Doomsday police, please show your god/demon ID card.

After half an hour.

Parking lot outside the supermarket.

The abandoned vehicles lay silently in the gray mist, like steel skeletons.

Wang Hu, Liu Qiang, and Luo Yongchao spread out in a triangular formation, each hiding behind an abandoned vehicle.

Wang Hu took a deep breath and took out his walkie-talkie.

"Infiltration team, infiltration team! Respond, this is the assault team! We have reached the designated location, please report your situation?"

A hissing sound came from the walkie-talkie.

"Infiltration team, received! We have arrived near the supermarket entrance and are awaiting signal, ready to enter at any time."

Call ~

Wang Hu took a deep breath and put down the walkie-talkie.

He turned his head to look at Liu Qiang not far away, licked his chapped lips, and said in a low voice, "Old Liu! Get ready to take attendance."

"Understood," Liu Qiang replied, taking out two modified Molotov cocktails from his backpack. He unscrewed the caps and stuffed a small piece of cloth soaked in alcohol into the bottle openings.

"Old Luo, find your spot." Wang Hu then looked at Luo Yongchao.

Luo Yongchao didn't speak, but simply pulled back the bolt of his gun as a response.

"Then... light it!" Wang Hu roared.

Liu Qiang suddenly stood up, his arm muscles bulging, and threw the Molotov cocktail in his hand hard.

The bottle traced an arc in the air and landed precisely on a pickup truck that was leaking oil.

boom!

The glass shattered.

The thick, dark gel-like substance was instantly splashed out.

Immediately afterwards, with a loud "boom," crimson flames shot into the sky, billowing thick smoke.

The flames clung to the vehicle like living things, emitting a terrifying hissing sound. The temperature was so high that even the three people dozens of meters away felt a wave of heat wash over them.

"roar!"

"Well……"

The flames and the loud noise were like a bomb being dropped onto a calm lake.

On the street, roaming zombies were instantly attracted, roaring as they surged toward the parking lot.

"They're here!" Wang Hu's eyes narrowed, and he raised his pistol, ready to aim.

However, Luo Yongchao, who was not far away, reacted even faster. He crouched on the roof of a pickup truck, and the sights of his Type 92 rifle were already calmly locked onto the zombie charging at the front.

boom!

Gunshots rang out.

The head of a zombie exploded, splattering black blood all over the ground.

[Police Officer Luo Yongchao, killed a regular zombie, Order Points +1]

Da da da!

Gunfire became the new rallying cry.

More and more zombies converged from all directions, forming a dark, surging mass, like a tide.

"Old Liu! One more shot! Block the intersection! Don't let them get through!" Wang Hu roared.

Without hesitation, Liu Qiang threw another Molotov cocktail, which exploded at the intersection where the zombie horde was most concentrated.

The improved viscous fuel was spilled all over the ground, instantly creating a wall of fire nearly two people high, with an intense heat wave.

The first few zombies were engulfed by the flames, letting out mournful howls. The mycelium on their bodies was ignited, making crackling sounds. After staggering a few steps, they collapsed to the ground and were quickly burned to charcoal.

The subsequent horde of corpses, blocked by the high temperature and flames, instinctively crowded and hesitated, not daring to force their way through.

However, at that moment...

Boom—!

A loud bang came from the direction of the supermarket.

A heavy truck blocking the middle of the road was thrown about as if by an invisible giant hand, tumbling and crashing into a building next to it, instantly cracking the wall.

Amidst the billowing smoke and dust, a gigantic figure slowly emerged.

The three-meter-tall body was bloated and deformed, covered in keratinized skin, and dragged a giant hook made of twisted steel bars and bones, from which black slime was dripping.

Butcher!

Here it comes.

It didn't roar like the other zombies; it just stood there, its murky eyes coldly scanning the battlefield.

An oppressive feeling far exceeding that of ordinary zombies instantly enveloped the entire parking lot.

"Damn it, that beast..." Wang Hu felt his heart skip a beat: "Attention everyone! The main character is here!"

"roar!"

The butcher roared to the sky and then charged towards the crowd.

dong dong dong~

Each step caused the ground to tremble slightly, like an earthquake.

"Fire!" Wang Hu roared.

boom! boom! boom!

