Luo Feng sprinted down the stairs, rushing from the sixth floor all the way down to the ground level, arriving at the rear exit of the hotel.
"Hmm?" Luo Feng scanned his surroundings.
"No large monster hordes nearby, this is troublesome," Luo Feng frowned. While a few scattered monsters were visible at a glance, their meager numbers fell far short of his plan. After all, he needed the other seven members of the Thunder Squad to be convinced that Zhang Zehu and Li Xiao had been killed by monsters.
He immediately bolted out along the alleyway. Once clear of the passage, he spotted a massive herd of One-Horned Boars not far off—easily several hundred strong. A normal martial artist would flee upon seeing them, but Luo Feng allowed a slight smile to touch his lips.
"This is them." Luo Feng swiftly closed the distance.
"Roar~~~"
The horde of One-Horned Boars fixed their gaze on the human martial artist. A furious roar erupted from the center of the crowd—the leader of the boar herd! Instantly, the entire group spread its four hooves and charged maniacally toward Luo Feng. For a moment, the very ground of the street vibrated under the impact.
Rumble~~~ The boar horde charged!
"Damn, I was planning to kill one or two monsters first to incite more hatred. I didn't expect them to chase me so easily." Luo Feng pivoted and ran, quickly turning back into the alleyway.
Rumble~~~
The alley was reasonably wide; two One-Horned Boars could almost run abreast. Luo Feng led the charge in front, the enraged boar herd slaughtering behind him.
"Shick!" "Shick!"
Two streaks of obsidian light circled back and returned to Luo Feng's side after a swift pass. Immediately, the foremost two One-Horned Boars died instantly, while the other sustained a massive gash. The furious roaring from the boar herd intensified, clearly escalating their rage.
"The angrier, the better!" Luo Feng shot up the stairs near the hotel's back entrance like a bolt of lightning.
Rumble~~~
The One-Horned Boars scrambled wildly up the steps behind him. The cement staircase was remarkably sturdy; even after decades, it withstood the pounding charge of the beasts. Under Luo Feng’s carefully controlled pace, maintaining a lead of about ten meters over the horde, he reached his destination—the sixth floor!
Upon reaching the sixth floor, under Luo Feng’s control via his Mental Force, Zhang Zehu's broadsword and Li Xiao's machine gun hovered, the latter still trailed by a long belt of ammunition.
The machine gun hovered before Luo Feng, and the broadsword floated alongside it.
"Roar~~~" The monsters surged in like a flood, roaring thunderously as they burst onto the sixth floor, immediately charging down the corridor toward Luo Feng.
"Come on, then!"
Luo Feng grinned, a flash of madness coloring his eyes. His Mental Force pulled the trigger, and the machine gun's thick barrel roared to life, spitting out a torrent of bullets that slammed violently into the bodies of the One-Horned Boars. Yet, the sheer impact force of each charging boar was so immense that the bullets alone could not halt their momentum!
Shick! Shick!
The suspended broadsword danced furiously, slicing across the throats of boar after boar. These uncontrollable beasts slammed into the adjacent walls, "Rumble~~~" The room walls cracked and buckled. Utilizing the dual offensive power of the machine gun fire and the broadsword, he managed to slaughter dozens of One-Horned Boars in one burst, their corpses piling up along the corridor.
"Roar~~~" Accompanied by a final, enraged bellow.
A gigantic One-Horned Boar appeared, its coat mottled with silver and black spots.
By this time, the broadsword and machine gun had dropped near two corpses lying in the room, while Luo Feng himself had already vaulted out of a north-facing window and leaped away!
Whoosh!
Luo Feng plummeted from the sixth floor like a streak of electricity. A surge of Mental Force applied to his forearm guards created lift, significantly dampening the downward force, allowing him to land lightly atop a squat, two-story structure. He sprinted across it and vanished into an adjacent alleyway.
...
"Roar~~~"
The One-Horned Boar herd, enraged by the loss of dozens of its kin, thrashed violently through the dilapidated hotel, searching for the detestable human martial artist. Failing to find him, they discovered the two fresh corpses of human martial artists and immediately began tearing savagely into the flesh and blood.
For the One-Horned Boars, human flesh was indeed a delicacy.
More astonishingly, a larger portion of the herd began tearing at the corpses of their fallen comrades! For monsters surviving in harsh environments, human prey was rare; most of the time, they consumed the bodies of other monsters. Given their intense wild instincts, cannibalism was quite normal.
Soon, whether human or boar, every body was reduced to scattered bones and fragments.
Luo Feng stealthily returned to his original observation point, watching silently.
