Chapter 126

Chapter 126

On the 21st day of the twelfth lunar month, at 6:00 AM, Southeast Base.

The million-strong guard troops, who had been fighting on the front lines since 10:00 PM the previous night, began to retreat in an orderly manner after receiving orders from Marshal Lin Lie. Nearly a million reserve forces moved forward to take over the task of guarding the energy shield.

The energy shield was a power shield supported by crystal cores. Class A was the highest level developed by the four bases in the new era. Class A high-defense beasts like crocodiles and pangolins would lose most of their lives trying to break through the energy shield. Other less defensive Class A beasts and lower-level beasts would be killed instantly by the shield.

However, the beast tide attacked the energy shield relentlessly. The high-density mutated beasts moving through would riddle the shield with holes. Over time, the shield's interception effectiveness decreased, and when the number of mutated beasts breaking through the shield far exceeded the military's killing capacity, it was time for the troops to retreat to the next layer of the energy shield.

From the outer sixth ring to the middle of the base energy shield, there was a layer of Class A energy shield every 500 meters, totaling thirty layers, activated sequentially. The numbering decreased from the outside in, and the shield used by the Southeast Base in peacetime was numbered zero.

At this time, the energy shield was the 28th layer activated from the sixth ring. The first two layers had already been breached by the tidal wave of the beast tide, and the radius of the 28th layer had shrunk by one kilometer toward the base center.

Humans needed rest, but the mutated beasts were endless. The dead mutated beasts became energy supplements for others. The tired…

The mutated beasts seemed never to tire. Those without abilities had strong bodies. While some may have traveled hundreds of kilometers overnight, the outermost mutated beasts always found time to rest, gradually advancing with the tide.

The troops guarding the front lines were divided into front and rear. The combat units used firepower and ability attacks up front, while the healers waited in the rear to treat the wounded.

When Xu Qiao arrived, she saw medical personnel transferring batches of wounded who had not received treatment to the rear.

This indicated that the previous batch of healers had exhausted their mental energy and could no longer continue treating the wounded. The remaining wounded would be sent to Class S Healer Lv Chun for treatment. Like the eight upper generals, each with their own group attack ultimate moves, Lv Chun's full-powered healing ultimate move, when in her prime state, could restore the physical injuries of thousands of wounded.

The base would not allow Lv Chun to risk going to the front lines. Her healing method was more suitable for concentrating patients together.

The medical personnel moved quickly, and the healer squad led by Xu Qiao officially took over the medical point, consisting of one Class A healer, three Class B healers, and ten Class C healers.

The military defended around the energy shield, with extended battle lines, while the healers were limited in number. To reduce the time medical personnel spent rushing back and forth and to treat patients more promptly, the base set up as many medical points as possible, which meant each point had fewer healers. Some healers remained on the front lines, striving to snatch every critically wounded patient back from the brink of death.

Xu Qiao, a Class A healer specializing in both healing and water abilities, was ideally suited for the front lines. However, her quasi-Class S healer status made the military unwilling to risk her. If Xu Qiao could advance to Class S, even if she couldn't contribute as a Class S healer in this battle, she would be a beacon of hope in the next beast tide.

While waiting for the first batch of patients to arrive, Xu Qiao kept a close eye on the battle situation.

The military could rest, but the eight upper generals bore the responsibility of clearing the flying beasts and could only retreat when their abilities were exhausted. As Xu Qiao looked up, she saw General Fu Sui fire six consecutive volleys of arrow rain at the flying beasts to the west, giving fighter jets precious seconds to strafe the beast tide below, easing the pressure on the ground troops.

Suddenly, a dense flapping sound came from afar. In the faint morning light, Xu Qiao saw a black cloud flying between the land-walking beast tide and the mutated bird tide.

Standing next to her, Sun Xuan's face sank. "Winged mutated insects."

Mutated locusts, flying ants, mosquitoes, bees, and the like all belonged to the category of winged mutated insects.

The individual combat power of winged mutated insects was at the bottom of mutated beasts, but their numbers were vast. The dark clouds blocked out the sun. Once the insects attached to the energy shield, it wouldn't take long for the shield to lose effectiveness, allowing the beast tide underneath to swarm through.

The insects were hard to target, and the best way to deal with them was fire attacks. Only continuous fire seas could quickly eliminate winged mutated insects.

Almost as soon as Sun Xuan spoke, old Marshal Lin Kunshan and Marshal Lin Lie led dozens of Class A Phoenixes, which had not been deployed until now, out of the energy shield. A Class S Phoenix spiritual entity had a wingspan of over 150 meters, and a Class A Phoenix spanned over 50 meters. Led by two Class S Phoenixes, these dozens of Phoenixes formed three circles, spraying flames from their mouths that rushed toward the black cloud of winged mutated insects.

As the three teams of Phoenixes circled wider, the firestorm spread, engulfing the black cloud of winged insects and killing most of the mutated birds, forcing them to flee to higher altitudes.

The Class A Phoenix spiritual entities completed their task and returned to their hosts in time. Just as the Class A members of the Lin Family prepared to return to the energy shield, over a dozen Class S flying beasts suddenly descended from high altitude, targeting a Class A Lin Family member.

The distance was too great, and the speed of the Class S flying beasts was too fast, faster than Lin Kunshan and Lin Lie could rescue.

General Zhu Ding struck again, and a large electric net covered the Lin Family members faster than the flying beasts could reach them.

