Chapter 50 Parting Ways

As the smoke of battle cleared, the colossal carcass of the monster lay quietly on the ground. The panicked ground-rats had all fully expanded their olfactory sacs, but upon catching the undeniable scent of their host’s death, they completely lost their will to resist, scattering in all directions and vanishing into the dense woods.

Chen Jian shouldered his Type 191 rifle, spat out a mouthful of saliva tainted with gunpowder smoke, and instinctively rubbed his somewhat throbbing ears.

The destructive power of those two rocket-propelled grenades had indeed exceeded his expectations, leaving him momentarily dazed. This monster, which the Mechanicus had failed to eliminate for years—or perhaps even over a decade—had actually died just like that?

So what on earth had they been doing all this time?

Surely they were capable of scavenging such weapons; it wasn't as if they would just stand two kilometers away and fire rocket launchers randomly into the air, right?

...Well, that actually seemed quite possible.

Given their tactical proficiency, that was probably the most effective choice they could possibly make...

Watching Zeng Yi climb back up from beneath the viaduct, Chen Jian nodded and said, "Good job."

Zeng Yi grinned broadly and replied, "Not bad."

"I knew you guys could pull it off."

"True. If we really couldn't have managed it, we would have left long ago."

Chen Jian showed no false modesty whatsoever, knowing that humility at a time like this was entirely pointless.

On the contrary, only by continuously reinforcing the impression of his team's "omnipotence" in the minds of these Blood-Saints would future cooperation become all the more effortless.

----Though, speaking of cooperation, his cooperation with a certain someone could be considered thoroughly shattered.

Chen Jian turned his head. Xu Lie had also returned to the viaduct, standing quietly not far away and waiting.

The man opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately swallowed the words back down.

Chen Jian did not leave him a shred of leeway either, speaking directly:

"You can head back now."

"You don't need to participate in the upcoming operations."

"Your share of the previously agreed-upon spoils will be given to you in the proportion we settled on."

"But as of now, our cooperation is over."

"......Why?" Xu Lie asked, frowning.

"I simply made what I believed was the correct choice. Is there something wrong with that?"

"In that situation, our survival probability was less than one percent!"

"You were risking everyone's lives, and I just wanted to keep people alive----"

"I don't want to hear reasons, and I don't want to hear explanations," Chen Jian interrupted Xu Lie, saying solemnly:

"A team can only have one decision-maker."

"You can have thoughts of retreat, but you cannot take retreating actions."

"Leave now, and we won't have to completely burn our bridges."

"Oh, and don't follow us from the shadows; you know we can see you."

".......Fine."

Xu Lie finally nodded, then turned to the other Blood-Saints and said:

"Let's go. They no longer welcome us."

With that, he turned and left.

He did not understand how things had escalated to this point. Clearly, before they arrived, the two squads had been closely collaborating allies.

Yet, after merely a single battle, it had ended in a parting of ways.

Did he do something wrong?

Xu Lie did not feel he was in the wrong. After all, he had his own standpoint; he could not unconditionally trust these Chosen Ones, nor could he stake everything to stand on their side regardless of the cost.

*I belong to the Blood-Saints Hall, not to you people......*

Xu Lie glanced back at the monster lying on the ground, his gaze sweeping over it, only to discover that his teammates had not followed him.

Not only had they not followed him, but Li Shi had actually walked right up to Chen Jian, asking with anticipation written all over his face:

"Can I stay behind?"

"Yes."

Chen Jian nodded without the slightest hesitation.

This Blood-Saint before him had displayed the most unwavering resolve during the combat. Though he truly hadn't contributed much in terms of actual utility, the sheer courage he showed by standing right in front of Chen Jian to face the colossal, overwhelming monster was enough to earn him the right to stay.

"Then I'm coming with you! Are we going to fetch the shield?"

"Maybe yes, maybe no. The road ahead is still dangerous. Are you sure you want to follow?"

"I'm sure!" Li Shi replied once more. At that moment, Xie Liu and Zeng Yi also walked over.

"We're going too."

"Think carefully. If you come with us, cracks will inevitably form in your relationship with the Blood-Saints Hall."

Chen Jian issued another warning. Xie Liu remained silent, while Zeng Yi shrugged and replied:

"We haven't done anything wrong."

"......Indeed. Then let's move out."

With that, the group quickly packed their gear and prepared to leave the hastily constructed bridgehead.

