Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

"One-eyed?!" Flying Eagle recognized him and quickly crouched down. "How come you..."

Seeing his empty, bloodied right arm, the rest of his sentence caught in his throat.

"Eagle?" Mike noticed the movement not far away, chambered a bullet, and quickly called out, "Concentrate!"

……

A screeching, indescribable sound came from the pile of corpses—there crouched an incredibly bizarre creature, somewhat human-like, yet unlikely to be so. It was on all fours, crouching amidst a heap of minced flesh, with silvery-white flesh sprouting from its shoulders, neck, and arms.

His left side seemed to have grown out of thin air, completely asymmetrical with his right side.

The clothes he wore were torn and stretched, creating a stark contrast with his bizarre behavior. The terrifying scraping sound came from him gnawing on an arm, like a wild dog chewing on a bone.

Noticing the gaze, the man slowly turned his head, revealing a numb, strange, pale face. Half of his face was bald.

"What the hell is this thing again?"

----

"ah-----!!!"

He suddenly let out a terrifying shriek, his mouth stretched to his ears, filled with an inhuman aura.

Silvery-white mycelium extended from his mouth, almost bursting his head!

Chapter 695: Do mushrooms bite?

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

"boom!"

While Eagle was still in shock, Mike, with his greater combat experience, had already fired four shots. His hand remained steady; three bullets hit the head, and one pierced the heart—his every shot aimed at vital organs.

However, the imagined scenario did not occur.

The bullet did indeed pierce his body, splattering out a mixture of red and white liquid, but the shot "soldier" did not stop.

Instead, strands of silvery-white mycelium, clustered together, emerged from the bullet holes.

Mike then realized that the guy in front of him could no longer be considered human; he was merely wearing a human skin. Unidentifiable hissed sounds came from his throat, and his body creaked and groaned. His spine and back arched up, and like a wildcat panting after being stressed, he assumed an aggressive, four-limbed position.

Seeing a humanoid creature in that pose already sent chills down Mike's spine. When this motionless monster suddenly began to crawl rapidly like a cockroach, alternating its limbs, Mike was utterly horrified.

At the critical moment, Eagle didn't care about the strength anymore. He shoved Mike away with a hard palm to his chest and took the initiative to meet the monster that pounced on him.

"Boom!"

The strength and speed were far more exaggerated than Flying Eagle had anticipated. In close combat, he prided himself on being virtually unmatched in the High Tree tribe. After a collision, he could usually stabilize his upper body with his superior core strength and then follow up with an over-the-shoulder throw. However, this time, he was directly knocked over by that monster. The creature's hands and feet were clearly longer than those of an ordinary person, and upon closer inspection, its facial features were somewhat disproportionate.

Eagle didn't know what the uncanny valley effect was; he only felt that this face made his hair stand on end.

If I have a second half of my life, I'll probably see this face repeatedly in my nightmares.

"Go to hell!"

Fear turned to rage. Eagle swung his Sharps rifle, smashing the butt against the man's chin, buying him a few seconds. He adjusted the gun's position, shoved the barrel into the mangled, fibrous maw, and pulled the trigger!

"boom!!"

The high-speed bullet from the rifle tore through his entire skull, exiting from the back of his head. But this shot, enough to send an ordinary person to their doom at the speed of light, merely ripped off his skin. The mycelium residing beneath the skin, upon sudden contact with air, swelled up like a sponge.

The eagle didn't know how to describe it; it was like a silvery-white tree, nourished by flesh and blood, growing endlessly within this body.

Soon, this withered body could no longer satisfy it.

It spreads some of its roots into the eagle's body.

----

"Thump—!!"

The powerful punch, with its combined weight and force, gave this massive metal fist an initial velocity comparable to a cannonball.

Flying Eagle felt a sudden lightness on his body. When he turned his head again, the humanoid monster that had been pressing down on him had been punched and sent flying several meters away. He was like a stone thrown across the water, slamming and hitting the ground several times, making a thud with each impact, creating an oval-shaped crater.

Just standing next to that towering figure instantly gives you a sense of security.

……

"Are you alright?" Zhang Renfeng's voice came from beneath the heavy armor, sounding somewhat muffled. "I can't control my strength right now. Can you stand up?"

