Having returned to Qiao Shan and the others’ resting camp from the third defensive line, Qiao Shan had also mostly recovered by now. Fortuitously, neither Wang Lan and his companion nor anyone left in the camp had been detected by the Exotic Beasts.
Under normal circumstances, a standard reconnaissance squad has a 70% chance of avoiding detection by Exotic Beasts. The reason the chanical Armored Beasts were able to detect Wang Lan and others in the Geo-crystal Region was because they are chanical life forms.
Their left eye is an advanced detection instrunt, equipped with everything from farsightedness and X-ray vision to thermal sensing.
Wang Lan and his companion did not voice their inner suspicions. Qiao Shan led the group underground, and they resud their journey.
They rested three tis, and during one of those, they encountered a giant Exotic Beast. Although the giant Exotic Beast possessed strength comparable to that of a Titled Strongman, it was no match for Wang Lan. Using a single Sunlight Sword Qi, Wang Lan cleaved it in two, not even allowing it to exhibit the slightest bit of its formidable Titled Strongman-level dignity.
After three hours of travel, Wang Lan and the others finally arrived at the frontline defensive position. The defensive line was in disarray, with the vast campsite bearing traces of trampling throughout.
Both the southern division’s headquarters and the western division decided to move their headquarters to the very front line. Therefore, at first glance, the frontline camp was nothing like the rudintary camps of before; instead, it looked like a city fortress.
Within a two-kiloter radius, arrow towers and bunkers were everywhere. There were also countless watchtowers and cage-like defensive structures. The houses were arrayed like fortifications, harmonizing with the surrounding mountains. The lake’s water was jade green, rging seamlessly with the vast expanse of the sky.
The campsite now bore the traces of destruction by Exotic Beasts everywhere. The footprints of giant Exotic Beasts had trampled through the area. Within the campsite, walls and ramparts lay in ruins. However, the extent of this destruction was not quite what one would expect.
As the group walked through the campsite, Qiao Shan’s expression grew increasingly somber. Suddenly, he stopped in his tracks. "Sothing is very wrong."
"Lord Earth Walker, what’s the matter?" a Star Sea Stage Star Martial Warrior asked curiously.
"The extent of this destruction wasn’t caused by fierce battle. If a fight had occurred, the damage to the camp should be more fragnted. This looks more like the kind of destruction caused by the trampling and ramming of Exotic Beasts."
"Old Qiao seems to have noticed it too," Bai Xiaofeng remarked softly, his eyes narrowing.
"You already knew?"
"When Wang Lan and I went to the third defensive line for reconnaissance, the situation there was similar to this one. But at least there, the Defense Group exchanged blows with the Exotic Beasts.
"Apart from the sentry posts inexplicably being unaware and allowing the Exotic Beasts to suddenly burst into the camp, other areas fought bitterly. But here... it’s not just that the sentry posts were caught unaware; even inside the camp, there was hardly any resistance.
"This is a frontline camp with 20,000 soldiers garrisoned. For sothing like this to happen is truly unthinkable."
"So, you’re saying soone infiltrated first and then assassinated the entire camp? That’s the only way the assault by the Exotic Beasts would have gone completely unnoticed, without even the slightest resistance.
"Unfortunately, Exotic Beasts tend to devour all the bodies, leaving none behind. If only there were one or two corpses, we might be able to discern sothing. What kind of entity could silently take out everyone in a camp, including the two Titled Strongn Dongfang He and Sun Chang’an?"
"Star Martial Toxins?" Bai Xiaofeng asked uncertainly.
"No!" Wang Lan shook his head. "If it were Star Martial Toxins, they would have to be extrely potent and cover a wide area. It’s only been one night since the incident occurred, and Star Martial Toxins wouldn’t evaporate cleanly that quickly; there would be so residue. But I’ve just sensed the area, and there’s nothing."
"If it’s not Star Martial Toxins, then what could it be?" Bai Xiaofeng was suddenly puzzled.
Suddenly, Qiao Shan halted and looked down at his feet. On the flagstone beneath him, a ring of indentations appeared, resembling carved patterns. Qiao Shan stepped forward, and the rubble covering the pattern instantly flew upwards.
After clearing away the debris, an imnse pattern was revealed. The groove under Qiao Shan’s foot was rely the tip of the iceberg.
"Is this... the Earth lody?"
"Correct. These are traces left by the Earth lody. Sun Chang’an knows the Earth lody, but his specialty is actually the Fire Attribute; under normal circumstances, he wouldn’t use Earth Attribute Star Martial Skills." As he spoke, Qiao Shan squatted down and pressed his hand onto the pattern of the Earth lody.
Suddenly, the ground beneath them rippled like the surface of water. Shortly after, bodies began to rise slowly from deep underground. Upon seeing these bodies, Wang Lan and the others all turned pale.
Sun Chang’an had used the Earth lody to hide so of the bodies underground. This was because the Earth lody is a special Star Martial Skill, unlike other Earth Attribute Star Martial Skills that simply bury things.
The Earth lody is more accurately a kind of sealing Star Martial Skill related to the Earth Attribute Law. Things swallowed by the Earth lody would ld with the earth itself, making it impossible to dig them out, even if one dug extensively.
Only by using the Earth lody could the swallowed things be released. But no one could have anticipated that what Sun Chang’an had hidden away were bodies.
Bai Xiaofeng flashed into position in front of the bodies. They were all very unusual. They seed to be Pioneers from the camp, but each had a circular hole, the width of a finger, in their forehead.
