Chapter Summaries

Shen Heng detected a large group of Calamity Beasts gathering near the unfinished base, but they departed before attacking. As the base defenses neared completion, he joined a meeting with Commander Zhang Weijun and prepared to report what he had observed.

• A silver-gray Calamity Beast watched the human base from a mountain summit while other Calamity Beasts gathered around it.
• Shen Heng sensed dozens of Calamity Beasts gathering in one direction, led by a beast he estimated was sixth tier, before they moved away from the base.
• Shen Heng told Han Ling the beasts might return to attack, and they continued monitoring the area while construction progressed.
• Seven hours after entering the Erosion Zone, a soldier summoned Shen Heng to meet Commander Zhang Weijun and Li Daoyi.
• Zhang Weijun said the radar system could now monitor the area around the base to a range of over thirty kilometers, and Shen Heng said he had news to report.

Shen Heng reported that a suspected Sixth Tier Calamity Beast had climbed a mountaintop and watched the base, prompting Zhang Weijun and the officers to prepare for a delayed but potentially larger attack. Shen Heng accepted rewards and a daily scouting assignment, while Li Daoyi began reassuring the command staff about the threat; Shen Heng then returned to Han Ling and resumed watching the distance.

• Shen Heng told Zhang Weijun and the officers about the suspected Sixth Tier Calamity Beast observing them, and estimated the beasts might attack soon or wait while gathering strength.
• Zhang Weijun awarded Shen Heng 2,000 points for his intelligence and assigned him to scout daily for 500 points, or 1,000 if he found signs of Calamity Beasts.
• Zhang Weijun and the officers discussed the possibility of up to 1,200 or 1,300 new Calamity Beasts appearing each day and worried about the scale of a future attack.
• Zhang Weijun asked Li Daoyi for his view, and Li Daoyi said they did not need to worry too much about the concerns raised yet as cloud vapor swirled around his hand.
• Shen Heng returned to Han Ling, explained that the command staff expected the beasts might be preparing, and resumed surveying the distance.

Shen Heng and Han Ling ate with Li Daoyi, who explained how spatial stability limited which Calamity Beasts could enter the Erosion Zone. The chapter left Shen Heng learning that seventh-tier beasts might enter but would have to restrain themselves, while even stronger beasts could collapse the zone.

• Shen Heng and Han Ling joined Li Daoyi at the dining hall, where Li Daoyi offered them meat from a sixth-tier Silver-Patterned Frost Leopard.
• Shen Heng asked whether Li Daoyi had confirmed there were no seventh-tier Calamity Beasts in the Erosion Zone.
• Li Daoyi explained that Yan Yu’s spatial-stability theory accounted for why high-tier Calamity Beasts could not freely enter or leave the zone.
• Shen Heng wondered about the relationship between Origin Power, the body, and the world, then set the thought aside.
• Li Daoyi said seventh-tier Calamity Beasts could enter but would need to limit their actions, while even higher-tier beasts might cause the Erosion Zone to collapse.

Shen Heng learned why Seventh Tier Calamity Beasts were absent from the Erosion Zone and how powerful the Demigod Tier was. As the base prepared for an expected attack, its population and defenses continued to grow.

• Shen Heng and Li Daoyi discussed the Erosion Zone’s limited capacity and why the Ruins Realm had filled it with lower-tier Calamity Beasts instead of Seventh Tier ones.
• Li Daoyi explained that the Darkwing Heavenly Spine Beast had been badly weakened before it was killed and that a healthy Seventh Tier Calamity Beast might require half the world’s nuclear arsenal to defeat.
• Li Daoyi said the Seventh Tier was also called the Demigod Tier and explained that a Seventh Tier creature’s traits became engraved in its body and could pass to weapons made from its remains.
• Several days passed without a Calamity Beast attack, while Shen Heng watched the base’s preparations continue amid growing tension.
• The base’s population grew to several thousand as soldiers arrived, and workers expanded its walls to a three-kilometer radius, several meters thick, and over twenty meters high.

Shen Heng detected a massive Calamity Beast tide approaching the base from the northwest and warned the command center. The base confirmed the highest-level alert and ordered personnel to shelter or take up defensive positions.

