Si Tingyu: Always Feel a Bit Full

Over the following days, as the Beast Tide continued its relentless surge, the scout squads from the defensive camp ventured out repeatedly to survey nearby beast clusters. To improve survival rates, they had restructured into groups of eighteen — three squads operating together.

Even so, casualties in the Scout Unit remained grimly elevated. Barely a day passed without at least one member dying.

Lu Yuan understood now that the sixty-percent death rate the green-haired, squint-eyed man had cited was no exaggeration.

It was exactly that bad.

The sole exception was Lu Yuan's own team. Because of him, not a single member had fallen.

It couldn't be helped — his arsenal of trump cards seemed inexhaustible. Even against a full Beast Tide, they could always find a way to withdraw safely.

They had even crossed paths with a Fourth-rank Feral Beast during one patrol. Lu Yuan held it at bay with his various tools, stalling the creature for nearly a full minute until the Guard Corps' deputy commander — the red-haired beauty — arrived and finished it off.

That feat made Lu Yuan famous throughout the entire 257th Zone. Almost everyone knew his name.

He frequently overheard people calling him the "Spirit Crystal Warrior" — a nod to his seemingly limitless supply of consumables.

More than a few scout squads tried to get attached to his team, petitioning 1st Regiment Commander Wang Jiashu, and some even going straight to the Legion Commander himself, the green-haired, squint-eyed man.

Four days later. The military zone. Legion Commander's office.

Luo Xiu — the green-haired man with the perpetual squint — rubbed his temples as he stared at the stack of letters on his desk, letting out a quiet sigh.

A knock at the door.

He narrowed his eyes toward it.

"Come in."

The door swung open. In stepped the red-haired Deputy Commander Tracy, followed by the mechanical one-eyed Deputy Commander Jiang Ming.

"Commander."

Both offered a brief greeting.

Tracy noticed the slight furrow on Luo Xiu's brow and raised an eyebrow, curious.

"Looks like something's bothering you, Commander?"

Luo Xiu gave a wry smile, set the letters down, and sighed.

"Who else could it be but Lu Yuan? His scout team has maintained a zero-percent death rate from the start, and every other squad is clamoring to merge with them. After I banned direct messages about it, they've started mailing me traditional letters."

Jiang Ming's mechanical eye rotated. The brow above his other eye creased.

"Repeatedly petitioning a commanding officer just to dodge their duty — that's nothing more than cowardice. Not how a soldier should conduct themselves."

"This Beast Tide has been particularly brutal," Luo Xiu said. "The Scout Unit's casualty rate is sky-high — that's unavoidable. I can understand where they're coming from. Even so... Lu Yuan is only one person."

He shook his head and sighed.

Tracy couldn't help the smile tugging at her lips.

"Lu Yuan... this Talent Camp student really is something else. He actually held off a Fourth-rank low-level Chief Grade beast for nearly a full minute before I arrived. Honestly, it still doesn't seem real."

Both Luo Xiu and Jiang Ming nodded.

Lu Yuan's recent performances had stacked up so many shocks that they'd both gone numb to it.

"Commander, what did you call us here for?"

Jiang Ming asked.

"Something significant has come up."

Luo Xiu's brow furrowed slightly.

The other two stiffened, their expressions turning grave.

After a pause, Luo Xiu spoke.

"This Beast Tide has shown signs of Aberration. The higher-ups have called in the Night Watchmen and additional reinforcements. They're almost here."

"The reinforcements are nearly arrived?"

Tracy's face lit up with something close to relief.

"I've been hearing the front line is fighting at least one major battle every day — Emperor Grade and King Grade Feral Beasts hammering the fortress over and over. The pressure on those at the vanguard must be immense. The sooner the Aberration source is dealt with, the better."

Jiang Ming crossed his arms. "The front isn't the only place under pressure. We're no different."

Luo Xiu and Tracy said nothing — a silent agreement.

The defensive camp carried its own enormous burden. Every cluster of Feral Beasts that passed through their sector had to be intercepted and contained as much as possible. That was no easy task.

At minimum, three or four separate beast clusters appeared daily. Sometimes more. And their manpower stretched only so far — they could never fully stop all of them.

Luo Xiu smiled his calm smile.

"Here's hoping they handle the Aberration source quickly. Once it's gone, the Beast Tide should subside before long. That said — moving against the source will likely provoke an even heavier beast response in the short term, possibly a full-scale assault. You two should be ready for that."

Tracy and Jiang Ming both nodded.