The three fired simultaneously, and a net of fire seemed to weave through the air.

The bullets that hit ordinary zombies exploded into clumps of black blood, but when they landed on the butcher's keratinous skin, they only sent up a few sparks, making a crisp clanging sound.

"It's no use! This guy's skin is too thick!" Liu Qiang shouted as he changed the magazine.

"I'll do it!" Luo Yongchao's voice remained steady, his Type 92 rifle's sights firmly aimed at the butcher's eyes.

Bang bang bang!

Three shots in a row.

The first shot hit the zombie's left cheek, and the bullet bounced off.

The second shot grazed the butcher's ear.

until...

The third shot!

Snapped!

The bullet struck the butcher precisely in the left eye.

Like a watermelon bursting with juice, thick black blood and some kind of gelatinous substance spurted from the butcher's eyes.

"roar!!!"

The butcher let out a howl that sounded less like a zombie and more like a wild beast. His massive body swayed in place before collapsing onto the hood of an abandoned car parked by the roadside, kicking up a cloud of dust.

"Awesome! Well done, Lao Luo!" Wang Hu shouted excitedly.

Luo Yongchao also became excited.

"Damn! Back in the day, I was the best marksman in the entire company!"

"No matter how tough this monster's skin is, if it gets hit in the eye, it'll be crippled!"

However, as soon as he finished speaking...

next second.

The butcher suddenly raised his remaining eye and glared menacingly at the spot where Luo Yongchao was hiding.

It grabbed the wreckage of a car next to it and hurled it at the other party like a stone!

"Watch out, Lao Luo!" Wang Hu's eyes were bloodshot.

Luo Yongchao rolled over, and the wreckage of the car grazed the spot where he had just been and crashed to the ground.

boom!

Scattered pebbles rose into the air and then fell heavily back down.

A large crater was smashed into the ground of the parking lot, and dense spider webs cracked along the ground in all directions.

"Holy crap! Lao Liu! Hurry!" Wang Hu roared.

Without hesitation, Liu Qiang threw two modified Molotov cocktails between them and the horde of zombies.

boom!

Two flames shot into the air and intertwined, forming a huge wall of fire on the ground.

Not only did it halt the advance of the horde of corpses, but even the butcher temporarily stopped, letting out a series of angry roars.

It works!

Wang Hu was overjoyed and rushed towards Luo Yongchao's location without thinking.

While filming, he shouted, "Old Luo! Are you fucking dead? If you're not, say something!"

"Damn it! Even if you die, I won't die." A weak curse came from beside the pit.

Wang Hu looked closely and saw Luo Yongchao lying on his side at the edge of the pit, half of his face covered in blood and dust, his combat uniform torn in several places, and his left leg bent at an unnatural angle, pinned down by a cement block the size of a washbasin.

He gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, and desperately pushed the rock with both hands, cursing, "Damn...it's fucking heavy..."

Without hesitation, Wang Hu stepped forward and pried the stone off Luo Yongchao's leg.

Then, help the other person up.

He shouted to Liu Qiang, who was not far away, "Go! Retreat to point two!"

"They're here!"

Da da da!

Liu Qiang fired his gun as he retreated, moving closer to Wang Hu.

Then, the two men grabbed Luo Yongchao from either side and scrambled away, fleeing frantically without looking back.

Seeing the three running further and further away, the butcher roared and, disregarding the threat of the fire wall, forcibly chased after them.

The fire engulfed it instantly, the flames clinging to its body like living things, especially the thickened keratinous crevices on its surface and the mycelium hanging from its back, which were instantly ignited, emitting a sizzling burning sound and a crackling sound similar to grease bursting.

A thick plume of smoke, mixed with a burnt smell and a strange, sweet, fishy odor, rose into the air.

It let out a painful howl, and its charging speed visibly slowed down, but its intact single eye remained firmly locked on Luo Yongchao's direction.

They caught up, leaving charred footprints with each step.

Clearly, Luo Yongchao's bullet had solidified his hatred level.

"Holy crap! It's almost burned to a crisp, and it can still move?" Wang Hu looked back and was terrified. He grabbed the walkie-talkie and yelled.

"The butcher has been drawn away! The main force is on the perimeter!"