• Shen Heng cultivated alongside Han Ling while Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui discussed the impending Calamity Beasts and the inspectors stationed in their Erosion Zone.
• Shen Heng heard a distant growl, stopped cultivating, and told the command center that nearly ten thousand Calamity Beasts were approaching from the northwest.
• Shen Heng warned the inspectors in the training room to prepare, then left with Han Ling as the others reacted and headed back to get ready.
• A highest-level beast tide alert sounded across the base, ordering noncombat personnel into underground fortifications and combat personnel and Supervision Bureau members to their assigned positions.

Shen Heng was summoned to the command center as a beast tide approached the base, where officers assessed whether their defenses could withstand it. He could report the tide’s location but had no way to determine how many mid- and high-tier Calamity Beasts it contained.

• Shen Heng and Han Ling headed toward their defensive sector, but the command center summoned Shen Heng and he sent Han Ling ahead.
• Shen Heng told Han Ling that he intended to fight rather than stay back and provide information, and she left after he reminded her to stay safe.
• Shen Heng reported to Zhang Weijun that the beast tide was about forty-one kilometers away.
• An officer warned that the base could be overwhelmed if too many mid- and high-tier Calamity Beasts could not be kept occupied by inspectors.
• The old general asked Shen Heng whether he could determine how many mid- and high-tier beasts were in the tide, and Shen Heng said he could not.

Shen Heng proposed using a low-yield nuclear bomb to thin the approaching Calamity Beast tide, despite the risks to the Erosion Zone. Zhang Weijun approved the approach, declaring that the base’s survival outweighed the possible damage from the explosion.

• Zhang Weijun and the staff officer discussed how many mid- and high-tier Calamity Beasts might be among the approaching tide.
• Shen Heng considered the threat posed by potentially hundreds of Fourth Tier beasts and questioned whether the base could withstand them.
• Shen Heng suggested attacking the concentrated beasts with a low-yield nuclear bomb.
• The old general and the slightly stout officer objected that the blast could destabilize the Erosion Zone and make later exploration and detection difficult.
• Shen Heng argued that reducing the beasts’ numbers was more important than preserving the area, and Zhang Weijun agreed that the base’s survival came first.

Zhang Weijun ordered a first salvo of miniature nuclear warheads to strike the advancing beast tide after Shen Heng reported its position. On the wall, Yu Yanhui and Lin Zhaoran approached the girl who had been with Shen Heng, preparing to support her in the coming battle.

• Zhang Weijun argued that nuclear strikes could weaken the beast tide before it reached the defensive line, while the officers worried that detonations could destabilize space in the Erosion Zone.
• Zhang Weijun asked Shen Heng to locate the beast tide, and Shen Heng marked its position roughly forty to fifty kilometers northwest of the base.
• Zhang Weijun ordered ten Hummingbird Class miniature nuclear warheads to strike separate points and sections between thirty-eight and forty-eight kilometers northwest.
• Zhang Weijun asked Shen Heng to keep monitoring the beast tide as the troops prepared the missiles.
• Yu Yanhui recognized the girl who had been with Shen Heng, and she and Lin Zhaoran went to join her so they could support her during the battle.

As the teams prepared for the Calamity Beasts, Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui asked Han Ling to coordinate attacks with them, while several other teams offered her support. Han Ling accepted the partnership and explained that she had met the others on previous missions.

• Lin Zhaoran introduced herself and Yu Yanhui, then proposed that they control Calamity Beasts while Han Ling killed them with her ranged attacks.
• Han Ling accepted their offer and thanked them, and the three discussed how to coordinate their abilities.
• A red-haired woman carrying a broadsword offered Han Ling support, recalling that Han Ling had saved her group recently.
• Several more people came to ask where Shen Heng was and offered to support Han Ling if needed.
• Yu Yanhui asked how Han Ling knew so many people, and Han Ling said she had met them on previous missions.

Han Ling, Lin Zhaoran, and Yu Yanhui learned that nearly ten thousand Calamity Beasts were approaching the base as nuclear missiles struck the beast tide. The strikes killed about two thousand beasts before a giant ape-like Calamity Beast intercepted many missiles, leaving roughly eight thousand still advancing.

• Yu Yanhui and Lin Zhaoran discussed the level-three beast tide, and Han Ling estimated it contained close to ten thousand Calamity Beasts.
• White streaks rose from behind the defenders on the wall as nuclear missiles headed toward the beast tide.
• The missiles detonated across the beast tide, killing many Calamity Beasts, while a giant ape-like beast intercepted others by hurling chunks of a Tier 2 beast at them.
• Shen Heng reported that the strikes had killed about two thousand Calamity Beasts and that high-tier beasts had intercepted many of the missiles.
• The command staff concluded that roughly eight thousand Calamity Beasts remained and learned that the missiles had been traveling too short a distance to reach top speed.

