Chapter 27: Encounter with a Beast Tide

Ding Huan was still planning his cultivation path.

In his previous life, he would leave Earth two years from now aboard a gene alliance spacecraft; at the time, eleven spacecraft departed Earth, and his own was naturally focused on genetic research.

According to the gene alliance's plan, this fleet would spend three years traveling through space.

During those three years, they needed to search for life materials in outer space, collect the genes of these life forms, and transmit signals via virtual wave codes to seek out alien civilizations.

Thinking of this, Ding Huan shook his head—these fools were asking for death.

If they truly found an alien civilization like Changyi Continent, Earth would be doomed.

Changyi Continent would surely treat Earth as its backyard, forcing every human on Earth to mine Yuan ore.

This was only because Changyi Continent's genetic science had advanced somewhat; otherwise, all of humanity on Earth would have been turned into subjects for large-scale genetic experiments.

The gene alliance's fleet encountered disaster one year after leaving Earth, when their spacecraft crashed into a black hole.

Later, Ding Huan learned it was a wormhole—impossible to accurately describe with current scientific terminology.

But passing through a wormhole could potentially transport one from one star system to another.

That is, the straight-line distance between these two star systems might be countless light-years, yet a wormhole could bypass all those light-years and arrive instantly.

It was like an infinitely long wall—you'd have to detour a vast distance to get from one side to the other, but if you punched through the wall, you'd be on the opposite side the next moment.

A wormhole wasn't exactly like that, but it might achieve a similar effect.

Once a spacecraft entered a wormhole, even a level-three gene cultivator could only wait to die.

Moreover, the people from Earth's gene alliance were probably the strongest among them, only a level-three gene cultivator.

Ding Huan sighed—he survived because after the spacecraft broke apart, he encountered Changyi Continent's starship.

The ship's captain was already a level-nine gene cultivator; he was rescued before the spacecraft fully disintegrated, while every other person aboard perished.

Although Ding Huan never met that captain again, nor had the right to learn his name or background, he had always been deeply grateful to the starship's captain.

When his thoughts returned, Ding Huan realized a problem.

If he were to leave Earth again, would he still have to join that gene alliance fleet? And would he still have to board Ship No. 9?

That might not work—last time, he survived only because he was lucky.

If he left Earth again with the gene alliance fleet, even aboard Ship No. 9, even if he encountered the wormhole a year later and got pulled in, could he still survive?

Remember, everyone aboard Ship No. 9 died when the spacecraft broke apart; he survived because he was in the experimental cabin…

Yes, the experimental cabin—if he traveled with the spacecraft again, he must stay inside the ship's genetic experimental cabin.

Ding Huan shook his head—the gene alliance's spacecraft would leave Earth in about two years; even if he reached level-four gene cultivator, passing through the wormhole would still be a death sentence.

But if he didn't join the fleet, how could he reach Changyi Continent?

Staying on Earth forever was impossible—the planet's heavenly qi was insufficient for his cultivation.

As Ding Huan pondered how to leave Earth, a rapid footstep passed by his side.

That was a cultivator—he immediately opened his eyes.

The two men passing by weren't gene cultivators, but they were at least internal force martial artists. No— one of them was at least a Yellow Grade martial artist.

Two men dashed past the business car, racing toward the front.

Only then did Ding Huan sense something was wrong—normally, when railway damage occurred, repair crews fixed it quickly, within no more than twenty minutes.

This kind of incident was far too common; yet now it had been nearly an hour.

Could it be gene beasts?

Gene beasts forming a beast tide to collectively block trains was normal; these beasts possessed intelligence and would devise ways to stop the train before attacking.

Thinking of this, Ding Huan stood up—he couldn't wait any longer.

If it truly was a beast tide, his current strength might not be enough to break through.

"Mr., please remain seated and do not leave your seat for now." As Ding Huan stood, a crew member approached him.

Ding Huan was about to ignore the crew member and leave anyway when he heard a barrage of gunfire, followed by the booming sound of artillery shells.

Hearing this, Ding Huan did not leave—he sat back down.

The sound of guns and artillery meant the military had arrived.

Although nuclear weapons couldn't completely eliminate gene beasts, as long as the gene beasts hadn't formed a true beast tide, they were still no match for conventional weapons.

The gene beasts blocking this train had not formed a true beast tide—if they had, the windows would already be swarming with gene beasts.

The reason he judged it wasn't a beast tide was that, as gunfire erupted, Ding Huan saw more gene beasts outside the windows—but they were scattering in all directions.

In a true gene beast tide outbreak, those beasts would never flee—they'd charge madly toward their target.

Indeed, only a dozen minutes later, the gunfire thinned out and vanished.

Another half hour passed, and the train finally moved again.

Ding Huan sighed—he knew this was only the beginning.

Although villages were now frequently destroyed by gene beasts, a true beast tide had not yet formed.

The main reason was that the number and level of gene beasts were still within manageable limits; once their population exploded and their levels continuously rose, the beast tide would inevitably follow.

The gene beasts blocking this train had been driven off—and many killed—so the grudge was now set.

Gene-mutated beasts' brains gradually grew smarter; blocking railways and halting trains was definitely planned.

After this batch was killed, next time even more beasts might gather on this route to ambush trains.

Unfortunately, Ding Huan knew his warning would be useless.

