The square at the entrance of the Prism City.
There was a continuous roar of machinery, and spotlights illuminated the ground as if it were daytime. The rescue work had been going on for nearly 16 hours. "Defender" Rock stood in the temporary command center tent with a solemn expression, waiting for the final news to arrive.
Some people said that he was as hard as stone and would never be disturbed by emotions, but this was actually a misunderstanding. Lan's sacrifice made him feel great sorrow, and he even secretly blamed himself for not personally leading the team down. However, he was even more aware of the importance of the matter. Before the situation at the bottom of the city was investigated, he didn't even have the right to feel sorrow.
After Exit No.04 was attacked, Exit No.01 and Exit No.05 were also attacked by Fallen Evils. Fortunately, these people had learned a lesson from Lan's team and only paid a small price to wipe out all the Fallen Evils. However, the statistics still made Rock feel powerless. Everything was the same as what happened in Exit No. 04. The enemies were all the lowest members of the Association. So far, more than 320 corpses had been identified, which was almost the total number of people on duty that day.
At this point, it was already foreseeable that all the lower levels of the Association would be wiped out.
He did not know why these people chose to merge with the fallen cores in just a few hours after the disaster. The Prism City had a complete emergency system. Even if the supply from the upper levels was cut off, it could still hold on for a while. They should have known that the Association would never give up on any of the trapped people. As long as all the evacuation wells were not destroyed at the same time, they would soon be able to see the light of day again.
However, Rock was not in the mood to guess what had happened at that time. He only wanted to know the current situation of the central containment warehouse. Even if all the people on duty had become Fallen Evils, there would only be about 300 of them. However, there were more than 3,000 cores in the warehouse, which was several times more important than his life. If the information was leaked, the consequences would be unimaginable.
"Mr. Rock." At this moment, a man in a suit walked into the temporary command center and whispered a few words into his ear.
"How could we be so unlucky?" Rock could not help but frown. According to the report from the rescue team, when the Erosion suddenly expanded, there were two sightseeing martialists from the Cargarde Peninsula in the Prism City. The central support had been swallowed up, causing structural damage to the city spine. As a result, the floor closest to the Erosion had completely slid into a flat hole. However, the two martialists happened to be near the collapsed area.
Based on the current rescue situation, the fate of this group of people might not be optimistic.
"What should we do?" "One of the teams has a star martial artist from Cargarde. If we don't handle it well, I'm afraid it will cause a diplomatic crisis."
"Do your best to search and save as many as you can. What else can you do? This isn't something we can control. "
"But according to the protector's personality, he might not appreciate it …"
The Rock Ghost King was silent for a moment. "I understand. Keep this a secret for now. I will ask the President of Cloud Sky City to coordinate."
As soon as the suited man left, a liaison officer suddenly shouted.
"There's news from Well 01! They've already broken through the blockage in the pipes and are now entering the city! "
"Connect the signal to the main screen," Rock said in a low voice.
"Understood!"
After a burst of static, an image from the frontline appeared on the main screen. The shaking lens should have come from the leader's head-mounted camera. The lighting under the city was good, but the light was flickering. Apparently, the emergency motor was still working. Based on this, it could be inferred that the elevators and other transportation devices were also working, which could save a lot of time for the rescue.
However, no one in the command post cheered. Everyone's eyes were attracted by the abrupt "red spot" on the screen. Its outline was irregular, but it was perfectly embedded in the reinforced concrete, as if it was an asymmetrical work of art.
But Rock knew that it was not a coincidence. Anything that came into contact with the Erosion would be devoured without exception, including the Force of Nature.
It was the Erosion that split the Prism City into two parts.
"Ignore the damage to the headquarters for now," he ordered. "Go to the bottom floor immediately. I want to ensure that the central containment warehouse is safe."
After receiving instructions, the rescue team went all the way down and did not encounter any more enemies. However, Rock Ghost King did not see too many traces of fighting either. It was quiet everywhere, and the furnishings were still maintained in an orderly manner. It was as if this place was not the site of a disaster, but had been abandoned on purpose.
When the team arrived in front of the containment warehouse, there was a gasp in the temporary command post.
Even Rock could not help but clench his teeth.
The body of the other "Defender", Wrath, had been broken in two. Its upper body was stuck to the steel door that was dozens of centimeters thick, and its clothes were almost burned to Ashes. There was a huge hole in the center of the steel door. From the irregular edge, it seemed that it had been drilled by some high-temperature object.
Perhaps Wrath had used it as the last barrier to resist the invaders. Unfortunately, even so, it could not stop the enemy from entering the containment warehouse.
This was not something that the Fallen Evils could do.
After the team spent some effort to open the door, they found that the area where the fallen core was stored was empty.
The command post fell into a dead silence. Everyone stared at the big screen, their eyes lifeless.
"Sure enough …" Rock clenched his fists. He knew that those people at the bottom would not accept the fallen core for no reason! "Show me the video — I want to see what kind of monsters these invaders are!"
His thunderous voice exploded in the tent and woke everyone up. The timely switch of the emergency power supply did not affect the entire monitoring system too much. Except for a few damaged probes, most of the data was intact. The technicians who entered the well later quickly connected the backup storage hardware, and the video data were continuously transmitted to the ground through a temporary optical cable. The higher-ups in the command post also saw a very shocking scene.
When the erosion expanded, several balls of viscous "blood" dripped from the red hole and smashed on the floor below. The liquid-like things twisted for a moment and turned into human shapes. One of them seemed to have the ability to melt everything. In the blink of an eye, it burned through the floor and reached the bottom of the city. There was another monster that was even more terrifying. It could almost control the martialists who came by following the sound and turn them into mindless dolls, looking like low-level Fallen Evils who had been tempted by the Force of Nature.
In less than half an hour, the entire bottom collapsed. Those who were still alive merged with the fallen core and became the enemy's puppets. After the monsters "swallowed" the remaining cores, they directly melted a passage in the containment warehouse and disappeared from the camera.
It was the first time that Rock had seen such a way of using power, let alone enemies born from the Erosion.
He could not help but think of the survivors' report from the last joint annihilation operation organized by the Association and the monsters that appeared in the "artificial erosion".
It seemed that … the concept that the Erosion could devour everything needed to be changed.
At the same time, perhaps the concept that the Erosion did not distinguish between good and evil should also be changed. Based on the current situation, these monsters that came from within the Erosion and were obviously not Fallen Evils were full of undisguised hostility towards human beings.
However, Rock also knew that no matter how difficult the enemy was to deal with, as long as the martialists worked together, they would eventually find a way to fight it. The most important thing at the moment was to inspire people. If the enemy was too powerful and made people fearful, everything would be over.
"Everyone, as you can see, this is not a simple accident, but an invasion launched by the Erosion!" He stood up and said loudly to everyone, "This may sound unreasonable, but the truth is right in front of us. Let me make it clear, this is a war! They have a clear goal, and they came prepared. They just want to take our world! I will immediately contact the local Martialist Associations and gather all our forces to help the Prism City destroy the enemy! "
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