The True Riot
[19:45:00]
Anton imperceptibly raised his eyes, checking the time. Just fifteen more minutes of his two-hour shift with the First Squad, and he could finally head back to the dorms and enjoy a steaming hot bowl of instant noodles.
"Grumble…"
He rubbed his stomach absently with the hand holding his rifle, as if he could already taste the savory aroma of the noodles.
But then…
"Wait, did my stomach just move on its own?"
The thought barely crossed his mind before the cold grip of fear seized him. He instinctively raised his head, his gaze falling on the darkness beyond the iron fence.
As icy terror crawled from the base of his skull down his spine, his hand trembled as he reached for the alarm.
Just then, within the inky blackness, pairs of crimson eyes abruptly ignited, like blood-red moons suddenly dotting the night sky.
"Woo—woo—woo—"
Black-purple Honkai energy streamed out like ribbons. Anton had just pressed the alarm, his rifle still not raised, when his arm went numb.
In his blurring vision, his pale skin tore along square, purple lines, crumbling into ashen fragments that floated upwards like the remnants of burnt paper.
The flesh beneath his skin shifted from pink to purple, then to black. In the end, Anton could only, with his last remaining instinct, crane his neck to look at the ticking digital clock—
[19:45:09]
Only nine seconds had passed.
The one hundred Poison Cocoon members injected with the diluted Honkai beast factor easily tore apart the iron fence. Facing the lone Schicksal Jaeger blocking their path, the one leading the charge…
No, some of them had sprouted purplish tails from their spines, others had limbs transformed into sharp claws. Aside from their vaguely human outlines and the fact they still walked upright, they could hardly be called human anymore.
The lead Poison Cocoon member casually swung an arm, sending the dazed Jaeger crashing into the alloy wall with brutal force.
"Woo—woo—woo—"
[19:45:34]
Alerted by the alarm, the nearby mech units formed a shoulder-to-shoulder line, completely blocking the narrow tunnel. They advanced with slow, heavy steps towards the rioting Poison Cocoon members.
The rapid thud of footsteps and the shrill blasts of whistles followed, though the human soldiers were hidden behind the towering mechs, only countless pairs of boots visible through the gaps between the mechs' legs.
"What are those things?!"
"My god!"
"Has command been notified?!"
Such panicked cries echoed through the tunnel.
[19:45:58]
The mutated Poison Cocoon warriors roared, a sound neither human nor Honkai beast, and charged headlong into the solid defensive line formed by the mechs.
The mechs lowered their bodies as if crouching, their arms raised defensively before their chests like a steel wall.
"Bang!"
The fastest Poison Cocoon member, before even reaching the mechs, was thrown back by an invisible barrier. A humanoid figure appeared briefly where he had collided with the air, like the imprint left by pressing against a cold window in winter. But upon closer inspection, the "window" was composed of tiny hexagonal matrices—
A Honkai energy barrier!
"Roar!"
The Poison Cocoon member opened his jaw. His lips split open as if slashed by a knife, the cuts extending towards his ears until his mouth stretched open to an unnatural degree. His white teeth sharpened, and a second row, a third row… soon, his mouth resembled a shark's, filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth.
His forehead, fractured in the collision with the barrier, split open further under the influence of Honkai energy. The skin peeled back, revealing pale brain matter, and then, like a Honkai beast, grayish-white plating grew from the fissure, forming a pair of half-meter-long horns.
"Bang!"
He charged the barrier again, his horns piercing it instantly. He pressed against the barrier, his hands morphing into massive claws, tearing at the weakening barrier bit by bit.
"Open fire!"
[19:47:11]
The mechs finally received the order. Their shoulder compartments opened, unfolding the cannons within. In less than a second, they locked onto their targets.
The sound of gunfire, continuous and overlapping, reverberated through the narrow tunnel, almost shattering eardrums.
The gunfire gradually subsided, a crimson haze rising into the air, briefly obscuring even the mechs' vision.
[:36]
"Report."
"Situation unclear… Seems like the riot has been suppressed…?"
The Second Squad captain replied hesitantly.
"What the hell do you mean 'situation unclear'?!"
"Whoosh…"
"Chirp—"
"Roar!"
Strange roars emerged from the crimson mist. This time, everyone heard it clearly—
It wasn't human! Not the pained groans, not the enraged shouts, not the exhausted gasps, but the breathing of a Honkai beast!
Damn it! How could there be Honkai beasts in the base?!
[19:49:40]
A fleshy mass flew out of the blood mist, slamming heavily against the barrier.
It quickly righted itself; it was the horned Poison Cocoon member from before.
His horns were broken, his body oozing purplish-red blood, yet he still roared, digging his claws into the holes he had torn in the barrier, and ripping at it furiously.
"Fire again! Fire immediately!"
Too late.
[19:49:43]
More and more dark figures charged out of the mist. Some tore at the barrier, others clambered over their comrades' shoulders, leaping over the mechs.
Mobius had once assessed that the diluted ICHOR factor would only grant the user the combat power of Kevin before his Meta-Morph surgery. This wasn't a careless remark, but a carefully calculated conclusion.
However, her calculations had overlooked, or perhaps deliberately ignored, one possibility—forced Honkai corruption.
No, perhaps not forced corruption. The successful MANTIS Warriors could control their transformations. For these individuals who couldn't even withstand the diluted, common Honkai beast genes, their corruption wasn't forced; their bodies were irreversibly transforming into Honkai beasts.
Along with the Poison Cocoon members, hundreds of Schicksal Jaegers leaped over the mechs. Or rather, they had once been Poison Cocoon members.
As the Poison Cocoon members landed amidst the Second Squad soldiers, the encirclement crumbled before the fight even began. At least a third of the soldiers, exposed to the Honkai, transformed into Jaegers. The Second Squad was quickly consumed by infighting, unable to stop the Poison Cocoon members.
But these beast-like Poison Cocoon members didn't immediately break through the blockade. Instead, they turned back, tearing apart the mechs with their claws, even biting through the metal plating, ripping out wires and chips, and swallowing them whole. They burped, their breath thick with electrical charge.
"Heh—heh—heh—"
A Honkai beast, with the designation [.0036] on its shoulder, twitched its lips, struggling to stand on its hind legs.
It emitted sounds incomprehensible to humans.
In truth, after injecting the ICHOR factor, most subjects lost basic cognitive function.
But it didn't matter. Whoever orchestrated this had anticipated this possibility. On the back of the instruction sheet, where [???] had requested a "small favor," they had made certain alterations.
Thus, though they had lost their human minds, though they had forgotten why they were here, why they were rebelling…
These corrupted Poison Cocoon members, whether transformed into Honkai beasts or Jaegers, didn't simply revel in destruction.
[20:00:00]
Anton's shift was over.
Barely clinging to life, he mindlessly followed the dozen surviving Poison Cocoon members, who had broken through the Second Squad's defenses, towards Mei's lab.