Chapter 132

Chapter 132

Qin Chi returned to the Northeast Base at 4:00 a.m. The main base didn’t require his support for the moment, but the twelve outlying branch bases were in grave danger.

On the final day of the beast tide, the branch bases relied solely on their windscreen shields to buy precious time.

Qin Chi adopted a support strategy similar to Xu Qiao's. Upon arriving at each branch base, he would immediately release an S-grade flame circle to isolate the beast tide and give the branch base’s warriors a half-hour break while adding twenty more layers of windscreen shield.

Each branch base was only one percent the size of the main base. The area of the flame circle Qin Chi released was far smaller than Xu Qiao’s lotus pond. However, the release of offensive abilities consumed more energy than Xu Qiao’s maintenance of the lotus pond. A single S-grade crystal core was only enough for Qin Chi to maintain the flame circle for an hour and a half.

From 4:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., over the course of six hours, Qin Chi consumed four S-grade crystal cores to support all twelve branch bases of the Northeast Base.

From 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., another six hours passed, during which Qin Chi provided a second round of support, consuming another four S-grade crystal cores.

Most S-grade generals could only take four S-grade crystal cores within twenty-four hours. Qin Chi’s physique was different from ordinary people. When he took the fifth crystal core, he informed the fire dragon that if there was a risk of his body exploding, the fire dragon should take over. With the fire dragon’s physique, far superior to a human’s, it would definitely be able to withstand the energy of an S-grade crystal core.

When Qin Chi took the eighth crystal core, there was still no need for the fire dragon to take over, but the pain in his bones and muscles told him that eight was the limit his body could endure.

At 4:05 a.m., Qin Chi stepped on a faintly colored fire dragon and returned to the Qing City base, where his mother was stationed.

His mother ordered him to rest for half an hour. Half an hour later, despite his mother’s opposition, Qin Chi flew to the Penglai base.

With three and a half hours remaining before the beast tide ended, Qin Chi adjusted his support time at each base to twenty minutes.

When he left the Penglai base and arrived at the Hekou base, his barely recovered mental strength was exhausted again. Just as he was about to leave, he received a video and two voice messages from his mother via the base’s communication system.

The video was sent by his father from the main base to his mother. The footage didn’t capture Xu Qiao, but it showed the lotus pond surrounding the base.

Mother: “Xiao Qiao is amazing. She can maintain such a large lotus pond for half an hour. After helping us, she’s going to help the Northwest and Southwest bases. Marshal Lin Lie is personally escorting her; you don’t need to worry about her safety.”

Mother: “The fact that Lin Lie came out shows he has confidence in the defense of the Southeast base. Fight when you need to fight, and rest when you need to rest. Don’t worry about Xiao Qiao and the Southeast base for now. After the beast tide ends, make sure you look your best to meet Xiao Qiao. Don’t push yourself, okay?”

Qin Chi smiled.

He would go to see her, but only after he had fulfilled his duty as a general could he go to see her without any burden.

Activating his battle armor, Qin Chi flew out of the Hekou base. He took out an S-grade crystal core from his space and said to the fire dragon, “When you take over my body, the space will also be yours. There are many S-grade crystal cores inside; you can take them based on how much the body can endure.”

The fire dragon extended a claw blade that had almost turned white and nodded, indicating it understood.

Qin Chi: “Only after the battle here is completely over can you go to see Xu Qiao. If you avoid the battle just to see her, both she and the lotus flower will lose respect for you.”

The fire dragon’s claw blade paused and then nodded again.

Qin Chi looked at the claw blade.

He actually no longer had the ability to suppress the fire dragon; it was simply that the fire dragon didn’t want to seize the body for now.

In this state, if he gave up his body, he would likely fall into a deep coma similar to Lin Wengui’s. If the fire dragon refused to wake him up…

As soon as this thought appeared, the fire dragon’s claw blade pressed against his S-grade battle armor and easily sliced through the armor’s surface.

Qin Chi laughed. “I’m not doubting you; I’m just worried that you might lose your rationality if affected by the black fog.”

However, this worry disappeared instantly because no matter what state the fire dragon was in, it would always return as long as it saw Xu Qiao.

Qin Chi removed his battle armor, stored it in his space, and then swallowed the crystal core.

A powerful energy storm raged within him, and almost as soon as Qin Chi felt the pain, his body transformed into a golden-red dragon.

