On the other end of the communicator, seven special warfare soldiers in tactical formation silently approached the source of the eerie sounds. Beads of cold sweat lined their backs as their fingers continuously stretched and clenched, attempting to adjust their grip on their weapons. It was clear they were very nervous.
In the Seventh Squad, except for the squad leader, Sun Qiang, the other six members were on their first combat mission. Although their usual training was extremely rigorous, the entity they were facing now was an unknown monster, coupled with the bizarre scene at the site, it was understandable for them to be afraid.
In the corridor, the lights had long been extinguished. Even though it was daytime, the hallway remained dim, making the atmosphere oppressively heavy.
In the command vehicle, Captain Liu, through the monitor worn by Sun Qiang, watched intently at the screen, also holding his breath, daring not make any significant movement, as if afraid of disturbing something behind that screen.
This monitoring equipment was not standard issue for the special forces. As such, only their squad had this device.
In the corridor, Sun Qiang carefully avoided a puddle of blood, as he and several teammates enclosed the doorway.
The door of the duty room was open, and the strange gurgling sound inside suddenly stopped. The atmosphere, far from relaxing, became even tenser.
Sun Qiang signaled to the others behind him, and everyone immediately sprang into action, almost simultaneously, with the first two bursting into the duty room.
Yet, the very next second, a sharp, piercing sound erupted, followed by a bizarre occurrence. The seven special warfare soldiers, almost at the same moment, lost consciousness and collapsed to the floor, like seven puppets severed from their strings, utterly defenseless.
A faint sound simultaneously emitted from Sun Qiang’s chest, where the monitor sparkled with two brief flashes of light before it completely malfunctioned.
Inside the command vehicle, Captain Liu looked at the now darkened screen, sinking into a prolonged silence.
"Did you see it? What on earth was that thing?" Captain Liu softly asked a young soldier next to him, almost as if talking to himself.
The young soldier’s expression froze, and his fingers couldn’t help trembling slightly: "It was real, a monster."
Without responding, Captain Liu activated the replay function, adjusting the time to the last second before the recording was interrupted. The screen image froze on the scene inside the duty room, but the blood-red figure inside was still visible.
"Is this... a butterfly?" Captain Liu murmured, his mind now preoccupied with the image of the gigantic blood-colored butterfly.
After a while, he suddenly snapped back to reality and immediately picked up the communication device, connecting to a special channel.
"No, we must report this immediately! Xiao Wang, don’t just stand there. Arrange for two snipers to take position immediately, we’ll try to eliminate the target!"
Thirty minutes later.
The rumble of vehicles echoed down the street outside Huangkou Hospital, as a line of armored vehicles drew near from a distance and stopped at the outer perimeter of the police cars.
As soon as the vehicles had come to a stop, countless fully armed warriors leaped out and swiftly completed their deployment. Captain Liu had already met with several policemen outside the command vehicle to welcome them, and the entire process from meeting to task handover took less than two minutes.
"Captain Liu, Director Cai, thank you very much for your hard work. The rest will be handled by the Second and Third Battalions," a dark-skinned man, who looked no older than 35, said from another command vehicle. "Oh, sorry, I forgot to introduce him. This is Minister Hu from the Abnormal Event Emergency Investigation Department. He will be in charge of such operations from now on, and we are just here to assist him."
Hu Hu nodded to everyone, then furrowed his brows as he looked at the computer screen in front of him, which displayed the last recordings from the Seventh Special Warfare Team.
"A blood-red body, with a wingspan nearly the height of two adults, such a monster has never been seen before..." he said, his gaze shifting to a man in a white lab coat, "Tan Hao, what do you make of this?"
The questioned Tan Hao adjusted his glasses. He was the proud student of Mr. Wen from the Third Research Institute of Qionghua City. This time, he had been ordered to accompany Minister Hu and others from the Abnormality Department here to carry out the urgent task and perform related biological behavior analysis and gather abnormal intelligence.
"Minister Hu, we have not encountered such a creature before either. It’s hard to analyze it from just one image. However, based on the information from Captain Liu’s team, I initially suspect it uses powerful sonar for destruction."
"Looking at the status on-site, it seems to have considerable intelligence. Most of the civilians are in a comatose state, which fits the pattern of an animal storing food. Considering its appearance, I suspect this creature might be using us to provide a continual source of food... or perhaps as breeding resources..."
Hearing his analysis, everyone nodded silently, while the dark-skinned man completed the preliminary strategic deployment centered on Building 5 during this time.
"Camp Commander Qiu, we have arranged two snipers, located 500 meters and 700 meters away, respectively, in two medical buildings for observation. However, the room where the monster is located has a lot of cover, and the pathways for attack are limited, so our team’s firepower can’t cause effective damage. I hope you can arrange for anti-materiel snipers to carry out the decapitation strike," Camp Commander Liu explained the situation to the newly arrived officer. Although his own rank was higher than the other’s, when it came to mobilizing equipment, their special warfare team’s firepower was significantly less than that of the regular army.
Upon hearing this, Camp Commander Qiu immediately arranged for two snipers to move into position, attempting to kill the target directly.
"Gentlemen, I just looked at the satellite images, and I’ve also marked some floors. Within a half-kilometer radius centered on Building 5, there’s a large number of civilians in a comatose state. I initially suspect that the target may possess wide-area attack capabilities, but I also can’t rule out the possibility of other monsters in other buildings," Minister Hu commented, pointing at a circled area on an overhead map. "The primary purpose of the Second and Third Battalions this time, besides providing firepower support, is also to rescue the affected civilians. I hope everyone can quickly rescue the unconscious masses while always being mindful of their own safety to avoid any loss of combat capability and negative impact on the rescue plans."
Inside the command vehicle, the others also quickly offered their thoughts on the operation. Everyone spoke quickly, with the entire conversation being free of any delays or trivial talk. Thus, the final action plan was swiftly put together, and as orders were passed down through the ranks, the entire Second and Third Battalions sprang into action with astonishing efficiency.