Tokyo: The Player Behind the Scenes.

Chapter 295, Section 42: The Fog Disperses

"Director, the latest satellite images are out."

In the chaotic and disorganized Security Bureau, an assistant pushed aside the busy crowd and brought the satellite comparison images to Director Hoover's desk.

"Is the fog expanding?"

Several pictures side by side clearly show a thick layer of fog completely surrounding the lake and spreading outwards.

“Yes, the calculated average speed is about ten kilometers per hour,” the assistant replied immediately.

This speed isn't exactly fast, but the problem is that they don't have a way to stop the fog from spreading.

From the information they had, they could only confirm that the fog had the special ability to block signals; beyond that, they knew very little.

However, simply cutting off vision and signals is troublesome enough, making reconnaissance operations extremely difficult. Even now, they are hesitant about whether to deploy forces to Okichobi town. If they do, that force will become isolated and unable to transmit information, which would be essentially a free gift.

But if we just watch helplessly as the overwhelming fog engulfs everything, we risk being accused of inaction.

The temporary arrangement is to organize a defensive perimeter around towns to buy time for citizens to evacuate.

This is under the condition that there is a game warning. If there is no game warning and a disaster suddenly breaks out, the long-abandoned emergency system will not be able to respond so quickly.

The most plausible guess is that killing the supernatural monster that caused this disaster will cause the fog to disappear naturally.

To clear the fog, you need to defeat the boss, and to defeat the boss, you need to clear the fog first.

The problem has now become a closed loop.

“We have lost contact with towns like South Bay, Port Moore, and Pahooki. In Miami, Port St. Lucy, and Lake Placid, which are dozens or even hundreds of kilometers away, small numbers of mutated creatures have been invading communities from the waterways, causing chaos. They are probably the vanguard of the monsters. We have reason to suspect that the water source is also a factor in the mutation of the creatures.”

"Its goal is obvious: to keep expanding and try to turn us all into its puppets."

Hoover glanced at his watch: "What about Leon? What did he say?"

"The deputy director is in Washington. He has already contacted Taki Muramasa and Eri Hirosue, informed them of the current situation, and is on his way to Florida."

He also suggested conducting preliminary bombing of the fogged area to see the results.

Hoover smirked. This isn't Japan. No matter how many Japanese people die, they can blame it on the Japanese government. It's just a matter of bowing; they don't even need to bow themselves. At most, they can say they're sorry.

If he causes a large number of Afghan citizens to die on home soil, he will be the first to suffer.

The best course of action would be to shift the blame to the military and let them make the decision to bomb the bomb, while he assists from the sidelines, thus avoiding being unfairly blamed.

Unfortunately, the president recently consolidated the command structures of several southern states, creating a special response command centered in Atlanta. All decisions are made based on the orders of the National Security Agency, with the military providing assistance and advice.

Now the generals are all pretending to be stupid, waiting for his bombing order.

“According to the information sent back by Agent 12, the residents of those small towns have been basically contaminated and mutated into various creatures. If this contamination spreads uncontrollably, the consequences will be unimaginable. The Miami metropolitan area has millions of people,” the assistant subtly advised.

Hoover sighed, acknowledging reality: "Please invite the generals into the conference room; we must begin a meeting immediately."

Twenty kilometers west of the Great Lake.

The helicopter hovered above an open space, its vortex kicking up dust.

It was immediately apparent that they were elite troops who rappelled down, and upon landing, they immediately headed to the nearby police station, which would become the center of this resistance stronghold.

Palmdale is not a big town; it's more like a village. The total population is only a few hundred. It's quite remarkable that it has a police station with two sheriffs who are still able to work.

Many towns with similarly sparse populations don't even have the budget to hire a sheriff, and even if they do have a police station, it just sits idle.

"Sir, the Hive is installed. What module should we load?"

"Self-destruct."

Several Hive unmanned motherships were also delivered by helicopter, and the on-site commander quickly arranged for manpower deployment.

"This is our home, we're not leaving!"

"Correct!"

Two elderly police officers, whose combined age probably exceeded 150, mingled in, fully armed, with expressions of passionate determination to fight for their homeland.

"Everyone has been evacuated?"