The lingering pain in its mind caused the fire dragon to soar into the sky, reaching an altitude of tens of thousands of feet. The low temperature at high altitudes helped it calm down quickly. Looking back, it found that its scales had turned gold-red again, but the poverty of its spiritual energy made the fire dragon realize that a single S-grade Fire Element crystal core was far from enough to restore its flesh-and-blood body to its peak state.

There were crystal cores in its claws, both S-grade and A-grade. The fire dragon stuffed them all into its mouth.

By 5:30 PM, night had already fallen.

North of the Heikou base was the Jinshi base. With less than 100,000 guard troops remaining, they were holding the 17th layer of the protective shield under the leadership of two generals and a newly promoted S-grade general who had just advanced that morning. The smaller shield area made it vulnerable to rapid breaches by the beast tide. The entire army only hoped that no new S-grade beasts would appear.

At that moment, a golden-red… dragon?—suddenly streaked across the night sky from a distance.

The entire army looked up in awe, watching the true fire dragon that was entirely different from spiritual entities in visual effect.

The fire dragon ignored them and released a circle of flames, burning the mutated beasts within its range and expanding the circle of fire to the 30th layer of the protective shield. It then split a line of flame text to remind the base’s general in command: "Quickly dispatch engineers to set up shield equipment!"

Jinshi base, Leshi base, Suixi base, Lianxi base, after the third round of support to the coastal bases, followed by three more inland bases.

When the fire dragon arrived at the last inland base, Bao City base, it was already 7:50 PM.

The primary shield of the Bao City base had just been breached by the beast tide, leaving only the final zero shield remaining.

The dim golden dragon flew low outside the shield, unable to release its abilities, so it used its formidable body to crash into circles of beast tides.

In the ink-like night, the golden dragon looked up in shock at the fire dragon descending from the sky.

The fire dragon looked down at it with contempt and condensed another circle of flames.

Inside the shield, Qin Jiuzhou, exhausted and barely able to stand, watched the fire dragon displaying its mighty power outside. He felt a mix of pride and concern. If, after the beast tide retreated, his grandson chased the sea beasts into the ocean again, his old bones really couldn’t keep up…

At 8 PM, when the 16th layer of the shield was successfully activated at the Bao City base, the fire dragon suddenly felt an invisible energy, like a gust of wind sweeping over its body, but it couldn’t find anything that the energy could affect. Finally, it left like the wind.

The fire dragon only felt the anger of being offended, while the beast tide below stopped its frenzied suicidal attacks at that moment.

The beast tide did have a bloodlust for humans, but they also had an instinct for survival. They dared to kill lone psychics and hunt those weaker than themselves, but even S-grade beasts knew from over a century of bloodline inheritance not to provoke human bases unless necessary.

The beast tide was still in a state of confusion, not understanding how they had run from their habitat to the outside of a strange human base. The fire dragon started spewing fire again.

The beast tide immediately ran in the opposite direction for their lives.

The fire dragon chased them for more than ten kilometers but then remembered the task Qin Chi had given it. It turned around and flew towards the Northeast Base, circling around the remaining eleven sub-bases and spraying fire to ensure that no residual beasts would threaten the bases again.

The last stop was Qing City Base, where inland sea beasts were returning to the ocean like dumplings dropping into water.

Yan Mingyu and another general were firmly guarding the base. They didn’t chase, nor did they have the strength to pursue.

The fire dragon did. It rushed into the ocean, and its massive gold-red body disappeared from the surface in the blink of an eye.

Yan Mingyu activated his battle armor and flew high into the air, watching clearly. The dragon son didn’t go into the deep sea but headed south.

When the beast tide ended according to the pattern of the previous six times, Xu Qiao and Lin Lie were at the Qiantang Base.

The Qiantang Base was the most difficult to defend among the six coastal bases. When Xu Qiao and the others arrived, Wei Jian had already passed out. It was all thanks to Yuan Changhai’s great white shark spiritual entity blocking the large river with its body and Lin Zheng using his dim Phoenix spiritual entity to clear the flying beasts in the air.

Xu Qiao descended into the lotus pond, while Lin Lie, with his Phoenix spiritual entity, led the exhausted engineers to set up shield equipment.

Once the battle ended, Yuan Changhai collapsed onto the ground. Lin Zheng barely maintained a straight posture.

Xu Qiao was exhausted. The fourth crystal core provided her with minimal mental energy, and even though the lotus had healed her physical discomfort, it couldn’t alleviate the brain’s swelling pain.

