Qin Shilei thrust his sword towards the crocodile's tightly shut right eye.
"Your eyelids can block arrows, I don't believe they can block my Jinghong Sword."
Perhaps it was a beastly instinct, but the rapidly crawling crocodile suddenly stopped dead.
With a flick of its tail, it swung towards Qin Shilei.
Jing Lei Ci!
Qin Shilei leaped lightly, evading the crocodile's tail, and thrust towards its head from mid-air.
Countless electrical sparks flashed, and the crocodile's head was riddled with over a dozen holes, its eyes, the primary target, were also burst.
Scarlet blood mixed with white brain matter sprayed out, and a bronze treasure chest appeared beside the crocodile.
Qin Shilei bent over and collected the treasure chest and the crocodile's body.
He turned and rushed towards another villa.
Ten minutes later.
Qin Shilei and the others reunited in a villa to the west.
"Qin Shilei, those rampaging crocodiles should all be dead," An Qian took out a towel and carefully wiped the blood off her Biyue Sword.
"More than ten people were eaten by the crocodiles due to delayed rescue," Zhang Xiaoli said plainly.
"Some of the crocodiles were mutated, others were not, so we collected three treasure chests in total. There are also five crocodiles waiting for you to collect."
Zhang Qiang also reported on the spoils of war.
Qin Shilei nodded, acknowledging the information. "We don't want the crocodiles that just ate people. We'll trade them for something later."
Starting from the black goats, some of the mutated animals they killed along the way became their food, and some became Xiao Qiang's meals.
Regularly consuming mutated animals would slowly strengthen their physical condition, so Qin Shilei would collect them first when encountered.
After dealing with them, he would cut the meat into portions for everyone.
Once Qin Shilei had collected all the crocodiles, the people rescued by Qin Shilei and his group in the villa area came over.
They thanked them, "Thank you!"
Qin Shilei said indifferently, "You're welcome."
He paused and then said to An Qian and the others, "Wait for me here. I'm going to patrol along the Chi Yuan River."
He was primarily after the treasure chests and meat of the mutated crocodiles.
As Qin Shilei prepared to clear the mutated crocodiles in the Chi Yuan River, the military brass were also having a headache over the crocodiles in the river.
The Chi Yuan River separated Hequ District from other districts of Nanzhuang City.
It was also an important barrier for Hequ District against the zombie hordes of Nanzhuang City.
After the military forces struggled to take control of Hequ District, they thought that as long as they guarded the few bridges over the Chi Yuan River, they could advance and retreat at will.
Unexpectedly, today, two to three hundred crocodiles suddenly surged from the Chi Yuan River.
They killed and injured over a thousand unsuspecting civilians.
The casualties were not as high as those killed by zombies or starved to death.
However, the Chi Yuan River was very long, and crocodiles could move. Who knew where they would come ashore and attack?
Moreover, crocodiles had tough hides and thick skin, making them resistant to ordinary rifles.
After their rampage, they jumped back into the river and escaped using the water.
The Chi Yuan River was too long to be defended.
Should the civilians along the river evacuate? How far would they need to retreat to be safe?
Shi Yutang rubbed his brows, contemplating the defense plan submitted by the General Staff.
He was the commander of the Blazing Fire Legion, one of the four major legions in Nanzhuang City.
"Report, the Seventh Corps has encountered a crocodile attack, requesting support."
Suddenly, a communications soldier entered, saluted, and reported.
The Seventh Corps was a reserve unit, lacking heavy firepower, and stationed near the Chi Yuan River.
Unexpectedly, they were requesting support under a crocodile attack.
Shi Yutang stood up and said to his adjutant, "Let's go and see just how rampant these crocodiles are."
Soon, an armed helicopter lifted off from the command center and flew towards the 715th Corps' stationed area.
"Hold the line! Kill them all!"
"Fire the rocket launchers!"
"Where is the support I requested? Why hasn't it arrived yet?"
The commander of the Seventh Corps shouted anxiously.
Before his requested support arrived, Marshal Shi Yutang arrived first.
Shi Yutang leaned out of the helicopter and looked down.
He saw that the camp was in disarray, with more than a dozen giant crocodiles attacking the camp.
A rough estimate showed that twenty to thirty crocodiles had been killed, while at least four to five hundred soldiers had fallen.
"Bomb them!"
Shi Yutang ordered the pilot to attack the crocodiles below.
"Boom! Boom!"
After two missiles, a burst of machine gun fire followed.
Three crocodiles were blown into the air by anti-tank missiles and, upon falling to the ground, were on their last breath.
"The power of missiles seems to be getting weaker," the adjutant said with a worried expression.
Shi Yutang looked at the crocodiles being attacked by the helicopter on the ground, his brow furrowed even deeper.
After being hit by countless bullets, the thick skin of a crocodile was finally breached, stopping its advance, and it fell to the ground, dead.
Shi Yutang commanded, "Target the largest one."
The pilot quickly turned the gun towards the largest crocodile on the ground.
That crocodile was nearly ten meters long. Sensing the formidable firepower of the helicopter, it turned and fled towards the river.
"Rattatatat!"
Countless machine gun bullets hit the crocodile's back, flashing sparks but causing no damage whatsoever.
"Boom boom boom!"
The rocket launchers on the helicopter fired consecutively at the crocodile, but still, they could not subdue it.
"So powerful!" the adjutant exclaimed in shock, "Is this the Crocodile King?"
Shi Yutang was also inwardly astonished, pondering whether he could mobilize missiles in time to destroy this hidden danger.
Or, if he could borrow the top soldier from the army, would that be enough to kill this impervious crocodile?
While he was lost in thought, the surviving crocodiles, led by the Crocodile King, had already escaped into the Chi Yuan River.
"Stop, don't waste ammunition," Shi Yutang ordered the pilot.
Upon hearing this, the pilot stopped firing and prepared to land the helicopter at the camp.
"General Shi, look." The adjutant suddenly pointed at the Chi Yuan River.
Shi Yutang leaned down again.
He saw that the surface of the emerald green Chi Yuan River suddenly turned red in the middle, and then a crocodile carcass floated to the surface.
"Internal conflict?"
"Or is there a more powerful mutated creature in the river?"
Shi Yutang stared intently at the Chi Yuan River below.
Soon, another mutated crocodile floated to the surface.
The adjutant exclaimed excitedly, "It's a person! Someone just showed their head and then sank back down."
"That's impossible?" Shi Yutang was somewhat disbelieving, "Are humans that strong? To be able to fight mutated crocodiles in the water?"
The area of the river dyed red was growing larger.
The two crocodile carcasses floating on the surface of the river had also disappeared unnoticed.
"That person is floating up again," the adjutant pointed to the west of the Chi Yuan River.
Shi Yutang followed the direction the adjutant was pointing and indeed saw a young man standing in the river, holding a sword.
Through the river water, it was vaguely visible that he was wearing golden armor.
Just then, the enormous Crocodile King also surfaced from the water.
The two were about four to five meters apart, facing each other in a tense standoff.