Ice Age Apocalypse: I've Stockpiled Billions of Resources

The iron grille of the ventilation vent was twisted into a braid by that red tentacle, and the ear-piercing sound of metal twisting reverberated in the hall.

Without hesitation, Lin Luo raised the muzzle of his gun.

boom!

The Gauss bullet shattered a section of the tentacle, and blue-green slime splattered on the ceiling, emitting white smoke.

The tentacles retracted abruptly, followed by a dull thud from the ceiling, as if a heavy truck were speeding across it.

"Let's go! Get out of this building!"

Lin Luo pulled aside the desk blocking the door and kicked open the pneumatic door.

The three rushed into the corridor.

A deafening crash came from the library hall behind them, and the ceiling collapsed completely. A huge, writhing mass of flesh slammed onto the floor.

The creature's outline was indeed that of an octopus, but it was over ten meters long. Its skin was not smooth, but covered with a layer of keratinized barbs, and each tentacle was covered with suckers containing a ring of fine, sharp teeth.

The octopus's head split open, revealing no eyes, only countless sensory openings and closing.

This size and the sense of oppression it exudes are far beyond what that near-shore mutant could ever compare to.

Lin Luo glanced at the threat assessment on the tactical terminal.

Red. Deep red.

"We can't fight them, retreat!"

Lin Luo gave the order. His current firepower configuration was insufficient to penetrate that thickness of keratin.

The giant octopus let out a low, resonant roar, causing dust to fall from the corridor walls.

It swung its tentacles like steel whips, sweeping across the metal bookshelves in its path into scrap metal with astonishing speed, each leap closing the distance by more than ten meters.

As Lin Luo ran, he untied three metal spheres from his waist.

"Release the mechanical hounds."

He pressed the mechanism, and the sphere landed, instantly transforming and unfolding.

Four slender but powerful alloy limbs pop out, and the head is a simple scanner.

Lin Luo took out three pieces of dark red synthetic meat from his backpack. These were highly concentrated biological baits specially made by Shen Kexin, mixed with a large amount of mutated beast hormones.

He inserted the bait into the slot on the back of the mechanical hound.

"Disperse to lure the enemy, full speed mode."

Three mechanical hounds, carrying meat in their mouths, pawed at the muddy floor, sparks flying, and ran wildly toward three different corners of the corridor.

The strong, fishy smell emanating from the bait instantly filled the entire area.

The giant octopus's sensory openings contracted rapidly, it stopped moving, and its head tentacles probed the air.

The fishy smell has a deadly attraction to this hungry, mutated creature.

It let out a piercing shriek, its body turning like a mass of flowing, rotting flesh, and instantly chased after one of the mechanical hounds into the reading room on the right.

"Over here!"

Lin Luo, along with Tian Xiaoyu and Natasha, slid down the escape tunnel on the left at high speed.

The three rushed out of the library and stepped onto the broken asphalt road, when a violent explosion came from behind them.

That was the mechanical hound's built-in self-destruct mechanism activated when the monster devoured the bait.

Lin Luo didn't look back at the result. At most, that kind of explosion could only injure the opponent's flesh.

He stopped at the street corner and connected to Su Bo's communication channel.

On the holographic screen, Su Bo is wearing the Mars Alliance commander's uniform, with rows of orbital cannon control consoles charging in the background.

"Lord Lin, your signal is fluctuating wildly. Are you in trouble?" Su Bo's voice was low.

"We've encountered a huge creature, octopus-shaped, over ten meters long, with heavy armor mutation." Lin Luo quickly checked the firearms and ammunition. "With the manpower I have, we can't take it down. The monsters in this city are way too high-level."

Su Bo nodded: "As expected. The resurgence of moisture on Earth has activated some prehistoric genes buried deep underground. Do we need support?"

"Nonsense, hurry up and get here, I'm about to die." Lin Luo spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva. "This place is unbearable, it's full of aquatic mutants' dens."

"Understood. You guarantee your safety and evacuate to an open area."

