Swallowing Beast

Everyone in the restaurant set down their chopsticks, staring solemnly at the live broadcast on the LCD screen. "Southeastern Military Region in crisis, Southeastern Military Region in crisis..."

"Six king-level sea monsters are currently flying toward the Southeastern Military Region..." The commentator's voice kept spilling from the screen.

"Councilman Luo Feng is now flying toward the Southeastern Military Region at maximum speed. Data shows his current flight speed has reached 5,610 meters per second..."

Yin Congyang exchanged stunned glances with the rest of his team. Though they'd read this scene in the novel, how could words compare to real images? Monsters hundreds of meters long, humans flying at over five thousand meters per second—the impact and shock of such visuals were far more unbelievable than anything imagined from text.

"I... what... what do we do?" another team member, Lin Mingyan, looked at Li Hesong, swallowed hard, and stammered.

Li Hesong stared fixedly at Lin Mingyan, then turned to scan every team member, his voice dry: "Do we even qualify to participate in a war of this level? When the hell have you ever seen a fish that can fly, and hundreds of meters long at that? Even if we wanted to fight..." He paused, then said weakly, "Even if we wanted to fight, we can't even reach the damn things..."

"But!" He suddenly pushed his chair back and stood up. "In a time of national crisis, we as martial artists can't stand idly by. We're going back to the base city, back to the Limit Dojo, to see if there's any place we can contribute. Even if we can't escape death, let's die with a bang and kill a few more monsters. Let's go!"

"Let's go!"

Several of them stood up at the same time, shouting in unison.

"Let's go, back to the base city..."

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

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

Others in the restaurant also rose, shouting with burning passion.

Throughout the entire supply base, aside from essential rear-guard personnel, all off-duty staff and martial artist teams resting there—from junior warriors to senior generals—rushed toward Southwest Base City.

Dozens of teams hurried back to the base city, some heading to the Limit Dojo, some to the Thunder Dojo, and even more toward the military barracks.

After Yin Congyang's team and the other Limit Dojo-affiliated teams arrived at the dojo, everyone was led to the largest public training hall on the first floor.

The president of the Southwest Base City Limit Dojo headquarters was senior war god Guo Rulin. He stood on the high platform in the hall, fists clasped, eyes blazing with light, his voice like a great bell: "In this time of crisis, that you all could return to the dojo in time to contribute to the safety of the country and the base city—Guo thanks you here!"

"Now, I authorize Supervisor Zhang to assign tasks to everyone by team. I need to immediately head to the Three Gorges front line..." As his words faded, he transformed into a streak of light, shooting toward the smart fighter jet parked on the tarmac.

Supervisor Zhang, whose hair and beard were already half-white, stepped onto the platform after President Guo's figure vanished. "I now have the data for each team. Tasks will be assigned based on strength. Most tasks involve maintaining order and aiding the wounded. Teams with senior generals need to follow satellite maps to break up beast tides that are about to gather..."

Yin Congyang's team was unsurprisingly assigned to help maintain order. Their task was to rush to Yongchuan City and assist the military there in implementing martial law and rescuing the wounded.

While helping keep order in Yongchuan City and watching the live broadcast on the LCD screens atop the high-rises, Yin Congyang sighed helplessly: If you're going to transmigrate, couldn't you have done it a few years earlier so I'd have some mental preparation? On my very first day, something this huge happens. And damn it, I'm too weak to do anything at all—I'm a disgrace to the transmigrator army!

What he didn't know, as he cursed himself, was that in his dantian, a faint, almost imperceptible ripple was spreading from his core to every corner of his body. And his physical fitness was steadily strengthening with those subtle waves.

The live broadcast faithfully continued to show the war between humans and monsters. Planetary-level and war-god-level martial artists were doing everything in their power to slay the sea and land monsters.

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

On the third day, Hong and Thunder God joined forces to fight the Swallowing Beast. In a global live broadcast, they burned their souls, poured all their strength into the battle, charged into the Swallowing Beast's body, and unleashed their strongest attacks. But they only managed to wound it again, still failing to kill it.

At that moment, everyone watching the broadcast felt a suffocating despair for the future...

Yin Congyang knew that Hong and Thunder God were only sleeping and would eventually awaken, and that the Swallowing Beast, also called the Golden Horned Behemoth, would be taken over by Luo Feng using the Black Ink Star's secret technique. But in these past few days, seeing, hearing, and feeling the pain and loss of ordinary people losing their families, friends, and homes—even knowing what would happen in the future—couldn't change the murderous rage toward monsters burning in Yin Congyang's heart. Perhaps it was also because he had merged with the original body's deep hatred for monsters.

After Hong and Thunder God fell into slumber from their battle with the Swallowing Beast, three hours later, Luo Feng, along with five Planetary-level fighters from the five great nations, went to the seabed for the final battle with the Swallowing Beast.

Finally, humans discovered the Swallowing Beast's corpse and confirmed its death. But because king-level sea monsters gathered at the seabed, they could only leave the corpse there.

