Chapter 348: The First God

Haha…

This is the first god we created, the one we brought into this world!

Amidst Zhao Shiming’s wild laughter, the Ability Users of the joint team and the lab personnel in the office all saw the monster.

It had a green humanoid body, a soft head teeming with countless tentacles. Three eyes lined up horizontally on each side of its head, complemented by powerful limbs, sharp claws, and a pair of ragged wings on its back… Most striking was the heart protruding high on its chest, pulsing powerfully and emitting a strong, resonant beat.

Everyone who laid eyes upon it felt an indescribable agony.

It felt like countless steel needles were stabbing into their minds, their blood seeming to take on a life of its own, crashing against the walls of their veins.

Their eyes stung, blood trickling down.

Their minds felt like they were enduring wave after wave of heavy blows. An immense noise completely drowned them out.

They could do nothing.

The moment they saw the monster climb out of the pond, their eyes stung intensely, blinding them.

Something surged into their minds, throwing them into chaos, making thought impossible.

A deafening roar filled their ears, blocking out any sound from their teammates.

They instinctively lowered their heads, unsure if death was descending upon them…

…Or a fate even more terrifying than death!

…

Ahhhhhh…

The lab personnel in the office, already under the Goth-style lady’s control and kneeling obediently in a row, suddenly screamed uncontrollably when the monster appeared. They collapsed left and right like a line of falling scarecrows.

Some people’s eye sockets instantly filled with blood. They jumped up like madmen, slamming their heads against the wall.

Others desperately tore at their clothes, revealing chests covered in blood threads, as if something was trying to burst out.

Their hearts were resonating with the monster, beating faster and faster.

They didn’t even have the right to properly look at the thing they themselves had created.

Contract… all mental power…

Captain Xia Chong…

Fall back…

Amidst the indescribable roar, they suddenly heard a faint voice.

The voice was nearly lost in the noise, almost impossible to distinguish.

However, it also seemed to ring directly in their minds, so they could barely grasp its meaning.

It was the Doctor codenamed ‘Scalpel’.

He too was enveloped by that indescribable distorted mental power, but his reaction was faster than the others.

He had sensed something just before the monster emerged from the pond.

Thanks to this intuition, he quickly lowered his head the instant the monster crawled out.

So he didn’t see the monster directly.

Of course, the ensuing mental distortion still enveloped him.

But he had bought himself just over a second.

He used that second to slide a scalpel from his sleeve into his hand, gripping it tightly.

He gripped it so hard the blade nearly cut down to his bone.

The intense pain bought him another fraction of a second, allowing him to activate his ability and transmit the signal.

Due to the distorted mental force field, his ability was severely affected, making the signal intermittent.

But it still got through.

Everyone who heard his voice immediately scrambled to contract their mental power.

This was a technique learned in formal Ability User training courses, a method of controlling mental power.

Simply put, it meant doing everything possible to stay calm.

Don’t try to look at anything, don’t try to perceive anything, don’t even try to think.

After doing this, they closed their eyes and retreated rapidly.

Immediately after, they heard a loud ‘Bang!’, and the roaring in their ears intensified.

A violent shockwave hit them, throwing them backward.

Tumbling chaotically and aching all over, they opened their eyes and, through blurry vision, roughly understood what had happened.

It was the Refined man.

Just as the monster appeared, he had been flicking out his handkerchief, intending to help Gecko and the Goth-style lady subdue Zhao Shiming. However, the monster’s emergence caused the distorted force field he deployed to rebound violently.

This rebound knocked him out the door. Being further away, he wasn’t too severely affected.

As the others heeded the Doctor’s words, covered their heads, and retreated, he was the one who rushed forward and threw a black, pebble-like object.

The pebble flew over the group and exploded upon landing.

The powerful blue electric arcs generated by the explosion temporarily disrupted the distorted mental force field in the area.

The immense force of the impact accelerated the others’ fall out the door.

Fortunately, it was a new type of plasma bullet designed for mental monsters and pollution sources, lacking shrapnel and having reduced impact force. Otherwise, at such close range, they wouldn’t have been pushed out but riddled with shrapnel like sieves.

…

Regardless, they had temporarily escaped the control of the distorted force field.

Their minds, like drowning people surfacing for air, gained momentary clarity.

Escape by any means necessary…

Report to the forward outpost quickly! The situation is out of control! Raise the threat level…

…

The very instant Xia Chong regained clarity, she yelled out and lunged forward.

You’re the one who should go…

A slender, fair hand grabbed Xia Chong’s arm. It was the Refined man who had rushed over urgently. He grasped her arm, getting his hand covered in blood, and his brow immediately furrowed tightly. Wiping his hand vigorously with a handkerchief, he shouted:

None of our abilities are enough to get us out of here. You’re the only one with a chance to escape…

…

Because their ears were still ringing, they were all shouting unconsciously.

The Doctor nodded repeatedly; this was exactly why he had mentioned Xia Chong earlier.