The front-line fortress. Atop the city wall.

A gathering of powerful warriors stood waiting.

The figure at the head was not the blond man — it was a white-haired elder whose frame was extraordinarily powerful despite his age, all coiled muscle beneath silver-white hair. He stood with his hands clasped behind his back, gaze sweeping the sky with sharp, lively eyes.

Behind him stood the blond man, Si Tingyu, and others.

A moment later, over a dozen streaks of light blazed across the sky and descended before them.

At their head was a different elder — gray-white hair, a face deeply carved with wrinkles, dressed in black robes.

The warriors behind him radiated immense auras. Li Qinghe was among them.

After landing, Li Qinghe's gaze swept across the gathered warriors, found Si Tingyu, and promptly raised an eyebrow — shooting her a languid, teasing wink.

More than a few onlookers wore expressions they weren't sure what to do with.

Si Tingyu: "......"

Her face remained perfectly expressionless. The corner of her eye gave one slow, involuntary twitch.

The white-haired elder grinned and strode forward.

"Hahaha! Old Monster Li! It's been ages!"

The Shadow Battle Emperor Li Xinghai laughed in return.

"Old Monster White Demon — been that long, has it? I suppose a drink is in order. That Insect King Wine of yours—"

"It's gone! Every last drop!"

Li Xinghai hadn't even finished his sentence before the White Demon Battle Emperor Rafael Harold's face shifted completely, and he cut him off in a rush.

The smile faded from Li Xinghai's face. The air between the two elders instantly turned stilted and awkward.

Sensing the shift, the blond man stepped in with an uncomfortable laugh.

"Both seniors — shall we get to the matter at hand first?"

"Yes, yes — we're here for serious business, Old Monster Li. Drinking can wait."

Rafael nodded, concurring.

Li Xinghai didn't push further. His expression turned solemn.

"Lead the way. Walk me through the situation."

That evening, Lu Yuan was in his dorm, enjoying a rare moment of rest.

The past few days had been exhausting.

Because of Lu Yuan's contributions, their squad had consistently outperformed every other — near-flawless reconnaissance with zero casualties — which meant their assignments were correspondingly heavier and their battles more intense.

Even Lu Yuan felt it wearing on him.

As for the others — the moment Groat and the rest got back, they'd gone straight to their rooms to collapse.

Still, despite the fatigue, he was in decent spirits.

The gains had been substantial. Practically every day, their team had spotted one or two beast clusters during patrol. With the experience from that first time, they'd learned to keep their distance whenever they found a tide, and hadn't been detected again since. They'd wait for the Vanguard to close in, then join the cleanup.

Lu Yuan always fought hard. Every engagement, he unleashed his full strength — hundreds of Feral Beasts slaughtered per sortie.

Detection merits plus kill tallies stacked up quickly. Each day's haul was solid.

*At this rate,* he thought, *I might actually scrape together close to a million Credits before long.*

He was still savoring that prospect when his phone rang, snapping him out of it.

He glanced at the screen. Li Qinghe.

He answered.

"Hello? Qinghe-jie?"

"Hehehe — Yuanyuan, guess where your big sis is right now?"

Her voice came through warm and amused.

Lu Yuan blinked, then his expression shifted — something between surprise and suspicion.

"If you're asking like that... don't tell me you're at the southern front line?"

"Wow, not bad! My little Yuanyuan got it on the first try."

She was actually here?

"Qinghe-jie, what are you doing at the southern front line?"

"The Endless Mountain Range has shown signs of Aberration. Of course I'm here to investigate."

Lu Yuan's eyes went wide.

"By yourself? There are Emperor Grade Feral Beasts in the Endless Mountain Range."

On the other end of the call, Li Qinghe — currently sprawled across Si Tingyu's bed in Si Tingyu's dorm, kicking her feet lazily in the air while Si Tingyu looked on with long-suffering resignation — laughed until her eyes curved shut.

"Of course not alone. Grandpa came with us."

Lu Yuan exhaled slowly.

He'd never met Li Qinghe's grandfather, but the man was a Battle Emperor — reportedly the one who had hunted the Emperor Grade Feral Beast stationed outside the Talent Camp. His power was the real thing.

With Li Qinghe's grandfather present, Lu Yuan could breathe easy.

Li Qinghe stretched out contentedly on the bed, her smile sweet and effortless.

"What? Worried about me that much?"

"Naturally. You're my Qinghe-jie."

Li Qinghe's laughter brightened.

Beside her, Si Tingyu listened to the whole exchange, face carefully blank.

