Chapter 130 - 101: Superpower User Squad

Chapter 130: Chapter 101: Superpower User Squad

In the afternoon, a massive, earth-shaking explosion tore through the relative tranquility of the temporary base without warning.

BOOM—!!!

The sound was muffled yet incredibly piercing, as if originating from deep within the earth or perhaps the death wail of a colossal facility being utterly destroyed. Xu Mo, who had been resting, was violently jolted from his semi-cultivation state by the intense tremor and shockwave.

Xu Mo’s eyes snapped open. His sharp gaze swept toward the window, but all he could see was dust shaken loose by the tremor, trickling down from the ceiling. He raised his hand to look at his watch. It was just past 3:10.

The rest area was instantly thrown into turmoil, like a pond shattered by a dropped boulder. Most of the people who had been sleeping soundly to regain their strength sat bolt upright, their faces a mixture of confusion and fear. Some instinctively reached for weapons by their pillows, while others glanced around nervously. However, a good number of experienced veterans, or old-timers like Feng Dayong, were different. After briefly waking up and judging the explosion to be distant with no follow-up attack, they simply muttered a curse, rolled over, pulled their blankets over their heads, and went back to sleep. To them, seizing every moment of rest on the battlefield was far more important than investigating the occasional blast.

Xu Mo, however, had lost all desire to sleep. The scale of that explosion far surpassed any ordinary shelling or explosive, carrying an unusual implication. He simply got up, straightened his clothes, grabbed his personal AK-47 rifle, and decided to go take a look outside.

Stepping out of the factory building that served as the rest area, Xu Mo found the afternoon sun somewhat glaring, though it couldn’t disperse the lingering scent of cordite and faint stench of rot in the air. The temporary base hadn’t descended into chaos over the explosion; it maintained an orderly bustle. Combatants went about their duties, logistics vehicles shuttled back and forth, and the sentries behind the fortifications remained as vigilant as ever, as if the great boom had been nothing more than a dissonant yet long-since-familiar note on this battlefield.

Xu Mo noticed buses full of people periodically entering the base. Guided by a team of combatants, they proceeded in an orderly fashion toward a newly constructed tent area.

’They’re probably reinforcements transferred from the core district of Jiang City, or newly conscripted survivors,’ Xu Mo surmised. ’Looks like personnel losses on the front lines are really high, requiring constant replenishment from the rear.’

Just as Xu Mo was observing these newcomers, a series of sharp, urgent horn blasts, accompanied by the violent roar of an engine, approached from the distance, instantly drawing everyone’s attention.

From the direction of the base entrance, an infantry fighting vehicle in desert camouflage appeared, like a wounded iron behemoth. It completely ignored the base’s speed limit, horn blaring manically as it charged into the interior at extreme speed. The vehicle’s hull was covered in fresh scratches and grime, and the reactive armor on one side was unnaturally twisted and scorched.

The combatants guarding the entrance seemed to have already been notified. They showed no intention of stopping the vehicle, instead quickly moving the barricades to clear an unobstructed path for it.

The fighting vehicle charged into the base with a tragic ferocity, then slammed on its brakes in what was obviously a pre-cleared open area. Its tires screeched against the ground, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Once the vehicle stopped, the rear hatch was kicked open from the inside with a loud CLANG. The first person out was a burly man nearly 1.9 meters tall. He was dressed in a set of custom black combat fatigues that strained to contain his bulging, knotted muscles. However, what truly caught Xu Mo’s eye wasn’t the man’s incredible build, but the extremely faint, yet very real, gray aura swirling around his body.

The glow was not caused by sunlight reflecting off dust; it had a dense, restrained quality, as if it were cloaking the man in an invisible suit of rock armor.

Xu Mo’s pupils contracted. The sensation of that glow was strikingly similar to the faint sheen that appeared on his own body when he circulated his Qi and Blood Power using the Thirteen Grand Protectors’ Cross Training, yet its properties seemed entirely different.

’A Superpower User?!’ The thought instantly flashed through Xu Mo’s mind.

The burly man’s face was anxious, his eyes filled with unconcealable grief and indignation. After exiting the vehicle, he immediately turned and, with the help of another teammate, carefully lifted a stretcher out from the back.

On the stretcher lay a woman. She had a head of red hair that was as brilliant as a flame, even while she was unconscious. She appeared to be no more than twenty-something, with fine features, but her face was now pale as paper, a trickle of blood still wet at the corner of her mouth.

She had clearly been through an incredibly fierce battle. Her combat fatigues were torn in many places, but the most alarming sight was her abdomen. Though it had been crudely bandaged, fresh, crimson blood was continuously seeping out, dyeing the bandages a dark red.

"Hong, hang on! We’re back!" the burly man said, his voice hoarse and heavy as he looked at the woman. His fists clenched instantly when he saw her unconsciously cough up another small mouthful of blood, the knuckles cracking with a POP.

The medical staff who had been waiting nearby immediately rushed forward. They quickly examined the woman’s injuries and began emergency treatment, setting up an IV line with swift and practiced movements.

Only then did Xu Mo see three or four more people jump down from the fighting vehicle. They were also well-equipped, their weapons and gear a clear cut above those of ordinary combatants, marking them as an elite squad. But their condition was abysmal; all of them were pale and grimy, their eyes filled with exhaustion and residual fear. One man’s arm was fixed in a makeshift splint. The moment they got out, they began to scan their surroundings warily. A member who looked like the squad’s communications officer immediately picked up a radio, reporting something in a rapid, anxious tone. While speaking, he kept looking up at the sky, as if desperately waiting for something.