Industrial Cthulhu doesn't believe in the end times.

Chapter 92 Who says otherwise?

Chen Ming sat in the passenger seat and entered the secret realm once again. Unlike the confusion and panic he felt last time, this time he was full of confidence.

Anyone with four sets of 120mm diameter pipes in their car would be confident that, in the face of this thing, it's a monster? (Sold in Seoul with a label).

Moreover, what he was currently participating in was the largest external assault operation organized by the safe zone since the commander-in-chief's initial entry into the secret realm. A five-hundred-strong armed force, traveling in various armored vehicles and carrying light and heavy weapons, was heading towards the secret realm.

Portable man-portable missiles are only useful in close combat. Their troops also carried real weapons—two fully-equipped tank companies, totaling 20 tanks. These steel behemoths, weighing nearly fifty tons, ran on both sides of the column, causing the barren land to tremble slightly.

In the distance, a colossal beast, over twenty meters long and shaped like an ox, emerged from the mountain valley. The next moment, it attracted a salvo from four 125mm smoothbore cannons. From a distance of nearly one kilometer, these shells hit the beast's head with remarkable accuracy.

Four multi-purpose shells, combining armor-piercing, high-explosive, and assault capabilities, pierced the skull of the behemoth in an instant, triggering a violent explosion. When the smoke cleared, the headless behemoth's corpse had already crashed to the ground.

If visibility in the secret realm weren't so poor, these vehicle crews could have reacted even faster.

Those alien species that occasionally approached the convoy but were below Tier 3 didn't even qualify for concentrated artillery fire; a single burst of fire from a 12.7mm anti-aircraft machine gun was enough to kill them instantly.

Being in such a group, Chen Ming even felt a bit bored.

The young man driving seemed to see the disdain in his expression towards the alien species and advised, "We can't be careless. Commander Su has repeatedly emphasized that there are even more dangerous things in the secret realm. So far, we've only encountered third-tier creatures. Fourth-tier creatures won't be so easy to deal with."

Upon hearing this, Chen Ming nodded but didn't take it to heart. Hearing him mention the commander-in-chief only made him more curious.

"Hey Xiao Wu, I heard you met the commander-in-chief and even spoke to him. Is that true?"

This young man named Xiao Wu had just been transferred to Chen Ming's class. He was given the title of guide, but in reality, he was a legitimate second-tier ability user and was responsible for leading them in and out of the secret realm.

He sounded impressive, but Chen Ming only felt that his driving skills were really average, and he wasn't even as old as himself, so he wasn't too reserved when asking questions.

Xiao Wu smiled and said, "Of course it's true. The commander-in-chief even patted me on the shoulder. I had just come out of the secret realm when I ran into him going in, and he asked me some questions."

Chen Ming said with some envy, "That's great, I also want to meet the Commander-in-Chief."

"why?"

"There's no why. If it weren't for the commander-in-chief, how many of us would have survived? I heard that his hair turned white from exhaustion because of this catastrophe."

"Oh, I see. The Commander-in-Chief's hair is indeed... But actually, it's not that hard to see him. You should be a local, right? You know Fourth Middle School, right? He's teaching us supernatural knowledge there right now. If you work hard and train every day according to the methods in the manual, you might be able to go in and see him after you become a superhuman. We are all his students."

A look of longing rose in Chen Ming's eyes, followed by curiosity: "The Commander-in-Chief teaches you extraordinary knowledge... so must he himself be exceptionally strong? He should be able to handle those monsters that are over twenty meters tall all by himself, right?"

"Absolutely!" the young man exclaimed confidently, then added, "But the commander-in-chief often tells us that even superhumans need to learn how to use tools. If we have cannons, who would bother struggling to make fireballs?"

"So what is your special ability?"

"...make a fireball."

"Tsk, this isn't a good job market. I see all the wind-related students have become train conductors."

"Who says it isn't?"

The young man smiled helplessly. As the two were talking, the convoy began to approach the carcass of the giant beast, and the speed of the entire convoy began to slow down. Suddenly, a voice that did not belong to their team members rang out in the car.

"Vehicles number one, four, and five, go and assist with the security and occupy the high ground!"

The car's windshield wipers twitched, and the young man asked somewhat awkwardly, "Um, which one is the hazard lights?"

Helpless, Chen Ming pointed to the young man, who then turned on his hazard lights to indicate that he understood and simultaneously left the convoy.

At the same time, an excavator parked on a large trailer also left the convoy.

"Luckily, the terrain here isn't too difficult to navigate, so an excavator can get in. Otherwise, if we had to dig by hand, how long would it take?"

“Who says otherwise?” “Speaking of which, those wind-type ability users are really creepy. You’d think the car was haunted if you didn’t know better.”

"Who says it isn't?"

"That's all you know?"

"Just my usual refrain, hehe, don't be offended." The young man chuckled as he parked the car, glancing at his comrades who were already preparing to dismantle the beast's body. Spiritual energy crystals often form in the hearts of alien species, making it quite difficult to find the heart in such a creature; they might have to wait here for a long time.

A water-based ability user has already begun to manipulate the blood of this dead alien to prevent it from splashing everywhere; Chen Ming calls it a humanoid water pump.

"Alright, stop looking at the excavator and stay alert."

The soldiers braced themselves, keeping an eye on any potential dangers that might come their way.

As time passed, a soldier suddenly exclaimed in surprise, "Hey, isn't there someone over there?"

"People?" Chen Ming was very confused. "Are there any survivors left?"

He picked up his binoculars, turned around and looked in the direction his teammate had indicated. Sure enough, he saw a man running towards him, waving his arms. Through the binoculars, he saw a robust, unkempt middle-aged man.

"Be careful. The commander-in-chief said that if you stay in the secret realm for too long, you will become part of the secret realm and be no different from the alien species."

"I know."

Chen Ming picked up his rifle, took two steps forward, and raised his voice, "Stop! I'll shoot if you take another step!"

The person running towards them had already gotten close when they heard this, so they quickly stopped and raised their hands, shouting, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! I'm a good person, I'm not a monster!"

The soldiers exchanged glances, slightly confused. Chen Ming asked, "How did you get in? What's your name?"

"My surname is Yin, Yin Danyi. Yesterday, a sudden fog rolled in, and I inexplicably ended up here. After wandering around this godforsaken place all day, I've finally seen a living person!"

"yesterday??"

"Yes, what happened yesterday?"

Chen Ming and his companions were even more surprised and suspicious. More than a week had passed since the Haiqu Secret Realm appeared and expanded, but it had not expanded again. The survivors in the vicinity had all moved away. How could someone have entered the secret realm yesterday?
Chen Ming assumed he was experiencing cognitive confusion, so he asked again, "How do you know it was yesterday?"

"I have a watch!"

The man raised his hand, and sure enough, there was an exquisite mechanical watch on his wrist.

"This……"

"Hey, let's not worry about that now. There's a monster as big as a mountain behind us, it could come at any moment. Let's hurry up and get out of here!"

"As big as a mountain?"

Several soldiers tensed up. Chen Ming picked up his binoculars again and looked in the direction he had come from, but all he saw was a gloomy, misty area, and he couldn't see anything unusual.

No, that's not right...

Cold sweat suddenly soaked Chen Ming's back.

Through the circular field of view of the military binoculars, the gloomy sky occasionally twitched, and countless tentacles seemed to be hidden in the fog.

Where in the secret realm would there be a cloudy day? That was clearly the shadow cast by a giant beast.

(End of this chapter)