New York, main trunk of the underground drainage system, Sector 7.
This was the city’s intestinal tract, a place where the sun never shone, filled year-round with the stench of decay, excrement, and industrial wastewater.
A normal person would suffocate after just a minute here, but at this moment, a silent team was trudging through waist-deep sewage.
Hank led the way, his tactical flashlight cutting through the darkness.
Behind him, the ten C-Class personnel were fully armed, yet their rapid, shallow breathing was still audible.
Fear was a human instinct.
In a claustrophobic and unknown environment like this, that fear was magnified a thousandfold.
“Maintain formation.” Hank’s voice came through clearly to everyone via bone-conduction headsets.
“Activate bio-radar.
Watch for any anomalous thermal signatures.” “Sir, it’s too quiet here,” a team member designated 9527 whispered, his voice trembling.
“We’ve been walking for half an hour and haven’t even seen a single rat.” Indeed, it was too quiet.
New York’s sewers should have been a paradise for rats, cockroaches, and stray cats.
But now, it was as deathly silent as a massive tomb.
“That’s because we’ve entered a predator’s territory.” Hank stopped and crouched down.
Under the beam of his tactical flashlight, the sewage ahead had turned a bizarre, dark red.
Floating on the surface were no longer pieces of trash, but shards of bone and patches of fur.
There were remnants of rats, alligators, and even…
fragments of human clothing.
“Prepare for combat.” Hank rose slowly and unslung a specialized weapon from his back—a modified high-pressure sprayer connected to a massive liquid storage tank.
Every C-Class personnel followed suit, raising identical weapons.
This was the tool for “baptism” that Levi had specifically prepared for this operation—a concentrated strong acid sprayer.
Right then.
Splash—!
In the darkness around the corner ahead, the calm water suddenly exploded.
A massive dark shadow lunged forward, bringing with it a gust of foul wind.
“Contact!
Fire!” Hank reacted instantly.
The moment he pulled the trigger, a stream of high-concentration hydrochloric acid erupted like a water dragon.
Sizzle—!!!
The acid hit the shadow with pinpoint accuracy, immediately sending up large clouds of pungent white smoke.
“Roar—!!!” A roar filled with tyranny and hatred echoed through the sewer, making their eardrums throb with pain.
In the chaotic beams of their flashlights, the team finally saw the monster’s true face.
It was a creature about three meters long, resembling a lizard in shape but far more twisted and hideous.
Its skin looked as if it had been peeled away, revealing bright red muscle and white bone fragments beneath.
Its back was covered in a chaotic mess of bone spikes, its limbs were thick and powerful, and its claws were as sharp as a Razor.
The most terrifying part was its head.
The skull wasn’t covered in scales but was instead encrusted with rotting meat and constantly rotating eyeballs.
Its mouth split all the way back to its ears, revealing rows of jagged, meat-grinder-like teeth.
The 682 Larva.
At this moment, it was being focused by several acid sprayers.
The strong acid corroded its flesh, causing bubbles to rise from its body.
Large chunks of muscle fell off, exposing the grim white bone.
Any ordinary organism would have died of shock or dissolved into a puddle of sludge long ago.
But it didn’t.
It was laughing.
Though that face was incapable of human expression, everyone felt a sense of mockery emanating from the depths of its soul.
“Disgusting…
insects…” A low, raspy voice, sounding like two bones grinding together, bored clearly into everyone’s ears.
“It…
it can talk?!” 9527’s hand shook in terror, causing his sprayer’s aim to veer off by an inch.
That one-inch opening was all it needed.
Swoosh!
The Reptile lunged.
Its tail, corroded down to the bone, whipped out like a lash.
Crack!
9527 didn’t even have time to scream.
He was pulverized like a tomato hit by a truck; his upper body exploded, and a mist of blood instantly stained the surrounding walls.
“Defensive formation!
Don’t stop!” Hank roared, turning his acid sprayer to full power to suppress the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile as it tried to charge.
“Is this the extent of your methods?” The Reptile pushed through the acid, its murky eyes staring intently at Hank.
“Acid…
only brings pain.
It does not bring death.” A horrifying scene unfolded.
At the sites of its corroded wounds, a layer of grayish-white, keratin-like hard shell began to grow at a pace visible to the naked eye.
The newly sprayed acid hit the hard shell and simply slid off, dealing negligible damage!
Adaptive evolution!