"There were only a few households here to begin with, and they all had similar temperaments. When they heard about the monster, instead of running away, they actively prepared for battle."

Upon hearing this news, the commander was speechless.

But he didn't have time to deal with such trivial matters. Since they wanted to stay, then let them stay.

However, in the end, he still asked his deputy to say a few more words of persuasion and use the footage of those extraordinary disasters that had occurred in Japan to scare them.

"Don't try to fool us. This is just AI-generated. I was better at it than you were over a decade ago!" Old Sheriff A scoffed. "Don't believe or spread rumors. You soldiers are actually spreading rumors yourselves?!"

“Right! Even if there are monsters, you can’t cook them without carbon-based creatures. If there are, cook them a little longer!” Old Sheriff B, carrying a homemade flamethrower, finally found a legitimate moment to test its combat power.

What kind of people are these?!
"We're here to help you!"

A large group of local rednecks dressed as Rambo arrived at the defense line with a large number of weapons and off-road vehicles.

The commander looked at this chaotic group of guys, unsure whether they were there to help or cause trouble, but dared not use any overly forceful methods, otherwise it seemed they might actually pull out their guns and have a passionate shootout on the spot.

If he doesn't even see the enemy, but his own people start fighting amongst themselves, he'll really lose all face.

"Communications team reports, enemy activity detected!"

Several flares were launched into the sky.

The commander looked eastward, and under the fireworks, he could see swarms of bats, as dense as locusts, surging across the sky. Their numbers were countless, and they seemed to be a single entity, constantly changing shape, but their direction remained unchanged, heading straight for them.

"Take off with drones and bomb them down!"

With a buzzing sound, the drones quickly took off. With the help of algorithms, they swiftly locked onto the optimal solution, formed a swarm array, and flew towards the swarm of bats at a certain distance from each other.

"All units, to combat positions! Prepare for engagement! Quickly, distribute masks to them!"

The face mask serves two purposes: first, to prevent bats and birds from attacking the eyes; and second, because officials are unsure whether inhaling the white mist poses a threat, it's better to be safe than sorry.

The rednecks casually put on their masks and then began shooting at the first bats that reached them.

In the sky, the drone and the swarm of bats made contact, and a series of loud impacts rang out, immediately escalating the battle into a fierce and brutal phase.

The bats seemed to have completely lost their fear of death, and likewise, they frantically crashed into the rotors that were tearing apart the drone in a suicidal manner.

With a series of loud explosions, these bats were indeed much larger and stronger than ordinary bats, but even the strongest were no bigger than a cat or dog, and would be restrained by the explosions.

A series of sparks exploded in the air. A small number of drones failed to self-destruct, their rotors breaking off and falling from the sky while emitting black smoke.

But more drones exploded in the surging black cloud, creating a brief burst of fire and a gap, which was quickly filled back by the black tide behind them.

In this relentless, two-way, suicidal tug-of-war, swarms of bats transformed into a rain of blood, sprinkling down from the sky and wetting the earth.

However, there were simply too few drones. Several swarms were wiped out in just a few dozen seconds, and the green lights representing drones on the control panel went out one by one until none remained.

"Has the National Guard not arrived yet?!" The commander looked at his defensive line. Although they were elite, they were still too few in number.

"Almost there! Just two kilometers left!"

Bats, beetles, owls, crows—the flying creatures that had dealt with the drones launched an attack on the humans on the ground.

The scene became extremely chaotic for a time.

"Ahhhhh!!"

A soldier was grabbed by several owls and crows, who carried him into the sky, and he was about to take off.

"Bah!"

Veteran officer A leaped forward, grabbed the soldier's boot, and yanked him violently to the ground.

Veteran Officer B moved the flamethrower and aimed it precisely at the main force of the owls, unleashing a burst of flames.

"Coo-coo!" The owl was immediately engulfed, flapping its wings but unable to extinguish the oil on its body, and was soon shot dead by the others.

Hairy and weak fire, an age-old truth.

"Thank you, thank you!"

The surviving soldier thanked them, his face ashen.

"You're welcome, let's fight!"

Even after the veteran officer ran out of bullets, he didn't change the magazine. Instead, he used his rifle like a fire poker to smash the invading flying creatures headfirst, resulting in physical headshots.

