Chapter 343: Information on the Little Lizard? The Wild King Attacks

"You mean the merchant caravan that the Forest People sent out to the great nations of the east during their previous period was ambushed on its return a few days ago? That the road back was directly destroyed by an extremely powerful force?"

In the grand hall, the burly bixi half-closed his majestic eyes as he sized up the kneeling Knight Captain Gu Ying below, his tone betraying not the slightest fluctuation.

But even though this bixi did nothing more than lie there half-sprawled, Gu Ying, who was respectfully reporting information below, could not help but break out in a cold sweat across his back. The power of this lord was simply too overwhelming—so overwhelming that one could barely muster a shred of will to resist.

Yet such overwhelming power was also so intoxicating!

"Yes."

Gu Ying replied respectfully to the incomparably majestic bixi in a calm voice, a flicker of respect and admiration flashing through his gaze—admiration for one who possessed such great power.

Perhaps only a power like this could avenge his grandfather.

Ever since that day when he witnessed his grandfather's death with his own eyes, this man had undergone a complete transformation. No longer the simple soul of days past, he was now someone willing to pay any price for power and status.

That day, through Gu Ying's subsequent analysis, various signs told him that the Great Elder—who had previously been almost nonexistent—suddenly becoming so domineering was absolutely not a momentary whim. Such arrogant behavior must have been backed by some kind of confidence.

Especially the strange grey crystal the Great Elder swallowed right in front of him in the cell, which could actually allow him to plunder the power of the tribe's Spirit God. All of this silently told him that behind the Great Elder there must exist some mysterious and immensely powerful faction.

It was precisely this powerful, mysterious faction that caused the previously nonexistent Great Elder to run rampant, leading to his grandfather's death.

Therefore, he wanted revenge. He wanted to destroy that hidden existence that had ruined everything for him.

But even if he were as foolish as a three- or five-year-old child, he knew that the hidden existence was definitely a colossal entity far beyond his imagination. After all, even his tribe's Spirit God had suffered calamity. So to exact revenge, he needed immensely powerful strength and an immensely large faction!

All of this, the mysterious lord before him could provide.

For this, Gu Ying was deeply grateful in his heart.

Not only had he saved the entire Forest People and helped him kill the Great Elder, he had also given him a path to obtain power that could grow ever stronger.

"In that case, send out a squad of Wild Seeds to take a look."

Baichuan, who was unaware of and uninterested in what this desperately striving man was thinking inside, merely pondered briefly before deciding how to handle the matter.

Ignoring it was impossible. Although he did not much care about the faction's development, he understood that a faction's growth inevitably required various contacts with the outside world, whether for trading goods or gathering more information of all kinds.

If he ignored it today, it would set a precedent down below of not valuing those who risked going out for the collective's sake. Even though this caravan predated his subjugation of them, over time this would breed a bad influence below: if even the lord above doesn't care, why should we subordinates still need to venture out? Without motivation, the caravans would dwindle, the sources of various necessities would vanish, and all of this would be detrimental to a faction's development.

He was still waiting for these people's reach to grow ever wider, so that he could ultimately obtain information about the little lizard, or even about the world's anomalies.

Moreover, something that could easily alter the terrain was either a powerful faction or the powerful wild beast he needed.

Therefore, he would handle this matter—he had to handle it, and handle it beautifully!

Baichuan feared no accidents at present; his power gave him the confidence to sustain himself through battle!

The Wild Seed squads were a special force he had cultivated during this period—an elite faction led by a third-tier wild beast puppet and a former Phantom Knight, commanding swarms of wild seed puppets to sweep aside all obstacles before him.

Using the Phantom Knights' rich combat experience and their resilient will, they entered the bodies of the wild beasts/wild seed puppets and merged with their consciousness, completely mastering those powerful frames.

In short, they were bio-mecha squads!

Even he only had two such powerful squads at present, because wild beasts were too scarce.

……

One month earlier,

Boundless seas of clouds surged together, on a platform within a world of clouds that stretched beyond the horizon.

Here stood all manner of colossal architectural complexes beyond the imagination of the outside world. Within the largest structure at the center, in an environment resembling a cinema, a massive screen displayed a brilliant stream of light illuminating the entire horizon, its point of origin: Ji Xi!

