After automatically detecting the abnormal movements of the Ghosts, Chi Yao and Jing Xi spent the rest of their day, aside from eating and sleeping, observing at the monitoring console.

The terminal rang. Jing Xi glanced at it; it was Pei Zhenyue.

“The C85 monitoring satellite has detected a beast tide.”

Pei Zhenyue got straight to the point. “I’m transferring the temporary supervision authority over there to you. If you need reinforcements, report immediately.”

Jing Xi: “Understood.”

Through the virtual screen, Pei Zhenyue looked at the automatically marked points on the monitoring console.

“Their people are still moving there over the past two days?”

Jing Xi nodded.

It was almost consistent with the simulated path made before. Ghosts from all over were rushing to the two Level 5 danger zones, C85 and C86, one after another. This was the first time for such a large-scale operation.

“Any action from Admiral Bai?” Jing Xi asked.

Pei Zhenyue stood with his hands behind his back, his expression serious. “Going to and from work as normal. Nothing unusual so far.”

“Really don’t know whether to say he’s calm or restless.” Chi Yao sneered.

“Even if he’s restless, he can’t make much of a splash on the Capital Star,” Pei Zhenyue said casually, looking at the screen.

While speaking, Jing Xi received the supervision authority for the C85 monitoring satellite.

He had Little Red open the monitoring window and lock onto the position of the beast tide.

Planets C85 and C86 were very close, and their climatic environments were not much different.

After reading the data, Little Red quickly locked onto the target location.

The images captured by the satellite were very clear.

A large number of mutated beasts were rushing across the entire Gobi Desert towards the forest. The edge of the forest had already suffered devastating destruction.

Things like this happened frequently in Level 5 danger zones and were not rare.

“Xi Xi, lock onto this place.” Chi Yao pointed in a direction.

As soon as he spoke, Jing Xi had already magnified that location.

In the northern part of the forest edge, through the dappled tree shadows, a group of people in black clothes could be vaguely seen moving. Some beast carcasses lay around, but they were quickly devoured by the herd.

“Ghosts are dealing with the beast tide?”

Pei Zhenyue frowned, almost thinking he had seen it wrong.

Whenever this evil team appeared, it was inevitably accompanied by slaughter and looting. But now they ran over from all places just to deal with these mutated beasts?

Chi Yao: “Either there’s something there they want, or there’s something they fear.”

Corresponding to the danger of Level 5 danger zones were rich mineral resources. The Ghosts had scavenged Level 5 danger zones quite often in previous years, but unless the minerals were very rare, they wouldn’t easily develop them actively; they usually snatched ready-made ones from others.

Jing Xi turned his gaze to this huge primeval forest.

There must be a reason for the sudden mass migration of mutated beasts.

What was hidden in this forest?

In the evening, Lin Chengde came to relieve Jing Xi.

“You go rest first. Later, A-Yao will say I’m mistreating my subordinates again.”

Jing Xi recorded the information on the monitoring screen from time to time and shook his head. “I’m young, it doesn’t matter.”

Lin Chengde: “…”

I’m not old either!

Jing Xi checked the recorded items. He had a faint sense of familiarity but couldn’t put his finger on it.

Only after Chi Yao sent the third urging message did Jing Xi reluctantly get up.

Before leaving, he suddenly thought of something and turned to look at Lin Chengde. “Have you seen Major General Bo Jin’s child?”

Suddenly mentioning this, Lin Chengde was silent for a moment, then shook his head. “I was so busy at the time I couldn’t attend to these things. I heard he was later picked up and taken to the Capital Star to live at your grandfather’s house for a while?”

Jing Xi: “En, but he was taken away not long after.”

Lin Chengde sighed. “If I had known it would end like that, I would have come forward to adopt him. What a pity—”

Jing Xi observed his expression and said indifferently, “I hope we can find out his whereabouts after this is over.”

Lin Chengde looked up at him. “You think he was captured into the organization?”

Jing Xi: “It’s not impossible.”

Returning to the rest cabin, Chi Yao was working in the living room.

This person urged him to come back and rest, but he hadn’t stopped working himself.

Hearing the noise, Chi Yao looked away from the screen. “You’re back? I made a few dishes; just heat them up and eat.”

In order to record the data personally, Jing Xi got busy and forgot to eat.

He didn’t feel it originally, but hearing Chi Yao’s words, his tense nerves relaxed, and he suddenly felt very hungry.

Someone at home cooked a meal waiting for his return; this feeling was really good.

He turned and walked towards the kitchen, the corners of his lips rising unconsciously.

Before reaching the kitchen, footsteps came from behind, accompanied by Chi Yao’s disdainful voice: “Forget it, let me do it. In the middle of the night, I’m afraid you’ll blow up the kitchen.”

Jing Xi’s face stiffened. “…I’m not that useless.”

