Since it was her own child calling out, Lan Jin couldn't just ignore it completely. She lifted her hand and waved in that direction, which counted as a response.
She didn't say anything, but Qiao Qiao still got excited.
Even so, the little girl had always been sensible. When she saw mutated creatures drawing closer, she immediately went quiet, afraid her noise might distract Lan Jin. If Lan Jin got hurt, Qiao Qiao felt she'd never forgive herself.
But for Lan Jin, these creatures weren't even worth mentioning. With the crystal stones the base had given her, she could attack nonstop without seeing much drain in her abilities.
…
Captain Zhang had taken people to look for the source of the outbreak, but judging from how things looked, it wasn't something they'd find quickly. Lan Jin grabbed her walkie-talkie and asked, "Isn't there anywhere in the base that's still clear of mutated creatures? Move the residents and kids inside first. If more of them pile in here, this place won't hold them."
She had no idea who was on the other end, but since the channel was open, it had to be someone from the leadership.
Not long after, Captain Li's voice came through, "Hold on, I'll make arrangements."
"Alright."
A moment later, Captain Li appeared and started moving the residents toward the office area one by one. Along the way, anyone the base already suspected of problems got pulled out and isolated. The rest were sent into the office area, because if anything happened inside later, there'd be no way out.
By the time half the residents had been moved, the open space cleared a little. Those nearest the ice wall backed up as much as they could, desperate to get away from the danger. But the horde only grew. The ice wall couldn't take the pressure and collapsed with a crash. Mutated creatures spilled over the fallen wall and tumbled straight toward the people.
Ling Jiang darted forward, jumped high, and raised another ice wall to separate the creatures from the residents. But there wasn't much point. More and more came pouring in, and she knew the wall wouldn't last. All she could do was reinforce it again and again, hoping a thicker wall would hold a little longer.
Lao Gao snatched up his walkie-talkie. "Captain Zhang, Captain Zhang, did you find the source yet? Is it the same as the school district?"
Captain Zhang's voice crackled back, "It's not that fast. With this many creatures, even reaching the source takes time."
"What? Can't you just use drones to locate it, then drop bombs and blow it up directly?"
"We already used drones to find the location, but they can't carry explosives. We're heading there now. Hold on a little longer, we'll handle it soon."
With that, Captain Zhang stopped replying.
About ten minutes later, two blasts echoed from the commercial street. Half an hour after that, three more shook the experimental zone. Finally, the noise died down.
…
With two source points destroyed, the flood of creatures eased. The inside of the base caught a short break, but the ones outside kept swarming. Soon, cries for help came through the walkie-talkie.
"Requesting support, requesting support. The main hall can't hold much longer. The creatures keep hammering the front gate. It's about to fall. Even dropping the safety gate won't help. Requesting immediate support."
The giant creatures were terrifying. It wasn't that they couldn't be killed, but being this close to the base meant explosives couldn't be used freely. If the fight had been further away, nobody would've cared.
After putting the walkie-talkie down, Ling Jiang turned to her. "Lan Jin, you and Xiao Huang go. Lao Gao and I will hold here. Don't worry, we'll manage."
"Alright."
Ling Jiang and Lao Gao jumped off the vehicle while Huang Jinghe drove it straight toward the gate.
They knew the situation was urgent, but they didn't expect it to be this bad. Lan Jin and Huang Jinghe had barely arrived when a massive black panther slammed the gate open.
It was enormous. Standing on all fours, it was as tall as a grown man. Upright, it towered even higher, its bulk overwhelming. The beast let out a roar as it charged in, freezing almost everyone on the spot.
Just as half its body forced through the gate, a bolt of lightning exploded from Lan Jin's hand, striking it head-on before it could react. She didn't dare hold back. She poured far more power into the strike than usual, making the panther convulse and collapse with a thud.
The creature's body jammed the gate, blocking the entrance. For the base's soldiers, many of whom had never seen her abilities in action, it was jaw-dropping. One strike, and such a beast was down.
Even with the chaos in the base, the surveillance systems had never shut down. Everyone watching the monitors saw the scene clearly, leaving them stunned.
"Her ability's insane."
"That must be Lan Jin. I'd heard we had someone powerful join us, but I didn't believe it until now."
"We've got lightning users here too, right? How different could it be?"
"Here's the difference. Your base's strongest lightning strike isn't even a tenth of her weakest one."
"No way."
"It's true. She once killed a snake several stories tall with just a low-level strike. Barely cost her any energy. And it's not just her. Every member of her team is ridiculously strong."
"They're all that strong? Just their team? Then is there some secret to powering up abilities?"
"No idea."
The leadership behind the monitors whispered about how Lan Jin's squad could possibly be so strong. Meanwhile, she and Huang Jinghe kept attacking the creatures crawling over the panther's corpse to squeeze inside.
But the flood was endless. If they kept pouring in like this, the base would be overrun.
Lan Jin shouted, "Open the safety gate, now!"