Chances of survival against a beast horde weren’t high in the wilderness. The squad was prepared to die in order to kill this Octoviolet Silversnake.
However, Yang’s appearance at Fortress Three meant that the mission had failed. He was the only one who had arrived with information on its coordinates and reported the situation there. He only made it upon the sacrifices of many of his comrades. If it weren’t for that important task, he would have chosen to fight the beasts to death. Now, every time he closed his eyes to sleep, he would recall the scene of his comrades’ death. He hated himself and was riddled with guilt, very close to running back there to kill them all.
But he knew it wasn’t time yet!
Fang Rou stood up and wiped her eyes dry. She walked out of the hall, then out of the war hospital with determination in her eyes!
Xiang Ning was waiting for Fang Rou, but since she didn’t return, he thought she must have some matters to attend to and decided to get on social media. Noticing a few notifications, he tapped in to see messages from the researchers.
On the first day, Wang Jiayan had sent him a message. “Xiang Ning, are you awake yet? Drop me a text if you are.”
On the second day. “Are you still not awake? I can’t wait any longer, I’ve got great news for you—we’ve solved all the equations for dimensional rings! Now the last step is to make a ring itself!”
On the third day. “We’ve successfully made a ring! My god, this is unbelievable. This is awesome, we actually did it! But we still need to run a few experiments.”
On the fourth day. “Based on our experiments, dimensional rings can only hold dead objects and non-sentient, low-level living things like plants. It can’t hold any other living things, and the space is limited to one cubic meter.”
On the fifth day. “Are you still not awake? No worries, we solved the mystery of the substance that’s causing the beasts to turn berserk, the berserk factor. Miss Alia also formulated an antidote for it and should arrive at Fortress Three this afternoon to pass it to the military. Also to visit you.”
Xiang Ning grinned as he read Wang Jiayan’s messages. They finally solved the equation! However, he was more concerned about the antidote for the berserk factor.
“This afternoon?” Xiang Ning stroked his chin and typed a reply. “I just woke up today. Congratulations to you all on the success.”
Three seconds later, he received a reply. “No, it’s ‘us’! You don’t know how much everyone at the research facility wishes you were present. To be honest, we don’t even know if we would’ve succeeded without you,” joked Wang Jiayan. The kid he’d looked down on the first day had become the key factor in their success. Indeed, the researchers had grown inflexible; they needed to inject some imagination into their team for success in research.
“Haha, don’t give me too much credit, I’ll get too cocky. Right, why is Alia personally coming?”
“I don’t know but I think it’s likely that Mr. Dong himself sent her to check on you. Due to the results of the dimensional ring, he’s very busy these days.” Wang Jiayan’s fingers rapidly flew across the keyboard on the other side of the screen.
“Alright, I understand.”
After some small talk, they logged off. As it was almost noon and he was feeling hungry, Xiang Ning got out of bed to look for food. He tried calling Fang Rou to join him, but it didn’t go through; her phone had been turned off. He didn’t think much of it since they were at the front lines, any issue—including forgetting to charge one’s phone—was normal.
When he finished lunch, he got up on the fortress wall. It was very tall, more than fifty meters up in the air with a view of more than fifty kilometers. The wilderness looked like an ancient forest. As he waited for Alia, he called Fang Rou twice more but her phone was still turned off. Although he was puzzled, he still didn’t think much of it.
Soon, he saw a black dot on the road far away. The dot slowly grew bigger and he recognized it as his own Windbreaker. Riding it was Alia herself.
Xiang Ning descended the fortress walls and headed to the gates. Soon, his Windbreaker arrived in front of him. He looked at Alia, who was dressed in clothing different from her usual style. She looked like a cool, handsome rider.
“Ooh, you’ve healed well. You look like you’re in high spirits,” chuckled Alia as she got off the bike.
“It wasn’t a big deal, you didn’t have to come all the way to see me.” He scratched his head, embarrassed.
“No, I’m actually here for my research on the beasts. I’m actually a special advisor now.” She winked and grinned mischievously.
Not knowing what to say, Xiang Ning stood there awkwardly, but when he saw Li Zimo walking past, he thought of Fang Rou. “Li Zimo, wait!”
When Li Zimo heard his voice, he paused, then slowly turned with a grin. “Xiang Ning, why’re you out here? Why aren’t you resting in the hospital?”
“There’s nothing much wrong with me. Did you see Fang Rou? She isn’t with you guys, is she?” Xiang Ning had a strange feeling. She had left without telling him, and her phone was turned off. It was odd.
“No, I think she left for some reason.”
“Left? To where?” Xiang Ning frowned. Why was the bad feeling getting stronger?
Perhaps because he could sense Xiang Ning’s intimidating aura, Li Zimo hesitated before asking, “She didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Fang Rou’s older brother was on an expedition that had gone wrong. They sent a team to rescue them, and I think Fang Rou joined them. She should be back very soon, though.” Li Zimo wasn’t too worried, since there hadn’t been many beast attacks during the past few days. They also had the coordinates of the distress signal, so it should be easy to find them. He didn’t know what the assignment was, but Xiang Ning knew. Fang Rou’s brother, Fang Hao, had been tasked with killing the Octoviolent Silversnake, Balamu! Fang Rou was in danger!
When he saw Xiang Ning’s expression change, Li Zimo sensed that something was wrong. After Xiang Ning’s brief explanation, Li Zimo was stunned. “If I’d known, I would’ve stopped her no matter what!”
The Octoviolet Silversnake might not be a big deal to the new generation, but the veterans of the previous generation knew of the violent war, the helplessness of humans faced with a tsunami of berserk beasts!