Even if he warned someone, no one would believe him; even if someone believed him and stopped the train, these gene beasts would simply shift their hatred elsewhere.

Until the initial beast that launched this small-scale ambush on the train was killed, the outcome wouldn't change.

"Huh? It's you, Ding Huan?" A delighted voice made Ding Huan open his eyes in surprise.

Was there someone familiar here? Then Ding Huan realized it truly was someone he knew—he smiled and said, "Long time no see, Liu Aimei."

The girl before him was Liu Aimei, whom he had met on Qianluo Mountain—indeed, she was the one he had saved.

"Ding Huan, how are you here? Aren't you in Luohe?" Liu Aimei suddenly lowered her voice.

Ding Huan still held a favorable impression of Liu Aimei.

"I'm just wandering to clear my head, and happened to board this bus. What about you? Did you just leave Luohe City today?"

Liu Aimei crouched down closer to Ding Huan and whispered, "Ding Huan, I actually came to find you. When I couldn't find you, I planned to go to Puhai."

"Find me?" Ding Huan looked at Liu Aimei in confusion. He didn't have much connection with her, did he?

He hadn't even left his contact information back then; she should have known he didn't want to associate with them.

Liu Aimei nodded, somewhat ashamed, and said, "After you left, we also left Qianluo Mountain—but Qiao Yi didn't escape."

Ding Huan frowned. "No way. I remember there were two helicopters—that wasn't for rescuing Qiao Yi?"

Liu Aimei sighed. "Those helicopters were for Qiao Yi. Alas, when he came out, he didn't see me or Qin Yi, and must have panicked."

At that moment, he heard the roar of the helicopters. Qiao Yi, probably too excited, rushed to the cave entrance and shouted at the helicopters…"

Ding Huan, hearing this, helplessly shook his head.

The Jin Yuan's vengeful nature meant that after securing the medicinal herbs, it would definitely lie in wait for anyone inside the cave.

Sure enough, Liu Aimei continued, "Qiao Yi didn't realize the giant ape was still outside. As soon as he reached the cave mouth, the giant ape grabbed him."

You probably know what happened after that—Qiao Yi met the same fate as Bai Chuanqiang. He's dead. You must be careful from now on. Don't reveal yourself carelessly."

Ding Huan stared at Liu Aimei, baffled. "What does this have to do with me?"

Liu Aimei whispered even lower, "Qiao Yi wasn't ordinary. Bai Chuanqiang's family had connections too."

"Myself and Qin Yi owe you an apology. After Qiao Yi died, we were called in for detailed questioning."

"What do you mean?" Ding Huan frowned.

Liu Aimei apologized. "The Qiao family repeatedly asked me and Qin Yi why Qiao Yi didn't escape with us."

"I said I shouted for Qiao Yi, but after he ran into the cave, he never answered. The situation was urgent—I had to flee with Qin Yi."

Liu Aimei glanced cautiously at Ding Huan. "Those interrogators were powerful—they found out anyway…"

Ding Huan sneered. "Did they find out you said you wanted to call for Qiao Yi, but I refused to wait?"

Liu Aimei nodded. This time, she said nothing.

After Qiao Yi was killed by the giant ape, she knew Ding Huan had been right—if they'd gone back to call for him, none of them would have escaped.

"Did you say it, or did Qin Yi?" Ding Huan asked calmly.

He was certain that if he'd waited even a moment longer, he'd have lost his life in Qianluo Mountain.

Qiao Yi had rushed over a hundred meters into the cave—he couldn't even hear him. Even twenty minutes wouldn't have been enough to get him out.

"It was Qin Yi. In that situation, she couldn't have stayed silent—it would've been dug out anyway," Liu Aimei said, her voice now barely a whisper.

"You came to Luohe City to warn me?" Ding Huan asked again.

"Yes. You don't know how terrifying the Qiao family is. I heard Qiyong Genetics Company holds shares from their family."

"I came to Luohe City to tell you to leave quickly. I just couldn't find you—and never expected to see you here." Liu Aimei exhaled in relief—she'd finally delivered the message.

"Alright, I understand. Thank you. And one more thing—don't take this bus again." Ding Huan thanked her.

Liu Aimei stood up, gave Ding Huan a regretful look, then turned and left.

She didn't take his final words to heart—or rather, she didn't pay attention to them at all.

Ding Huan sneered inwardly. He was certain Liu Aimei's movements in Luohe City were being watched—she just didn't know it.

Fortunately, he hadn't left her any contact information; otherwise, he'd be on the run again.

It's been so long since the Qianluo Mountain incident—the Qiao family and Bai Chuanqiang's backers must have already come to Luohe City searching for him.

But he'd been cultivating at Yujiang University, only going out once or twice.

The Qiao family didn't know his true identity, and couldn't possibly monitor all of Luohe City—so they'd never found him.

Liu Aimei came to Luohe hoping she could find him, but she failed, just like before.

Since Liu Aimei couldn't find him, the Qiao family probably won't follow her after she leaves Luohe City.

(Thank you to our longtime patron and Silver First Patron of the Abandoned Universe, Lang Liu Gu Zhu Yi, and the Abandoned Universe multi-account patron Liu Jie 7777777, for adding two more patrons after Mythos.)

Also thank you to all fellow cultivators for your monthly votes, recommendation votes, and tips. This new novel automatically drops off the charts once it reaches a certain word count, and our daily word output is now at its limit.)