Little Mushroom - Chap 81

“Lu Feng!”

Hubbard shouted as he saw Lu Feng’s fingers hold onto the edge of the cabin door until it became white. The slightly drooping eyelashes and empty eyes seemed to be trying to cover up their master’s loss but the trembling fingers exposed everything. In the midst of the sea of fire, his voice was hoarse but still calm and powerful. “Prepare to attack.”

Unexpectedly, this attack wasn’t that difficult. The monsters’ attacks seemed to slow down a lot. They were finally no longer obsessively and crazily attacking like they were looking for something. Rather, they were just carrying out an ordinary hunt.

In this ordinary hunt, some monsters turned around and went in the direction of the Abyss. Some continued to attack the institute. Most of the monsters that had entered the research institute were killed by the Simpson Cage. Then the energy of the Simpson Cage was exhausted and started to gradually go out. Even so, the research institute started to fight back and effectively resisted their attacks.

As for the monsters on the periphery, they were firmly blocked by Pl1109’s miniature nuclear bombs and heavy weapons. This was a wilderness mountain. Apart from the tiny yard at the top, there was no need to hold back. Just like above the vast plains of the Underground City Base, the fighter formation was really playing its role here.

The inside monsters were gradually killed and wiped out. Heavy weapons set up an insurmountable defense line around the research institute. The monsters from the Abyss were naturally intelligent enough to think. After a bit of deliberation, they turned around and retreated.

They came suddenly like a tsunami and fell back slowly like the tide. On this sad mountain peak, everything fell silent two hours later. Red, white and all types of liquids were filling the open space in front of the institute. At noon when the sun was most dazzling, the blood glistened.

PL1109 landed slowly and human officers visited the white building where Polly Joan was located. They didn’t seem to be bothered by the differences between humans and heterogeneous at the research institute. They just eagerly asked what happened. They regarded the Highland Research Institute as compatriots. After explaining about the stable frequency, Polly Joan thanked the Northern Base for its selfless support.

“How is the base?” he finally asked.

However, only silence was the answer. In the suffocating silence, a sudden sound came from the emergency communication channel.

“This is the Northern Base.” Dr Ji’s voice quivered slightly. “Hello, I would like to ask about the situation.”

“This is the Highland Research Institute. Greetings.” Polly responded. “The monsters have retreated. The number of survivors is 37.”

“The Northern Base… the monsters are ebbing.” Dr Ji’s voice was hoarse in the midst of the electrical current sounds. “The base personnel have retreated to the core laboratory of the magnetic field centre. The number of survivors… 342, with 136 seriously injured.”

“Air strikes are ineffective, thermonuclear weapons are unavailable , the light weapons are in danger and the soldiers are in distress.” He gasped heavily as if suppressing something. “Monsters are no longer attacking humans frantically but they still haven’t given up on eating existing humans. I… we’re still defending the core laboratory…”

Polly gazed silently at the blank screen.

“Are you hurt?” he finally said.

Dr Ji’s voice finally had a tremor of emotion in the formulaic tone. “I’m injured. Mr Polly, we’ve never met but…”

He didn’t continue. After a short breath, he changed the subject. “I have served the base for 20 years. I am very smart but I haven’t helped the base obtain any breakthrough, Mr Polly.”

“In the past, I heard people from the Northern Base say you presided over the development of genetic testing equipment. Now they say that you have extracted a stable solution, which might be the reason why the artificial magnetic poles haven’t gone wrong in today’s distortion storm.”

“Thank… thank you.” The opposite Dr Ji said. “We will defend the magnetic pole to the last moment but please also… be prepared for the magnetic field to disappear. Please… take care.”

Then there were chaotic breathing sounds. There was an intermittent current sound then murmurs, voices giving out orders, gunfire, screams, items falling and walls collapsing. Inside the Highland Research Institute, there was silence.

Finally, someone asked, “That… are we going to die?”

If the Northern Base was unable to hold on then the global magnetic field couldn’t escape the fate of disappearing. The PL1109 formation can bring support fire but it was limited. How many days could they hold on with the magnetic field gone? Despite the endless sacrifices and stable frequency, there was still no hope of life.

Humans were still looking at the full moon in the water. No one answered. It was dead silence, the air like a clump of rotten meat. Someone laughed slightly, like a knife scratching on frozen, rotten meat. It was full of mockery. However, in this dead silence, the hissing current suddenly paused and another strange sound came.

“Hello.” The other side’s pronunciation was jerky and only a few syllables could barely be distinguished.

“I’m sorry, the instrument failed and I wasn’t able to successfully send a message to the emergency communication channel. This is the Underground City Base’s command centre.”

The air was stagnant.

“This is the Highland Research Institute,” Polly replied. “What is the status of the Underground City Base?”

“Everything is fine at the Underground City Base. After the monsters collectively attacked the base two months ago, we closed the ground gates and adopted a full blockade mode. Today, the plains aboveground were filled with a large number of monsters but due to the geographical advantage, we haven’t been invaded.”

Polly moved slightly. He heard the other side continue, “The Underground City Base thanks the Northern Base for its selfless assistance two months ago. In particular, Colonel Lu Feng for making the rescue decision.”

“After learning of the situation in the north, the weapons, materials and ammunition provided by the Northern Base to us have been loaded on a transport aircraft. The transport aircraft’s formation has taken off from the Underground City Base six hours ago and it is accompanied by 1,000 airborne troops. They will arrive at the Northern Base in half an hour for rescue.”

“We are asking the Northern Base to hold on for 30 minutes.”

There was the sound of something slipping. Then Dr Ji’s very low but very determined voice was heard.

“We can do it.”