Chapter Three: The Road Unknown

At the captain’s shout, the team members immediately dropped their food, raised their weapons, and scanned their surroundings with heightened vigilance.

A strange sound, as if descending from the highest heavens, echoed once more in their ears, yet this time, it was distinctly different from the first. The group exchanged bewildered glances.

“My god, what was that? A tiger? Doesn’t sound like one!” Fatty, far from being frightened, was actually excited. He grabbed Morning Light by the shoulders and shook him enthusiastically.

Even as Fatty shook him, Chen Xing seemed oblivious, weighed down by an oppressive feeling in his heart. It was as if an unseen force was summoning him, urging him to move forward. Yet instinct screamed at him, “Don’t go! If you do, you’ll never return, never see your family again, never see your beloved sister or your loving parents.” Still, the inexorable pull within told him that if he did not go, something monumental would happen, something so grave he would regret it for the rest of his life.

Gritting his teeth, Chen Xing ignored Fatty’s grip, threw off his backpack, and, armed with his hand crossbow and the battered sword at his waist, dashed toward the source of the sound. He had to uncover the truth; otherwise, he feared he would never find peace.

Fatty, seeing this, assumed Chen Xing simply wanted to check out the source of the roar. He cried out, “Chen! Wait for me, let’s go together!” and took off after him. Wen Jun and Wang Yan, alarmed, shouted, “Don’t run off! Be careful, it’s dangerous!”

When the two paid no heed and continued running toward the sound, Wang Yan turned anxiously to the captain. “What do we do?”

Wen Jun looked at her, helpless. “What else? We follow. Move out! Everyone, advance at a run. Stay alert and watch your surroundings.” Slinging his automatic rifle over his back, he dashed forward. The others responded with a resounding “Yes!” and charged after him.

While running, Wen Jun instructed Wang Yan and Zhang Yuan, “If there’s danger ahead, you two protect those two idiots and get them out first. Leave the rest to us.” The two women nodded in agreement.

...

Following the pull in his heart, Chen Xing ran about two kilometers forward. Suddenly, the trees thinned, and bursting out of the forest, he felt as if he’d broken through a thin, veiled barrier into blinding brightness.

The sight before him left him utterly stunned: a colossal mountain, its peak lost in swirling clouds and mist. Within the haze, a nine-clawed azure dragon with antlers, eagle talons, and a scaled body soared and wove through the air. From its mouth, beams of bluish light shot toward a black, circular object suspended in the sky.

From within the black sphere, smaller black orbs, each about three meters across, were intermittently ejected. The sphere itself was nearly a hundred meters in diameter, but most of the smaller orbs were intercepted by the dragon’s azure beams, disintegrating into wisps of black smoke before vanishing. Still, many orbs managed to reach the mountaintop.

Only now did Chen Xing notice an enormous white tiger prowling the summit, darting left and right, unleashing blades of wind from its maw to intercept the falling black orbs. But there were simply too many; inevitably, several crashed to the ground.

Upon landing, each orb transformed instantaneously into a monstrous creature, over three meters tall, resembling a mantis with meter-long pincers and armored in black—savage and terrifying. To the hundred-meter-tall white tiger, however, they posed no threat; claws slashed, tail swept, and monsters were shattered to pieces. Unlike before, though, their remains did not vanish into thin air. No one could say how many the tiger had slain, but already the corpses were piled like small mountains along the slope.

...

As Chen Xing stood gaping at the spectacle, a trembling voice stammered behind him: “C-Chen… did we… did we travel… through time or something?” Turning, he saw Fatty’s whole body quivering, legs shaking so badly he could hardly stand. Chen Xing managed a wry smile. “I have no idea either.”

In their daze, someone suddenly yanked them behind a giant boulder. “Are you two trying to get yourselves killed?” hissed Wen Jun. Glancing back, they saw the rest of their nine-man team each taking cover, their guns fixed warily on the summit, fear flickering in their eyes but not a single one retreating.

“Wang Yan, Zhang Yuan, take these two and get out of here—it’s too dangerous,” Wen Jun ordered.

“What about you, Captain?” Wang Yan asked anxiously.

“We’re soldiers. Until we know what’s happening here and whether it threatens the country, I can’t leave,” he replied, shaking his head.

“But this is way beyond anything we can handle,” Zhang Yuan said coolly.

Wen Jun nodded. “I know. But have you considered what might happen if those things get out? We may be powerless to stop them, but at least we need to understand what we’re facing. We can’t just walk away ignorant.”

Just then, a feeble voice piped up: “Comrades, didn’t we just travel through time? Can we even get back?” It was Zhu Fatty, still trembling.