Meeting Chi Yao’s teasing eyes, he felt it necessary to explain: “It’s just heating up dishes; I can still do it.”

Chi Yao pressed the start button, turned around to lean against the stove, pulled the person into his arms, and inhaled.

“How’s the situation?”

Jing Xi leaned relaxed against his shoulder.

“The Ghosts are stopping the beast herd from entering the forest.”

While eating his wife’s tofu, Chi Yao asked, “Has the scan result of that forest come out?”

Jing Xi: “Scanning hasn’t finished yet.”

Ding.

Hearing the prompt sound, Chi Yao pushed him away and brought out the food.

“Did you eat?” Jing Xi pulled out a dining chair and sat down.

Chi Yao: “Waiting for you to come back and eat together—”

Jing Xi’s eyes flashed. Before the corners of his lips could rise, he heard him say: “You thought I would say that?”

Jing Xi: “…”

Chi Yao patted his head. “But I can accompany you to eat another meal.”

Jing Xi picked up a piece of sweet and sour ribs and ate it, full of happiness.

“Not sour?”

“It is sour.” Chi Yao rested his chin on his hand watching him eat. “To cook this dish, I specially borrowed a gas mask. Are you moved?”

Jing Xi: “…”

In the early morning, Chi Yao rarely woke up earlier than Jing Xi. Checking the time, it was not yet five o’clock.

Xiao Hei: 【At 3:20, there was a message from Zhang Sheng. Read it?】

Xiao Hei’s prompt sounded in his mind. Afraid of waking Jing Xi, Chi Yao casually swiped it open.

【Zhang Sheng: [Coordinate][Coordinate][Coordinate] Have your people guard these places.】

Chi Yao frowned.

Xiao Hei: 【Coordinate locations positioned. View?】

Chi Yao: 【Let’s see.】

Soon, a virtual map popped up in front of him, and three coordinates were immediately located.

Unsurprisingly, they were on C85 and all within the forest range.

Chi Yao replied.

【Why guard them?】

The reply came quickly.

【Zhang Sheng: Guard them, and you will soon know what ‘It’ is.】

Chi Yao’s eyes turned cold.

He didn’t like this feeling of being led by the nose, although he originally planned to send someone to take a look.

Whether dealing with mutated beasts or Ghosts, Extreme Shadow had an advantage over anyone else.

To fully grasp the situation of C85, relying solely on satellites wasn’t enough; someone had to go there.

“Awake so early?”

Hearing Jing Xi’s husky voice by his ear, Chi Yao snapped back to reality and lay on his side facing him.

“I want to go to C85 first.”

Jing Xi’s sleepiness vanished instantly.

“When?”

Seeing his own reflection in his eyes, Chi Yao rarely hesitated.

“Today.”

Jing Xi frowned. “Flying Dragon’s work will soon be—”

“Even if Flying Dragon is idle, I didn’t plan to let you go with me.”

Chi Yao held his hand and kissed it. “Only Extreme Shadow can complete this mission. You should know that.”

Jing Xi kept a straight face but couldn’t refute.

Extreme Shadow members were all modified humans Chi Yao had rescued from various locations over the years. Physically, they were much stronger than ordinary people, and they didn’t fear sound waves.

Looking at the current situation, Extreme Shadow was the optimal choice.

But privately, Jing Xi didn’t want Chi Yao to take the risk.

The “It” they spoke of made him feel very uneasy.

“If I say don’t go, will you listen?”

Chi Yao sat up without speaking, just lowering his eyes and smiling at him.

Just one glance, and Jing Xi knew he couldn’t stop him.

He sat up too.

“Keep Xiao Hei and Little Red connected at all times.”

Chi Yao kissed his forehead.

“En, for the sake of going home to see the kitten, I won’t let anything happen to myself.”

Jing Xi: “…”

Is all you think about the kitten?

After confirming the action plan, Chi Yao called Fang Liang to assemble the Extreme Shadow main force.

To avoid detection by the Ghosts, he divided the team into three groups before departure.

“Going directly to the coordinate points?” Jing Xi asked.

Chi Yao shook his head. “Go to the outer airspace first, then see the situation.”

Although he agreed to cooperate with Zhang Sheng, he didn’t fully trust this person.

Lin Chengde walked over.

“I’ll spare some people for you here. Some professional things are more reliable when done by them.”

Extreme Shadow members were almost all wild cards; only Fang Liang was somewhat reliable.

Chi Yao didn’t refuse and agreed readily.

When they set off, he realized the people Lin Chengde mentioned were all from the Xuanwu Legion, including Liu Wu and Xu Ming.

“Did you want to come yourselves, or did the old man send you?”

On the spaceship, Chi Yao looked at them and asked.

Liu Wu and Xu Ming looked at each other.

