Monster Dismantling Company

Chapter 13 Search and Demolition

The discovery of the cavities and tunnels prompted the colonel to convene an emergency meeting at the work site. This time, only he himself, the senior officers of the 392nd Brigade of the Defense Force, and the on-site managers of various monster decomposition companies attended, totaling less than 20 people.

Although Li Lin didn't look well, he was also present.

Upon arriving at the scene, the colonel cast an inquiring glance at Li Lin. Receiving a "nothing's wrong" response from the latter's eyes, he began asking questions of those around him.

"So, everyone's opinion is that Taba's body is riddled with bottomless tunnels?"

Specifically, there are 8 entry points.

While it is not yet certain whether these tunnels are interconnected, monster decomposition companies, including Fireraven, have given the same opinion.

"So, what caused the tunnel?" the colonel asked.

One person answered, "It might be some special internal structure of the monster, like gill openings, similar to a lamprey."

"But do catfish have gill pores?" someone immediately questioned.

"This is a monster, you really think it's a catfish?"

"But judging from the cross-section of the tunnels, they don't look like breathing passages. Breathing tracts should be filled with mucus, but these tunnels are drier than flesh. Hey, have you guys found any mucus like that?"

"What kind of slime?" the colonel asked. "Let me see it. Has anyone collected any?"

"I have some here." Someone handed over a test tube containing the exact same substance that Li Lin had just smelled. "This was collected from inside that tunnel."

Is it safe?

"When we were mining, a new employee fell right in, but he came out completely unharmed..."

(Hehe~~)

A slight gagging sound came from below.

"They were fine after soaking in it? What is this thing?"

"Although its nature is still unclear, the taste seems somewhat...peculiar."

"Really?" The colonel opened the bottle. Normally he wouldn't smell this kind of liquid of unknown origin, but now it was extremely urgent, and he was afraid of missing any information, so he used the fan-smelling method to bring a little scent into his nose with his hand.

Aromatic, agarwood, and musk—an exotic and luxurious fragrance wafted from within, the most elegant scent he had ever smelled.

"This smells nice."

"Ugh~~" Li Lin finally couldn't hold back anymore, not only because of the colonel's behavior, but also because he could smell the stench even from several meters away once the bottle cap was opened.

Seeing that he was about to vomit, Master Wang immediately covered for him and evacuated him to a secluded corner behind the tent.

With no one around, Li Lin leaned against the tent, his stomach churning like a flood—

A burst of fiery plasma erupted from his mouth. The plasma churned and burned upon hitting the sand, scorching it into a blazing, iridescent red-hot glass.

"Ah...that feels better." Li Lin grabbed a tissue and wiped his mouth. "What the hell was that? That was terrifying."

The colonel, who had just finished a brief meeting, also rushed over.

Li Lin glanced at him, instinctively taking a few steps back to keep a distance of more than three meters from him, because the man's scent still lingered on him.

"..." The colonel looked at him, then at Master Wang, "Did I just smell something terrible?"

"I don't know," Li Lin replied, "but the second half is correct; it's indeed something extraordinary—what was the outcome of the meeting just now?"

"The dismantling operation continues on the outside, but it's definitely too late to dismantle it like this. Our plan is to go deep into Taba's body and plant bombs to blow up Taba's spine—this was the original plan. Our original plan was to drill all the way in and then blow it up, dismembering Taba into eight pieces. But now that we have a ready-made tunnel, we can send operators in along the tunnel, advance to a position close to the spine, and plant the bombs directly."

After all, Taba's body structure looks more like a fish, and a fish's spine isn't located close to the skin on its back like a human's, but rather closer to the center of its body. Given Taba's rounded body, its spine must be buried quite deep. At a normal drilling speed, even drilling for 12 hours might not be enough to reach its spine.

If their working hours are only until this afternoon, then the remaining few hours are definitely not enough time.

But the appearance of these tunnels has provided new opportunities for work—by moving along the tunnels, they can significantly shorten the distance between themselves and the spine.

But which of the eight tunnel entrances is closest to the target? Nobody knows. Because the monster blocks electromagnetic waves, there's simply no equipment on site capable of scouting inside.

In such situations, the only option is to employ a saturation-style approach to attack the enemy.

"We have decided to mix the soldiers of the Defense Force with the working group of the Monster Disintegration Company, and have them enter from all eight entrances at the same time. I will send a unit to you."

"We don't need it."

"No, believe me, you need it." The colonel lowered his voice. "I don't know if you've ever played a type of video game called 'Search, Fight, Escape,' a tactical shooter game mode with search, combat, and escape as its core gameplay. Now that the global internet is down, many popular games from the past are unplayable, but single-player 'Search, Fight, Escape' games are still available."

"Ah, yes, I've played it. I saw my classmate play it, and it seemed pretty fun."

"Then you should know that the inside of the monster is a black box isolated from the outside, and no one will know what happens inside. And inside this black box, there are many treasures that can make people rich overnight. Delicious meat, crystal marrow, glands with research value, and that tube of spices I just smelled."

"Don't mention those spices..."

"Well, in short, as a member of the Monster Disassembly Company, you should understand: the information is a black box, but inside the black box lies treasure. Although theoretically these are prey that the Monster Disassembly Company can hunt at will, you should know what will happen if we don't supervise and protect them."

In a dark forest, hunters stealthily move about, their minds focused and tense. Under the pressure of the environment and their fellow hunters, everyone is on edge. Because no morality or law can penetrate this darkness to punish those who commit evil deeds here, no one can be trusted. And to protect themselves and their prey, sometimes hunters are forced to strike first.

In other words, without military personnel monitoring and protecting them, the monster decomposition operation would undoubtedly turn into a large-scale group search, raid, and withdrawal operation.