Wang Yan shot him a glare. “You’re overthinking it.”

Fatty started to ask more, but Wen Jun suddenly roared, “Go! Now!” and turned his weapon forward, unleashing a hail of bullets. The others opened fire as well; a few monsters had broken past the white tiger’s blockade and were charging down the mountain. The lead ones were less than a hundred meters away—and to their horror, bullets thudded uselessly against the monsters’ armored shells.

“Armor-piercing rounds, now!” Wen Jun shouted, feeling his scalp prickle with dread. He grabbed a magazine from his belt, swapped it in, and fired at a monster’s head. The shot rang out, and the creature’s skull exploded. Wen Jun exhaled in relief—thank goodness they’d come prepared for unknown threats.

But before he could relax, a teammate hiding behind another boulder yelled, “Captain, it’s no use! They won’t die!”

Wen Jun’s heart clenched as he saw the monster he’d just shot enveloped in black mist, its shattered head re-forming. He shoved Fatty toward Wang Yan. “Get them out, now!”

Chen Xing had regained his senses. Seeing Fatty still barely able to stand, he said to Wang Yan, “You two take him and go. I’ll follow right behind.”

Realizing Chen Xing could still move, Wang Yan and Zhang Yuan wasted no words; they each grabbed Fatty by an arm and hauled him away, knowing this was trouble beyond their power to solve.

Chen Xing glanced at his crossbow, knew it was useless, tossed it aside, and drew the rusty sword from his belt. He followed close behind, glancing back as he ran.

...

Wen Jun and his six teammates fired as they retreated, but the monsters were gaining fast. One soldier, bringing up the rear, gritted his teeth, pulled a grenade, yanked the pin, and hurled it at a pursuing creature. The explosion tore the monster apart, black smoke rising from the remains—but this time, its recovery was much slower.

Wen Jun observed that if the monsters’ heads were blown off, they could recover in a few breaths, but if their bodies were blasted to pieces, it took at least half a minute. “Throw all your grenades, now!” he bellowed, desperate, while glancing up at the mountain to see if any of the tiger’s victims were reviving. The brutal truth dawned: only the monsters they killed would resurrect. Wen Jun clenched his teeth. “This is damned supernatural,” he muttered.

Their grenades slowed the monsters’ advance, but they didn’t have many left. The number of creatures grew, and the white tiger on the summit paid no attention to those making it down the mountain, continuing its assault on the black mist and ignoring the humans below.

Since they hadn’t come far inside, Wang Yan and Zhang Yuan, supporting Fatty, soon neared the forest’s edge with Chen Xing close behind.

Suddenly, disaster struck. From behind a boulder at the forest’s edge, two or three monsters sprang out—evidently, some had reached the foot of the mountain before the team arrived, but the group had been too distracted by the spectacle above to notice.

As the monsters lunged, Chen Xing, acting on instinct, hurled himself forward, knocking the three clear. In a flash of yellowish light, they vanished into thin air.

Furious at the disappearing prey, the monsters turned on Chen Xing, who was sprawled on the ground. He rolled aside, but not quickly enough; one monster barreled into his left shoulder, hurling him more than ten meters. He landed with a groan and lay motionless.

Seeing this, Wen Jun had no time to wonder at the trio’s disappearance. Roaring in fury, he flung his last grenade at the monster attacking Chen Xing. The explosion tore it apart.

The remaining two monsters, enraged by their comrade’s destruction, turned to charge Wen Jun and the others. Wen Jun gave a bitter laugh—more monsters were closing in from behind, and now these circled slowly, hemming them in.

Knowing escape was impossible, Wen Jun threw down his gun, drew the military knife strapped to his leg, and asked his comrades, “There’s no way out. Are you afraid?”

They shook their heads and drew their own knives, forming a back-to-back defensive circle. One said, “Captain, we’re not afraid. In the next life, be our captain again.”

“That’s right, we’re not afraid. Next life, we’ll be together again,” the others echoed.

Catching sight of Chen Xing lying not far away, Wen Jun shook his head in resignation and whispered, “Sorry.” Then, clenching his jaw, he bellowed, “Whatever those monsters are, we were born Chinese, and we’ll die Chinese! Kill!” The team roared and charged the encroaching monsters, the sounds of desperate battle echoing far and wide.

...

Amid the chaos, no one noticed Chen Xing’s prone body stir on the ground. Eerily, he began to float upward, legs folding into a cross-legged posture, hands resting on his knees, a sigh escaping his lips as his eyes remained tightly shut…