315: Chapter 315 The Evil Objects of the Ten Thousand Corpse Taoist

Early the next morning, Su Mingyuan smelled instant noodles when he pushed open the laboratory door.

Tao Zhe was sitting in front of the workbench with an empty instant noodle bucket before him, chopsticks resting horizontally across the rim.

A sheet of A4 paper was spread out on the desk opposite him, with four lines of text written on it.

Su Mingyuan pulled over a chair, sat down, and read through the paper.

Then he read it once more.

"Are you sure?" he asked.

"I haven't changed a single word of the original text from the jade slip." Tao Zhe pulled another stack of papers from a drawer—the full handwritten translation of the journal from last night. "The four key records are all here. You can read them yourself."

Su Mingyuan didn't flip through the stack; instead, he placed the A4 paper back on the desk.

"Tell me your assessment."

Tao Zhe matched the four people mentioned in the journal to the four worlds one by one.

Daoist Wan Shi corresponded to the Zombie World, Daoist Yu Ling to the Giant World, Perfected Lord Yushou to the Yaowu World, and the Gu Mother to the Zerg World.

The type of disaster in each world matched the methods used by the corresponding demonic cultivator.

"Daoist Yu Ling and Perfected Lord Yushou are already dead," Tao Zhe said. "As for the remaining two—Daoist Wan Shi and the Gu Mother—their current status is unknown."

Su Mingyuan leaned back in his chair. "What's the situation with Daoist Wan Shi?"

"The journal says he was at the Middle Stage of Soul Transformation before he fell. He had the highest cultivation level among the four. If he has recovered some of his cultivation in the Zombie World—" Tao Zhe paused. "He might be even harder to deal with than Daoist Yu Ling."

"How long have we been operating in the Zombie World?"

"From our first entry until now, it's been about six months. The control range of the Panshi Hub Base covers roughly fifteen percent of the known continents in the Zombie World. The remaining eighty-five percent is unexplored territory."

"He might be hiding in that eighty-five percent," Su Mingyuan said.

"He might also be dead," Tao Zhe countered. "His injuries when he fell might have been even heavier than Perfected Lord Yushou's—after all, he was besieged by three people and then caught in the explosion of his own Ten Thousand Corpse Grand Array. But that's just speculation; there's no evidence."

Su Mingyuan mentally reviewed the current state of the Zombie World.

The Panshi Hub Base was operating normally, the output of the zombie farms was stable, and no anomalies had occurred in daily operations.

If Daoist Wan Shi was still alive and hiding somewhere in the Zombie World, why had there been no movement from him?

There were two possibilities.

First, he was too heavily injured and was still recovering, lacking the ability to act.

Second, he knew about the outsiders but chose to wait and see.

Regardless of which it was, neither conclusion was reassuring.

"What about the Gu Mother?" Su Mingyuan asked.

"The journal doesn't specify the Gu Mother's cultivation level. But judging from the tone of the writing, Perfected Lord Yushou viewed her as a threat on the same level as himself and Daoist Yu Ling—at least at the Early Stage of Soul Transformation. Her cultivation would drop after falling, but it's impossible to calculate to what extent."

Su Mingyuan recalled an image.

In the Zerg World, in the center of the ruins following a nuclear blast, stood that perfectly intact palace.

The mysterious woman inside the palace.

Drones were shot down as soon as they approached.

"The woman in that palace is the Gu Mother," he said.

"Exactly, there's a high probability it's the Gu Mother," Tao Zhe said. "And she's conscious—the fact that she shot down the drones shows she has the capacity to act and attack. The threat level of the Zerg World needs to be re-evaluated."

Su Mingyuan twirled the pen in his hand a few times.

"Report this today," he said. "Use the highest security classification. Elder Qin and the core members of the leading group. Don't spread it further for now."

"Agreed."

"Also—reconnaissance must be strengthened in both the Zombie World and the Zerg World. Notify Li Yunlong for the Zombie World side and push the reconnaissance range of the Panshi Hub Base out by another fifty kilometers. Be more cautious with the Zerg World side; first, increase the frequency of encrypted drone patrols, but do not actively approach that palace area."

He put down the pen.

"The journal also mentioned something else," Su Mingyuan said. "Daoist Wan Shi's evil object."

"Right."

"The journal says that when the void shattered, it was unknown whose hands that object fell into." Su Mingyuan looked at Tao Zhe. "It might have also fallen intact into one of the worlds."

Tao Zhe didn't respond.

"If it fell into the Zombie World—" Su Mingyuan said, "then it's in Daoist Wan Shi's hands."

