Chapter 354: Aftermath from the Fog

The abnormal beasts did not continue attacking the power plant in the north.

But Meng Chao and the group did not relax.

The space-time rifts that looked like mega vortices still remained in the night sky. They were continuously gushing out flying-type monsters that came from deep within the Monster Mountain Range, like the Demonic Air Ripping Eye that looked like giant eyeballs and luminescent jellyfishes, were covered in tentacles, and had powerful mind attacks.

There were also Lightning Golden Eagles, which were creatures that could surpass sonic speed when they traveled at top speed. The edges of their wings were really sharp, and they could cut through the air sacs of armored airships.

There were also giant insects that gathered together to form swarms. They were like squirming tornadoes or demonic palms that descended from the sky. They could bind humans and drag them into the air. In a few minutes, their blood and flesh would be gone. Then, the insects would toss the remains back to the ground.

All sorts of monsters that shone in various colors wreaked havoc above Dragon City, and they really looked like demons dancing in the air.

The battle lasted the entire night.

When dawn arrived, there was still a small number of monsters that moved about in the city. They relied on the ruins, drains, pipes, and the complicated ventilation systems in the buildings to fight against the humans.

Scattered gunshots and the sound of buildings collapsing repeatedly tormented the humans’ minds, which were near breaking point.

Once Meng Chao’s mission of protecting the power plant was over, he went back to his old job—being a harvester.

This time, the fog brought nearly one million tons of monster carcasses to Dragon City. They had to harvest them as soon as possible, or they might transform or cause a plague.

Meng Chao worked hard for an entire day at the garbage power plant and the steel factories around it.

When dusk arrived, he finally dragged his heavy feet and swung his nearly numb hands to the abnormal beast research department. Over there, he could analyze the newest development of monster evolution.

While he was on his way back, he saw that the defense systems of dozens of residential areas had suffered different degrees of damage.

There were more than ten residential areas that were taken down by the monsters. Even though the residents had fled to the underground sanctuary in time, their houses were damaged badly. Countless residents’ warm homes now had burning, broken walls.

Piles of monster carcasses had rotted away because they were not handled in time, and a layer of yellowish-green mist filled the residential areas. The pungent smell was enough to make Meng Chao’s eyes water.

He also heard the booming sounds of explosions coming out from apartments that seemed to be in perfect condition.

Some of the monsters turned into biochemical bombs after their carcasses rotted away. They released balls of acid and poison. The acid corroded the reinforced concrete in the walls, and the buildings lost their strength.

The poison invaded the walls and would linger there for the next few years, which would lead to irreversible damage to the human body, especially to the respiratory and blood circulation systems of children. The damage would not be cured their whole lifetime.

In other words, some apartments might still be standing firmly, but they had been polluted and were no longer suited for humans to stay.

Meng Chao saw a lot of residents looking lost. They either stood or squatted next to the broken entrances of their residential areas. They did not seem to know what they should do.

A girl with a dirty face held a toy bear with torn limbs. There were tears streaming down her face, but she kept comforting her toy bear softly. It seemed like she was asking the toy bear to not be afraid.

Her father rolled up his sleeves in anger. He seemed ready to beat up the bloody monster carcasses until they were even more of a bloody mess.

Her mother wanted to go back to get some stuff back, but a few buildings had collapsed, and the ruins were piled up together. They were also burned by the monsters’ flames. There was no way she could find their home.

The scene in front of Meng Chao overlapped with the tragic scenes he remembered seeing during the later stage of the Monster Way in his previous life. It reminded him that the future could not be changed that easily.

It also warned the Dragon Citizens that even if they managed to win at the northern frontlines, the final victory was still far from their grasp.

When Meng Chao reached the abnormal beast research department, he came to understand the full state of the fog battle this time from Ye Xiaoxing.

Just as he expected, a lot of proof and data showed that the Monster War had now entered the second stage, and the fighting model had completely changed.

First of all, the monsters had become smarter.

Even their coordination in fights had increased by leaps and bounds. In the past, when the fog descended and different monsters came out of the space-time rifts, they did not come out at the same time. And usually, when they appeared, they impatiently launched attacks at human communities. This allowed the humans to defeat each group before the next arrived.

Many of the Heaven Realm elites had the time to kill the monsters in one community before going to another. Just by themselves, they could ensure the safety of four or five communities.

At the same time, since they had no concept of formations and firepower, many monsters would form a long line, even though they had an advantage in numbers. They would just stupidly rush at the humans’ guns and anti-aircraft guns. Aside from turning themselves into sitting ducks and making humans waste their ammunition, their actions were completely meaningless.

But when the fog arrived this time, many monsters, especially the mammals with brains that were relatively well-developed and insect-type monsters that had collective intelligence were much better. They knew how to gather their firepower and coordinate their timing. Then, they attacked the residential areas together so that the powerful fighters could not do anything about it. There was no way for them to split themselves five ways to help everywhere at once.

