Chapter 138: A Reason That Cannot Be Refused

Chapter 138: A Reason That Cannot Be Refused

The city defense forces of Anqing stood as if facing a great enemy.

Although they were over ten kilometers away, they indeed heard the continuous explosions from the Anqing ruins, and learned from merchants drifting downstream of the terrifying disturbances occurring there.

“Those horrors have all gone mad—at least ten thousand of them!”

“They are fighting something especially terrifying, and that thing seems to have already been defeated!”

“The horrors have already chased onto the bridge, and a merchant’s guard is now battling them.”

“The merchant’s guard has fled, and the horrors are in pursuit!”

“At least several hundred horrors have given chase, each clutching a weapon.”

Rumor after rumor had already tightened the atmosphere in Anqing to the breaking point; the council hastily mustered troops for an outer patrol, and just as these forces were deployed, Chen Jian and his companions came running, faces grim.

Zeng Yi’s words confirmed the rumors, instantly stirring the city guard into commotion.

—

Of course, they weren’t about to be terrified merely by those blood skulls.

After all, as a species, blood skulls require resources almost identical to humans.

If they could truly defeat humanity, then present-day Anqing would no longer be a human city but a blood‑skull city.

Even so, with a great foe at hand, no one could remain calm.

That’s tens of thousands of blood skulls.

Nobody here, from birth to now, has ever heard such an exaggerated tale.

Even the largest blood‑skull encampment numbers only a few hundred, never over a thousand.

And now it is ten times that.

The leading protector‑military stepped nervously before Zeng Yi and asked:

“Just how many of those horrors are there?”

Before Zeng Yi could answer, Chen Jian, who had caught up, hurriedly interjected:

“At least over five thousand! And there are many huge monsters!”

“They are already heading toward Anqing!”

“We barely escaped being caught; thank goodness we hired a Holy Blood as guard!”

“Let us in quickly—there’s no time!”

As Chen Jian’s words fell, the protector‑military immediately cleared a path, but the chief priest followed them all the way, continuing to ask:

“How many monsters? What is their strength?”

Chen Jian paused, then pointed to Ji Xing beside him:

“Ask her—she’s a Source Blood!”

“Only she has tangled with the monsters; we lack that ability!”

“I need to return to the city for my goods—this place is untenable; let me through!”

Chen Jian deliberately displayed a panicked anxiety, and the Mechanist God priest had no suspicion of him.

After all, before Chen Jian’s squad arrived, he had seen that same expression on the faces of several groups of merchants.

And their answers were hardly different from Chen Jian’s group.

Thus he decisively turned to Ji Xing, repeating his question.

A flicker of helplessness passed through Ji Xing’s eyes.

“You have no ability?”

“If even you lack ability, who then possesses it?”

But she could certainly see that Chen Jian was deliberately skewing the judgment of Anqing’s defenders.

Thus, after a brief hesitation, she gave a somewhat exaggerated answer.

“We were just lucky—only a fourth‑order monster had its eye on us.”

“But outside Anqing there are at least thirty monsters of fourth order or higher, and these are no ordinary beasts—they are all leaders of the blood skulls.”

“Make your preparations in advance; I have a contract in hand and must first shield my employer’s retreat!”

“.Good!”

The priest gritted his teeth and turned away.

He probably did not wish to see the city’s panic intensify as masses of merchants fled, yet before Ji Xing, a Source Blood, he had little choice.

After all, he was unaware of Ji Xing’s ties to the Holy Blood Hall, so he had no reason to risk offending that hall by troubling a Source Blood of considerable standing.

Chen Jian’s party entered Anqing smoothly, while behind them the city guards re‑formed their ranks, standing ready in the tense, solemn atmosphere.

Ji Xing silently watched the guards running the streets, the shuttered residents, and the merchants hurriedly packing their wares to leave Anqing; after a moment’s hesitation she asked Chen Jian:

“Why have we come back? Is there anything we still need inside Anqing?”

“Everyone here is evacuating; if the blood skulls truly launch an assault, our best course is not to hole up in the city with the guards, but to head into the wild and, using your strengths, slay the most troublesome monster leaders.”

“Very good.”