"Infiltration team, you can move out now!"

.......

the other side.

The main entrance of the supermarket.

The sounds of explosions and gunfire could be clearly heard in the distance.

Tang Long put away the walkie-talkie and gestured to Su Yan and Chen Ming beside him.

"Walk"

He uttered only one word before climbing over the broken shop window.

The remaining two exchanged a glance and followed suit.

The interior of the supermarket was completely different from the raging flames outside.

It was dark and deathly quiet here, with dust and the smell of decay floating in the air.

Instead of solid tiles, there was a slippery, soft material underfoot that made a slight "plop" sound when stepped on.

It was a fuzzy carpet of mycelium that looked particularly disgusting.

It covered the entire first floor of the supermarket, like a giant, living skin.

As soon as Su Yan stepped onto the ground, her stomach churned violently.

A strong sense of mental nausea, mixed with countless chaotic, hungry whispers, rushed into her mind.

She forcibly suppressed her discomfort, closed her eyes, and let her mental energy spread out like mercury.

"To the left front, behind the fresh produce shelf, three..." Her voice was soft and trembling, "They didn't move, like they were dormant."

Tang Long gave the signal, and the team immediately changed direction, their steps as light as cats.

"Turn right, to the drinks area...on the ceiling..." Su Yan's voice trailed off, tinged with fear and uncertainty, "...there's something hanging from the ceiling..."

Tang Long looked up.

Above, amidst the intricate network of ventilation ducts, hangs a spindle-shaped, grayish-white sac-like structure covered with pulsating, vascular-like mycelia.

The thing looked like a huge, upside-down fruit.

"Don't make a sound, go around it." Tang Long's voice was completely calm.

Chen Ming saw it too. He pushed up his non-existent glasses and muttered under his breath, "A new type of zombie? Is this... a parasite sac? Or some kind of special incubator?"

The team narrowly avoided several dangerous areas.

until...

"The passageway ahead is blocked, and some animals are wandering around." Su Yan's voice was somewhat hurried. The prolonged perception had greatly depleted her mental energy, and her face had turned pale.

Tang Long stopped and frowned as he looked ahead.

He saw it even without Su Yan reminding him.

That was the main passage leading to the basement entrance, which was blocked by seven or eight zombies.

They are spread out, leaving no blind spots for stealth passage.

"Leave it to me," Chen Ming said in a low voice.

He controlled the tablet, and the ugly drone wobbled as it flew over the heads of the zombies.

Om-! ! !

A piercing high-frequency noise erupted instantly.

The zombies in the passage froze instantly and began to spin in place.

"Quick! Let's go! They can't find their target right now, and the signals they're receiving are garbled," Chen Ming said in a low voice.

The group dared not be careless and immediately passed by the zombie.

Just seconds after the team disappeared around the corner, the ear-piercing noise from the drone also stopped.

The zombies in the passage fell into an eerie stillness. Then, the dim mycelial patterns on their bodies flickered violently a few times before suddenly going out.

The next moment, these zombies seemed to wake up at the same time. Their murky eyes rolled and they pounced on their companions.

Biting, scratching, the scene instantly turned into a chaotic meat grinder.

......

the other side.

The three of them walked through most of the supermarket, and the air around them began to grow increasingly cold and damp.

"arrive!"

A voice suddenly rang out inside the quiet supermarket.

Su Yan frowned slightly as she looked at the half-closed iron gate with a sign that read "Employee Passage".

The door and the surrounding walls were forcibly covered by dense mycelium, like the open throat of a giant beast, giving people a suffocating feeling.

Tang Long walked in front, but instead of pushing the door open rashly, he pressed his ear against the cold iron door.

There was no sound from behind the door, only a faint, eerie smell, a mixture of putridity and sweetness, wafting into my nostrils through the crack in the door.

He frowned and pushed the door open.

The door hinges made a teeth-grinding creaking sound.

The sight behind the door made Tang Long's pupils shrink sharply.

The space inside is very large; it was originally supposed to be the underground warehouse of a supermarket.

However, at this moment...

The walls, ceiling, and floor were all covered by a layer of dark red, slowly pulsating fleshy membrane.

