Chapter 120: Chapter 114: Russian Style Threat Neutralization
Hostages, you say, threats, you say?
The Scorpion Spider Demon moved abruptly, and the Floating Pagoda Black Armor converted into chains, capturing the Hundred-Eyed Monster right in front of it, the scorpion tail piercing through, and four arms gripping its massive tentacles.
The Coagulation Cannon became even more gigantic, almost pressing against the body of the Hundred-Eyed Monster.
Despite the body of the Hundred-Eyed Monster almost merging with its head, it still possessed a core brain, located at the front where the eyes were most densely packed.
This, instead, panicked the Eye Beast. Low growls resonated, but it dared not to immediately kill the hostages.
Just then, the Ancient Worm Tree in its Anthropomorphic State released its form, swelling into a towering ancient tree. Vines surged like a tsunami towards the Eye Beast.
Buried beneath the ground, the Tree-born Worms launched a violent assault. In a blink, the tide of attack and defense switched, and the threatening Eye Beasts were directly slain, while the rest prepared to attack.
But in the next moment, the Scorpion Spider Demon blasted off one of the Hundred-Eyed Monster\'s arms with a Coagulation Cannon, and its cries of pain were piercingly harsh.
The Eye Beasts that were ready to strike hesitated, as the Demon Eye Spider Woman and Zhu Xiong\'s Devourers broke in immediately, deploying the Demon Eye Skill again, and a Mental Shock stunned them.
Then the Spider Thorns shot precisely through the eyes of these Eye Beasts, bursting out the back of their skulls, while the Devourers\' right arm swept like a whip, and its massive jaw clamped down, biting off the heads completely.
Upon seeing Su Han and their Angel Envoys springing into action, Guo Wutao\'s side hesitated no longer. Those occupying elevated positions like car roofs immediately opened fire.
Bullets weren\'t effective against the Hundred-Eyed Monster, but they were still a significant threat to the Eye Beasts.
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Ten minutes later, when the rescue of the Hundred-Eyed Monster proved hopeless, and the dominating presence of the Second-Rank Apostles completely suppressed the battlefield, the remaining dozens of Eye Beasts were utterly overwhelmed by fear and scattered like birds and beasts.
The battle had ended, but escape was but a vain hope, because the Ancient Worm Tree, now in its true form as a terrifying giant tree, had spread its vines across most of the battlefield.
The vines formed a cage, instantly making escape impossible. All were bound on the spot, and then the Man-eating Vines attacked one by one, quickly rendering them all paralyzed.
Although the Hundred-Eyed Monster had stronger resistance, its severely injured body couldn\'t fend off the paralytic toxin, and it tumbled to the ground.
"Old Zhu, check if there are any survivors; tend to the injured, bury the dead," said Su Han.
Such a sudden rescue operation would incur some casualties, but overall, not more than ten.
"Wang Hu, take some people and help out," Su Han continued.
Guo Wutao holstered his weapon, then immediately instructed his subordinates to help out.
"Yes, Director Guo," Wang Hu responded.
Wang Hu, along with Zhu Xiong, quickly entered the school to search for and rescue survivors.
Guo Wutao, Zhao Yaqian, and Cheng Zhenyong approached Su Han.
"Hello Su Han, I am Guo Wutao, the chief of the city police. Fame is one thing, seeing is believing; your strength indeed leads us all. If not for you all this time, the losses would have been severe," Guo Wutao greeted him with a cheerful voice, his eyes bright as he examined Su Han.
Cheng Zhenyong grinned, "Su Han, long time no see. I didn\'t expect such a transformation."
Cheng Zhenyong had changed his outfit to a police combat dress, which he only wore during missions, but it made him appear even more robust.
"Long time no see, you seem to be doing well," Su Han responded with a smile. Cheng Zhenyong, standing beside his own flesh corpse, which now appeared bigger and more formidable than during their time in Happiness Community. Its spine was rugged, one arm a claw and the other fleshy tendrils, its presence fiercely domineering, evidently a High Grade First Rank monster.
Cheng Zhenyong simply smiled awkwardly and said, "Can\'t compare to you."
He was never one to lie; Su Han\'s progress surpassed his imagination.
"Director Guo is too kind,"
Su Han looked at Guo Wutao and smiled politely. The tough stance Guo Wutao took in the fight, standing beside his Bone Spur Giant Dog who was still bloodstained, undoubtedly earned Su Han\'s favorable impression.
This was a man of action.
"Have you guys already searched for supplies over here?"
Su Han was curious, his gaze mostly on Zhao Yaqian, who was followed by two towering Apostles, one of which was the Shadow Armor Monster that had dealt with the Hundred-Eyed Monster. Now one of its arms had completely transformed into a normal human arm, the dark energy gone, indicating that it had used a skill previously.
The other Apostle, resembling a tyrant, though not as powerful as the Shadow Armor Monster, clearly possessed the strength of a High Grade First Rank.
\'So quickly reached Second Order Low Grade, impressive talent, it seems the authorities have experts; they must have developed the injection too.\' Su Han thought to himself, but then Guo Wutao\'s response took him by surprise.
"We came looking for you, just took a wrong turn on the way," Guo Wutao replied.
"Came for us?"
Su Han\'s gaze sharpened, an unexpected development, but government officials looking for him was indeed intriguing.
"Su Han,"
Before they could ask, noises suddenly erupted from inside the school. Zhu Xiong hurried over with a serious expression and said, "We found many… mummified corpses."
