162: Information leak

Time stood still at this moment.

The wind stopped.

The snow fell silent.

That colossal beast, with a body size comparable to a subway car, and that terrifying mouthpart capable of instantly shredding alloy drones, stopped a dozen meters away, facing Lin Feng.

There was no attack.

There was only a sense of confusion and... wariness born of biological instinct.

It was afraid!

On the altar, Wang Dalong's heart felt like it was about to jump out of his throat. He covered his mouth, not daring to make a single sound, for fear of disturbing this eerie balance.

On the snowy ground, Lin Feng slowly exhaled a puff of white mist.

He turned his head and looked calmly at Wang Dalong on the altar.

“Come here, Fatty.”

These words reached Wang Dalong's heart, settling him down quite a bit.

“I... I-I...” Wang Dalong's legs were shaking like noodles. Looking at that giant beast, his teeth were chattering. “Brother Feng, is... is this thing reliable? If it happens to sneeze, we'll both be gone!”

“If you don't want to freeze or starve to death, then come over here.” Lin Feng's tone was firm.

Wang Dalong gritted his teeth hard.

Either way, it's death! If I die with Brother Feng, we can still play Fight the Landlord on the way to the Yellow Springs!

He took a breath, closed his eyes, and scrambled down the stone platform on all fours, stepping into the snow.

Then, like a startled koala, he instantly lunged behind Lin Feng, clinging tightly to his arm.

“Don't... don't move! Whatever you do, don't move!” Wang Dalong's eyes were closed, his voice trembling.

“Don't hold on so tight, you're blocking the way,” Lin Feng said with a look of disdain.

The moment Wang Dalong stepped onto the snow, the Death Worm became agitated again, its massive body arching slightly, seemingly ready to attack at any moment!

But its mouthpart sniffed the air a few times, and ultimately it didn't advance; however, its violent aura grew even more intense.

The effective range of the bead was very small!

Lin Feng knew what was happening. He felt that the faint, peculiar scent was like a bubble less than two meters in diameter, barely enveloping him and Wang Dalong.

Once they left this range, death was certain!

“Follow me closely, don't take a single wrong step,” Lin Feng ordered in a low voice.

“Roger!” Wang Dalong buried his face in Lin Feng's down jacket, not daring to look outside at all.

Lin Feng took the first step.

It was very slow and very steady.

Wang Dalong moved mechanically like a marionette, following him.

The Death Worm didn't attack, nor did it leave. Like a beast bound by invisible chains, it maintained a distance of a dozen meters, slowly moving in sync with them.

Beneath the snow's surface, that massive bulge followed them like a shadow.

One step, two steps... fine cold sweat broke out on Lin Feng's forehead.

He discovered that things were... worse than he had imagined!

As they gradually moved away from the altar, the surrounding snow began to move!

Thirty meters to the front-left, a wave of snow surged, and a slightly smaller, hideous head burst through the snow!

To the rear-right, another even thicker shadow glided at high speed beneath the snow, kicking up a long line of snow!

There was more than one!

This... was a nest!

Wang Dalong also saw this through a gap in the down jacket. His fat froze, and a chill rushed from the soles of his feet to the top of his head!

My god! We've poked a monster's nest!

This wasn't an escape; this was like Tang Sanzang entering the Silk Cave, surrounded by drooling demons!

He wanted to scream, but found his throat clamped shut by an invisible hand, unable to make any sound.

Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat too, but his hand holding the insect-repelling bead tightened.

His footsteps didn't pause for a second, maintaining the original rhythm, walking step by step toward the mountain forest.

At this moment, he was like a king inspecting his territory.

And the prehistoric behemoths around him, capable of causing massive waves in the outside world, had now become his subjects, only able to follow and covet from afar, not daring to cross the line!

This journey of less than three hundred meters took the two of them a full ten minutes.

Every second was a dance on the edge of a blade.

When Lin Feng's foot finally stepped onto the snow-covered rocky ground, leaving that soft snow behind, he and Wang Dalong simultaneously felt the mountain-heavy pressure behind them vanish instantly.

Wang Dalong's legs gave way, and he collapsed to the ground with a thud, gasping for breath, tears and snot streaming down his face.