On the membrane, countless glowing hyphae, like living blood vessels, pulsated slightly, flickering and illuminating this eerie space.

The air was so thick it felt like it was about to solidify. Tang Long even felt that every breath he took was becoming extremely difficult, as if something was blocking half of his breathing.

In the center of the entire basement, the most horrifying scene unfolded.

A gigantic, fleshy cocoon floated in mid-air.

It is even larger than the one previously detected by drone, with a diameter that is clearly over five meters.

Beneath the translucent cocoon wall, a huddled, shapeless human figure could be vaguely seen.

Countless thick, vascular-like hyphae extend from its bottom and top, one end deeply embedded in the ground, the other end connecting to the ceiling.

The feeling of absurdity and strangeness went straight to the soul.

It's like a heart forcibly implanted here, recklessly devouring all the nutrients around it.

"Gulp... gulp..."

The fleshy cocoon throbbed rhythmically, and the deep throbbing sound caused the light in the entire basement to flicker on and off.

"Holy crap!" Tang Long couldn't help but swallow hard.

Chen Ming, who was standing to his side and behind, also widened his eyes at that moment.

He muttered to himself, his brow furrowed, his voice trembling: "This structure...this energy radiation pattern..."

"It's not like simple biogenesis; it's more like a highly integrated 'bioreactor,' or a 'breed factory' that's been forcibly catalyzed?"

"If we could cut a small sample, even just the outer symbiotic tissue..."

But unlike Tang Long, there was no fear or apprehension on his face!

Instead, it reveals an almost obsessive, fervent brilliance, the kind of fervor researchers show when they see rare samples.

Tang Long gave the other person a strange look, and subconsciously took two steps to the side.

Damn it!

These researchers are really crazy.

However, at that moment...

"what!"

Su Yan suddenly let out a painful groan.

Blood slowly seeped from the mouth, nose, ears, and even eyes.

He collapsed and was caught by Tang Long.

"It...it knew we were here..." Su Yan's lips trembled as she pointed at the callus: "I could feel it...its fear...and...hunger..."

Before he could finish speaking...

The walkie-talkie on Tang Long's waist suddenly emitted a piercing electrical sound, accompanied by Wang Hu's furious, hoarse roar.

"Zzz... Captain Tang! The Butcher... The Butcher has gone mad! He's rushing back!"

"We can't stop it! Hurry! Hurry!!!"

"We've arrived." Tang Long turned on the walkie-talkie, his voice extremely low. "Prepare to plant the explosives. You guys figure out a way to delay us for another three minutes."

"What the heck?"

"Three minutes? Damn! Even three seconds..."

Shila-

Communication is interrupted.

Tang Long stopped talking nonsense. He glanced at the huge, throbbing fleshy cocoon, then at Su Yan, who was almost unconscious in his arms.

"Chen Ming!"

"Huh?" Chen Ming was startled by the sound and subconsciously turned his head.

"Keep an eye on her." Tang Long handed Su Yan over to Chen Ming, who then realized that Su Yan had been seriously injured.

He hurriedly and frantically helped the other person up, completely dazed.

"No...she...she...what happened to her?"

"What happened?"

Tang Long had no time to explain. He took out the explosives that were tightly wrapped in tarpaulin from his backpack.

Then, he rushed forward in one stride.

The fleshy membrane beneath my feet was sticky and elastic, and every step felt like stepping on the skin of a living creature.

ten meters.

five meters.

one meter.

He rushed to the very bottom of the fleshy cocoon.

This is where the "blood vessels" connecting to the ground are most densely packed, intertwined like tree roots.

Tang Long could even feel the sweet, fishy stench emanating from the fleshy cocoon, as well as the warmth emanating from its surface.

His breathing became slightly more rapid, but he still quickly tore open the tarpaulin, revealing the explosive blocks and fuse inside, just as Liu Qiang had instructed him.

Then, the explosives were tightly secured to the base of the thickest blood vessel.

Seemingly sensing danger, the cocoon throbbed faster and faster, the dark red light almost merged into one, and the surrounding air temperature dropped sharply.

A massive, malevolent mental pressure descended like a landslide.

Tang Long felt as if his head had been hit hard by a heavy hammer, and his vision went black.

He just let out a "plop".

He knelt down on the ground.