Chapter 49 Who Says Metal Jets Aren't Fireworks

What are some world-famous paintings set in the moonlight?
Chen Jian could only think of two.
One was Homelander’s Crescent Moon Sky-Piercer, and the other was Spider-Man descending from the heavens.
But right now, he felt like he was looking at a third.
A massive, terrifying, blood-soaked monster leaped high into the air, then slammed fiercely back down onto the ground, shattering the long-weathered and fragile architecture.
Dust billowed into the air as if an explosion had just occurred. Had the drones in the sky not identified its thermal signature and maintained continuous tracking, Chen Jian would have doubted whether his squad could still keep track of the creature's exact location.

"Should we leave?! There's still time!"
Xu Lie, standing nearby, slashed down a charging gopher-beast and asked in a hoarse voice.
He was genuinely terrified. If he had merely felt the threat of death before, at this very moment, death was truly right before his eyes.

"We can't leave."
Chen Jian rapidly deployed his weapon rack, unstrapped a mortar, set it up, and spoke to Lei Jie:
"Keep up the bombardment! Drones, calculate the impact points and stop it!"
"He Shu, see if you can hit its legs! Even buying a few seconds will be enough!"
"Shen Yue, go help Lei Jie. One shell each!"
"Understood!"
"Received!"

Facing a formidable enemy, the four members of Chen Jian's squad showed not a shred of panic.
They still executed every movement in an orderly fashion, seemingly completely unaware that they could be dead right here in a minute.

"What the hell are you trying to do?! Your weapons can't kill it!"
"If we leave now, we still have a chance to get out!"
"We can't win! And neither can you!"
"What the hell do you know? We specialize in fighting impossible battles."

Chen Jian raised his Type 191 rifle and rapidly fired a few controlled bursts, while simultaneously deploying the weapon rack mounted on his shoulder, which held an individual anti-tank rocket launcher.
"Lei Jie, give me your launcher."
"I'm going to fire a double salvo. Hurry!"
"Catch!"
With one hand, Lei Jie shoved a shell into the mortar breech, while with the other, he tossed the detached rocket launcher toward Chen Jian.
Chen Jian snatched the launcher, quickly brought it to aim, and stood quietly in place.
His gaze tracked the slow movement of the monster. Meanwhile, the two mortars operated separately by Lei Jie and Shen Yue had already fired their first synchronized salvo.

"Bang!"
"Bang!"
High-explosive fragmentation shells smashed down with a shrieking whistle. One landed less than 10 meters in front of the monster, while the other once again struck the creature's dorsal carapace.
"Boom!"
"Boom!"

The shockwave of the explosions disrupted the gopher-beasts' judgment as they had been swarming toward the eight-member squad. The creatures froze in confusion, turning their heads in an attempt to pinpoint the source of the sound.
The pressure on the four members of the Blood-Saint Squad plummeted instantly, yet now, they found themselves completely unable to help.
A sense of powerlessness and near-death despair surged up simultaneously. Looking at the monster that was already "within arm's reach," Xu Lie gritted his teeth and said:
"We're leaving. There's no reason for us to throw our lives away with you!"
"Let's go!"
As the words fell, Xu Lie took a leap and jumped off the overpass, but when he looked back, he found that his teammates had not followed.

Li Shi still stood in front of Chen Jian, holding a makeshift shield cobbled together from scrap steel. Xie Liu was somewhat flurriedly mixing his concoctions, then rapidly splashing them onto the ground around the squad, seemingly trying to mask their scent.
Zeng Yi had also jumped off the overpass, but instead of retreating, he charged toward a group of gopher-beasts dazed in the open area.
He glanced back at the shouting Xu Lie, and then plunged into the fray without a second thought.
His long blade tasted blood.