Su Bo turned to his adjutant beside him and said something, then looked back at the camera: "Now that you have obtained the initial coordinates, leave the rest of the task to us. The 'Great Purge' plan will be launched ahead of schedule. The Martian fleet's orbital cleanup vehicles have already locked onto this area. Monsters of this level are just targets in the face of Martian technology."

"How long?" Lin Luo asked.

"The first wave of high-energy particle cannons will cover the area in three minutes." Su Bo said solemnly, "City Lord, retreat further away to avoid being caught in the crossfire."

The call was disconnected.

Lin Luo put away his terminal and waved to Tian Xiaoyu and Natasha: "Let's go to that TV tower. It's high up there, so it's not a blind spot for shooting."

The three crossed the street. Tian Xiaoyu sheathed her long sword behind her back and wiped the mud off her face: "When we get back, Shen Kexin will have to make me a lot of braised pork. I'm losing out big time."

"Survival comes first," Natasha said, holding her rifle and keeping watch on the rear.

A roar came again from the direction of the library behind us.

The giant octopus emerged from the ruins, one of its tentacles severed in half, blue blood flowing everywhere, as it frantically lashed out at the surrounding buildings.

It locked onto Lin Luo's direction, its massive body gliding across the ground, kicking up clouds of dust.

It's fast, incredibly fast.

The octopus opened its mouth, revealing layers of sharp teeth, and leaped across dozens of meters, landing less than five meters behind the three people.

A foul stench filled the air.

"Get down!"

Lin Luo roared.

Just as the octopus's tentacles were about to wrap around the three of them, a dazzling white light streaked across the sky.

The white light was straight and pure, carrying a devastating heat, and fell precisely from tens of thousands of kilometers in the sky.

boom!

The high-energy particle cannon hit the octopus squarely on the back.

There was no fire, only extreme heat. The octopus's hard keratin layer carbonized instantly, and its massive body was pinned to the floor by the particle stream, followed by a series of molecular collapses.

The bright light caused Lin Luo to temporarily lose his sight.

When the light faded, all that remained in the center of the street was a deep pit ten meters in diameter, with the asphalt at the edges turning into a crystal-clear glass-like substance.

That arrogant mutated octopus was reduced to nothing, not even a fragment remained.

Lin Luo stood up and brushed the dust off his clothes.

In the sky, a huge hole was forcibly torn open in the clouds, and the metallic outline of the Mars Alliance orbiting ship could be vaguely seen.

"Mars technology is indeed very useful."

Tian Xiaoyu supported herself on her knees, panting heavily.

Lin Luo led the way to a sturdy bunker beneath the television tower.

That was the entrance to an old-fashioned air-raid shelter. The heavy alloy door was rusty, but the structure was still intact.

He forcibly cracked the electronic lock using a tactical terminal.

The three men took cover.

Lin Luo locked the door and checked the surroundings.

It's dry and cool here, and it contains some expired military canned goods.

"Rest now, and wait for the next cleanup to finish."

Lin Luo sat down on the worn-out cot, the ventilation holes on his armor hissing softly.

Tian Xiaoyu plopped down next to him, rested her head on his shoulder, and fiddled with a long knife in her hand.

Natasha walked to the ventilation shaft, set up her sniper scope, and monitored the ruins outside.

Outside, dense explosions echoed continuously from the distant city ruins.

That's the Martian Alliance's cleanup force advancing.

Lin Luo took a bottle of water out of his bag, drank half of it, and handed the rest to Tian Xiaoyu.

Tian Xiaoyu took the bottle and drank it all. Looking at Lin Luo's face, which was covered in gunpowder, she reached out and pinched his waist.

"Next time you run, remember to hold my hand first."

Lin Luo didn't say anything, but simply reached out and hugged her tighter.

The sky outside had completely darkened.

In the distance, the landing points of the high-energy weapons resembled clusters of blue flowers blooming in the darkness. Each bloom represented the complete disappearance of a batch of deformed products from the old era.

The lights inside the air-raid shelter flickered twice before going out.

Lin Luo closed her eyes.

In the darkness, only the breathing of the three men and the distant rumble of artillery fire could be heard.