“This young man saved my life.” Mike helped Eagle up, complaining, “I really miss twenty years ago, when the strongest opponent we faced was just a bunch of poachers.”

As they began to speak, more and more "people" rose from the ruins and piles of corpses on the remaining battlefield. They all shared similar characteristics—their entire bodies were filled with a strong sense of inhumanity, their left and right sides were no longer asymmetrical, their limbs were uncoordinated, their expressions were numb, and their eyes were empty.

Silvery-white mycelium grows from their bodies, piercing their skin.

The soldier who had taken a heavy punch only lay on the ground for a short while. The fungal hyphae began to secrete a layer of keratin and actively fibrose a portion of themselves to replace bones and muscles. With a series of cracking sounds, he stood up again in an extremely stiff posture.

As for the facial features, the focus was on reshaping the eyes and ears, which makes perfect sense upon closer examination—fungi need these two senses to detect the external environment. Smell and taste are not essential for combat, so the nose and mouth were simply built up haphazardly.

It's easy to imagine how abstract and terrifying this face must be.

"My God..." Eagle gasped. This poor young man was participating in war for the first time in his life, and his worldview had been shattered. He couldn't help but complain, "This kind of thing isn't very common in the outside world, is it?"

"really."

Zhang Renfeng sighed.

There is no connection without a reason in this world.

While at the oil refinery, one of Ryan's men exhibited "fungus-like" traits. The Rufus strain had achieved a high degree of integration within him, capable of going toe-to-toe with him. However, at the time, capturing Ryan as quickly as possible was the priority, so this was subconsciously overlooked. Zhang Renfeng didn't inquire about how Angel Eye ultimately dealt with him.

And now, what appears before us is that same silvery-white strain of bacteria; it can't be a coincidence.

After leaving Dover Hill, Dr. Im needed to find another financial backer if he wanted to continue his research on the strain. The wealthy and ambitious Chedell family became Dr. Im's second choice.

"Wait, bacteria...you mean, what's inside these guys' bodies...?" Mike's eyes widened, rarely this wide, and he had a "I've never seen anything like this before.JPG" expression on his face. "Mushrooms? The kind you use for soup?"

Eagle was equally incredulous. Although he had little contact with the outside world, he still knew what mushrooms were.

It will never bite.

"You've even dealt with things like this?"

“It happened once in Dover Hill, except that time we had a giant robot here too. When we went to capture Ryan, he had a bodyguard who also had one of these things inside him.” Zhang Renfeng observed the fungal people in front of him and murmured, “They’re not quite the same as them…”

"It's more like they were completely devoured by the strains, without any will of their own, becoming a breeding ground for their reproduction. It's estimated that they directly used the wounded's bodies to plant the strains. They were already half-dead and in an extremely weak state, so naturally they didn't have the strength to resist their invasion."

“Just now…” Flying Eagle looked shaken. “I felt like he wanted to eat me.”

"That makes sense. Their bodies have been almost completely consumed by the bacteria. They are living beings too, and they need fresh flesh and blood to survive. These guys are no longer human; they're more like wild beasts resembling humans, searching for prey..."

All the heads of the fungus people turned in unison, and several pairs of emotionless eyes focused on Zhang Renfeng.

To be precise, the focus is on this heavy suit of armor.

Within a radius of a hundred miles, he was the largest prey.

----

"Everyone retreat—!!!"

Realizing what was about to happen, Zhang Renfeng shouted at the top of his lungs.

The next moment, these half-humans parasitized by the strain, in all sorts of bizarre postures, emitting sharp explosions, rushed towards him together!

Chapter 696: Congratulations, you won!

The way they fought reminded Mike of an animal on the prairie—equally ferocious, equally cunning, and equally agile.

hyena.

They have enormous appetites and a wide diet, eating everything without discrimination. When all else fails, they can even survive by gnawing on scraps of flesh from carcasses. Their teamwork is even more precise than that of wolves; once they have their sights set on a target, they will launch a fearless attack on a creature several times their size!

----

"Thump—!!"