"Eee-ee-ee~~ It seems another little Laoshu has appeared in this world. What a headache…"

A frivolous voice rang out, tinged with a hint of exasperation.

Following the sound, one saw a person sitting in an elegant swivel chair, resembling a mouse standing upright.

He gazed at that dazzling, almost blinding image, lowered his head to rub his temples with a headache as he muttered to himself. Yet upon closer inspection of his expression, one found it did not match his tone—his face was full of smiles, making it impossible to discern his true emotions. Those eyes, utterly devoid of emotion, stared fixedly at the figure seated in the very front center of the audience.

People like him filled the surrounding audience seats, each watching this single-shot film with expressions that were solemn, calm, amused, or bored.

But without exception, the corner of every gaze was fixed on the figure in the very front center.

In the somewhat dim environment, seated at the very front was a human completely unlike the rat-men beside him!

A male human!

He had grey hair falling to his shoulders, wore a blood-colored hollowed-out mask that concealed his true face, and was clad head-to-toe in armor forged from grey Crystal. He sat at the very front with perfect composure, and even without any movement, an immensely powerful aura enveloped him.

"Boring!"

Seeing that the man at the very front showed no reaction, another mouse-like person standing on the right side of the audience spoke up. He wore a battle suit with a red base interwoven with black patterns, crossed his arms, and kicked the empty seat before him out of boredom.

"Exactly, Chief. You summoned us today just for a little Laoshu like this?"

"If that's the case, please allow me to take my leave. Rather than wasting Time here, I'd much rather go keep my newly spotted little cutie company~"

A tall female rat-man wearing a half-mask chimed in. As her beautiful eyes roved, several companions beside her could not help nodding in agreement: "Exactly, exactly! What Zixiu says is right! If the Chief has nothing else, shall we leave first?"

Immediately someone sidled over with a fawning expression, "Zixiu~~ later when you have Time…"

"Get lost!" Before he could finish, he was kicked aside by another rat-man nearby, who rubbed his little hands together with a lewd chuckle: "Zixiu, don't listen to this fool's nonsense. I wonder if I might have the chance to share dinner with you?"

"Hehe…" Watching this rather entertaining scene, the female rat-man covered her mouth and laughed, her bright eyes narrowing, but she showed no intention of responding.

"Ahem~" Suddenly, a light cough came from the front. The man seated at the very front finally moved. Without turning his head and ignoring the group of rat-men, he said, "Zi Da, I recall the Dongguo on the edge of Ji Xi is under your jurisdiction?"

As the words fell, a spotlight abruptly dropped down, illuminating the rat-man who had earlier been kicked aside by another.

It also caused everyone in the entire audience to slowly turn their heads, fixing their gaze on the rat-man sitting on the ground from the kick.

"Yes!" The somewhat disheveled Zi Da, who had been kicked aside earlier, paid no heed to the various gazes upon him. As if oblivious to any awkwardness, his expression sobered, and he stood up, nodding in understanding as he replied.

In that moment, the previous smirk vanished from his face, and from his slightly lewd figure there actually emanated a peculiar, soldier-like quality.

"Very good," the Chief nodded. "You go deal with that little Laoshu. Everything is left to your discretion."

"Yes." Zi Da elegantly bowed at the waist in a gesture of respect.

Afterwards, the Chief spoke no more. The spotlight on Zi Da, just as it had appeared, vanished as abruptly as it had come.

The next second, the paused film screen changed. This time, what appeared was a large lizard curled up, unresponsive, seemingly soaking in some kind of liquid!

A figure with countless blade-like thorns running down its back, abnormally massive leg muscles, and an overall Godzilla-like appearance.

Its eyes were tightly shut, its expression serene. Its small hands were held loosely against its chest, as if in the fetal position within its mother's womb, its body curled and bobbing in some kind of liquid. Numerous abnormally thick pipes were rooted around its body, seemingly drawing something out from within it.

If Baichuan were here right now, he would definitely recognize who that giant lizard was!

It was precisely one of his targets for this trip — the Ridge Spine Demon Dragon!

Little Lizard Dadi!

……

With the appearance of this scene, everyone in the audience seats straightened their waists solemnly, staring unblinkingly at this creature.