We survived... we really survived!

Lin Feng also leaned against a withered tree, his chest heaving. He glanced back.

Those terrifying Death Worms stopped at the edge of the snowy field, no longer pursuing. Their massive bodies rolled and hissed in the snow, filled with resentment and fury, before finally sinking back into the ground one by one and disappearing.

Crisis averted.

However, before the two could catch their breath...

“Buzz buzz buzz—”

A familiar roar of propellers came from overhead!

The two looked up and saw three dark green military transport helicopters in a V-formation, roaring from the other end of the valley!

One helicopter hovered above them, the hatch opened, and several fully armed, agile Special Combat Team Members slid down to the ground like lightning, quickly establishing a perimeter.

Another helicopter landed directly on a relatively flat patch of open ground nearby.

This spectacle was more exaggerated than in the movies!

Wang Dalong watched the “divine soldiers” descending from the sky, his mouth agape, unable to say a word for a long time.

A leading Special Combat Team Member walked quickly to them, removed his mask to reveal a chiseled face, and gave Lin Feng a standard military salute.

“Mr. Lin Feng, Mr. Wang Dalong! We are the ‘Snow Wolf’ Special Forces of the Western Theater Command! We've been ordered to rendezvous with you! Commander Zhou is waiting for you!”

...Half an hour later.

On the outskirts of the Kunlun Mountains, inside a geological exploration station temporarily taken over by the military.

Lin Feng and Wang Dalong were wrapped in thick military coats, holding steaming bowls of ginger soup, sitting in a heavily guarded command center.

Everything that had just happened felt like a dream.

Opposite them sat a middle-aged man with a general's star on his shoulder, the temporary commander-in-chief who had spoken to them via satellite phone, Zhou Zhenguo.

His face was resolute, his gaze sharp, possessing a natural authority.

“First of all, on behalf of the command center, I congratulate you both on your successful escape.”

“As we should, as we should, sorry for causing trouble for the country...” Wang Dalong was bowing and scraping, looking incredibly cowardly.

“General Zhou,” Lin Feng put aside the ginger soup bowl, reached into the innermost pocket of his military coat, and pulled something out, placing it gently on the table.

It was a warm, lustrous bead emitting a faint glow.

Everyone's eyes in the command center were instantly drawn to it.

“Holding this bead can prevent attacks from the Death Worms.” Lin Feng said in a heavy voice, “The importance of the imperial seal of china in the secret chamber goes without saying. I ask the General to send people to protect it immediately.”

Zhou Zhenguo nodded.

“Rest assured, I'll arrange it right away. To be honest, this discovery is too shocking; you two boys will have your names in the history books.”

“Finally...” Zhou Zhenguo's tone suddenly shifted, becoming incredibly serious. He took a military tablet from a nearby guard and pushed it toward Lin Feng.

“There's a very thorny matter that requires your help.”

The tablet screen lit up and began playing a video.

The footage was shaking violently, clearly captured from a great distance using a super-telephoto lens.

The content of the video was the complete process of that rescue helicopter being knocked into the air by a Death Worm bursting from the ground!

Although the quality was blurry, the world-shaking impact and the hideous silhouette of the prehistoric beast were clearly visible!

Wang Dalong gulped, swallowing hard.

“This video appeared on the overseas Dark Web four hours ago. Three hours ago, it was moved to Twitter and YouTube, and now... it has spread across the entire globe,” Zhou Zhenguo said coldly.

“The world has gone mad.”

“‘Kunlun Mountains Divine Beast’, ‘Eastern Dragon’, ‘Monster from Hell’... all sorts of clickbait titles are popping up. Although we implemented a network-wide block immediately, it was already too late.”

Lin Feng remained silent; he already had a premonition.

Sure enough, Zhou Zhenguo looked up and stared at him with an unprecedented, scrutinizing gaze, saying word for word:

“Now, the whole world needs the truth.”

“Instead of letting rumors and panic ferment, it's better if we take the initiative to announce part of the facts.”

He reached out his finger and tapped lightly on the tablet, pointing at the destroyed helicopter in the video.

“In your personal name.”