Shen Yue walked at the very rear, cautiously observing Xu Lie's movements in the distance.

Only when he was certain that the man was heading in the opposite direction, returning along the path they had come toward Hanshui City, did he finally catch up with the team and type a line of text on his smart eyepiece:

"The Blood-Saints split too early; they might not be trustworthy."

Maintaining a calm expression, Chen Jian typed his reply:

"I know. This is the next round of testing."

"Received."

"1."

"1."

The other members answered in turn. The originally eight-person squad had now become seven, proceeding past the viaduct exit down toward the corpse of the monster below.

Only when standing truly close to this beast did Chen Jian fully experience that all-consuming oppressive aura.

The monster's foreclaws were even longer than his own height, their edges as sharp as if they had been meticulously whetted.

The area around the carcass was flattened with crushed trees and architecture, and blood dyed the ground into a sticky, foul-smelling swamp. A single step into it felt almost like sinking into a quagmire.

"Take pictures, run a scan."

At Chen Jian's concise command, He Shuo immediately circled the monster while operating a drone to perform a full 3D modeling scan of the beast.

Taking advantage of the time it took to complete the task, Chen Jian stepped forward, snapped off a small fragment of the dorsal carapace, held it in his palm to observe closely for a moment, and said:

"This thing's shell is very similar to that of shellfish or crabs; it probably contains a massive amount of chitin."

"The problem is, this creature is obviously a freshwater organism... Could it somehow be a type of insect?"

Hearing this, Lei Jie shook his head and said:

"It definitely can't be an insect... This thing is obviously a mammal. Look, it even has tits."

"......Can you not be so vulgar for once?? You're a college student, big brother!"

Speechless, Chen Jian delivered a resounding smack to the back of Lei Jie's head. Fortunately, he hadn't activated the power to his powered exoskeleton; otherwise, that single slap would have shattered Lei Jie's skull.

Retreating to the side with an aggrieved expression, Lei Jie muttered:

"I'm just speaking the truth. This is the scientific spirit, do you understand the scientific spirit!"

".......Get lost!"

Capping off his annoyance, Chen Jian squatted down and carefully examined the monster's head, which had been pierced by the high-explosive anti-tank (HEAT) round.

Judging from the wound, the damage inflicted by the metallic jet stream was catastrophic. Two massive cavities, over three meters in diameter, had been carved into its head, the interior already charred to a crisp.

Clearly, in the face of an armor-piercing round capable of punching through heavy armor, carbon-based carapaces were still far too inadequate...

No matter how thick your outer hide was, the interior was ultimately just ordinary muscle tissue.

When it came to impact resistance, this thing was probably not even as tough as the maternal core creature from Chuansha City, which could autonomously contract its muscles to staunch bleeding.

By this time, He Shuo's modeling work was complete. Chen Jian stood up and asked the three Blood-Saints:

"Do you need to take another look, or take any souvenirs with you?"

"If not, we're ready to evacuate now and move toward the next target waypoint."

"No need."

"We're fine."

The Blood-Saints replied one by one. With a wave of Chen Jian's hand, he signaled the team to push forward.

As they gradually distanced themselves from the monster's corpse, the four members of Chen Jian's squad did not look back even once.

In contrast, the three members of the Blood-Saints squad turned back to look countless times.

They still couldn't wrap their minds around it.

This monster, which had run rampant across the Hanshui Ruins for over twenty years, had simply died just like that?

A mere ten minutes ago, it was still the undisputed overlord of this region.

Ten minutes later, it was left lying there like a lump of rotting meat, quietly awaiting the onset of decay.

Yet the "culprits" responsible for all this walked away as if it were of no consequence whatsoever.

So, to these Chosen Ones, what on earth was a "monster"?

This supreme lifeform, which the Blood-Saints Hall and the Mechanicus regarded as the embodiment of power, slaughter, terror, and despair—a lifeform that even possessed a certain sense of "divinity" in the eyes of some heretics...

In the eyes of the Chosen Ones, was it truly nothing more than a target that "could be destroyed"?

Xie Liu, Zeng Yi, and Li Shi fell silent.

They exchanged no words, yet a identical thought simultaneously surfaced in their minds.

Perhaps the worldview they had built over nearly two decades of growing up was entirely wrong.

The conflict and battle between humans and monsters was not a crusade against "evil gods."

Monsters were not evil gods; if someone went to kill them, they would simply die......