69: Chapter 70 The First Cry of Nightwing

Just as the Burrowing Spear Rat had dug up most of the old broken-wing bones in the basement, a dull "hum" suddenly echoed above the Post Station—the grey-red fire of the main fire pillar had actually dimmed by an inch!

It wasn't extinguished; it was just lacking in energy.

The Grey Stele Post had just been seized and was already resource-strapped. How could it support the consumption of the walls, the pillar, and the new underground line all at once? The fire sequence was being subtly pulled by the old bones underground, so the light of the main pillar naturally weakened.

Wu Fu was the first to notice the abnormality of the main fire pillar. Her brows arched up sharply. She didn't move from where she was crouching beside the old bones, her fingertips still tracing the deep-set old fire grooves on the bone inch by inch. The greed that had just been suppressed in her eyes instantly flared up again, and her voice carried a hint of certain triumph: "I told you! Once this thing was dug up, the one in the sky would come to collect its debt first. The main pillar can't hold up, can it?"

Grey Pupil stood at the entrance of the basement, his ritual staff pressing firmly against the newly lit grey patterns on the ground. The tip of the staff glinted with cold light, and his voice was so heavy it could freeze the air: "Stabilize the pillar first! The Post Station has only just acknowledged its master. If the fire sequence dissipates, this place will just be a larger ruin. Seizing it would have been for nothing!"

Wu Fu turned her head sharply to glare at him, refusing to back down in the slightest, her tone full of defiance: "So what if the pillar is stable? What about eyes? Do you plan to rely on those few Red-Eyed Rats at the base of the wall to watch the high ground for me? The high platform is so empty it catches the wind. If someone really goes around to the back from above, we won't even know how we died!"

As she spoke, she raised her hand and pointed fiercely upward—the night wind from the high platform of the Post Station building was pouring down wildly through the collapsed opening, blowing the torches in the basement to flicker with "crackle" sounds. The light and shadows shifted, making the empty outline of the high platform appear even more dangerous. That place was too high and too treacherous. Even with the ground lines stabilized, it remained a genuine blind spot for vision.

Lu Jin didn't reply immediately, his gaze falling on Ning Yanqiu first.

She had already tucked the cold broken mirror into her sleeve. Her expression remained calm, but her fingertips had not fully relaxed, her knuckles slightly white, clearly also keeping an eye on the activity of the main fire pillar. Noticing Lu Jin's gaze, she spoke calmly, her tone crisp and decisive: "I'll go hang the mirror above and guard the vision of the high platform. We won't dismantle this broken mirror yet; wait until you finish your work down here, and we'll examine it together."

There was no unnecessary questioning, no intent to claim credit. After speaking, she turned and walked toward the stairs, her figure as light as a butterfly, disappearing into the shadows of the basement in a few steps.

With this line underground, only Lu Jin, Wu Fu, and Grey Pupil remained, and the tension in the air instantly skyrocketed.

Lu Jin then slowly walked over to the old bones and bent down to examine them closely—when buried in the ash, they only seemed eerie and hideous, but once dragged out, he could see their true value: the main spine was impossibly light, the wing bones were long, thin, and sharp, and the bone grooves were deep enough to embed fire patterns. Most importantly, the roots of the two rows of broken wing bones on the back all bore the wear marks of old fire patterns!

These were not random bones discarded after death; they were the old military line that originally belonged to this Post Station!

A Post Station has pillars, roads, buildings, and a high platform overlooking the surroundings; it should have had something capable of flying out to scout and stand guard—these wing bones were the "Aerial Eyes" of the past!

Wu Fu had clearly seen through this as well. Her speaking speed was twice as fast as usual, and the greed in her eyes was almost overflowing: "These aren't dead bones; they are Post Station wing bones! Connect them to that half-bundle of hollow wing bones from the Divine Domain's high eaves, then channel the grey fire from the main fire pillar, and I can immediately pull out the first batch of embryos. We'll have eyes in the sky!"

Grey Pupil's gaze was locked firmly on the direction of the main fire pillar, his brows knitted together, his tone filled with gravity: "I know you can pull them out. But once you open this line, fire, faith, and nest pulp must all be piled onto it! The ground military line has only just stabilized, and the main pillar has only just been rekindled. If even a little bit of resources is diverted, the defensive line below will collapse!"

This was no exaggeration.

Lu Jin pressed his divine sense, and the resource consumption of the entire Post Station was instantly clearly reflected in his Sea of Consciousness: the main fire pillar needed to be sustained with fire, the four corners of the walls needed repairs, two Bone-Armor Furnace Guards were guarding the main entrance consuming faith, and the Red-Eyed Rats and Work Rats were half clearing out remnant beasts and half repairing the building—this newly seized stronghold was like a newly weaned baby. What it feared most wasn't a lack of sustenance, but being too greedy to chew, causing it to burst apart!

But Wu Fu could no longer hold back.

