60: Chapter 60 The Beast Tide Arrives

These words were like a heavy hammer, shattering their fear and igniting a long-suppressed bloodlust.

People below the stage began to puff out their chests, their gazes gradually becoming firm.

Watching these changes, a flash of satisfaction crossed Tu Feng's eyes, but it immediately turned solemn again.

"The military won't let you die for nothing. All participating personnel will earn points based on their battle merits—this mission system will be integrated into the city-wide military merit system!"

He raised his hand, and on the electronic screen in the square, a series of contents were projected as his wrist-mounted officer's battle plate activated.

On the screen, a dense exchange list scrolled by, with the top few lines glowing with a dazzling golden light:

[Starlight Rank Earth-Grade Innate Method]: Exchange requires 100,000 military merit points.

[Gold Rank Pet Beast Evolution Potion]: Exchange requires 5,000 military merit points.

[Bright Moon Level Vicious Beast Materials (Specified Types)]: Exchange requires 30,000-80,000 military merit points.

[Inner City Permanent Residency (Family Unit)]: Exchange requires 800 military merit points.

...

"Do you see that?" Tu Feng pointed at those enviable rewards. "These are the city's bottom-drawer treasures! Resources you wouldn't even dare dream of normally are now—as long as you have the ability—available for exchange!"

"This beast tide is a crisis, but it is also an opportunity!"

"An opportunity for you to be Reborn and soar to the heavens!"

His voice suddenly rose, sounding like the beating of war drums:

"So, I ask you—"

"Do you dare to go to the battlefield?!"

"Do you dare to fight the vicious beasts with your lives?!"

"Do you dare... for yourselves, for your families, for this city, to carve out a path of blood?!"

A brief, deathly silence followed.

Then, the first voice rang out:

"I dare!"

It was Jiang Ruowei.

She stood at the very front of the crowd, her silver hair whipping in the wind, her gaze as sharp as a blade.

Immediately after, a second, then a third...

"I dare!"

"I dare!!"

"I dare—!!!"

The roars grew from scattered shouts into a collective, earth-shaking wave of sound that pierced the clouds!

Tu Feng looked at the faces below the stage, ignited by the will to fight, and nodded.

"Good!"

"All class instructors, take your students back to their stations immediately for one hour of combat preparation! In one hour, enter your defensive positions according to your assigned sectors!"

"The Elite Class will be led by Teacher Wei Ming; your mission has other arrangements!"

"Dismissed!"

The crowd dispersed like a tide, rushing toward their respective stations.

The sound of footsteps, shouting, and the neighing of Pet Beasts blended together.

Qin Ce stood in place, watching the busy figures running all around him, then looked up toward the western sky over Sheshan City.

There, the clouds hung low and the sky was dark and gloomy.

A storm was brewing.

Then, his gaze turned toward the southeast—that was the direction of Yuntai Town, the direction of home!

...

As the groups dismissed.

On the Elite Class's side, after Wei Ming received a special communicator flashing with a constant red light from Director Tu, he said in a low, rapid voice: "Elite Class, everyone! Follow me immediately! Fast!"

Without any redundant words, all Elite Class students, including Qin Ce and Jiang Ruowei, quickly followed.

After passing through the administrative office building, the group entered an underground tactical meeting room with enhanced protection and soundproofing.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was oppressive. A giant electronic screen displayed a map of Fengling City and its surroundings, with several glaring red arrows pointing from the west toward the city area, accompanied by a series of shocking data assessments.

Wei Ming used the special communicator to unlock the console system.

He turned around to face everyone.

"Time is tight, so I'll keep this short!" Wei Ming's expression was solemn as he stared at all the Elite Class students, speaking very quickly. "The beast tide is coming, and the military's state of war has been activated. From this moment on, your identity is no longer just Elite Class students of the Battle Academy, but 'Fengling City Wartime Special-Task Combat Personnel'!"

At that moment, the activated console emitted a hum, and a mental pulse spread throughout the entire space.

The twelve team plates of the Elite Class vibrated in response.

Wei Ming stood at the main console, his face more serious than ever. "All captains, look at your team plates."

Qin Ce looked down; the interface on his wrist-mounted team plate had completely changed.

The [Thunder Squad (No. 03)] at the very top had become [First Battle Institute Special Ops Squad · No. 02].

Number 02—this likely corresponded to their previous second-place ranking in total points.

Beside him, Jiang Ruowei also raised her hand; her team plate displayed [First Battle Institute Special Ops Squad · No. 01].

Besides the change in team numbers.

Looking further down, the title of the total points leaderboard had changed to [Fengling City · Below Bronze Rank Combat Sequence General Ranking].

The list was incredibly long, with dense names scrolling by. Qin Ce did a rough scan; there were at least a thousand teams.

"You should have seen this ranking as well." Wei Ming's voice rang out. "This covers all combat units in Fengling City below the rank of officer and at or below the Bronze Rank—regular military units, City Defense Department duty teams, private family armies, registered mercenary groups, and... our Battle Academy's Elite Class."

"This... so many?" a student exclaimed.

"That's right." He paused, adding emphasis: "Remember, from now on, you are no longer competing with your classmates. Your competitors have become all same-rank combat personnel in the entire city of Fengling! They have hunters who have long been famous, and elites who have crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood. They have more experience and better coordination, while you are just a bunch of chicks who haven't weathered a storm!"

"Now, you must compete with them for the battle merit rankings of this beast tide."

"Do you know what this means?"

"It means that before you have even graduated, you have already joined the military merit sequence of Fengling City."

"If you perform well, think about what that implies!"

"Military merit is never something you can just earn whenever you want to."

"And now, that opportunity has come!"

A series of suppressed gasps sounded in the room.

Competing for rankings against the city's entire combat sequence?

This pressure was more than ten times greater than before!

But the benefits were equally massive. Setting aside the point exchange rewards mentioned in the square, just this military merit record, if they performed excellently, could easily save them five years of detours.

Hiss~

Thinking about it this way, they had to secure a top rank!

Seeing such changes, everyone couldn't wait to keep reading further down.

Qin Ce's gaze shifted lower.

The mission system had completely transformed.

The academy missions that originally occupied the core position were compressed into a corner, replaced by a concise, rough interface full of military style:

[Military Merit Mission System (Wartime)]

There were only four main categories:

[Kill Missions]: Basic merit points are awarded based on the type and level of the vicious beast killed; flying and special types have coefficient bonuses.

[Regional Defense Missions]: Merit points are comprehensively assessed based on the importance of the defensive zone, the duration of defense, and the number of attack waves repelled.

[Support Missions]: Respond to calls for help; merit points are assessed based on the results after successful support.

[Core Missions]: Special, high-risk missions issued directly by headquarters, with extremely high merit points.

...