Destroying the Tunnel Exits

"Qin Ming, come with me. Your ability can be used to destroy the tunnels."

After Mentor Mo Lan left, Su Wuming did not waste any time and immediately voiced his plan.

"Brother Li, come with me too. You're earth-elemental as well. The four of you take them and evacuate to the Safe Zone first. Oh, and switch the radio channel to three."

Using Mentor Mo Lan's orders and the earlier announcement as an excuse, Qin Ming gave up searching for his cousin and left him to fend for himself.

He had thought it through. After this incident, everyone in the Guard Team would be held accountable, and his cousin would not escape blame.

"Wuming, I..." Lin Pangpang hesitated.

"Pangpang, take the dean and the others and leave first. If things go smoothly on my side, we'll meet up here." Su Wuming pointed at the other end of Dry City Bridge on the map.

Beyond Dry City Bridge was the South City Safe Zone. A massive rift lay between them, stretching a full four hundred meters across. It was a natural barrier that could stop Demon Beasts below Gold Tier from crossing.

It had formed during the early days of the spiritual energy revival, when the land expanded and fractured.

Dry City had taken advantage of this rift to establish the Safe Zone in the south. Retracting mechanisms had been installed on both sides of the bridge, allowing it to be pulled back at any time.

"Did you bring everything?" Lin Pangpang asked to confirm. He knew Su Wuming had an ability similar to spatial storage, so he was asking about the blood-and-qi chicken drumsticks he had prepared for Su Wuming every day.

Su Wuming nodded without saying much, then left with Qin Ming and Brother Li, heading toward another tunnel entrance.

Brother Li's full name was Li Bai. He was a monster hunter from Qin Ming's family's Monster Hunters' Office. Limited by his talent and lack of a powerful background, he had only cultivated to Bronze Nine-Star and usually made a living by hunting Demon Beasts.

This time, he had voluntarily followed Qin Ming out. Even knowing there was danger, he had still come.

As for the elders of the family, they were busy transferring the assets here, along with the Beast Crystals in the Monster Hunters' Office.

At that moment, beast tides were erupting throughout northern Dry City. Some Spirit Martial Practitioners from the Monster Hunters' Offices had also begun organizing counterattacks, using the maps they had obtained to gather people and destroy the various tunnel exits.

The military was still in the south of the city, but they had begun organizing troops to reinforce the north.

Yet the most serious threat remained the Frost Troll Chieftain outside the North City Wall.

Of course, none of that was what Su Wuming needed to concern himself with right now. When the three of them arrived at the first marked location, the situation there was barely holding together.

A ten-man team of Spirit Martial Practitioners from a Monster Hunters' Office was blocking the charging Nunu Beasts while escorting a group of ordinary people away.

However, because they were close to the tunnel entrance, Demon Beasts were pouring out endlessly. If the battle continued, the entire team would eventually be worn to death.

"Should we help them?" Brother Li asked Qin Ming.

Qin Ming looked to Su Wuming instead. He was the commander Mentor Mo Lan had personally appointed, so following him could not be wrong.

"No. Destroying the tunnel entrance is the real way to help them. If we rush in recklessly, we'll only get tangled up by these endless Demon Beasts and be unable to get away."

As Su Wuming secretly searched for the tunnel entrance, he analyzed the current situation.

The map only marked a general area. They still had to find the actual tunnel entrance themselves.

As he scanned his surroundings, he suddenly sensed movement in the snow beneath his feet. Having experienced something similar before, Su Wuming immediately understood what was happening.

It was the Nunu Beasts' Companion Snow Spirits!!!!

Before Qin Ming and Brother Li could react, Su Wuming grabbed both of them with one hand, seized the roof of the building across from them with the other, and launched the two of them upward.

The instant they landed, a string of explosions erupted where the three of them had been standing moments ago.

A Bronze Tier Snow Spirit's explosion had a range of one hundred meters. The three of them had only been at the edge, but the Spirit Martial Practitioner team and the ordinary people were not so fortunate.

The Spirit Martial Practitioners were fine. Most of them were Bronze Tier, and protecting themselves was not a problem. But more than half of the ordinary people—over twenty or thirty of them—died in the Snowburst without even having time to scream.

Chunks of flesh and blood mixed with the falling snow, staining a huge area red in an instant.

"Beasts! I'm going to kill them!" As a monster hunter, Brother Li was no stranger to bloody scenes, but this was the first time he had witnessed such an utterly brutal sight, where not even corpses remained. And it had happened to his own countrymen. He made as if to leap from the rooftop and join the battle.

Meanwhile, Qin Ming had been frightened senseless and stood frozen in place.

Those... those were all living people. He even knew some of them.

Just as Brother Li rose to jump down, Su Wuming grabbed him.

"Calm down! We found the tunnel entrance. Destroying it is what matters. Do you want to see even more people end up like this?!"

