### Chapter 4: Spores (1)
==============================
In the dark night, the long-silent Sky Void City was suddenly thrown into chaos by rampaging giants. The air was thick with shouts, neighing horses, and bl**d-curdling screams as calamity unfolded.
Flames quickly lit up half the night sky, and with the tightly packed layout of the wooden buildings in Sky Void City, once the fire spread, controlling it was about as likely as finding a needle in a haystack.
Fortunately, the rooftops were covered in heavy snow, so the inferno didn’t immediately engulf the entire city.
But the residents? Not so lucky.
From the original NPCs to the flood of noob players recently pouring in, the moment they laid eyes on the terrifying spectacle of giants crashing through the streets, tearing people asunder, their instinct was to run.
Too bad those giants had the speed of caffeinated cheetahs.
Before long, the slower players found themselves gobbled up by the giants in a horrifying fashion. But hold on, the horror didn’t stop there! Those unfortunate souls, after being swallowed, would soon drop back out of the giants like oversized meatballs and revert to their human forms.
Now, they were the giants’ puppets, with speed and strength amplified to ridiculous levels.
The transformed Muscle Man puppets swarmed the city like locusts, bouncing around and yanking players hiding in corners to toss them to the giants, serving as the frontline in suppressing any human resistance.
The cries of humans echoed like a twisted concert, drowning out everything.
At this point, nine guilds, excluding the Qilin Guild and the Extermination of Immortals Guild, united in an attempt to push back against the giant invasion, but before they even got into formation, the onslaught of Muscle Men left them quaking in their boots.
These guys moved decisively, like a pack of hungry lions. They burst through the guild’s defenses, mixing it up with players still trying to hold the line.
A few veteran players managed to gang up and take down one Muscle Man, only to be flabbergasted to discover that this meatbag looked human but was essentially a hunk of meat with no internal organs. They were no longer human!
While the players were wrestling with the Muscle Men, the giants kept on coming.
Faced with foes of overwhelming size and strength, the guild leaders—veteran players from the first wave—had to heroically step forward.
Otherwise, it was game over, and all their efforts from the past month would go down the drain with one defeat.
Sweating bullets, they raised their weapons and charged at the giants with gritted teeth.
“Clang… clang…”
To their utter shock, the giants’ skin was harder than steel; their sharp blades couldn’t even make a dent.
They were left dumbfounded.
The giants counterattacked fiercely, and soon, two guild leaders found themselves crushed in the giants’ hands, accompanied by agonizing screams that echoed through the chaos.
The giants tilted their heads back and tossed the helpless, injured players into their mouths.
“Crunch, crunch…”
The giants seemed to be savoring a fine delicacy, their lips curling into a sinister smirk, half-grinning, half-gobbling.
“Ahhhhhh!”
The remaining guild leaders were paralyzed with fear, none daring to become the giants’ next meal.
Their only escape now was to sprint outside the city, the only way to evade the giants’ ravenous attack range.
They yelled and fled in every direction, but just as two guild leaders ran a few steps, they suddenly collapsed to the ground, unconscious.
The others had no clue what hit them and were running faster than rabbits on caffeine.
Their original plan was to gather everyone to confront the Sky Void Sword Sect, while the Qilin Guild was supposed to trap the outcast Extermination of Immortals Guild to ensure they didn’t show their faces.
But it turned out these giants came straight from the Extermination of Immortals Guild’s territory.
Clearly, the Qilin Guild had hit a snag.
Now, the problem wasn’t just unsolved; the whole Sky Void City had turned into a hellscape. Fires blazed, and the landscape was crawling with murderous giants and Muscle Men.
Survivors trembled, wondering when their misfortune would strike next.
Amidst the giants’ roars, a striking figure darted through the chaos.
“It’s not him, it’s not him!”
Even if Li Xiaocong had turned into a giant, she’d recognize his outline in a heartbeat.
But disappointment washed over her as she raced through nearly half the city, finding no sign of Li Xiaocong.
Could it be that he was…?
No, no way.
These giants were tough as nails, and ordinary weapons couldn’t even scratch them. She hadn’t pinpointed their weak spots either.
Strong Brother and Cold Little Rain were in the second tier.
Jing Feng trailed in third.
The four dashed through burning streets, bearing witness to the horror as giants slaughtered and turned humans into puppets.
Li Xiaocong must have become a ruthless killing machine like those giants.
If they crossed paths later, would he still recognize them?
“It’s not him, it’s still not him?”
Si Yan’s heart raced as she feared turning the next corner might reveal Li Xiaocong’s lifeless body amidst the rubble.
While they scrambled through the streets, ever more giants and Muscle Men began to close in on them.
“cr*p!”
Without realizing it, Si Yan noticed they were surrounded by Muscle Men from all sides.
And further back, giants, tall and short, swayed closer, like a drunken dance party gone wrong.
“Strong Brother, what do we do?”
With a man beside her, Cold Little Rain felt a surge of stability, somehow believing that even if she were to meet a grim fate in the next second, she wouldn’t break into a panic.
Strong Brother scanned the area. “Let’s see if we can charge through!”
Jing Feng chimed in, “With me around, you guys don’t need to worry about getting hurt. Let’s fight! At least until I run out of steam, I can help bring Si Yan back.”
Strong Brother chuckled bitterly.
Si Yan probably wouldn’t turn back even if her life depended on it before she spotted Li Xiaocong.
Trying to persuade her now would only land him cold shoulders and rebuffs.
But the enemies weren’t in a chatty mood. Once the giants decided the encirclement was set, the commanded Muscle Men surged forward like rabid hounds, ready to overwhelm the four.
Faced with such dire circumstances, Si Yan dropped her pretense and transformed into a massive silver fox.
Now her size rivaled the giants, her sharp claws like giant steel spikes, trampling the approaching Muscle Men or slamming them into the ground.
And just like that, the battle was on!