Shen Heng detected spatial-distortion ripples after a nuclear blast and realized the Calamity Beasts had dispersed into multiple advancing groups. As the base considered how to stop them, he proposed using missiles to strike their predicted positions, and Zhang Weijun agreed that the cost was worth the risk.

• Shen Heng connected the unusual ripples to spatial distortion and noticed that his Configuration fluctuated with them.
• Zhang Weijun relayed the Daoist priest’s warning not to exceed the nuclear blast’s recent impact on the Erosion Zone.
• Shen Heng reported that the Calamity Beasts had scattered and were advancing from different directions, making further nuclear strikes less effective.
• Zhang Weijun explained that limited radar range and missile travel time would make conventional strikes difficult to aim.
• Shen Heng proposed predicting the beasts’ positions and carpet-bombing those areas with missiles.
• Zhang Weijun said missiles were expensive but not as costly as human lives.

The Calamity Beasts reached the wasteland beyond the base after enduring a missile bombardment, and a massive lion-type beast’s roar sent them charging toward the walls. As the base prepared for battle, Han Ling opened fire when the leading beasts came within range.

• Missiles struck the mountain forest as Yu Yanhui, Lin Zhaoran, and Han Ling watched from the walls.
• An apparently endless horde of Calamity Beasts gathered beneath the mountains, and a massive lion-type beast roared to unleash their charge.
• The base sounded its alarms and ordered everyone to prepare for battle while Li Daoyi watched the beast tide and Shen Heng examined the roar’s powers.
• Yu Yanhui and Lin Zhaoran readied themselves to defend the walls, while Han Ling loaded a marrow-burst round and waited for the beasts to approach.
• When the first Calamity Beasts came within five kilometers, Han Ling shot a fourth-tier leopard-type beast, hitting its foreleg and then killing it with two shots to the head.

Han Ling and the city’s defenders struck the advancing Calamity Beasts as the vanguard reached the walls, but the beasts began destroying the automated turrets. When the defenders ordered fourth-tier melee fighters to descend and stop the enemy, Wang Hu and Shi Ruiyuan joined the fight below the wall.

• Han Ling killed a seventh-tier Calamity Beast, then fired at an agile insectoid beast that used nearby Calamity Beasts as shields.
• The beast tide advanced within three kilometers of the city wall, and automated turrets and concealed soldiers opened fire.
• A fourth-tier long-armed Calamity Beast knocked a turret out of action, prompting other ranged beasts to attack the wall’s defenses.
• An aged voice ordered defenders to prioritize ranged Calamity Beasts, and Han Ling and other inspectors attacked them.
• The aged voice ordered third-tier melee fighters to hold the wall and fourth-tier fighters to engage below; Wang Hu transformed and leaped down, followed by Shi Ruiyuan.

Lin Zhaoran, Yu Yanhui, Han Ling, and the other inspectors fought to hold back the Calamity Beast tide while conserving their Origin Power for stronger enemies. As soldiers’ gunfire cut down the beasts, a third-tier ape-like Calamity Beast used a corpse as a shield and advanced toward the wall.

• Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui jumped down from the wall to fight, while Han Ling stayed behind to provide sniper support.
• Yu Yanhui formed streams of water that Lin Zhaoran froze into a barrage of ice, killing many low-tier Calamity Beasts.
• Lü Wenrui and Tang Yuanyang fought through the beasts as soldiers fired heavy machine guns from inside the wall.
• Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui let a fourth-tier Shadow Cat pass because it was not heading toward the wall, then reduced their attacks to conserve Origin Power.
• A third-tier ape-like Calamity Beast used a dead second-tier beast as a shield and ran toward the wall through the gunfire.

As the Calamity Beasts attacked the base, Li Daoyi held back to preserve the fragile balance between humanity and the beasts’ strongest fighters. The lion on the distant mountain roared, driving the beasts into a frenzy, and the battle grew more dangerous for the inspectors.

• An ape Calamity Beast climbed the wall using a corpse as a shield, but Han Ling shot it before it could attack from inside the wall.
• Li Daoyi watched the battle without intervening, wary that his actions might draw the high-tier Calamity Beasts into the fight.
• The lion on the distant mountain stood and roared, causing the Calamity Beasts across the battlefield to become berserk and attack without restraint.
• Gu Lingxuan slowed a charging gray-horned rhinoceros with her blade and moved in to strike it.
• A tiger-like fighter crushed an iron-backed boar, while an inspector narrowly survived a scorpion beast’s attack after an explosion hit the beast’s head.