In just dozens of seconds, it had evolved acid-resistant skin!
“Damn it!
Physical strike team, move in!” Hank decisively switched tactics.
Two of the most heavily built C-Class personnel dropped their sprayers and raised specialized hydraulic capture net guns.
Bang!
Bang!
Two large nets woven from high-strength nano-fibers draped over the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile.
“Tighten!” The winches spun rapidly, and the nets bit deep into the lizard’s flesh.
“Drag it into the containment vat!” Hank pointed toward a massive, heavy metal tank resembling a diving bell that had been prepared in the rear.
As long as they could lock it inside, even if it evolved acid resistance, they could inject liquid nitrogen into the airtight space to temporarily freeze it.
However, the Reptile clearly had no intention of cooperating.
“I am not going…
into that cage.” It growled.
Its body suddenly began to swell violently, and its bone spikes grew longer and sharper.
Snap!
Snap!
Several nano-fiber ropes, supposedly strong enough to hold an elephant, were snapped by its raw strength!
It tore through its restraints and opened its gaping maw, biting down on the leg of the C-Class personnel closest to it.
Crunch.
The leg snapped like a dry cracker.
“Aaaaaah!” The C-Class personnel’s screams echoed through the sewer.
The Reptile didn’t swallow immediately.
Instead, as if tasting garbage, it chewed a few times before spitting it out.
“Disgusting…
tastes of fear…
and inferior genes.” It lifted its head.
Its malice-filled eyes looked past the team, as if piercing through the thick layers of rock to gaze at a certain direction on the surface.
“Up there…
are better scents.” “There…
there are more people.” …
Site Base, Command Center.
Levi watched the footage transmitted from the C-Class personnel’s body cams, his eyes narrowing slightly.
“It wants to break through to the surface?” “We can’t let it up there!” If this monster that hated humanity charged into the bustling streets of New York, it wouldn’t be a problem that superheroes could solve—it would be a massacre and an irreparable disaster.
“Hank, don’t hold back.” Levi grabbed the communicator.
“Initiate Plan B.” “Feed that thing to it.” In the sewer.
Hearing the order, Hank didn’t hesitate for a second.
From deep within his tactical vest, he pulled out a metal injector no larger than a fist, labeled with the highest danger warning.
Inside was neither poison nor a bomb.
It was an extremely special substance extracted and refined from the Plague Doctor—[Highly Concentrated Sedative Mixture (Codename: Requiem)].
Of course, to the Reptile, this might just be a glass of warm milk before bed, but what if it was injected directly into its brain?
“Cover me!” Hank roared.
Instead of retreating, he drew a high-frequency vibration tactical knife and charged like a bolt of black lightning straight for the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile’s face.
It was a melee between a mortal and a monster.
Puchi!
Hank’s tactical knife plunged with precision into the Reptile’s eye socket, which had not yet been fully covered by the carapace.
“Roar!!!” The Reptile let out a scream of agony as its massive claw swept across, slamming hard into Hank’s chest.
Thud!
Hank was sent flying like a cannonball, smashing heavily against the wall.
The ceramic armor plates on his chest shattered completely.
But he had succeeded.
In that split second of contact, the metal injector had been driven deep into the back of the Reptile’s eye socket, and the entire payload of fluid had been pumped into its brain.
A few seconds later.
The previously hyper-violent Reptile suddenly began to stagger.
“Sleepy…
why am I…
so sleepy…” Its movements slowed, and its eyelids began to droop.
Its regeneration speed also ground to a temporary halt as its brain stalled.
“Now!
Into the vat!” Hank spat out a mouthful of bloody saliva and struggled to his feet from the sewage.
The remaining C-Class personnel swarmed forward.
Seizing the moment while the Hard-to-Destroy Reptile’s consciousness was blurred, they bound it tightly with hydraulic clamps and steel cables, then shoved it into the massive metal containment vat.
Boom!
The heavy vat door slammed shut, and dozens of safety locks engaged simultaneously.
“Inject liquid nitrogen!
Fast!” Sss— White frost instantly filled the vat, flash-freezing the monster inside.
“Mission…
accomplished.” Hank leaned against the wall, looking at the sealed metal behemoth.
His breathing beneath the mask was heavy and ragged.
This was just a larva.
If it had been a full-grown specimen…
Hank didn’t dare think about it.
For the first time, he felt that his title of “Reaper” was laughable in the face of these true monsters.