She suddenly hugged the broken old wings, and white-grey nest silk "swished" all over them, wrapping them tightly, as if afraid that Lu Jin would change his mind in the next second. Her tone carried a bit of short-sighted shrewdness: "Then just raise fewer! I'm not asking for many in the first batch, just eyes! With eyes in the sky, this Post Station of yours won't be a blind stronghold, and we can prevent others from ambushing us!"

Speaking of which, she looked up at the collapsed high platform of the Post Station building, licked her fangs, and a calculating light flashed in her eyes: "Besides, I can already hear the wind! The high platform up there is naturally the place to incubate this line. If we don't use it, it's a total waste!"

Lu Jin didn't hesitate any longer.

Instructor Gu Pingchuan had told him to first gather Post Station materials and stabilize the fire sequence. Wu Fu's words on the high eaves of the Divine Domain, "The part in the sky can be repaired," should finally be realized today. More importantly, now that the forward station was open, they didn't just need soldiers who could fight; they needed eyes that could see far—without vision, no matter how many soldiers they had, they were just targets waiting to be beaten!

"Open it."

Lu Jin's voice was steady and powerful, without a hint of hesitation, every word decisive: "Raise only the first batch. Draw three parts of the grey fire from the main fire pillar, but do not damage the pillar's root; give only three lines of faith, and continue repairing the ground military lines as usual, without stopping. Once the resource consumption becomes too heavy, cut the line immediately!"

Grey Pupil nodded immediately, slamming his ritual staff onto the ground, his tone crisp: "I'll watch the fire sequence. I will absolutely not let any problems happen to the main pillar!"

Wu Fu's eyes lit up like two sparks, and she rushed toward the stairs clutching the old bones, her voice full of excitement: "That's enough! These three parts of fire are enough to hatch the first batch!"

At this moment, the night had already completely pressed down, thick as ink that could not be dissolved.

On the outer perimeter of the Grey Stele Post, scattered shouts and beast roars could still be heard, clearly from other point-seizing teams still probing the surroundings, unwilling to give up. But the section of the Post Station building's high platform had already been cleared completely by Wu Fu—the half-collapsed roof had been frantically repaired by the Work Rats and hauling rats into a three-story high slanted platform. The broken beam at the very top faced the wind, and looking out, there was nothing left but thick fog and broken stone bridges. The path ahead could not be seen, but it hid endless unknowns.

Wu Fu dragged the old bones to the wind-sheltered beam of the high platform and pulled out, one by one, the half-bundle of hollow wing bones she had previously left on the high eaves of the Divine Domain from her storage bag. Those bones were already extremely light, and as soon as they landed on the high platform, an extremely faint wind-whistle sounded from the hollow cavities, as if responding to the night wind of the high platform.

Grey Pupil followed closely behind. He didn't immediately ignite the fire, but instead held his ritual staff and tapped along the two rows of broken roots on the back of the old bones. With each tap, the old fire grooves in the bones would dimly light up, and the pale red fire patterns would flash and vanish, as if identifying whether the fire sequence he was pressing in matched the patterns of the past.

"This line wasn't originally meant for charging into battle." Grey Pupil finished tapping the last broken bone and spoke in a low voice, his tone carrying a hint of realization, "It's used for scouting, recording the wind, and transmitting messages."

Wu Fu snorted, but her hands didn't slow down at all, her tone full of disdain: "Duh! If you really used these thin bones to ram into things, they wouldn't even be enough for the enemy to crush in one bite!"

Despite her complaining, her movements were exceptionally careful—the old Post Station wing bones were laid flat under the beam by her to serve as the base spine; the hollow wing bones were aligned section by section with the bone grooves on both sides, precisely connected. The white-grey nest silk was no longer smeared in messy patches as usual, but was as thin as a needle, threading into the bone joints one by one, forcefully stitching the two completely different types of bones into a complete wing bone skeleton.

Lu Jin stood at the edge of the platform, his divine sense tightly fixed on the wing bones. He could clearly feel that this new line was "eating" resources inch by inch—not just nest pulp and fire, but also wind, faith, and his divine sense.

Once the old bones were connected, a wisp of the three grey fires that had just been steadily lit at the bottom of the main fire pillar was forcefully pulled up, slowly climbing along the bone grooves; as soon as the hollow wing bones were hung steady, the three faith lines that had just been separated in his Sea of Consciousness instantly tightened, as if they were being fiercely tugged by something from above, and even Lu Jin's divine sense gave a twitch.

The Work Rats repairing the wall below visibly slowed down by a beat, and even the force of their digging weakened—as resources were siphoned away, their movements naturally slowed down as well.

Grey Pupil immediately raised his staff, his tone instantly hardening, and he shouted to stop her: "That's enough! If you draw any more, the ground defensive line will be empty, and the main pillar will collapse!"

Wu Fu's fingers had already touched the root of the fourth wing bone, her fingertips turning white. Hearing this, she stopped abruptly. She stared at the skeleton that hadn't fully consumed enough resources, gritted her teeth for two breaths, and finally, unwillingly, withdrew her hand, her face full of heartache: "Got it, got it! This line is too picky; it's eaten so much and still hasn't finished hatching!"

