Chapter 618: The Call (3)

Chapter 618: Call (Three)

At the edge of Xin'an Grain Field.

A thunderous roar of a skyscraper collapsing reverberated from the city's center, yet Shen Ca, at that moment, had not a shred of vigor to watch what unfolded elsewhere.

All his attention was fixed upon a hulking beast before him, a farmer-beast nearly seven feet tall.

The beast's entire body glowed with an eerie crimson, its blackened veins coiling over exposed muscle, while shattered mechanical flesh fragments were lodged in its arms, and a twisted, broken mechanical heart pulsed not at all in its chest.

It was evident that before this grain field polluted it, the beast was no ordinary man but a soldier already implanted with a mechanical heart.

The man and the beast, meeting on a narrow path, locked eyes, their cold and mad gazes colliding.

ROAR!

The soldier-beast let out an excited hiss, swung its arms, and charged ferociously toward Shen Ca.

Shen Ca stepped, seized a half-buried streetlamp relic from the blood-soaked field, and, undaunted, surged forward, his foot leaving a trailing smear of viscous blood.

BANG!

A thick lamp post, whistling with a razor edge, smashed into the beast's clenched fist, sending flesh and blood spraying instantly.

The soldier-beast howled and retreated, its massive recoil tearing at Shen Ca's tiger mouth, pushing him backward in a relentless slide.

A warm, slick flow entered his palm; Shen Ca, as the inertia waned, bent and surged forward once more.

The lamp post struck the unbalanced beast, hurling it to the ground.

Shen Ca stood tiger-like, gripping the post, pounding it down repeatedly until the corpse beneath turned to a vague sludge, the blood‑stained post twisted beyond recognition before he ceased.

GULP!

A swallowing sound rose from beneath Shen Ca; the blood-soaked field writhed like a living thing, devouring the soldier-beast's corpse entirely, leaving only mechanical fragments submerged in blood.

Shen Ca had foreseen this; as the flesh writhed, he withdrew, tossed aside the lamp remnants, and lifted his gaze to the desolate street before him.

Once bustling avenues now draped in spider‑web veins of blood, with shattered neon tubes sprouting flesh buds, and blood splatters adorning every unsunken building—a horrifying tableau.

At the street's end, a horde of farmer-beasts emerged, drawn by the dying cries of the soldier-beast, clustering and surging toward Shen Ca.

A burst robe hung from an old man's waist, his half‑naked torso teeming with blooming growths.

A crooked‑headed youth rested his head on a shoulder, clutching his own severed arm as a weapon, swinging it.

A man crawled on all fours, his elongated neck bearing a twisted skull, his gaping mouth filled with a dense array of razor teeth.

Their gruesome fates varied, yet each bore skin ripped apart by swollen flesh, resembling skins peeled away.

"Shen Ge, can you hold on?"

"Ao Hu's" worried voice echoed in Shen Ca's heart.

"It should be fine, come on."

Shen Ca smirked, and amid a cascade of resonant clangs, a black suit of armor unfurled over his form.

Shen Ca reached behind, drew a straight‑blade sword, and lunged forward!

Blade flashes rose and fell; the once‑effortless blade, now clumsy in Shen Ca's hand, unfolded a difficult, tangled pattern.

Yet Shen Ca knew that to retrace the martial path, this was an inevitable road.

SWOOSH!

The blade cleaved the beast's toothy maw, like a hot knife through butter, flinging its upper cranium away.

Using his momentum, Shen Ca twisted his waist, blood spraying from the blade, a cold light sweeping fan‑shaped, cutting down limbs, finally embedding half into a beast's neck from the side.

Bones clenched steel, emitting a hair‑raising screech.

Shen Ca seized the hilt, muscles bulging, slashing upward, the blade piercing from beneath the beast's eyebrow.

Fresh blood spurted with a sizzling sound, the corpse crashing silently to the ground.

The beast, a hunting dog dispatched threats by the grain field, was itself fodder for its own fecundity.

Shen Ca, bloodied, stared coldly at the unreduced swarm, emitting a low growl.

"Ao Hu!"

The plates on his abdomen rose and fell, injecting cold liquid into his scorching blood.

In an instant, a feral gene‑born scent spread from within, filling his blood‑veined eyes with a palpable, wrathful essence.

CLANK.

A trembling copper lock finally fell, the shameful gate of the shrine finally being thrust open again by Shen Ca!

With a single step, he plunged into the enemy ranks, his long sword dancing wildly, revealing his savage ferocity.

Blood fell like rain, livers and entrails spilling.

