Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 34 The Specter Before the Catastrophe

Chapter 34: Chapter 34 The Specter Before the Catastrophe

Most of the time, a decision that is inherently correct will quickly garner unanimous approval as soon as it’s proposed. Only those decisions that may not be correct require repeated discussion.

And obviously, the decision "If you can’t buy it, steal it" is unquestionably correct, time-tested, and meets the basic requirements of dialectical methodology.

So, it passed without any dispute, and following its approval, the four members of the team immediately launched into a discussion about the specific actions to take.

The result of their discussion was summarized into four steps.

Information gathering, field reconnaissance, combat search, orderly withdrawal.

It seems simple, but in most cases, this plan is quite effective.

Thus, after obtaining enough peripheral information about the Blood Skull and locating their base roughly from Xu Lie, the four immediately organized their equipment. On this sunny and beautiful afternoon, they prepared to cross the Yangtze River, heading towards the west bank where the Terror Demons were primarily active.

Xu Lie was incredulous at their swift action. He couldn’t imagine what they intended to do there without thorough preparation.

But Chen Jian’s answer was simple:

"We’re just going to scout, just making contingency plans in advance."

"If there’s a suitable opportunity, wouldn’t it be just right to handle it directly?"

The impeccable logic left Xu Lie speechless. Confirming he couldn’t stop Chen Jian, he finally said:

".... Those Terror Demons aren’t particularly strong in combat, but that’s only when they’re attacking proactively."

"If they withdraw into the jungle, into their own stronghold, it’s not that easy to get in."

"Since you’re going... let’s go together."

"We’ve been to the west bank before. We’re more familiar with the terrain than you."

"If there’s any gain, we split it 80-20, how about that?"

"Agreed."

Of course, Chen Jian would not refuse available support. Although he remained vigilant against these Holy Blood Beings, he knew that at this point, they were not going to turn traitor.

Thus, after a brief preparation, the group of 8 left Han Shui City, circumventing from the north side, planning to use the still-intact Junshan Bridge to cross the Yangtze River, advancing towards the Blood Skull base on the west bank.

The journey from Han Shui City to the bridge went quite smoothly.

Covering nearly a 6-kilometer distance, the team took just one hour to complete.

However, upon reaching Junshan Bridge, the atmosphere suddenly changed, and Chen Jian felt as though he had entered another world.

Broken human bones and dried bloodstains were scattered across the bridge surface, with crows occasionally seen pecking at decaying flesh. It was unclear whether the flesh came from humans or from the Terror Demons themselves.

The smell was overwhelming, and he even had an urge to activate his respiratory protection.

Continuing to move forward, he asked:

"... Since Han Shui City has no need to expand westward, why doesn’t the Mechanical God Sect just blow up this bridge?"

"Blowing up the bridge would significantly increase the difficulty for the Terror Demons to cross the river, wouldn’t it greatly reduce the city’s defensive pressure?"

"It’s not that simple."

Xu Lie shook his head, answering:

"Han Shui City is surrounded on three sides by the river, with the remaining side cut off by several large lakes, making it almost a city with no retreat."

"This positioning already significantly reduces Han Shui’s defensive pressure, but it doesn’t completely solve it."

"No one can guarantee that one day, a high-level monster won’t cross the terrain barrier and enter Han Shui City. At that point, without a retreat route, it would be catastrophic for Han Shui City."

"Therefore, the bridges on the river cannot be blown up. Even knowing there’s a Blood Skull on the other side, it’s still better than having no place to escape to when monsters besiege the city one day, right?"

"You could build ships."

Chen Jian proposed a new plan, to which Xu Lie again shook his head, saying:

"No one wants to waste resources for an uncertain future."

"....In that case, you really are... short-sighted."

"Indeed, most people are just trying to survive."

Chen Jian stopped speaking. By then, the team had crossed Junshan Bridge and reached the west bank of the Yangtze River.

As Xu Lie had previously mentioned, the terrain here was indeed much more complex than that of Han Shui City.

Near the riverbank was originally a town. However, at this moment, these towns were completely covered by vegetation, with the tallest trees growing to dozens of meters high.

The low buildings human had constructed were not "covered" but buried.

Buried by the humus accumulated over hundreds of years in the forest.

"Be careful, watch out for the puddles on the ground. If you fall in, you might not be able to climb out."

"Then just follow the road. There won’t be so many traps there."

Chen Jian responded briefly, slightly turning to the left.

Xu Lie paused, watching Chen Jian’s movements, realizing that although it was their first time here, they seemed to be even more familiar with the place than he was.

Their vision seemed to cut through the dense vegetation, seeing the roads hidden beneath.

What kind of ability is this?

Or, what kind of technology is this??

He caught up to ask, and Chen Jian simply replied with four words.

"Inertial navigation."

Xu Lie had no idea what these four words represented, and Chen Jian was too lazy to explain.

He simply directed He Shuo to constantly refresh the team’s current location on the local map to calibrate the drift errors of the INS system.

And after hundreds of continuous calibrations, the deep learning module in their PDA smoothly intervened in the calibration work, and their trajectory was finally displayed once more on the map in the smart goggles.

This time, it was no longer merely a rough position representation based on triangulation.

"Turn left ahead, pass in front of the country club entrance, then continue south."

"Proceed 4 kilometers along the road in a southwest direction to reach the first reconnaissance point, establish an observation post at Phoenix Hotel."

"Note, we’ve entered enemy active territory, stay alert."

"Understood."

The team members immediately responded, while Xu Lie’s Holy Blood Team looked at each other in confusion.

And when the team reached the left turn, Xu Lie’s expression changed.

Because he saw the landmark that Chen Jian mentioned.

On a giant rock covered by vines, the faint words "XXX Golf Club" were carved!

Undoubtedly, this was a pre-apocalyptic ruin.

Yet, those elected agents used it as a navigation landmark.

It wasn’t that they were unfamiliar with the terrain, they were just unfamiliar with the post-apocalyptic terrain.

Xu Lie took a deep breath and said to Chen Jian walking ahead:

"So, you really are... ghosts from before the apocalypse."

Chen Jian turned to look at him, shaking his head, answering:

"Not really."

"We just happened to know what’s here."

"Forget about it, we’re about to enter the danger zone."

"It’s your turn to take the lead now."