These three people were all members of the Vanguard Squad, and were the ones closest to Henry Clark. Now, all of them had died at once. Henry Clark was still just a child—he was truly overwhelmed with grief.

Brian Carter sighed, walked over to Henry Clark and carefully crouched down beside him. He slowly retrieved three identification tags from the three mangled corpses, then said, “Comrades, rest well. You’re all tired now... We’ll live on for you.” With that, he stood up straight, his expression unchanged, no tears or anything of the sort. Yet, where no one could see, his blood-soaked hand was gripping the tags so tightly that his fingers had turned white and blue.

Just as the other team members were about to come over and try to comfort Henry Clark, suddenly, the alarm blared again throughout the underground tunnel. Everyone jolted in shock, and saw that the passage ahead was slowly opening on both sides. From within, dozens of mechanical spiders, each about half a meter in diameter, began to emerge.

Brian Carter immediately shouted loudly, “Fire! Fire! Throw all your grenades... Michael Brooks, what’s going on? Did you mess up the code decryption?”

But Michael Brooks didn’t even turn his head. His body was shaking violently, but his voice was clearer and more direct than ever: “No! I’ve already cracked the first layer of the code! This is the base’s countermeasure!”

“Damn it, how many layers are there?” Brian Carter had already pulled out a grenade, and as he threw it, he shouted.

“This is the first layer—there are two more. The base has three layers of codes in total...” Michael Brooks still didn’t turn around, his fingers flying across the laptop keyboard at a frantic speed, almost as if he were having a seizure.

“Damn it...”

Brian Carter cursed again. He threw his grenade, and saw that at least ten grenades had been thrown by the team. He was about to raise his gun to shoot, but in a flash, the ten or so grenades ahead suddenly exploded in midair. They had only traveled a little over ten meters, and Henry Clark, who was at the very front, was already engulfed in the blast wave. Brian Carter, who was closer, was also blown backward, tumbling several meters before hitting the ground hard. His ears were ringing, and his body felt like it was about to fall apart.

(This is... a laser...)

Brian Carter struggled desperately to get up, but he couldn’t move his body at all. It wasn’t paralysis, but a kind of concussion that left him temporarily unable to act. He tried to speak, but couldn’t even move his tongue. He could only watch as the other team members opened fire, his heart filled with unimaginable anxiety.

At this critical moment, when it seemed the whole team was about to be wiped out, Brian Carter suddenly felt as if everything around him had gone silent. Yes, this feeling—he’d experienced it before, back when he was on a mission at the space station in outer space...

“George Miller, it’s a laser. The spiders aren’t big, so they can’t fire many times. Keep throwing grenades—don’t worry about them being shot down or wasted. As long as we drain the spiders’ internal energy, that’s enough...”

George Miller was firing his gun desperately when suddenly this voice rang in his ear—it was Brian Carter’s voice. Without thinking, he shouted, “Throw more grenades! Everyone, throw more grenades!”

The others hesitated—throwing grenades hadn’t worked just now, after all. But George Miller was second-in-command of the special forces, just below Brian Carter, so by instinct, everyone threw their grenades again without a second thought. At the same time, the two people at the front had just thrown their grenades when a flash of light appeared, and two large holes were blasted through their bodies, the flesh around the holes charred black. They groaned twice and fell dead.

The grenades thrown again were shot and exploded in midair after flying a dozen meters, but George Miller didn’t stop at all, still shouting for more. Soon, a second wave, a third wave... until the last grenades were thrown, and this time, no more laser beams appeared. The grenades exploded in the distance, and in the smoke, dozens of mechanical spiders were blown to pieces.

“Whew...”

After two deadly battles in a row, the survivors were utterly exhausted. They all looked at George Miller with admiration, but George Miller didn’t even turn his head and said, “Brian Carter, your reactions and judgment are still as sharp as ever. We owe it to you—otherwise, that wave of spiders would have wiped us all out.”

Brian Carter had just managed to get up from the ground. His body was still trembling, his head spinning so badly it felt like the world itself was shaking. He gave a weak laugh, but said nothing. In truth, he couldn’t speak—he still couldn’t control his tongue.

Three more dead...

The rest stood in silence, saying nothing, but their grief was beyond words. These were comrades, after all—people they’d gone through countless missions and training with, people they’d laughed and gone crazy with. Now, six of them had died here in an instant...

Brian Carter forced himself to stand, and collected two more identification tags. Just as he reached the middle of the battlefield, he suddenly shouted, “Little Blake, get over here!”