Liu Wu: “We want to investigate what happened back then clearly. The old man knows.”

Xu Ming: “We will definitely cooperate fully and won’t drag you down.”

Chi Yao wasn’t afraid they would drag him down. In fact, in terms of reconnaissance and counter-reconnaissance capabilities, they were indeed more professional. It was just that emotionally, facing his father’s former subordinates, he didn’t know what expression to use.

How did these people work under his father back then?

How would that person assign tasks to them?

When they arrived at C85 outer airspace, it was already past four in the afternoon.

Xiao Hei continuously received information transmitted from Little Red.

Chi Yao checked the movements of the beast tide and Ghosts on the monitoring screen.

“This is their movement trajectory.” Xu Ming sent a statistical report to Chi Yao. “With the current number of Ghosts, they can’t stop them at all, but they seem to have slowed down after reaching this place.”

Judging solely from the map dynamics, the Ghosts had been blocking the beast herd, but one look at the data in this report made it clear at a glance.

It wasn’t a matter of whether the Ghosts were stopping them or not; the beast herd stopped on its own.

Chi Yao moved his hand, drawing out the location of the beast herd on the map, connecting them into a patch.

“There isn’t a single beast in this middle area!” Liu Wu pointed at a spot, looking surprised.

The place he pointed to was a mountainous area with a radius of about ten kilometers, completely covered by dense vegetation. Only through thermal imaging could they determine if there was beast activity.

Chi Yao rested his chin on his hand, eyes narrowing slightly.

All the beasts surrounded this place tightly, reminding him of that cave in the south of 333.

What was hidden under this mountain body?

On another spaceship, Li Yuan sat on a small stool gnawing on a drumstick, looking at Chi Yao through the virtual screen: “Just do it and be done with it.”

The Shadow Guard lying at Chi Yao’s feet gnawing on a bone howled twice, expressing strong agreement.

“No rush.” Chi Yao said to Xu Ming, “Keep an eye on the locations of these three coordinates.”

Xu Ming nodded: “Already doing it.”

Li Yuan: “Boss, aren’t we going down?”

Chi Yao smiled: “Everything has an order of arrival. Since the Ghosts came first, let them play to their heart’s content first.”

Li Yuan: “…”

Said so nicely, I almost believed it.

Just after deployment, Jing Xi’s communication came in.

Jing Xi: “Scanning is finished. No abnormalities found.”

Although he said so, his expression was not relaxed.

Finding no problems didn’t necessarily mean there were really no problems; it could also be because the problem was not within their controllable range.

“Understood.”

Seeing his heavy expression, Chi Yao teased, “Frowning as soon as I’m not around. Can’t do without me?”

Jing Xi nodded seriously.

“Miss your sweet and sour ribs.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Sweet and sour ribs or me, which one do you like exactly?

The two didn’t have much time to chat. After discussing business, they hung up.

By seven in the evening, the number of Ghosts had more than tripled in just three short hours. Based on system detection data, it was about to break fifty thousand.

At night, satellite monitoring images were limited. Only thermal imaging was unaffected, but the information visible was very limited.

“Ghosts dead and injured over a thousand.” Xu Ming sat in front of the console, an unlit cigarette in his mouth, looking scruffy.

Fang Liang’s holographic image stood beside him, looking at the screen and whispering: “They can’t get close to the inner circle.”

The beast tide numbered in the hundreds of thousands, including many massive species. These fifty thousand Ghosts were simply not enough.

Xu Ming: “They—seem to be in a hurry.”

Since detecting the Ghosts, their actions hadn’t stopped.

Fang Liang: “For a beast tide of this scale, even Flying Dragon would have to fight for half a month, let alone just the few of them.”

His words unconsciously revealed admiration for Flying Dragon.

Xu Ming glanced at him in surprise: “When did you have such a good impression of Flying Dragon?”

Fang Liang kept a wooden face: “Need to question the Madam’s strength?”

Xu Ming: “…”

Calling him Madam so smoothly.

Aren’t you afraid of being beaten to death by Jing Xi?

Chi Yao sat in the commander’s seat, resting his chin on his hand watching the monitoring screen, suddenly feeling inexplicably irritable.

Noticing Chi Yao rubbing his forehead out of the corner of his eye, Fang Liang looked over: “Boss, if you’re tired, rest first. Old Xu and I will watch here.”

Chi Yao waved his hand: “It’s fine.”

This bit of irritability was nothing compared to before.

At three in the morning, Jing Xi sent a communication, exchanging current intelligence with him.

“You look terrible, go to sleep quickly.” Chi Yao urged.

Currently, there were no other abnormalities on C85, and Chi Yao also indicated no action for the time being.

Jing Xi weighed it and didn’t refuse.

Before hanging up, he couldn’t help asking: “Really terrible?”

