Chapter 178 Beast Tide

Outside the South Cave, the task of hunting the beast tide was coming to an end.

Just as everyone was preparing to retreat—

"Boom!"

A dull explosion detonated above.

Chen Li raised his head, frowning as he looked at the dense forest canopy above. His mental perception wasn't his forte, so this upward glance was merely for show… In his field of vision, only branches and leaves obscured the sky, preventing him from seeing anything unusual.

On the other side, Mr. Zhuang Su also gazed solemnly at the sky.

"Mr. Zhuang, what happened?"

"I'm not sure… A large amount of volcanic ash is obstructing my mental extension."

Zhuang Su frowned, muttering, "I vaguely saw a group of black shadows flitting across the sky."

"Black shadows flitting across the sky?"

Adam became interested, saying, "Take a closer look. Could they be transcendent mutated 'Great Winged Sparrow'?"

Mr. Zhuang crouched slightly, then leaped high into the air. He stepped on a giant ancient tree, running perpendicularly to the ground, eventually standing steadily like a long needle on the tip of the tree.

"They are 'Great Winged Sparrows.'"

Zhuang Su's voice was grave. "There are nearly a hundred of them… and their numbers are still increasing. These Great Winged Sparrows are constantly pouring out of the deep forest. Have they gone mad?"

His words had barely faded when the ground in the distance began to tremble.

"Retreat!"

"Retreat!"

Yuan Shuo Cheng's furious roar echoed through the deep forest. A large number of vanguard members from the Storm Church were retreating, the giant trees of the primeval forest collapsing in swathes, smoke and dust billowing, earth and rocks flying.

Giant elephants, lions, leopards, and countless transcendent beast spirits were stampeding from afar!

"Beast tide… it's a beast tide!"

Little Iron Man was the first to react. Quick as a whip, he instantly grabbed Adam and retreated, his speed astonishingly fast.

Gu Shen had instructed him that no matter what happened, he had to ensure Adam's safety.

Upon hearing the words "beast tide," Adam's expression changed drastically. His face turned extremely pale, allowing Chen Li to drag his tall frame along the ground without any resistance… Little Iron Man directly activated the embryonic domain of [Eater of Iron], and a vague, towering illusory figure attached itself to him.

Enhanced by [Eater of Iron], he became incredibly strong, effortlessly picking up the six-foot-tall Adam, taking three steps in two, and directly jumping onto a giant tree.

"Rumble rumble rumble…"

The beast tide swept past, a cacophony of chaos.

Many members of the Storm Church, unable to escape in time, were directly crushed and trampled to death… Tragically, the scene wasn't even particularly bloody, as the rolling smoke and dust engulfed the flesh. The beast spirits trampled past for dozens of minutes. In the end, not even bone fragments would remain of the low-level transcendents caught in the tide. They would be completely pulverized, their blood and bones ground into dust.

"Too terrifying…"

Adam sat on the main branch of the giant tree, his hands bracing against the thick limbs, his face bloodless.

This frail scholar, who had always just flipped through books, was witnessing a beast tide firsthand for the first time.

Some horrors can only be understood by facing them directly.

Chen Li glanced at him, mockingly saying, "Scared now? You should have held onto me earlier!"

Seeing Adam's sweating, cowering state, he figured he now understood the terror of the beast tide.

"Next time… next time…"

Adam reached out and wiped his forehead, his courage lagging behind his words.

True to form for a scholar specializing in research and investigation, he recovered from the shock of the beast tide in just a dozen seconds, and quickly grasped the information behind the event—

"Doo doo doo."

Adam dialed the reserved communication number for District S12.

The person who answered wasn't anyone else, but Qi Mo!

…

…

Within the Crimson Wave mansion in District S12.

Qi Mo was intently focused on the screen before him. Inside the life support pod in the distance, a serene infant had over a dozen electromagnetic patches attached to its body, connected to mental conduction tubes several meters long, as well as countless microwave pulse lines…

All of the infant's data was displayed on the main computer.

This was a divine infant without "consciousness."

Heaven had given this child almost everything perfect: a perfect body, a face that remained unchanged for years.

However, fate was fair.

The more perfect something was in this world, the more obvious its flaws—

This child had no transcendent bloodline; it had no way to cultivate.

Forget cultivation; this child couldn't even grow up, nor could it communicate with anyone.

It had everything, except a brain!

"Heartbeat normal, blood pressure normal…"

"Vital signs stable, and consistently stable…"

Several elites from the Neutral Faction were assisting with the analysis.

This was an experiment on the divine infant!

Before the experiment began, Gu Shen had given Qi Mo full computational authority. The instruments being used were currently utilizing the computing power of Zero Zero One.

Chu Ling was monitoring everything!

However, the power of [Source Code] was limited to closed areas like Sangzhou Cave. Regardless of the final outcome, these experimental data would not be uploaded to the [Deep Sea].

Only in this way could people be reassured enough to experiment.

