Chapter 382 - 62: Return to the City, a Drastic Change in the Situation (2)

Their feelings were mixed—a combination of respect for his life-risking sacrifice to cover his team’s retreat, and a sense of wonder and envy at his good fortune in using the Beast Tide to kill two Superpower Level experts.

After all, it was a significant achievement and contribution, enough to allow someone at the Limit-Breaking Level to advance even further.

"My name is Xu Pingsong."

"Thank you for your hard work on this rescue, Leader Lu."

In the end, he didn’t probe further into whether Lu Chao’s story was true.

Xu Pingsong met his gaze, nodded, and then had his men help Lu Chao to the hovercar so they could all leave together.

WHOOSH!!

A moment later.

The silver-gray hovercar took to the sky again, and Lu Chao was helped to a cushioned seat by the blast-proof window.

"Sorry to trouble you, Special Commissioner Xu."

Lu Chao spoke softly, expressing his sincere gratitude.

To be able to reach Nanyun Mountain so quickly and risk the threat of both the Beast Tide and the warlords to rescue him—regardless of the outcome, it was something to be thankful for.

"You’re too kind, Leader Lu."

"It’s all part of my duty. There’s no need for thanks."

Xu Pingsong shook his head, his expression softening slightly.

No one dislikes a friend who understands the value of goodwill; you never know when you might need them to save you in the future.

The two then chatted for a short while.

Lu Chao looked over at Gao Hu and the others, finally learning what had happened to them.

After leaving the valley in the hovercar and traveling several kilometers, they had simply waited for the rescue team, using their locator beacon to broadcast their position, which was why they were able to return so quickly.

"I see."

Nodding, Lu Chao feigned relief.

His pale face made him look weak, but in reality, it was all due to subtle changes born from perfect control over his body.

He was creating the illusion of injury by controlling his heartbeat, respiratory rate, blood flow, and more.

It wasn’t that he was trying to be wary of the people from the Superpower Bureau.

Rather, this ambush had revealed a few things to him—he knew the Tan family hadn’t given up, and the Iron Sand Army was also targeting him.

Since that was the case, and his credit for the achievement wasn’t going anywhere, he might as well hide a few trump cards in case a similar "accident" occurred again.

With this in mind, he remained seated and rested for the time being.

Thanks to his control over his body, he didn’t reveal any flaws in his act.

He then glanced out the window.

Nanyun Mountain, which towered like a sharp blade, gradually shrank as it receded into the distance.

A glint quietly flashed in his eyes as Lu Chao mentally checked the incomplete alchemical formula data he had tucked away.

At the same time, he saw a new panel notification.

[Life Energy: 139→144!]

He had completely consumed the three vials of biological serum he had obtained earlier. Everything was just as his intuition had told him; there were no negative side effects.

As for their medicinal effects...

Perhaps because they had been stored for too long, some of the nutrients had been lost, making them a notch weaker than Qi-Blood Essence and energy mineral essence.

But even so, a full five-point increase in Life Energy brought him ever closer to the 150-point Peak of Limit-Breaking.

This could be considered an unexpected gain.

Furthermore...

’Beast King...’

He took one last look at the silhouette of Nanyun Mountain.

He hadn’t had time to search the experimental base in detail before.

’If that Transcendence Level Beast King is truly a modified Mutant Beast with a bio-chip implanted in it, does that mean it can be controlled?’

’Could there be a biological device hidden somewhere in that base to control it?’

As the thoughts flashed through his mind, the hovercar gradually picked up speed.

Lu Chao finally retracted his gaze, suppressing these additional speculations.

’I’ll probably have to come back here again in the future.’

...

...

WHOOSH!!

「One day later, at dusk.」

The silver-gray hovercar streaked across the sky above the wilderness. Outside the window, the sky was filled with crimson clouds, and a buffer zone full of concrete buildings and shanties appeared at the edge of the horizon.

Lu Chao sat by the window, looking at the world outside.

The barren land near the wilderness was teeming with figures. Looking down from high above, they looked like swarms of black ants.

They were groups of fleeing Wilderness Hunters and scavengers from the buffer zone.

And behind them, in the direction the hovercar had come from...

Vast forces of the City Guard Army were also withdrawing, leaving their temporary camps and returning to the city circle.

Tanks, armored vehicles, jeeps...

