The Flame Hell Beast's teeth and claws were extraordinarily sharp; even the slightest touch would tear skin and flesh.
To ordinary people, Flame Hell Beasts were terrifying.
But in the eyes of reincarnators, there was more to them than that.
Their bodily fluids were as hot as magma and highly poisonous.
Anyone whose strength and constitution attribute was below 100 points would burst into flames on contact.
Anyone whose physique attribute was at or below 150 points would die of poisoning within ten minutes.
Scalding heat combined with deadly poison was practically impossible to counter.
Worst of all, the poison penetrated all the way to the genetic level. Scientists from the various settlements had studied it for over a decade, yet had never managed to develop a fully effective antidote. They could only alleviate its effects to some extent.
"Why does this thing look kind of familiar?"
Xu Long looked it over several times. The more he looked, the more it resembled Charmander from Pokémon.
But Charmander had an adorable, round head, while the Flame Hell Beast only grew uglier the longer he looked.
Xu Long closed the browser and opened the file the Red Queen had sent him.
With the full support of the First District's Huaxia District and the Second District Western Europe Region, robot production lines had expanded by well over a hundredfold.
Factories manufactured and processed parts around the clock, and countless robots were transported to the fallen zones.
Although many of the things the Red Queen wanted had previously been restricted, none of the higher-ups in the two districts had objected.
In a world rebuilt after the apocalypse, anything unrelated to survival seemed extraordinarily cheap.
If the Flame Hell Beasts broke through the settlements, no amount of resources would mean anything.
Thus, both districts were giving the Red Queen their full support.
As for the trouble that might arise later, such as the robots going out of control and the whole world falling into the Red Queen's hands...
They had no choice!
The Flame Hell Beasts seemed endless, but the human population could not keep pace with the losses.
It took at least fifteen years for a human to grow from birth into a basic combatant, and only twenty years had passed since the Flame Hell Beasts first poured out of the ground.
If the Red Queen had not appeared, the current situation would likely have collapsed before long.
Robots were cheap and unaffected by the Flame Hell Beasts' deadly poison, and they could even withstand their scalding blood.
The only way to destroy a robot was to tear it apart with claws and teeth.
To improve the robots' killing efficiency, the Red Queen had also redesigned them as low-chassis tracked models and spiderlike eight-legged models.
Overall, with the robots' help, the situation humanity faced had improved considerably. At the very least, they no longer had to worry about being worn down to death.
Aside from the robots, there was also the monk who had tried to bewitch Xu Long.
For some reason, the Buddhist sect had stopped investigating Xu Long and ordered all its people to the fallen zones.
If nothing unexpected happened, that liquid-metal robot would soon be able to return to Xu Long's side.
"Where are we headed? The eastern fallen zone? The northern one? Or the southern one?"
They were teenagers after all, and after spending several hours in the vehicle, they began to make a racket.
"We're heading to the southern fallen zone. It's by the sea, and with Lord Xuanming Emperor stationed there, it's much less dangerous."
Compared with the students, the driver was much more relaxed.
He was a D-rank reincarnator and an experienced soldier. After witnessing so much killing and death over the years, he had long since grown used to it.
"The southern fallen zone? I heard through the grapevine that a huge bunch of robots suddenly appeared in the fallen zones and sent those Flame Hell Beasts scattering like fallen blossoms in a stream."
"It's been a month already, and you're still calling it grapevine news? The whole world knows we have robots."
In this world where everyone risked their lives, unrestricted news like this spread extremely fast.
"With so many robots, and we're heading to the southern fallen zone too, is Lord Divine Heavenly Emperor planning to take back the Sixth District?"
One student's words immediately blew the gloomy atmosphere wide open.
Although there were nominally six major settlement districts, only five were actually under human control.
Most of the Sixth District, the Australasian District, was occupied by Flame Hell Beasts and was already on the verge of falling.
Because of its particular geographical location, the First District's Huaxia District, the Second District Western Europe Region, and the Third District's North American District all wanted to occupy it. The Fourth District's Northern Russia Region and the Fifth District's Egypt Region, however, could only dream about it because of their weaker overall strength.
But thanks to the mass production of robots, the overall strength of the First and Second Districts had risen considerably, making it possible to retake the Sixth District.
"It's only a preliminary probe!"
The driver smiled, then continued, "Several districts have joined forces this time and plan to clear out Southeast Asia first. Once we've built up a batch of robots, we'll think about retaking the Sixth District. Your group is lucky. With robots holding the line in front, it's much less dangerous."
As he drove, the driver explained the situation in the fallen zones.
Putting that together with the information the Red Queen had provided, Xu Long had a pretty good idea of what humanity's higher-ups were planning.
Humanity's greatest predicament at present was its insufficient population, which could not withstand heavy losses. In terms of top-tier combat strength, however, humans were no weaker than the Flame Hell Beasts and even held a slight edge.
But the Flame Hell Beasts' main base was underground, and humanity's experts did not dare venture in, fearing that casualties would leave the situation beyond control.
Now that they had large numbers of robots, things were much better.
Once the low-level Flame Hell Beasts, which served as cannon fodder, had been swept away, humanity's experts could try to venture deep underground, find the Flame Hell Beasts' lair, and wipe them out completely.
After riding in the coach for about six hours, they switched to a plane.
Although Earth was on the brink of destruction, the Flame Hell Beasts could not fly, which was some good news.
As for dropping bombs from bombers, it was not as though the districts had never tried.
But the Flame Hell Beasts had been given that name because it meant "flame monsters from hell."
They had extremely high resistance to fire, and the scales covering their bodies could withstand impacts.
Unless they used saturation bombing, it was fucking useless.
But the Flame Hell Beasts were outrageously numerous, and after several attempts, the districts gave up.
The cost was too high and the kills too few. The resources were far better spent making bullets.
The plane was fast and reached its destination in less than four hours.
When the cabin opened, a wave of heat rushed at them.
Flame Hell Beasts truly lived up to their name, having raised the temperature across the entire south by more than ten degrees.
Relying on his body's perception of its surroundings, Xu Long could roughly tell that the temperature here had exceeded forty degrees, and the closer they got to the battle zone, the hotter it would be.
"I heard your first world was Resident Evil. What did you think of it?"
The soldier who had doubled as their driver earlier patted Xu Long on the shoulder and asked with a grin.
"Things are much better here than in the world of Resident Evil!"
Xu Long sighed inwardly. Flame Hell Beasts were only scorching hot and poisonous. Though difficult to deal with, they were far less dangerous than zombies.
That was because Flame Hell Beasts carried no virus and could not infect others.