The five Planetary-level fighters from the five great nations, using the fighter jets Luo Feng had arranged in advance, transported the corpses back to their respective countries.

But no one could find Luo Feng's whereabouts. In the end, it was determined that Luo Feng had perished together with the Swallowing Beast.

The sea monsters retreated from land, and the beast tides across various regions ended one after another. Yin Congyang, Li Hesong, and the others returned together to the base city's Limit Dojo.

The scarred base cities began to recover. People nursing their wounds licked their injuries, and the world entered a surface-level calm.

Back at the Limit Dojo, Yin Congyang finally had time to settle down and examine his own condition. His physical fitness had unknowingly improved significantly over the past few days. Using the dojo's force tester, his punch strength had reached 3,200 kilograms, his burst speed maxed out at 53 meters per second, and his neural reaction scored a perfect intermediate warrior level. All indicators had crossed into the intermediate warrior level.

During his daily practice of the Thirty-Six Heaven-Opening Axes and occasional sparring with teammates, he was stunned to discover that the axe technique, which on Earth was only good for chopping trees, had erupted with tremendous power after he gained Genetic Origin Energy. To make a crude analogy, it was like Little Lin before and after self-castration—pfft, pfft, what am I thinking? My Thirty-Six Heaven-Opening Axes don't require self-castration!

The feeling of his body growing stronger every moment captivated Yin Congyang. Especially when cultivating Genetic Origin Energy and the guidance technique, the sensation was even clearer, and he trained even more diligently.

In the past, limited by the guidance technique, he could only train for 15 minutes at most before his cells were saturated. Now, he could train for over an hour each session, and that time was slowly increasing. The efficiency of his training was several times better than before. In just a few days, his physical fitness was already approaching the threshold of the senior warrior level.

When sparring with other team members, none of them could match him anymore. Everyone was amazed at Yin Congyang's rate of progress, which he easily covered up by saying he'd "suddenly had an epiphany after nearly dying."

One day, while sparring with Lin Mingyan in the arena, he suddenly received a call from Li Hesong. "I heard you've improved a lot these past few days, beating them all into submission. I'm in the B7 Martial Arts Hall on the third floor. Come up and try a few moves with me!"

"Got it, Captain. Be right there!"

Yin Congyang hung up and saw the rest of the team eagerly following him. He asked in surprise, "What are you guys doing?"

Lin Mingyan grinned slyly. "We've been getting beaten up by you these past few days. We want to see the captain beat you up for a change, haha..."

Yin Congyang rolled his eyes helplessly: I've been going easy on you, bro!

Li Hesong was practicing with his sword alone. Seeing Yin Congyang pushed in by the other teammates, he twirled his blade. "Perfect timing. Come on, let me see how much you've improved lately!"

"Captain, I really have improved a lot. Be careful."

After bowing in greeting, Yin Congyang first used the Mountain-Suppressing Axe Technique, exchanging dozens of moves with Li Hesong. Suddenly, he changed his axe technique, executing a move from the Heaven-Opening Axe technique called [Wu Gang Cuts the Laurel]. Li Hesong flicked his longsword, lightly tapped the axe's flat side, sidestepped slightly, twisted his wrist, and thrust the sword tip toward Yin Congyang's left shoulder.

Yin Congyang spun his axe, using the back of the blade to knock against the spine of Li Hesong's sword, deflecting it. Then, with another twist of his wrist, the axe blade stopped right in front of Li Hesong's completely exposed throat before pulling back instantly.

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

"Heh, Captain, between life and death that day, I suddenly had some different insights into the axe technique. But I've been practicing it for over ten years, so I guess it's just accumulated experience finally paying off..."

Li Hesong shook his head. "Your physical strength is almost at the senior warrior threshold, right? But this axe technique... ah, I always said you were gifted. And so it proves!"

"So, Captain, shall we go again?"

"Sure, one more round. I was careless just now..." Li Hesong grumbled, unconvinced.

A minute later, "Again..."

Ten minutes later, "A-again..."

Half an hour later, Li Hesong stared at Yin Congyang in disbelief. "You really are a freak, kid. I'm a high-level warrior, and I'm about to collapse from exhaustion—how are you still bursting with energy?"

"Ah~ well, Captain, didn't you say I was gifted? That must mean my bones are extraordinary, right?"

"Forget it, forget it. I'm done. Heading back to rest... What a cursed day..." Li Hesong shook his head as he walked out, still muttering under his breath.

That night, Yin Congyang sat on the windowsill, gazing up at the bright moon, identical to the one in his memories. The thoughts buried deep in his heart surged forth once more. "This is a real world, and since I've been fortunate enough to come to this magnificent, breathtaking realm, how could I not venture into the boundless universe and make my mark?"

Once this thought took root, it could no longer be suppressed. The memories of his past life, the plot of Swallowing the Starry Sky, and the memories of his original body merged in an instant, becoming one and the same.