Chapter 141: Lopsided (Fourth Update)

Time ticked away second by second.

Deep in the rainforest, whether it was the flocks of birds or the soldiers inside the armed helicopters, everyone grew completely quiet.

At this moment, apart from the massive roar of the rotor blades, everything appeared eerily still.

Yet this silence carried a heavy, oppressive atmosphere.

This was because the mutated creatures flying in from the distance—originating from the direction of the rainforest where the great oak stood—though seemingly few in number, included some individuals of much larger size.

Meanwhile, from the dense jungle beneath the canopy, increasingly loud and violent vibrations echoed outward continuously.

A herd of wild boars was charging through, mingled even with serpents and pythons of various sizes.

Among these mutated creatures, the adult wild boars were the most striking, as some had already broken through the two-ton mark in size.

Their tusks were long and curved, tearing forward along the way and leaving a trail of absolute devastation in their wake.

Beneath the shadowed woods, no one could clearly see what lurked there, but the tremendous commotion was enough to breed deeper anxiety.

Up in the sky, the first to launch an attack were neither the mutated creatures nor the birds of the oak tree.

Instead, they were the American armed helicopters.

Unencumbered by worries about the birds or the tribal people, these armed helicopters flew ahead toward the various directions from which the flying mutated creatures were approaching.

"Let us be the ones to fire the opening shot, haha~!"

"Just a bunch of oversized pests, completely negligible. The mysterious tree is totally making a mountain out of a molehill."

Accompanied by the rapid flashing of fire from an armed helicopter's muzzle, intense gunfire instantly shattered the night.

Heavy machine guns made dealing with avian creatures that had undergone recent, non-qualitative mutations unimaginably easy.

A single round of sweeping fire quickly cleared the skies overhead.

Even mutated birds measuring five or six meters in length were still unable to pierce the blockade of fire.

For a moment, on one side of the sky, countless mournful cries erupted before slowly subsiding into silence.

Down on the ground, the American armed helicopters showed no mercy either. Having cleared the visible birds from the sky, they immediately turned their large-caliber autocannons to pursue and rake the areas of movement below.

In an instant, numerous trees were snapped in half, while agonizing shrieks of mutated beasts continually echoed from beneath the forest canopy.

The power of the autocannons was immense; a two-ton wild boar struck dead-on by a shell had its body directly pierced and collapsed. Although not yet entirely dead, follow-up shots from the autocannon finished off all such larger creatures.

The soldiers inside five of the armed helicopters, carried away by momentary over-excitement, even pursued and strafed some scattering mutated beasts.

For a while, the entire forest presented a scene of one-sided slaughter.

On the other side, near the American military camp, the thunderous roar of artillery and heavy machine-gun fire soon erupted as well.

Thus, under the watchful gaze of all the tribal people and birds in the sky, they were reduced to mere spectators.

"This? It seems we can't help at all?"

Hughes appeared somewhat stunned and dejected, while also harboring a trace of envy toward the powerful weaponry of the American soldiers.

Sharing Hughes' sentiments, Adam was equally filled with emotion regarding the weaponry of these human forces.

In truth, although there were more mutated creatures in the rainforest tonight, most of them were nothing special.

After all, the rainforest still provided a naturally favorable environment for evasion. Even if some birds and animals failed to escape in time and were mutated by the purple moonlight's irradiation, their baseline strength could never instantly reach the level of withstanding heavy conventional weaponry.

From Adam's perspective, the mutated creatures appearing tonight were far inferior to that pack of crocodiles from over a month ago.

Consequently, watching the American soldiers carry out a massive massacre, Adam figured that tonight would likely end right here.

In reality, Adam could completely have chosen not to warn the surrounding humans tonight.

After all, these people already had their own watchmen; once the mutated creatures drew close, they would naturally discover them and respond immediately.

However, as an entity perceived by humans as relatively benevolent and impartial, offering necessary warnings would only enhance humanity's favorable view of him.

Therefore, to maintain his image, Adam had issued the well-intentioned reminder.

The tribal people resided around the oak tree, and Adam possessed the full capability to protect them.

Yet Adam did not consider himself a babysitter; the people of the tribe and the evolving birds had to learn to protect themselves.

This was precisely why he had alerted both the tribal folk and the birds.

They still needed to participate in necessary combat and grow accustomed to it, because no one could predict how severely the future of the Blue Star would deteriorate.

Thus, amidst the thunderous clamor of gunfire and artillery, the flocks of birds in the sky and the tribal people finally made their move.

They headed toward the other flanks, utilizing light rifles to eliminate any stragglers that slipped through the net.

In less than half an hour, the battle began to draw to a close.

"Tch, I haven't even had my fun yet, and it's already over? Too weak, right?"

Inside an armed helicopter, a soldier remarked with a sense of lingering dissatisfaction.

After all, living in a modern era of great peace, many of these soldiers had never set foot on a battlefield.

Therefore, this first combat experience naturally made many soldiers feel somewhat apprehensive, yet following that anxiety, the overwhelming ease of victory led them to begin underestimating the hazards brought by the purple moon.

"Too weak? Well then, fine. When we get back, I'll have the commander transfer you to the combat forces deployed against the purple moon realms."

"Huh?"

"Just kidding, I'm joking, really. Captain, please don't go spreading that around. I've heard the battles in the realms are unimaginably brutal—people actually die there. If I'm going to go, at least wait until my physique is as strong as these natives first, right?"

The soldier said with an embarrassed laugh.

"Heh~ At least you still know your own limits."

"Besides, don't you all go thinking we came here to the mysterious tree just to protect or guard it. The nature of our deployment here has changed a long time ago."

"Recently, I picked up some latest news from the lieutenant colonel. The military command is already planning to transfer us to participate in realm combat once our physical transformation approaches the level of these natives."

"There's such a thing?"

Over the public channel, all the soldiers who heard this news were stunned and froze for a moment.

But the very next second, someone spoke up in a jocular tone:

"What is there to fear? Isn't it just participating in realm combat? Once our physical fitness really becomes as strong as these natives, what's left to be afraid of? If I can't win, can't I run?"

"Haha, Tony, can't you have a bit of ambition?" Many soldiers were amused, laughing and scolding him simultaneously.

"This isn't about ambition or the lack of it. I refuse to believe none of you know the situation in the realms; it's practically unspeakable in that place. Anyway, if you can't win, you'd better run fast. Most of those things can't manifest here on our Blue Star, and just for that alone, we're still lucky."

"If one day they manage to show up on Blue Star, well, I guess we'll all just have to pray for our own salvation."

Tony shrugged indifferently, speaking to his colleagues through the headset's public channel.

"All right, don't be too pessimistic either. Aren't we still backed by the mysterious tree right now? Judging by its current state, maybe before long it will grow even more powerful?"

"When that time comes, perhaps the changes in our bodies will grow stronger along with it. For now, you should just pray that the mysterious tree grows strong swiftly, and that we get to linger here a bit longer."

"The situation across the entire world is already quite dreadful as it is; the emergence of divine-favored creatures can be considered a sort of comfort."

The officer spoke, intending to cut off everyone's idle chatter.

However, right at that moment, across the serene sky of the purple moon, a patch of extremely fast-moving dark clouds suddenly materialized within the periphery of his vision.