Peng Tianwen

The "Black and White Clown" incident had come to a temporary end, but the base's development could not stop.

Although they had learned that the plan to expand farther into the county seat had already fallen through, exploration of the surrounding area still had to continue. If they could find another large population center, they might obtain more information and make contact with the outside world.

The base had once again returned to the prosperous development it had enjoyed before.

At this time, Lin Chenxing had informed the board that the last bamboo in the Bamboo Forest was now under his control. Given the properties of the bamboo leaves and branches, they had ultimately decided to cultivate the bamboo grove to obtain more resources. The corpses of those monsters would be used as fertilizer.

Lin Chenxing had also taken this opportunity to bring up something he had realized while he was unconscious: the wolf pack. Clearly, the wolves were still somewhere in the Taihang Mountains, and no one knew when they might attack the base again. They had to be prepared.

The other board members were reminded of the wolf pack as well, but for now they had no better solution. They could only speed up their training as much as possible and grow stronger so they could withstand the monsters' attacks.

And so, the base settled down once more, until a month later.

During that month, several board members, including Gao Zheng, and a handful of elite fighters had advanced to Intermediate Battle General. Lin Chenxing had also reached Primary Battle General, a rate of progress that astonished everyone.

Only Lin Chenxing himself knew it was thanks to the complementary effects of his two bodies.

The base now had six Intermediate Battle Generals, thirteen Primary Battle Generals, and fifty-two Advanced Warriors. Its strength had increased considerably.

This time, an Exploration Team returning from outside brought back bad news: the firearms they had made were now completely ineffective against Beast General-level monsters.

Everyone had known this day would come sooner or later, but no one had expected it to come so soon. Only nine months had passed since the disaster began, and while monsters still held the upper hand, the firearms people relied on to survive had become useless.

"Put further expansion on hold. Secure the areas we already control first."

After the Base High-Level Meeting was held, this order was issued.

But securing the area was no easy task. Most monsters did not stay within fixed territories, and from time to time one would wander in. As long as it wasn't an Advanced Beast General or higher, it posed no major threat to the base, but it could still cause trouble.

This measure did not last long. Just half a month later, public opinion within the base forced the higher-ups to convene another meeting.

The final decision at this meeting was to concentrate their strength and accomplish one major task first.

On June 27, all teams except the Security Team went out in full force. Only Guo Qichang remained behind among the board members to guard the base.

Their target: Chuilong Town.

This time, they were determined to clear every monster out of Chuilong Town. It would also serve as a rehearsal for an operation in Hehe County.

Following the plan, each Intermediate Battle General would lead a team and advance from one of six directions. The teams had to stay close enough to support one another.

Based on their previous explorations, they had a fairly clear picture of the situation: there was only one Advanced Beast General-level monster and nine Intermediate Beast Generals in all of Chuilong Town. The monsters were spread far apart, so a fight would not draw the others in.

Each team's first task was to find an Intermediate Beast General and kill it as quickly as possible.

Then three teams would join forces to kill the Advanced Beast General, while the remaining three hunted down the other Intermediate Beast Generals. As soon as they completed their tasks, they were to head over and provide support.

The entire operation had been planned with great care, and the recapture of Chuilong Town went very smoothly.

Several people were seriously injured, but fortunately, no one died.

On July 18, Lin Chenxing advanced to Intermediate Battle General. The base now had eight Intermediate Battle Generals, nineteen Primary Battle Generals, and seventy-six Advanced Warriors.

On August 3, the base's first Advanced Battle General emerged. It wasn't any of the board members, but the child who had been injured and fallen unconscious earlier.

The child had just celebrated his twelfth birthday. After losing consciousness that time, he had awakened to his powers by sheer good fortune.

Early on August 12,

"Tianwen, are you ready?" the child's father, Peng Jun, urged him at home. He felt immensely proud, but beneath that pride, he was also a little worried.

After his son Peng Tianwen woke up, many objects around him had suddenly begun floating. It had startled Peng Jun and the team members who had been keeping him company. They had never expected that after being unconscious for half a month, his son would gain the ability to control objects with his mind. Tests also showed that Peng Tianwen's physical fitness had reached the level of a Beginner Warrior.

With Gao Zheng and the others keeping the news under wraps, few people knew about him. Peng Xuewen was assigned to a location where they personally trained him.

It wasn't until the operation to recapture Chuilong Town in June that Gao Zheng and the others arranged to bring him along. They had him start fighting monsters at the Beast Soldier level. By then, his mental strength had already reached the level of an Advanced Warrior.

His rapid progress had drawn the attention of many of the base's higher-ups, who began devoting considerable effort to his training. Before long, his mental strength had reached the level of an Advanced Battle General.

However, at this point, his rapid growth seemed to have come to a halt.

After learning of this, Gao Zheng and the others realized it was time to introduce him to everyone. The move could also boost morale throughout the base.

This was the debut ceremony Gao Zheng had arranged for Peng Tianwen. He would demonstrate Object-Controlled Flight and other abilities that ordinary Martial Artists could not achieve, as well as display the strength of an Advanced Battle General.

For this purpose, Gao Zheng had personally led a team to capture an Advanced Beast Soldier-level monster to serve as the opponent for the debut.

"Today, we welcome the base's first Advanced Battle General, who is also an Esper. Yes, you heard correctly. He can control objects with his mind. Tests have shown that he can easily use mind-controlled weapons to kill monsters weaker than himself. Now, let's give Peng Tianwen a warm round of applause!" a staff member announced from a makeshift stage in the Martial Arts Arena.

Peng Tianwen slowly walked onto the stage, holding a sword. He tossed it casually into the air, and it remained suspended above him.

Peng Tianwen pointed a finger at the monster locked in a cage. The sword instantly vanished from sight, leaving only a blurry streak through the air.

The monster, which had been restlessly pacing in its cage, fell silent in an instant. A column of blood suddenly spurted out, and the sword returned to Peng Tianwen's hand, completely unharmed.

Every Martial Artist in the audience was stunned by the sight. Then a burst of enthusiastic applause broke out.

Seeing this, Peng Tianwen's face turned faintly red. After all, he was still a child, and this was his first time in front of a crowd like this. Naturally, he felt shy.

The debut was a great success. It boosted the base's confidence in its future development and also sparked a wave of interest in the topic of superpowers.