*For some reason,* she thought, *I suddenly feel rather full.*

Li Qinghe caught Si Tingyu's pained look and, still smiling, spoke into the phone again.

"Oh, by the way — the elite team heading into the Endless Mountain Range isn't just me, you know. Your lovely mentor will be going too."

Hearing Li Qinghe call her "lovely mentor," Si Tingyu stiffened, then shot her a sharp glare.

"Why do you keep assigning people ridiculous nicknames?"

Li Qinghe covered the phone with one hand and murmured, perfectly pleasantly, "Would you prefer I use your *special* nickname in front of Yuanyuan?"

The moment Si Tingyu registered which nickname she meant, she went rigid and said nothing.

On the phone, Lu Yuan had caught Li Qinghe's comment and paused.

"My mentor's going too?"

"Mm-hm. We're heading there together."

"Then please be careful, both of you."

"Yeah, yeah, we know."

"......"

They chatted a while longer. When Li Qinghe learned that Lu Yuan had been performing exceptionally well with the Scout Unit at the defensive camp, her mood lifted even further.

After the call ended, Lu Yuan lay back on his bed. His expression slowly grew more serious.

*Going to find the Aberration source.*

If there truly was an Aberration source deep within the Endless Mountain Range, finding it would set off something massive.

When that happened, the Beast Tide would almost certainly intensify.

He sighed. *How many more in the Guard Corps are going to die?*

He'd witnessed too much death these past weeks. Too many ceremonies — the cremations, the careful gathering of belongings and ashes, the return home to grieving families.

Every time, it left something hollow in him.

And he was powerless to do more. Protecting his own teammates was already the limit of what he could manage.

He sighed again.

*One day, when I reach Battle Emperor — I'll wipe out that Forbidden Zone.*

*No more Beast Tides. No more of this dying.*

Two days later.

Camp 257. In the mountains.

Squads 22, 1, and 18 were on joint patrol through the surrounding terrain.

Without warning, a deafening roar erupted in the distance.

The earth shook violently. From far away, a terrifying aura surged skyward.

The patrolling warriors were already on edge — every one of them snapped taut at once, heads turning toward the sky.

Then all of them froze.

It was the middle of the day. But on the horizon, darkness had swallowed the light.

Within that darkness, threads of eerie green radiance coiled and drifted.

The monstrous aura poured out of it like floodwater.

"Wh — what *is* that?!"

Yang Qiu's voice came out unsteady. Everyone stared at that patch of impossible night with the same stunned horror on their faces.

"It's broad daylight — how is there no sun over there? How is it *night*??"

Groat stood equally shaken, his mind going blank.

Lu Yuan stared for a moment — then it clicked.

His eyes snapped wide. "Are those Battle Emperors — *fighting?!*"

Two days ago, Li Qinghe had told him they were heading into the Endless Mountain Range to locate the Aberration source.

It seemed they'd found it.

A chill ran through him. *This is what Battle Emperor-level power looks like.*

Turning day into night. Rewriting the sky itself. Nothing short of that could explain it.

Absolutely absurd.

And the Endless Mountain Range was so far away — yet even here, the tremors shaking the earth beneath their feet were unmistakable.

If you were anywhere near the epicenter... what would the shockwave alone do to you?

*It would vaporize me. I wouldn't survive even the aftermath.*

Just then, Lu Yuan's Evolution Cube began to vibrate — rapidly, insistently.

The pulse pointed straight toward the darkness.

He blinked.

*This is the strongest it's ever reacted.*

The darkness must be saturated with Aberration Entities. If he could somehow get close enough to absorb their energy—

The thought died before it finished.

*Kill those things? Are you out of your mind?*

*There are Battle Emperors over there. One glance from any of them and I cease to exist.*

"Battle Emperors?! There are Battle Emperors fighting over there?"

Hearing Lu Yuan say it, the others startled — then turned to stare at that wall of unnatural night with something between awe and disbelief.

Battle Emperors. Figures so impossibly far above them they'd never once laid eyes on one, let alone witnessed a battle at that level.

And now one was unfolding on the horizon right in front of them.

The awe didn't last long.

From deep within the mountains, a wave of maddened howling erupted. One terrifying aura after another surged outward, one crashing on the heels of the next.

Every face went pale.

"This is bad! A Beast Tide! That battle actually set off a frenzy?!"

Sensing the frenzied auras of Feral Beasts flooding the forest in every direction, Groat's voice cracked as he shouted:

"Move! Back to camp! *Now!*"