The ancient return was exposed by his sister's live stream.

Professor Li slumped to the ground, gasping for breath. Ying Wenjie went over to help him up, but he waved his hand and used his knees to push himself up.

"It collapsed..." He looked at the huge pit, his voice very soft, it was hard to tell whether he was relieved or regretful.

"Thump—!"

A loud crash came from the sinkhole, and everyone fell silent.

It wasn't the sound of falling rocks or a landslide; something seemed to have bumped upwards from below. The ground trembled slightly.

"Thump—!"

The second sound was deeper and more muffled than the first, like something drumming deep within the earth. The earth's strata were jolted upwards by the impact, and cracks spread outwards from the edge of the sinkhole.

"Thump—!"

A third sound. A boulder broke off from the pit wall and crashed into the bottom, stirring up new dust. The sound didn't stop.

Thump, thump, thump—like a heartbeat, like a war drum, like something that has been dormant for countless years awakening.

Qin Zheng stood at the edge of the sinkhole, looking at the bottomless black hole. Behind him, his team members had their guns loaded, and the professors were protected behind the crowd.

He recalled Professor Li's words—"Some evil entity is sealed here."

Qin Zheng's roar echoed throughout the camp: "Retreat to camp! Full alert! Deploy a 360-degree defense with no blind spots! Everyone form a circular defensive circle! Professors, retreat to the very center!"

The tremors underground did not stop. The thumping sounds coming from the giant pit grew more frequent and heavier, like a giant hammer repeatedly pounding the earth's crust.

Gravel continued to fall from the edge of the sinkhole, crashing into the bottom and kicking up dust.

Everyone at the temporary camp stood up; no one could remain seated. Secret Service agents had already deployed around the camp, with light and heavy weapons set up and all pointed towards the ruins.

Qin Zheng stood in the center of the crowd, holding a walkie-talkie to his mouth, but did not give any orders.

Cao Shoujun, who was in the rear, inquired about the situation several times via radio, and he briefly explained the current situation. He was still waiting to see what the rest would be.

Only Professor Wang stared intently at the dense forest surrounding the camp, his voice trembling: "Something's wrong... This tremor isn't coming from the plaza, it's coming from all around. They're here..."

"Rustle and rustle—" came from the dense forest surrounding the camp. It wasn't the sound of wind or falling leaves. Qin Zheng suddenly looked up and surveyed his surroundings.

The rustling sounds came from all directions at once, growing closer and denser, like countless feet crawling rapidly on withered leaves. His face darkened. "They're here! Right in front of us!"

The first strange beast emerged from the dense forest. It was as tall as two people, its entire body covered in grayish-white skin, hairless and bald, gleaming like the belly of a dead fish in the firelight.

Its limbs are thick and strong, with its forelimbs being slightly shorter than its hind limbs, but still quite thick. Its head is enormous, abnormally large, taking up almost a third of its entire body.

It has no horns or ears on its head, its nose is two black holes, and its mouth takes up most of its head.

Two rows of long, uneven teeth protruded from the enormous mouth.

The strangest thing about it is its eyes—it has no eyes. Where eyes should be on the sides of its head, there are two smooth patches of skin.

After several strange beasts, someone finally saw its eyes clearly. They were located under the armpits of its forelegs, two dark red lights that flickered deep within the armpits.

Standing next to Ying Wenjie, Professor Wang, a biology professor, suddenly spoke up, his voice cracking: "It's the Taotie! The legendary Taotie, a ferocious beast! The Classic of Mountains and Seas records that the Taotie has no body but a mouth, eyes under its armpits, and is insatiably greedy! It actually exists!"

But no one had time to think deeply, because the first Taotie moved, the second moved, and more and more Taotie emerged from the shadows of the dense forest, crawled out of the ruins of the ruins, and climbed over the edge of the sinkhole.

Their steps were perfectly synchronized, with none of them rushing ahead, like a well-trained army.

"Fire. Free fire. Annihilate the target!" Qin Zheng's voice was calm and unwavering.

boom--!

The roar of the heavy machine gun instantly tore through the mountains and forests, flames spewed out wildly, and dense bullets rained down on the surrounding Taotie horde like a storm.

Gunfire erupted. The dense gunfire was like popping beans, and the barrage of fire pushed outwards from the edge of the camp, with countless tracer rounds weaving into an impenetrable chain in the night.

Bullets struck the Taotie, sending blood and flesh flying. Their massive bodies convulsed and fell amidst the hail of bullets, but they did not scream. As one fell, another immediately filled the gap, stepping over the corpse of its companion to continue its advance.

These ferocious beasts, though seemingly large and monstrous, are ultimately carbon-based life forms and cannot withstand the saturation attack of modern firearms.

The Taotie in the first row was instantly riddled with holes. Its massive body crashed to the ground, its green eyes completely lost their luster, and its giant mouth was still opening and closing unconsciously, but it was no longer a threat at all.

The barrage of fire did indeed hold them off, keeping the first wave of attacks fifty meters from the camp.

But it didn't hold them off for long; they surged forth in ever greater numbers and density, coming from all directions. The ammunition belts rattled, and the heavy machine gun barrels glowed red-hot in the flames.

But they were getting closer and closer, and these gluttons showed no fear, no retreat, and no pain whatsoever!

Fifty meters, forty meters, thirty meters. A gluttonous beast broke through the gap in the fire net and rushed to a position less than twenty meters from the camp, opening its enormous mouth.

Several rifles turned towards it simultaneously, and more than a dozen bullets poured into its mouth. Its head exploded like a watermelon, and its body slumped forward two steps before crashing to the ground.

But it wasn't fighting alone. More and more gluttons squeezed in through the gaps in the fire net, twenty meters, fifteen meters, ten meters.

The professors stood in the center of the camp. Some had their eyes closed and hands clasped together, some were protecting their equipment, ready to evacuate at any moment, and some were trembling. No one ran—not because they didn't want to, but because they couldn't.

The battlefield was on all sides, and there was not a single way for them to retreat safely.

The gunfire subsided, and the corpses of the Taotie formed a ring of fortifications about half a person's height around the camp. They were still coming, but their numbers had noticeably decreased.

The last few gunshots faded into silence. Smoke billowed around the camp, and the air reeked of blood and gunpowder. No one moved, no one spoke.

When the last gunshot rang out, the entire forest fell into a deathly silence.

All that remained was the sound of a gentle breeze and the strong, pungent smell of blood emanating from the beast's corpse.

Outside the defensive perimeter, a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood, several meters high, had been piled up. Thousands of Taotie beasts had been completely annihilated; not a single one remained standing. If it weren't for this shocking pile of corpses, everyone would have doubted that the terrifying siege they had just witnessed was merely a nightmare.

"Inspect the battlefield, confirm with follow-up shots."

The intelligence agents, guns at the ready, stepped out of the defensive perimeter, treading on a mountain of corpses and a sea of ​​blood. Someone shouted from ahead, "Report! No signs of life."