Accompanied by a faint scraping sound.

  “We must know what’s outside!”

  The unknown is far more terrifying than monsters.

  Brian Sullivan had a sudden flash of inspiration and immediately thought of a way to check the situation outside. Both the front and rear of the King Kong had infrared thermal imagers installed, but with the vehicle’s internal power short-circuited, they no longer functioned. Now the cab was flooded, and most of the circuit boards were probably ruined. However, even though the infrared imagers couldn’t work, there was still one device that could.

  A portable flat-panel X-ray machine.

  This was a piece of medical equipment Brian Sullivan had prepared for himself—a new model from 2021, about the size of an iPad, sealed in waterproof packaging and stored in the compartment.

  The built-in backup power supply could be used for ten X-ray shots.

  Very quickly, Brian Sullivan dug out the portable flat-panel X-ray machine. Through the sealed bag, he turned on the power; it worked perfectly.

  The only regret was that the X-ray machine was supposed to be used with a light-blocking panel, but Brian Sullivan was using it like a camera, so the resulting images would definitely be blurry.

  But as long as he could get a general idea, that was enough.

  He opened the sunroof glass, aimed the X-ray machine outside, and Brian Sullivan waited quietly.

  Less than half a minute later, a massive shadow swept past outside.

  Brian Sullivan immediately pressed the shutter button.

  Click.

  A strong burst of X-rays, and in the next moment, a blurry skeletal image appeared on the X-ray machine’s display. Before Brian Sullivan could make out the shape of the bones, the monster outside seemed to be enraged by the X-rays and launched another violent assault, tossing the King Kong around like a ball.

  Brian Sullivan protected the X-ray machine with one hand and gripped the handrail tightly with the other, being thrown around with the King Kong.

  A few minutes later.

  The monster calmed down, and the King Kong finally stopped rolling. Brian Sullivan grimaced as he rubbed the parts of his body that had been hit by wrenches and other objects, then immediately pulled out the X-ray machine.

  This time, he finally got a clear look at the monster’s X-ray image. It showed half of the monster’s body, with the head out of frame, only the rear half visible. But the blurry bones and outline of this half-body immediately gave Brian Sullivan a very familiar impression. From the wide, long tail, the short, thick legs, and the flat body, it was easy to judge.

  “Is this a crocodile?”

  “What kind of crocodile can toss a thirty-ton heavy truck around like a ball? Could it be a prehistoric giant crocodile?” Brian Sullivan fell silent. No matter what was outside, being entangled by such a huge monster was definitely not a good thing.

Chapter 11: The Dying War Chariot

  Good luck never works, but bad luck always does.

  The enraged monster only calmed down briefly before a new round of attacks began. Brian Sullivan no longer had the strength to curse at the monster; he could only grip the handrail tightly, pressing himself against the wall of the King Kong’s compartment to minimize the impact area.

  This state lasted for a full ten minutes.

  That’s what the mechanical watch showed.

  But to Brian Sullivan, it felt like half a century had passed, worrying for himself and for the King Kong. If the monster kept this up, the King Kong would fall apart sooner or later; even if it didn’t, it would be reduced to scrap. Brian Sullivan couldn’t even focus his will to guide the King Kong to absorb activity and resist the impacts.

  At this point, he could only hope for the best regarding his own safety.

  Even the apocalypse has an end.

  Ten minutes later.

  The tumbling King Kong finally lay upside down at the bottom of the water, and the monster stopped attacking. However, slight shaking continued, and the sound of something sharp scraping against the outside came through, extremely grating.

  Hearing this sound, Brian Sullivan’s heart began to race again.

  “What is this monster doing? It’s biting the King Kong!”

  Brian Sullivan took a deep breath of oxygen.

  He realized he couldn’t just sit and wait for death. Forcing himself to calm down, he focused his mind to an unprecedented degree, his will turning into a sharp arrow, projecting into the body of the King Kong.

  “External armor severely damaged, some internal circuits destroyed, frame structure fractured, urgent repairs needed... activity depleted, some parts of the vehicle already showing signs of activity degradation...”

  A stream of information appeared in Brian Sullivan’s mind—feedback from the King Kong.

  The King Kong was almost at the brink of being scrapped. Originally, 85% of the vehicle had been assimilated by activity, but now it had shrunk to only 25%, barely maintaining the basic framework’s activity.

  The situation was dire.

  There was no time to check the King Kong; the monster outside was still tearing at it, the damage to the armor expanding. Under pressure, Brian Sullivan felt an astonishing calm. He quickly gathered the remaining activity, drawing it from the frame to the external armor, sensing where the monster was biting, and immediately led the activity there to resist.

  At the same time, he split his focus, greedily absorbing the free activity in the water.

  Creak, creak.

  The armor, which the monster had previously found not very hard, suddenly became much tougher, almost chipping the monster’s teeth. The monster was clearly not very intelligent and didn’t notice the artificially manipulated change in activity.

  Unable to bite through the armor, it turned to bite the tires.

  Before Brian Sullivan could redirect the activity to the tires, the special tires, one and a half meters in diameter, were bitten and burst by the monster.

  Bang!

  The tire exploded underwater, startling both the monster and Brian Sullivan.