Chapter Ninety-One: Predictive Strike (Happy New Year)

Wu Ming was just about to call out to Du Huaishan, but to his surprise, Xu Yuan vanished in the blink of an eye.

Li Anqi was muttering and shouting wildly on the side, but Du Huaishan couldn't hear a word of it. In his desperation, the others rushed out after them. With them leading the way, Jiang Dayi, Wang Zhenglin, and a group of veteran soldiers also scrambled out from the fissure, clutching their ears.

Just as they rounded the rock wall, they saw a massive shadow inside the fissure, covering nearly the entire cavern. The space, ten meters high and four or five meters wide, had been somewhat spacious for the woman-headed monster from earlier, but for the creature before them, it was barely enough to maneuver. It was as if, on a dark and windy night, a two-meter-tall criminal had cornered a child in a narrow alley. The criminal was the monster, and the children were these soldiers.

After landing, Du Huaishan struggled to back against the wall, gritted his teeth, and raised his cavalry rifle. Aiming at the chest of the Xingxing monster, he fired—bang! To his surprise, the bullet pushed through the pressure of the sound waves and struck the creature's chest instantly; the wound did not heal. It was a red marrow bullet!

As a spray of foul blood splattered, the sound waves ceased. In the dim light, the monster’s human-like head twitched. Its two large eyeballs shifted slowly, and with a grotesque expression, it quickly locked onto Du Huaishan, who had fired the shot.

"Why did this recruit have to go and provoke it..." A veteran soldier felt goosebumps erupt at the sight of those head-sized eyeballs.

Someone nearby chimed in, "Exactly. This giant-strength level monster is so massive—we could have lured it toward the collapse site where the space is tighter..."

"He did it so the cavern wouldn't collapse!" Jiang Dayi’s words suddenly awakened them all. Looking at the fissures spreading across the rock walls and the debris falling at the base of the walls, everyone realized the structural integrity of the fissure had become perilously fragile.

The underground cavern was already constantly vibrating due to the active magma layer, and it had been subjected to successive attacks from sonic waves and mortar shells. If they continued to let the monster roar or lured it into a narrow area to fight, they risked causing the fissure to widen. Once the cavern collapsed completely, they wouldn't just be eaten alive by the monster—they would be crushed to death by the falling rocks.

"The monster is attacking!" Wang Zhenglin saw the creature reach out toward Du Huaishan and hurriedly raised his arm guard, firing a grappling hook that latched onto the back of the monster's hand—*swish!*

"Follow the previous tactical plan! Machine gun squad!" Jiang Dayi immediately issued the order. "The rest of the veterans, follow me!"

Fighting in narrow terrain left little room for tactical finesse; it required raw courage to engage in a head-on clash.

*Rat-tat-tat-tat!*

The machine gun fire flashed repeatedly. Pus and blood exploded from the monster's chest. As the giant hand reached for him, Du Huaishan dodged onto the rock wall, while Wang Zhenglin used his grappling hook to close in on the monster's arm. Only one other soldier rushed forward with him. Since the battle with the cat-bodied woman-ghost, Wang Zhenglin had changed completely, fighting as if he had no regard for his own life. Looking at it now, the soldiers of the Second Reconnaissance Platoon were likely all dead in the mine.

Du Huaishan scanned the area. Pei Qingfeng was not there. No wonder. Wang Zhenglin’s heart must have been filled with nothing but hatred and rage.

"Die!!" With a roar, Wang Zhenglin stepped off the monster's arm, knees bent, and launched himself toward its face, his long sword slashing in a swift strike!

"Watch out!!"

*Thwack!*

Just as Xu Yuan shouted the warning, a shadow flashed. Wang Zhenglin was caught squarely in the palm of the monster's other hand!

What!? The soldier who had rushed up with him was completely stunned, causing him to fall from mid-air after his hook failed to find purchase.

"Urgh... mmph... ah!"

Wang Zhenglin was gripped in the monster’s palm. As the creature slowly tightened its grip and lifted him, the pain in his lower body from the crushing pressure intensified. As he was brought face-to-face with the beast, the Xingxing monster opened its bloody maw.

"Machine gun squad! Focus on the arm! Give it everything you've got!"

*Rat-tat-tat-tat!*

Bullets flew, and the men surged. *Swish, swish, swish!* Jiang Dayi took the lead, swinging his broadsword as he charged. With a flurry of impacts, flesh sprayed, and the monster's wrist was severed.

Wang Zhenglin tumbled to the ground with a *thud*. The mutated shell on his face had completely vanished, his skin had swollen to the color of a purple eggplant, his eyes were bulging, and his legs—crushed and mangled—were broken.

*Boom!*

Jiang Dayi’s body erupted with golden light, his frame expanding further. Two large lumps of flesh bulged from the gaps behind his shoulder guards, and with a *squelch*, they burst open, extending two golden arms that ended in folding golden blades, resembling the claws of a mantis.

"Kill!"

He swung his blade toward the monster's ankle, but the creature's reaction was too fast. As Jiang Dayi rushed in for the kill, it suddenly lifted its left foot.

"Run!" Xu Yuan warned again, but it was a step too late. *Bang!*

The massive sole of the foot slammed into the center of the fissure floor. Because of its immense size, the foot alone was 1.5 meters long; two soldiers were flattened into paste instantly, spraying the soldiers behind them with blood.

Du Huaishan noticed that Xu Yuan had been able to predict the monster's attack movements twice in a row, as if she had the ability to foresee the future.

"Xu Yuan, can you predict the monster's attacks?"

"I can see the flow of its energy."

As she spoke, Du Huaishan noticed that the blue-gray light in Xu Yuan's eyes was much more intense than before. Energy flow? Was that the monster's power? That made sense. When humans attack, whether punching or kicking, the brain sends signals, nerves transmit them, and muscle cells release energy to deliver the blow. Monsters simply simplified this, using their heart and soul to manipulate their energy directly.

This trait was indeed powerful. But the user’s own strength had to be sufficient; otherwise, even if they could predict the enemy's moves, if their body couldn't react in time or they lacked the power to attack, it would be useless.

"Then let's stick to the old Qing-shi Mountain formation. You focus on scouting and calling out targets; I'll handle the main assault." Du Huaishan looked back at Wu Ming, Li Anqi, and Lin Sizhi. "Old Wu, you all distract it from the sides. You must coordinate with Captain Jiang to kill it as quickly as possible, or we'll all die here!"

The situation was dire. Wang Zhenglin was left in a life-or-death state, and a portion of the ghost-human soldiers in the squad were busy clearing debris, leaving only Jiang Dayi and a few veterans to hold the line. If Jiang Dayi were to fall, there would be no one left in the team capable of contending with this giant-strength monster.

"I'm in too!" Guo Tingyu and Xing Zhenhao also stepped forward.

*Boom!*

Everyone pushed their fusion levels to the limit. Xu Yuan locked her gaze on the monster's knee. *Whoosh!*

"Charge!" Du Huaishan shouted, pulling his hook-sickle spear from his back, and followed suit in an instant!