Chi Yao couldn’t help laughing out loud, relieving much of his headache.

“If there were no dark circles—”

Jing Xi walked out with a wooden face: “I’m going to sleep. Wake me if anything happens.”

Chi Yao smiled: “Good night.”

At four in the morning, the Shadow Guard, who was sleeping soundly, suddenly opened its eyes, crouched down, bared its teeth, and let out a low growl at the monitoring screen.

“Awoo—!”

At the same time, Xu Ming suddenly shouted.

“Situation!”

The area in the middle surrounded by the beast herd gradually turned red under thermal imaging, the color becoming brighter and brighter.

Chi Yao got up from his seat and walked behind Xu Ming.

“Measure sound waves.”

Just as he finished speaking, the operator responsible for monitoring on the other side suddenly shouted: “Abnormal sound waves detected!”

Simultaneously, Xiao Hei’s voice rang in Chi Yao’s mind.

【Sound wave intensity too high, will affect spaceship functions. Suggest emergency evasion.】

Chi Yao’s eyes darkened.

“Retreat to a safe area.”

After speaking, he said to Xiao Hei: 【You take over the spaceship system.】

Xiao Hei: 【Stealing a little brother’s rice bowl? This Lord doesn’t do such classless things.】

Chi Yao: 【One ton of energy stones.】

Xiao Hei: 【Invading system—Taken over.】

“Still expanding!”

Hearing Xu Ming’s anxious voice, Chi Yao looked at the monitoring screen.

The red area was continuously spreading outward, engulfing the entire area where the beast herd was located within a few minutes.

“What exactly is hidden underground? Th-this is too big!” Liu Wu exclaimed in surprise.

Xu Ming: “The beasts are fleeing!”

On the thermal imaging, scattered red dots spread outward rapidly, but the central red area spread faster than them.

Across the screen, everyone felt this suffocating oppression.

This thing that appeared definitely exceeded their cognitive range.

Until dawn broke, a concrete scene finally appeared under the high-definition satellite camera.

Just one look, and everyone in the command cabin fell silent.

The forest originally covered by vegetation looked like it had been hit by a storm, devastated.

Blood and unidentifiable remains were everywhere.

Chi Yao raised his hand, slid his finger, tapped lightly on a few spots, and zoomed in.

The Ghosts who looked human yesterday were now showing signs of bestial transformation. The most serious ones couldn’t even maintain upright walking; without calculating, it exceeded 30%.

“Fuck!”

Li Yuan’s holographic image cursed loudly from the side, “What did they encounter?!”

Although they were modified humans, not easily transforming into beasts was common knowledge for everyone, whether Extreme Shadow, Ghosts, or those players deeply trapped in various locations.

The degree of bestial transformation wasn’t completely controllable.

Excessive emotional fluctuation or overly strong stimulation could easily cross the 30% line.

Once crossed, there was no coming back.

Extreme Shadow and Ghosts had fought for so many years, never once pushing Ghosts to this extent.

Chi Yao zoomed in on the central area.

Compared to yesterday, the vegetation was severely destroyed, making the view clearer.

But searching carefully, no abnormality was found, yet the thermal imaging was still crimson.

This thing hidden underground hadn’t come out.

At this moment, Xiao Hei’s voice rang in the command cabin.

“The infrasound waves emitted this time have obvious directionality and can be avoided. Here are the suggested transfer paths.”

A huge virtual screen automatically popped up on the monitoring console, displaying three routes.

Liu Wu was startled by this hoarse boy’s voice.

“This isn’t Valkyrie’s voice. Our spaceship has been hijacked?!”

For sufficient secrecy, this operation used a Dark Division military spaceship equipped with the military’s exclusive AI Valkyrie sub-body.

Xiao Hei said faintly: “Don’t panic, I only hijack wealth, not sex.”

Liu Wu: “…”

Chi Yao: “You control the autopilot, choose a safe route to go over.”

Xiao Hei: “Received, executing, mwah.”

Chi Yao: “…”

Thing that opens its eyes at the sight of money.

The spaceship moved 15 degrees, and indeed the system could no longer detect infrasound attacks.

On the screen, the Ghosts were submerged in the fleeing beast herd, making it impossible to see the specific situation clearly.

After observing for a moment, Chi Yao said indifferently to Liu Wu: “Prepare a fighter jet for me. I’m going down to take a look.”

Everyone, including Fang Liang, was startled.

“Boss, you’re going alone?” Li Yuan said. “I’ll go with you!”

Fang Liang also spoke up to dissuade: “The situation below is unclear, it’s too dangerous.”

Chi Yao: “I know my limits.”

Unable to control the battlefield situation meant having no initiative.

Dragging it out did them no good.

By the time Jing Xi woke up, Chi Yao’s fighter jet had already parked at one of the coordinates sent by Zhang Sheng—