Chapter 381: Tunnel Protection Squad
“Th-Thank you so much!”
After the fan, who seemed like a high school student, took a picture with Meng Chao, she said excitedly, “I didn’t expect that the legendary Meng Chao was so friendly!”
“I’m not a Deity Realm superhuman, just someone at the peak of Earth Realm. There’s no need for me to put on airs,” Meng Chao said with a smile. “But with such a cute supporter like you, I will definitely work hard and reach Heaven Realm as soon as possible! You’re still in high school, right? My younger sister is a high school student too. You have to work hard together with her. Train nonstop and become stronger!”
The fan was so excited after she received his encouragement that her eyes sparkled. She swung her arms and said seriously, “I’ll definitely work hard!”
“Work hard. Also, when you fight against zombies, be careful. Don’t get too close to them!”
Meng Chao smiled and bade farewell to the fan.
He felt really guilty, so he did not quite dare to look Lu Siya in the eye.
“Seize every second possible, huh?” Lu Siya asked with the ghost of a smile.
“You don’t understand,” Meng Chao replied seriously. “The abnormal beasts have changed their tactics and are using psychological tactics. They want to exaggerate the difference between superhumans and normal people so that they can intensify the conflict between them. Then, they can tear apart the communities in Dragon City.
“With that kind of situation in mind, as superhumans, we can’t put on airs in front of normal people. We have to be friendly and be part of the people’s lives. So, we should try to satisfy the fans’ requests, since that will allow us to maintain the harmony in Dragon City!”
“Makes sense. But if this fan was a burly man weighing more than one hundred kilograms, built like a tank, with scars covering his face, and a beard, would you still patiently give your signature and take a picture with him just like you did with the female fan? If you did, you’d make even more sense.”
Meng Chao scratched his head and wanted to defend himself further, but Lu Siya had already flown away.
The Heaven Realm superhumans might be able to freely apply maglev and soar through the skies, but if they wanted to travel long distances, they could not be fast.
After all, the physiological structure of the human body made it certain that humans could not fly.
Even though they could activate their spirit energy and perform short-distance sprints in the air, it used up a lot of spirit energy.
Hence, Heaven Realm superhumans often carried with them lightweight gliders. While above the people, they could glide through the air quickly while subtly changing their direction nonstop until they reached their destination.
When Lu Siya had already risen one hundred meters into the air and started gliding to Red Dragon River, Meng Chao activated his 3D mobile gear and jumped high into the air. Loud puffs of air came out from his gear as he jumped among the buildings. He moved as if he was flying.
One of them jumped and the other glided. Both of them rushed forward. Soon, they passed more than ten streets.
Smoke still curled up from the areas under them. Gunshots and shouts rose and fell. Quite a number of streets still had zombies in them.
One of the shelter areas with temporary tents was thrown into chaos by the zombies.
The two could see a lot of citizens wanting to escape. They squeezed themselves into narrow streets and shoved at each other. Those places were cramped.
It was difficult for the tanks and armored vehicles outside to come in. It was also difficult for the superhumans to make the citizens spread out.
If even one of the citizens there were infected by the new zombie virus, the consequences would be dire.
‘We have to set up defenses everywhere and can’t be hit anywhere. The Home Party’s ideals will put us in a far too passive position against the enemy’s surprise attacks!’
Meng Chao sighed in his heart.
Right now, they only faced monsters and zombies.
In the future, they would face elves, dwarves, dragons, magicians, and all sorts of strange Other World creatures.
Their magic, curses, plagues, bewitchment, and mind control were much stronger than the zombies in terms of invasiveness and destructiveness.
The Colonization Party’s method would not work, but there were problems with the Home Party’s ideals as well. If they thought that building a hoop-shaped defense line around Dragon City would make their defenses impenetrable and let them sleep peacefully, they would end up being beaten up and become mangled sitting ducks.
‘The Colonization Party is full of mad dogs, but the Home Party is full of cowards. Just which path should Dragon City take in the future? It’s a real headache!’ Meng Chao thought.
‘Let’s talk about the battle in front of us right now. We’re just defending and fighting back passively. We can’t win the Monster War like this. It’d be better for us to find the abnormal beasts’ nest, which is likely the satellite city that is even more terrifying than Dragon King Town. That’s the only way!’
The tragedy in front of him made Meng Chao come to a decision. He had to reach Heaven Realm as soon as possible and join the operation to destroy the satellite city that was controlled by the abnormal beasts.
However, he first had to deal with the problem of the abnormal beasts invading and attacking them from all sides.
He and Lu Siya soon left the southern part of the city and reached the banks of Red Dragon River.
During winter, the Red Dragon River was like a hibernating aquatic dragon. It flowed slower than during the wet season in summer, which was why winter was the best period of time to construct a tunnel under the river.
But a lot of minerals and crystals came from upstream, where Monster Mountain Range was, so there were still patches of black shadows rising and falling in the slightly red water.
They were terrifying aquatic monsters who were flushed down by the rapid waters.
If the city used deep water bombs, they could hunt down these monsters and use them as nutritious food.
Yet there were seldom any superhumans who dared to jump into Red Dragon River to fight against the aquatic monsters with their fists deep in the river, because the water flowed too rapidly.
“Is that… a Lion Dragon Fish?”
Now that Meng Chao was at the peak of Earth Realm, his eyesight had become much sharper than when he was a one-star superhuman. Even when he was high in the sky, he could see a large body moving in the river.