Until the raging fury in his chest subsided, no farmer-beast could stand around Shen Ca.

He turned with sword in hand, seeing Wang Qi half‑kneeling nearby, his surroundings littered with broken limbs.

"Is this dream's plot difficulty too excessive, where any hero is mauled by low‑level monsters into such a ghastly state?"

Wang Qi muttered to himself, a claw mark streaking from his eye to his mouth, the twisted flesh horrifying, his twitching mouth pulling at the wound, making his whole body tremble.

"Hey, Shen Ge."

Wang Qi lifted eyes full of shame, gazing at Shen Ca in full helmet and armor.

"Talk to Ao Hu, after this, can you also get me a suit of armor?"

He pointed at the scar on his face, lamenting, "Look at those beasts that struck me, how can I survive henceforth?"

"Alright, no problem."

Shen Ca laughed loudly, turned to face the street's end where another howl rose.

"As long as we both survive by then."

ROAR!

An endless tide of beasts surged again, the blood‑soaked ground undulating beneath them, emitting a rhythmic clacking.

In Shen Ca's ears, it sounded like mocking cold laughs, deriding his overreach.

The straight blade trembled, resonating with ringing tones, as Shen Ca knelt, raised his sword like a drawn bow, ready to strike.

BOOM!

A sudden explosion shattered Shen Ca's motion, a fierce fireball erupting among the beasts, hurling charred corpses into the air.

The blood‑soaked field was blasted into several foot‑wide craters, exposing earth, blood pooling at the bottom, quickly evaporated by scorching heat.

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

The fierce blasts persisted, the once‑ferocious beasts offering no resistance, being torn to fragments at the blast's center, leaving no remains.

Even those lucky enough to survive lost limbs, dragging mangled bodies in the raging fire, crying out in despair.

Violent tremors in the field made Shen Ca wobble, forcing him to plant his sword in the ground for stability, then gazing up at the sky in shock.

The black sky held no starlight, only two crimson moons hanging, their vague silhouettes outlining a colossal shadow that exuded an oppressive, suffocating pressure.

Just as the moment when Shen Zhan began to wonder was upon him, a sharp, piercing cry sliced through his mind like a blade.

The sudden surge of blood and flesh across the entire newly conquered territory of New An was like a wave crashing over the shores, sending tremors through the earth. From every field and furrow, tendrils of blood-like substance erupted, coiling upward in serpentine forms, striking at the colossal beast that circled in the void above.

In the blink of an eye, a brilliant azure glow erupted into the air, illuminating the scene.

With the light came the destruction—every blood-like appendage was torn apart and shattered, spiraling back to the ground in a chaotic whirlwind.

The ground trembled beneath the force, and the air crackled with the heat of burning flesh and the stench of smoke. Yet, opposite this fiery spectacle, Chen Zhong, clad in silver armor, stood firm in the half-dreamscape, his cold expression unyielding. A swirling aura of true energy and divine will surrounded him, shielding him as he unleashed a torrent of fire, obliterating the entire field of blood.

The flames surged upward, their intensity fierce and relentless, casting a blinding light across the sky.

But in stark contrast, a chill settled over him, unrelenting and deep, a coldness that clawed at his very soul. It grew stronger with each passing moment.

From above, he saw the deep fissures in the earth, the ravaged landscape of New An, and he knew—this was no ordinary battle. The weight of the moment pressed down upon him, and he understood now: the true test lay ahead.

Looking down, he saw the deep scars of war being mended, the wounds of the battlefield slowly healing. But the cost was clear—time was running out.

Chen Zhong exhaled sharply, his lips curling into a wry smile. “Well, time is running out, isn’t it?”

Yellow Liang Yu’s voice cut through the silence, steady and resolute. “The tides of fate have shifted. The storm is upon us.”

Chen Zhong straightened, his demeanor regaining its usual poise. “Alright, everyone. Let’s move. We’ll see who’s in charge.”

Chen Zhong’s voice was soft, almost gentle, but it carried the weight of unspoken resolve. “Remember, brothers, how to act is more important than how to speak.”

As the scene faded, the echoes of battle lingered, and the city of New An lay in the shadow of its own ruin—waiting for the next chapter to unfold.

"If one nation falls, what remains of ten thousand lands?"

Li Jun took a deep breath, his resolve to continue the argument shattered, and he turned to ask: "Why did you choose this way to meet me?"

"I, an elder, came to meet you today through the Community and Land's Agricultural Sequence, merely to ask Li's main servant a question."

Zhang Fengyue spoke softly: "How do you view the present Great Ming Empire? Or, how do you see the twelve sequences of today?"