"Hello? This is Adrian!"
A First Rank fire mage answered the call.
"Hello, this is Rossi. What’s going on with you people, only answering now?"
The voice of the liaison officer for Team 04 was full of suspicion, as if this group was up to some sort of major rebellious conspiracy.
"Ah! I was washing my hands in the bathroom and just picked up the phone."
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Adrian Benjamin continued to lie with his eyes wide open.
"Listen, there’s been a new development at your assessment point, the mutant BF-1334 that was originally there has been driven out by another group of mutants, SS-0792. I’m sending you the details now. Review them and respond to me immediately, understood? No delays!"
Liaison Officer Rossi spoke rapidly, obviously the complete annihilation of Team 07 had scared the corresponding liaison officer, causing him a great deal of agitation.
Previously uninterested in inquiries, now the moment there was a stir, he was eager to send a reminder, a complete turnaround from before.
"Understood!"
As soon as Adrian finished speaking, his phone emitted a brief electronic beep. Glancing at the pop-up window, Liaison Officer Rossi had sent over a document.
After ending the call, he immediately shared the document with the rest of Team 04 so they could update themselves with the latest intelligence.
Ocean Continent was truly a paradise for mutants, with them evolving more completely here, possessing stable social structures. In a sense, as long as they could survive, mutations were benign and beneficial.
Mutant code BF-1334 was a hive-type carnivorous bee community, occupying the crater of a dead volcano, creating its own lair from the leftover lava tunnels and crevices. It relied on capturing other mutants and cultivating a special moss for food, which was higher in nutritional value and specifically fed to the breeding queen insect, possessing certain medicinal and economic value. After breaking through such a lair type, it was crucial to collect this moss as it represented a significant extra profit.
The opportunistic mutant code SS-0792 were large scorpion-like creatures with ten legs, adults the size of a large truck, their shells tough enough to withstand close-range fire from light weapons. Additionally, their shells were covered with a hard sand shell mixed from their saliva and sand, as strong as high-grade concrete, not even a hand grenade could easily blast it open.
Although the scorpion mutant SS-0792 had forcibly occupied the old lair of the bee mutant BF-1334, it hadn’t killed the queen insect. Among the remaining few worker insects, the queen insect fled in panic, hiding in a sand dune ten kilometers away, where it constructed a temporary nest. The entire group was severely weakened, but as long as there was ample food, the queen could quickly restore the group’s numbers and seek justice from the scorpion mutant SS-0792.
Now, as Team 04 aimed to take over the coveted dead volcano crater, they inevitably had to face harassment and attacks from both parties.
After reviewing the information, First Rank fire mage Adrian Benjamin promptly redialed Liaison Officer Rossi’s communication number.
This liaison officer was ill-tempered, spoke harshly, and never showed a pleasant face, but so far, he hadn’t caused any trouble for Team 04. As long as their dealings remained strictly professional, there shouldn’t be any big issues.
"Hello, Liaison Officer Rossi, this is Adrian!"
Liaison Officer Rossi, eager, asked, "Did you read it? Tell me your tactics!"
Even with mental preparation, Adrian was still choking on the forte response, and he said with a bitter smile, "Uh! Not yet, we need to do some reconnaissance first…"
The information had just arrived. In such a short time, how could they possibly devise a response plan on the spot? They were humans, not deities, and didn’t have such quick efficiency, especially since Team 04 was made up entirely of combat personnel without a single person experienced in staff work or related strategy.
"What? You haven’t figured out a plan yet, and you have no idea how to proceed with the fight? Really, you all are so unprofessional!"
Seizing the opportunity, Rossi began to vent then and there.
Adrian was using speakerphone, so the sound was loud enough for everyone in the vehicle to hear clearly.
"You old fool, what are you talking about? If you’re so capable, then you do it! If not, shut up!"
The tall dark figure trapped in the bathroom roared angrily, even banging on the door; not only was it the plain truth, but also what everyone was thinking.
It seemed like he wished he could burst out and wrestle Liaison Officer Rossi out of Adrian’s phone, pin him to the ground, and pummel him eight hundred times to quell the anger in their hearts.
Rossi, furious, asked, "Who, who is talking?"
He heard that annoying voice again!
"It’s Apu, he wants a duel with you. How about I set it up for you two later?"
This time, Adrian didn’t cover for the big guy a second or third time. Instead, he turned the tables on the ill-tempered liaison officer.
"..."
Rossi’s voice, rough as a broken gong, abruptly ceased.
A duel? What kind of duel?
He was just an ordinary man, not even a supernatural power user. How could he fight one-on-one with a Second Rank Thunder Series warrior?
A mere moment’s eye contact would likely leave nothing but a scorched remains of him on this earth!