Su Han frowned, then turned to Guo Wutao and said, "Director Guo, shall we go take a look first?"
"Right, let\'s go together."
Guo Wutao had also received the report from Wang Hu and his face was even more serious than Su Han\'s because many people had died.
The group quickly entered the school, the vines of the Ancient Worm Tree had dragged the captured Eye Beasts and their corpses to a spot by the tree roots.
The ground was stained with blood, and the stench mixed with the smell of gunpowder lingered in the air.
When the group reached the deepest part of the school, the teaching building had a huge crater in it. The first floor\'s walls and ceilings were penetrated, and the ground was also dug into.
Inside this crater and the empty classrooms lay stacks of hundreds of bodies, their skin deathly pale, their faces frozen in terror, varying in size but mostly students.
Their muscles seemed to be drained, creating a terrifying appearance. Beyond them, even more scattered bones lay around, with not even the last layer of flesh remaining.
What should have been a place of enlightenment and nurturing had morbidly turned into this pile of dead bodies.
"Damn those creatures!"
Guo Wutao\'s face turned livid—how could he not realize that this horror was the monsters\' doing.
"More than ten people were rescued alive, but... there are no students, and half of them have gone mad."
Zhu Xiong\'s voice lowered: "The survivors said that the monsters devour not just flesh and blood—the Hundred-Eyed Monster uses its tentacles to devour the fear of living creatures as energy for its evolution."
Zhu Xiong recounted what the survivors had told him: The Hundred-Eyed Monster\'s tentacles and every eye plunged people into boundless fear. Then, the emotion of this fear was devoured, transforming into the power of the Hundred-Eyed Monster.
This process was relentless until they were scared to death, and then their flesh was consumed by the tentacles, leaving behind corpses that were nothing but skin and bones.
Even the remaining flesh and bones were consumed by the Eye Beasts outside, leaving only these bits of bone.
Students, being physically weakest and without food, succumbed to endless fear and died first.
The survivors now alive were all captured by the Eye Beasts.
No one knows when the Eye Beasts and the Hundred-Eyed Monster appeared, or how much suffering the people here endured.
"The powers of emotions and mind..."
Guo Wutao intoned those words solemnly, Su Han\'s eyes flickered slightly, and Guo Wutao, sensing his reaction, said, "Professor Bai Qiuwen and Professor Tian Jiaxuan theorized that the new kind of energy found in the Lamp Tree, the environment, and the monsters\' bodies, which is called Spiritual Energy, is related to the minds and emotions of creatures."
Guo Wutao did not shy away from discussing these latest findings, as his original intent in seeking out Su Han was benevolent.
Su Han took note, glancing at Bai Qilan standing beside him; Bai Qilan had mentioned the name Bai Qiuwen before.
A leading authority in the field of biology within the country, as for Tian Jiaxuan, he was not aware, but given the context, he must not be a mere academic.
"Let\'s deal with things here first."
Su Han said to Zhu Xiong nearby: "See if anyone can be saved, if there\'s no hope of recovery, then give them a quick end."
Guo Wutao\'s expression shifted slightly but he merely sighed.
Like wounded soldiers on a battlefield who couldn\'t be saved; to accomplish a mission, sometimes one had to make the painful decision to leave behind comrades.
In front of them was not a mission, but the survival of humanity; any resource might give others a chance to live.
As difficult as it was, Zhu Xiong nodded in understanding and replied, "Understood."
The human corpses needed to be handled; the school actually didn\'t have many resources. Su Han\'s visit had fulfilled its intent, which was to eliminate the potential threats to Shanhu Villa District.
He left the school\'s subsequent matters to his subordinates, growing more curious about his earlier conversation with Guo Wutao.
"Director Guo traveled across half the city to find me, may I know the reason?"
Su Han initiated the query, to which Guo Wutao replied straightforwardly: "We came to seek collaboration."
"Seeking to collaborate with us," Su Han chuckled, "Director, you are officially the authorities, while we... may well be considered an illegal assembly, right?"
"Just kidding," Guo Wutao shook his head. "In the current situation, what illegal or not? With your ability, setting up a survivors\' camp, killing so many monsters, saving so many people, you\'ve taken on the responsibility we should have borne, we ought to thank you. If anyone tries to pressure you with this, just deal with them, they count for nothing."
His words were resounding, yet being an old hand at this, there were layers to what he said, clarifying Su Han\'s facetious comment.
Would Su Han actually care about official or non-official matters?
Su Han smiled, as Guo Wutao continued, "We are here to request collaboration, your strength is the strongest and your talent is the best, pushing you ahead of everyone else, even better than our South City camp. The rate of the monsters\' evolution is unimaginably fast.
Moreover, professors Bai Qiuwen and Tian Jiaxuan have predicted that the fog might not recede and could potentially attack like tides. The Spiritual Energy in the environment is still increasing, no one knows what will happen next. So, only by collaborating... no, more precisely, it will allow more human beings in South City to survive."
Guo Wutao brought the topic to the forefront, and Su Han nodded, impressed by his guts, yet how to collaborate remained a question.
"Let\'s discuss in detail back at my camp, this isn\'t the place to talk, how about that?"
There were capable people in his team, he hadn\'t revealed much information, yet they found him here, so there was no need to hide the location of Shanhu Villa anymore.
Moreover, his strength had grown, ordinary firearms were much less restrictive for a Second-order Superior, and he now had more weight in discussions.
Thus, talking it over was indeed a good idea.