On his mission for the Red Radiance Jade mine, Meng Chao and Lu Siya had fought fiercely against two Lion Dragon Fishes in a mysterious lake deep in Graveyard Forest.
Even now, when their cultivation realms and fighting strength had increased a lot, their hearts would fill with fear upon recalling that fight. They did not want a repeat of that fight.
However, if Gao Ye dug a hole into the construction site of the tunnel under the river, then all the water from Red Dragon River as well as the aquatic monsters, including the Lion Dragon Fish, inside would…
Meng Chao gulped and slowed down.
The construction deal for the tunnel under the river was originally won by Spirit Creation Creatures.
However, Spirit Creation Creatures ran into a series of crises caused by Gao Ye’s transformation and had to split up their core assets and experienced technicians into different groups. Then, with help from the abnormal beast research department, they merged with Superstar.
The construction for the tunnel under the river was taken over by Superstar and two other infrastructure companies that were skilled in modifying biochemical beasts, along with a powerful company skilled in runic symbol machines.
It meant that the pie was split into four, and it managed to cover up the scandal of Gao Ye transforming into a monster.
Hence, Meng Chao was quite familiar with the construction site of the tunnel under the river. It was built at the edge of the southern part of the city, and it was at a place where Red Dragon River was rather wide.
Even though building the construction site at a wider area meant that they had more work to do, the flow of water was slower there compared to where the river narrowed. The erosion of the tunnel after it was constructed would also be weaker because of it.
After they received news that a lot of zombies had appeared at the southern part of the city, the construction had come to a halt. The technicians and engineers all armed themselves. The hammers the workers used were powered by crystals, and spirit gas gushed out of them. They could break the toughest stones as well as open the skulls of zombies and monsters.
Once the Red Dragon Army received the alarm from the abnormal beast research department, it immediately sent a rapid response squad over. The men brought with them three armored vehicles and stationed themselves by the construction site.
On the surface of the river there were patrol boats filled with deep water bombs. They went back and forth while looking for signs of abnormal creatures.
When Meng Chao rushed over, Lu Siya was above the construction site. She had already circled the Red Dragon River once. Then, she removed her glider while still in the air and jumped in front of the squad from the army to show her ID.
When they entered the second stage of the Monster War, the monsters continued evolving and growing smarter. The authority and power of the abnormal beast research department kept increasing day by day, and the department was beginning to grow into a powerful organization that could stand on equal ground with the Supernatural Tower and adjudicator court, just as Meng Chao remembered it.
The Red Dragon Army’s commander gave Meng Chao and Lu Siya a standard military salute to show that they would provide aid and firepower as support while the abnormal beast research department took over command of the situation.
“Did anything happen?” Meng Chao asked the Red Dragon Army commander.
“For now, no,” the Red Dragon Army commander said. “We arrived seven minutes ago to set up defenses and listen to movements underground. Right now, there are a lot of pests moving below us. They’re loud and interference is strong. It’s hard for us to get any useful information. But there are no cracks on the surface around us. We didn’t notice any tremors or signs of the ground sinking in the tunnel that is under construction.”
“What about the workers, engineers, and technicians? Have they come out?” Meng Chao asked.
“Some of the workers and engineers have retreated in time. Some are still in the tunnel,” the Red Dragon Army commander said. “A lot of their large construction equipment is operating at full capacity in the tunnel. They need some time to retrieve everything and leave.”
Meng Chao nodded.
Through Superstar, he had come to understand a bit about the construction in the tunnel under the river.
It was the first time Dragon City carried out a construction under a river after they transmigrated to the Other World.
A lot of the construction equipment was made specifically for this construction project. It was to be tested and examined. The engineers had to gather all sorts of data and train people to use the new equipment.
Even the Giant Sandworms and other biochemical beasts had a lot of resources poured into them and were tested repeatedly before they were created.
Various industries and related departments had invested a lot into the construction.
Naturally, the engineers could not just watch as their precious equipment was drowned by the river.
But…
Meng Chao cast a glance at Red Dragon River. Suddenly, he felt that the color of the river near the construction site was off.
The normal color of the water was slightly red.
Right now, it was beginning to turn a murky yellow.
There were also countless bubbles coming from the bottom of the river. It was as if there was something brewing up a tsunami in Red Dragon River.
“There’s something there!”
The patrolling motor torpedo boat on the river also noticed the abnormality.
It immediately fired a large number of deep water bombs into the river.
Bomb! Bomb! Bomb!
Thick water pillars shot into the sky.
The torn limbs of aquatic creatures flew into the air like rain, and their blood died the river red.
But the effect of deep water bombs in a river with rapid current was not that good.
Besides, their target was Gao Ye, an Ultimate Sandworm skilled in digging tunnels.
He could just dig into the riverbed and use the earth that had been accumulating for years there to minimize the impact from deep water bombs.
Besides, this place was too close to the construction site. If they were careless, the deep water bombs would destroy the tunnel under the river.
Hence, the motor torpedo boat did not dare to fire wantonly. It could only fire nonstop at the edge of the tunnel. Aside from killing a large number of aquatic monsters and causing a large amount of earth to fly up, which in turn caused the river to be even more murky and chaotic, they did not manage to drag the Ultimate Sandworm out.
At that moment, loud and piercing sounds came out from the Red Dragon Army commander’s communicator.
His expression changed. “No! Water has spilled into the tunnel!”