Ch.9393. Precursor Phenomenon

# May 17th.

As spring was drawing to a close, on a dusky evening in late spring when the weather was beginning to warm up in earnest.

At a small border outpost of the Northern Border Defense Force of the Chinese Empire, a game of mahjong with money at stake was in full swing.

According to military law, gambling or betting with money is strictly prohibited, but… could mere military law possibly stop the Chinese people’s—specifically North China region Chinese people’s—fervent desire for mahjong?

Even ‘The Bird & Chinese Slayer’ Mao Zedong failed, and mahjong is precisely what remained firmly established as traditional culture despite Lee Kuan Yew’s attempts to ban it with strict regulations that imposed everything from fines to flogging for minor offenses like spitting on the street or not flushing public toilets.

Therefore, mahjong games throughout the Chinese Empire were naturally proceeding without issue even among these frontline soldiers, but…

Awoooooooooo——!!!!

“…What was that?”

“A winter wolf?”

It seems these men would probably no longer be able to enjoy their mahjong game.

The five Chinese Imperial soldiers couldn’t hide their bewilderment and irritation at the sudden loud wolf howl.

It was understandable, given that a monster presumed to be a winter wolf had appeared just when they were having a good time.

But regardless, these mid-rank hunters knew they could be killed instantly if they responded incorrectly to winter wolves that moved in packs, so they remained vigilant.

They put their helmets back on their reinforced suits, gathered their personal firearms and melee weapons, and activated their power suits.

And just as they were about to check the situation outside the outpost in this prepared state—

—Crack!

With the sound of something like wood breaking, the lookout post—which had been supported by a single wooden pillar to camouflage it as a tree—tilted and collapsed to the ground.

Boom———!!!!

The outpost made a thunderous noise as it hit the ground, and the wooden structure shattered, unable to withstand the impact of the collision.

[Hey, are you okay?]

[Yeah! I’m fine, just keep watch!]

Of course, mid-rank hunters wearing full-body powered suits wouldn’t die from falling just five meters, so the five of them calmly pushed away the debris and got up, drawing their weapons to secure the perimeter—

—Slash!

[Gack! Gaaah…]

At that moment, with the sudden sound of something being cut, someone’s groan came through their communication earpieces.

[[[[J-Jin Wei!!]]]]

Checking the team members’ physical status displayed on their interface, they confirmed the groan came from Jin Wei.

He was the team’s designated sniper, the only one who used heavy weaponry—a plasma rifle.

When they urgently turned toward Jin Wei, the night vision revealed a horrific sight: he had a deep wound in his neck that he was barely managing to cover with his hands.

[Ji—]

[Stop!]

As the team member with medical supplies tried to rush toward Jin Wei to provide first aid, the team leader blocked him.

[How can you move like that when we don’t know what’s out there!]

[But, but Jin Wei…]

[Do you want to die too? Is that it?!]

Objectively speaking, the team leader made the right decision—it would be dangerous to make sudden movements when they didn’t know what had attacked them.

[Jin Wei is my friend!]

[Tap tap tap!]

[Damn it! Hey! Hey! You turtle-brained idiot! Stop! I said stop!]

But just because everyone knows it’s the right decision doesn’t mean they’ll follow it. The team member who was from the same village as Jin Wei and his closest friend easily ignored the team leader’s words, rushed to Jin Wei, and hurriedly began taking out medical supplies.

[Gaaah…aaah…]

[Jin Wei! Just hang on a little longer!]

[…h……]

[Yeah, you’ll be fi—]

[…r…u…n…]

[What—]

—Crack

Thud!

However, he never got to treat Jin Wei.

As he sat beside Jin Wei taking out medical supplies, suddenly whatever had attacked Jin Wei earlier appeared and severed his neck in one strike.

The headless body collapsed to the ground, and the head, separated from its body, flew far away. Meanwhile, Jin Wei was slowly dying, unable to overcome the blood loss.

Unfortunately or fortunately, the remaining three team members could clearly see the creature that had attacked Jin Wei and the other member.

[A winter wolf… walking on two legs?]

