's squad entered the forest, a boulder the size of a table came whistling toward them.

"Dodge!" the captain, a first lieutenant, shouted. This captain possessed the strength of an early-stage commander and was likely the primary combat force of the military unit outside.

Following the giant boulder came countless stones the size of heads and washbasins, creating an incredibly daunting momentum.

"Bang!" "Ah..." Two squad members were struck by the rocks, their bones snapping instantly!

The captain's eyes turned bloodshot, and he made a split-second decision. "Charge! Charge!"

"Boom!" "Boom!"

Infantry and artillery coordinated. A dozen mortar shells landed in front of the squad, suppressing the Black-Backed Apes' stone-throwing attack and clearing the obstructions ahead, opening a line of sight for the subsequent heavy weaponry.

"Charge!"

In the blink of an eye, the remaining thirteen members of the squad engaged in a chaotic melee with the five Black-Backed Apes.

In this squad, only the captain was a commander-level fighter. There were five high-level warriors, and the rest were even weaker. As for the Black-Backed Apes, even the weakest possessed the strength of an early-stage beast commander. With such a disparity in power, they couldn't afford to fight individually.

The thirteen people formed a single unit, pinning down two of the Black-Backed Apes. The captain and another high-level warrior lieutenant in military uniform fought the apes head-on, disregarding their own injuries.

The two Black-Backed Apes were truly pinned down for a moment. As soon as the apes lost their agility, "Bang-bang! Bang-bang!" In an instant, over ten anti-materiel sniper rifles completed a concentrated volley.

The two Black-Backed Apes shuddered violently, forced backward by the high-powered sniper rounds.

"Bang-bang-bang-bang!" Ten seconds later, they were reduced to two piles of sieve-like, shredded meat.

"Roar!"

Suddenly, a Black-Backed Ape covered in a layer of silver fur hammered its chest in fury, its eyes turning blood-red. "Roar!"

Crackling sounds erupted as its body suddenly shot up by half a foot, muscles bulging out in thick, corded lumps. A terrifying aura radiated from its frame.

"Roar!" A blur flashed by. The captain at the front tried his best to parry, but was instantly sent flying by the impact. "Pfft..." A mist of blood sprayed from the captain's mouth.

"Bang! Thud! Crackle..."

In just a single moment, the 13-man squad had become a joke; the captain was severely wounded, and four men had been crushed or clawed to death instantly! Only eight remained unscathed.

"Charge! Even if you die, you keep charging! Fleeing now will only make you die faster!" the captain gasped, shouting at the top of his lungs.

"Charge!" Wang Ji roared.

Wang Ji and three others nearby quickly swarmed one Black-Backed Ape. This Beast General-level Black-Backed Ape possessed terrifyingly high intelligence; it would rather take a blade than be pinned down. Wang Ji risked severe injury, throwing out desperate strikes to block the ape, even using his own body to collide head-on and halt its momentum. Finally, Wang Ji slammed directly into the Black-Backed Ape.

"Pfft..." As an intermediate warrior colliding with a Beast General-level monster, Wang Ji's ribs snapped instantly, and he was sent flying seven or eight meters like a broken ragdoll.

"Bang bang bang bang..." In that very instant, the Black-Backed Ape was stalled by Wang Ji's collision, and dozens of armor-piercing rounds slammed into its body.

The Black-Backed Ape let out a roar of unwillingness before collapsing to the ground in a spasm.

"Roar!" The silver-furred Black-Backed Ape from earlier charged toward the remaining squad members once more.

"Bang bang bang bang!..."

Half a minute later, the entire squad had been wiped out. Only the captain and Wang Ji remained, one relying on a War General-level physique and the other on his Grade 5 equipment, both lying on the ground with a final breath left. The only one still standing was the silver-furred Black-Backed Ape.

"Concentrate fire! Mortar bombardment, indiscriminate strafing with autocannons!" The major's voice rang out coldly over the radio!

"Battalion Commander! There are still survivors! At least two team members are still alive!"

"I said! Indiscriminate strafing!"