Chen Jian nodded approvingly and replied:

“Your tactical thinking has improved; this is quite notable progress.”

“Indeed, the wilderness is our true stronghold; city defense offers us little advantage.”

“But we did not come here merely to defend Anqing.”

“In fact, those blood skulls could never mount a major assault on Anqing.”

“Because they are under Huadu’s control, and Huadu’s ultimate aim has not yet been fulfilled, they cannot so quickly reveal their strength.”

“Doing so would ruin their painstakingly laid plans, rendering all their prior efforts meaningless.”

“What we must do is find a way to further destabilize the situation.”

“In the ideal scenario, we would have Anqing’s garrison launch an assault on the Anqing ruins.”

“Why?”

Ji Xing asked, astonished.

“Nonsense—do you really think a handful of us could slaughter every horror in the Anqing ruins?”

“Today’s reconnaissance already makes the point clear: though the horrors lack brains, under their leaders’ command they will sacrifice everything to protect the vital core—the central hospital where the Huadu personnel reside.”

“A stealth‑style decapitation cannot succeed unless someone is prepared for a one‑way mission.”

“We need a sizable force to pin down those horrors, creating an opening for us to strike.”

“Once the decapitation is achieved, wiping out the remaining horrors is merely a matter of time.”

Ji Xing exhaled softly, but immediately asked:

“So, how do you plan to convince Anqing's city defense forces to take the offensive and fight those blood skeletons in the Anqing ruins?”

“As far as I know, you are hostile toward both the Machine God Sect and the Holy Blood Hall.”

“The so‑called peace accord is only temporary; while we won’t come to blows on sight, it’s impossible for them to cooperate with you after you’ve just inflicted heavy losses on them.”

“—Perhaps it could work near Huangshi City, but Anqing is different.”

“The people here might not be frightened by you.”

“I know.”

Chen Jian gave a faint smile and replied:

“I never intended to cooperate with them in the first place.”

“I merely want to give them an offer they cannot refuse.”

“What condition?”

Ji Xing pressed on.

Chen Jian shook his head and said:

“No need to rush.”

“You’ll find out when the time comes.”

Meanwhile, as Chen Jian and his companions entered Anqing and prepared to move forward with the next step of their plan,

inside the Anqing ruins, on the open ground outside the central hospital building,

the man from Huadu, wearing a gas mask, directed the crowd to douse the still‑burning flames with water; only after confirming the smoke had cleared did he remove his mask and draw a deep breath of clean air.

The blood skeletons surrounding the hospital had dispersed, each returning to its camp. The tumult seemed to have subsided, but the aftermath of this disturbance was evidently agonizing.

One blood‑skeleton camp was utterly destroyed; of the 400 horrors within, two‑thirds fell in just a few minutes, their leaders torn apart by the terrifying heavy fire before they could even react.

This was already a heavy loss, but in fact the damage went far beyond that.

Three blood‑skeleton chieftains were beheaded, and the horror casualties reached a staggering 500 — this count only includes those killed directly by artillery in the enemy’s surprise attack, not the additional hundreds lost in the ensuing chaos and internecine fighting.

Moreover, the laborers, studs, and succubi from Huadu also suffered utter devastation.

Inside the central hospital, which originally held just over two hundred Huadu personnel, those few shells falling from the sky snatched away nearly thirty lives.

Their corpses had not even been gathered before they became tools for the raving horrors to vent their lust.

Limbs lay scattered everywhere, blood soaked the ground.

Even the man, accustomed to such scenes, could not help feeling a wave of nausea.

He turned his head away, unwilling to look further, and then asked the aide who had been waiting at his side:

“Has the loss been tallied? How much medicine have we lost?”

The aide stepped forward quickly and replied:

“Chancellor, after tallying, we have lost a total of 420 kilograms of supplies.”

“That amounts to half of everything we produced over the past two months; though I hate to admit it, our losses are indeed severe.”

“Furthermore, a considerable portion of our equipment was damaged in the attack; if we cannot obtain new gear from Huadu within the next one or two months, our medicine output will drop by at least a quarter.”

“The good news is that we still have 600 kilograms of stock on hand.”

“These reserves are enough to sustain our control over those blood skeletons for a month — we need not worry about running out.”

