Han Meng was stunned.
He watched as Chen Yifei disappeared into the thick fog, and only after a moment did he suddenly come back to his senses.
"Ignite the torch..." he muttered repeatedly, as if something had come to mind. He squinted his eyes and looked towards the factory area in front of him.
Han Meng hesitated for a moment, pondering whether to trust Chen Yifei, a member of the Twilight faction. But he quickly reached an answer... Even though he didn't know why Chen Yifei would help him, at least there was no reason for him to deceive him.
With things already this far, Han Meng decided to take a gamble.
...
"What's the casualty situation?"
Xi Renjie slowly returned to the street with weary steps.
"We're still counting... There are too many casualties, it's impossible to calculate them all in a short time," a law enforcer said bitterly. "But conservatively estimating, the number of casualties in District Three this time is at least one-third of the total population."
"One-third..."
Xi Renjie nodded slightly.
"Is there any news from Han Meng, the Chief?"
"...No, we've been calling, but there's been no response."
Xi Renjie's heart sank slightly. He subconsciously looked towards the direction of the steel factory. The thick fog was still flowing quietly, and no one knew what was behind this mist.
He was about to say something when a rustling sound suddenly came from a distance.
"...Do you hear something?"
"It seems like... It's getting closer to us."
"Why do I feel like the ground is shaking?"
"...No, scatter quickly!!"
In Xi Renjie's vision, a giant shadow emerged from the depths of the thick fog. He immediately roared, and several people quickly retreated around him!
Boom!!
A huge shadow centipede broke through the fog, directly flattening the surrounding houses into ruins. The residents hidden inside didn't even have time to scream before they were turned into pulp...
Under the horrified gaze of everyone, a giant myriapod centipede lifted its head, its dark red holes opened, and countless shadows extended like branches, grabbing towards the people on the street.
This attack came too suddenly. No one expected that such a huge shadow centipede would appear in a district that had been almost cleared. Most of them didn't have time to escape and were caught by the shadows.
Their hands stiffly rose, suddenly grasping their own necks, straining with all their might, twisting and deforming their flesh and blood vessels.
Bloodshot veins spread over their eyeballs, their breathing gradually stopped... In the end, they turned into stiff corpses, falling into the swarming shadow tide and disappearing instantly.
Seeing this scene, those lucky people who escaped were scared into a stupor. Xi Renjie stared fixedly at that huge shadow, his heart sinking to the bottom.
"Meng Ge..."
This shadow centipede was most likely the "mother body" that Han Meng had mentioned. And since the mother body had rushed out of the factory area and appeared here, it meant that Han Meng was already dead... Despair could not be concealed in Xi Renjie's eyes.
With Han Meng dead, unless someone from Aurora City came, who else in District Three could stop this mother body?
He had tried his best to clear the streets, but he didn't expect to end up like this... Xi Renjie stood there with an ashen face, like a puppet that had lost its soul.
Boom!!
Just then, a towering torch ignited from the depths of the thick fog, like a miniature sun, burning fiercely.
This flame was so huge and hot that even from such a distance, one could see the existence of that light. The shadow centipede that had rushed into the street simultaneously stopped its body and turned back to look at the direction of the flame.
That mother body, which had crushed houses, also turned around, its dark red holes gazing towards the direction of the torch. Without hesitation, it let out a screech, abandoning the people and the street in front of it, and charged straight towards the location of the torch, with a dense wave of shadows following closely behind.
The frightened crowd was now bewildered. They stared blankly at the direction where the disaster retreated, not recovering from the shock for a moment.
"Let's go and check it out!" Xi Renjie was the first to regain consciousness and quickly chased into the thick fog.
The other law enforcers exchanged glances, and only a small fraction chose to follow. As they continued to advance, that torch became clearer in the fog.
"Officer Xi." A black-clothed figure ran out of the crowd and followed Xi Renjie.
"Chen Yifei?" Xi Renjie saw that person and spoke in surprise, "Why are you here?"
"I was resting, but when I saw the sudden fire here, I immediately came over," Chen Yifei wiped the sweat from his forehead and said.
Xi Renjie carefully looked at Chen Yifei for a few moments, confirmed that he was fine, and nodded.
"There might be danger ahead, be careful."
The outline of the factory area gradually appeared in everyone's sight. That towering torch was ignited from the devastated steel factory workshop.
The high-temperature furnaces in the workshop were all smashed on the ground, and the raging fire ignited the entire factory building. The steel frames melted in the extremely high temperature, and from a distance, it looked like a sun burning on the ground.
In the fierce fire, the two lines of gilt inscriptions carved at the entrance, "Tempered by Thousands of Hammers to Forge Steel Bones" and "Hard Work and Endurance Are the Most Glorious", gradually disappeared without a trace... Only the golden font at the highest point remained.
Under the slogan "Everything for Humanity", a black-clothed figure stood in front of the sea of fire, with a burning cigarette dangling from the corner of his mouth, his eyes coldly watching the swarming shadow tide.
"Did it really attract it?" Han Meng muttered to himself.
He looked at the ground beside him. That "Heart of Diamonds 6" playing card was being ignited by a falling flame, slowly turning into ashes...
"I owe another person a debt..."
Han Meng sighed deeply. He lifted the barrel of his gun and aimed at that rapidly approaching centipede mother body. Under the oppressive aura of the opponent, Han Meng's aura also began to rise steadily!
Whether it was due to the reason of breaking and then rebuilding, or the fire behind him, igniting Han Meng's will to fight again, he felt that some kind of restraint deep within his body began to loosen, like giant waves continuously impacting the dam, about to burst out!
Bang!!
A light sound came from within Han Meng's body, and terrifying mental power surged out!
On that black path leading to heaven, Han Meng's suspended footsteps finally landed heavily on the fifth step. His aura instantly became more dazzling than the burning factory area, and even the rapidly approaching shadow centipede mother body instinctively halted its movement...
But at this moment, it was too late for them to retreat.
Because that black-clothed figure in front of the sea of fire had already slowly lifted the barrel of his gun, aiming at the densely packed shadow tide.
"This time... it's my turn."