Take It Down!

Chu Hang's gaze pierced through the flames and flying parts, locking onto the depths of the spider swarm.

There was one spider there, different from the rest.

It was smaller than the surrounding grunts, its entire body dark gold. It stood completely still, its eight long legs braced against the ground like a general reviewing its troops. Only the single eye atop its head glowed red, bathing the entire cell in a bloody light.

Found it, Chu Hang thought.

That was it.

His mind raced, filtering out all the noise of the battlefield—hissing, explosions, metal grinding.

He caught a high-frequency hum.

A control signal.

The source of that signal was the dark-gold spider. Every spider's movements were directed by it. They were not independent individuals; they were its minions.

Capture the leader, and the rest would fall apart.

"Steve!" Chu Hang roared, his voice overpowering the explosions.

"Talk!" Steve answered with a single word. He held the doorway fast with his shield, blocking the tide of incoming spiders.

"There's a commander in the swarm! The dark-gold one at the very back! Take it out, and these things are finished!" Chu Hang spoke at lightning speed. "Clear a path for me! Five seconds!"

Steve did not hesitate.

"Logan!" he roared. "Left flank, tear us an opening!"

"Roar—!"

Logan, who had been cutting down enemies on the left flank, raised his head. A flash of fervor passed through his bloodshot eyes. He liked orders like that.

The next second, he slammed forward into the densest part of the spider swarm.

"Get out of my way!"

His Bone Claws extended, carving deadly arcs through the air. Every swing brought a shriek of tearing metal and blue electrical sparks. He was like a meat grinder, forcibly carving a path through the sea of spiders.

The pressure on the left flank surged, but the pressure on the center Steve was holding eased.

"Now!"

Steve roared and abruptly pulled back his shield. The spiders piled up at the doorway instantly found an outlet and poured in like mad.

But instead of retreating, he charged forward and hurled the Vibranium Shield in his hand with all his might!

Bzzzz—!

The shield smashed into the first spider and began ricocheting. Every rebound struck a spider's joints or sensors with precision before bouncing toward the next target.

The spider swarm instantly descended into chaos.

A path to the Spider King appeared, though only for an instant.

By the time Steve shouted, Chu Hang was already moving.

He pushed off the ground and sprinted toward the wall, his feet racing across the vertical surface. Gravity seemed meaningless to him.

Everything around him slowed down.

He had only one target.

The dark-gold Spider King had clearly sensed the danger as well. More than a dozen larger guard spiders with thicker armor immediately moved to block him.

At the same time, the armor on the Spider King's back split open, revealing a pitch-black cannon muzzle where a dangerous red glow was gathering.

An energy cannon.

Alarm bells went off in Chu Hang's mind, but he did not slow down.

He had only one chance.

With a flick of his wrist, he accurately threw an M24 Grenade with the pin pulled beneath the guard spiders' feet.

Boom!

The explosion flipped several spiders over and threw their formation into disarray.

That opening!

Chu Hang's figure flashed through the smoke from the explosion.

He could feel the searing pain on his skin as the energy cannon locked onto him.

But he was faster.

A moment before the energy cannon fired, he had already burst in front of the Spider King.

The Spider King clearly had not expected him to be so fast. It decisively abandoned its charge, and eight spear-like limbs stabbed viciously toward Chu Hang from every direction!

You're asking to die.

Chu Hang forcefully twisted his body in midair, his spine driving his entire frame into an unbelievable evasive maneuver. The eight limbs barely missed, scraping past his clothes.

Using the momentum from that twist, he spun like a top. His right leg swept through the air in a half circle, his heel pulled taut and aimed straight at the Spider King's huge red-glowing eye.

He poured every ounce of his strength into that kick.

"Break!!!"

Bang!!!

A dull, muffled boom rang out.

A crack appeared on the Spider King's hard single eye.

Then, like a spiderweb, the crack spread wildly in one hundredth of a second!

Crack—!!!

A sharp shattering sound echoed across the battlefield.

That single eye went dark.

The dark-gold Spider King's enormous body suddenly stiffened, and its eight raised limbs drooped limply.

Chu Hang performed a backflip and landed steadily on the ground, shaking his slightly numb right foot.

"Damn thing's hard," he cursed.

One second.

Two seconds.

The battlefield fell into an eerie silence.

Then, the mechanical spiders that had been attacking so frenziedly stopped in unison, as if their power had been cut. The red lights atop their heads began flashing erratically. Some spun in place, while others even began attacking their own kind.

A few seconds later, amid a burst of dense crackling, the sensors on every mechanical spider went dark one after another.

They had all become piles of scrap metal.

The battle was over.

The cell was deathly silent.

Every surviving soldier stared dumbfounded at the sight before them. At last, their gazes all converged on the man standing amid the wreckage.

Steve panted heavily and caught his returning shield. He looked at Chu Hang's back, his expression complicated.

Logan crawled out from a pile of spider wreckage, spat out the extinguished stub of his cigar, then grinned wide, revealing a mouthful of white teeth as he laughed silently.

That kid had guts.

However, just when everyone thought the crisis was over—

A low hum suddenly rang throughout the entire underground space without warning.

Then a cold electronic voice came through the broadcast system and reached everyone's ears.

"Warning. The Nest has been breached. Highest-level authorization command issued."

"Initiating... Final Purification Protocol."

"The base will self-destruct completely in three minutes."

"Countdown begins... 2:59... 2:58..."

The cold countdown echoed in every survivor's ears like a funeral bell.