This was Zhu Ding's full-powered strike. The dozen Class S flying beasts charged into the electric net, twitching and charring as the current surged through them.

Everyone watching breathed a collective sigh of relief.

A sudden incident occurred at that moment as an A-class ape suddenly leaped high into the air, grabbing the nearest Lin family member.

Before the Lin family member could react or attempt to save themselves, and before the other commanders' attacks could reach them, the A-class ape had already dragged the family member into the beast tide below.

The beast tide quickly swallowed the Lin family member, while flashes of a massive phoenix spiritual being and its fiery wings appeared. When an S-class phoenix dove down, all it carried away was a severed arm.

Another A+ class psychic had fallen in the line of duty.

The S-class phoenix spiritual being delivered the severed arm to Lin Kunshan, who only glanced at it for a moment before retreating with Lin Lie and others back into the protective barrier.

Before the beast tide ended, even mourning was a luxury.

Inside the protective barrier, the frontline firepower intensified. Psychics behind the heavy machine guns unleashed a barrage of attacks on the mutated creatures that had slipped through, their fury redoubled.

Batches of wounded were sent to various medical points.

Those with minor injuries were handed over to Class C and Class B healers, while Xu Qiao specialized in critically injured patients. At this point, they couldn’t afford to heal the wounded to full recovery; as long as the injuries didn’t hinder their ability to fight, they were sent back into battle.

Xu Qiao and the lotus spiritual being healed simultaneously. Although the lotus dispersed ninety-nine of its petals, the faint scent of the lotus flower was still carried away by the wind.

The Class A lotus spiritual being’s fragrance could calm the mind and spirit. It could also cause low-level psychics or low-level mutated creatures with their spiritual world overtaken by black fog to fall into a deep sleep.

The reserve forces near Xu Qiao felt their spirits lifted by the fragrance. A Class C psychic found it easier to aim the heavy machine gun, and an A-class energy round took out a large group of low-level mutated creatures. Senior psychics felt a lightness in their minds, washing away the mental fatigue from continuous attacks.

The reserve forces were relatively close to Xu Qiao, and as the lotus fragrance drifted towards the protective barrier, it became so faint that it was hard to discern. Still, some of the lowest-level mutated creatures began to feel drowsy, their bodies losing strength and being pushed forward by the creatures behind them.

No one had noticed the drowsy mutants yet, and Xu Qiao, so absorbed in her healing, had momentarily forgotten the calming power of her lotus fragrance.

Another patient was brought near Xu Qiao. Half of his body had been bitten off by mutated creatures. The frontline healer had quickly stopped the bleeding and formed scabs.

Xu Qiao was already treating another critically injured patient, but faced with this half-mutilated body, she thought of Teacher Lv Chun, who could heal so many patients at once. For the first time, Xu Qiao attempted to heal two critically injured patients simultaneously.

Xu Qiao had already mastered healing over fifty lightly wounded patients at once, but treating the severely injured drained her spiritual energy and stamina far more quickly.

Originally, Xu Qiao could have taken a vacation and gone to the coastal base for training after the New Year, gradually improving her healing abilities. But with the beast tide, everyone was giving their all, and Xu Qiao had to push her potential to the limit.

During treatment in the base, healers had time to spare to block nerve conduction at the wound area with a bit of spiritual energy, serving as an anesthetic. Now, healers had to conserve their energy, and the wounded had to endure the pain and itching of treatment.

A wounded soldier with his face covered in blood clenched his teeth and gripped the stretcher tightly.

As soon as he regained feeling in his legs—like emerging from a cold bath—Xu Qiao was already moving on to the next patient.

Quickly changing into a new set of battle armor, the wounded soldier bowed to Xu Qiao and rushed back to the battlefield to man another heavy machine gun.

Only when her spiritual energy was exhausted did Xu Qiao swallow two A-class wood-element crystal cores.

When there was more time, psychics preferred to hold the crystal cores to absorb them actively. Now, Xu Qiao didn’t even want to waste the effort to hold them and just swallowed the cores, letting her spiritual being absorb them.

She leaned against a support pillar at the medical point and looked towards the nearby battlefield.

Suddenly, an alarm blared from Sun Xuan's wrist device.

Sun Xuan activated the projection, revealing the military’s monitoring map. It showed a swarm of mutated rats attacking the underground section of the protective barrier. The numbers were overwhelming, with dozens of A-class rats leading the charge. Any S-class rats had likely already been eliminated by the commanders.

Sun Xuan looked in the direction of the mutated rats.

Seated on the ground, Xu Qiao felt the earth tremble beneath her, and after about a minute, the shaking subsided.

Xu Qiao stared at the outside of the windscreen shield for a few seconds, and said, "Did you kill them directly underground?"

Sun Xuan replied, "Yeah, it’s more efficient in terms of mental energy, and their bodies will help block the next wave of underground creatures."

Before Xu Qiao could nod, a dark red scorpion tail, several meters long, suddenly rose up from a battlefield diagonally opposite, its tail stinger piercing through two A-class beasts. As the scorpion tail swung down, it lashed out like a whip, flinging a group of low-grade beasts toward the windscreen shield.

The low-grade beasts slammed into the windscreen shield like dumplings tossed into a boiling pot, and the shield’s energy dispatched them instantly.

Though she couldn’t see Meng Li, Xu Qiao smiled.

Fighting alongside a close friend is always a good thing.