If the refugees attacked and entered the Life Tree, it could still be somewhat controlled. However, if distorted monsters intruded into the tree, the consequences would be unimaginable.
Shen Siwei barely resisted the impulse to jump off the balcony and immediately took out his communicator to contact Moran.
However, at that moment, an emergency announcement popped up on the palm-sized computer screen, and the person on the screen was Malken, wearing pilot goggles.
“Ahem, testing, testing. Dear residents of the Western District Z City, a pack of desert wolves has entered the Life Tree. Please make sure to close your doors and windows and refrain from going outside.”
Desert wolves…
Shen Siwei’s heart sank upon hearing this, as it indicated there was more than one.
A cartoon representation of a desert wolf appeared on the screen.
“Desert wolves are mutated monsters that have undergone radiation, measuring about three meters in height and eight meters in length. For those who have not seen them… Ahem, for the citizens who haven’t seen mutated monsters, just imagine them as tanks.”
The cartoon representation changed into an animation showing a group of desert wolves cooperating in a hunt.
“The characteristic of a desert wolf pack is their organization and discipline, much like a well-trained army. Scientific research, cough, well, it’s actually me, has shown that desert wolves have very high intelligence and can even set up trapping mechanisms. Therefore, I reiterate, from now on, civilians must not go outside.”
The animation disappeared, and Malken’s face reappeared in the center of the screen.
“For the refugees with experience in hunting desert wolves, gather at the Music Square with your weapons immediately. Remember, this city was hard-won, and if you don’t want to live in constant fear like in the desert underground city, join the battle now.”
The emergency announcement ended, but the alarms outside continued to sound.
Shen Siwei leaned against the balcony railing and looked down. He noticed that the windows of the residential buildings were being closed one by one, and many refugees were running in the opposite direction of the Music Square.
“Wait a minute, aren’t they supposed to gather at the Music Square?”
“Who the hell is going to fight? Run for your life!”
“Quick, find underground shelters! If we don’t fight, someone else will!”
Shen Siwei’s heart sank little by little.
When these refugees were still living in the desert underground city, they had to fight against the distorted monsters and even created tools like trapping cages.
However, once they returned to the city, their only thought was to escape and save their lives.
After all, the environment in the Life Tree was different from the desert underground city. If this city fell, they could move on to the next one. Therefore, they had no reason to sacrifice themselves to defend a particular city.
Shen Siwei couldn’t help but worry. Could Klet handle this?
Looking at the positive side, Klet had stones from the desert wolves, which indicated that he had at least hunted them before. Judging from the probability of the stones appearing, he might have hunted dozens or even hundreds of them.
Earlier, Klet jumped from the sixth-floor balcony unscathed, which meant that his legs were either mechanically enhanced or he had injected illegal drugs.
Based on those observations, it seemed that Klet would have no problem dealing with the desert wolves.
However, Malken mentioned that it was a pack of desert wolves that had entered the Life Tree. Even if Klet was strong, could he handle an entire pack?
After hesitating for a moment, Shen Siwei returned to the sofa and took out the black coveralls and boots he had bought online. He didn’t care about the numerous surveillance cameras in the room and quickly changed out of his bathrobe.
However, when he was about to leave, he still considered the surveillance around him. Instead of jumping from the balcony or taking the elevator, he went to the rooftop through the corridor.
Next to the corridor was a resident’s room with an open door, and the female homeowner was packing her luggage, seemingly preparing to leave.
“I can’t take it anymore, with the refugees and the monsters. How can we live here?!”
The male homeowner anxiously held her hand.
“But we don’t have a home in other cities. Where can we go if we leave?”
Before the door closed, Shen Siwei saw the female homeowner desperately covering her face and crying.
“Colonel Moran, it’s me.”
After reaching the rooftop, Shen Siwei reported the situation to Moran while heading towards the Music Square.
“You don’t have to worry,” Moran already knew about it, “the cities adjacent to Z City have raised their alert levels, and the distorted monsters cannot get in.”
“Do we not need to send troops?” Shen Siwei stopped on the rooftop of a building.
“Z City has been occupied by the refugees; it has already fallen,” Moran interrupted Shen Siwei, “the most important thing now is to prevent other cities from being affected.”
“But there are still many civilians in Z City.” Shen Siwei furrowed his brows slightly, thinking of the desperate couple he had just seen.
“That’s why we should observe for now,” Moran said, “the refugees’ attention should be focused on the distorted monsters. You should take this opportunity to investigate the power station.”
Shen Siwei raised his gaze and looked ahead. On the right was the power station, where the tip of the tower could be seen, while on the left, gunfire had already erupted at the Music Square.
At the moment, the refugees were either fighting or fleeing, making it an opportune time to investigate the power station.
Shen Siwei looked towards the tip of the power station tower and quietly mouthed, “Alright.”
After ending the communication, without looking back, he hurried towards the Music Square.
Perhaps Moran thought that Z City, occupied by refugees, was not important to other cities. However, in Shen Siwei’s eyes, every city in the Life Tree was crucial. Investigating the power station was obviously not as urgent as dealing with the distorted monsters, but if this city was occupied by them, it would truly be a complete collapse.”
When he arrived at the outskirts of the music square, as expected , there were only about ten people who often followed Klet fighting against the desert wolves.