Li Qihua and the defenders fought off Calamity Beasts as the attackers breached the metal wall and soldiers fell across the battlefield. Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui drove back a fourth-tier Bone-Eroding Jackal, but both were nearing exhaustion.

• Li Qihua ran out of ammunition, and a Calamity Beast broke through the wall and killed the soldier reloading his machine gun.
• Li Qihua and the other soldiers fired at the beast’s claw, forcing it to withdraw, then prepared to resume defending the wall.
• Old Zhao escaped a Blade-Toothed Hyena by stabbing its eye, but a scythe-tailed Calamity Beast struck him down as fighting raged around them.
• Lin Zhaoran froze Yu Yanhui’s water into an expanding ice lotus that impaled low-tier Calamity Beasts and forced back a fourth-tier Bone-Eroding Jackal.
• Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui leaned together to catch their breath, and Yu Yanhui said she could not hold on much longer.

Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui struggled to hold back the Calamity Beasts as the Shadow Cat attacked Han Ling on the city wall. Han Ling retreated to Shen Heng, who had returned from the command center, just as the Shadow Cat pounced toward them.

• Lin Zhaoran and Yu Yanhui continued fighting the Bone-Eroding Jackal and the horde despite their dwindling Origin Power.
• The Bone-Eroding Jackal drew Yu Yanhui's attention while the Shadow Cat sprang from cover to attack her.
• A streak of crimson light interrupted the Shadow Cat's strike, and it turned toward Han Ling on the city wall.
• The Shadow Cat climbed the wall and rushed Han Ling, who retreated to the spot where Shen Heng stood.
• Shen Heng turned toward the Shadow Cat as it pounced at him and Han Ling.

Shen Heng killed a Fourth Tier Shadow Cat with one vibrating-blade slash, then studied how the lion-shaped Calamity Beast’s roar empowered the beasts. As the battle continued, Wang Hu was forced to face several berserk Stone-Armored Warthogs at once.

• Han Ling asked Shen Heng for help with a Fourth Tier Shadow Cat, and he killed it with a single slash.
• Yu Yanhui and Lin Zhaoran were shocked by Shen Heng’s strength before returning to their fight below the wall.
• Han Ling moved away and began firing her gun while Shen Heng surveyed the battered defenses and studied the roar’s effects.
• Wang Hu struck a charging Stone-Armored Warthog, but the berserk beast kept attacking despite its injuries.
• Wang Hu knocked away another charging warthog and saw three more closing in, then charged back into the fight.

Qi Yue and Cao Mingyu struggled to hold off berserk Calamity Beasts as their stamina and Origin Power dwindled. Shen Heng then used sound waves to enrage the beasts across the battlefield, leaving the fighting even more chaotic.

• A wolf and an ape attacked Cao Mingyu together, but Qi Yue pulled him clear with silver wires.
• Qi Yue warned Cao Mingyu that their injuries barely slowed the berserk beasts and urged the inspectors to conserve their strength and seek decisive strikes.
• Shen Heng considered how to influence the beasts, then used a sound wave to drive a Fourth Tier Bone Wolf into a frenzy.
• Shen Heng released a roar that briefly silenced the battlefield before the Calamity Beasts erupted into renewed rage and chaos.

Shen Heng’s sound waves drove the Calamity Beasts into a frenzy, turning the assault on the city into mutual slaughter and giving the inspectors a chance to retreat. As the human defenders pulled back, the One-Horned Lizard weighed escape against the danger of defying the Lion King.

• The Bone-Eroding Wolf attacked a Cinder Lion that had tackled it, then lost control and turned its blood-red gaze on the lion.
• The One-Horned Lizard saw the Calamity Beasts attack one another and considered fleeing, but feared the Lion King watching from a distant mountain.
• Shen Heng’s sound waves destroyed the remaining sanity of the Calamity Beasts, causing them to slaughter friend and foe alike.
• Wang Hu, Qi Yue, Cao Mingyu, and other inspectors took advantage of the chaos as the pressure on the defensive line eased.
• A calm voice urged the inspectors to retreat without drawing the beasts’ attention, and Lin Zhaoran, Yu Yanhui, Cao Mingyu, Qi Yue, Gu Lingxuan, and the others withdrew toward the city wall.