Chapter 137: Sudden Change

Chapter 137: Sudden Change

The camp of the Kindred was separated from Xia Zheng’s position by an artificial river. Upstream lay the military headquarters building where General Song Ze was stationed. At that moment, the lower half of the building and the surrounding defensive lines were charred black. The ground was littered with the corpses of both humans and Kindred, a grim testament to the brutality of the ongoing conflict.

"Sanders, can you establish contact with General Song?" Xia Zheng called over the soldier in charge of communications.

Sanders, the team’s communications officer, hurried to Xia Zheng’s side with a grave expression. "Sir, the line to the military headquarters is open, but I can only hear a bizarre, unintelligible sound. No one is answering me."

Sanders provided Xia Zheng with an encrypted channel code. After entering the password and passing verification, Xia Zheng gained access to the military’s secret frequency. The signal indicated a connection, but strangely, the sounds coming through were neither human nor beast, leaving Xia Zheng with a deep sense of unease.

"Luo Bing, take Liu Chuxing and the others and charge in. No matter what, find out the status of General Song. I will handle the Kindred outside." Xia Zheng issued the order. Luo Bing nodded and signaled to Liu Chuxing, along with dozens of gene-warriors and elite soldiers—a group of about a hundred—to storm the headquarters.

Boom!

The Kindred camp across the river stirred. A massive fireball descended from the sky, sending the surrounding temperature soaring. To the surprise of the Kindred, Luo Bing and her team ignored the attack, charging forward at full speed as if the assault posed no threat.

Sure enough, as the fireball was about to strike, a mist of water coalesced into a giant hand. It snatched the fireball out of the air and hurled it back into the Kindred’s own ranks. Caught off guard, a dozen mid-to-low-tier Kindred were consumed by the flames before they could escape, their screams echoing across the battlefield.

Xia Zheng ordered an attack, and ten thousand soldiers opened fire, putting the Kindred on the defensive. However, after their initial shock, several winged Kindred took flight and began spraying venom down upon the human lines.

Xia Zheng manipulated the air, generating tornadoes that sucked the venom into their vortices. With a flick of his hand, he crushed the tornadoes toward the enemy camp.

"Who goes there?" A voice filled with fury erupted from the opposite side. With the sound came a sensation of spatial solidification that swept across both battlefields, instantly freezing the venom-filled tornadoes in place.

"Spatial abilities?" Xia Zheng’s expression hardened. He had encountered a powerful user of spatial abilities once before—a mysterious man from the military at the Black Ice Lake in the northern borderlands. Though he never learned the specific nature of that man's power, the sensation was unmistakable.

The space where the tornadoes hovered shattered and annihilated. A handsome man with short blue hair, draped in a black cloak and with leathery bat wings beating behind him, appeared before Xia Zheng.

"I am General Aironis of the Kindred. Human, who are you to possess the power of my kin?" The handsome man looked down at Xia Zheng with a scrutinizing gaze.

Xia Zheng paused his attack, manifested wings of spiritual energy, and ascended into the air, shocking the Kindred below.

"Benson Wood, human esper. Don't think your kind has a monopoly on supernatural power," Xia Zheng retorted with a cold sneer.

Aironis, clearly taken aback, erupted in flames. An arcane power unfolded, enveloping Xia Zheng in an instant. Suddenly, Xia Zheng felt as though he had been locked inside a sealed, isolated space.

"The Domain of Myriad Forms. This is my power. Your subordinates will soon be wiped out by my kin. Attack!" Aironis waved his hand, and several tall, red-skinned Kindred with leathery wings charged forward.

Xia Zheng had seen these creatures' capabilities before and had struggled against them in Peijel. Now, however, his strength had grown, and he was at full capacity. Yet, he found he could not break this spatial prison; his esper powers were suppressed and weakened within this confinement.

Below, the soldiers noticed Xia Zheng had vanished from the sky, stirring their indignation. The Kindred seized the moment to launch an assault. These creatures possessed thick, armored hides that ordinary bullets could not penetrate; only high-powered weaponry could hold them back. With Xia Zheng gone, the hundred gene-warriors and ten thousand elite soldiers had to hold the line.

Meanwhile, the hundred-man squad led by Luo Bing had breached the headquarters building, crawling through a gaping hole blasted into the structure. Inside, the stench of blood and scorched matter was so thick it was nauseating.

"Put on your gas masks," Luo Bing ordered. The team complied and pressed forward.

When they reached the second floor, they realized something was horribly wrong. The entire ceiling and floor were covered in a pulsating, viscous substance that made even their specialized anti-slip tactical boots struggle for traction.

"Boss, we haven't seen a single person yet. Could it be..." Liu Chuxing trailed off, a terrible premonition gnawing at him.

"Shut up. Do not speculate until we see the results," Luo Bing rebuked him.

The entire floor resembled a beehive, with every cell containing an oval, white elongated egg. The scene was reminiscent of the Kindred incubation ground they had encountered after breaking through the barrier.

"What happened to General Song and the others?" Whispers of dread rippled through the squad, and Luo Bing felt her heart sink.

"Look, this egg is moving." A soldier pointed to an anomaly. Sam drew his axe and, shield raised, approached a massive egg while the others backed away. Luo Bing nodded at him, and Sam swung his axe, striking the pulsating part of the egg.

*Splat!*

A cloud of green gas hissed out, corroding Sam’s shield upon contact. Fortunately, the shield was forged of superior material, and the toxic gas did little damage.

As the egg split open, a fluid similar to amniotic fluid sprayed out, further corroding the floor. A thick, muscular arm emerged, followed by a shoulder, a torso, and finally the back of a head. The skin was a dark, bruised red, yet the anatomy was distinctly human. The creature crawled out of the egg.

When the humanoid monster stood to its full height of nearly three meters—strong and hairless, with sharp, familiar features—the squad froze.

"General Song!" Luo Bing cried out. Everyone realized who the monster was: General Song Ze of the military. A bitter, hollow despair filled their hearts.