Chapter 39: The Scarlet-Orange Torrent of Steel

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Inside the overturned troop carrier, the door suddenly turned crimson. A moment later, it blasted outward with a thunderous boom.

Ren Jie was the first to burst from the vehicle, flames wreathing his fists. Blood ran from his temple, and his face was grim.

The air reeked of gunpowder. Wei Pingsheng dragged the officer who had been driving from the cab; both his legs were broken.

“Get someone to take him to the medical zone for emergency treatment. Quickly!”

“Yes, Captain Wei!”

Only now did the team truly feel the cruelty of a demonic disaster. Just moments ago, a building had been blasted apart, and enormous chunks of concrete had been hurled more than a hundred meters, striking their troop carrier.

Compared with the scene before them, the previous Grade Xin demonic disaster had been nothing more than child’s play.

The disaster had erupted in a bustling commercial district. Several shopping malls and more than a dozen office towers had been caught in the destruction.

Many buildings were severely damaged. Some were already engulfed in towering flames, belching thick clouds of black smoke.

Hapless civilians continued fleeing the disaster zone.

At the center of the calamity, members of the Demon Suppression Bureau had already arrived and were locked in fierce combat with the Undying Hound.

The beast stood more than ten meters tall. Its entire body was pitch-black, shrouded in demonic mist as dark as smoke. It had three heads and six blood-red eyes.

Its deafening demonic roars shook the air, and every casual movement sent the earth trembling.

Ren Jie even spotted Ye Yue, Wu Yunqing, and the others fighting the Undying Hound. Ye Yue had already entered her divine state, and the battle had long since reached its climax.

The Third Squad had arrived, but they were far from being the only ones. More than ten Demon Suppression Officers were already on the scene, with reinforcements continuing to pour in.

Barrier mages raised an enormous barrier to trap the Undying Hound. Others bound its limbs with thick golden chains and entangling vines, while the Divinely Favored struck at it with lethal force.

Yet even so, the Undying Hound still split into more than a dozen bodies—and their numbers continued to increase.

The barrier mages were nearly overwhelmed. If those wretched pups escaped, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Ren Jie and the others had arrived relatively early. Officers were already stretching out a cordon.

By then, the squad leaders had begun assigning tasks.

“Every squad, do your jobs! Use life detectors to search for survivors. Rescue the many before the few, evacuate civilians before transporting the injured!”

“Squad Five, immediately evacuate the civilians trapped inside the demonic-defense works beneath the mall on the left! That section is about to give way!”

“Turn on every distress beacon! You all know how to use them, so don’t screw this up! Move, move!”

The squad leaders shouted orders as they led their men into the disaster zone. Every Demon Suppression Officer carried a distress beacon. Once activated, it would trigger an alarm if its wearer remained motionless for one minute, signaling that something had gone wrong.

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Ren Jie and the others followed them inside, but the veteran officers stopped them.

“What are you greenhorns doing, following us in? Leave the dangerous work to old hands like us. New recruits are responsible for Zone C. And don’t wet yourselves!”

The squad leaders led their men deeper into the disaster zone.

After a demonic disaster occurred, a circle centered on the point of origin was designated as the combat zone, which Demon Suppression Officers were forbidden to enter. Beyond that, the area was divided by danger level into Zones A, B, and C.

Zone C lay on the outermost perimeter. It was the least dangerous and the easiest to conduct rescues in.

Above the disaster zone’s outer edge, two helicopters roared through the sky, circling as they filmed the scene from a bird’s-eye view.

While everyone else fled outward, countless Demon Suppression Officers charged inward.

Their crimson-and-orange fireproof uniforms stood out vividly, like a scarlet steel flood surging against the current.

Mo Ji was strapped into the cabin of one helicopter, the wind distorting his face as he shouted into the broadcast.

“As you can see, the Demon Suppression Bureau has already begun subduing the demon known as the Undying Hound! The Demon Suppression Officers have also arrived at the scene at the earliest possible moment to rescue the civilians trapped inside!”

“That crimson-and-orange steel flood moving against the tide will become a lifeline for those trapped within. Let us pray for them!”

“The darkness will pass. Dawn will come!”

