Chapter 453

Chapter 453: Cleaning the Battlefield

“Alright!”

Accompanied by the electronic voice, the fan’s “whoosh” sound suddenly intensified.

In the corner of the command room, a box-shaped robot, connected to multiple data cables, began operating at full capacity.

Although [Skydome] had partially uploaded itself to the spire’s mainframe not long ago, it still felt a strong attachment to its "physical body," partly due to a sense of reverence for its predecessors on the "Infinite Scroll."

As a result, many tasks required wired or wireless connections for processing, as seen now; compared to its crisp responses, the wildly spinning fan clearly indicated [Skydome]’s current state—

If the fan were installed backward, it might just take off.

Meanwhile, through Hope City’s internal information network, the city defense cannons stationed on the walls suddenly activated.

These weapons also originated from the weapon development department now fully led by Ji Yongxing and could support both manned and unmanned operation modes simultaneously.

The cannons quickly began to warm up, while in the command room, the gray-black dots in the sky started to flash with glowing green borders.

A dense rain of bullets erupted in quick succession, with only the occasional flare bullets barely showing their current trajectory.

The self-detonating bugs exploded in the sky, bursting into countless fragments like fireworks on a night sky.

Although there was no difference in the outcome of the explosions, these self-detonating bugs did not cause any harm to the humans below.

The reason was simple—it was merely a matter of range.

After all, if they wanted to explode while conserving biomass, these creations of Clotho would inevitably take the route of quantity over quality.

Amid the deafening roars of the cannons and the blasts of the self-detonating bugs, the air raid finally came to an end.

Taking advantage of the time when humanity was busy regrouping, the extraordinary beasts below began to climb and attack again.

The second wave of close-quarters combat broke out on the city walls.

Bullets passed through bodies, long blades sliced flesh, and the flying limbs made the earlier explosions feel like a brief pause between two movements.

Two hours later, with the extraordinary beasts fleeing in their familiar manner, the battlefield belonging to humanity came to an end.

But someone, or rather some cat’s task was just beginning.

The extraordinary beasts fleeing from the direction of the walls, although devoid of reason, could still differentiate basic directions.

Instinctively, they headed back along their original path, planning to return to the tall grass thickets or the Misty Forest that they somewhat remembered.

But at that moment, another group of extraordinary beasts suddenly appeared on the inevitable path ahead.

From their appearance alone, the majority of these extraordinary beasts belonged to the common Green Cocoon cannon fodder.

However, a closer inspection revealed that several individuals among them had outstanding biological field strengths.

The fleeing extraordinary beasts had no time to think, collapsing entirely without a commander and scattering in all directions.

In the distance, Fulan sighed slightly at this scene:

“Let’s act separately; capture as many as we can.”

She issued the command calmly, then continued to stand on the head of the three wolves, gazing forward.

Behind Fulan, several elders from her team, along with a few new recruits from the past one or two months, began to chase after the fleeing soldiers.

“Ah, I wonder how many brothers and sisters will join us this time.”

Fulan sighed in a manner that the extraordinary beasts could comprehend.

“It’s alright, boss.”

From beneath her feet, the three wolves offered words of encouragement:

“Our team is gradually growing stronger.”

The three wolves were correct, and Fulan did not dispute their observation.

Over the past few months, it seemed that all parties had achieved their desires through minor skirmishes.

Humans and mycelium were cautiously probing each other, while the human-affiliated "Holy Fire Meow Meow Cult" had been thriving in the space between the two factions.

By encircling and capturing the retreating extraordinary beasts, Fulan’s Beast Pack had grown to over three hundred members.

As for Fulan herself, her primary focus was now on teaching these somewhat simple-minded creatures to understand human speech.

Multiple chase battles were taking place in the open wasteland ahead.

The intelligent extraordinary beasts effortlessly divided and surrounded the defeated ones, forcing them to either submit instinctively or display the beasts’ inherent will to fight to the death.

Those who submitted were spared, while those who resisted met their demise.

Conflict among the extraordinary beasts was imminent, and soon, dozens of fortunate survivors became Fulan’s captives, encircled by the larger pack.

Not long ago, Fulan had officially reached the Fourth Level, mastering the ability of "Divided Thoughts," which Lin Qingliu had already perfected.

However, this achievement was not particularly significant to Fulan; what she valued most was the increase in "capacity" that accompanied her level up.

Her original followers had reached their limit due to her role as a server-like mainframe, which required her to endure additional erosion from the will of the mycelium.

After achieving this breakthrough, she could once again expand her team.

As visions materialized and faint chants echoed, the eyes of the captured extraordinary beasts gradually cleared; Fulan’s blood had purged most of the mycelium from their bodies, and the remnants would slowly perish, eventually turning into harmless matter.

“Follow me.”

The extraordinary beasts looked up and saw the absurdly small beast.

At that moment, none dared to resist her, allowing her voice to resonate in their minds.

The Extraordinary Beast Team moved in one direction and soon breached the former red line.

The red line had become a thing of the past.

Thanks to the efforts of Speaker Arthur, the city defense army’s attitude toward these extraordinary beasts had grown considerably more amicable.

Initially, everyone had been somewhat reluctant, but now, some individuals had learned to cooperate with humans and joined the exploration team, significantly altering the city defense army’s perception of these creatures.

Of course, this progress would not have been possible without the assistance of a certain superpowered individual…

“Ah, how many newcomers have arrived this time? Or rather, new members?”

Fulan led her team to the shadow beneath a section of the city wall, where a lift basket quickly descended from above. A burly man with a beard greeted her politely.

Behind him, a young woman also politely emitted a few sounds that seemed almost otherworldly.

The former Ink Drench team member, superpowered individual "Beast Pack" Mister, now served as an instructor for the Meow Meow Teach in Hope City.

The former underground pasture manager, superpowered individual "Dawn Sound" Miss, now acted as a translator for the Meow Meow Teach in Hope City.

Aside from their somewhat cumbersome titles, these two had experienced a dramatic shift in their lives recently.