"Why do I feel like cannon fodder?" Shen Heng asked, his eyes narrowing slightly.
"They are indeed cannon fodder. The only ones truly connected to that organization are probably just a few Sixth Tier beings."
Li Daoyi nodded and said something, then his expression became more serious.
"Unfortunately, killing Sixth Tier Calamity Beast is already difficult enough, let alone controlling it."
Shen Heng nodded slightly, indicating that he had gained a deeper understanding of the Ruins Realm.
He turned his gaze to the Cloud-Rending Eagle lying quietly beside him, and after a moment's thought, his eyes suddenly lit up slightly.
"What are you doing, kid?" Li Daoyi looked at Shen Heng, who suddenly stood up and faced the Cloud-Rending Eagle, with some confusion.
"Let's conduct an experiment."
"Experiment?"
"Master, do you remember what abilities I mentioned before that were added after the Ability Evolution?"
"Can it manipulate the emotions of other creatures?"
"Hmm." Shen Heng stopped, gazing at the enormous beast head before him. "I want to try and see if I can hypnotize the Cloud-Rending Eagle."
"Hypnosis? Your abilities are still working, kid?" Li Daoyi and walked over as well.
"The behavior of living beings is driven by consciousness, emotions, and instincts," Shen Heng began, recounting what he had witnessed over the past few days.
"Of these, the most important and controllable is the consciousness component."
"Consciousness is further divided into conscious consciousness and subconsciousness."
"Hypnosis in the conventional sense essentially works by bypassing the target's conscious awareness and influencing their subconscious, thereby achieving a hypnotic effect."
"My ability allows me to temporarily suppress or even paralyze the target's conscious mind through strong emotions, such as extreme fear or anger. Then, I can use my ability to implant a thought with a specific emotional tendency into its subconscious, ultimately achieving a similar effect."
Li Daoyi eyebrow slightly. "Have you tried it, kid?"
"Simple ones, like the one we tried on the battlefield last time, but I don't have any complicated ones," Shen Heng replied.
"That's interesting." Li Daoyi also became interested and took a few steps closer. "What kind of scheme are you planning to plant in it? To make it go berserk whenever it sees its companions after returning?"
"No," Shen Heng shook his head, his gaze calm, "That would be too obvious, easily detected, and easily resisted or eliminated by its own reason. Hypnosis can't be made so obviously, or it will resist."
"So what do you want?" Li Daoyi his hands behind his back, leaned forward slightly, and observed the fur on the head of the Cloud-Rending Eagle.
Shen Heng pondered for a moment, then turned to look in the direction of the base.
Within the base.
Two soldiers were talking as they walked toward the logistics area.
Somehow, one of them sighed heavily and looked up at the sky.
However, this very action made him stop abruptly, freezing him in place.
"Why did you suddenly stop?" Qin Ye stopped and looked at Xu Ruiyu.
"Class monitor... Class monitor, look there!" Xu Ruiyu pointed to the sky.
Upon seeing this, Qin Ye frowned and immediately looked up at the sky.
A bird- Calamity Beast with an astonishing wingspan was circling continuously above the base, seemingly observing something.
"This... the Calamity Beast is already over the base, how come the base hasn't reacted at all? Where's the radar?" Xu Ruiyu asked in surprise.
Although Qin Ye frowned, his expression remained relatively calm.
"There's no response from command center; there must be some unusual situation. I'll report this!"
Xu Ruiyu nodded and stood to the side to wait.
After a moment, Qin Ye let out a soft breath and lowered his hand.
"Squad leader, how is it?" Xu Ruiyu asked hurriedly.
"The command center told us to ignore this Calamity Beast, saying it was captured by Daoist Master Li from the Supervision Bureau," Qin Ye recounted the contents of the recent communication.
"Huh? Daoist Master Li from the Supervision Bureau arrested him?" Xu Ruiyu looked up at the Calamity Beast in the sky with a puzzled expression. Does this count as arresting it?
The two stood there and watched for a while. They saw the Calamity Beast circle above the base for a while before finally changing direction and flying away into the distance again.
"This is really strange..." Xu Ruiyu muttered.
"Alright, since the command center said we don't need to worry about it, let's just leave it at that and go collect the supplies." Qin Ye said, taking another step forward.
Xu Ruiyu nodded and quickly followed.
On the other side, in the mountains and forests.
The Cloud-Rending Eagle flapped its wings a few times and landed hesitantly on the open ground.
It shook its slightly heavy head, its golden-brown eyes reflecting the two figures not far away.
One was dressed in a wide robe with long sleeves, his hair and beard half-white; the other was clean-cut, with black hair hanging down lightly.
A sense of inexplicable confusion appeared in those golden-brown pupils.
Where is this place?
What are you doing here?
Why are there two more limbs here?
Doubts arose in the mind of the Cloud-Rending Eagle, took root, and sprouted...
The confusion in its eyes quickly gave way to another emotion.
That was terror, that was anger!
The piercing screech echoed through the mountains and forests.
The Cloud-Rending Eagle suddenly spread its giant wings, and the fierce wind it generated bent the surrounding dead trees.
It charged straight at the two figures in an almost frenzied manner.
A fierce wind howled, but Shen Heng stood still, his gaze calmly fixed on the enormous figure that Rend the Sky.
They actually did ten laps around the base, ten clockwise and ten counter-clockwise?
The image of the Cloud-Rending Eagle precisely executing commands in the air was still echoing in his mind. Even he himself was somewhat surprised by this level of control over the Calamity Beast.
Listening to the Cries of All Living Beings... listen to... the cries of all beings...
He pondered the deeper meaning behind the name of this ability.
Perhaps from the very beginning, this was not merely a passive listening ability, but a deeper level of communication and influence...
night.
Shen Heng sat quietly in his simple dwelling.
Outside, the campfire burned quietly.
The surroundings were quiet, and he was all alone. The Daoist priest had already gone back earlier, so he was the only one waiting there.
Is this what it's like for a soldier to carry out a mission alone?... Shen Heng leaned against the wall, quietly watching the ever-changing flames outside.
The sounds coming from afar and the nearby silence formed a stark contrast in my ears.
He exhaled softly and slowly closed his eyes.
Time flowed on, and the black snow fell silently.
At one moment, Shen Heng slowly raised his eyes and looked towards a pitch-black direction.
Claws scraped against the ice, wings sliced through the night sky, and a suffocating sense of oppression surged forth.
"Are you here?"
He muttered something under his breath, then spoke directly:
" Ringing Sound, contact command center and tell them the beast tide is coming!"
In the dimly lit room, the wristband vibrated gently...