Chapter 98: The Great Strait

The hundreds of abandoned Indian soldiers who had been bitterly suppressing the entire team just moments ago became corpses on the ground in less than ten short minutes. Qiao Bingsen, who had rushed out like the wind, only returned to the sand dune panting heavily after turning the three cannons in the distance into scrap metal. He did not even undo his Form, simply sitting down on the sand.

Sharp claws were still stained with fresh blood, dripping drop by drop onto the ground. Due to his excessive speed, the amount of blood on Qiao Bingsen’s body was limited.

Zhou Liming lifted his M99, walked to Qiao Bingsen’s side, plopped down, and said, “Captain…” Qiao Bingsen interrupted what Zhou Liming wanted to say, shook his head faintly, and said, “It’s fine. Today was very satisfying. I never thought that letting loose could allow me to kill so freely.”

The other team members also gathered around. Facing the calm-faced Qiao Bingsen, they could only offer a silent comfort.

Kahn led the people from other countries over and said, “Qiao, thank you!”

Qiao Bingsen sneered and said, “No need for thanks. Actually, I was just doing my best to complete the mission, or to be more precise, to protect my teammates.” The implication was that if not for this, what would the life or death of the people here have to do with him? His sacrifice was exchanged only for the survival of his companions.

Yes, perhaps some would say Qiao Bingsen was stupid, but from the moment he enlisted, he had been brainwashed. Loyalty and sacrifice became their required courses. So what if this was an era where Fierce Beasts ran rampant? They had firmly remembered these things. To exaggerate a little, Qiao Bingsen was nothing more than a war machine.

Kahn and the others left somewhat awkwardly. Huang Dazhuang sat beside Qiao Bingsen, patted his shoulder, and said, “Actually, I’ve wanted to tear this skin off for a long time, but unfortunately, you were one step faster than me. However, I think I will soon be like you, tearing this skin off.”

Zhou Liming looked into the distance at the sky, a bitter smile appearing on his face as he said, “They should be arriving soon too, right?”

With such intense fighting, how could it not attract the attention of the Fierce Beasts?

Taking advantage of the time they had, they quickly cleaned up the battlefield, not daring to stay here, and continued to move forward.

Not long after, the cries of Flying Fierce Beasts came from the sky, and even on the ground, a “rustling” sound appeared. For a time, the sounds of various Fierce Beasts rang out, and the sounds of tearing flesh and fighting for food echoed each other, making one unable to help but rejoice that they had left quickly.

Originally, everyone thought that in the Radiation Zone, the number of Fierce Beasts would decrease or even disappear, but now it seemed that the number of Fierce Beasts was still huge.

To investigate the true cause of the crustal movement clearly, it was necessary to approach the torn Great Strait.

It was nearly seven o’clock in the evening, and the sky had already darkened. At this time, they were still a few kilometers away from the Great Strait, but here they could already hear the sound of waves hitting the shore. Approaching here, there were corpses of humans and Fierce Beasts everywhere, and weapons and equipment were scattered all over. Since this was on the outer edge of the Nuclear Strike center, most of the equipment here had undergone changes under the high heat.

Looking around, everything was bare. The plants in this area had all turned to ashes.

There was no talk of setting up camp. Upon arriving here, the experts started to get busy, moving all the equipment from the armored vehicles, and then working by the moonlight. The others stood guard around to prevent Fierce Beasts from appearing. In everyone’s mind, after today’s battle, they just wanted to finish this damn investigation early and leave here tomorrow morning.

But wanting to leave here tomorrow morning was just a luxury. How could this kind of investigation and research be completed in a short time?

They passed the night safely. The experts who had been busy all night certainly had red eyes, but they could not rest at all. The entire team continued to move towards the New Strait. Before the first ray of sunlight appeared, they could finally see the Great Strait that had been torn open by the crustal movement from a distance.

After several days of seawater washing, the twisted soil in some places had been smoothed out and turned into beaches.

The Great Strait, which was tens of kilometers wide, offered no view of the situation on the other side; one could only gaze from afar at the boundless ocean.

It was not that there were no plants here. During the intense crustal movement, some trees from several kilometers away had been moved here. Under the terrifying crustal movement, huge peaks could only be toyed with like toys. Because of this, the edge of the Great Strait actually had dense trees and towering peaks.

Zhou Liming had to sigh at the magic of nature. It could turn a prosperous land into a desolate place of death, yet it could make an area that had suffered a Nuclear Strike become full of life.

Seeing this terrain, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. At least they did not have to worry about being exposed to the Fierce Beasts too early with nowhere to hide on the bare ground.

