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"That may not be a will-o'-the-wisp, but two glowing objects. Vice Captain, can I use flares?"
"Of course, I authorize you to use it. If you find a threat, you can use weapons to fight back."
High-intensity flares burning magnesium rose into the air, and vaguely, Kitajima and Kotaro seemed to see some shadows in the center of the lake. There must be something there!
But when I looked carefully, I didn't see anything worth noting.
"Moriya, can we see anything on the plane?" Araki asked.
"There is something in the center of the lake, and it just sank again. That thing that looks like a will-o'-the-wisp might be the eye of a monster!"
"Is it the monster's eye? I see. So there really is a monster at the bottom of the lake... Kitajima, you and I will drive the Pyrumida 2 and drive the monster ashore."
"Ah? Should I go?" Bei Dao was reluctant. He was not very good at driving an underwater tank. Fishing was more suitable for him.
"What nonsense! Who said before that the will-o'-the-wisp couldn't be a monster? Everyone else, stay on standby on the Sky Whale. If the monster comes out of the water, attack immediately!"
The sun had already set below the horizon, and even the afterglow of the sunset had dimmed. It was pitch black underwater.
The Palumida 2 plunged into the water and moved down the riverbed, unable to see anything in the darkness.
"This lake is really big."
"Pay attention to the sonar." Araki reminded.
"But there's nothing on the sonar. It's really quiet underwater. Deputy Captain, listen, the water is flowing and the frogs are croaking. It's a pastoral scene."
"Okay, stop sighing... Wait, what did you just say?"
"I said there's nothing on the sonar."
"The second half of the sentence!"
"Water flowing, frogs croaking, a pastoral scene?"
"You heard the frogs croaking? Where do frogs come from in the middle of winter?"
Indeed, Bei Dao also realized this. But he really heard the frog croaking.
Did I hear it wrong? Or...
"Ping!"
With a loud bang, Araki and Kitajima were thrown out of the chariot, and Kitajima's head hit the roof.
Fortunately, he was wearing a helmet, otherwise his skull would have been smashed. Even with the helmet blocking the impact, he kept groaning in pain for a long time.
"I sprained my neck." Bei Dao pinched his neck and couldn't move for a long time.
Araki wasn't much better off, he fell on the dashboard.
“Why doesn’t this tank have seat belts!” After finally getting up from the dashboard, Araki rubbed his stomach which was poked by the joystick. He didn’t need to look to see that it was bruised.
"We're under attack!"
That's nonsense. What matters is what attacked you.
The tank was stuck deep in the mud of the riverbed. The light from the searchlight was blocked by the mud and nothing could be seen.
Then they discovered something even more troubling.
"Deputy Captain, the tank has stalled and cannot be started."
Chapter 366: Rescue from the Gods
The chariot stalled.
This is not the most troublesome thing, just turn off the engine and restart it.
The most troublesome thing was that the tank lost power.
The space inside the car was cramped, and after the power went out, all the equipment stopped working, including the lighting. It was pitch black.
"Deputy Captain, it can't be started. The main line must be broken somewhere."
"What the hell is this tank? And it's a new weapon. No wonder the defense forces left it to us."
Maybe TAC had encountered similar troubles when fighting underground before, so the defense forces left this weapon to them.
It was a big toy that would break if touched. Fortunately, this was the bottom of a lake. If it didn't work, I could just open the hatch and swim up. If it was in the deep sea, or thousands of meters underground, I would be doomed if I cried out to the sky and no one would answer.
"Beidao, can you fix it?"
"We need to go outside the cabin to repair it." Beidao fumbled for a long time and found a flashlight under the driver's seat. "Deputy Captain, did you see what attacked us just now?"
Bei Dao was only paying attention to the sonar before and didn't pay attention to the scene outside the cabin.
"It looks like a tongue," Araki was not sure, the thought was too quick, "Could that monster be a frog?"
The flashlight was turned on, and there was finally some light in the cabin. Beidao wanted to look for tools for repairs, but found a pile of bottles and cans in the storage box at the back.
"All oxygen cylinders and life suits? They've prepared everything. Could it be that they knew the tank would break down?"
Because their equipment was withheld, Kitajima, a member of the ZAT team, did not hesitate to speculate about the Defense Force with malicious intent, but Araki pretended not to hear.
Suddenly, the chariot moved and pulled itself out of the deep mud.
"So soon, has it been repaired?"
"It's not me, I didn't fix it!"
