258: Chapter 258 Demon Hunting Plan

After finishing those few lines of writing, Su Mingyuan put down his pen and stared at the progress chart for a while.

The Cultivation data for over thirty thousand people was densely listed across several pages. Flipping to the last page, the inventory of the Medicinal Pill made Su Mingyuan frown.

Sighing, he picked up the intercom phone:

"Notify Liu Guangping, Tao Zhe, and the others. Tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, in the second-floor conference room of the Command Center. The fifteen combat department captains with S-grade Root Bone should also come."

The other end of the line acknowledged.

Su Mingyuan hung up the phone, finished the tea in his cup, and got up to return to his dorm.

At seven-fifty the next morning, everyone had arrived.

The conference room was not large. A long table seated about twenty people, and since there weren't enough chairs, a few captains stood in the back row.

The large front screen was lit up, displaying a 3D topographic map generated by Tianheng based on drone data.

Tens of thousands of drone flights over two weeks had scanned a six-hundred-kilometer radius around the Forward Base, modeling the contours of every river and mountain with meter-level precision.

Centering around the Forward Base,

the terrain rose northward, first transitioning to hills, and then to a deeply incised east-west canyon—the Rift Valley.

Further north, the rolling ridge of Black Wind Ridge spanned across the center of the map, with a gray area marked as "Unexplored" occupying more than half the screen.

When everyone quieted down, Su Mingyuan spoke.

"Dr. Tao, let's first discuss the problems encountered with the Medicinal Pill."

Tao Zhe opened his tablet: "All four Fourth-Order Monster Beast inner cores have been refined, yielding a total of 1,020 realm breaking pills. Over nine hundred have been distributed, leaving an inventory of eighty-seven."

"How long can it last?"

"It won't even last a day. Over three hundred people among the A-grades are stuck at the threshold of the first-order. If they push through forcefully without taking the Medicinal Pill, it might take another three to four weeks. As for the B-grades and C-grades—" He paused slightly, "not a single Medicinal Pill has been distributed to them so far."

No one answered in the conference room. Although everyone's Aptitude varied, it was indeed somewhat unfair that ordinary soldiers hadn't received a single Medicinal Pill.

Tao Zhe projected the data onto the side of the main screen.

"The shortage of the Medicinal Pill is not as simple as just the current thirty thousand people. National testing is still pushing forward, covering over eight hundred million people. Tianheng has calculated that once all 1.4 billion people are screened, citizens with C-grade Root Bone and above will be around seven million."

He flipped to the next page and read out a number.

"The total amount of Medicinal Pills needed for seven million people from entry to breaking through the first-order—fifty million."

The conference room fell silent for two seconds.

That number hung on the screen, black and white, resembling a bill that no one wanted to look at yet had no choice but to face.

Su Mingyuan didn't dwell on this number and took over the conversation.

"We must take the initiative to hunt Yao Beasts and acquire the monster cores."

"According to hundreds of years of experience from Cang City hunters, it is very difficult to produce monster cores from third-order Yao Beasts. Roughly one can be extracted out of a hundred. With good luck, you might see one every fifty or sixty, but with bad luck, killing a hundred will yield nothing."

"One out of a hundred?" Zhang Dabiao repeated, a hint of uncertainty in his tone as to whether he had heard wrong.

"The Spiritual Qi inside third-order Yao Beasts is not dense enough, not yet reaching the point of Core Formation," Tao Zhe said. "Most are just a lump of meat with nothing in their bellies. Only a few that have lived long enough and consumed enough Spiritual Qi slowly condense one inside their Dantian."

Several people were calculating in their minds.

Killing one hundred thousand third-order Yao Beasts would only yield 1,000 monster cores; this task gap was indeed somewhat difficult.

Su Mingyuan also knew this number didn't look good and added another sentence.

"Fourth-order is different. Fourth-Order Monster Beasts are bound to have cores, not a single one missing. Their quality far surpasses the third-order; a single one is worth dozens."

