Not far from the small village, it was only a thirty-minute journey from the convoy.
However, due to the continuous drizzle and the rugged mountain path, the convoy had already come to a halt halfway through.
Looking at the narrow muddy trail ahead, which could barely fit one or two people at a time, the captain stepped out of the vehicle and smiled bitterly:
"This is what the mountains are like!"
Hearing the captain's lament, Yan Gaoyuan couldn't help but shake his head. He glanced at the convoy behind him and ordered:
"Leave a few people to guard the vehicles. The rest, follow me to the village."
"Alright."
Nodding, the captain began directing the convoy.
At that moment, as if suddenly remembering something, the captain turned to the convoy and shouted:
"Brothers, don't forget to bring those big boys."
"I mean, Captain, do we really need to be that cautious? Those big boys are heavy."
"Heavy?"
Face darkening, the captain glared at the young man who spoke, and his tone grew heavier:
"It's just heavy now. When you lose your life, then you'll understand what real weight means."
Saying this, he walked grimly to the last vehicle in the convoy and took out a metal case.
Inside was a modified small armor-piercing shell, custom-made for mutated beasts.
In mountainous terrain like this, even tanks and armored vehicles have trouble navigating.
Thus, manually-launched small armor-piercing shells were developed.
But considering their terrifying recoil—strong enough to shatter a human arm—this kind of weapon was usually reserved as a last resort.
Most of the time, ordinary guns and cannons sufficed.
Of course, it's worth mentioning that these armor-piercing shells—designed to penetrate and destroy with kinetic energy—pose a considerable threat to mutated beasts.
One must know, what makes mutated beasts so dangerous is their terrifying ability to ignore bullets and artillery fire.
But just one armor-piercing shell could tear through the defense these beasts prided themselves on, releasing a massive amount of kinetic energy to crush their internal organs.
Generally speaking, few mutated beasts could withstand such a fearsome weapon.
Except for a few…
As if remembering something, the captain's expression suddenly turned grim.
This wasn't his first time on such a mission.
The last time was just ten days ago.
But that time…
With a heavy sigh, the captain forcibly suppressed the wave of inappropriate emotion in his heart.
Still, one had to admit, the threat mutated beasts posed to humans was growing. Even with the army entering the mountains to clear them out, it was proving insufficient.
And that's not even mentioning those few places that had already become Forbidden Zones—hellish lands of death.
...
A dim sky. A steady drizzle. The world seemed veiled in gray, blurring normal vision.
"Thud, thud, thud…"
Heavy footsteps echoed in the rain. A group of more than a dozen moved in orderly fashion, stepping through puddled mud, slowly approaching.
Yet before they arrived, the sound of weeping reached their ears.
"Granddaughter, why did you leave so soon?"
"A white-haired man burying a black-haired child—how are your grandpa and I supposed to go on?"
...
Hearing this chaotic yet sorrowful sound, the leading young soldier, Yan Gaoyuan, exchanged glances with the captain. Both of their expressions shifted slightly.
"Something happened."
With that, Yan Gaoyuan suddenly nodded. His right leg bent sharply, and in the next moment, a faint light wrapped around both of his legs.
"Boom!"
As the ground trembled and water splashed three to four meters high, Yan Gaoyuan shot toward the nearby scattered village like an arrow released from a bow.
"Gulp."
Watching this inhuman maneuver, many of the newer soldiers couldn't help but swallow hard.
"Captain, that…"
"Shut your mouth. Some things aren't to be questioned at a time like this."
The already heavy-hearted captain snapped angrily. Then, he took one last long look at the figure that had disappeared into the distance.
If he had been there last time, that comrade wouldn't have…
With a bitter smile, the captain shook his head helplessly. Then, he glanced at the many fresh recruits behind him and reminded them:
"You lot, remember this—you're here to toughen up. If real danger strikes and I tell you to run, you damn well better run…"
Even as he gave this rare piece of advice, the captain's mood grew heavier.
If memory served, the area they were surveying this time could very well spawn a mutated beast with a Spiritual Power Level (SPL) of ten thousand.
If not, all the better.
But if such a creature did exist… they were in real trouble.
You had to understand, the last mutated beast they encountered had an SPL of only six thousand, and it had already decimated half a squad like a monster.
"Sigh…"
With a long sigh, the captain clenched his fists so hard that blood seeped out around his knuckles, his stubbled face grim.
...
Yet just then, unknown to the convoy, deep within the mountains, clouds and mist suddenly surged—as if some colossal being were slowly awakening.
"Boom!"
With a terrifying roar, a visible storm rose, countless tendrils of mist twisting together.
From a distance, it truly looked like some kind of monster was stirring the clouds.
"How could this be?"
In rare disbelief, Yu Ziyu's heart sank.
Humans.
And not just ordinary humans.
The thick fog enhanced his senses.
Still, being at the base of the mountain, and not wanting to alarm the villagers, Yu Ziyu deliberately thinned the mist into a faint haze.
Yet even so, at the very moment it rose, the ripple of spiritual power was enough for him to detect it from afar.
And through the fog, Yu Ziyu was startled to discover—it was a human.
Yes, a human.
The mist served as his "second pair of eyes." Though he couldn't see clearly, he could still make out a humanoid figure.
Roughly 1.78 meters tall.
A bit thin.
Though the spiritual power burst he had just sensed indicated someone only at Tier 5 or 6...
The mere fact this person appeared here was enough to make Yu Ziyu's expression shift drastically.
"Impossible."
"Absolutely impossible."
Coldly muttering, Yu Ziyu firmly believed humans could not have discovered his presence.
After all, of the two women who had seen him with their own eyes—one was already dead, her soul entangled in his roots, clinging to him.
The other woman was firmly under his control.
Not to mention, she hadn't even woken up yet.
And even if she did—what of it? Yu Ziyu had long ordered Xiao Qing to erase her memory while she was unconscious.
For someone like Xiao Qing, with awakened mental powers, such a task was trivial.
Moreover, for convenience—and to prevent any memory recovery—
Yu Ziyu had given a death order to erase that woman's memory completely. Even if she became a fool, it didn't matter.
In other words, he intended to utterly destroy her mind.
And that was one of the reasons she hadn't awakened.
It wasn't that she didn't want to wake up—it was that she couldn't.
Unless Qing'er remotely took over her body, even if the woman did wake up, she'd be nothing more than an imbecile.
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