After Chu Chaoyan voiced her conjecture, Shen Feng pondered it carefully and nodded seriously, saying, "This possibility exists. After all, in this strange mushroom forest, ordinary animals cannot survive. The animals that appear here might be controlled."
The wild yak charged relentlessly. Despite being severely wounded and bleeding profusely, it continued its assault. Ten minutes later, the wild yak collapsed with a thud. It seemed to be targeting the army, attacking from the moment it appeared until its death, maintaining an offensive posture throughout.
"Take stock of casualties and halt the advance," the commander said, feeling heartbroken. No matter how many lives were lost, it was unacceptable. The fallen were the finest sons of Dian Province, fighting for a way out and to escape its current predicament. They needed to fight, but on the very first day, they had already paid the price with their lives.
Ultimately, in the battle against the wild yak, over thirty men were killed on the spot, and more than fifty were injured.
The frontline commander gritted his teeth and made a decision: "Collect the bodies of the fallen soldiers and take them back for burial. The wounded will be sent back for treatment. The rest will continue to advance."
The soldiers still had a mission to complete. The sooner they could clear a path, the sooner they could capture the port. Dian Province had committed almost all its resources to achieve this goal, so even with heavy casualties, the soldiers had to press on.
However, at this moment, the giant mushrooms in the distance began to sway, the tremors spreading through the army like waves.
Upon witnessing this, Shen Feng immediately shouted, "Be careful! More mutated beasts are heading your way!"
The soldiers' hearts leaped into their throats. They had just managed to kill a giant mutated yak, and now there were more enemies? How could they possibly cope?
Soon, everyone saw the new mutated beast: a colossal python. It appeared to be a golden-scaled python, over thirty meters long, moving through the forest like a dragon from legend. The python writhed through the trees, winding around the mushrooms before appearing before them. The patterns on its scales were incredibly beautiful, shimmering with a metallic luster as sunlight filtered through the mushroom forest onto its skin.
Shen Feng focused on observing the python's head, looking for any abnormalities. He finally discovered a colorful mushroom on the python's head.
Golden-scaled pythons had actually been kept as pets for a long time. Through selective breeding, they came in various colors, including white and golden. The golden variety was said to be the most expensive. The python appearing in the forest might have been a former pet, mutated by the apocalypse.
The soldiers opened fire frantically, trying to stop the python's advance. However, against such a massive creature, bullets were no longer very effective. The python's scales, not only ornamental but also mutated for defense, deflected the bullets, which bounced off the smooth, hard scales. Only heavy-caliber machine guns could inflict significant damage.
Fortunately, Shen Feng intervened. He descended from the sky, landing on the python's body. With a clang, Shen Feng drew his meteoric iron longsword and thrust it into the python's eye. Attacked, the python thrashed wildly, seemingly trying to dislodge Shen Feng.
However, Shen Feng dodged to the side, evading the python's clumsy rolls. Seizing an opportunity, he used his "Swift as the Wind" technique to blind its other eye.
After completing this series of actions, Shen Feng moved away from the python and shouted to the soldiers, "What are you waiting for? Open fire! Now that the python has lost its sight, shoot quickly!"
The soldiers quickly opened fire, continuing for three minutes until the python was finally killed.
Shen Feng then addressed the soldiers, "When you encounter mutated beasts with high defense, if you don't have heavy firepower, it's best to attack their weak points. These mutated beasts generally have weak spots in their eyes; no mutated beast is perfect."
The soldiers were very grateful to Shen Feng for his words. If he hadn't intervened, they would have suffered dozens more casualties.
Just then, the ground began to tremble again. With the tremors came faint roars. Shen Feng frowned, "Listening to that sound, it seems like a tiger roaring. Damn it, a mutated tiger is coming."
Shen Feng realized the seriousness of the situation. No one knew how many mutated beasts inhabited the mushroom forest, as no one had ventured in to investigate before. Therefore, besides the mushrooms, the danger posed by mutated beasts was also significant.
Shen Feng found the commander and said earnestly, "We should retreat for now. We've advanced several kilometers, and I believe the workers behind us have cleared a large area. Let's take the wild yak and the python back for research. Continuing to advance will still be dangerous."
The commander, however, replied with a stern expression, "My mission is to clear the path. The sons of Dian Province do not fear death. We must continue to advance. No matter what, the advance cannot stop."
Shen Feng was speechless. He then said seriously, "I know you don't fear death, but you should wait for heavy firepower to catch up. If these giant mutated beasts keep appearing, do you plan to fill the gap with human lives? It's far more reasonable to advance after heavy firepower arrives, yet you're being so stubborn."
Shen Feng now understood their determination to capture the port, but without heavy firepower, how could they proceed?
As Shen Feng was persuading the commander, a yellow and white striped tiger suddenly appeared in the distant forest. In the local dialect, this was an "old wild cat"!
"Damn, that's a Bengal tiger," Shen Feng couldn't help but frown. Tigers were rarely seen in the south nowadays, as the South China tiger was extinct. However, tigers still existed in Bengal, and these tigers could even swim.
The tiger's appearance, however, brought Shen Feng some relief. While tigers were powerful, they also had distinct weaknesses.
Tigers were famously known as having "copper heads, iron tails, and tofu waists," meaning they were agile but had weak defenses. They lacked the resilience of the wild yak or the formidable defense of the golden-scaled python.
Shen Feng immediately ordered everyone to fire. Countless bullets flew out, while the tiger used the unique terrain of the mushroom forest to its advantage, evading the shots. The bullets continued to fly, but they caused almost no damage.
Shen Feng shouted to the frontline commander, "Are you not retreating yet? We've reached this point. I dare say, if you don't retreat now, there will be an endless stream of attacks. If you retreat now, I'll deal with this tiger for you."
Shen Feng's words left the commander with no choice but to agree. Even if the soldiers weren't afraid of death, they shouldn't be sent to their deaths in vain. Without heavy firepower, dealing with giant mutated beasts was a difficult task.
"Then please, Lord Fengshen, cover our retreat! We... will withdraw immediately." At this point, forcing the issue was meaningless. The commander reluctantly agreed to the retreat.
Shen Feng also did not want to see these soldiers die in vain. As Qian Bufei had said, these were the finest sons of Dian Province and should not perish pointlessly.
So, Shen Feng took action. He said to Chu Chaoyan, "You go back too. I'll catch up soon."
With that, Shen Feng vanished from everyone's sight. His speed was truly lightning-like. In an instant, he found the Bengal tiger, which was dodging the gunfire, hiding behind a giant mushroom, seemingly waiting for an opportunity to attack.
However, Shen Feng arrived at the tiger's abdomen at lightning speed. His longsword fiercely pierced forward in an instant. Simultaneously, Shen Feng condensed dozens of wind blades in the air, which plunged directly into the tiger's abdomen – its weak point. As the saying goes, Shen Feng slid under the tiger's belly and then unleashed his abilities, eviscerating it on the spot.
The tiger, caught off guard and wounded, became enraged. It turned its attacks towards Shen Feng, clawing and biting. However, its attacks failed to inflict any significant damage, as Shen Feng, with his advantage in speed, dodged every strike.
After five minutes, the tiger collapsed to the ground and died a tragic death. A mushroom was also present on its head.
The soldiers used this time to retreat, not forgetting to take the wild yak and the python back for research. The most peculiar aspect was the presence of mushrooms on the heads of these two mutated beasts, the cause of which could only be determined through investigation.
After the army withdrew, the mushroom forest fell silent. It seemed as though the mutated beasts were solely present to prevent their advance.