HPDBC Chapter 23 Beast King Crisis
Chapter 23 Beast King Crisis
As Song Chen was about to walk toward the consultation window, someone suddenly tapped her on the shoulder.
"Young man, is this your first time here?"
He turned around and saw a middle-aged man standing behind him. The man had a second-level martial artist badge pinned to his chest and a kind smile on his face.
Song Chen nodded: "Yes."
The man smiled and lowered his voice, saying, "Considering you're new, let me give you a heads-up: things aren't very peaceful outside the city lately. It's best to wait a few days before accepting any missions."
Song Chen was startled: "Why?"
The man looked around. "You still don't know?"
"Know what?"
The man stared at him for a few seconds, then suddenly understood something.
"You just got your Warrior Badge, right?"
"right."
The man sighed, "No wonder."
"The garrison commander's office has blocked the news from ordinary people to prevent panic; only formal martial artists will be told the truth."
Song Chen frowned: "What exactly happened?"
The man paused for a moment, then slowly said, "Not long ago, a major incident occurred in the ruins of Changqing City."
"The garrison commander's reconnaissance team discovered an extremely terrifying life force deep within Changqing City. At first, they thought it was a third or fourth-tier life force, but they later sent people in to investigate and discovered it was not."
He paused, a flicker of fear crossing his eyes.
"That life force actually came from a peak fifth-tier beast king that was about to break through to the sixth tier."
Song Chen's breath hitched for a moment.
Peak of the fifth rank? About to break through to the sixth rank?
He had seen videos of third-tier martial artists in action and already felt that it was a power that did not belong to humans. Fifth-tier peak... what kind of concept was that?
That is a being capable of destroying a city single-handedly.
His voice was somewhat hoarse: "Impossible, a peak fifth-tier beast king, how could he suddenly appear in Changqing City?"
The middle-aged man gave a wry smile: "Who knows? Changqing City has been occupied for so many years, anything could be hidden inside. Maybe that beast king has been sleeping all along and only recently awakened, or maybe it migrated from a more distant place. In any case, the aura is definitely right."
"When the garrison commander discovered this, he immediately dispatched an elite squad to investigate. The squad, led by a third-tier martial artist, consisted of twelve experienced veterans. The result…"
He shook his head.
"What happened in the end?"
"Only one came back alive, and he was seriously injured. It is said that when he was carried back, he had a big hole in his chest and almost did not survive."
A scene flashed through Song Chen's mind: that day outside the city, the three wrecked armored vehicles, Researcher Xie lying on a stretcher, and the hideous wound on her chest.
It was her. So that's where she escaped from.
"Although that reconnaissance team was almost completely wiped out, they brought back a message."
"That beast king is in the critical period of its breakthrough in seclusion and cannot move. The ones chasing them are just the beast king's guards, fourth-tier exotic beasts."
Fourth-tier guard.
Song Chen's palms were a little cold.
The beast king didn't even have to take action himself; he only sent a few of his subordinates, yet they managed to wipe out almost the entire squad led by a third-tier martial artist.
If it breaks through to the sixth rank...
The middle-aged man looked at him and said, "Now you understand the situation outside the city, right? The fifth-tier beast king is in seclusion, his fourth-tier beasts are roaming the city, and first and second-tier beasts are as numerous as hairs on a cow. Going out to hunt at this time, one wrong move and you're dead!"
Song Chen fell silent, recalling what Zhang Zhenyun had said that day outside the city.
"I know a few of those martial artists. They are all at least at the third rank. They usually act like they own the place in the city. I have never seen them so flustered."
So that's what they were panicking about.
A beast king at the peak of the fifth rank is about to break through to the sixth rank; such a beast is capable of destroying a city with a single attack.
Song Chen thought for a moment and asked, "What does the garrison commander's office plan to do?"
The middle-aged man shrugged: "What can we do? We definitely can't win in a fight. The only expert in the entire Anning City is the garrison commander, a fifth-level expert. Our only hope is to get a higher-level expert to come and support us before that beast king breaks through."
As he spoke, he pointed towards the city wall: "Didn't you see those psionic cannons charging up? If it really comes to that, all the warriors in the city will have to go up to the city wall and fight to the death, to hold out for as long as possible until reinforcements arrive."
Song Chen's heart sank, and he suddenly realized something.
He had worried about Zhao Wei, his grandfather who was a third-level martial artist, and so on, but what did those things matter in the face of such an existence?
Even a third-tier martial artist is nothing more than a bite away from the Beast King.
The entire city of Anning, with its nearly one million inhabitants, is nothing more than an ant city that could be crushed at any moment in the face of a sixth-tier beast king.
He clenched his fist, striving to become stronger. He needed to become stronger, more than ever.
Seeing his silence, the middle-aged man patted him on the shoulder: "Young man, take my advice. Don't leave the city for the next few days. Wait until the situation becomes clearer. Your life is your own; if you lose it, you lose everything."
After saying that, he turned and left.
Song Chen stood there, watching his figure disappear into the crowd.
The hall was still bustling with noise, and the large screen on the wall continued to display various missions. Among the martial artists coming and going, some were laughing, some were cursing, and some were bargaining.
Did they all know? Did they know there was a beast king outside the city about to break through to the sixth rank? Did they know this city might face annihilation at any moment?
Maybe you know, maybe you don't.
But whether you know it or not, life goes on.
Song Chen took a deep breath, turned around and walked towards the consultation window. Backing down was impossible; the more he backed down, the easier it would be to die.
"Hello, I'd like to take on a hunting mission outside the city."
The staff member behind the window glanced at him and handed him a form.
"Fill out the form, then go to the second floor to register."
Song Chen took the form and began filling it out.
……
Three hours later, Song Chen, holding the prepared mission documents, passed through the city gate and stood outside the city once again.
Compared to his last trip out of the city, this time he was a formal martial artist and qualified to take on missions on his own. However, what remained the same was that he was still assigned to a martial artist squad, not the free action he had imagined.
The staff at the registration office said, "The danger level outside the city is high right now, and it's too risky to act alone. All first-level martial artists must be organized into teams and act together. That's the rule."
Song Chen thought about it and agreed that it was alright. Killing monsters alone was indeed efficient, but it depended on the situation. There were monsters everywhere outside the city, and if someone got surrounded, they wouldn't be able to escape.
Following the instructions in the mission manual, he arrived at a rendezvous point on the edge of the defense zone.
Several armored vehicles were already parked there, and a dozen or so martial artists were waiting beside them. Some were wiping their knives, some were smoking, and some were resting with their eyes closed.
Song Chen walked over and took out a document: "Excuse me, where is the Fierce Tiger Squad?"
A bald, burly man looked up at him and gestured towards a car not far away: "Fierce Tiger? Over there, the one in black is the captain, surnamed Lei."
Song Chen thanked him and walked over.