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-element as well. The four of you take them and withdraw to the safe zone first. Oh, and switch the radio channel to 3."

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

He had thought it through as well. After this incident, everyone in the guard team would be held accountable, and his cousin would not be able to escape responsibility.

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

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

Beyond Dry City Bridge was the South City Safe Zone. Between them lay a massive rift, a full four hundred meters wide. It was a natural barrier that could stop beastkin below Gold rank from crossing.

It had formed during the early days of spiritual energy resurgence, when the land expanded and split apart.

Dry City had taken advantage of this rift to establish a 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 make sure. He knew Su Wuming had an ability similar to spatial storage. What he meant were the vitality chicken drumsticks he had prepared for Su Wuming every day.

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

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

This time, he had voluntarily followed Qin Ming out despite knowing there was danger.

The family elders, meanwhile, were busy relocating the businesses here, along with the Beast Crystals in the Monster Hunters' Office.

At that moment, beast tides had erupted throughout northern Dry City. Some spirit warriors from the Monster Hunters' Offices had 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 dire threat remained the Frost Troll Chieftain outside the northern city wall.

Of course, none of that was Su Wuming's concern right now. When the three of them arrived at the first marked location, the situation there was barely being held together.

A ten-man team of spirit warriors from a Monster Hunters' Office was blocking the charging Nunu Beasts while escorting a group of ordinary people out.

But because they were so close to the tunnel entrance, beastkin kept pouring out endlessly. If this continued, the team would eventually be worn to death.

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

Qin Ming looked at Su Wuming instead. He was the commander personally appointed by Mentor Mo Lan. Following him could not be wrong.

"No. Destroying the tunnel exit is the real way to help them. If we recklessly join the fight, we'll only get tangled up by this endless stream of beastkin and won't be able to get away."

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

The map only marked an approximate area. They would have to find the actual tunnel entrance themselves.

As he looked around, he suddenly sensed movement in the snow beneath his feet. Having experienced something similar before, Su Wuming immediately realized 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 carried them flying up.

The moment they landed, the spot where the three of them had been standing erupted with a series of explosions.

A Bronze-level Snow Spirit had an explosion radius of one hundred meters. The three of them had only been on the edge, but the spirit warrior team and those ordinary people were not so fortunate.

The spirit warriors were fine. Most of them were Bronze rank and could protect themselves. But among the ordinary people, at least half of the twenty or thirty people were killed by the Snowburst without even having time to scream.

Chunks of flesh and blood mixed with snowflakes as they fell, staining a huge stretch of ground red in an instant.

"Animals! I'll kill them!" As a monster hunter, Brother Li was no stranger to bloody scenes, but this was the first time he had seen something so cruel, so bloody that not even corpses remained. And it had happened to his own people. He made to jump from the rooftop and join the battle.

Qin Ming, meanwhile, had been scared senseless and stood frozen in place.

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

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

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

"And you, pull yourself together. With you acting like this, what kind of family heir are you supposed to be?"

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 vomiting violently to the side.

After throwing up, Qin Ming suddenly raised his head and asked Su Wuming, "What did you just say?" He truly had not heard Su Wuming's words earlier.

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

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

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

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

This was where the tunnel exit was located, because all the Nunu Beasts around them were charging outward from this point.

"I'll hold them back. You two use your earth-element abilities to narrow the exit, but leave enough space for the Nunu Beasts to come through. Then, along the edge of the garage passage, turn the ground above into sand."

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

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

Then he grabbed trees on both sides for leverage and pulled himself backward. During that time, Qin Ming and Brother Li handled the beastkin approaching from around them.

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

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

[Rubber Scythe]!!

This move was like cutting wheat, instantly clearing the field.

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

For a moment, the underground garage entrance became unbearably crowded. The large group of beastkin behind them was knocked down, immediately plunging into chaos.

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

Next, the two began turning the garage floor into sand, while Su Wuming used [Rubber Gatling] on the exit like he was playing whack-a-mole—a 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, to farm System Coins.

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

When Qin Ming and Brother Li reached the final small patch of ground, they both stopped.

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

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

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

Su Wuming shouted at them as he continued punching.

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

With his hands freed, Su Wuming did not waste another word. He first used [Rubber Balloon] to launch himself into the air.

Then his body spun fiercely in midair. At the same time, he brought his feet together, pointed his toes, and coated both feet in Armament Haki before plunging down at the steel framework.

[Rubber Spear Gun]!!

The Armament Haki-enhanced feet became incomparably sharp, and with a single strike, he severed the steel rebar framework.

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

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

The ground could no longer hold. It collapsed with a thunderous crash. One of the two maintaining the earthen wall at the passage entrance failed to dodge in time, and the instant the wall shattered from the shockwave, he was splattered across the face with blood.

The beastkin inside were dead beyond doubt as well. This wave alone earned Su Wuming a full sixty System Coins. It was an enormous haul.

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

"We're not going to help those people over there?" Brother Li asked in confusion.

"There's no time. Now that this side is sealed, they can handle things 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 right now. They had to think long-term. If they only saved people one at a time, they would never be able to save them all.

"Listen to Wuming," Qin Ming said, taking the initiative to support Su Wuming.

"Okay... then..."