As a surviving member of the Ancient Script Society, Qi Mo was relieved to hear that the experimental data was completely sealed off.

He dared to let go only if it couldn't be uploaded!

Now, they needed to use this computing power to uncover the secrets of the "divine infant"!

"Beep…"

"Beep!"

Just as the screen was constantly running, with countless data points floating and surging, some of the code on the screen showed disordered fluctuations.

"What's going on?"

Qi Mo frowned and turned his head.

The assistant behind him had a ghostly expression, muttering, "I just observed… a fluctuation in the 'divine infant's' mental link."

"A fluctuation in the mental link? How is that possible?"

Everyone around him was surprised to hear this.

What could be more absurd than saying that someone without a brain had an abnormal neural circuit?

"It's true."

The assistant helplessly rubbed his forehead, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, unsure how to explain it.

"Buzz buzz buzz…"

At that moment, the instrument next to Qi Mo suddenly vibrated, and the mental data, which had been stable at zero, began to slowly climb!

Just as the assistant had said, there was a fluctuation in the divine infant's mind!

Just as the researchers present were looking at each other, not understanding what was happening, Adam's call reached District S12.

"Hello, who is this? This is Qi Mo."

Qi Mo immediately chose to answer.

He frowned, observing the divine infant's data in real time.

The signs of life in its mental sea began to climb from zero, rising higher and higher, surpassing the limit of ordinary people in dozens of seconds… From the display on the experimental instrument, the little guy seemed to have suddenly woken up.

Was this considered the awakening of his own spirit?

No.

Qi Mo didn't think so. It was more like a "subconscious" lurking in his bloodline.

Because the infant immersed in the life liquid still had a numb expression, his eyes were bright, but his heart was extremely empty.

"This is Adam."

A low voice, unable to conceal its excitement, came from the communicator.

Adam said hoarsely, "Just now, the South Cave encountered a beast tide!"

"Beast tide?"

Qi Mo was stunned, and everyone else was stunned as well.

Adam quickly asked, "Yes, a beast tide… How is it on your end? Is the divine infant's condition still stable?"

"The divine infant's condition… is fluctuating!"

Qi Mo's eyes lit up.

The selection of the "Child of the Divine Scroll" hadn't really been finalized yet!

Because the last time a beast tide was triggered, both Gu Xiaoman and the divine infant were in the core area of ​​Tanzhao, and both could have been the "summoner of the beast tide"... Logically speaking, another round of experiments was needed!

But now, the divine infant's mental abnormality seemed to be echoing the beast tide in South Cave!

Could it be that… the real Child of the Divine Scroll wasn't Xiaoman, but this unconscious infant?

"Adam, you encountered a beast tide? Is everything alright?"

Qi Mo quickly asked, "Can you transmit the specific information about the beast tide?"

"Buzz buzz…"

The communicator malfunctioned.

Due to the accumulation of a large amount of volcanic ash, the mental network connection became increasingly unstable!

…

…

"Hello, hello hello?!"

Adam frowned, poking the communicator hard, but the mental network connection was severed by the impact of the beast tide.

He didn't receive Qi Mo's reply.

Even worse, the scale of the beast tide was growing, and the impact had lasted for dozens of minutes without stopping.

"What the hell stimulated these beasts?"

Chen Li stood on the main trunk of the giant tree, his expression unsightly.

In the past, the outbreaks of the Tanzhao beast tide hadn't been this large.

He vaguely sensed something bad… Because the continuous impact of the beast tide was causing the giant tree they were hiding in to shake, and at this rate, their location would be exposed!

"Warning—warning—"

Perhaps because the volcanic ash completely enveloped Sangzhou Cave, the warning for this beast tide was delayed by nearly ten minutes.

"Disaster name: Beast Tide."

"Danger level definition: A+."

"Estimated arrival time: Countdown 2 hours 31 minutes 03 seconds."

[Deep Sea] released captured images of the beast tide. This time, the images transmitted by [Sky Eye] to the minds of the transcendents were not as clear as the previous two times… The overall tone of the image was dim and gray.

"This beast tide isn't just appearing in the South Cave…"

Chen Li's heart skipped a beat.

"But throughout Sangzhou Cave! A large number of transcendent beast spirits have appeared in the outer ring of forests on all sides!"

The danger level of this beast tide was defined as "A+." In the [Deep Sea]'s rating system, an "S-level" evaluation was rarely given. If there was a disaster in Sangzhou Cave that was defined as "S-level" by [Deep Sea], it would probably be a giant natural disaster on the scale of the Tanzhao volcanic eruption, a terrifying disaster that would cause the entire island to be annihilated.

Chen Li didn't have time for much more thought—

Crack!

The giant tree snapped!

A giant rhinoceros was running wildly on the ground, its extremely sharp horn directly shattering the giant tree that ten people could hug. This giant rhinoceros had grown to a terrifying ten meters in size.