The experts who could enter the team were all authorities in their respective fields, so without needing orders, they skillfully began their work. Considering that these experts were all older, Kahn hid the armored vehicles in a patch of woods and then had people take out tents and set them up.

Approaching noon, the experts who had been tired for a day had to lie down and rest. Their age no longer allowed them to go a day and a night without rest.

As soldiers, going one or two days without sleep was still bearable, so the people responsible for the safety of the experts did not sleep and were assigned to various guard corners. Actually, for someone like Zhou Liming who possessed the Fierce Beast Gene, not resting for a day or two was nothing at all. What was truly uncomfortable was probably this Radiation Suit.

There was an enclosed toilet built on the armored vehicle. This was the only modified spot, allowing personnel to solve personal issues.

What they ate in the afternoon was also nutrient liquid. This liquid food inside the Radiation Suit could sustain them for three to four days, which also determined that this investigation would end in five days at most. As for whether results could be obtained in five days, no one dared to guarantee.

They passed another night safely. The next morning, the roars of Fierce Beasts came from the distance, immediately making the whole team nervous.

Zhou Liming quickly appeared on a small peak and used his scope to discover that on the torn seaside, a group of over ten Fierce Beasts that looked somewhat like camels were walking, occasionally eating the plants nearby. Not far away, a Hunting Beast injured by the Nuclear Strike was attempting to hunt these Herbivorous Fierce Beasts.

Actually, the distinction of Fierce Beasts did not mean that Herbivorous Fierce Beasts were necessarily gentle. Once they reached the Third Stage, they would possess terrifying Form Skills. Since they were called Fierce Beasts, their nature was naturally extremely irritable. In a real fight, Herbivorous Fierce Beasts were not weaker than carnivorous Fierce Beasts, and some were even stronger.

Seeing a hunt about to take place here, Qiao Bingsen, in just a few bounds, transformed into his Fierce Beast Form and rushed towards the seaside.

“We can’t let them fight here, otherwise it will attract more Fierce Beasts.”

Qiao Bingsen’s speed was even faster in this mountain forest, appearing at the seaside in just a moment. Then he roared a few times at the Hunting Beast and casually threw out an Air Blade Slash into the woods, cutting down several trees. Frightened, these Herbivorous Fierce Beasts sensed danger and started running immediately.

Seeing the meat at its mouth fly away, the Hunting Beast had to give up its target and launched an attack on Qiao Bingsen.

Qiao Bingsen’s purpose was just to draw them away. He did not engage the Hunting Beast at all and directly rushed towards a large forest in the distance, disappearing from everyone’s sight with the Hunting Beast in moments. Only faintly, the roar of the Hunting Beast grew further away until it disappeared.

Ten minutes later, Qiao Bingsen returned to the woods like a ghost. Without a word, he climbed up a tree and sat quietly on a fork in the branches.

After everyone breathed a sigh of relief, they became even more alert. The large number of Fierce Beasts left here should have entered these areas later, but it was certain that in such a strong Radiation Zone, they must have been radiated. It was just that in a short time, they had not shown signs of being radiated.

There was no data to prove what Fierce Beasts looked like after being radiated. Perhaps they mutated like humans, or perhaps nothing happened at all.

Throughout the afternoon, apart from this unexpected incident, nothing happened.

During the rest at night, all the experts gathered together, discussing in low voices. Kahn directly said, “I just want to know how much longer is needed to confirm. This place is too dangerous; every extra second spent is a second of danger.” The data was transmitted back in real-time, and large amounts of data would be analyzed and studied by more experts in the rear.

Wei Junshan whispered a few sentences with several members before saying, “Three days. We need at least three more days to collect data, and then we can finish.”

Three days basically matched the estimate before departure, so Kahn did not say anything more. His current pressure was huge. The Nuclear Strike did not have the imagined effect; the Fierce Beasts were still very active and could appear in New Delhi at any time. Once New Delhi fell, all of India could be said to come to a full stop and disappear from history.

Zhou Liming was not arranged for the night duty; his experience was not yet sufficient to take on this kind of guard work.

Zhou Liming was happy to be idle. Hugging his M99, he lay on a patch of grass, looking up at the sky of this foreign land. He suddenly missed the Dean and the others a little. People always miss their relatives when they are lonely, especially now. Apart from the sound of waves, it was unusually quiet, making one’s longing even heavier.

He did not know why, but Zhou Liming felt an itch all over his body. It was not an itch on the skin, but an itch radiating from his cells.

This itch turned into a burning pain in just a moment, and then his cells actually felt like they were burning, making his whole body tremble.

“What… what… is going on?”

In the darkness, he did not notice at all that on the lower leg of the Radiation Suit, there was a small hole cut by a piece of shrapnel…