I don’t have the strength to open the door either…

Xia Chong roared back, her face expressionless, ‘Besides, none of you have the power to cover the rear!’

As she spoke, she charged forward, dropping her gun and raising her small, delicate fists to her chest.

Come out… Come out…

*Shhhhaaaa…*

A power beyond normal comprehension manifested around her.

For a moment, those nearby felt as if an invisible rift had opened beside Xia Chong, drawing their gazes into it.

But the next moment, an extremely terrifying distorted force field appeared beside the invisible rift. It was as if something unseen crawled out from the crack, unleashing a horrific force field the instant it materialized next to Xia Chong.

This force field instantly shoved her nearby teammates far down the corridor behind the door, sending them sliding a great distance.

Then, clenching her fists, Xia Chong stomped her military boots heavily and strode towards the lab.

So she’s an Abyss Group Ability User…

Chen Jing and Gecko had also tumbled far away. Chen Jing whipped her head around, her face showing stunned surprise.

Immediately, without fuss, she joined the others, sprinting towards the end of the corridor, back the way they came in.

…

Inside the lab, Zhao Shiming sat within the glass room, his eyes fervent as he watched the tentacled monster outside.

The sight of the Ability Users fleeing in disarray gave him a thrill, a sense of pleasure derived from the power disparity between different levels.

This was the first time since he began his research that he faced the power of Ability Users not with awe, but finding it laughable.

He didn’t know if he was under some influence at that moment. He simply watched through the thick glass, admiring the monster that had climbed out of the pond, slowly put on a helmet bristling with cables and copper tubes, and then started laughing raucously:

Why are you all in such a hurry to escape?

Do you want to tell the Research Institute?

I’ll tell them myself! I’ll tell them right now…

But you can’t leave. If you leave, it’ll expose the fact that I wasn’t forced into these experiments…

…

As he shouted these words, his pupils suddenly contracted to pinpricks.

At the same time, the monster leaning over the pond, with its dark green body and tentacles, gently blinked its six eyes. They then focused slightly, locking onto Xia Chong who was striding towards the lab.

*Omm…*

The moment the six eyes focused on Xia Chong, a powerful mental impact erupted.

Like an invisible tide, it instantly surged towards Xia Chong.

Something seemed to rush from behind Xia Chong to her front, simultaneously creating a distorted force field.

When the two force fields clashed, blood instantly spurted from Xia Chong’s nose, and she was thrown backward.

Even the formless mental power surrounding her instantly disintegrated.

You’re just a bunch of madmen! You don’t even understand your own power. What’s the use of fighting so desperately?

Perhaps Zhao Shiming didn’t realize how he looked at that moment.

His pupils had shrunk to tiny points, and worm-like blood threads crawled across the whites of his eyes.

He seemed to be trying to speak in his usual rational and proud tone, but in reality, even he didn’t know his voice had become chillingly cold and sinister, hiding an intense madness beyond words and a disregard for humanity.

He slowly raised his hands.

At the same time, the monster also slowly raised its hands and the tentacles around it.

*Rustle… Crash…*

In that instant, a heavy sound, like giant pythons slithering rapidly across the ground, suddenly echoed throughout Water Buffalo City.

Many places in Water Buffalo City, especially near this building, hid numerous monsters.

They were masses of flesh sprouting various grotesque tentacles, among which many humanoid shapes could be discerned.

Originally, these flesh masses showed a subtle fear towards Ability Users, not daring to attack them wildly. Moreover, when the Ability User teams from Central City and Qinggang charged into the lab, they had already eliminated countless such grotesque flesh masses in various rooms and corridors…

But now, suddenly, all the flesh simultaneously showed signs of life.

Then, like giant pythons, they twisted and crawled on the ground. Even from some flesh burned to ashes, flesh buds sprouted one by one. Driven by biological instinct, they began to crawl towards the lab’s location.

Chen Jing and the Central City Ability User team, having just reached the end of the corridor intending to rush out, abruptly stopped.

They all saw massive tentacles and monsters pouring out from every corridor and room before them.

These monsters choked every possible escape route.

…

*Swish* *Swish* *Swish*

Meanwhile, outside the building, the Red Moon quietly shone down on the ruins of Water Buffalo City.

Violent noises erupted everywhere as thick, ferocious tentacles stretched out from every dark street corner.

They rose high, as if stretching their bodies, reaching for the moon.

*Rumble… Rumble… Rumble…*

Tall buildings collapsed one after another, sending clouds of dust into the air. Amidst the dust, expanding flesh rolled and unfurled like red waves. The abandoned city had awakened, transforming into a city of monsters.

…

Ten miles east of Water Buffalo City, at the Central City Special Pollution Cleanup forward outpost.

A white-haired old man gently lowered his binoculars. He could now directly see the monster city.

Inform the higher-ups!

He gently touched his own face and said, ‘We… They succeeded.’