Chapter 24: Beast Tide
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Although Ye Daying was only a motorcycle, his speed of 400 km/h was among the top in the world and considered a rare talent. As such, Lin Qing didn't chase him away but kept him by his side.
After telling the rest of the people on duty, Ye Daying left with Lin Qing. Then the three of them found an abandoned bridge to rest under and planned to leave at dawn.
A few hours later, the sky gradually brightened and bathed the earth in a faint light.
After waking up the other two who were fast asleep, Lin Qing climbed onto the bridge to observe their surroundings.
"Little Ying, where are the fiercest and most numerous steel beasts in this area?"
"Haha, Big Boss, you've asked the right person. I've traveled to all the surrounding areas, big and small, so I'm most familiar with the areas where strong and weak beasts can be found.
"There are a total of eight steel beasts here that are at the same level as the python yesterday, and there are more than a hundred ordinary steel beasts clustered in dozens of groups. So, when are we going to attack?"
Huang Quan's eyes lit up. "Looks like we came to the right place. Let's do it then. Let's sweep this area first."
After a few steps, Lin Qing stopped. Huang Quan turned to look at him. "What's wrong?"
"Something's not right. Do you two hear anything?"
"No!"
"Look, the water is moving." Ye Daying pointed at the rippling river. "Is something trying to come out?"
Ripples appearing on the surface of the river… Lin Qing frowned. "This is a vibration. It isn't coming from the bottom of the river, but…"
Roar!
In the distance, tens of thousands of beasts were chasing after hundreds of thousands of commoners and Motorbots. All whom the beasts caught up to were instantly torn to pieces.
Their shouts, screams, blood, and cries formed a living hell.
Ye Daying's eyelids twitched as he said in a trembling voice, "They're people from another base."
Although this was a suburb, it wasn't deserted at all. After all, this was a university city, and there were seven universities within a few kilometers, so the number of people here was shocking.
Ordinary people who couldn't escape after the Cataclysm all headed to the universities, so groups of Motorbots like Jiang Cheng's built safe bases for them in the universities.
This area had a population of around 800,000 people. Essentially, those who couldn't leave were all gathered here.
Ye Daying was worried about the situation on Jiang Cheng's side and said solemnly, "Big Boss, you guys retreat first. I'll inform Captain Jiang."
After finishing speaking, he transformed into his motorcycle form and left in the blink of an eye.
It was morning, and many people were sleeping. So once the army of steel beasts charged over, they wouldn't be able to escape.
Looking at the few gigantic creatures among the army of steel beasts, Lin Qing said unhurriedly, "Looks like we don't need to look for them. They've delivered themselves to our doorstep."
"Are we going to attack them just like that? Isn't that a little too hasty?"
There seemed to be no end to the army of steel beasts, which meant that there were at least tens of thousands of them. Huang Quan wasn't confident facing such a scene.
"Are you kidding me? How are we going to attack with so many of them? Of course, we're going to fight them one-on-one. We'll engage in street fighting in the many alleys of the city and destroy them. Let me make this clear first: the crystals each of us obtain from killing will count as our own."
Then Lin Qing turned into his heavy truck form and went toward the city with Huang Quan following behind him. "Why do you think so many steel beasts are moving together? Is there an even bigger beast controlling them?"
"I don't know the specifics, but this situation is different from that of the python we encountered before."
When tens of thousands of steel beasts attacked Motorbots together, this situation was called a beast tide. This would occur every once in a while in every city.
Lin Qing had encountered them many times in his previous life.
The results of the higher-ups' research showed that beast tides weren't organized by a powerful steel beast but instead seemed to be spontaneous.
Their goal was to wipe out all the Motorbots in the city so that no one could live a peaceful life.
But no answer had been given as to exactly why this took place.
…
"Captain Jiang, you can't just leave us behind!"
"I'm sorry, I was wrong. Please bring me along."
"Jiang Cheng, you are a police officer. Why don't you care about us? Are you worthy of your profession?"
"If you dare to run away, I will definitely report you to the higher-ups later!"
At the university campus, everyone panicked when they knew that a large number of steel beasts was coming. As a result, the people who wanted to chase Jiang Cheng away begged him to stay.
Seeing his gloomy expression, Ye Daying said, "Captain, why bother with them? Let's retreat. The steel beasts will be here in at most two minutes. When the time comes, we won't be able to escape."
But Jiang Cheng couldn't bear to see this. Ye Daying cursed silently. "I've already said my piece. Anyway, I won't help them, so I'll leave first. Take care!"
After Ye Dayang left, some of the Motorbots followed after him. Some ordinary people who believed that helping themselves was best also packed their belongings and left.
…
Boom!
In the city, Lin Qing and Huang Quan punched tall buildings one after another. In a few minutes, fallen buildings split the broad eight-lane road into two.
The two of them continued to topple buildings without rest, forming small paths that were three to four meters wide and had walls that were seven to eight meters tall.
The countless forks eventually led to two places—an abandoned construction site and an urban village.
After doing all of this, Lin Qing smiled. "Which path are you going to choose?"
The road leading to the construction site was the widest, so it was inevitable that there would be the most steel beasts there. Furthermore, it was a dead end. Huang Quan definitely didn't dare to choose the road leading to the construction site. "I'm not as bold as you, so I'll choose the urban village. At least I can run if I can't win."
Lin Qing looked up at the sky. "Alright, let's meet at noon."
"I just realized that you usually hunt steel beasts in the morning or afternoon. That isn't auspicious. Can't you just do it at noon?"
Lin Qing ignored his dry joke. He raised his middle finger at Huang Quan before turning to leave.
…
Everyone in the city was running for their lives as the beast tide chased after them. Those who had cars drove their cars, while those who didn't ran away on foot. Those who couldn't run would crawl into the residential buildings and find a place to hide.
The Motorbots were also running for their lives, but their chances of survival were much higher than ordinary people's. After all, ordinary people couldn't compare to them, be it in terms of strength or speed.
Lin Qing transformed into his heavy truck form, stopped in an alley, and then used a cloth to cover himself. Soon, he heard the roar of the steel beasts.
Steel beasts came from the junctions in an endless stream as they chased after humans.
After he silently counted to one hundred, Lin Qing transformed into his mecha form and punched the tall building beside him. The building, already on the verge of falling, sunk and collapsed, colliding with the building across the street.
The building lay diagonally across the middle of the road and blocked the street, keeping a large number of steel beasts from continuing.
The ground rumbled as Lin Qing caught up with the steel beasts running in front of him. Then he smashed his fist down. This simple action destroyed more than ten steel beasts, and countless cracks spread throughout the ground.
Da da da da!
With sufficient energy, he fired his laser gun bullets at the beasts without any restraint. The bullets that shone gold rained down on the steel beasts, who had no way of escaping as they were trapped in this narrow street.
It was as if the God of Death had swung his scythe. The steel beasts collapsed one after another in waves like wheat being blown by the wind.
"Hahaha, how satisfying!"
In Lin Qing's previous life, he was either being hunted by steel beasts or on the verge of being hunted down. This was the first time he was able to kill so freely.
-- Gift
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