68: Chapter 68 Codename: Lone Wolf! The strongest humanoid decoy in history has arrived!
"Click."
The heavy airtight doors slid open to the sides.
The Supreme Command of Daxia, located in the core command room two hundred meters underground.
Executive Jiang Xu strode into the room. His military boots made a dull thud against the alloy floor. He carried a dark golden spear in his right hand, its tip still dripping with thick, black viscous liquid.
Behind a large metal desk, Commander Li Zhenshan of Daxia was reviewing a red-headed top-secret document. He looked up at Executive Jiang Xu, his gaze lingering on the dark golden left eye and the left arm covered in bone spurs.
"Clack."
Executive Jiang Xu casually tossed two crystals emitting terrifying fluctuations onto the metal desktop.
The surface of the crystals was covered in cracks, and the Law aura inside had been violently crushed for the most part.
Commander Li Zhenshan glanced at them.
"S-Rank Blood Paper Doll, S-Rank Headless Buddha." Commander Li Zhenshan's voice was devoid of emotion. "These two Strange Tales have been entrenched at the border of Zhongzhou for three years, and High Command sent three encirclement teams that all returned empty-handed. Did you just take care of them on your way here?"
"It delayed me by ten minutes." Executive Jiang Xu said in a flat tone.
Commander Li Zhenshan closed the document in front of him. He clasped his hands together beneath his chin, staring at Executive Jiang Xu with deep, contemplative eyes.
"Two S-Ranks, ten minutes. Your current power has completely exceeded Daxia's existing combat assessment system."
"This is not my power." Executive Jiang Xu looked straight at Commander Li Zhenshan, his dark golden left eye devoid of any emotional fluctuation. "This is the Abyss Law that that entity casually stuffed into my body. When it was modifying me, it didn't even consume much of its own energy. Human systems currently cannot achieve this level of status suppression."
Commander Li Zhenshan fell silent.
The air in the command room stagnated. The two men, standing at the Peak of power and force, were both digesting everything that had happened in the reservoir pump room.
Commander Li Zhenshan took out a cigarette, lit it, and took a deep drag.
White smoke swirled around his fingertips.
"An hour ago, Special Commissioner Su Yao sent me a thirty-thousand-word supplementary report via the highest-level secure line."
Commander Li Zhenshan pushed the red-headed document to the edge of the desk.
Executive Jiang Xu glanced at the cover.
"Su Yao emphasizes one thing repeatedly in her report." Commander Li Zhenshan exhaled smoke, his voice cold and heavy. "In her understanding, the monster that ultimately caused the world's destruction had no rationality whatsoever. Its purpose for existing was pure destruction and consumption. But the entity that descended upon the reservoir today displayed extremely high intelligence and a rigorous logic of captivity."
"That is precisely our only chance of survival." Executive Jiang Xu replied.
"Exactly."
Commander Li Zhenshan stood up, walked to the giant tactical holographic projection table, and entered the highest-level access code.
A deep blue light screen illuminated the center of the command room.
On the map of Daxia, countless red high-risk zones were densely marked.
"The rate at which Strange Tales are fully recovering far exceeds expectations." Commander Li Zhenshan pointed at the red dots. "High Command receives hundreds of requests for aid every day. The number of Awakened in Daxia cannot fill this void by a long shot. Since it views Daxia as its long-term meal ticket and is even willing to proactively repel foreign Advanced Strange Tales, I agree with your approach."
Commander Li Zhenshan turned his head, his gaze sharp.
"A win-win trade. It wants to eat, we provide the targets. It devours the malignant tumors threatening Daxia, and Daxia uses its hand to clear the defensive lines. This is called using a tiger to devour a wolf."
Executive Jiang Xu breathed a sigh of relief.
The Commander-in-Chief had agreed; the subsequent operations would now have legitimate official support.
"However." Commander Li Zhenshan changed the subject, resting his hands on the edge of the projection table. "We cannot completely entrust humanity's fate to the appetite of a monster. The intelligence provided by Su Yao is extremely valuable. According to her report, High Command's Research Institute timely halted the seventh and ninth Abyss energy collision experiments, avoiding two experimental disasters that would have been enough to destroy the capital."
Commander Li Zhenshan pulled up a set of complex experimental data.
"By utilizing these avoided error paths, the Forbidden Object project codenamed 'God-Making' has achieved a Breakthrough. A Semi-King Rank Forbidden Object is currently in its final stages. Within three months at most, Daxia will possess a Semi-King Rank strategic deterrent force that truly belongs to humanity itself."
"Before that, we need to maintain absolute balance. We must not provoke that monster."
Executive Jiang Xu nodded. "That is why I propose immediately initiating the Dahuang Prefecture plan. Lure it to the northwest Dahuang Prefecture to resolve the Old Fengdu there."
"No." Commander Li Zhenshan decisively refused.
The image on the projection table instantly zoomed in, locking onto a vast expanse of sea to the east of Linhai City.
It was a deep, pitch-black area.
"The Karma involved with the Old Fengdu in Dahuang Prefecture is too immense. It is a dead end that has been accumulating for ten years. We cannot yet accurately assess the growth rate of this monster. Once it fails to consume in Dahuang Prefecture, or if both sides suffer, the northwest defensive line will collapse instantly, and the entire heartland of Daxia will be exposed to the gray mist immediately. Daxia cannot afford to take that risk."
