69: Entering the city

Before Qiao Yu even entered the suburbs of the county town, he already saw a few scattered military-green vehicles on the city's outskirts, and soldiers with live ammunition were all looking in his direction.

When Qiao Yu saw the first soldier, he had already told the Dai Mao Rat King and its group to hide. There was no need for them to reveal their tracks and make others nervous, only to be wiped out for nothing.

As the vehicle slowly drove, Qiao Yu was stopped outside the isolation zone.

A soldier, holding a firearm whose name Qiao Yu couldn't recall, jogged up to Qiao Yu and saluted him perfectly.

"Sir, County-level City No. 0201 is currently under complete lockdown. No entry is permitted without authorization."

The soldier's attitude was friendly, and his tone was polite.

No soldier would offend a martial artist for no reason, and of course, no martial artist would dare to embarrass a soldier from the official army.

Qiao Yu pondered for a moment without answering.

He remembered Thunder God saying he would make arrangements before he left, but due to the rush to get to the Wilderness Area, Qiao Yu wasn't sure if his identity information included a pass.

The soldier didn't seem to be in a hurry to urge Qiao Yu, just silently watched him without a word.

"Hmm, Comrade, please check my identity information."

Qiao Yu wasn't flustered or timid, nor did he reveal too much information to the other party. He simply straightened his chest, revealing his handsome face, which was slightly dusty.

The soldier nodded in agreement, then took out a device to scan Qiao Yu's face.

"Beep! Identity verification passed!"

"Identity: Thunderbolt Martial Arts School special envoy."

After the device scanned Qiao Yu's face, it only took a few seconds for the machine to give the verification passed prompt.

Seeing this, the soldier saluted again.

Anyone dispatched by a martial arts school would not have a simple identity.

"special envoy, please follow me."

The soldier made a standard turn and led the way.

Other soldiers blocking the road saw that Qiao Yu was being led in by their comrade, and they formed a path.

"Comrade, how long will this city be locked down?"

Qiao Yu asked the question in his heart. He had thought that with Thunder God's arrangements, the lockdown should have ended, but he didn't expect the checkpoint to still be so strict.

"Reporting, special envoy, we have not received any orders to lift the lockdown. It will remain locked down until such an order is received."

The soldier said in a matter-of-fact tone.

Since Qiao Yu had passed the official identity verification, the soldier didn't hide any irrelevant information.

Qiao Yu nodded and casually explained.

"I'm here to collect some samples to take back. I estimate it can be resolved within a day."

The soldier nodded. Several groups had come to collect samples in the past month, so they didn't think anything of it.

However, before, there were always martial artists protecting scientific researchers for sample collection. This was the first time someone came alone.

He must be a high-ranking member of the Thunderbolt Martial Arts School. Daring to come alone, his strength is probably not to be underestimated. Thinking this, the soldier became even more vigilant, afraid of saying the wrong thing.

After passing through layers of blockade, Qiao Yu was escorted to the main road in the city's suburbs.

After bidding farewell to the soldier, Qiao Yu got back on his off-road motorcycle and drove into the city.

Most of the scattered monsters nearby had been eliminated by the army. There were no monster disturbances along the way. The suburbs didn't have many building complexes for hiding, so the monsters were probably driven into the buildings in the city center.

Qiao Yu pondered inwardly as he drove.

Now that County-level City No. 0201 was still locked down, he didn't dare to expand aggressively within the city.

Although he had confessed some of his abilities to Thunder God before, it was only the part that was beneficial to humanity.

If he continued to develop in 0201, it would only be a matter of time before he was discovered by official personnel.

He could guarantee that Thunder God cared for all humanity, so he wasn't sure if Thunder God harbored any wariness towards him.

Otherwise, with Thunder God's abilities, he could have completely lifted the city's lockdown and allowed him to develop freely.

Given the current situation, he had to relocate the fungal nest.

During this time, Qiao Yu had also thought about the development of the fungal swarm and realized that he was still limited by conventional thinking.

The conventional thinking of martial artists is to fight monsters and seize territory in land cities.

His target was the oceans of Earth.

The entire ocean was the territory of monsters, and even many high-level monsters originated from the ocean.

For example, City No. 003, the former Shanghai area, is not only coastal but also has dense urban architecture, making it a heavenly outpost for monster invasion of the land.

Therefore, City No. 003 is also a place where many powerful martial artists and high-level monsters battle.

However, Qiao Yu naturally wouldn't choose City No. 003 to develop his power.

On one hand, there were too many people and too many eyes, and on the other hand, it was too dangerous.

After much thought, Qiao Yu came up with a city suitable for expanding the fungal swarm's ocean territory—County No. 0203.

This city is close to City No. 023 (former Suzhou) and also close to Lake Tai, making it convenient for future expansion into water areas and the ocean. It is an excellent starting city.

"Squeak! Squeak!"

Just as he thought of this, Qiao Yu heard a familiar sound.

"Damao?"

Qiao Yu looked in the direction of the sound. Damao pushed open a nearby manhole cover, revealing its pointed snout.

Damao just poked its head out to greet Qiao Yu, thendrill back into the sewer. There were too many monsters on the road, and it was too dangerous; it wouldn't dare to openly act like a rat crossing the street.

And Qiao Yu rode towards the Blue Sky Residential Area where the fungal nest was located.

Many monsters tried to attack Qiao Yu along the way, but they were all killed by flying knives controlled by Qiao Yu's mental power.

Qiao Yu was too lazy to clean up the corpses of these scattered Beast Soldier-level Monster.

There were far fewer monsters in the entire county-level city. There were only bloodstains on the road but no monster corpses, which probably meant they had been transported away and destroyed by the army.

After many twists and turns, Qiao Yu finally arrived at the Blue Sky Residential Area.

As soon as he entered the residential area, Qiao Yu felt the fungal nest summoning him.

Upon reaching the unremarkable residential building, Qiao Yu felt it was quite magical.

He could clearly feel that this entire building had been infested by the fungal nest.

However, there were no visible changes on the exterior, which only showed how remarkable the fungal nest's camouflage ability was.

Unfortunately, due to the inability to expand and the internal self-digestion of the fungal swarm, the fungal nest had shrunk significantly and was now only the size of one residential building.

The Blue Sky Residential Area, which originally had three residential buildings, now had two other buildings that were strong on the outside but hollow within, their interiors long corroded. Perhaps only a little external force would be needed to make an entire building collapse.

The middle residential building, however, was filled with the fungal nest inside.

Qiao Yu walked in and was startled; a bloody figure stood behind the main door.