Wow! The item-dropping rate is really high!-Chapter 1013 - 700: Chaos (2)
"Because the Bug Race won't just attack one city! High-dimensional whispers won't just erode part of the people!"
Kiro Lan raised her voice. Despite the pressure, her gaze remained firm. "City Lord Otto, the monitoring data is clear, and I believe you have received it too. The entity underground is siphoning the planet's geolink energy! Its awakening will affect the entire globe! No single city, no matter how strong, can withstand an endless bug tide erupting from within the planet! High-dimensional erosion is weakening the mind of every Spiritual Ability User, shaking everyone's will. Without overarching spiritual stability measures and mutual support, once a critical node is breached, who can escape the chain collapse it triggers?"
She took out her tablet, pulling up some desensitized monitoring graphs: "These are the latest data from three monitoring points around 'Anvil City.' See, the intensity of the abnormal geolink fluctuations beneath the old mining area in the southwest of your city has risen by 17% in the past week! This is definitely not an isolated phenomenon! We..."
However, her words were suddenly interrupted by a piercing air raid siren echoing throughout the city!
"Woooo—!!!"
Immediately, an officer rushed into the meeting room, disregarding protocol, his face pale: "City Lord! It's an emergency! Around Shaft No. 3 in the southwest old mining area, the surface has suddenly collapsed on a large scale, and a massive number of Bug Race units have emerged! Initial estimates suggest Hydralisks, Zerglings, and what might be a new mutation! There's... a lot of them! They are quickly moving toward the city along the mining waste heaps and old pipelines! The first outer defense line has already engaged!"
Otto Anvil stood up abruptly, his face changing dramatically: "What?! The southwest mining area? Wasn't that purified long ago? How could..."
He looked sharply at Kiro Lan, his eyes full of suspicion, as if wondering if this was a maneuver by the central office to exert pressure, but he immediately dismissed the absurd notion that a Bug Race attack could be faked.
Kiro Lan's heart sank as well.
Once again, it's the old mining area, erupting from underground... it's just like the situation she dealt with previously near "New Jing City!"
The activities of the underground "Mother" are indeed intensifying, and it's erupting at multiple points simultaneously!
"City Lord Otto! Now is not the time for debate!" Kiro Lan also stood, her tone urgent and resolute.
"The Bug Race threat is right at our doorstep! Please, immediately order the entire city into combat state, evacuate the civilians in the southwest city area, and mobilize all defensive forces! My escort team, though few in number, consists of elite Spiritual Ability Users who can immediately join the fight and assist in defense! We need to share intelligence and coordinate deployments!"
Otto stared at Kiro Lan for two seconds, seeing only pure urgency and hatred for the Bug Race in her eyes, no hint of pretense.
He hesitated no longer, waving his hand decisively: "Send the order! The entire city to Level One battle readiness! Execute Defense Plan No. 3! Evacuate the southwest city area immediately! City Defense Army's First and Third Corps, push forward! Keep those filthy bugs contained in the waste mining area!"
He looked at Kiro Lan, "Miss Kiro Lan, your escort team, integrate into the Special Response Squad of the City Defense Army, follow the front-line commander's direction! You... follow me to the command tower!"
In a critical moment, internal friction was temporarily set aside.
Kiro Lan nodded, quickly issuing a strike order to her escort team via spiritual energy communication.
As Kiro Lan followed Otto up to the rugged and towering command tower of "Anvil City," through the observation window, she could already see the rising smoke and faint sounds of explosions from the southwest direction.
The screeches of the Bug Race, even from such a distance, made one's scalp tingle.
On the city streets, soldiers and armored vehicles were being rapidly deployed, and panic-stricken citizens were rushing to the inner city shelters.
"The situation is dire." Otto glanced at the tactical screen, his face ashen. "The position of the Bug Race's appearance is too close, and they're breaking through very quickly! They seem... very familiar with the underground pipelines and abandoned mine tunnels! Our defense line is being infiltrated at multiple points!"
Kiro Lan concentrated her spiritual energy sensing, striving to extend it toward the battlefield.
Chaotic, brutal, and ravenous spiritual energy waves surged like a tide.
Besides, she also sensed several familiar human Spiritual Ability User waves fiercely battling, which were her escort team.
But among them, one wave... one particularly fierce, sharp, and unstoppable spiritual energy wave, like a torch in the night, was swiftly traversing the bug swarm, extinguishing segments of the Bug Race's spiritual reactions wherever it passed!
"Morphie?!" Kiro Lan instantly recognized.
This guy, as expected, secretly followed! And he's already engaged in battle!
At such a critical moment, she had no time to quibble over these matters, quickly saying to Otto: "City Lord Otto, the Bug Race excels at utilizing complex underground environments. We must immediately mobilize heavy engineering machinery or use high-power explosives to seal key underground passage entrances, forcing them back to the surface to engage! Simultaneously, concentrate firepower to target larger, stronger spiritual response units within the bug swarm, as those might be nodes or commanders! My... we have an outstanding battle Spiritual Ability User on the field already; he is attempting a decapitation tactic, requiring firepower cover to create opportunities for him!"
Otto gave Kiro Lan a somewhat surprised look, not expecting this young girl to be so calm and decisive in battlefield command.
He hesitated no longer, immediately translating Kiro Lan's suggestions into specific orders to be issued.
The battle lasted several hours.
Morphie's presence became the key variable in the battle.
He, like the sharpest blade, repeatedly forced his way into the densest regions of the bug swarm, accurately killing several suspected Bug Race "leaders" coordinating attacks and a few newly emerging, heavily armored, bone-spur-shooting mutated units, significantly disrupting the Bug Race's attack rhythm.
Kiro Lan, meanwhile, stayed in the command tower, using her keen spiritual energy sensing to consistently inform the defense forces of potential Bug Race infiltration paths and spiritual energy gathering points, helping adjust the defensive focus.
With their combined efforts, the wave of Bug Race assault was narrowly repelled.
The remaining Bug Race began retreating back into the collapsed pits and underground tunnels.
As the setting sun cast a dark red hue over "Anvil City's" metal structures, the intense gunfire and screeching sounds gradually subsided.
The battlefield was filled with the acrid scent of smoke and vaporized Bug Race bodily fluids.
Soldiers began wearily clearing the battlefield and tending to the wounded.
City Lord Otto let out a long breath, his gaze at Kiro Lan becoming much more complex, with less disdain and more scrutiny, and a faint, hard-to-notice admiration.
No matter what, this girl and her team indeed provided indispensable help at the critical juncture.
"Miss Kiro Lan, this time..." Otto just started to speak, trying to say something to ease the atmosphere and redefine their relationship, when another urgent footfall interrupted him.
This time, it was an attendant from the convoy, his face deathly pale and voice filled with panic.
"Great Commander! It's not good! During the height of the battle, four Spiritual Ability Users in the team, who were exerting spiritual energy to assist in stabilizing the defensive barrier... suddenly collectively lost control! They destroyed the stabilizing devices in the maintenance station, attacked each other, and have now stormed out of the maintenance station, causing destruction and casualties in nearby residential areas! They... their state is very abnormal, their spiritual energy is filled with twisted and frenzied auras! Others tried to contain them but suffered heavy losses!"
High-dimensional erosion!
Under the intense battle, immense pressure, and stimulus of the fear of death, it erupted again!
And this time it was a collective loss of control!
The atmosphere in the command tower instantly dropped to freezing again.
The trust that had slightly thawed due to fighting side by side showed cracks once more.
City Lord Otto's gaze turned sharp, looking at Kiro Lan, his tone filled with suppressed anger and questioning: "Miss Kiro Lan, what is going on now?!"