"And you, pull yourself together. How can you be a family heir acting like this?"

As he spoke, Su Wuming walked over and punched the dazed Qin Ming to the ground. Only then did Qin Ming snap out of it, before immediately turning aside and vomiting violently.

After vomiting, Qin Ming suddenly looked up and asked Su Wuming, "What did you just say?" He genuinely had not heard Su Wuming's words.

Su Wuming was somewhat speechless, but instead of repeating himself, he said, "Notify the people on Pangpang's side to watch out for the Snow Spirits' Snowbursts. Also, we found the tunnel entrance. Can you two still do this?"

"We can!" Brother Li answered first. His eyes were bloodshot with rage, desperately needing an outlet for it.

"I can do it! Take me there." Qin Ming had already pulled out his radio and begun contacting the people on Pangpang's side.

Seeing that the two of them were still in decent shape, Su Wuming once again used his arms to carry them toward the entrance of a nearby underground parking garage.

This was where the tunnel entrance was. The Nunu Beasts around them were all charging outward from this place.

"I'll hold them off. You two use your earth-elemental abilities to narrow the exit first, but leave enough room for the Nunu Beasts to come out. Then, follow the edge of the garage passage and turn the ground above into sand."

As he spoke, Su Wuming gestured with his hands. Qin Ming and Brother Li fully understood what they needed to do. The plan was completely feasible.

After the three landed, Su Wuming took the lead as the vanguard, sending more than a dozen Nunu Beasts flying with two strikes of [Rubber Whip].

Then he grabbed the trees on either side and used them to pull himself backward. During that time, Qin Ming and Brother Li dealt with the Demon Beasts approaching from around them.

With Su Wuming's Rubber Constitution, as long as he had enough time to build up power, he could unleash limitless strength.

Once he had finished charging, his entire body shot out like lightning. The moment he flew between the two trees, both arms stretched outward at the same time.

[Rubber Scythe]!!

The attack was like cutting down leeks, instantly clearing out the entire area.

Su Wuming successfully reached the entrance to the underground garage and slammed the Nunu Beasts he had blocked with Rubber Scythe back inside. More accurately, he stuffed them in.

In an instant, the underground garage entrance became unbearably crowded. The large group of Demon Beasts behind them was knocked down, immediately plunging into chaos.

Seizing the opportunity, Qin Ming and Brother Li used their earth-elemental abilities at the same time, creating two earthen walls at the entrance while deliberately leaving a gap between them wide enough for two Nunu Beasts to pass through.

The two then began turning the garage floor into sand, while Su Wuming faced the exit and unleashed [Rubber Gatling] in a whack-a-mole fashion—Wild Barrage!!

In just a short while, the System Coins in his system increased by ten.

Su Wuming was overjoyed. This was truly a great place to farm monsters—no, farm System Coins.

If it were not such a bad time, he would have wanted Qin Ming and Brother Li to stop turning the ground into sand and come maintain the earthen walls instead.

Just as Qin Ming and Brother Li reached the last small section of ground, they both stopped.

"Wuming! There's a steel reinforcement frame here. We can't turn it into sand!"

Qin Ming and Brother Li were frantic. They were so close to succeeding, only to be delayed because they did not understand building structures.

"You two come over and block the exit with everything you have for a moment. Leave that part to me!"

Su Wuming shouted at them while throwing punches.

The two did not hesitate. They quickly ran over and used their abilities to completely seal the exit.

Freed up, Su Wuming did not waste any words. He first used [Rubber Balloon] to rise into the air.

Then his body spun sharply in midair. At the same time, he pressed his legs together, pointed his toes, and used Armament Haki to coat his feet before fiercely thrusting down at the steel framework.

[Rubber Spear Gun]!!

With Armament Haki strengthening them, his feet became incomparably sharp. In a single strike, he severed the steel framework.

The section of ground could no longer hold up and began sliding downward.

Seeing that it was too slow, Su Wuming stretched his arms upward as he fell. The instant he landed, he unleashed a [Rubber Rocket Launcher] downward.

The next moment, the ground could no longer support itself and collapsed with a deafening crash. The two maintaining the earthen walls at the passage entrance failed to dodge in time. The instant the walls shattered from the impact, blood splashed directly across their faces.

The Demon Beasts inside were dead beyond doubt. This wave alone earned Su Wuming a full sixty System Coins, making it a bountiful harvest.

"Let's go. Next location." Su Wuming called to the two of them, pulling out the map to check it once more.

"Aren't we going to help those people over there?" Brother Li asked in confusion.

"No time. Now that this side is sealed, they can handle their side themselves. Our time is limited. The longer we delay, the harder it'll be to block the tunnel exits." Su Wuming believed this was the clearest choice at the moment. They had to look at the bigger picture. If they saved one person whenever they saw one, they would never be able to save them all.

"Listen to Wuming." Qin Ming took the initiative to support Su Wuming.

"Okay... then..."