Chances of survival against a beast horde weren’t high in the wilderness. The squad was prepared to die in order to kill this Octoviolet Silversnake.
However, Yang’s appearance at Fortress Three meant that the mission had failed. He was the only one who had arrived with information on its coordinates and reported the situation there. He only made it upon the sacrifices of many of his comrades. If it weren’t for that important task, he would have chosen to fight the beasts to death. Now, every time he closed his eyes to sleep, he would recall the scene of his comrades’ death. He hated himself and was riddled with guilt, very close to running back there to kill them all.
But he knew it wasn’t time yet!
Fang Rou stood up and wiped her eyes dry. She walked out of the hall, then out of the war hospital with determination in her eyes!
Xiang Ning was waiting for Fang Rou, but since she didn’t return, he thought she must have some matters to attend to and decided to get on social media. Noticing a few notifications, he tapped in to see messages from the researchers.
On the first day, Wang Jiayan had sent him a message. “Xiang Ning, are you awake yet? Drop me a text if you are.”
On the second day. “Are you still not awake? I can’t wait any longer, I’ve got great news for you—we’ve solved all the equations for dimensional rings! Now the last step is to make a ring itself!”
On the third day. “We’ve successfully made a ring! My god, this is unbelievable. This is awesome, we actually did it! But we still need to run a few experiments.”
On the fourth day. “Based on our experiments, dimensional rings can only hold dead objects and non-sentient, low-level living things like plants. It can’t hold any other living things, and the space is limited to one cubic meter.”
On the fifth day. “Are you still not awake? No worries, we solved the mystery of the substance that’s causing the beasts to turn berserk, the berserk factor. Miss Alia also formulated an antidote for it and should arrive at Fortress Three this afternoon to pass it to the military. Also to visit you.”
Xiang Ning grinned as he read Wang Jiayan’s messages. They finally solved the equation! However, he was more concerned about the antidote for the berserk factor.
“This afternoon?” Xiang Ning stroked his chin and typed a reply. “I just woke up today. Congratulations to you all on the success.”
Three seconds later, he received a reply. “No, it’s ‘us’! You don’t know how much everyone at the research facility wishes you were present. To be honest, we don’t even know if we would’ve succeeded without you,” joked Wang Jiayan. The kid he’d looked down on the first day had become the key factor in their success. Indeed, the researchers had grown inflexible; they needed to inject some imagination into their team for success in research.
“Haha, don’t give me too much credit, I’ll get too cocky. Right, why is Alia personally coming?”
“I don’t know but I think it’s likely that Mr. Dong himself sent her to check on you. Due to the results of the dimensional ring, he’s very busy these days.” Wang Jiayan’s fingers rapidly flew across the keyboard on the other side of the screen.
“Alright, I understand.”
After some small talk, they logged off. As it was almost noon and he was feeling hungry, Xiang Ning got out of bed to look for food. He tried calling Fang Rou to join him, but it didn’t go through; her phone had been turned off. He didn’t think much of it since they were at the front lines, any issue—including forgetting to charge one’s phone—was normal.
When he finished lunch, he got up on the fortress wall. It was very tall, more than fifty meters up in the air with a view of more than fifty kilometers. The wilderness looked like an ancient forest. As he waited for Alia, he called Fang Rou twice more but her phone was still turned off. Although he was puzzled, he still didn’t think much of it.
Soon, he saw a black dot on the road far away. The dot slowly grew bigger and he recognized it as his own Windbreaker. Riding it was Alia herself.
Xiang Ning descended the fortress walls and headed to the gates. Soon, his Windbreaker arrived in front of him. He looked at Alia, who was dressed in clothing different from her usual style. She looked like a cool, handsome rider.
“Ooh, you’ve healed well. You look like you’re in high spirits,” chuckled Alia as she got off the bike.
“It wasn’t a big deal, you didn’t have to come all the way to see me.” He scratched his head, embarrassed.
“No, I’m actually here for my research on the beasts. I’m actually a special advisor now.” She winked and grinned mischievously.
Not knowing what to say, Xiang Ning stood there awkwardly, but when he saw Li Zimo walking past, he thought of Fang Rou. “Li Zimo, wait!”
When Li Zimo heard his voice, he paused, then slowly turned with a grin. “Xiang Ning, why’re you out here? Why aren’t you resting in the hospital?”
“There’s nothing much wrong with me. Did you see Fang Rou? She isn’t with you guys, is she?” Xiang Ning had a strange feeling. She had left without telling him, and her phone was turned off. It was odd.
“No, I think she left for some reason.”
“Left? To where?” Xiang Ning frowned. Why was the bad feeling getting stronger?
Perhaps because he could sense Xiang Ning’s intimidating aura, Li Zimo hesitated before asking, “She didn’t tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“Fang Rou’s older brother was on an expedition that had gone wrong. They sent a team to rescue them, and I think Fang Rou joined them. She should be back very soon, though.” Li Zimo wasn’t too worried, since there hadn’t been many beast attacks during the past few days. They also had the coordinates of the distress signal, so it should be easy to find them. He didn’t know what the assignment was, but Xiang Ning knew. Fang Rou’s brother, Fang Hao, had been tasked with killing the Octoviolent Silversnake, Balamu! Fang Rou was in danger!
When he saw Xiang Ning’s expression change, Li Zimo sensed that something was wrong. After Xiang Ning’s brief explanation, Li Zimo was stunned. “If I’d known, I would’ve stopped her no matter what!”
The Octoviolet Silversnake might not be a big deal to the new generation, but the veterans of the previous generation knew of the violent war, the helplessness of humans faced with a tsunami of berserk beasts!
