Canyon 17

Seven or eight seconds after the drone began its descent, Rosen activated the drone's power system using the remote control. The drone instantly accelerated, plunging straight down into the valley like a dark shadow.

Through the onboard camera footage, Rosen saw that the valley floor and cliff walls were densely packed with hollow people, so many that it was terrifying.

Fortunately, they were all the most basic, ordinary hollow beings; none of the special mutants that could shoot arrows from a distance or had corrosive liquids made an appearance.

Actually, thinking about it, it's not really appropriate to let them climb mountains, as the structures of those two special monsters are not suitable for climbing cliffs.

The archery archer was a deformed man with only one arm, making it impossible for him to grip the cliff face.

The corroded version is even more bulky; their weight is definitely far beyond the standard, and they probably won't be able to climb very high before they fall off a cliff and break apart.

But even if it's just the regular version, the quantity is really outrageous, isn't it?

Below the cliff on the east side alone, Rosen estimated that nearly a thousand hollow figures were gathering below, a vast, swarming mass, and countless dark shadows were rapidly approaching from all directions at the bottom of the valley.

Rosen quickly maneuvered the drone to the western cliff face, and upon looking there, he realized the situation was even worse.

The number of hollow figures on the west side appears to be more than double that on the east side, forming a dark mass that covers the entire valley floor and cliff foothills.

Thousands of monsters climbing up the cliff at the same time—it's truly terrifying. The watchtower defenses might actually be breached tonight.

Rosen didn't dare delay, and quickly picked up the walkie-talkie hanging on his shoulder and said, "Drasa, there are thousands of hollow people below the eastern cliff, and they have already started climbing."

A surprised voice came from the other end of the walkie-talkie: "So many?!"

"The number on the west side is more than double that on our side."

Derasa's tone was somewhat hurried: "Damn! Who can handle this? I'll contact Black Lake Company first and have them send someone over right away!"

"good!"

After ending the call, Rosen piloted the racing drone straight to the missile silo at the bottom of the valley.

He kept thinking about the Mother Body and wanted to figure out why so many of these hollow people came up at night. Checking on the Mother Body's condition would definitely be the right thing to do.

The continuous booming of the Claymore mines exploding below the canyon echoed in my ears, one after another, incessantly.

Tonight's massive assault completely wiped out the Claymore mines he had buried at the bottom of the valley.

Fortunately, these Claymore mines can slow down the monsters' advance, giving them time to react.

The drone swooped down at full speed and quickly arrived at the missile silo.

Rosen piloted the spaceship down into the launch silo, heading straight for the location where the mother structure had been discovered during the day.

But when the image came through clearly, Rosen was stunned.

The enormous spherical mother body that appeared during the day has vanished into thin air!

All that remained was that empty, semi-transparent glass tube.

Holy crap, that huge round monster, without arms or legs, could it suddenly grow legs and run away?

He maneuvered the drone to lower its altitude and carefully scanned the traces on the ground. He discovered that the ground was covered with large, snake-like drag marks, which meandered and extended deep into the launch silo.

Rosen followed the trail, passing through the main shaft tunnel, and finally found the missing mother body again in the deepest part of the auxiliary launch shaft.

At this moment, its state was extremely abnormal. The strange, yellowish, mineral-like substance above its head was vibrating at a high frequency, faintly glowing with an eerie red light, as if it was continuously emitting some unknown signal, directing all the hollow people at the bottom of the valley.

Meanwhile, the thick, octopus-like tendrils beneath the mother body were still slowly wriggling. Clearly, it was these tendrils that were exerting their strength to drag the heavy mother body to complete the transfer.

Rosen hovered the flying machine in mid-air, carefully observing the abnormal state of the mother structure, when suddenly the furious roar of heavy machine gun fire ripped through the night sky above him.

He immediately hovered the drone, picked up the walkie-talkie, and asked, "What's wrong? They've climbed up?"

"Yes! The hollow figures from the opposite cliff have climbed up, there are so many of them!!"

At that moment, the heavy machine gun in the watchtower continued to roar, the noise was outrageous, and the walkie-talkie was filled with the chaotic sound of gunfire. Derasa's voice was intermittent, and Rosen could barely make out what she was saying.

Rosen walked to the edge of the cliff outside the watchtower and looked up. Overhead, heavy machine guns fired their ammunition belts through the canyon, and dense bullets rained down on the cliff face of the watchtower on the other side.

At the same time, the defensive firepower of the opposite watchtower was also fully activated, and they fired wildly at the hollow figures climbing at their feet.

Two bright white searchlights pierced through the thick fog, illuminating the entire cliff face, creating a truly breathtaking scene.

The steep cliff face was covered with layers upon layers of hollow figures, dark shadows moving about, densely packed, and they were about to reach the defensive line of the magnetic levitation landmines.

Rosen looked down at the canyon to the east beneath his feet. From the deepest part of the fog, dark shadows kept peeking out and wriggling. The diligent hollow people were also following suit and climbing up in large numbers.

He withdrew his gaze and refocused on the video feed from the time machine. Rosen maneuvered the time machine to slowly approach the mother structure, and at a distance of ten meters from the target, he detonated the pumpkin bombs it was carrying.

boom--!

A violent explosion erupted deep within the auxiliary shaft, filling the viewfinder with flames. The next second, the drone's screen went completely black, and the signal was lost.

After a while, Rosen looked at the opposite cliff face, and a magical scene unfolded.

The hollow figures that were frantically climbing upwards suddenly stopped, as if a pause button had been pressed.

In less than ten seconds, thousands of hollow figures gave up climbing, turned around in unison, and quickly retreated into the depths of the canyon fog using both hands and feet.

Even the hollow figures that had just emerged from the eastern cliff face retreated completely.

Rosen understood immediately; the Matrix could control all the hollow beings, and this explosion was quite effective.

He pulled out a brand new racing car and threw it into the launch silo at the bottom of the valley again.

At that moment, Derasa's voice, tinged with doubt, came through the walkie-talkie: "They've all retreated... How come so many hollow people suddenly appeared today...?"

Rosen clicked his tongue. He couldn't very well say that he had gone down to visit someone else's lair during the day and angered the Mother.

He casually made up a lighthearted excuse, with a touch of sarcasm: "Maybe they're having a team-building activity tonight, going out for a walk together."

Not long after, Derasa strode out of the watchtower and saw Rosen wearing a helmet and holding a remote control.

She leaned closer, asking curiously, "What did you see at the bottom of the valley? Why did so many hollow people suddenly retreat?"