This level of transcendent beast spirit could no longer be considered low-level… In a sense, it was a high-level being on par with the "Empress Birdwing Butterfly" that Gu Shen had sliced with White Sleeve!

With a muffled "boom," Adam instantly fell towards the beast tide below, his expression pale, but luckily, he only fell a short distance before Chen Li grabbed his sleeve. The [Eater of Iron] behind Little Iron Man vaguely condensed into a complete entity, and had a tendency to leave its master and act on its own.

He was stuck on the ninth floor of the Deep Sea, the step of condensing the embryonic domain.

The next step—

Was the complete domain, free action!

The humanoid mimicry of the [Eater of Iron] was a rather burly, gray soul, tightly grasping another giant tree branch with one hand. Where its fingers touched the branch, a black iron-like cold color spread and diffused… In a few seconds, it assimilated and infected this section of the branch into ironwood!

"Don't be afraid, I'm here."

Chen Li narrowed his eyes, slightly turning his head to look back.

At the point where the Eater of Iron behind him was grasping, cracks had already begun to appear, not because the combined weight of the two was too great, but because a giant bear was constantly slapping and shaking the giant tree, trying to shake them down!

These beast spirits were a little strange…

He had clearly hidden in the crown of the giant tree, but he was still discovered.

According to the previous summary of the rules, their "target of impact" should be Tanzhao, so why would they waste time here?

"...Relax, next, hide well!"

There was no time to think more.

Chen Li held his breath and exerted force. He grabbed Adam, swung him slightly, and used the force to throw him out, like throwing a discus. Adam was instantly thrown more than a hundred meters, forming a parabola.

The [Eater of Iron] threw very accurately. The end point of the throw was the tallest old tree in the area, lush and easy to hide in!

Adam landed safely in the sea of leaves in the crown of the tree. At the same time, the branch that Chen Li was holding broke, and he fell into the beast tide. However, at the moment of falling, he manipulated the Iron Eater to thrust out the broken iron branch—

"Chila!"

The iron branch was like an arrow, piercing the chest of the black bear that was shaking the giant tree, bringing out a series of spurting blood.

Chen Li fell into the tide of beast spirits. He twisted his body in the air and slapped away the head of a transcendent golden leopard, then kicked in the waist of a mutated gray wolf. He found that these transcendent creatures that were waiting to attack him on the ground were highly evolved, equivalent to fifth or sixth level transcendents among humans!

However, for a high-level transcendent who had comprehended the "domain," it wasn't difficult to escape from this kind of indiscriminate large-scale trampling. The worst thing was to be hit once, followed by an endless series of two, three, or four consecutive hits, until the body was crushed without a chance to catch one's breath.

With these two heavy blows, Chen Li created a "moment of tranquility" within a one-meter radius for a brief second.

That was enough!

The [Eater of Iron] crashed to the ground, its legs like springs, stepping on the ground and compressing to the extreme—

One second later, it exerted force again, and catapulted high into the air.

However, a huge black shadow suddenly crashed in—

This was beyond Chen Li's expectations.

The transcendent beast spirits in this beast tide seemed to be very "intelligent." He had resolved the crisis on the ground, but there was still a surprise attack in the air. It was a black Great Winged Sparrow with a wingspan of fifteen meters, an extremely terrifying level of transcendent evolution, probably a "peak third-tier beast spirit" at the level of the Great Winged Sparrow King. With one collision, Chen Li retracted his hands and directly ironed himself, but his skin was still shattered!

The claws of the Great Winged Sparrow King were incredibly sharp, scraping against his iron skin and bursting out with ear-piercing friction sounds!

A spray of blood exploded in the air.

Chen Li swallowed the sweetness in his throat and slid out a slender curve in the air, heavily crashing to the ground. He didn't feel any pain, his fighting spirit surged, and he quickly got up after landing.

But if one link went wrong, every link would go wrong.

What awaited him now was the raised hoof of a mammoth—

"Boom!"

Chen Li completely lost his rhythm. He was forced to retreat, and couldn't even get a "moment of tranquility." He could only be constantly knocked away in the beast tide, barely protecting himself by ironizing.

In the chaos, his eyes were fixed on the sea of leaves in the crown of the giant tree, the location where Adam was—

"Hiss!"

The Great Winged Sparrow King circled high in the sky, a mocking smile revealing itself in its anthropomorphic eyes.

It shrieked.

Chen Li's expression turned pale.

The flock of black Great Winged Sparrows swooped down from the sky!

The giant tree was instantly torn apart by black shadows streaking through it.

The sea of leaves was shattered.

The giant tree collapsed with a crash, and dozens of black Great Winged Sparrows passed over from the sky. Wherever they passed, fragments of torn and bloodstained clothing fell one after another.

…

…

(ps: Today's chapter is to repay the leader's reward of "Spring Rain on the River Plowing". Also, thank you to the leader "Starving to Death on the Street Qingfu" for the reward. There will be an additional chapter tomorrow night.)