"Provided Daoist Wan Shi is still alive."

"Right." Su Mingyuan stood up. "Provided he's still alive."

He walked to the window; outside, the sky was already bright.

On the assembly grounds outside the north gate of the Forward Base, several Engineering Mechas were loading supplies, preparing to transport them toward the Victory Pit.

"Let's push forward with the tasks at hand first." Su Mingyuan turned around. "How is the optimization of the Beast Taming Art progressing?"

Tao Zhe pulled a document from the desk.

"The first version of the optimization report arrived yesterday. The technique optimization is complete. There's also a preliminary model for the matching algorithm. Zhou Peide said the Monster Beast Compatibility Detector will take a week."

"Did you run Chen Rong's matching data?"

"I did. Tianheng's recommendation is a Fourth-Order Lightning-attribute or Metal-attribute monster beast. BL-001 fits the criteria—the one that escaped during the clearing of Black Wind Ridge. It's silver-gray and exhibits electrical discharge. Tianheng calculates its activity range to be in the mountainous area eighty kilometers to the northeast."

Su Mingyuan returned to the desk, folded the A4 paper with the information on the four demonic cultivators twice, and tucked it into his jacket pocket.

"No need to wait for the detector," he said. "Chen Rong's matching results are clear enough. Have him prepare; I'll talk to him tomorrow."

The next morning, Su Mingyuan called Chen Rong to the command center.

There were only three people in the command center.

Su Mingyuan, Tao Zhe, and Chen Rong.

Su Mingyuan didn't beat around the bush.

"There's a new cultivation technique called the Beast Taming Art," he said. "It was obtained from Perfected Lord Yushou's storage bag. Its function is to establish a soul link with a monster beast, making it your combat partner. Tianheng has already optimized it."

He had Tao Zhe transmit the optimized Beast Taming Art to Chen Rong's terminal.

Chen Rong looked down at the table of contents for a moment.

Seventeen nodes, soul link, heartbeat pulse, resonance peak.

"What happens if the taming fails?" he asked.

Tao Zhe answered, "Two possibilities. In the mild case, your divine sense is ejected; you'll have a headache for a few days, but it won't affect your cultivation. In the severe case—the monster beast's intelligence backflows through the uncompleted link, damaging your divine sense. If it's serious, it could affect your cultivation progress."

"Given your conditions," Tao Zhe glanced at Chen Rong, "Tianheng calculated the failure probability to be less than five percent."

Chen Rong turned off the terminal screen.

"What's the target?"

Su Mingyuan brought up Tianheng's database.

A set of information popped up on the screen—Designation BL-001, Fourth-Order Monster Beast, silver-gray, medium-to-small build, extremely high movement speed.

Thermal signatures showed persistent weak electrical discharge on its body surface, identifying it as Lightning-attribute.

Two blurry infrared photos were attached, captured by drones during the clearing of Black Wind Ridge.

In the photos, only a silver-gray silhouette could be seen darting through the trees, trailing a string of pale red heat marks behind it.

"It escaped during the clearing of Black Wind Ridge," Su Mingyuan said. "Fourth-Order, Lightning-attribute. Tianheng calculates it's currently active in the mountainous region eighty kilometers to the northeast."

He brought up the map.

The Forward Base was in the bottom-left corner, marked by a blue dot.

Black Wind Ridge was directly north, already marked as a light blue cleared area.

Further northeast of Black Wind Ridge was an unmarked gray mountainous area—dense contour lines, complex terrain, and crisscrossing ravines.

Tianheng had drawn a dashed circle in the gray area, labeled 'BL-001 Estimated Activity Range'.

The center was approximately eighty kilometers northeast of the Forward Base, with a radius of about twenty kilometers.

"Drones will help you narrow down the search area," Su Mingyuan said. "But you'll have to handle the final contact yourself. The process of establishing a soul link cannot have external interference; mechas getting too close will affect the spiritual energy field."

Chen Rong stared at the dashed circle on the map for a few seconds.

Finding an extremely fast Fourth-Order Monster Beast within a mountainous area with a twenty-kilometer radius wouldn't be easy.

"Give me a day to study the technique," he said.

"Fine. You set out tomorrow morning."

Chen Rong left with the terminal.

Su Mingyuan watched his back disappear around the corridor corner, then turned to Tao Zhe. "Arrange for Zhang Dabiao to follow with ten mechas, maintaining a five-kilometer distance. Chen Rong is our top combat asset now; we can't let anything happen to him."

"I've already told Zhang Dabiao," Tao Zhe said.