Not far away, the roar of engines could be heard, and the National Guard, which should have been the main force, had finally arrived.

Chu Chu Chu!
The vehicle-mounted machine gun unleashed a torrent of fire, giving the creatures a fiery welcome.

Large numbers of birds were torn to pieces and fell to the ground with a thud.

The addition of a battalion-level combat unit, while not necessarily turning the tide, at least diverted a lot of the flying creatures' attention, preventing them from having their initial overwhelming advantage.

"Guwa! Guwa!"

Several strange cries came from the sky.

The flying creatures abandoned the soldiers they were entangled with and regrouped towards the night sky.

Whoosh! Before they could even rest, several more flares filled the sky, revealing that the dark cloud had shrunk considerably compared to the beginning, and was no longer seemingly endless.

But what they were seeing next made their hearts leap into their throats once again.

Dense fog.

Rather than fog, it was more like clouds pressing down on the ground, forming a high wall that stretched as far as the eye could see, rolling in from the eastern horizon.

It devoured the moonlight, devoured the lamplight, devoured all outlines.

The fog was flowing almost close to the ground, and at the forefront of the churning fog, countless strange figures were running and emerging from it, gradually revealing themselves.

There were a large number of land creatures, including goats with the size of bison and thick horns; spiders with eight legs and the size of washbasins; and black wildcats that looked like cheetahs. They were familiar yet strange, after all, what deer has such a huge thing on its head like a barricade?
That's basically a four-legged tank!
Without a doubt, this is a mutated animal that is in league with those flying creatures in the sky.

The attack just now was merely an appetizer; these mutated creatures are the main force.

They left the white mist behind, forming a torrent that surged toward the village's makeshift defenses.

"Fire!"

The elite troops on the defensive line and the newly arrived National Guard pulled the trigger almost simultaneously.

Da da da!
Gunfire rang out again in the night sky, rifles and machine guns spitting fire, tracer rounds cutting through the darkness, weaving a metallic net of fire.

The mutated creatures at the forefront screamed and howled in agony, and the weakest black cats were the first to fall in droves, like wheat being harvested.

The bullet tore through the skin, broke the bones, and splattered blood.

However, many more creatures seemed oblivious, charging forward at an even more frenzied pace, stepping over the carcasses of the unfortunate dead and wounded.

Their speed, strength, and ferocity far exceed imagination.

Bullets hitting a deer's thick hide can only cause minor superficial wounds; rifle bullets need to hit the target with full force to kill it completely.

"Detonate the explosives!" With the mutated creature about to make close contact, the commander finally used the explosives that had been set up not long ago.

With several loud bangs, many animals were blown into the air.

The explosion temporarily halted the charge, but more dark figures emerged from the fog. They were clearly more fire-resistant than the flying creatures, crossing the burning zone and steadily closing the final distance.

"Watch out for the flanks! Three o'clock, the roof!" someone exclaimed.

Under the cover of darkness, several wild cats climbed onto the nearby rooftops like ghosts, pouncing down on the rear of the defense line.

"what--!"

A scream rang out as a redneck was tackled to the ground and instantly torn to pieces.

"Old boy!"

The veteran police officer went to help, but right in front of him, a moose the size of a tank had already crashed into the defensive line, sending the soldiers behind the barricade flying into the air.

The wildcat, tearing at the redneck, darted away, and in the blink of an eye, the deer's kick crushed the redneck's head.

"asshole!"

The veteran officer's face flushed red. Instead of retreating, he advanced, firing at Julu as he closed in.

The giant deer howled a few times, revealing a cruel smile that resembled human nature.

"You beast, take this whip!"

whip?

A shout came from the side. Julu had no intention of dodging. He just looked over instinctively and saw a tongue of fire spitting out.

The giant deer was set ablaze, but it seemed utterly unperturbed, its eyes filled with contempt. With a flick of its chevaux-de-frise-like antlers, it impaled the fire-breathing old policeman, causing him to sizzle and bleed.

At that moment, the old police officer rushed forward, pulling the pins on a series of grenades strapped to his body, which was covered in detonators.

"This tactic is called the Arab Spring!"

Boom boom!

The explosion affected both friendly and enemy forces in the vicinity.