"It took nearly two hours; the seven members of the Thunder Squad are finally back." Luo Feng finally spotted the seven in his line of sight. "That makes sense; monster roars are audible throughout City 003, and the previous fight was inside the hotel... Since the Thunder Squad was several miles away, it’s no wonder they didn't notice."
...
At the main entrance of the hotel, the seven members of the Thunder Squad walked back, looking pleased with themselves.
"Young Master's final strike was beautiful, slicing so precisely across the throat of that Beast General 'Swift Wolf'," Captain Huya complimented with a smile, but his expression suddenly froze.
"Hmm?"
Captain Huya looked toward the hotel interior, and the rest of the Thunder Squad followed his gaze.
"The smell of blood!" Elder Liu stepped directly into the hotel, the others following. "The scent of blood is much stronger here."
"A large-scale slaughter took place here; one or two monsters wouldn't produce such a potent smell of blood," Captain Huya frowned. The one-eyed middle-aged man beside him immediately activated the communication watch on his wrist, calling out, "Huzi! A’Xiao! Huzi! A’Xiao! Respond quickly! What happened?"
The faces of the four core members of the Huya Squad changed color.
"Captain, they aren't responding," the one-eyed man reported to the Captain.
"Maybe they didn't feel the watch vibrate," the bald strongman interjected, though he knew how acutely sensitive martial artists were.
Captain Huya said in a low voice, "Let's go up and check."
"Lead the way, let's go up," Elder Liu also commanded. The seven proceeded to the staircase, but the sight of the marks on the steps made their expressions shift slightly. It was clear the stairs had just undergone heavy trampling, with considerable concrete cracked from the impact.
"Everyone, be careful."
Even at their cautious pace, it didn't take long to reach the sixth floor.
"Hoo!" The seven members of the Thunder Squad collectively sucked in a sharp breath. The sixth floor was clearly the most chaotic in the hotel—a complete mess. Some of the room walls were knocked down, the floor was slick with blood, and there were massive amounts of skeletal remains and mangled corpses, most belonging to monsters.
The hearts of the Thunder Squad sank; they knew... Zhang Zehu and Li Xiao were likely beyond saving.
"Look, gunshots holes in the wall."
"There are many shell casings here; A’Xiao must have been firing to hold off the horde. Too bad there were too many monsters."
They quickly spotted numerous signs of the conflict.
A moment later, everyone was staring at the shredded combat uniforms, the slightly warped handle of the broadsword crushed underfoot, the completely mangled machine gun, and a few scattered human bone fragments on the floor.
"Huzi's broadsword, and A’Xiao's gun."
"And these two sets of combat uniforms..."
The uniforms were incredibly tough; although shredded by the One-Horned Boars' bites, they were still recognizable. They belonged to Zhang Zehu and Li Xiao.
"How could this happen?" the bald strongman muttered through gritted teeth. "How could A’Xiao and the others be so unlucky to run into a foraging monster herd inside the room?"
"Let's go downstairs!" Elder Liu suddenly ordered.
"Go downstairs?" The one-eyed man, the bald strongman, and A’Dong were all startled, a flicker of anger crossing their faces.
Captain Huya frowned and barked, "Enough. Gather the relics of Huzi and A’Xiao, then we go downstairs!" Since the Captain had spoken, they dared not refuse.
...
A moment later, on the ground floor lobby of the hotel, the seven members of the Thunder Squad stood assembled.
"Everyone should know," Captain Huya, 'Pan Ya,' stated gravely, "given Huzi and A’Xiao's alertness, even if a monster horde entered the hotel, they had over a fifty percent chance of escaping! Even if they couldn't escape, they should have been able to notify us via their watches upon detecting the danger!"
The other team members changed expression slightly and nodded in agreement.
"That's right," Elder Liu concurred. "What's strange is that neither of them contacted us before they died. That's why I suspect someone deliberately set a trap and left listening devices behind. That's why I brought everyone downstairs to discuss."
The Huya squad members looked at Elder Liu with newfound respect. Being able to assess a situation instantly and make such a decisive call showed that experience really counted.
"That is one possibility. Another possibility... is an attack by a Beast General level monster! It discovered their location, launched a silent ambush, and then the main horde swarmed in... In the chaos of emergency combat, they simply didn't have the opportunity to contact us," Elder Liu continued.
The four core members of the Huya Squad exchanged glances.
The mixed-blood youth looked worried. Elder Liu chuckled softly, "Rest assured, Young Master. Even if there was a setup, it wouldn't be aimed at you. War God level martial artists disdain such petty tactics, and War General level fighters wouldn't dare provoke the Young Master."
"Elder Liu, for the Young Master's safety, perhaps we should return to the base city," Captain Huya, 'Pan Ya,' suggested.