Forbidden Zone of the Human Race

Chapter 342: What's That Punk up to?

In less than forty minutes since the battle had begun, the city’s air force was dispatched. There were no aerial beasts, so their weapons could kill the beasts wreaking havoc in the city without much care. Although alarming, the problem was still under control, which was acknowledged by the civilians in the shelter. Even Xiang Ning and the rest noticed.

“Indeed, it’s difficult for the beasts to launch a war in human territory,” the students who were watching the projections observed in awe. Human technology had reached great heights, and with the help of their inventions, their combat abilities were impressive in both scale and variation. They were even able to respond to such a sudden incident.

However, anyone who had fought truly fearsome beasts knew that the first waves of an invasion were just them testing the waters. These were just scouts sent by the leaders; the truly powerful beasts had yet to arrive. josei

This was only the second wave, and the soldiers at the front lines were already fighting so desperately. Although they could quickly patch up holes in the defenses, when the truly powerful beasts arrived, would they be able to catch up? Any break in the lines would be a disaster for the city.

Xiang Ning’s mind raced. It would be impossible to kill all the beasts, something he had come to understand after participating in two battles. Humans would never know how many beasts were hidden in the depths of the wilderness. There were countless individuals in the sky, underground, and in the water.

In the battle, a soldier was aiming an Artemis Mk. 1 Sniper at a beast ahead of him. He was feeling confident after the two battles, and although there were flaws in the routes, they were still holding on. He only had to hold for fifteen more minutes or until all civilians had evacuated, then they would also evacuate and establish a second defensive perimeter.

Marsh City had four defensive perimeters in total. The first ring’s purpose was to hinder the invasion. Holding the line wasn’t imperative, all they had to do was wait for the civilians to evacuate and they could fall back.

Suddenly, a command was issued from the conference room, which was also the emergency command center. “Hold the line for fifteen minutes, do not fall back!”

When the soldier heard the command, he lamented that it was just fifteen minutes, so what was the command for? But he felt sudden chills down his back. Despite being on the seventh floor, he could still feel the ground vibrating several times harder than it previously was. Looking through his rifle’s scope, he felt his hair stand on end. “Fuck! How will we hold?!” Curses slipped from his mouth. What did he see? Dense moving dots on the ground; anyone with trypophobia would have fainted.

“Holy shit, they’re all Savage Sand Rats!”

“A swarm of rats is here! Use the tanks! Hold the line! Hold the line!”

“Where’s the incendiary bombs? Hurry, hurry!”

“Stand behind me!”

“Hurry! Get the civilians to speed up.”

“Ten more minutes! Ten more minutes at most!”

There might not even be one tier four Beast General for every hundred thousand Savage Sand Rats. Still, the numbers were practically uncountable.

“Sir, our reports show fifty thousand Savage Sand Rats!”

“Fifty thousand? That’s basically a tidal wave of rats!”

“Shoot! Shoot! Put on your armor, hold the line! Stop them!”

Shouts sounded everywhere.

Xiang Ning shook his head. Ten minutes? Forget about ten minutes, even five would be agony. Sure, they were only tier one or two beasts, but could you call them weak? In all of recorded history, even a tier seven Sect Master would be forced to retreat in the face of any swarm of more than ten thousand rats.

History didn’t lack such examples. Seventy-one years ago, a rat swarm had invaded northern China. At the time, the number of rats hit a hundred thousand. One tier seven sect master led ten tier six masters and five hundred martial artists of tiers three to five to exterminate them. And what happened next? The entire human army was obliterated; not even their bones remained.

That was why even tier seven sect masters avoided any swarm larger than ten thousand. If your route clashed with theirs, it was your job to travel around them.

The rat swarm didn’t separate, but was instead concentrated on one route.

“Hurry, routes one, two, four, and five, send half your men to route three. We must hold on!”

The first defensive perimeter spun into action. The aerial forces hadn’t stopped attacking since they launched, but they still couldn’t completely hold the rats back!

Xiang Ning softly sighed. They would never be able to hold the rats back unless they launched weapons of mass destruction and destroyed the rat swarm... along with part of the city. Even so, there were still thousands of civilians that hadn’t evacuated, or the soldiers wouldn’t have received the order to hold the line before falling back to the second perimeter. They had weapons specially made for these kinds of situations there.

A summary of the situation: anyone who arrived to help died as the humans were completely overwhelmed.

Everyone was waiting for more reinforcements to arrive, or for some powerful martial artists to appear. But there were none. The third route’s soldiers valiantly fought the fifty thousand Savage Sand Rats with the sounds of guns, shouting, and screaming ringing across the land.

Within the emergency command center, some of the commanders looked away from the screen, unable to accept the rapidly rising number written in red. How many seconds had it been? The death toll had already reached three digits, and it was still rising.…

“Master Fang!” Several of the commanders were unable to watch any longer, turning to Fang Zhenyuan at the head of the table.

Next to him, Fang Hao stepped forward and volunteered, “Dad, let me go.” Ever since his previous brush with death in the wilderness, Fang Hao’s cultivation had rapidly progressed. Gone was the teenage greenness, all that was left was blood of steel. In the past, one would detect the youthful liveliness radiating from him, but now his gaze was as sharp as blades, his back was as straight as a sword, and his presence made him a knife in human form.

Fang Hao had assembled the Thunder Squad, which consisted of himself and four other elites selected from the dojo. Every member was as strong as he was.

Fang Zhenyuan looked at him, then faintly nodded. Then his communicator rang. “What’s the matter, Old Qi?”

“What?!” Fang Zhenyuan shot up, a Sect Master’s power radiating across the room. The bustling command center fell silent for a second, then erupted in various commands given to different departments.

Hanging up, Fang Zhenyuan shouted at Fang Hao, “What’s that punk up to now? Take your squad to Qiling Academy. Their headmaster, Qi Jiuming, is occupied with a Ghostblade Mantis that’s already ascended a tier. Protect the kid Xiang Ning well, then work with Qi Jiuming to kill the mantis!” He slammed the table, fuming. What in the world has gotten into that brat’s head?!