Commander Li Zhenshan's finger pointed to the location of the sea area east of Linhai City.
"The East Sea Trench. Codename [Mirage of the Sea Kingdom]."
Commander Li Zhenshan pulled up the radar detection map. Blinding deep-red energy waves were jumping frantically across the screen.
"Signs of the Semi-King Rank Strange Tales recovery have already broken through the third critical threshold set by High Command. In one week at most, it will complete its final transition. The resulting tsunami will directly engulf Linhai and the four surrounding major coastal towns."
Commander Li Zhenshan stared straight at Executive Jiang Xu.
"Daxia cannot spare the force to suppress the Mirage of the Sea Kingdom. Those people in the Sanctuary are even less reliable. Your mission is to return to Linhai. Use every means possible to lure that food-protecting monster to the East Sea."
"Use the Mirage of the Sea Kingdom to conduct a test. See if it can really devour the complete Rules of a Semi-King Rank. This is also a way to show our goodwill to it, providing it with high-level ingredients."
Executive Jiang Xu frowned. The dark golden pupil in his left eye contracted and dilated.
"Its whereabouts are extremely secretive. Its Domain skill can directly tamper with the five senses, and it can even block my detection. It is hiding in a city with a population of ten million, and I don't even know what it has turned into. How do I lure it?" Executive Jiang Xu asked the core question.
Strange Tales are not lacking in food.
The entire city of Linhai generates fear every day.
It could easily hide in the shadows and develop slowly. It might not have the motivation to proactively go out to sea to hunt an unknown Semi-King Rank.
Commander Li Zhenshan pressed a metal button on the side of his desk.
"For this test, I have prepared a trump card for you."
A hidden alloy door on the right side of the command room slowly slid open.
Cold air, like that of a freezer, spilled out from inside the door.
A young man wearing a white special service uniform walked out from the shadows.
The man's skin was an extremely sickly pale, without any color. His pupils were pure black, with no whites of the eyes.
The moment this man appeared, Executive Jiang Xu gripped the dark golden spear in his hand tightly. The Pisces vortex within him spun violently, and the Abyss Law emitted an extremely sharp warning signal.
Executive Jiang Xu smelled a scent.
It was a familiar, homologous aura he had felt in the reservoir pump room.
Absolute distortion, absolute edge of non-rationality.
"Officer."
The young man walked up to Commander Li Zhenshan, his voice hoarse and dry.
Commander Li Zhenshan looked at the young man and said to Executive Jiang Xu, "The subject of High Command's Archive Number Zero, top-secret, codename Lone Wolf."
Executive Jiang Xu stared fixedly at the other person. "The aura on him..."
"Strange Talk Sequence." Commander Li Zhenshan spat out the four words. "Over the past few decades, High Command has been committed to studying the nature of the Abyss. We discovered that a very small number of humans, under extreme stimulation, do not awaken the conventional ability system, but instead directly awaken the core Rules of Abyss Strange Tales. We named this power system the Strange Talk Sequence."
Commander Li Zhenshan walked back to his desk and rested his hands on the surface.
"The monster that sealed the rift at the reservoir, based on current spiritual energy characteristic comparisons, is highly likely to also belong to some extremely Advanced Strange Talk Sequence entity. They exist under the same set of power Laws."
Lone Wolf turned his head, his pure black eyes locking onto Executive Jiang Xu.
"Between Advanced Strange Talk Sequences, there exists a natural instinct to consume." Lone Wolf said hoarsely. "I can feel that lingering aura of a superior being within you. It is an extremely pure hunting Rule."
"The Strange Talk Sequence on Lone Wolf has a lethal attraction for Advanced entities." Commander Li Zhenshan tapped the table. "Daxia cannot find that monster, so let it come out on its own. Lone Wolf is the bait we are throwing out. He will accompany you to Linhai."
"You need to set up a trap in Linhai City, exposing Lone Wolf's aura in the most conspicuous position. As long as that monster senses this homologous Advanced Rule, its instinct to feed will surely drive it to appear. At that time, guide the route to the East Sea."
Executive Jiang Xu took a deep breath.
He understood the insanity of this plan.
Using an Awakened of the Strange Talk Sequence as bait to fish for an indescribable top-tier predator, and then driving this predator to deal with a Semi-King Rank Strange Tales.
If even one step went wrong, Linhai City would become an absolute death zone of a three-way melee.
"Understood." Executive Jiang Xu clenched one fist and pressed it against his chest.
Commander Li Zhenshan waved his hand.
"Depart immediately. Daxia does not have much time left."
Lone Wolf stood in place. He stuck out his pale tongue and licked his dry, cracked lips.
In his pure black eyes, a kind of extremely fanatical greed surged.
"I am looking forward to it." Lone Wolf's voice echoed in the underground command room. "Going to meet that perfect predator."
Executive Jiang Xu turned and walked toward the door.
The tip of his spear scraped a white mark across the alloy floor.
Humanity had already begun to place its pieces on the chessboard. It was just that no one knew, when they tried to use bait to fish in the Abyss, whether they were already sitting on the other party's dinner plate.
The winds of Linhai City were about to change.