The Swallowing Beast

Everyone dining in the restaurant set down their bowls and chopsticks and stared gravely at the live broadcast on the LCD screen. "The Southeast Military Region is in danger! The Southeast Military Region is in danger..."

"Six King-level sea monsters are currently flying toward the Southeast Military Region..." The commentator's voice continued to come from the LCD screen.

"Councilor Luo Feng is now flying toward the Southeast Military Region at maximum speed. According to the data, Councilor Luo Feng is currently traveling at 5,610 meters per second..."

Yin Congyang and the others on his team exchanged stunned looks. They had read about this scene in the novel, but how could words compare to seeing it with their own eyes? The impact and shock of watching monsters hundreds of meters long and humans flying at over five thousand meters per second was far more incredible than anything they could have imagined from reading.

"I... What should we do?" Another team member, Lin Mingyan, looked at Li Hesong and swallowed. She asked with a slight stammer.

Li Hesong stared at Lin Mingyan, then looked around at the rest of the team. His voice was hoarse as he said, "Are we even qualified to take part in a war on this scale? When the hell have you ever seen a fish that can fly, let alone one hundreds of meters long...? Even if we wanted to fight..." He paused, then said helplessly, "Even if we wanted to, we couldn't reach them..."

"But!" He abruptly shoved his chair back and stood up. "When our country is in danger, we can't stand by as warriors. We're going back to the Base City, back to the Limit Dojo, to see if there's anywhere we can help. Even if we can't escape death, we'll die fighting gloriously and kill as many monsters as we can. Let's go!"

"Let's go!"

They all stood up at once and shouted in unison!

"Let's go, back to the Base City..."

"Let's go, back to the dojo..."

"Let's go, kill monsters..."

Everyone else in the restaurant stood up, too, shouting with fervor.

Throughout the entire Supply Base, all off-duty personnel and warrior teams resting there—aside from those needed to stay behind—headed for the Southwest Base City. They ranged from Primary Warriors to Advanced War Generals.

Dozens of teams rushed back to the Base City. Some headed for the Limit Dojo, some for the Thunder Dojo, and even more made for the military camps.

Yin Congyang's team and the other teams belonging to the Limit Dojo arrived at the Limit Dojo, where they were all led to the largest Public Training Hall on the first floor.

The head of the Limit General Hall in Southwest Base City was Guo Rulin, a High-level War God. At that moment, he stood on the platform in the hall, fists clasped, eyes shining, and voice booming like a bell. "At this time of crisis, you all returned to the dojo in time to help protect our country and the safety of the Base City. I, Guo, thank you!"

"Now, I authorize Supervisor Zhang to assign tasks to you. You'll carry them out as teams. I need to hurry to the front line at the Three Gorges..." As soon as he finished speaking, he turned into a streak of light and shot toward the smart fighter jet parked on the tarmac.

After Chairman Guo disappeared from view, Supervisor Zhang, whose hair and beard were half white, walked up onto the platform. "I already have information on each team. I'll assign different missions according to your strength. Most of you will help maintain order and treat the wounded. Teams with an Advanced War General will use the maps provided by satellite to break up monster hordes that are about to gather..."

As expected, Yin Congyang's team was assigned to help maintain order. They were sent to Yongchuan City to assist the military in imposing martial law and help the injured.

As he helped maintain order in Yongchuan City and watched the live broadcast on an LCD screen atop a high-rise building, Yin Congyang sighed helplessly. If I had to transmigrate, couldn't I have done it a few years earlier, so I'd have some time to prepare? I've only been here one day, and something this huge has already happened. And I'm so weak I can't help at all. I'm bringing shame on the transmigrators!

While he complained to himself, he had no idea that faint, almost imperceptible ripples were spreading from his Dantian to every corner of his body. Those subtle ripples were continuously strengthening his physique.

The broadcast continued to faithfully show the war between humanity and the monsters. The Planetary-level and War God-level warriors among humanity were doing everything they could to kill the monsters on land and in the sea.

On the second night, Luo Feng used the B6-Grade Laser Cannon he had obtained from Ruins No. 12 to heavily wound the Swallowing Beast, but he failed to kill it in one blow.

On the third day, Hong and Thunder God joined forces to fight the Swallowing Beast. With the whole world watching the live broadcast, they burned their souls and fought with everything they had. Both charged into the Swallowing Beast's body and unleashed their strongest attacks, but they only managed to wound it again. They still couldn't kill it.

At that moment, the despair gripping all those watching the broadcast was suffocating...

Yin Congyang knew that Hong and Thunder God had only fallen into a deep sleep and would eventually awaken. He also knew that Luo Feng would use a secret technique from Black Ink Star to take over the body of the Golden Horned Behemoth, known as the Swallowing Beast. But after seeing, hearing, and feeling the pain and loss of ordinary people who had lost their families, friends, and homes over the past few days, his knowledge of what would happen in the future did nothing to change his hatred of the monsters—perhaps because he had also inherited the original body's intense hatred of them.

After Hong and Thunder God fell into a deep sleep following their battle with the Swallowing Beast, Luo Feng joined the five Planetary-level warriors from the five great nations three hours later to fight it on the seabed.