Those present glanced again at the gray "Unexplored" area on the screen.

Su Mingyuan stood in front of the screen, picked up a pen, and drew a circle at the location of the Rift Valley.

"Step one, take the Rift Valley first and clear out the Yao Beasts here."

The pen tip moved north, circling Black Wind Ridge.

"Step two, sweep Black Wind Ridge. If one out of a hundred yields a core, then kill more. Also, don't throw away the corpses of the third-order Yao Beasts; transport them to the Zombie World to feed the zombies, harvest crystal cores, and feedback the Main World and the other three worlds."

"Step three."

Su Mingyuan's pen tip pointed at the edge of the gray area.

"After clearing Black Wind Ridge, we will tentatively advance toward the deep domains to find Fourth-Order Monster Beasts. A single fourth-order monster core can refine hundreds of realm breaking pills. Bringing down a thousand fourth-order ones will plug the Medicinal Pill shortage for the thirty thousand people right before us."

He put the pen back on the table and turned to face everyone.

"Forces. All three hundred mechas from the Yaowu World will be deployed."

Ignoring everyone's astonished expressions, Su Mingyuan continued.

"Now, the fifteen fighters with S-grade Root Bone will each lead a combat squad of twenty mechas. Chief Commander Zhang Dabiao, you make the call on how to fight the battles on the front line."

Zhang Dabiao gave a hum of acknowledgment and readily agreed.

"Chen Rong and Lin Wan will form a separate group, piloting mechas, but they will not answer to anyone else. They will take orders directly from me."

Su Mingyuan glanced at the two young people sitting in the corner. "Two tasks—protect the command post and handle high-order Yao Beasts. They don't need to touch anything below third-order; anything above third-order is for them."

Chen Rong and Lin Wan nodded slightly, considering it agreed.

Zhang Dabiao raised his hand: "The issue with the two hundred and eighty-five ordinary pilots. They can't use the high-tier action library, and their control level is far behind the S-grades. What do we do if they encounter a group of Fourth-Order Monster Beasts?"

"We won't do one-on-one fights," Su Mingyuan said. "The fifteen combat departments will be divided into three echelons, with five units totaling one hundred mechas per echelon. The first echelon hits the front, with the S-grades charging at the very front to tear open a breach, and the ones behind following up to expand the results. The second echelon follows behind at a distance of one kilometer, responsible for reaping. The third echelon backs up the rear, guarding the command post and logistics lines."

Tao Zhe chimed in: "Tianheng has deduced that for ordinary pilots to single-handedly fight a Fourth-Order Monster Beast, the win rate is twenty percent. If four mechas surround one to take turns pinning it down, the win rate is over eighty percent. The S-grades break through the Yao Beast formation, and ordinary mechas hunt down stragglers."

Zhang Dabiao thought about it and didn't ask further.

Zhao Hu spoke up again.

"Fourth-Order Monster Beasts have brains. They might end up surrounding your mechas in reverse."

The expressions of several S-grade captains darkened a bit.

Su Mingyuan didn't take up that topic.

Of course he knew there were risks. If they waited a bit longer to develop and became stronger before going out to fight, their chances of success would definitely be greater.

But they couldn't wait.

There were too many things behind the portal.

The meteorites simultaneously encountered by the four worlds, the Zero-Number Infection Source in the Zombie World, the Heavenly Fall Abyss in the Giant World, the humanoid creature in the core area of the Zerg World that still hadn't been figured out—every single matter hung like a sharp sword over the head of Great Xia, ready to fall at any moment.

"Departure time is four o'clock the morning after tomorrow. Tomorrow all day will be spent inspecting equipment and replenishing ammunition. The transport team will follow behind; once the Rift Valley is taken, immediately transport the Yao Beast corpses to the Zombie World to Cultivate zombies."

He looked around the room.

"Any more questions?"

No one spoke.

"Meeting adjourned."