Green military trucks carrying soldiers roared their engines, kicking up billowing clouds of dust on the barren land behind them. It looked like a sandstorm, obscuring even the green fields and trees.

Occasionally, some stray Mutant Beasts roaming nearby could be seen being killed, collapsing to the ground in pools of blood.

From time to time, the roars of beasts echoed from the depths of the wilderness even farther back, creating an inexplicable sense of oppression.

"The Beast Tide in the wilderness is even more dangerous than I imagined."

Special Investigation Team’s Xu Pingsong spoke in a low, heavy tone.

He had walked over to the window at some point and was also looking down, gazing at the screeching beast roars beyond the billowing dust.

"I thought the City Guard Army would defend those temporary positions to the death, but I didn’t expect them to retreat so decisively."

"Aside from a few troops still garrisoning some underground fortress positions, they’ve basically withdrawn two-thirds of their main combat force."

Lu Chao frowned slightly at his words, not expecting that such a major change had occurred outside while he was just exploring Nanyun Mountain.

The Beast Tide was rampant, its scale far greater than anything the Red Maple City Circle had ever encountered before.

This was the reason for the scene they were witnessing now.

"Then the war with the Wilderness Warlords..."

"We can only call a temporary truce."

Shaking his head, Xu Pingsong said helplessly, "Beast Kings have appeared in several places on the front lines. Even Superpower Level experts don’t dare to venture deep."

"Moreover, according to intelligence from East Port, a level-twelve storm and a tsunami have appeared in the sea to the southeast of the continent..."

Oh?

Lu Chao’s expression turned serious as he gradually put the pieces together.

The Red Maple City Circle was the southernmost point of human civilization on the Eastern Continent. Farther south lay the vast wilderness wasteland and, beyond that, the coastline.

Unlike the mainland, which could be swept clean by relying on missile weaponry and tank firepower, with Superpower Users acting as the tip of the spear to rebuild cities and reclaim lost territory step by step...

...the ocean remained a domain that the people of Earth Star had yet to conquer. The Mutant Beasts there were far more rampant than in the wilderness, and the marine beasts were more vicious and difficult to deal with. Even naval warships didn’t dare to venture deep into their territory.

"No wonder this Beast Tide is on such a massive scale."

His eyes grave, Lu Chao naturally understood what the information Xu Pingsong revealed meant.

The reason the Red Maple City Circle experienced a Beast Tide every few years was due to weather changes along the coast and the environmental impact of the tides.

But this time, with such a weather anomaly occurring in the southeastern sea, it was inevitable that some marine Mutant Beasts would make landfall.

Naturally, this would disrupt the balance in the southern wasteland, forcing more Mutant Beasts out and compelling them to migrate north.

In that instant, it wasn’t just him.

Gao Hu and the others also came to their senses one by one, understanding just how difficult this Beast Tide would be to handle.

’Can Red Maple City hold out?’

The thought surfaced in someone’s mind subconsciously. The magnificent high walls in their line of sight drew closer and closer.

The mottled, time-worn marks on the gray-black walls of this super-large shelter city, built nearly a century ago, inspired a sense of worry.

As the vast army retreated, figures emerged from buildings all over the buffer zone, their faces filled with either uninformed anxiety or somber gravity.

"This isn’t just Red Maple."

Suddenly, Lu Chao spoke, quietly breaking the silence in the cabin.

Everyone looked over at him. His expression was serious, as if stating the obvious. "This is the Alliance Country now."

"As long as the Alliance Country stands, so will the city circle."

WHOOSH!!

As his words fell, the hovercar completely returned to the city circle.

Gao Hu and the others glanced at each other, all understanding his meaning. Some of the worry in their hearts dissipated.

Xu Pingsong also mulled over this sentence, nodding to himself with a newfound sense of agreement.

Since this was the Alliance Country, then they would surely overcome the crisis of the Beast Tide.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the cabin gradually returned to calm, and the hovercar finally arrived at the Superpower Bureau’s apartment building.

Feigning weakness to recover from his "injuries," Lu Chao gave a simple report to Li Junyi and then returned home.

He was still carrying the numerous alchemical formula documents he had collected, all from the underground base in Nanyun Mountain.

Among them was the formula for the primary-resource level biological serum.

Right now, he only wanted to organize it all as soon as possible and see if he could use it to become a [Biological Alchemist] sooner.