"ROAR!"
The Deputy Chief's shocked words had barely faded when a deafening roar erupted from the far end of the warehouse—drowning out even the dense gunfire.
Crash. Crash.
One after another, Enforcer bodies were sent flying. A mountain of flesh, three stories high, squirmed into the Deputy Chief's line of sight.
That mountain of flesh truly was like a mountain—wider at the base, narrower at the top—its surface covered in fur of every color and kind. Its upper half was crowned with dozens of heads of varying sizes: cats, rabbits, dogs, pigs, horses, cattle, and more.
On each side extended a tentacle thicker than a water barrel. With one sweep, several Enforcers were batted away, severely damaged, their internal mechanical structures exposed.
The Deputy Chief knew—disaster had struck.
Perhaps it was a lapse in the Containment Base's management, perhaps it happened so suddenly that surveillance and the guards on duty hadn't noticed the anomaly inside the warehouse!
"All units, target this monster!"
The Deputy Chief screamed hoarsely, drawing his own pistol and firing at the mountain of flesh.
He didn't even need to give that order—the Enforcers had already aimed every palm at the flesh mountain.
But even as hundreds, thousands of bullets struck the flesh mountain simultaneously, they sank like stones into the sea—leaving only a small crater and a spatter of blood before healing almost instantly.
"How is this possible!?"
Witnessing this, the Deputy Chief's eyes nearly burst from their sockets. His body trembled uncontrollably.
The Enforcers were no dumb robots. While still firing at the flesh mountain, they began retreating toward the warehouse entrance, keeping the creature at bay.
Fortunately, the flesh mountain moved slowly. As the flesh at its base squirmed laboriously forward, it could no longer reach the Enforcers.
But then those massive arms changed targets—slamming down onto the iron cages containing numerous mutant animals. Under the impact, cage walls ruptured, bars twisted.
The mutant animals began breaking free.
They were like a flood of savage beasts. The moment they escaped their cages, they lunged madly at the Enforcers—though most of them were scooped up by the flesh mountain's arms and pulled onto its body.
"Deputy Chief, allow me to cover your retreat," the Enforcer squadron leader said, coming to his side.
Even in this situation, the squadron leader showed not a trace of emotion.
"No good, no good! This monster is fusing! I need to report to Chief Fu immediately!"
Watching the mutant animals, struggling violently, being absorbed one by one into the flesh mountain's body—and the flesh mountain's size visibly increasing—the Deputy Chief felt ice run through his veins.
Forcing his rigid legs to move, he sprinted out of the warehouse. The personnel who'd been on duty had long since vanished.
His back was completely soaked in cold sweat, as if a hellish abyss yawned behind him. He kept glancing back in terror at the flesh mountain as he dialed his phone.
By the time the remaining Enforcers had withdrawn from the warehouse, the flesh mountain had already grown to four stories tall.
"ROAR!!"
The flesh mountain let out a heaven-shaking bellow, then rammed its colossal body forward. The warehouse iron gate buckled and collapsed with a thunderous crash!
The machines' storm of bullets couldn't hold back the flesh mountain at all. It simply absorbed most of the escaped mutant animals and slowly squirmed its way out of the Containment Base.
In that moment—
The flesh mountain was officially exposed to the morning sunlight!
It was like a monstrosity that didn't belong to this world, a creature beyond anything in human understanding—utterly bizarre and out of place in this landscape.
Though this was the outskirts, it was still noticed by passing pedestrians and vehicles.
People's eyes went wide, their jaws dropped. They stopped their cars, got out, frozen in place by the terrifying, mountain-like form.
Compared to that colossal mass, the nearly one thousand Enforcer machines firing from a distance seemed so pitifully small.
In an instant, some people wore blank expressions even as their hands raised phones to take photos and videos. Some even started a livestream.
...
"A terrifying giant monster has appeared in Yongan City!"
"Biohazard becomes reality! Is this the end of the world!?"
