Chapter 775: Peaceful Illusion

The beacon fires on the walls of Brocade Prefecture city suddenly grew sparse.

For seven consecutive days, there was no large-scale attack.

Only scattered packs of mutant beasts roamed outside the defenses, easily scattered by the patrolling Ming cavalry.

Zu Dashou stood on the watchtower, his brow furrowed.

This unnatural calm was more unsettling than a fierce assault.

"What are the Qing forces doing?"

He asked the deputy commander beside him.

"Scouts report that their main force has withdrawn thirty li."

"They have encamped on the opposite bank of the Daughter River, sending only small groups of beasts out each day to harass."

"It's as if they are… resting."

Resting?

Zu Dashou snorted coldly.

Do those monsters need to rest?

He didn't believe it.

"Send a unit of Night Patrol across the river."

"I want to see with my own eyes what they are up to."

That night, three of the finest Night Patrol soldiers swam across the river.

They hid in the hills on the far side until dawn.

The information they brought back made Zu Dashou's face grow even darker.

"The Qing main camp is indeed resting and regrouping."

"But I saw their slave laborers digging pits behind the camp."

"The pits are deep and large, as if they intend to bury something."

"Moreover, I heard… vibrations coming from underground."

"It sounds as if something is being dug deep down."

Zu Dashou immediately sent the intelligence back to Responding Heaven.

In the Martial Hero Hall, Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the military report, his fingers unconsciously tapping the tabletop.

"Digging pits…"

"Underground tremors…"

He raised his head and looked toward Liu Ji.

"What new conclusions has the Investigation of Things Institute reached regarding the Burrowing Beasts?"

"Your Majesty, based on analysis of battlefield remains, the Burrowing Beasts' main abilities are rapid drilling and spewing toxic mist."

"However, their underground activity depth usually does not exceed five zhang."

"Because deeper down, the transmission efficiency of nether energy drops sharply, causing them to lose contact with their controllers."

Zhu Yuanzhang rose and walked to the map of Bei Jing.

"What if they are not digging pits?"

"What if they are… constructing tunnels?"

Liu Ji startled.

"Your Majesty, are you saying the Qing forces intend to bypass our defenses by going underground?"

"Not to bypass."

Zhu Yuanzhang's finger traced the location of Brocade Prefecture on the map.

"It is to drill straight from underground to beneath the city walls."

"And then…"

He pressed his finger down firmly.

"Melt the entire wall section together with its foundations."

The hall fell into instant silence.

"How… how many Burrowing Beasts would that take?"

Liu Ji's voice went dry.

"I don't know."

Zhu Yuanzhang shook his head.

"But since the Qing forces have begun to withdraw and regroup, and started digging 'pits'…"

"it shows they are preparing an attack on a scale we cannot imagine."

"Issue the order to Zu Dashou."

"Starting today, across the entire Brocade Prefecture city, dig a deep well every hundred paces."

"Each well must be at least ten zhang deep, with personnel assigned to listen for underground movements around the clock."

"Also issue an order to the Investigation of Things Institute."

"All Potential Energy Neutralization Generators are to be immediately fitted with underground monitoring arrays."

"We need equipment capable of detecting underground nether‑energy activity."

"The sooner, the better."

Three days later.

The first set of makeshift underground monitoring arrays was installed inside Brocade Prefecture city.

Six copper rods tipped with strange iron were driven eight zhang deep into the ground.

The copper rods are connected to the crystal resonators on the surface.

Any abnormal underground vibration or energy fluctuation will cause the crystals to emit a faint light of a specific frequency.

That night after installation was completed.

The on-duty soldiers then saw a portent.

The crystal corresponding to the copper rod on the northernmost side began to intermittently emit a faint azure light.

Although very weak, it indeed existed.

"Depth……about seven zhang."

"The source is moving, direction……straight toward the city wall!"

When the news reached the Marshal's residence, Zu Dashou was dozing in his clothes.

He sprang to his feet.

"How far is it from the city wall?"

"Based on its speed, it will reach directly beneath the city wall before dawn."

Zu Dashou rushed out of the Marshal's residence and climbed onto the city wall.

The night was dark and deep.

The Qing army's great camp outside the city was utterly silent, with hardly any campfires.

But underground, those things were approaching.

"Notify all resonator arrays, adjust the frequency, aim underground!"

"Furthermore……"

He gritted his teeth.

"Inside the city wall, bury explosives every fifty paces."

"If the city wall really begins to melt……"

His voice was ice-cold.

"Then we will blow up that section ourselves."

"We cannot let them swallow both people and wall."

The same night.

Chen Chao Observatory.

Zhang Cheng stared at the abnormal dark-energy flow pattern on the monitoring screen.

The trajectory of the flow is not on the surface.

It is underground.

Originating from the direction of Hetu Ala, like countless roots, it spreads toward the southwest.

The deepest of these "roots" has already extended to the vicinity of Jinzhou City.

"Depth exceeds the norm……"

Zhang Cheng murmured.

"What are they doing?"

Yue Fei behind him asked in a low voice.

"I don't know."