The giant deer was headless, and half of its body was charred and rotten, turning into a lump of rotten flesh.

This was just one corner of the battlefield; more mutated creatures surged in, tearing flesh apart.

Missiles from an unknown source kept falling into the white mist from the sky, igniting large flames, but the number of animals did not decrease at all.

The defensive line began to crumble, and the firepower was insufficient to stop the tidal wave of attacks. The soldiers were forced to retreat, relying on vehicles and roadblocks to put up a piecemeal resistance.

The communication channel was filled with desperate cries and chaotic commands:
"Sector C has fallen! Repeat! Sector C has fallen! We need reinforcements!"

"They're coming in! There are too many, we can't hold them off!"

"I'm almost out of ammo!"

"Medic! Where's the medic?! I got shot by my own team, damn it!"

"Retreat! Retreat!" the commander shouted hoarsely over the channel. His heart was bleeding, but seeing that things were hopeless, he could only order a retreat.

However, the brutality of the battle far exceeded expectations.

More massive mutated deer, braving a hail of bullets, rammed into vehicles, tearing open more gaps in the defensive line, and mutated creatures swarmed in.

Soldiers who had emptied their magazines were forced into close-quarters combat before they could reload.

The sounds of human roars, animal screams, the cracking of bones, and the agonizing cries of the dying were all mixed together.

The soldiers fought off the charging monsters with bayonets, entrenching tools, and even their fists, while shotguns fired at extremely close range, blasting away any monsters that lunged at them. But there were simply too many monsters, and the defensive line was rapidly collapsing!
Many National Guard members were still in their vehicles when they saw this, so they didn't wait for anyone else and quickly turned around and retreated.

"Damn it! We haven't even gotten on the bus yet!"

Many people didn't even have a chance to retreat and were forced to fight and retreat, retreating into the sparse houses on both sides of the street or into the police station, trying to use the terrain to fight in the streets.

But there are too few buildings here, and most of them are made of wood, making them extremely vulnerable.

However, the animals didn't seem as frenzied as they had been at the beginning. They were more focused on damaging vehicles and then forcing the exhausted humans into the building, simply surrounding them without taking any further action.

"This is Palmdale Stronghold. We are surrounded. The defenses have collapsed. Requesting air support. Requesting heavy fire support. Repeat, we need it."

"Buzz. Take care!"

A loud electrical noise abruptly interrupted his call, nearly deafening him.

"Hello? Command post? Command post?!"

He shouted several times before realizing that the radio signal had been interrupted and all he could hear in his earpiece was a busy tone.

"Sir, have we been abandoned?"

A disheveled soldier beside him called out to him, his voice filled with a bitter laugh and despair.

The commander glanced at them, silently avoiding their gaze; no answer was an answer in itself.

People looked up blankly out the window.

In the dim light, it was a vast expanse of white.

The thick fog had completely engulfed them and was spreading in through every crack and crevice.

The final gunshots faintly came from all directions, but the sound became increasingly sparse and distant, as if it were being blocked and absorbed by layers of thick fog.

The last gunshot rang out from a house not far away, and then silence fell.

All that remained were the rustling crawling sounds and low growls in the thick fog.

Like the town before it, this small village was cut off from communication, its lights were out, and it was completely silent.

All that remained was the churning, thick fog and the shadows that lingered within it.

It was completely erased from the map.

He suddenly caught a whiff of something like the mist from a lake.

This gas mask isn't very effective.

Even though he felt it wouldn't be of much use, he still didn't take off the mask. However, his heart sank lower and lower as the horrific scene kept replaying in his mind. They were no match for those terrifying animals.

Even more seriously, they seem to have become the first batch of experimental subjects.

They can never get out.

His last bit of resistance slowly faded away, and a voice seemed to be repeating itself in his mind.

"To be embraced by the great lake, to shed the body of a lower being like humankind, and to be reborn with a noble new life."

The crows brought fish and landed by the window, their eyes seemingly gesturing for him to open his mouth.

The commander blankly removed his mask and opened his mouth.

The crow fed him a fish, then its belly bulged, and another fish appeared, continuing to feed the despondent human.

　Thank you to "周复俺想你" for the donation.
　　
　
(End of this chapter)