“Good.”

The so‑called chancellor nodded, silently calculating for a moment, then said:

“But this figure is already quite perilous.”

“Each horror receives less than ten grams of medicine per day — only slightly above their current usage.”

“And you know their demand is steadily rising.”

“If we cannot quickly produce enough medicine, we are likely to lose control over them.”

“That is certainly not good news.”

At this, the chancellor spat in irritation and continued:

“.You have shoved us into this perilous predicament while we are utterly unprepared.”

“We do not know their aims, nor do we know what other means they might possess!”

“This is truly an unparalleled disgrace.”

“We ought to retaliate against them, but at the very least you must first tell me who they are!”

The man’s words fell silent; the aide beside him hesitated, then ventured:

“Although we have no direct proof of who they are, I seem to be able to guess their identity?”

“So what is it?”

The man frowned and said:

“Don’t beat around the bush now — just tell us the answer!”

The aide nodded, a little apprehensive, then quickly replied:

“They are likely the Huaxia army from Huangshi City — or, as the Holy Blood Hall calls them, ‘mimic heretics.’”

“Mimic heretics??”

The man exclaimed in disbelief:

“Isn’t this sort of thing long extinct?”

“I even doubt whether it ever existed at all; are you sure that so‑called disaster wasn’t a fabrication woven by the Machine God Sect and the Holy Blood Hall?”

“I once thought the same.”

The aide sighed, paused briefly, then first gave a simple overview of what he knew about the mimic heretics, and continued:

“.Thus, from this information it is clear that we have all been mistaken.”

“The power of the mimic heretics has already been verified; according to the rumors circulating these days, they defeated a coalition of thousands of Machine God Sect defenders and Holy Blood Hall blood‑borne warriors at Huangshi City.”

“Moreover, they easily wiped out an entire detachment of the Hallowed Guard.”

“Their combat prowess is extraordinarily exaggerated, and they prove especially formidable when facing monsters.”

“They are a rising new force in this world, and I do not know how they came to fix their gaze upon us.”

“But being targeted by them is certainly no good omen.”

“There is a question.”

The man interrupted the aide’s speech and asked:

“How can you be certain that those who attacked us are the mimic heretics? Could it not have been the Machine God Sect instead?”

“Their Hallowed Guard is equally strong; they could carry out such an attack, could they not?”

No, I can’t.

The assistant shook his head solemnly, then explained:

“The Sanctum Guard Brigade is indeed strong, but their manner of fighting bears no resemblance to that of the Mimic Heretics.”

“To be frank, no unit fights like those Mimic Heretics; they are utterly unique.”

“So distinctive that, even without witnessing their combat firsthand, I can infer their identity from the aftermath alone.”

“Thus I believe our enemy is clear.”

“The only question is whether we should launch reprisals against them.”

Having spoken those words, the man who had just been clamoring for revenge fell silent.

After a long contemplation, he finally spoke:

“Reprisal is necessary, yet we cannot mobilize the forces within the Anqing Ruins.”

“That vast Blood‑Skull encampment was never erected for war; our research still depends on them.”

“Should we strike rashly, all the sacrifices we have made would become meaningless.”

“We must remain calm—this is the price of evolution!”

“Understood.”

The assistant nodded, a hint of disappointment in his gesture.

In truth, he was not devoid of a thirst for vengeance.

Yet, before this man of high station and authority, he had no right to speak.

If he chose to bury this disgrace quietly, the assistant could only comply.

But—

The assistant’s thought had not yet completed its circuit when the man opposite suddenly spoke again.

His tone carried a note of icy cold.

“We need composure, yet Huadu cannot be allowed to suffer humiliation.”

“Report to the Queen.”

“We must declare war on Huangshi City.”

“—No, we cannot declare war, lest our motives be laid bare before the world.”

“We shall launch a sudden strike against them.”

“According to you, if those so‑called Mimic Heretics could inflict such a blow upon us, their main force must be active near Anqing.”

“We cannot find them in the short term, nor is it likely we could infiltrate Anqing to attack.”

“But their home lies in Huangshi.”

“We will utterly destroy their home!”

(End of Chapter)