Seeing his ruse succeed, Adrian tentatively asked, "Hello, hello, Liaison Officer Rossi, are you still there?"
"I, I am?"
Rossi’s voice was tinged with panic; he forcibly calmed himself and, gathering courage, said, "You have one hour to deliver... hiss, submit... your... "
Then the call suddenly cut off.
The fire mage paused, immediately tried to redial, but couldn’t get through, and quickly even the signal strength plummeted, in the blink of an eye, dropping to the lowest notch.
"The weather outside has changed!"
Chen Fei’s voice came from the driver’s seat as the mobile base vehicle decisively stopped on top of a sand dune, providing an excellent panoramic view.
Everyone hastily looked out of the windows, only to find that the previously clear blue sky had at some point turned into a dim, yellowish haze.
Directly in front of the vehicle, a massive sandstorm advanced like an unstoppable wall, swiftly engulfing the dead volcano on the desert horizon and heading straight for Team 04’s mobile base vehicle.
Bright, striking lightning occasionally flashed through the swirling dust clouds, accompanied by the distant rumble of thunder.
There would be no torrential downpour to follow, only the howling winds and flying dust and stones.
"It’s a sandstorm!"
Adrian glanced at it and his expression turned somewhat grim.
Although sandstorms were the most common adverse meteorological change in the desert, he had not expected to run straight into one so soon after arriving near the assessment point.
"All signals are cut off!"
Mouri Misono pouted as she was interrupted from watching videos online.
B-rank Ice Ability User Susanna Jean Piault glanced at her phone and said, "Mine too!"
Everyone else checked their phones, and almost everyone had lost their connection.
It seemed that the sandstorm, with its strong electrical charge fluctuations, had severely disrupted the communication networks.
"Beep!"
Misfortune did not come singly; the radiation counter that was monitoring external radiation levels suddenly emitted a warning, as the radiation outside spiked and approached the safety threshold.
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The sandstorm advanced with incredible speed, reaching the mobile base vehicle in the blink of an eye. Through the front windshield of the driver’s seat, a monstrous wave of rolling dust engulfed the entire world outside.
"Shut down the internal and external ventilation systems."
Chen Fei, well-prepared, issued the command. The vehicle emitted a faint sound as the ventilation systems, equipped with filters, ceased their functions. The spacious interior of the vehicle still had compressed air, carbon dioxide/oxygen exchange devices, and oxygen generators, along with a dozen potted plants that could sustain a sealed environment for an extended period.
Instantly, the sandstorm swallowed up the entire mobile base vehicle. Fierce winds howled outside, causing the vehicle body to shake slightly, and countless grains of sand continuously struck the armor and windows, producing a crackling sound. The light outside dimmed rapidly, as if nightfall was approaching.
Not long after the ventilation systems were shut down, the radiation counter’s alert tone turned into a continuous tone, interspersed with a rough, gravelly rhythmic sound, indicating that the external radiation levels had exceeded the safety threshold and posed a fatal threat to human health.
The vehicle body and windows blocked the omnipresent nuclear radiation, ensuring that the radiation levels inside the car remained far below the safety threshold and almost indistinguishable from normal natural environments.
"Bang!~"
The vehicle suddenly shook violently as if something large had collided with the mobile base vehicle. Everyone quickly grabbed onto nearby fixed objects to barely stabilize themselves.
"What was that?"
Adrian only noticed a sudden darkening on one of the windows, which then returned to normal.
"A mutant has hit the vehicle!"
Chen Fei, in tune with the vehicle, detected it instantly.
Boom... boom... boom...
The cabin began to rhythmically vibrate again.
A-rank Metal Ability User Kiterley, somewhat unsure, asked, "What’s going on now?"
"There’s a giant creature passing by!"
Even the sandstorm couldn’t stop the detection equipment on the mobile base vehicle.
A creature as large as the dead volcano at the assessment point for Team 04 passed extremely close to the mobile base vehicle, with its intimidating size scanned and outlined by the radar.
Looking out the window, a vast shape could be vaguely seen leisurely strolling through the storm of flying sand and stones.
"It’s huge!"
Mouri Misono, who had rushed to the window, caught a glimpse of part of the creature’s body, and the intense fear that surged from within her made her pale, her mouth agape, yet unable to make a sound.
Chen Fei, itching to act, suggested, "Should we hit this big guy with a 152?"
Wondering if a demolition bomb fired from a railgun with a 152mm caliber would make this giant creature cry for half an hour.
"No!"
A chorus of horrified protests erupted inside the vehicle.
Goodness, playing on such a grand scale!
They feared that in the next moment, the wiped-out team would not only include Team 07 but also add Team 04.
A real mountain-like monster stepping down could likely turn the entire mobile base vehicle into a flat disk of metal.
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