Inside the holes was a dark, profound depth that made one’s skin crawl.
"What is this? A Star Martial Skill? Or sothing else?" Jiang Xinyu cautiously approached Wang Lan and asked, "Why does it feel like it was poked out by a finger?"
"It shouldn’t be. From the expressions on these people’s faces, one can tell that they didn’t die unaware, but with faces twisted in terror... They must have been killed while still conscious."
"That is to say, when the Exotic Beast tide arrived, the people in the camp died in this manner. Sun Chang’an preserved these bodies to give us clues... Such distinctive wounds should have been recorded. We’ll have to look it up when we get back," Bai Xiaofeng said calmly, standing up.
Just then, a golden flying insect suddenly appeared. Unnoticed by anyone, the flying insect, no bigger than a fingernail, was capable of incredible speed. In an instant, it viciously dove towards the back of Bai Xiaofeng’s head.
"Watch out—" Wang Lan suddenly shouted in alarm. His Sword Spirit buzzed instinctively, and in an instant, a beam of Sword Qi shot out from between his eyebrows, aiming at Bai Xiaofeng.
Bai Xiaofeng, up to this mont, had not noticed anything, not even suspecting that Wang Lan would suddenly attack him. The Sword Qi nearly grazed his ear and precisely intercepted the golden flying insect.
DING—
A light sound rang out, yet it sent out a terrifying ripple. Where the ripple passed, space shattered explosively. Bai Xiaofeng’s body was instantaneously flung backward.
One would have thought that such a small insect could be easily smashed to pulp with a slap, and using Sunlight Sword Qi to kill it seed like overkill. But unexpectedly, not only did the insect not disintegrate upon being hit by the Sword Qi, it remained unhard?
The insect vibrated and transford into a streak of light, vanishing from Wang Lan’s sight. Its speed made even Wang Lan shiver. It’s nearly as fast as Sony!
anwhile, Bai Xiaofeng, who had fallen to the side, finally realized what had happened. Wang Lan wasn’t ambushing him; there must have been sothing behind him. But now, he couldn’t see anything.
The insect was too fast; even Wang Lan could only capture a glimpse of its afterimage. Qiao Shan was utterly baffled, watching Wang Lan as if he were fighting the air.
"AH—" Suddenly, a Star Sea Stage Star Martial Warrior scread in agony and fell backward. As he collapsed, a column of blood sprayed from between his eyebrows.
The insect drilled out from the back of his head and charged towards its next target.
"Vile creature—" Wang Lan furiously roared. A tiny bug is killing people right under my nose? What the hell is this Exotic Beast? Its body is so small, but its strength is so formidable!
In an instant, Wang Lan’s body dispersed. Although the Nether Butterfly wasn’t as fast as the insect and couldn’t catch up, the Nether Butterfly could teleport. Teleportation was a form of Space Jump, and no matter how fast sothing was, it couldn’t compete with that.
The insect, like a bullet, viciously slamd towards the brow of a Galaxy Stage Pioneer. Yet the Galaxy Stage expert before it remained completely unaware, his eyes vacant.
Wang Lan’s eyes suddenly emitted a purple light. As he materialized from a Nether Butterfly, he slashed at the insect. But who would have thought the insect would feint again, instantly changing direction and rushing towards Jiang Xinyu, who was behind Wang Lan.
This scene filled Wang Lan with a surge of killing intent. At the critical mont, he reached out from the void and unleashed an unprecedented, lightning-fast sword strike.
DANG—
A sound as loud as a ringing bell echoed. The insect was sent flying backward by this thrust. Wang Lan had used 70% of his strength in this strike; even a Titled Strongman pierced by it would likely et their end.
But the insect did not die. Even though severely injured, it still managed to move rapidly, rising into the air and attempting to flee. Wang Lan couldn’t let it get away and instantly flashed in pursuit.
Yet this insect seed to possess high intelligence. Turning to flee was just a deceptive feint; suddenly, the insect reversed direction at even greater speed, charging straight towards Wang Lan’s forehead.
Since you attacked , don’t bla for trying to kill you!
At this mont, Wang Lan felt as if he could understand the golden flying insect’s thoughts. This feint was executed so suddenly that it caught even Wang Lan, despite his cunning combat style, off guard with its turn-and-strike maneuver.
There was no ti to make a countermove. Fortunately, Wang Lan still had Self Healing and the ability to regenerate via his avatars, so being instantly killed like that Galaxy Stage Star Martial Warrior was out of the question.
In the nick of ti, Wang Lan suddenly had a flash of insight. The space in front of him rippled, and Void Storing instantly opened.
Void Storing was rely a portable space, not suited for storing living creatures; once a living being was placed inside, it would die instantly. Generally speaking, anything put into Void Storing, even one of the Five Emperors, would most likely et its demise.
But Void Storing had significant limitations: the spatial fluctuations were very obvious, and the entrance was only as large as a basketball. To operate it in the blink of an eye and pull a person inside was extrely difficult. Unless the target was much weaker than I am, why would I even need to use Void Storing to kill them?
It was similar to Annihilation. Though Chaos Qi could dissolve all things, its limitations were too great. Wang Lan couldn’t use it in combat against equals, only to prevent others from self-destructing.
But the insect’s body is small, and it’s charging so recklessly—isn’t this current crisis practically tailor-made for Void Storing?
Almost the instant Void Storing opened, the insect in front of him plunged headlong into it and vanished. Instantly closing Void Storing, the job was done.
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