Chapter 323: The Mountain of Flesh!
A Monster Emerges
The four soldiers traversed the dust-covered street and arrived at the outer edge of the demolished building.
The leading soldier suddenly stopped and pointed to the ground at his feet.
There was a puddle of blood on the stacked building debris. Judging by the color, it had been left by the monster.
The Parasite was wounded!
The group was initially overjoyed, but that feeling quickly turned to nervousness. A wounded, unkilled beast is the most terrifying predator.
The four men split into two teams and slowly advanced. As they entered the ruins, they heard a strained gasp. Following the sound, they quickly found traces of bloody flesh fragments among the rubble.
Some fragments were motionless, while others were writhing like worms.
The soldiers exchanged glances, fear visible in each other's eyes. They said nothing, simply encouraging each other before continuing to advance through the dusty ruins.
They stepped over a wall formed by shattered stone slabs. The bloody fragments on the ground suddenly increased. A cold wind blew, and the dust slowly dispersed. The sight that abruptly appeared caused all four men to gasp, stunned into silence.
A mountain of flesh!
A giant mountain of flesh!
A purple mound, three meters high, covered in various nodules and tumors.
A human-like creature, with a head like a lamprey, was shrinking into the mountain of flesh. Its claws, stained with purple blood, constantly ripped chunks of flesh from its body, tossing the nodules aside.
Blood and flesh were scattered everywhere, and the air was thick with a pungent, foul smell.
The scene was a vision of hell.
Superhuman Screech
"What is that?"
The four men were frozen, staring blankly ahead. Primal instinct transformed into an overwhelming fear that encased their bodies. They were only jolted awake when a crackling static sound came through their earpieces.
"Open fire! Shoot immediately!"
The leading soldier fired first, the other three immediately following suit.
The High-Explosive rounds fired from their heavy rifles struck the mountain of flesh.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!!!!
Explosions erupted one after another. Flesh was blown apart by the bullets, and the mountain of flesh shook. The humanoid monster opened its razor-toothed mouth and let out a piercing shriek at the four men. The sound waves rolled out, agitating the air, forming a physical sonic impact.
The leading soldier was too slow to dodge and was hit by the sonic wave head-on. The immense kinetic energy instantly shattered his internal organs. His head convulsed rapidly and then, with a bang, exploded.
The other soldiers fared little better. Swept by the sound wave, their heads felt like they were splitting open. They dropped their weapons, clutched their heads, and screamed in agony.
The garbled sounds coming through the walkie-talkies made the faces of the FBI agents waiting outside turn pale.
"The monster isn't dead!"
"How is that possible?"
Scott Ruby didn't have time to think. He immediately ordered the snipers to search for the monster's location and open fire the moment they found it. As for the four special operations soldiers, they had to be sacrificed.
He then pulled out his phone and called Lex Luthor.
"I don't care what deal you struck with the Department of Defense. I'll tell you one thing: your information was wrong, and your agent was useless! If things get worse tonight, you and LuthorCorp won't get a single contract from the government!"
After shouting, he hung up immediately, giving Luthor no chance to defend himself.
The Price of Failure
On the other end, the verbally assaulted Lex Luthor looked furious. He glared coldly at Anthony Ivo standing beside him. The agent was his invention, and the information was his intelligence. According to Ivo, with those two things, the Parasite was guaranteed to be captured, barring any accident.
Yet, a massive failure had occurred.
The Parasite, despite inhaling a large amount of the purple gas, had not entered a dormant state and still possessed offensive capabilities. Furthermore, the specialized high-explosive rounds developed by LuthorCorp could not inflict lethal damage.
The operation plan had completely failed.
It was imaginable that if the Parasite broke loose, the entire East District would become a living hell.
"Ivo!"
Luthor drew out the name, his eyes blazing with murderous intent. "I remember you saying that there would absolutely be no issues!"
Anthony Ivo's face was chalk-white. He shouted back in a panicked tone,
"I tested it repeatedly! There really wasn't a problem! It's him! Damn it! It has to be him! Joshua Cveria has evolved again! He's developed a resistance to the agent!"
"Truly, this has nothing to do with me! I tried my best!"
"You saw the agent's effect! After inhaling the gas, he couldn't move and was forced to take the hits! What happened after that, who knows? You can't blame everything on me!"
The old man threw a tantrum, making Luthor want to shoot him in the head. After careful deliberation, he restrained himself and commanded his subordinates,
"Prepare the helicopter. I'm going to the site. As for you..."
He turned and pointed at the innocent-looking old man.
"You're coming along."
...
A Desperate Stand
The situation had spiraled out of control.
No one had imagined the Parasite could survive a continuous bombardment of hundreds of high-explosive rounds, but it had. This made the situation incredibly difficult.
The abandoned building wasn't far from the city center. If the Parasite went berserk, Metropolis would certainly become the focus of world news tomorrow.
Inside the Headland Villa, Luke observed the battle via drone feed and spoke to Linda beside him.
"I might need your help in a moment."
The girl pouted. "When did you get so kind-hearted? That's not your style."
Luke said flatly, "No one would stand by and watch a massacre happen right in front of them."
"In the end, it's still your problem."
Linda crossed her arms, a cold smirk on her face. "Those FBI agents are as stupid as pigs, yet so arrogant! To use high-explosive rounds against the Parasite, and so close to the city center—did they ever consider the consequences of failure?"
Luke glanced at her, exasperated.
"If you and Clark hadn't provided him with life force, he wouldn't have evolved to this extent."
The girl: "..."
"What do you mean? You're blaming me now? How is that my fault? You're the one who called me from Coast City to protect the meteorite fragment! Otherwise, I would never have clashed with him!"
...
The sonic wave, like a hurricane, tore through the dust. As the dust settled, everyone finally saw the situation inside.
An unbelievably huge mountain of flesh made of purple blood and tissue stood in the center of the ruins.
On the mountain of flesh was a creature with an incredibly terrifying, insect-like appearance. The monster's head resembled the mouthparts of a lamprey, layered and filled with dense, massive fangs. Below the mouthparts were shoulders, a human-like torso, but its lower half was fused with the mountain of flesh.
The monster's head was bowed, emitting a low growl. Its blade-like claws constantly tore off the nodules on its body, and every piece torn off was accompanied by an expression of pain in its eyes.
Blood splattered out, mixing with the purple flesh, scattering everywhere. Some of the fragments were still wriggling, like worms that wouldn't die.
Gulp!
Scott swallowed hard, his face pale.
Is that even a human anymore?
Even the cannibals in horror movies weren't as terrifying as the scene before them.
The other agents were equally tense, too shocked to move.
An agent asked hoarsely,
"Director, what should we do? Should we... evacuate the citizens?"
He originally meant to say "Should we retreat," but changed it to "evacuate citizens" at the last second. Scott understood what he meant and shook his head with a grim expression.
"We can't retreat. At least, not now."
"Call the Department of Defense. Tell them to prepare for war."
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