At last, humanity found the Swallowing Beast's corpse and confirmed that it had been killed. But with King-level monsters gathering in the seabed, they had no choice but to leave its corpse there.

The five Planetary-level warriors from the five great nations had already returned to their respective countries aboard fighter jets arranged by Luo Feng.

But no one could find Luo Feng. In the end, they concluded that he had perished alongside the Swallowing Beast.

The sea monsters withdrew from the land, and the monster hordes in various regions gradually came to an end. Yin Congyang returned to the Limit Dojo in the Base City with Li Hesong and the others.

The battered Base Cities began to recover. People suffering from their losses tended to their wounds, and on the surface, the world returned to calm.

After returning to the Limit Dojo, Yin Congyang finally had time to settle down and examine his condition. His physique had improved considerably over the past few days without his noticing. Using the dojo's strength tester, he found that his punching power had reached 3,200 kilograms, his top burst speed was 53 meters per second, and his nerve reaction score was a perfect mark at the Intermediate Warrior level. All his indicators had crossed into the Intermediate Warrior level.

As he practiced the Thirty-Six Heaven-Opening Axes and occasionally sparred with his teammates, he was astonished to discover that the axe technique—which had only been good for chopping trees on Earth—unleashed tremendous power once he had Genetic Origin Energy. To use an imperfect analogy, it was like the difference between little Lin before and after castration. Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! What was he thinking? He didn't need to castrate himself to use the Thirty-Six Heaven-Opening Axes!

The feeling of his physique growing stronger by the moment enthralled Yin Congyang. It was especially clear when he practiced Genetic Origin Energy and the Guidance Technique, making him train even harder.

Previously, the Guidance Technique had limited his training to a maximum of fifteen minutes before his cells became saturated. Now he could train for over an hour each time, and that duration was slowly increasing. His training efficiency was also several times better than before. In just a few days, his physique had already come close to the Advanced Warrior level threshold.

During his usual sparring sessions with the other team members, none of them could match him anymore. They were all astonished by how quickly Yin Congyang had improved, but he easily brushed it off by claiming that he had suddenly figured things out after nearly dying.

One day, while he was sparring with Lin Mingyan in the fighting arena, he suddenly got a call from Li Hesong. "I heard you've improved a lot these past few days and beat the others so badly they dropped their weapons. I'm in the B7 Martial Arts Hall on the third floor. Come over and test your skills against me!"

"Sure thing, Captain. I'll be right there!"

Yin Congyang hung up. Seeing the rest of the team following along with eager expressions, he asked in surprise, "What are you guys doing?"

Lin Mingyan chuckled. "You've been beating us up these past few days. We're going to see how the captain beats you up! Hahaha..."

Yin Congyang rolled his eyes helplessly. I was going easy on you, man!

Li Hesong was practicing swordsmanship alone. When he saw Yin Congyang being pushed over by several teammates, he twirled his sword. "Perfect timing. Come on, let me see how much you've improved lately!"

"Captain, I really have improved quite a bit lately. You'd better be careful."

After saluting, Yin Congyang started with the Mountain-Suppressing Axe Technique and traded dozens of moves with Li Hesong. Then, without warning, he changed techniques and used [Wu Gang Cuts the Laurel] from the Heaven-Opening Axe Technique. Li Hesong flicked his sword and tapped the axe blade lightly, turned slightly to the side, then twisted his wrist and thrust the sword tip toward Yin Congyang's left shoulder.

Yin Congyang spun the axe in his hands and knocked the back of its head against the sword's spine, knocking the sword aside. He twisted his wrist again, and the axe blade stopped at Li Hesong's exposed throat. Then he immediately pulled it back.

Li Hesong's eyes widened. "What the hell? What kind of crazy axe technique is that..."

"Heh heh, Captain, I suddenly had a different insight into the axe technique when I was between life and death that day. But I've practiced the axe for over ten years, so I guess all that experience finally paid off..."

Li Hesong shook his head. "Your strength is almost at the Advanced Warrior level threshold, isn't it? But that axe technique... Sigh, I told you that you had extraordinary talent. Turns out I was right!"

"Then, Captain, shall we go again?"

"Come on, again. I was careless just now..." Li Hesong shouted, unwilling to accept defeat.

One minute later: "Again..."

Ten minutes later: "Again, again..."

Half an hour later, Li Hesong stared at Yin Congyang in disbelief. "You brat, you're a freak! I'm an Advanced Warrior, and I'm almost exhausted. I can barely stay on my feet, but you're still full of energy?"

"Ah... well, Captain, didn't you say I had extraordinary talent? That means I must have amazing bones, right?"

"Forget it, forget it. I'm done. I'm going back to rest... This is unbelievable..." Li Hesong walked out, shaking his head and muttering under his breath.

That night, Yin Congyang sat on the windowsill and looked up at the bright moon, just as beautiful as he remembered. The thoughts buried deep in his heart welled up again. "This is a real world. And now that I've had the good fortune to arrive in such a magnificent, wondrous world, how could I not venture into the vast, boundless universe?"

Once the thought had entered his mind, he could no longer suppress it. His memories of his previous life, the events of Swallowed Star, and the original body's memories merged in an instant, never to be separated again.