Chapter 15: Chapter 15: Beast Tide, the Second Faction of the Otherworld (Part 1)
Upon learning that the external crew had made a significant discovery, Lin Li and others immediately rushed to the temporary ground control tower.
"Is there footage from the scene?"
Upon arrival, Lin Li asked the person in charge of the temporary ground control tower, Bo Binghui from Hu Fei Group.
Bo Binghui shook his head: "No, with communication satellites and long-distance field base station signal transmissions, the communication team can only reconstruct the images by analyzing electromagnetic waves from the helicopter’s directional signal transmitter.
Previously, to prevent electromagnetic interference, we had not activated signal transmission.
Fortunately, Captain Yao and his team are within a hundred kilometers of the camp... it will probably take a few more minutes."
Lin Li pondered for a moment: "Is Captain Yao still online?"
"Always."
Lin Li extended his hand: "Give me the communicator."
Taking the communication device handed over by Bo Binghui, Lin Li spoke in a steady tone:
"Captain Yao, this is Lin Li from the command center. Is your crew currently in any life-threatening danger?"
Yao Rong’s reply came quickly:
"Reporting to the command center, these alien creatures seem incapable of flight; my partner and I are not currently under any life threat."
"Good," Lin Li nodded, continuing: "Captain Yao, as the images from the command center are still being processed, could you describe the situation of these alien creatures?
Things like their form and quantity, not too detailed, just generally."
As the leader of the Blue Sky Rescue Team’s sky and space group, judging ground information by sight is a routine skill. Yao Rong quickly replied: "There is a huge number of these alien creatures, composed of three large species in total.
The largest in number is a black serpent-like species. Observing through military binoculars, these serpents generally have a body length of about four or five meters.
Led by three extreme individuals with body lengths approaching twenty meters, their total numbers are roughly in the thousands, formidable and terrifying.
The second species resembles Earth’s bison, but they are much larger in size.
They also have two heads, bone spurs around their necks, sharp teeth exposed, numbering around several hundred.
Another species is not numerous, about a few dozen, but they are generally tall, like... trolls in some Western movies, with a height around nine meters, close to three floors high.
The three groups form a giant camp about 400 meters long and close to three kilometers wide, moving forward at a speed of about 15 kilometers per hour.
Additionally, this alien formation carries a lot of... a lot of..."
Seeing Yao Rong hesitate, Lin Li immediately asked, "A lot of what?"
"Corpses! Human corpses! And it is clearly intended for consumption."
Yao Rong’s reply plunged the command center into silence:
"Moreover... if they do not change direction and do not rest along the way....
They are expected to reach the target city in three hours."
Lin Li looked up, exchanging glances with several other key leaders in the camp, speaking in a deep tone:
"It seems that the enemies the city is preparing to defend against are likely these alien creatures."
Zeng Gu Cheng suddenly pulled up a makeshift terrain map, pointing on it with his hand:
"Our camp is here... the city is south of us... and the alien creatures are south of the city.
If we prepare well, we are most likely not to confront those alien creatures.
After all..... we still don’t know the combat strength of extraordinary powers in this world."
The people present were no fools and naturally understood the implication in Zeng Gu Cheng’s words:
Avoid battle, and help neither side.
This is a very conservative proposal, considering that the forces about to engage are beasts and humans.
If the alien creatures were repelled by the city, then everything could still be resolved.
But if the city were breached by the alien creatures, resulting in a massacre...
Then the action of standing idle would test the conscience.
But on the other hand, as Zeng Gu Cheng said.
Without understanding the extraordinary powers of this world.
Avoiding battle is also the safest choice.
This plan involves a battle between rationality and sensibility, and for a moment, everyone’s expressions varied:
Some nodded in agreement, others were expressionless, revealing no thoughts, and a few frowned, clearly disagreeing with the plan.
This small temporary ground control tower suddenly fell into silence.
However, soon, Bo Binghui’s slightly excited voice broke the eerie silence:
"Captain Lin, we have a signal! The footage can now be played normally!"
Lin Li patted Zeng Gu Cheng on the shoulder, signaling everyone to gather:
"Let’s take a look at the footage returned by Captain Yao first, and discuss the plan after watching."
The first to dart to the screen was still someone surnamed Wang, a prankster, who, upon seeing the footage, took a big step back: "Oh my God!"
Lin Li was also startled: "Why are you startled?"
Wang Qiang pointed to the screen full of giant snakes, crying out: "I have a severe phobia of dense clusters!"
Zeng Gu Cheng, seeing this, was reminded of something unknown.
He suddenly turned his head and looked gratifyingly at his disciple, Dr. Zhuo Yuanxin, the leader of the physics team.
Thankfully.
This disciple has always been very honest, not so silly.
Zhuo Yuanxin: "...."
"...."
Under the scrutiny of a group of bigwigs, Lin Li barely restrained the urge to clear the air, took a deep breath, and focused his gaze on the screen.
After seeing the footage.
Although Lin Li and others’ reactions were not as exaggerated as Wang Qiang’s, each took a deep breath, almost exclaiming in fear.
Just as Yao Rong had said, the entire alien beast formation had a width of nearly three kilometers.
It was visibly divided into three main species: giant black snakes, two-headed cattle, and giant trolls.
Besides.
On the outermost part of the formation, some scattered creatures were trailing and following.
The leading creatures in the formation totaled eight, consisting of three giant scale-armored snakes about twenty meters in length, four purple two-headed mutant cattle, and a giant troll with a horned head.
Lin Li’s hands trembled slightly, undoubtedly, this was yet another discovery that overturned his understanding.
Taking those three giant snakes as an example.
Ignore the often rumored 55-meter giant snakes discovered in certain Earth regions, which are easily found on a phone search, or that the Guinness World Record for snake length is 14.85 meters.
In reality, these rumors are false.
The so-called 14.85-meter-long snake named ’Guilty,’ verified at 6.7 meters by the Daily Mail in January 2004; the length of 14.85 was merely a gimmick crafted by a local zoo for publicity.
Another supposedly 12-meter Net Python record-holder ’Medusa’ measured only 7.5 meters (there are videos of actual measurements on YouTube.)
The genuine record for wild snakes on Earth doesn’t even reach ten meters, let alone eight meters—this record was set by a water snake from a Brazilian reservoir, measuring 6.95 meters.
There are many snakes over 6 meters on Earth, but finding one over 6.5 meters is practically one in a million.
Even famously, several million years ago on Earth, the Titanoboa typically ranged from 9 to 15 meters, with the largest fossil discovered measuring only 18.1 meters.
Now, those three leading giant snakes in the alien beast formation are at least twenty-two meters long, certainly possessing extraordinary abilities.
Undoubtedly.
These three scale-armored giant snakes have transcended the limits of the snake species.
At the end of the road, they have advanced and transitioned into another realm.
While Lin Li was contemplating, Lin Ziming spoke up: "Captain Lin, what are our next steps?"
Lin Li was silent for a moment, then suddenly asked:
"Colonel Lin, Captain Yao’s helicopter is equipped with explosives, right?"