Qin Ze happily slurped up his noodles.
Three whole years.
Do you know how I've spent the past three years?
Ugh--
Suddenly, a piercing alarm sounded in the street outside.
Qin Ze tensed up instantly.
He knew that voice all too well.
It's an alarm bell for an approaching beast tide.
At such times, the entire city would enter a state of wartime martial law.
All warriors in the city must obey the orders of the City Defense Bureau.
Ordinary people enter shelters for refuge.
Until the beast tide ends.
Or perhaps the city has fallen.
However, the people in the noodle shop remained unfazed.
They continued chatting and slurping their noodles.
It was as if the alarm about the beast tide outside was a hallucination.
Not only that, but the streets outside were as calm as ever.
People continued doing what they were doing.
Qin Ze didn't even see a single Law Enforcement officer.
"Could it just be a drill?"
Just as he was wondering...
The news on TV suddenly switched to a different screen.
It's an aerial perspective.
A large horde of strange beasts surged toward the Sea Capital from afar like a tidal wave.
A rough estimate puts the number at least at ten thousand.
The scene then shifts to the city wall, where the City Defense Bureau soldiers stand ready for battle.
The narrator then announced, "Breaking news! A low-level beast tide has appeared outside the city. Residents, please stay away from the city walls and remain at home as much as possible."
"This is the seventh beast tide to appear in Sea Capital this year, with the number of strange beasts around ten thousand..."
Qin Ze thought to himself, "Wow!"
It's only April now, and there have already been seven beast tides.
There are roughly two beast tides every month on average.
Three years ago, if this frequency had been maintained, Sea Capital would probably have been flattened by the alien beasts long ago.
Most importantly, if the battles in the world are this intense, the situation in Penglai City is likely to be even more troublesome.
After all, that's the world's first line of defense.
After returning from Steamed Bun Island, Qin Ze plans to conduct an "on-site investigation" in Penglai City to see what the situation is like there.
Qin Ze looked up and continued watching the news footage.
The city defense system was activated when the beast tide was still several kilometers away from the city walls.
The new generation of Martial Artifact and cannons fired, creating a dense barrage of bullets that crashed into the horde of beasts.
Boom boom boom--
As mushroom clouds rose, most of the strange beasts were instantly killed or wounded.
"That power."
Qin Ze smacked his lips.
If we had had this firepower during the Tide in Jiang City back then, the fighting wouldn't have been so difficult.
It seems that during these three years, while repairing the ship, the Human Race also replaced all the important parts.
After several volleys, less than one-fifth of the monsters remained charging.
These are all mid-level alien beasts, and they have a certain degree of immunity to cannons.
Fortunately, no S-class beasts appeared in this beast tide; they were probably all stopped at Penglai City.
Hundreds of warriors leaped off the city wall, forming groups of five and working together to attack the remaining heavily wounded alien beasts.
Each group has one Level Seven or Peak Level Six Martial Artist.
The remaining people were all at level four or five.
The beast horde was already heavily wounded by the Martial Artifact and cannons, so the warriors rushed in and cut them down like vegetables; the beasts had no chance to fight back.
Heavy sniper cannons were also mounted on the city walls to provide long-range Precision firepower for the ground troops.
In less than half an hour, the nearly 10,000-strong beast tide was completely annihilated.
The city gates were then opened, and a large number of soldiers left the city to begin cleaning up the battlefield.
After reading this, Qin Ze was deeply moved.
No wonder the people on the street were so calm.
So they were already desensitized.
The current strength of the Human Race has completely exceeded Qin Ze's expectations.
To achieve this level in three years, the company's resources alone are simply insufficient.
Qin Ze was curious about what other tricks Brother Yuanzi had up his sleeve.
As dusk settled, Qin Ze left the noodle shop and returned to the Circus headquarters in Sea Capital.
It's called headquarters, but it's really just a large warehouse.
The most valuable piece of equipment inside is the crematorium.
At the beginning, after each team battle, the injured clones would rush to jump in, wanting to personally experience the feeling of being cremated.
However, as more and more old things are cremated, people gradually lose interest in them.
Furthermore, the matches they participated in afterward were all high-level tournaments, and those who weren't injured managed to come back alive; they all self-destructed on the spot to deal additional damage.
The crematorium has been relegated to the sidelines and hasn't been used for a long time.
Qin Ze opened the warehouse door.
In the corner, a pair of scarlet eyes suddenly lit up.
" Big Black?"
Big Black was the one who accompanied Qin Ze back to Sea Capital from the Northern Territory last time.
After that, I stayed here to guard the house.
Three years have passed.
Big Black remained dedicated to its duties.
They didn't leave the warehouse door even a step.
Qin Ze turned on the light.
In the corner of the warehouse, Big Black creature, as thin as a lightning bolt, lay weakly.
Upon seeing Qin Ze return, the expression on Big Black's face kept changing.
Five parts surprise, three parts resentment, and two parts grievance.
It's not that it doesn't want to leave.
It's mainly because it's too dangerous outside.
This is the capital city of the Human Race.
Even if martial artists weren't as ubiquitous three years ago, there were still guards every five steps and sentries every ten.
Law Enforcement officers patrol the streets 24 hours a day.
It's no exaggeration to say that if Big Black left this warehouse, it wouldn't take half an hour for someone to take out the Soul Orb and turn the corpse into a specimen.
" Black Treasure, you've suffered so much!"
"Sigh, if only you had gone with the Captain and the others back then."
"Indeed, they have more people on their boat, enough to feed you for a while, unlike here where no one stays behind."
Captain: Shut Q.
"..."
The clones on the Local Area Network were gloating.
When they have nothing to do, they like to tease Big Black.
It's truly remarkable that Big Black has survived this long.
Qin Ze clicked his tongue in amazement. "The strange beast is quite resilient; it didn't die after all."
Qin Ze called out.
Big Black crawled over, looking dejected.
Then, Qin Ze pressed down on the dog's head and channeled some of his qi and blood into it, which finally revived its listless spirit.
"Good dog."
Qin Ze asked his clone nearby to buy some beef.
He left Big Black downstairs to guard the gate and went upstairs to rest alone.
The key suddenly vibrated.
Qin Ze opened the Hunter chat group and saw Slacking on the Sidelines posting.
[ On the Slacking on the Sidelines: Brothers, I've discovered something... the Beast Tamer and Senior Yuan might not be dead.]
[ Catch a Fox Spirit:?]
[ On the Slacking on the Sidelines: The Myriad Races Forum requires nine Hunter to open, and it's currently open, which means all nine Hunter are present. If they were dead, the forum shouldn't exist.]
Qin Ze raised his eyebrows.
To be fair, this guy Slacking on the Sidelines is sometimes quite clever.
[ Ironhead Abiao: That makes sense]
[ Scholar: I noticed that before, but there's another possibility: it's not necessary for all nine Hunter to survive; as long as they appear, the forum might be able to open.]
[ Slacking on the Sidelines: a jinx]
[ Scholar: I'm just illustrating a possibility]
[Sigh~ Qin Ze has been out of Slacking on the Sidelines for the past three years. I guess after we returned to Sea Capital, he went down into the Abyss again. That brat, how can he be so stubborn?]
Qin Ze couldn't help but smile.
He suddenly felt like saying something to see how the Slacking on the Sidelines would react.