Zone Zero was like a massive, ugly, ferocious scar across this steel world. Jin Wanchao led a five-man vanguard squad, silently approaching the edge of the forbidden zone in the deep night. They passed through the corroded, riddled barbed wire, beneath which lay a long-abandoned maintenance tunnel. At once, the air filled with an indescribable stench, a mix of rot and rusted metal.
Jin Wanchao wasted no words and stepped into the pitch-black tunnel first. His "Flame" blazed inside him, illuminating everything around him with perfect clarity. The tunnel walls were covered in all kinds of warning signs, but right now, those faded symbols were nothing more than useless scraps of paper in his eyes.
"Brother Wanchao… something's wrong about this place!" Ah Huo's voice rumbled through his steam-powered exoskeleton. Clad in his rugged steel armor, every step he took was heavy. The exoskeleton's built-in gas filtration system let out a low growl, struggling to filter out the yellowish-green toxic mist in the air.
Jin Wanchao did not reply, only raised a hand to signal a halt. In his "vision," at the end of the tunnel, several ominous black energy lines drifted slowly. These were Zone Zero's first line of defense: a handful of small scout puppets. Unlike those of the Black Iron Guard, their shells were more tattered, yet their internal sensors were unnervingly sensitive.
"Lao Zhong, cut the tunnel lights." Jin Wanchao's voice was steady. He could feel the exoskeleton's power system running smoothly, granting him an unprecedented sense of security.
At the rear of the squad, Lao Zhong quickly operated his modified terminal. The few flickering emergency lights inside the tunnel went out instantly, and darkness swallowed them whole.
"The scout puppets follow a fixed route, one cycle every three minutes," Jin Wanchao whispered. "Ah Huo, circle around to the left. Move gently. Everyone else, hold position."
Receiving the order, Ah Huo's steam exoskeleton let out a faint hydraulic hiss. His massive frame moved with unbelievable agility, pressing close to the wall and creeping forward slowly. The metal claws on his steam gauntlets locked precisely into the cracks, each step as light as stepping on cotton, not making a single unnecessary sound.
As one scout puppet glided silently past him, Ah Huo suddenly struck. His huge metal claws clamped down like iron pincers, crushing the puppet's head in an instant. Its internal energy core burst without a sound.
Well done, Jin Wanchao thought to himself. This was the fruit of their training. The exoskeleton granted immense strength, and with the aid of Divine Enlightenment, man and machine merged as one, achieving flawless control.
They pressed deeper.
Inside Zone Zero lay an abandoned steel graveyard. Giant factory ruins towered like the bones of some monstrous beast, twisted steel beams piercing the sky. Yellowish-green toxic mist hung thick on the ground, corroding every exposed metal surface. Every step crunched underfoot—poison-eaten rock fragments and industrial waste.
Static crackled over the comms channel.
"Brother Wanchao, biological signatures ahead!" One of the squad members sounded nervous.
Jin Wanchao's "Flame" spread out instantly. He could "see" several restless biological energy clusters in the ruins ahead, pulsing with twisted, frenzied fluctuations.
"Primordial creatures," Jin Wanchao said grimly. He had seen records of the "primordial creatures" of Zone Zero in the residual logs of the data core. Exposed to the toxic environment for so long, these creatures had undergone horrific mutations.
Bang!
A dark shape suddenly lunged from the ruins toward the squad. It was a mutated giant rat, half a man tall, its fur gone to reveal ulcerated skin, eyes glowing scarlet in the dark. It let out a shrill shriek and charged the nearest squad member, reeking of putrid stench.
"Courting death!"
The squad member roared, swinging his steam gauntlet and smashing the rat into a pulp. Viscous fluid and flesh splattered across the cold exoskeleton shell, releasing an even more revolting odor.
But this was only the beginning.
More mutated giant rats, along with some giant insect-like creatures, swarmed from all directions. Drawn by the noise and blood, they threw themselves at the squad without fear of death.
"Suppressive fire! Watch for venom!" Jin Wanchao ordered.
The vanguard squad immediately counterattacked. Steam gauntlets roared, cutting spears spewed scalding steam, mowing down waves of mutated creatures. The exoskeletons' defense systems held off the venom, but the sheer ferocity and numbers of the creatures gave the squad their first taste of the forbidden zone's cruelty.
"This place… is hell," Ah Huo said, his tone heavy.
After the fierce battle, the squad moved on. They crossed an area completely shrouded in toxic mist, and the exoskeletons' filtration systems began blaring overload warnings. Jin Wanchao could feel that even with the exoskeletons' protection, the thick poison was dulling his "Flame."
"Watch out—something ahead!"
This time, they faced combat puppets deployed by Valerius. Cruder and more violent than any they had seen before, they were forged from heavy alloy, their weapon systems brutal and simple: giant chainsaws, impact hammers, and flamethrowers. They lacked the agility of scout puppets and the sophistication of the new models on the train, but they brimmed with lethal destructive power.
Bang! Bang!
Two combat puppets charged out, their impact hammers whistling through the air toward Jin Wanchao at the front.
Jin Wanchao advanced instead of retreating. The "Flame" within him surged, and his steam exoskeleton's power system was pushed to its limit. He crossed his arms abruptly, blocking one puppet's hammer. Ah Huo intercepted the second from the side.
"Their energy cores are on their backs—there are heat vents!" Jin Wanchao shouted. He could "see" the chaotic yet powerful energy flows inside the puppets. Their attacks were savage, but their defenses had fatal flaws.
Ah Huo and the others adjusted their tactics at once. Instead of clashing head-on, they used the exoskeletons' mobility to circle the puppets rapidly, looking for openings. Steam gauntlets and cutting spears struck precisely at the heat vents on the puppets' backs.
Boom!
One puppet's back exploded in a shower of sparks, smoke billowing as it crashed to the ground.
Then another, and another…
In the toxic mist-shrouded ruins, the vanguard squad fought a brutal battle against the puppet legion. The clashing of metal, the whine of chainsaws, and the roar of steam exoskeletons wove together a blood-soaked battle hymn.
Jin Wanchao remained perfectly calm throughout the fight. He could clearly "see" the "Flame" fluctuations of each squad member, providing support and issuing orders at just the right moment. He could even feel that, amid this high-pressure combat, his own "Flame" was being tempered at an astonishing rate, growing stronger and more concentrated.
Just as they were about to destroy the last puppet, Jin Wanchao's "Flame" suddenly detected an anomaly.
He lunged toward the wreckage of a fallen combat puppet, his massive metal claws tearing open its chest plating.
Beneath the broken machinery, he saw a horrifying sight: a non-mechanical, flesh-like structure squirmed gently beside the core drive, exuding an unsettling mix of life and death.
This was no part of a mechanical puppet.
Jin Wanchao's heart sank. A cryptic file from the data core flashed through his mind—the Chimera Project!
This was no coincidence. What Valerius was doing in Zone Zero went far beyond mining resonance crystals.
"Brother Wanchao, what's wrong?" Ah Huo's voice came over the comms.
Jin Wanchao did not answer. He stared at the strange organic mass, filled with doubt and vigilance.
He suddenly lifted his head, his gaze piercing the thick toxic mist and the giant abandoned machinery.
At the edge of his "vision," a massive open-pit mine loomed like the maw of an abyss. At its center, a huge cluster of glowing resonance crystals was being frantically mined amid the roar of a giant excavator.