A large batch of monsters even rushed past residential areas that were already waiting for them with great firepower. They instead gathered together some five different species and attacked old residential areas with relatively weak defenses. Their gathered strength was enough to catch the humans off guard.

Second, the monsters had also learned to attack the important points in Dragon City. The power plants, water plants, crystal warehouses, and gene farms were all targeted.

Among them, the monsters focused the most on the water plants and gene farms.

Aside from the monsters who descended at night, a batch of abnormal beasts like the Flame Rats, Lightning Pythons, and Brain Infesting Worms had long since been hiding around the water plants and gene farms.

Even if their suicidal attacks did not manage to break the basic facilities that supported the operations of Dragon City, the acid and poison they released when they exploded polluted the water source and farms, so Dragon City, which was already having a hard time providing enough resources to its people, would have an even harder time in this regard.

Third, monsters had learned how to assassinate important figures.

Many of the specialists who were engaged in frontier disciplines were assassinated or struck down by monsters who had decided to group together.

Even though a lot of the specialists did not die, the casualty rate of specialists was still much higher than in any of the past fog attacks. It was hard to believe that the high number of specialist deaths was just an unfortunate coincidence.

But it was also unimaginable that the monsters could be in possession of a namelist of the scientists in Dragon City and wanted to use the chaos to get rid of them. The mere idea made people’s skins crawl.

When they thought about how the abnormal beasts had specifically created something like the Brain Infesting Worm to target the human brain and central nervous system, the worries of the abnormal beast research department might be very real. The abnormal beasts and abnormal humans had long since infiltrated Dragon City and were observing, thinking, and learning about them in the dark. They also gradually developed a monster civilization that would not lose to human civilization.

The fog attack might have come to an end, but the aftermath of the battle had yet to be cleared up.

The first problem was the plague.

They always faced a major plague after every battle. This was common knowledge in warcraft.

Besides, the Other World was a place where viruses, bacteria, and cells were too active. The abnormal beasts had also specifically upgraded some monsters to make sure that after they died, their carcasses would definitely explode to spread viruses, which would specifically target the human immune system.

In the next month or so, Dragon City faced three large-scale plagues one after another. The source of disease was always some new bacterial strain. They targeted the human body and did not seem like something natural. They seemed like a genetically produced bacteria.

One of the plagues had even brought back the zombie virus, which had disappeared a long time ago.

The brand new mutated zombie virus could cause a human to turn into a highly mobile zombie within a short half a minute. In just one breath, they could jump up to the third or fourth floor. And even if their heads were blasted off, they might fire off poison that contained fatal viruses when their organs exploded.

It was not easy to get rid of the plagues, however. A lot of people had lost their homes due to them being destroyed or polluted by monsters, so they had to stay in tents or temporary prefab houses.

Those spaces were cramped, and there was a major lack of resources. They could not even guarantee clean water and clean food, which were basic daily necessities. This created beneficial conditions for the spread of viruses.

Rage among humans also spread with the viruses.

Even noble people gradually regained their primal, wild nature when they lived in an environment where they lacked basic resources and their survival instincts were stimulated.

Three-five months after a large-scale fog descended, the crime rate in Dragon City would always increase by several times the average rate.

Aside from the lack of resources, the arrival of the monsters also led to the humans’ mental strength indices plummeting. It caused all sorts of complications since their minds became twisted.

And even if their mental strength indices returned to normal after some time, it did not mean that no injuries were left behind in the brains.

Even if the wounds were healed, horrible scars may be left.

This was even more the case for superhumans.

First, the superhumans were the vanguards in the fight against monsters. When they rushed to the frontlines, they had to face a lot of monsters’ mind attacks, so their mental strength indices were much more likely to fall.

Even sturdy metal would go through metal fatigue if it was bent repeatedly and would snap.

While the human mind was fragile and mysterious.

Second, superhumans’ brain cells and the central nervous system experienced long-term stimulation by spirit energy, so they were more likely to enter spirit energy deviation compared to normal humans.

Monster controllers and machine masters also had to open the ports in their brains to use brainwaves to control biochemical beasts and runic symbol machines. Abnormal beasts, thus, had a much easier time invading their brains and planting seeds of evil.

Hence, every time a large-scale fog descended, a lot of heroes with great achievements under their name would go through spirit energy deviation and fall into darkness. Then, they would turn into evil superhumans who would do harm.

This was something that humans were helpless to change and could only feel sad about.

The Survival Committee and Supernatural Tower wanted to solve all the problems. No one was willing to watch countless citizens lose their homes.

No one wanted to see their companions who had been laughing happily yesterday turn into zombies that had poison dribbling out of their mouths, either.

There were even fewer people who wanted to see citizens fighting fiercely against each other for a bottle of drinkable water, and they did not want to see the heroes who had sworn to protect Dragon City forever be consumed by darkness and turn into lunatics that were like demons.

But if anyone wanted to solve these problems, they needed an astronomical amount of resources.