Chapter 1106: The Twisted Jinling City
At the same time, while the "Clear Operation" that swept through the survivors within 50 kilometers around the Gucheng Lake gathering area was in full swing, a reconnaissance operation against Jinling City was also being carried out in full swing in the Jinling Military Sub-district Command Center within the Gucheng Lake gathering area.
The temporary command center was brightly lit, and the giant sand table of Jinling City, which was being rapidly built, occupied the center, surrounded by various communication and monitoring terminals.
Du Yuming and Zhao Jie stood side by side in front of the sand table with solemn expressions. The air was filled with tension. Everyone's eyes were focused on the front few main screens of the command center, where real-time reconnaissance images from the Jinling city area were about to be transmitted.
"Reporting to the Commander! The 'Eagle Eye' reconnaissance team has arrived at the designated location, approximately 10 kilometers from the edge of Jinling city! Environmental monitoring indicates an abnormal increase in background bioelectric field intensity, and electromagnetic interference has begun to occur, but it remains within controllable range."
"Drone swarm is ready, requesting release!"
Du Yuming's eyes were sharp, and he said in a deep voice, "Permitted to fly. According to the planned reconnaissance plan, from multiple angles and levels, I want to see every corner of this dead city clearly!"
"Yes!"
...
A temporary reconnaissance position ten kilometers outside Jinling City.
Several simply modified civilian box trucks were parked in the shadow of an abandoned factory.
When the technicians on site received the order to start operating the system, the roof of one of the vans slowly opened, revealing the honeycomb-like launch pad inside.
Om-!
Following a burst of dense low hums, dozens of reconnaissance drones of various sizes and models quickly took off like a swarm of bees leaving their nest. After briefly forming a formation in the air, they flew towards the city vaguely shrouded in ominous purple-black fog.
...
On the other side, the main screen of the Jinling Military Sub-district Command Center displayed real-time images transmitted back by multiple drones.
The initial picture was clear enough, but as the drone swarm moved deeper into the city, the signal began to fluctuate, with occasional flashes of snowflake noise, as if the city itself was resisting being spied on.
Soon, as the drone flew rapidly, a corner of the screen high in the air transmitted a heart-pounding panoramic view:
The once prosperous main urban area of Jinling is now covered by a purple-black fungal carpet of varying shades that seems to have life.
This strange substance, like thick moss, swallowed up streets and squares, clung to the exterior walls of high-rise buildings, and even dyed sections of the Yangtze River a dirty purple-black color, as if the entire city was suffering from a rotting skin disease.
Especially in the area of the former Zifeng Building, the thickness and color of the fungal mat reached the extreme, forming a huge, tumor-like bulge that beats slowly like a heart.
Countless purple-black mycelium veins as thick as giant pythons spread out from it like a twisted network of blood vessels, penetrating deep into buildings and digging into the ground, connecting most of the city into a disgusting organic whole.
The air was filled with a light purple mist, as if formed by countless purple grains of sand, making visibility in the city very poor.
On another screen, a drone flying low overhead provided even clearer details.
Under the careful operation of the drone pilot behind it, it nimbly passed over a former main road.
The streets have been completely covered by fungal mats, and occasionally you can see the wreckage of vehicles that have been half-wrapped in mycelium and have long been rusted and scrapped.
In some places, the fungal mats are not calm - they will suddenly wriggle like living things, slowly "swallowing" a skeleton that is not sure whether it is an animal or a human, or suddenly harden and protrude, forming hideous, thorn-like structures.
On both sides of the streets, the original green belts and parks have long been replaced by twisted, tall, strange mushrooms.
These strange fungi look like enlarged, rotten mushrooms, ranging in height from a few meters to more than ten meters. The cysts at the top constantly shrink and expand, as if they are breathing.
Suddenly, the spores of a strange fungus suddenly opened up, spewing out a thick lavender spore cloud, which spread rapidly like smoke. The drone lens was instantly shrouded in purple, the signal strength dropped sharply, and the picture began to shake violently and contain a lot of noise. It was not until the drone struggled to get out of the range of the spore cloud that it recovered slightly.
Even more disturbing is that in some areas where the fungal blanket is particularly thick, the activity of some semi-fungal organisms can be seen.
There were slow-moving, staggering zombies with their bodies densely entangled with mycelium, wandering around unconsciously; there were big dogs like skinned dogs, crawling on all fours, flashing through the shadows of the buildings at an extremely fast speed; there was even a bloated spitter, constantly dripping with mucus, raising its huge mouth without facial features, which kept opening and closing, towards the drone!
In order to observe more closely, a small silent drone risked lowering its altitude and took a close-up shot of a seemingly peaceful fungal carpet.
Under the camera, the surface of the fungal mat is not smooth, but covered with fine wrinkles and small holes that constantly secrete mucus, like the inner wall of the digestive tract of some creature.
The mucus dripped onto the metal wreckage below, immediately making a hissing sound and emitting white smoke.
Suddenly, the surface of the fungal blanket fluctuated, and a hidden fungal spider that almost blended in with the surrounding environment slowly appeared. Its multi-segmented limbs and umbrella-shaped head were creepy, and its compound eyes seemed to turn towards the direction of the drone!
Another drone's camera captured a group of jellyfish-like creatures. Like translucent ghosts, they slowly floated in the low sky covered with spores, their tentacles swaying under their umbrellas, emitting dark purple and pale green bioluminescence.
When the camera was focused on them, the operator suddenly reported: "Report! The drone's attitude is fluctuating abnormally! Control response is delayed! It is suspected to be interfered with by unknown sources!"
As soon as the words fell, the image on the screen suddenly began to distort violently, as if it was lifted up by a huge wave.
The next second, the screen the drone was connected to went completely black...
This sudden scene quickly plunged the entire Jinling Military Sub-district Command Center into silence.
ps: Two updates, forewarning, there may not be any tomorrow, because tomorrow the eagle is going home, I didn’t buy a ticket, so I can only take the bus back, which takes half a day... It will probably be very late when I get home, and I still have to have dinner with my parents. I haven’t been home for more than half a year, so please understand. QAQ