The car really hasn't started yet. The power is still off inside the car.
Then Araki and Kitajima saw the two huge "wisp of the devil" that appeared not far in front of the chariot. It was indeed the legendary will-o'-the-wisp.
At a close distance, the monster's full appearance could finally be seen clearly.
"It's really a toad monster!"
It was a giant upright toad.
What makes the Palumida 2 move is the monster's tongue, which wraps around the body of the car.
The tongue was very powerful, and the huge chariot with a total length of 23 meters was gently rolled up, just like a toy. It was dragged all the way, shaking violently, and Araki and the other man tightly grasped the things at hand to stabilize their bodies.
"Attack quickly!"
"But the system won't start, and the weapons are all locked!"
What a jerk! Thinking of this, Araki was about to order the car to be abandoned. God knows where the monster will take them.
At this moment, the two suddenly felt a free fall.
This is not an artificial lake, but a naturally formed one. There are even caves leading downwards at the bottom of the lake!
The cave is not deep, because the entire free fall lasted only three to five seconds. Excluding the buoyancy of the water, the drop was only about ten meters.
Before they could see the surroundings clearly, the chariot was dragged for another half a minute.
During this time, the two men were already confused after falling, and they didn't know whether they were going up or down, until the chariot stopped completely.
With a click, the cab light came on!
"Eh? Are you ready?"
Bei Dao, whose whole body seemed to be falling apart after being thrown down, staggered to his feet. This was much more thrilling than the roller coaster in the park.
Even now he still feels dizzy. In just a few minutes, it feels like he was thrown into a washing machine and stirred for half an hour.
As the tank's power was restored and the searchlight in front was turned on, they found that they had left the bottom of the lake.
There is no water around, but this is not the ground either. Instead, the special terrain forms a large dry cave below the horizontal surface.
There is no doubt that this is the monster's lair.
"The main power supply has been restored. Maybe the loose part has been reconnected." Kitajima guessed.
It seems that this thing is no different from a broken electrical appliance at home. If it breaks, you can just kick it a few times and it will be fixed.
"Deputy Captain, there is good news and bad news. The good news is that the system energy has been restored and the tank can move."
"Nonsense, I can see that too. What about the bad news?"
"The bad news is that the main gun's firing port is damaged and we can't attack."
The two men stared at each other. The monster that had dragged them all the way was right in front of them, but they could not attack because their weapons were damaged, so they could only sit there and wait for death.
The car body was damaged in many places due to collisions.
At this time, a large amount of fibrous silk threads spewed out of the monster's mouth, wrapping around the chariot layer by layer.
"Quick, back off!"
Kitajima hurriedly pulled the joystick, but it was too late. The chariot was entangled in the silk thread, and a thick layer of silk wrapped around it like a cocoon, and the wheels spun in vain.
Even all-terrain tracks can't cope with this situation.
"What the hell is this thing? Is it a frog or a spider?"
Like an insect entangled in a spider web, Bei Dao pushed the hatch and found that it could not be opened. They were truly trapped this time and there was no way to escape.
There was more than just Perumida, there were far more cocoons trapped in this cave. There were densely packed around.
It's just like the nest of the bride in the Night Parade of One Hundred Demons!
"Look, deputy captain, those people in the cocoons are all humans!"
"Are these the missing people? The monster was storing food for the winter!"
Some of the trapped humans had obviously been dead for a long time. It was unknown how long they had been trapped, whether they died of suffocation, hunger, or thirst.
There are still a few that still show signs of life, probably having been abducted not long ago, but they will surely die within two or three days and then be devoured by the monster.
Even if Araki and Kitajima wanted to rescue them at this time, they could do nothing because they were like a clay Buddha crossing the river and could not save themselves.
A rough count showed that the number of people trapped in cocoons was far more than the five the patrolman had mentioned before. There were twenty or thirty within sight, and there were probably even more in the corners.
"In addition to Hatasu Town, it must have looted people in other villages." Araki asserted.
There are so many people trapped here, but no one knows about it. ZAT has not received any similar reports in recent days.
This is not surprising, as the police system of that era was not connected to the Internet, especially in remote mountainous areas like Mie Prefecture. Even if you called the police, it would only be registered locally.
If there is a photo, the local patrol police will usually pay attention to it. Once they leave the jurisdiction, most of them will disappear without a trace.
There will be no notification outside the jurisdiction, let alone operations such as collecting blood from relatives and comparing DNA for storage.
No one has counted how many people go missing in the county or the country each year.