The disaster was being broadcast live on television and across the internet, tugging at the hearts of countless viewers.

The live comments were filled with little candles and folded-hands prayer symbols.

“Demonic disasters have been happening way too often lately! Another one—and it’s a Grade Geng disaster at that? I hope everyone is safe!”

“Why did it have to be Tianheng Center? My sister works there! I can’t reach her! Oh God, damn it!”

“My wife took our child there for a dance class. I got through to them—they’re trapped inside! I’m already at the scene, but the cordon won’t let me in. How am I supposed to get inside? If anything happens to them, I won’t go on living either!”

“Don’t panic, brother. Tianheng Center is in Zone C. The Demon Suppression Officers will find a way. But with a hundred-story tower, rescue won’t be easy… Wait—look over there! There are people everywhere!”

The filming helicopter switched to a close-up.

Tianheng Center rose hundreds of meters into the sky. From the twentieth to the fiftieth floors, towering flames had already erupted, and the fire was still spreading upward.

The civilians on the lower floors had evacuated if they could. Those who could not were being driven upward by the surging flames.

The building itself had been struck by the Undying Hound’s Red Hound Cannons and venom shells, which had blasted several enormous holes through it. The entire Tianheng Center swayed precariously, as though it might collapse at any moment.

In front of the floor-to-ceiling windows on the eightieth floor stood a large crowd of panicked civilians. Their faces were deathly pale as they spun anxiously in place. Some had even opened the windows and thrown fire hoses outside, desperately attempting to save themselves.

But it was all futile. How could anyone descend from a building hundreds of meters high?

Watching the scene, Mo Ji felt his heart tighten.

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“As you can see, a large number of civilians are trapped inside Tianheng Center. The building has begun to tilt, while the Demon Suppression Officers are giving everything they have to the rescue effort. We can only hope… that everything goes smoothly!”

Beneath Tianheng Center, the Demon Suppression Officers were working themselves to the brink of collapse.

Wei Pingsheng’s brows drew tightly together. “Who’s going into the building to check whether everyone on the lower floors has been evacuated? See if there’s a way to reach the upper floors from inside. There are too many people up there—if the building comes down, they’ll all be finished!”

“Set up the aerial ladders and cool the burning floors! If they can’t reach, use drones to spray them!”

Rescuing people from a high-rise was the most difficult task of all. Even Wei Pingsheng had not expected to arrive and immediately find himself leading a group of rookies into such a treacherous operation.

Ren Jie raised his hand at once. “I’ll go inside and take a look. I’m not afraid of fire. I can reach the burning floors and assess the situation.”

As he spoke, he started toward the building, but Wei Pingsheng seized him by the back of the neck.

His expression was deadly serious. “This time, don’t do anything foolish. Your life comes first. I’m not sending you into a crematory furnace a second time!”

Ren Jie hunched his neck and grinned. “Don’t worry, Uncle Wei. I haven’t lived long enough yet.”

With that, he dashed toward the building.

Wei Pingsheng stared anxiously at the rooftop.

“What about the helicopters? Get one over here and evacuate people from the roof.”

“We’re arranging it now. But there are too many people, and the helicopters won’t be able to carry them all. The turbulence will also make hovering and landing difficult. The Undying Hound may even attack airborne vehicles.”

Wei Pingsheng’s expression hardened.

“Then bring them anyway! What about the jet packs? Where are the flight troops? Most importantly, get our people up there first!”

With so many civilians trapped inside, rescue operations would be terribly inefficient without professional Demon Suppression Officers organizing them. They still had no idea what conditions were like above.

“The equipment truck carrying the flight packs was destroyed on the way here… Replacement equipment is already being transported.”

Wei Pingsheng gritted his teeth. “Tch. Use the helicopters for rappelling first. Keep out of the Undying Hound’s line of sight and send a group of our people up there. Then try using rocket harpoons. See if we can get the cables over the burning floors and anchor them to the building!”

“Move!”

The Demon Suppression Officers immediately sprang into action.

Worry clouded Wei Pingsheng’s eyes. The building would not hold for long. They had to hurry.

If the access routes inside were still passable, the rescue would be much easier.

Now, all they could do was wait for Ren Jie’s report.