To be honest, Klet could have just let it go. With so many refugees, no one was willing to defend the city, so what gave Klet and his men the right to the be at the frontlines?
But they did it anyway, and this group of refugees became the defenders of the city.
Shen Siwei crouched in a corner of a building’s rooftop and carefully counted–
Thirteen people, fourteen desert wolves, roughly one person per wolf on average.
However, no matter how Shen Siwei looked at it, the combat power of humans and desert wolves could not be equal.
A machine gun was mounted on the roof of an off-road vehicle, relentlessly shooting at a desert wolf in pursuit. But in the next second, another desert wolf rushed out of an alley and rammed into the off-road vehicle, overturning it.
The two people in the vehicle crawled out of the leaking fuel and were immediately caught by two desert wolves, who bit their heads and swallowed them whole.
On the other side, a motorcycle darted around a desert wolf, and the person on the motorcycle aimed at the wolf’s abdomen and fired. But when the desert wolf swung its tail, he failed to dodge in time and was sent flying across the street with the motorcycle, struggling to get up.
Malken’s situation was slightly better. He carried a power jet device on his back that Shen Siwei had never seen before, allowing him to accelerate or jump at any time to evade the attacks of the desert wolves. He held two surgical knives in his hands, inflicting numerous wounds on a desert wolf’s joints and abdomen. But this kind of attack output was too slow, and in the end, it was Klet who came from the side and slid below the wolf’s abdomen, firing dozens of shots to rupture its belly.
After dealing with this desert wolf, Klet quickly rushed towards a group of off-road vehicles on another street.
Several off-road vehicles were equipped with grenade launchers on the back, becoming the main firepower, with blue-glaring shells that could severely damage the desert wolves upon impact.
But the desert wolves were not passive. They immediately realized that they needed to eliminate this threat first, so three or five wolves surrounded the vehicles.
Klet also rushed over as quickly as possible, but before he could reach the off-road vehicles, a giant desert wolf stopped him in his path.
It was the alpha leader of this pack of desert wolves.
Grenade launchers couldn’t hit close-range targets, so the six people had to take cover behind the off-road vehicles and frantically shoot outward with their high-speed rifles and other weapons.
Several desert wolves were temporarily unable to approach due to the relentless gunfire, but bullets would eventually run out. The six people failed to coordinate properly, and their attacks almost simultaneously stopped. One desert wolf seized the opportunity and leaped onto the back of an off-road vehicle, biting the barrel of the grenade launcher.
Someone quickly loaded a handheld cannon and killed the desert wolf right behind them. But several other desert wolves had already rushed to the front of the off-road vehicles, knocking away the last cover for these six individuals.
It seemed impossible. Shen Siwei frowned, thinking that these people couldn’t possibly repel the pack of desert wolves.
The combat power of more than ten people had been reduced by more than half in an instant. In a matter of seconds, someone on the other side of the square released a bomb, perishing along with it.
Malken’s power device seemed to have reached its limit. He floated in the air, struggling, and shouted to Klet, “Boss, retreat!”
Klet couldn’t retreat.
He was entangled by the alpha leader of the wolves, and the remaining nine desert wolves also surrounded them.
However, at this moment, Shen Siwei suddenly noticed that Klet’s combat power seemed somewhat extraordinary.
Both his speed and strength far exceeded that of an ordinary person. Even when he was slapped by the alpha leader of the wolves and sent flying across the street, his body seemed unharmed.
If his legs had undergone mechanical modifications, allowing him to jump directly from the sixth floor, how could his arms withstand the attacks of the alpha leader?
It was highly unlikely that all his limbs had been modified.
Injecting banned drugs was also unlikely to make him this strong.
Could it be that this guy grew up on hormones from a young age?
These thoughts lingered only briefly in Shen Siwei’s mind because he didn’t have time to dwell on these questions.
Only Klet and Malken were left from the team of about ten people, and Malken seemed to excel only in close combat, which was clearly not reliable. Therefore, the current situation turned into Klet fighting alone against ten desert wolves.
Even Shen Siwei wasn’t sure if they could deal with the pack of desert wolves, even if he intervened. But one thing was certain, as soon as he intervened, the mission on the other side would be virtually abandoned.
What was more important, the mission or Klet’s life?
No, not Klet’s life, but the safety of this city.
From the moment he joined the military until now, Shen Siwei had never thought that one day the safety of the Life Tree would depend on refugees to defend it.
They couldn’t be called refugees anymore. These people who sacrificed themselves for the Life Tree deserved the respect of all civilians.
As for Shen Siwei?
What did the mission matter? For the sake of protecting the Life Tree, he was even willing to sacrifice his own life.
Looking at the central square, Klet was surrounded by ten desert wolves. At this point, Klet no longer had any other weapons. From a distance, you could see him holding a silver-black steel dagger in his hand.
Those clever desert wolves seemed to have taken advantage of the fact that the city was less populated during the day and specifically chose noon to break in.
The scorching sun beat down directly on them, with the breath of the ten desert wolves surrounding Klet. Beads of sweat started to form on Klet’s forehead, but he didn’t dare to distract himself by wiping it with his hand.
At this moment, one of the desert wolves suddenly leaped up, and Klet knew that the final attack was about to begin.
He prepared himself to face the attack, but just then, he saw a golden figure descending from the sky with their back to the sun. With a powerful stomp, their feet shattered the skull of the leaping desert wolf.