Only Zi Da, at the instant the lights vanished, let out a breath of relief, then glanced with a hint of regret at the slender, graceful female rat-person, his mouth twitching as if wanting to say something, but in the end silently teleported away and vanished from this "cinema." The next instant, the scene shifted and he appeared on a platform where seas of clouds surged.

Suddenly, the ground trembled abruptly, and an incomparably massive Mechanical War Beast walked out from the dense sea of clouds — a majestic tiger-shaped Mechanical War Beast, its entire body silver-black, wreathed in black flames.

This tiger-shaped war beast strode forward and came to stand behind Zi Da, lowering its enormous tiger head, a pair of electronic eyes flashing with an unusually dazzling brilliance.

The next instant, Zi Da slowly transformed from his human form into countless Light Points, drifting into the body of the mechanical tiger beast.

"Little Laoshu, since you dare to get in the way of me and Sister Zixiu's time together, I absolutely won't let you off!"

Vast power surged in from all directions, and from within the Mechanical War Beast came Zi Da's somewhat resentful muttering to himself.

A terrifying engine sound began to roar — that was the tiger-shaped war beast howling. Amid faint sounds of transformation, a pair of engine thrusters slowly rose from the back of the tiger-shaped war beast, and incomparably intense flames blasted out from within, propelling the tiger beast into a streak of afterimage that vanished at the horizon of the sea of clouds.

Seen from afar at this moment, it was like a meteor streaking across the firmament.

And behind it stood a towering ancient tree so vast no one knew how many li across, a majestic Tongtian Jianmu that seemed as though it should connect heaven and earth, like the Jian Mu of myth. But for some unknown reason, this "Tongtian Jianmu" that should have connected heaven and earth had been snapped clean in half at the waist — the massive, jade-like upper trunk was nowhere to be seen, and the platform was actually built upon the broken stump of the "Tongtian Jianmu"'s snapped trunk!

……

Half a month later, a piece of news hurriedly appeared before Baichuan, who was still preparing his Radiation Absorption ability:

The wasteland-species squad that had rushed to rescue the merchant caravan had lost contact three days ago! The current situation was unknown!

Baichuan narrowed his eyes, looking at the information placed before him, silent.

Gu Ying below was trembling somewhat under this invisible pressure — this was an entire wasteland-species squad!

A powerful team led by a Rank 3 God Speed Species wasteland beast, with twelve Rank 2 Erosion Species wasteland creatures as members. Such a squad — to say nothing of an entire formation — even just two wasteland creatures controlled by Phantom Knights could easily slaughter a previous Phantom Knight squad.

This was a force powerful enough to withdraw unscathed from the hands of a Tier 4, and with a little opportunity, even wound a Tier 4.

Yet such a powerful team had lost all contact during a mere rescue operation.

"Report—!"

Before Baichuan could say anything, at that moment another hurried voice came — it was a messenger dedicated to delivering news.

Baichuan's gaze shifted toward Gu Ying. Gu Ying's heart clenched, and he hurriedly went down to receive the news.

However, what came back in Gu Ying's somewhat uneasy voice was yet another piece of bad news:

A scorpion-shaped wasteland king, its entire body seemingly cast in gold, was approaching!

This piece of news reminded Baichuan of the mysterious wasteland king from when he had first arrived here — the Golden Scorpion, which had merely passed by and stirred up dense, foul winds and poisonous mists, turning a vast region into a dead land.

Of course, its true name recorded in the *Great Wasteland Classic*, in the *Huangshupian*, should be called Jin Du — a beast shaped like a scorpion, body like red gold, voice like the clash of metal, its sighting bringing great plague.

Without needing to think, Baichuan understood in an instant — this wasteland king that had suddenly come was, like the Calamity he had previously slain, a member of that mysterious group of outsiders from another world.

Presumably, so much time had passed without the Calamity returning, and they had finally noticed, sending another member to come investigate.

It was just unknown how much they knew about the Calamity's situation — whether they came with hostility or goodwill?

At this moment, contemplating the two events that had appeared almost simultaneously, even Baichuan could not help but sigh — these troubles really were the sort where either none showed up, or they all arrived together, coming to the door at once.

If not for having such a great force and numerous puppets, Baichuan felt he would be stretched too thin to cope.

……

(End of this chapter)