Seeing Yuan Changhai lying flat not far away, Xu Qiao released a tent. Before she could begin setting it up, Lin Lie offered his assistance. He quickly joined in, working alongside Lin Lie to set up the tent. Lin Zheng naturally wouldn’t stand by and watch his grandfather do manual labor while he remained idle. He quickly joined in, assisting Lin Lie with the setup.

Xu Qiao: “……Thank you.”

The two of them worked together, and in less than two minutes, they had set up the tent. Lin Lie said seriously to Xu Qiao, “It’s us who should thank you. Now, go get some rest. Lin Zheng will take over your guard duty until you wake up. I need to return to the base.”

Xu Qiao could barely stand anymore and briefly said her goodbyes before diving into the tent, releasing her sleeping pad, and collapsing onto it.

The fire dragon was indeed bloodthirsty when it came to mutated beasts.

In the past, its bloodthirstiness stemmed from its hatred for the Black Dragon elder. The elder had pushed his son to train rigorously so that he could better kill mutated beasts.

Tonight, its viciousness was simply due to its hatred for these mutated beasts. Without them, it would be preparing for the New Year with its partner, spending every moment together, content and at peace. However, because of the beast tide, it hadn’t seen its partner for three days and nights. That brief encounter in the early morning didn’t count!

Driven by this hatred, even though flying back to the Southeast Base would have been faster, the fire dragon swam south from Qing City Base’s waters to Qiantang Base, killing the densely packed sea beasts as it went.

Breaking through the water’s surface, the fire dragon saw the lights inside Qiantang Base. Before it could fly towards the Southeast Base, a massive Phoenix spiritual entity suddenly blocked its path, its fiery red color almost turning into a light pink.

The Phoenix spewed pink flames, “Has Qinchi beastified?”

The fire dragon recognized this as Lin Zheng’s Phoenix but disliked it regardless of whose it was. It tried to bypass the Phoenix and fly away.

The Phoenix continued to block it, “Where are you going? Do you still have your sanity? If you attack the base, I will counterattack.”

The fire dragon, already filled with a desire to kill, flew straight at the Phoenix when it heard those last four words, clawing out a large clump of Phoenix feathers with one swipe.

The Phoenix let out an angry cry, confirming that the fire dragon had lost its mind after beastifying. It pounced on the dragon.

A dragon and a Phoenix began to fight outside the protective shield, with the Phoenix clearly at a disadvantage.

Lin Zheng immediately sought out Xu Qiao. “Xu… General, Qinchi has beastified.”

At the sound of that familiar name, Xu Qiao snapped awake from her deep sleep. She forgot the helmet beside her and her messy hair as she leaped up from the sleeping pad. Without bothering to unzip the tent flap, she sliced through it with a water blade and collided with Lin Zheng’s serious expression just in time to hear another miserable cry from the Phoenix in the sky.

Xu Qiao looked up and saw the fire dragon outside the protective shield, its mouth wide open, about to bite the Phoenix’s neck.

Lin Zheng immediately retracted his spiritual entity.

This action enraged the fire dragon, and it charged towards the protective shield below.

Without time to think, Xu Qiao activated her battle armor and flew towards the point where the fire dragon was attempting to crash.

She was the only one flying high into the sky in response to the threat.

The fire dragon, with its massive body diving down, stopped mid-air. Its golden eyes, wide with disbelief, narrowed into vertical slits as they closely followed the tiny figure.

Lin Zheng instructed the protective shield monitoring center, “Open the shield.”

The operator hesitated, “It might attack General Xu.”

Lin Zheng, “It won’t.”

Thus, as Xu Qiao flew to the edge of the protective shield, the energy barrier between her and the fire dragon disappeared.

The fire dragon continued to stare at Xu Qiao in a daze.

A hundred-meter-long dragon, its face still twisted with anger from the Phoenix’s escape, its vertical pupils narrowing—its expression was filled with aggression.

Xu Qiao understood this aggressive behavior as a sign of the fire dragon’s lost sanity from beastification.

As her vision blurred, she summoned her lotus spirit.

To prevent the high-altitude wind from dispersing its fragrance, the lotus flower condensed countless petals around itself.

The pale pink petals fell on the fire dragon's massive body, resting on its face, and also landed between the fire dragon and Xu Qiao, momentarily blocking the fire dragon's vision.

The fire dragon didn’t like this.

It lowered its head to Xu Qiao's feet. Xu Qiao stared down in surprise, and thinking she didn’t get it, the fire dragon gently lifted its head.

Xu Qiao found herself stepping onto the hard scales, instinctively holding onto one of its horns.

Satisfied, the fire dragon carried her over the sea, in search of a place where no one could ever disturb them.