Cocoon Nest

"Will these things really obey?" Dahlia watched nervously as Nick tried to approach the two "plant horses" used to pull the vehicle.

These "plant horses," transformed from horses, were still monsters at their core, although they looked quite docile at the moment, waiting obediently in front of the Jeep without even panicking and fleeing at the earlier string of explosions and gunshots.

"We'll find out if we try. We can't let your 'admirer's' kindness go to waste." Nick deliberately sounded jealous, earning a coy, reproachful eye roll from the girl.

Dahlia had been feeling down after discovering that the leader of the "Hollow Men" was very likely Bradford Shaw, one of the first tower keepers.

But if any professions in the world had the most emotionally stable practitioners, snipers would surely rank among the best, alongside astronauts and pilots.

Nick took off his jacket, wrapped it around his hand, and cautiously tried tugging on the two "plant horses'" reins, which had been animated from plant vines.

"Seems like... it works?" Seeing the two "monsters" merely paw the ground like real horses, showing no intention of resisting at all, even he found it incredible.

A few minutes later...

"Hyah!"

Nick stood in the passenger seat, flicking the reins, while Dahlia sat in the driver's seat and steered. The two "plant horses" galloped down the road, hauling the ancient, late-World War II Willys Jeep.

It was already noon, and the sun had risen directly overhead. Because of the differing refraction of sunlight, the mist in the canyon had turned a faintly whitish fiery red, like sunset clouds, and visibility had improved considerably.

The Jeep followed the paved road beside the western cliff, passing through a dilapidated military camp. They could faintly make out a tall steel tower not far away, with a huge oval bomb nearly five meters in diameter mounted at its top.

"Is that the nuclear bomb?" Dahlia shouted over the wind.

Naturally, Nick had never seen this most powerful weapon in human history either, but he had watched The Birth of New China and Oppenheimer. As he remembered it, the nuclear bombs used in tests seemed to have been mounted on tall steel towers like this.

"Hopefully this big thing still works."

Although he said "hopefully," he was fairly confident. After all, the documents said this nuclear bomb had been supplied by the Russians.

An American nuclear bomb left outdoors in a hellhole like this for twenty or thirty years really might stop working, but if the Russians dared claim their nuclear bomb had a thirty-year shelf life, it could probably still detonate successfully after fifty.

After they passed through the deserted military camp and by the nuclear detonation tower, another stretch of "woods" appeared ahead. Nick quickly tightened the reins to slow the horses and switched on his flashlight to serve as a headlight.

The eerie forest where they had landed earlier was still fresh in their memories. Although no pursuers were behind them for the moment, there was no telling what traps might be waiting ahead.

"The fallen ropes should be nearby. Stay close to the cliff and look carefully." Before Nick had finished speaking, the two "plant horses" running ahead suddenly skidded to a halt, rearing their front hooves high.

If Dahlia had not stepped on the brake in time, the Jeep would have nearly plowed straight into them under its own momentum.

"What's going on?" Seeing the two "plant horses" circling restlessly in place, Dahlia quickly got out, gun in hand, and stood guard.

Nick flicked the reins twice, but it did no good. Instead, the two previously obedient "plant horses" turned their heads toward them, their eyes gleaming with menace.

The two promptly raised their guns and shot both horses dead, then turned wary gazes toward the woods ahead.

"There must be something inside that scares them too much to go in." As Nick spoke, he took two high-explosive grenades out of his backpack and handed one to Dahlia.

As the saying went, never enter a forest, but the two of them had no choice now.

They did not have the bizarre mutated limbs of those "Hollow Men," which allowed them to climb freely up nearly vertical cliffs.

The two static ropes that had fallen with Dahlia were their only hope of leaving this canyon. They might be hanging from some mutated tree in these woods right now.

Nick had brought plenty of ammunition before jumping into the canyon, and so far he had only used half his magazines. But the 40 mm grenades were too bulky to carry many, and these two were his last.

Of course, he still had other explosives in his bag, such as hand grenades and two standard U.S. military M112 C4 blocks, each weighing 1.25 pounds (567 grams).

Feeling that he might not have any use for the C4 later anyway, Nick simply rigged a pull-activated booby trap on the Willys Jeep's hood, running a long steel wire out to either side of the front end and connecting them to the detonator.

Whether or not there were pursuers behind them, any monster that dared approach the Jeep would be blown sky-high by a combined total of over a kilogram of C4.

Once they were done, the two entered the woods in a search formation, one behind the other. They had not gone far before the sight ahead stunned them.

The good news was that they had found the fallen static ropes, and both were there, hanging in the crown of a mutated tree.

The bad news was that, just like in every level-based game, something that looked like the final boss was here too.

It was a vast mass of mutated vines with their own glowing effects, woven into an enormous cocoon-shaped nest between this mutated tree and the other mutated plants around it.

At first glance, this cocoon-shaped nest looked like one huge, sticky mass, but its internal structure was extremely complex: an indescribable thing composed of countless cocoons, hanging in midair and constantly writhing.

"Oh God, I wouldn't dream of something like this even in my worst nightmares." Watching the huge mass of stuff dangling and swaying in midair like a glob of old, thick phlegm come to life, Dahlia instinctively grabbed Nick's arm.

It certainly was Cthulhu-like enough. Suppressing his nausea, Nick shone his flashlight on the cocoon-like things and discovered that each contained a half-melted humanoid figure.

"These... all seem to be people... or at least they used to be!"

These humanoid figures gave off a faint yellow glow, brightening and dimming unevenly as if in time with their breathing. Some even had clearly distinguishable facial features, their expressions agonized as they let out seemingly silent howls.

"Do you think... these people can still feel anything? They look... like they're in terrible pain..." Dahlia unconsciously tightened her grip on Nick's arm.

"Let's get the ropes down first. Then we'll put an end to this long torment for them." Nick suspected that this was very likely the original leak site of that biological toxin. Beneath these woods might be some biological agent warehouse, or perhaps a biological munitions depot.

He had the "Fake Death Revival" skill. As long as he could return to the safety of the lookout tower above the canyon afterward and get enough time to sleep, he would be fine. But nothing could be allowed to happen to Dahlia before the mission was complete and the two of them could leave this world together.