187: Chapter 187 The End of Black Wind Stronghold
Black Wind Mountain, Sichuan region.
This place was once a scenic tourist destination in the Sichuan region.
But after the arrival of the "Era of Beacon Fires," it completely devolved into a living hell on earth.
A group of bandits from the Xuan Realm calling themselves "Black Wind Fortress" occupied this place.
Led by a King Rank rogue cultivator who called himself "Old Demon Black Wind," they committed all sorts of evil—burning, killing, and looting—turning this area of hundreds of miles into their... "hunting ground"!
At this moment, a new "hunt" was underway.
...
About fifty kilometers away from Black Wind Mountain was a small human survivor outpost named "Hope Town."
Gathered here were thousands of ordinary people struggling to survive in the apocalypse, along with dozens of Awakened Ones whose strength mostly fluctuated between the Mortal Rank and Essence Rank.
They relied on the crude walls made of reinforced concrete surrounding the outpost and several old turrets retired from the military to bitterly hold on in this crisis-ridden chaotic world.
However, today, their "hope" was about to be completely crushed!
Boom—!
A loud explosion!
That wall several meters thick, which they had placed high hopes on, was actually split open by a black blade light falling from the sky, creating a massive gap dozens of meters long!
"Hahahaha!"
"Boys! Charge for me!"
"Kill all the men! Snatched all the women and food!"
A burst of arrogant laughter, filled with cruelty and madness, resounded from outside the gap!
Following that, hundreds of Black Wind Fortress bandits, wearing uniform black leather armor and holding various hideous weapons stained with blood, poured in frantically through the massive gap like a swarm of evil ghosts crawling out of hell!
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!"
"It's those beasts from Black Wind Fortress! Quick! Counterattack!"
Inside the outpost, chaos broke out instantly!
The dozens of Awakened Ones who usually lorded it over ordinary people were now pale-faced with trembling legs. However, they also knew that once the outpost was breached, what awaited them would be an end more tragic than death!
Roaring, they mustered all their courage and activated their various "superpowers," meeting the bandits who were surging in like a tide!
However, their resistance appeared pale and powerless before these Xuan Realm bandits who were long accustomed to slaughter and bloodshed.
Puchi!
A young man who had awakened a "Flame" superpower had just launched a head-sized fireball when he was sliced in half at the waist by a bandit leader wielding a giant axe!
"Ah—!"
A young girl who had awakened a "Healing" superpower was treating an injured companion when suddenly, an ugly face filled with evil and lust appeared before her.
The bandit grinned and grabbed her slender neck, then tore her relatively clean clothes to shreds in front of everyone!
Desperate screams, wails of pain, and the bandits' unrestrained, mad laughter intertwined to compose a doomsday elegy filled with blood and despair!
And all of this was being "live-streamed" in the clearest and most cruel way to Lin Qingzhi and me, far away, through the eyes of a little rat lurking in an inconspicuous sewer corner of the outpost.
...
Meanwhile, on a hillside about ten kilometers away from "Hope Town."
A Dragon Soul Bureau squad, wearing uniform black combat uniforms with a special emblem composed of a "dragon shape" and a "sharp sword" on their chests, was solemnly observing "Hope Town," which had already turned into a living hell, through high-powered binoculars.
"Captain, are we... really not going to act?" A young team member, who didn't look very old, saw the horrific scene. His eyes instantly turned red, and his knuckles turned white from gripping the long saber in his hand too hard!
"Act?" The middle-aged man called "Captain," who had a hideous scar on his face, smiled bitterly upon hearing this.
"Act with what?"
"Just with the few of us? We can't even beat the outermost lackeys of Black Wind Fortress! Not to mention that 'Old Demon Black Wind' who hasn't even shown his face yet!"
"What's the difference between us rushing over now and going to our deaths?!"
"Then... then we just watch like this with our eyes wide open?!" the young member roared unwillingly.
...
The scarred captain fell silent.
He abruptly slammed the binoculars in his hand onto the ground and then punched the rock beside him!
Bang!
The hard rock was instantly covered with spiderweb-like cracks!
"Report it!"
His voice was hoarse and filled with endless anger and powerlessness.
"Report everything that happened here exactly as it is to headquarters!"
"Request... request Lord 'Dragon King' to personally... intervene!"
...
High in the sky, amidst the clouds.
I quietly watched the human tragedy unfolding below, my brow already furrowed deeply.
An uncontrollable rage was burning frantically in my heart!
I wanted to act.
I wished I could rush down immediately and tear those pieces of trash, who were worse than beasts, into shreds one by one!
But I couldn't.
Because Lin Qingzhi beside me had not yet given the final... order.
"Still not acting?" I finally couldn't help but ask.
"Wait."
Lin Qingzhi's voice was as cold as frost, without a single shred of emotion.
She just stood there quietly, watching the tragedies below that were enough to drive anyone with a conscience mad. There was not the slightest ripple in her cold phoenix eyes.
I was somewhat puzzled.
Even somewhat angry.
I didn't understand how she could be so... indifferent?
However, in the next second, her words made me understand everything instantly.
"I want to let their evils be completely exposed before the eyes of everyone."
"I want those human powerhouses who are still watching, still hesitating, and even still harboring hostility toward us to see with their own eyes!"
"See what kind of... beasts are rampaging behind their comfort!"
"I want the world to know exactly what kind of..."
"...beasts I, Lin Qingzhi, am killing!"
To kill the person and destroy their heart!
As expected of someone who was once an Empress; her political maneuvering is far beyond mine. I'd better just honestly be my Demon King and stick to simple and crude devour-evolution.
I took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the anger in my heart.
Then, I sank my will into the Swarm Network.
"Rat King."
"Cut the 'live-stream signal' here for me."
"Then, switch to a high-definition, wide-angle... 'camera angle'."
"Today, for this 'public execution' live broadcast, I want every qualified 'viewer' in all of China to see clearly for me!"
Just then, that group of Black Wind Fortress bandits, who had already lost themselves to slaughter, turned their eyes filled with evil and greed toward the last surviving... survivor in the outpost.
It was a little girl only seven or eight years old.
She was hiding under a pile of corpses, her whole body trembling violently. Her big eyes, which should have been innocent, were filled with endless fear and despair.
"Hahaha! There's one more that slipped through the net!"
"Boss, reward this one to me! I like this kind of fresh and tender... 'little lamb' the most!"
A bandit with a scar on his face grinned and walked step by step toward the little girl who was already paralyzed with fear.
He reached out his blood-stained, filthy... hand of sin.
However, just a second before his hand was about to touch the little girl.
From the sky, without any warning, the first... drifted down.
...hexagonal snowflake.