[And why does it have four arms?]

It was a bizarre winter wolf walking on two legs with four arms.

While it had transformed into a bipedal form like other animal-type monsters’ humanoid forms, there were many strange things about it.

First, no humanoid winter wolf had ever appeared before, yet here one was, right now, in this place.

Even if the appearance of this never-before-seen humanoid winter wolf could possibly be dismissed as coincidence, the second strange point was more significant:

This winter wolf had four arms.

One pair was in the normal position, while another pair extended from above the shoulders. The arms were unusually long—so long that they could touch the ground with just a slight bend at the waist—and the claws, infused with field energy, were abnormally developed.

No matter how they looked at it, it seemed less like a naturally occurring creature and more like something created by some mad monster scientist experimenting on beasts… so the three remaining men kept their guard up and stared intently at the wolf.

And after a brief moment of silence—

Graaaaaaah———!!!!

[Here it comes!]

[I’ll support you!]

The three mid-rank Chinese Imperial hunters began their engagement with the wolf, which charged at them in formation.

It started with fire from the hunter wielding the laser machine gun.

Pew-pew-pew-pew-pew-pew———!!!

The moment he pulled the trigger, red lasers flashed dozens of times per second to attack the mutant winter wolf, but the wolf’s mobility was no joke.

Suddenly using its lower pair of arms as front legs, the winter wolf ran quickly on all fours, watching the gun barrel and avoiding the lasers. It approached in an instant and swung its claws at the hunter with the machine gun—

Clang!

The claw attack was blocked by the field generator-equipped shield of another hunter who had been standing by right next to the gunner.

[…S-so strong!]

After blocking the attack, the shield-bearing hunter, astonished by the wolf’s incredible strength, pushed his shield forward and activated its function. The shockwave emitted from the shield pushed the wolf back, disrupting its stance.

[Now’s our chance!]

[I know!]

Whoosh——Slash!

The team leader swung his energy sword at the staggered monster, aiming to finish it by cutting its neck.

The mutant winter wolf, with its neck half-severed, seemed about to stagger and collapse to the ground like any other monster, spewing blood—

—Slash!

[Guh, aaaaaah…]

As if squeezing out its last bit of strength, it leaped at an unimaginable speed into the blind spot of the shield-bearing hunter and pierced his neck in one go.

[Emergency treatment!]

[Yes, Team Leader!]

The team leader was momentarily flustered by his mistake but quickly regained his composure. He assigned emergency treatment to the hunter with the machine gun, then not only cut the gasping mutant winter wolf’s neck but completely severed its windpipe.

Feeling a strange sensation as he easily cut through the limbs—the hide seemed unusually soft for a mid-rank monster—the team leader turned his head and was left speechless at the sight before him.

Because in that short time, his subordinate had disappeared, leaving behind only the blood-soaked laser machine gun, and the shield-bearing hunter had been confirmed dead with his head severed.

And what he saw behind them was—

[…Damn it.]

Grrrrrrrrrr…

At least 40 mutant winter wolves, somehow already holding pieces of his subordinates’ dismembered bodies in their mouths, were staring at him.

※ ※ ※

In the northeastern border region of the Chinese Empire, border outposts in the area had recently been suffering severe damage.

The culprits were mutant winter wolves—their bizarre physical structure of walking on two legs with four arms, and the ability to run on all fours, was enough to make the Chinese authorities suspect they were artificial creations.

However, research revealed no artificial intervention in their physical structure, so the Chinese Empire had no choice but to deal with these extremely troublesome mutant winter wolves.

But… this was by no means an easy task.

Despite having hide that could be penetrated by mere laser pistols, their claws could easily tear through mid-rank hunter powered suit armor like paper, even without field energy.

Add to that the fact that they wielded these destructive claws while moving at speeds of dozens of kilometers per hour, and they hunted humans cunningly in packs of at least 20-30.

With characteristics that could only be described as nasty to deal with, the Chinese Imperial Army was struggling with the extreme human casualties occurring in the border region due to these monsters—

Unfortunately, this was merely a precursor to the full-scale incident that was about to unfold.