Chen Jian had no time to worry about the division within the Blood-Saint Squad, knowing well that the situation was already perilous in the extreme.
The distance between them had shrunk to just 800 meters. If a victor could not be decided within these 800 meters, the outcome would be self-evident.
However, he was not entirely lacking in confidence.
Two anti-tank rocket launchers loaded with metal-jet high-explosive anti-tank rounds of an unspecified model—
If they hit the body, they might not instantly kill this monster on the spot.
But what if they hit the head?
There was no carbon-based brain matter on this planet that could withstand the 2000-degree high temperature of a metal jet.
carapace, what biological armor? I’ll turn your brain into a grilled delicacy directly!
All I need is time.
Just a narrow, fleeting, but crucial window of opportunity.

Chen Jian took a deep breath and disengaged the safety of the DZJ19 rocket launcher.
At this moment, Shen Yue and Lei Jie were still continuously shelling the monster.
The landing point of every single leap it made was calculated by the PDA more than a second in advance. Utilizing this time difference of over a second, every bombardment from the two men landed with pinpoint precision near the monster.
The sounds of explosion rang out incessantly, slowing the monster's movements. As the distance closed to 300 meters, Chen Jian shouted loudly:
"He Shu, what the hell are you waiting for?!"
"I'm waiting for it to jump!"
"When it jumps, its legs hang limp!"

Chen Jian stole a glance at He Shu, whose rifle barrel was already raised.
The very next second, the monster leaped again.
Without the slightest hesitation, He Shu pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
An armor-piercing incendiary round struck squarely at the joint of the monster's left hind leg. A spray of blood burst forth, but the creature seemed completely unfeeling.
However, the moment it landed, things changed.
The structurally compromised bone could no longer support its heavy body. As the full weight of its frame slammed onto the left leg, its hind leg snapped abruptly at a horrifying ninety-degree angle.

"Bang!"
The monster tumbled to the ground, struggling to stand back up, but was immediately pinned down by a high-explosive shell from Lei Jie, who seized the opportunity.
"Last two rounds!"
"My last round!"
Lei Jie and Shen Yue reported in succession. Chen Jian shifted his gaze to his smart eyepiece; the rangefinder showed that his direct distance to the monster was now 200 meters.
He could get a little closer.
Another 50 meters closer, and he would have absolute certainty.
"Don't hold back, fire everything!"
"Blood-Saints, fall back! Get behind us!"

Chen Jian issued another command, took a deep breath, and parted his lips.
At that moment, everything around them grew quiet.
Under the moonlight, the monster twisted and rolled as it forced itself back to its feet. Having lost its ability to leap, it scrambled and dragged itself toward the eight of them.
The continuous assaults had stripped it of its reason, and bloodlust flooded its brain—which was not particularly small to begin with.
The only thing it wanted to do now was to crush those damned ants.

The distance closed to 150 meters. The monster reared up vertically, brandishing its terrifyingly long forelimbs.
Its blood-red jaws gaped wide open. Once the ants were crushed beneath its sharp claws, it would swallow them down into its belly without hesitation...
Now.
With extreme restraint and utmost gentleness, Chen Jian pulled the trigger.
Simultaneously, the rocket launcher on the weapon rack fired in sync.

"Swoosh—"
With a soft hiss, the projectile arrived in an instant.
Those slow-moving rockets trailing smoke in the movies were all fake.
At a distance of a hundred meters, the rocket struck its target almost at the exact moment the trigger was pulled.
The impact fuze ignited, the explosives detonated, and the metal liner was compressed, then melted by high heat and expelled from the center of the warhead's tip at a hyper-velocity exceeding 9,000 meters per second.
The searing flame burned clean through the monster's flesh, skull, and brain.
Two golden jets of energy pierced in from the front and burst out through the back of its head.
A mist of blood accompanied by a blinding yellow flash bloomed like a brilliant firework beneath the full moon.

Chen Jian discarded the disposable launcher and shouldered his rifle once more.
The next second, the monster's massive bulk...
Collapsed to the ground with a thunderous crash!