Chapter 371 - 58: Beast Tide, a Fortuitous Coincidence at Nanyun Mountain

WHIRRR!!

Gales swept through the air as clouds of mist drifted by.

Several hovercrafts soared over the high city walls, plunging into the wilderness beyond.

Soon after, as if on command, the hovercrafts left the buffer zone and broke formation, each heading in a different direction into the wilderness.

"This Beast Tide erupted so suddenly. It even brought the war to a halt."

"I just hope Captain Sun and his team are alright."

Inside the hovercraft’s cabin, more than a dozen heavily armed members of Team Five sat on either side, their expressions grave.

Gao Hu, the deputy, stood to one side of the central command light screen. He wore a bulletproof vest and held a grenade launcher, his voice low.

Hearing this, Lu Chao nodded and glanced at the light screen, which showed the view outside the cabin.

The desolate land stretched out from the buffer zone, with no end in sight.

Earthen slopes, mountain forests, canyons... They had left the city perimeter far behind, and there were no longer any civilized structures to be seen.

It had all happened so suddenly, all because a Beast Tide had violently erupted from deep within the wilderness.

The vast horde of Mutant Beasts, like a tsunami, had interrupted the war between the City Guard Army and the warlord forces, scattering parts of the military torrent.

Some teams from the Superpower Bureau were also caught in the chaos, losing contact and falling into grave danger. Even satellite signals became intermittent and imprecise, clearly disrupted by magnetic fields.

Because of this, the Superpower Bureau had issued an emergency mission, dispatching personnel to the wilderness to rescue and locate the missing teams.

"Leader Lu, we’re counting on you to find Sun Jiayuan and his team."

The message from Yao Jin came through his wrist-mounted device. Lu Chao, dressed in black combat fatigues, glanced down at it.

With the mission to sweep for Rebels inside the city still underway, manpower was tight. As a result, only four Superpower Team leaders were participating in this emergency rescue mission.

Each of the four major bureaus had dispatched one Superpower Level expert to lead an elite squad of more than ten people. Once the Special Investigation Team and the City Guard Army broke free from the Beast Tide, they would send reinforcements.

As the thought crossed his mind, Lu Chao sent a brief reply, telling Yao Jin back in the city not to worry.

It wasn’t just Sun Jiayuan’s team. A squad from his own Team Five had also been dispatched recently, and they were now on the missing list as well. ’If not for that,’ he thought, ’I wouldn’t have been deployed outside the city.’

WHOOSH!!

The hovercraft suddenly accelerated, its red tail flames spewing continuously and distorting the air with their scorching heat.

The cabin’s AI took over most of the flight operations, sticking to the fastest predetermined route as it headed straight for the rescue signals in the wilderness.

The light screen displayed feeds from the detection module, showing the wilderness unfolding below.

A quiet stillness fell over the cabin.

Lu Chao walked to a window to look down at the land below.

Between the slopes and forests, he could occasionally see the charred wreckage of vehicles and crater-pocked ground left behind by the war.

Even armored vehicles lay torn to shreds. Units of the City Guard Army were regrouping, setting up temporary camps in the wilderness to fend off the Beast Tide.

RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!!

BOOM!

The sounds of gunfire and cannon blasts merged, shaking the very earth.

Looking toward the distance where tanks and armored vehicles concentrated their fire, he saw dense black dots swarming across the wilderness—thousands upon thousands of Mutant Beasts forming a black torrent.

Countless giant serpents and rat-like creatures swarmed forward like a plague of locusts, pressing on despite the hail of gunfire.

Behind them were herds of saber-toothed boars and packs of three-to-four-meter-long silver wolves.

There were also iron-armored eagles soaring through the air and, letting out a deafening roar, a hill-sized Flame Tiger Giant Beast.

"A Beast Tide..."

Watching the scene from the cabin, Lu Chao and the others wore grim expressions.

A Beast Tide of this scale was a considerable threat. Advanced Mutant Beasts were everywhere, and hidden among them was the aura of a Beast King.

Even a Superpower Level expert caught in its midst couldn’t guarantee they could fight their way out.

"No wonder the war was brought to a halt."

His expression grew solemn as some of his earlier confusion dissipated.

Beside him, Gao Hu and the others were shaken by the sight.

"They say there are hardly any settlements left south of Red Maple."

"A Beast Tide erupts here every few years, and sometimes even a Beast King shows up..."

Ever since the Alliance Country was founded, Beast Tides had become rare within its borders, and many of its citizens had gradually forgotten how terrifying they could be.

Only in Red Maple City and a few other large cities on the edge of the wilderness could such a scene still be witnessed.

CLICK!

As they watched, the hovercraft’s AI took control of the weapons systems, automatically deploying its gun turrets.

Flying Mutant Beasts charged at the craft, only to have their feathers and scales pierced by bullets, sending them plummeting from the sky one after another.

For a moment, the atmosphere in the cabin grew even more tense.

The speeding hovercraft flew against the tide of beasts, pressing deeper into the wilderness.

...

「For several days.」

Lu Chao and his team searched tirelessly, combing the wilderness south of Red Maple City.

Following intermittent satellite signals, they located several squads, each having suffered casualties.

However.

’Where on earth are Sun Jiayuan and his team?’

His expression grave, Lu Chao felt the situation growing more difficult.

Several days had passed, and now only two groups remained missing: Sun Jiayuan’s team from the Fourth Bureau, and a squad from his own unit.

He subconsciously glanced around.

Under the veil of night, gusts of wind kicked up sand from time to time.

Vast nets of barbed wire were embedded in the sand, enclosing a large section of the desolate landscape. Numerous black metal watchtowers stood around the camp’s perimeter, their powerful searchlights sweeping back and forth in constant vigilance.

This was one of the City Guard Army’s wilderness garrisons, and it also served as the temporary rendezvous point for the Special Investigation Team and the rescue effort.