Zhang Renfeng kicked out like he was clearing barnacles, swatting the fungal creature wrapped around him away. He then used the momentum to propel the hundreds-of-kilograms-weight body into the air for a few seconds. Transforming his weight into a tangible weapon, he slammed down on the fallen fungal creature with a loud "splat," like popping a water-filled balloon, crushing its entire body into fragments that spilled out.

However, these species have long lost the concept of "fear," and the destructive growth of the strains has destroyed their perception of pain.

Despite witnessing their companions crushed to pieces, they still pounced on the armor one after another, repeatedly ramming their bodies against the armor's legs and waist. Some even pounced from behind, leaping high and hanging directly on the armor's shoulders and neck, attempting to damage the armor's joints.

撕。

bite.

beat.

“Dang Cang!!”

These creatures possessed strength far exceeding the limits of mortals. Their human attributes had completely vanished, leaving only the predatory instincts of primitive animals. With their combined strength, a leg plate was ripped off and tossed aside with a crisp sound.

"ah---!!!"

The fungus people regarded it as a trophy; tearing off a piece meant they could "injure" the prey. Therefore, the hunters emitted incredibly piercing screams and tore at their armor with even greater force.

"These bastards..."

Zhang Renfeng was somewhat annoyed. His field of vision was already narrow, and now it was completely blocked by a protruding-faced fungal-like creature, making it impossible to see anything. All he could hear were their screams, unable to glean any useful information. When designing the armor, Tao hadn't anticipated encountering this type of enemy on the battlefield. It was practically glued to him, impossible to shake off.

Especially the hoarse, distorted screams, which had reached a level that caused physical discomfort. The armor itself was like a hollow can, and the sound poured in, even creating an echo.

"Shut the fuck up!"

Zhang Renfeng flew into a rage, grabbed the mushroom-wielding man who was holding his face, and used both hands to grip his body, one hand on his neck and the other on his ankle, and suddenly folded him in half!

"Click!"

Its spine, like a broken biscuit, immediately snapped in two!

It was tossed aside by Zhang Renfeng like trash.

The view is clear now.

Finally able to distinguish up, down, left, and right, Zhang Renfeng looked around but didn't see any fungal people—meaning they were all crammed into his blind spot, specifically his lower body. For him, this information was enough.

"Get ready... to turn into mushroom sauce!"

The strong, metallic legs bent slightly, accumulating terrifying kinetic energy.

From extreme stillness to extreme movement, it only takes a fleeting moment.

"Thump—!!"

Using only his physical strength, he managed to lift this intimidating-looking giant metal can several meters off the ground. What does that even mean?

"..."

At that moment, all the onlookers held their breath.

Despite carrying a load of hundreds of kilograms, Zhang Renfeng still managed to make a remarkably perfect adjustment in mid-air. If viewed in slow motion, he deliberately adjusted his landing posture to ensure that he landed on his back, using the group of fungal people clinging to him as a cushion.

Bullets were no longer effective, so he chose another, most powerful weapon on Earth.

gravity.

"boom-----!!!"

Weight was converted into kinetic energy.

Simply, freefalling, it smashed into the ground, creating a large crater. Like a giant millstone, it ground the few beans squeezed to the edge into powder. The bodies of those fungal beings were also completely pulverized, mixed together, their shapes indistinguishable.

The good news is that after this near-self-destructive attack, these fungal beings with their frenzied offensive intentions have been completely destroyed. They are still trying to regenerate, but this time, their bodies are so badly damaged that they are unrecognizable, essentially rebuilding from scratch. This process is extremely slow and ineffective.

Currently, these strains need to parasitize an individual in order to fight.

The bad news is...

The recoil further destroyed the armor the moment it landed.

When he emerged from the crater, his entire body was badly damaged. Zhang Renfeng struggled to climb out, as parts kept falling off his body: gears, nickel-plated steel springs, plate armor, and even a cast iron piston cylinder. It looked like he would fall apart completely after just a few more steps.

"call……"

Zhang Renfeng breathed a sigh of relief.

He couldn't see his own condition, but from the increasingly strong feeling of "blockage" he experienced as he moved his hands and feet, he could tell that things weren't going well. The intensity of the battle just now had far exceeded the designers' expectations. During the battle, Zhang Renfeng also discovered many problems that could be further improved and upgraded.