Monster Expo

After a brief detour, Wang Yi and the two girls arrived at the train station, boarded a train, and headed for Jiangnan City's Main Urban Area.

Jiangnan City was divided into the Main Urban Area and the Eight Satellite Cities. Trains were the means of transportation between the Main Urban Area and the Eight Satellite Cities. Ordinary people had to book tickets three days in advance to ride them, and the fares were expensive.

As for traveling from one Base City to another... the ticket prices were astronomical. Ordinary people simply could not afford them.

Thus, Jiangnan City's two hundred million residents rarely had the chance to leave the Base City's boundaries in their entire lives.

Wang Yi had been an ordinary person. Even when he had wanted to visit Luo Feng before, it had been difficult. Even now, they mostly kept in touch through the internet.

Wang Yi had never been to the Main Urban Area either, because he could not bear the expense. But he had heard that the Main Urban Area was more populous and more prosperous than other cities. More importantly, Jiangnan Limit Main Hall was located in the Main Urban Area of Jiangnan Base City.

If his longtime desk mate had not invited him for the first time, and if he had not been so curious about the Monster Expo, he would not have come.

Jiangnan Base City, Main Urban Area.

A young man and two young women entered a building.

"This place is really huge. There's even equipment I've never seen before." Wang Yi looked around like Granny Liu in the Grand View Garden.

"Roar~~" A deafening roar rang out, startling the newcomers.

A massive beast that looked as if it were wreathed in flames appeared at the entrance to the venue, making hearts tremble. Its entire body was covered in fiery red scales without a single blemish! Most notably, its enormous head bore three tall, curved horns that thrust forward!

It was as tall as several floors, making anyone standing before it feel tiny and fragile.

"Is this a projection? It's too realistic!" Wang Yi was startled as well, but quickly came to his senses.

Lin Youyu was so frightened that she grabbed Wang Yi's arm, pressing tightly against him with a pale face.

"This is a Fire Scale Three-Horned Pig! The number-one clan among pig-type monsters! Even the weakest Fire Scale Three-Horned Pigs are intermediate Beast General level, while this one is a projection of an elementary Lord level beast! It's almost a one-hundred-percent simulation! Even the sound is identical to the original!" Gao Yurong had clearly done her homework beforehand. She explained at that moment.

"And how much longer do you two plan to keep hugging?" Gao Yurong's gaze fell on where their bodies touched.

Lin Youyu's face turned even redder, and she silently let go of Wang Yi.

Wang Yi looked into the venue. The entire hall was as vast as a football field, and its height was equally astonishing. Lights and shadows intertwined as crowds surged through the place, voices and gasps filling the air. The amazement in his eyes grew deeper and deeper...

He saw—

The imposing, domineering Ironclad Dragon, covered from head to toe in dark cyan scales, with a curved black horn on its forehead...

The Black Crown Golden Eagle, hovering in midair like a large fighter jet, its feathers faintly gleaming with a cold metallic luster, the feathers atop its head pitch-black like a black crown, its enormous sharp talons golden, capable of breaking the sound barrier in flight and ranked third among eagle-type monsters...

A bear monster roughly eight or nine meters tall, its rock-like hide harder than diamond, standing there like a moving fortress as its roar boomed like thunder...

One monster after another that rampaged through the Wilderness and stood as humanity's enemy had been projected in this high-tech venue for people to view.

Standing beside Wang Yi, Gao Yurong said with great interest, "I heard this expo is being held simultaneously in major Base Cities by the government and other departments. It displays monsters from outside the Base Cities, probably so ordinary people can understand just how terrifying the outside world is..."

"So scary." Lin Youyu could not help clutching her chest. Just looking at the projections of these monsters made her shudder.

Wang Yi also watched the lifelike monsters intently, filled with amazement.

Compared to these monsters, humans were like ants.

It was hard to imagine that human Martial Artists could train to the point where they could fight these monsters with nothing but flesh and blood.

He could not help longing even more for the day he became a true Martial Artist and entered the Wilderness to battle these monsters.

Although Wang Yi's physical fitness and skills had greatly increased, he knew that compared with Martial Artists who had truly fought and killed on battlefields of life and death, he still lacked some tempering.

This kind of tempering was far beyond anything one could gain through others' teachings or by learning from stories.

It was a baptism!

Like the difference between soldiers who had been to war and those who had not!

"Hehe, little girl, you're already scared? Real monsters are thousands, even tens of thousands of times more terrifying than this." An aged yet vigorous voice came from behind them.

Wang Yi and the three girls turned around and saw an old man behind them. He wore ordinary clothes, his hair was grizzled, but his body stood ramrod straight. What caught the eye was that his right arm was empty. A young girl about the same age as Wang Yi and the others supported him as he walked over.

What drew the most attention was the aura about him. If Wang Yi had to describe it, it was a righteous and awe-inspiring presence.

"Sir, have you seen real monsters?" Lin Youyu could not help asking.

The old man nodded and subconsciously reached to touch his right arm, only to grasp empty air. A trace of nostalgia appeared on his face. "Of course... of course I have. Many years ago, some friends and I dealt with those beasts quite a few times."

Gao Yurong was filled with respect and then asked curiously, "Sir, were you a Martial Artist before?"

The old man laughed. "A Martial Artist? Oh, no. I was only an ordinary person who once went to war. I wasn't much use back then, and after I was injured, it wouldn't have been right to stay on the front lines and burden others, so I retired."

Though he spoke lightly of it, Wang Yi and the others did not dare show any disrespect. No matter what, this was an old man who had once shed blood for his country and people. He deserved respect.

The old man looked toward the projection above the hall with focused eyes. Gradually, his gaze turned distant, as though his thoughts had drifted back to that era of blood and fire, when humanity struggled for survival.

Only then did Wang Yi notice that besides displaying monster projections, the exhibition hall also contained sculptures of people. Dedicated staff continuously introduced them to visitors, while scenes of moving deeds from the Nirvana Period played across the walls.

A deep, hoarse voice echoed, "With his own strength, he once slew the Tiger-headed Strange Flood Dragon on the banks of the Yangtze River, saving hundreds of thousands of civilians and allowing them to successfully evacuate to Jiangnan Base City. The hero who sacrificed himself was Dong Nanbiao, posthumously awarded the Four-Star Hero Medal by the nation. He was thirty-nine years old when he died..."

The old man's body trembled. He looked over, and his eyes immediately reddened, moisture glimmering within them.

His lips moved. After a long while, he said nothing. He merely gave the statue a silent salute, but his once-straight figure suddenly seemed to stoop considerably.