Zhang Cheng shook his head.

"But dark-energy activity at this depth consumes more than ten times the energy of surface activity."

"The Qing would spare no expense to do something like this……"

He called up the attenuation data of the light curtain.

"I'm afraid it's related to this."

On the screen, the curve representing the light curtain's stability showed three sharp drops in the past half month.

Although it recovered each time, the baseline after each recovery was lower than before.

"The cycle for the weak point to be breached may have advanced again."

Yue Fei fell silent for a moment.

"Do we need to inform the Ming?"

"How do we inform them?"

Zhang Cheng gave a bitter smile.

"The last warning we sent got through only a few fragmented words."

"Moreover, the light curtain's turbulence is now too strong; forcing a transmission would only distort the signal further."

He gazed at the dark-energy root extending underground into Jinzhou on the monitor.

"All we can do is hope……"

"That they themselves will notice it."

They did not notice.

Or rather, by the time they noticed, it was already a bit late.

On the fourth day at dawn.

At the middle section of Jinzhou City's northern wall, the soldier in charge of monitoring the deep well suddenly felt a violent tremor underfoot.

It was not the sudden impact of artillery fire.

It was a continuous, muffled-thunder-like roar.

It came from deep underground.

He lunged to the well's edge and looked down.

The well water was boiling.

It wasn't a hot boil.

A pale blue light welled up from the bottom of the well, lighting the entire shaft brightly.

Here they come!

He bellowed hoarsely.

Underground! They're coming!

Almost at the same moment.

That section of the city wall began to tilt.

It wasn't a tilt from being knocked over.

The foundations had softened, and the wall's own weight crushed it.

Bricks and stones shattered.

From the cracks, a pale‑blue poisonous gas spewed out.

Blast!

The engineers stationed nearby had already lit the fuse.

Boom!

The explosives buried inside the wall detonated.

That section of wall, which was melting, was blown open into a huge gap.

Rubble and molten mud flew everywhere.

But even more earth‑boring beasts burst up from the ground.

Not five.

Fifteen.

They emerged simultaneously from both sides of the blown breach.

Their mouths opened wide.

Fifteen streams of pale‑blue poison gas swept across the entire breach area.

Generator array! Aim at the breach!

Zu Dashou roared hoarsely from the Commander tower in the distance.

Six generators adjusted their angles.

Huang Guang spun, pressing toward the poison gas.

Two streams of energy collided in midair.

A sizzling crack rang out, deafening.

The poison gas was checked by Huang Guang, unable to spread further.

But the earth‑boring beasts did not stop spewing.

They were consuming.

Using the energy reserves of the fifteen earth‑boring beasts, they drained the potential‑energy cores of the six generators.

They were betting…

Zu Dashou understood.

Betting that our cores would run out first.

He turned his head to look at the vice general.

Can we plug the breach in the wall?

We've already been stacking sandbags, but the gas is too thick for anyone to get close.

Fire the cannons!

What?

Use the cannons to blast the earth‑boring beasts on either side of the breach!

But Your Majesty, they're too close to the wall——

Carry out the order!

Half an hour later.

The cannons on Jinzhou's city walls turned their muzzles.

They were aimed at the gap in their own wall.

Fire!

Solid shot screamed forth.

It struck the hard, crystallized carapace of an earth‑boring beast.

Some bounced off, some lodged in.

The beasts' spewing faltered briefly.

The poison gas's intensity weakened for an instant.

Just that instant.

Laborers hurled sandbags frantically into the breach.

One layer.

Two layers.

Generator at full power!

Huang Guang blazed.

The poisonous mist was forced back three zhang.

The gap was barely blocked.

But everyone knew that.

This was only the beginning.

When the news was transmitted back to Heaven-responding, Zhu Yuanzhang was calculating the cost of the next batch of armaments with Li Shan-chang.

After hearing the military report, he fell silent for a long time.

"Underground offensive..."

"This is an open plot."

Li Shan-chang said in a low voice.

"They know we have a purification field, so they strike where we cannot defend."

"This time it's fifteen earth-digging beasts."

"Next time it could be thirty, or fifty."

"Our generators can't keep up."

Zhu Yuanzhang looked at the shocking figure on the ledger.

Then he closed the ledger.

"If we can keep up, we must; if we cannot, we still must."

"Issue the decree."

"From today, court expenses are halved, officials' salaries reduced by thirty percent."

"All the saved money will be fully invested in the Investigation of Things Institute."

"I want more generators."

"We need equipment that can detect underground."

"We need everything we can think of to counter the yin energy."

Li Shan-chang bowed deeply.

"What about the common people..."

"Not a single coin more in tax on the common people."

Zhu Yuanzhang cut him off.

"This war is the court's war, it is my war."

"We cannot place the entire burden on the shoulders of the common people."

He walked to the window and looked north.

"Tell the frontline troops."

"For every extra day they hold out."

"I gain one more day to find them a way out."

The sky outside the window gradually darkened.

But in the northern sky, that patch of azure pollution zone seemed somewhat brighter.

Like an eye slowly opening.