Lu Jin didn't speak, only pressing his divine sense fiercely downward to stabilize the fire sequence of the main fire pillar, and tightening the three faith lines even more—once the fire returned to its place, the slight feeling of emptiness beneath the high platform slowly dissipated. But he had completely noted it down: this Night Wing line wasn't just resource-consuming; it was a ruthless role that truly burned fire, faith, and the foundation of the stronghold!

Although the price was high, it was worth it!

Because those three soldier embryos were already slowly taking shape under the wing bones.

They didn't crash around violently like the Spore-Plague Explosive Rats, nor were they heavy and clumsy like the Bone-Armor Furnace Guards; instead, they were strangely quiet—three grey-black sacs hung upside down under the wing bones, like three dark eggs growing against the wind. The sac skin was extremely thin, and inside, the outlines of long, thin bones could be vaguely seen, slowly stretching out, exuding a mysterious and powerful aura.

Grey Pupil stared at those sacs for a long while before speaking in a low voice, his tone carrying a hint of gravity: "They are recognizing the wind, and they are also recognizing the path—recognizing the wind of this Post Station and the paths around it."

Wu Fu raised her hand and gently tapped the sac in the middle, her eyes full of triumph, as if showing off her masterpiece: "They also recognize the nest! Once hatched, they will only obey our commands, and others won't be able to control them even if they want to!"

Lu Jin pressed his divine sense, and three extremely thin message lines instantly connected to the sacs.

Unlike the ferocity of the Red-Eyed Rats, the heaviness of the Bone-Armor Furnace Guards, and the sinister nature of the Spore-Plague Explosive Rats, the perception transmitted back by these three new soldiers was very light and very far—changes in wind direction, heat currents on the ground, the drop points of broken bridges, voids in the fog, cross-sections of rock walls... It was like layers of fine ash from high up being sifted into Lu Jin's Sea of Consciousness by them, bit by bit, with unbelievable clarity.

This wasn't simply having three more flying rats; it was the entire Divine Domain truly raising its eyes to the sky for the first time, capable of seeing the world above the fog layer and beyond the high platform for the first time!

Lu Jin looked at the three new soldiers about to break out of their sacs and spoke in a deep voice: "Name."

Wu Fu had already thought of it and said it almost immediately, her tone full of smug satisfaction: "Night-Wing Scout Hunter! They can fly at night, scout enemies, and hunt—it fits our Post Station perfectly!"

Grey Pupil didn't object, only adding one sentence, his tone serious: "Scout first, then hunt. Prioritize pathfinding and transmitting messages; do not expose them easily unless absolutely necessary."

"Enough." Lu Jin raised his hand, pointing to the highest broken beam outside the Post Station building, his tone commanding: "Go to the high platform and scout for vision!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the three Night-Wing Scout Hunters released their claws almost simultaneously and broke out of their sacs!

The first flight wasn't very far, only gliding from the wind-sheltered beam to the broken beam in front, lifting lightly with the night wind, and their bone wings "swished" open—the wing membranes were thinner than expected, glowing with a faint grey-black, as if dyed by the night, and as light as a feather. Three grey-black shadows skimmed out, almost brushing against the fog, silent and as fast as three unsheathed blades.

Qiao Ye, who was guarding the main entrance of the Post Station, was stunned the moment he looked up, forgetting to even raise his shield, and exclaimed involuntarily: "Holy crap! They really flew? This thing is too amazing!"

Wen Zhao also looked up, a rare look of novelty appearing in his eyes, his tone carrying a bit of relief: "It's great now. We no longer only have gaps on the ground; we have eyes in the sky. Let's see who still dares to sneak around to the back!"

But Lu Jin had no intention of listening to their exclamations—the vision of the foremost Night-Wing Scout Hunter had already completely transmitted into his Sea of Consciousness.

It swept over the high platform of the Post Station, first reflecting the broken walls around the Post Station, the collapsed ash on the right slope, the broken stone bridges, and the fire points of various teams on the outer edge of the forward station—chaotic and disorganized, yet clear at a glance. Further out, the fog became thicker and thicker, and the road on the ground was almost completely buried by ash, with no traces visible.

But just at this moment, the Night-Wing Scout Hunter suddenly folded its wings and pressed down, cutting diagonally along the coldest wind seam on the outer side of the broken bridge—the fog layer was forcefully parted by half a foot by its sweep, and under the shadow of the bridge belly, an old road clinging to the stone roots, almost completely buried by ash, was suddenly revealed!

The road was extremely narrow, extremely low, and winding, like a snake hiding in the darkness, willing only to let those familiar with the road crawl along the bones. But on both sides of the road edge, faint old cart tracks and rat claw prints were vaguely left behind—mottled and old, clearly not from today, but a secret path left by the Post Station in the past!

Lu Jin's eyes instantly darkened, and his fingertips tightened slightly—to think such a secret path was hidden under the bridge. No wonder the people from Beiyue Academy retreated so decisively before; perhaps they had known about the existence of this road all along!

And what was hidden at the end of this secret path?