Very quickly, topics like "Machines vs. Apocalyptic Monster" shot to the top of trending lists—not just the local trending, but the entire Federation's trending.
Unlike last night's stitched monster incident at Beicheng Huayuan Residential Complex, which authorities had managed to suppress quickly,
the news about the flesh mountain stayed stubbornly at the top of trending. The content could not be fully deleted.
Even though social media platforms tried to curb the surge of public discussion and block the information,
they couldn't stop what was essentially a live broadcast. As long as the flesh mountain hadn't been eliminated, live, on-the-ground footage would keep flooding onto the internet.
Even last night's stitched monster was dug up by some sharp-eyed people.
Bai Jie saw the news too.
"Early morning drama... wait, no, I didn't sleep last night... late-night drama, then."
After absorbing the meteorite fragment's spiritual energy last night, Bai Jie had been scrolling through its phone the whole time—never expecting to see such a terrifying monster hit the trending list.
"That flesh mountain monster—either it's been parasitized by the eldritch purple glow, or it's been affected by a meteorite fragment. Either way, there's definitely spiritual energy inside it."
The spider was tempted.
"Perfect. A chance to test my current strength..."
"Lady Bai Zhi."
Suddenly, Lin Binbin's voice echoed in Bai Jie's consciousness.
Its No. 1 Agent was contacting it through the little spider.
Several kilometers away, inside Beicheng Huayuan Residential Complex.
Lin Binbin was carefully holding a transparent golden spider in both hands, focusing his mind on that mysterious power within him, softly calling out to it.
If anyone else saw this, they'd shake their heads: "He's good-looking, sure, but not all there upstairs."
Suddenly, a clear light shimmered over the spider in Lin Binbin's hands, and then that noble, magnetic voice echoed inside his heart:
"I'm here."
Lin Binbin said excitedly: "Lady Bai Zhi, a huge creature has appeared on the city outskirts—formed from countless mutant animals fusing together. What can this subordinate do right now?"
Hearing this, Bai Jie was amused. With a hint of teasing, it transmitted: "I could order you to go destroy that thing and bring me its corpse. Would you dare?"
To Bai Jie's surprise, Lin Binbin answered with unwavering resolve: "As long as it is Lady Bai Zhi's command, I will absolutely carry it out—even if the price is my own life."
"..."
Bai Jie fell silent. This guy's really in deep, isn't he?
After a while, the demonic spider slowly spoke:
"That monster may fuse with mutant creatures, but there are still quite a few mutant animals that escaped from the Containment Base. You will set out immediately for the area and handle those stragglers that slipped through the net."
"As for the monster itself—I have my own plans."
"Understood, Lady Bai Zhi."
Lin Binbin acknowledged. The clear light on the little spider in his hand then vanished.
To ensure he could contact Lady Bai Zhi at any moment, he tucked the spider into a breathable backpack slung behind him before heading out toward the eastern outskirts of Yongan City.
...
Over at the Containment Base on the eastern outskirts, the flesh mountain had now swollen to six stories high.
It had absorbed every mutant animal it could capture—including the corpses already executed by the Enforcers inside the warehouse.
Roughly a hundred or so mutant animals had scattered in all directions, fleeing. They seemed to fear the flesh mountain too, and even when they encountered humans, they were too panicked to attack, focused only on escape.
The Enforcement Department Deputy Chief's distress call had gotten through. Reinforcing Enforcers streamed in endlessly.
This only emboldened the crowd of onlookers, who grew even larger—including some popular outdoor streamers.
Because these people believed that no living creature could withstand modern firepower coverage.
The livestreams continued. They observed that the flesh mountain moved slowly—as long as they kept a few hundred meters away, there was no danger.
Some even knelt on the spot toward the flesh mountain monster, hands clasped, bowing in worship, muttering things like "We welcome the Evil God" and "The Great Old Ones have descended."