RITAAB 65 PART 1

Chapter 65 【o(*￣︶￣*)o】PART 1

 

After returning to his room, Qin Jiuzhen took out the small snacks he had hidden in his clothes and placed them under the mattress. The snacks weren’t too many, but he counted around a dozen or so packages.

 

After hiding them away, he opened the box. The meat inside smelled absolutely delicious… He couldn’t help but salivate, and before he knew it, he had finished eating all the meat. There was still a thick layer of broth left in the box, which he didn’t want to waste, so he placed it on the bedside table to have after his meal.

 

Time passed as the army strictly carried out the mission of forcing the half beastman to self-destruct, and in the span of half a month, vast numbers of half beastman were killed almost daily.

 

The casualties had grown from the original tens of thousands per day to now reaching one to two million, even up to three million! These numbers were truly terrifying!

 

However, to be on the safe side, Gao Syang still tried to keep the daily death toll under one million, as a higher number could potentially trigger large-scale unrest.

 

During the previous incident where the death toll had approached 300 million, they had witnessed a scene almost on the verge of a full-blown riot. Qin Jiulin felt that if they had added even more fuel to the fire then, perhaps half the city could have been swept up in the chaos, making it very difficult to control. Fortunately, they had managed to rein it in.

 

That previous incident had been extremely dangerous, but luck had been on their side, which couldn’t be denied. As for the bodies of the half beastman who had been killed, they certainly wouldn’t go to waste.

 

The half beastman who were starving in the city would flock to the area, and over the past half-month, the number of half beastman wandering in the northernmost part of the city had decreased by nearly half compared to before.

 

The soldiers patrolling the area or the beasts tasked with driving out and killing the half beastman had also found their workload significantly reduced, as it was now only about half of what it had been previously, allowing them to sneak in some rest.

 

That day, Liu Zhongyuan and the others had once again come to the military command center. Cai Yue and the other participating beasts had all become quite familiar with them, as they had been working together for half a month and could now chat with each other.

 

Especially among them, the strongest variant beast was Cai Yue. Cai Yue’s beast form was the largest, and his combat and attack power was the strongest, not to mention that he was a variant beast.

 

Although he was the youngest, everyone trusted him greatly. Before the mission had even begun, Cai Yue was surrounded by the others, not to discuss anything in particular, but just to chat a little and relieve some of the pressure.

 

At first, Cai Yue didn’t have much of a feeling about the mission, as he had a lot of prior experience. But the others were different – they had no experience with such tasks.

 

Especially for the beastmen who were flying out on a mission for the first time, when they saw the dense clusters of half beastman below, some almost forgot to even flap their wings. Fortunately, Cai Yue had them stand on his back to stabilize themselves.

 

As they gained more experience, everyone got used to it. Although the sight was still terrifying, they were no longer in danger of falling out of the sky when flying above.

 

Gao Syang cleared his throat, “It’s about time. You should depart now. Of course, today is not the time to go dropping blood bags, as too many half beastman have been killed in the past half-month in the city. Today, the focus will be on reconnaissance.”

 

“If the situation allows, we can carry out the mission. If not, we’ll take a break for today and regroup.”

 

Liu Zhongyuan said, “That makes sense. Since so many half beastman have been killed, the remaining ones have likely filled their bellies. Using animal blood may not be as effective now.”

 

This was because the half beastman lacked intelligence, allowing the humans to repeatedly deceive them into self-destructing with animal blood bags. If they had even a modicum of logical thinking ability, the half beastman would not have been so easily manipulated.

 

However, it was precisely this lack of intelligence that gave the remaining humans a glimmer of hope. If the half beastman were truly intelligent, the surviving humans might not have stood a chance.

 

While there were a few half beastman with considerable strength and some thinking ability, their thoughts were limited to hunting their desired prey. They still lacked higher-level cognition.

 

Cai Yue’s group flew off with their devices, and the screens in the room soon displayed the current situation across the entire city. Gao Syang observed, “It seems the number of half beastman has decreased by about a third.”

 

Liu Zhongyuan said, “Reducing it by a third in half a month is already impressive. We still have a few months, and while cleaning up the bodies and blood trails will be a hassle, we can just dump them in the suburbs and let the animals take care of it.”

 

“They might not even leave a single bone behind, so we don’t need to worry about any diseases spreading from the corpses.”

 

Gao Syang said, “You’re right. Look at the area we’ve been occupying – it’s become much more open, isn’t it?”

 

Liu Zhongyuan asked, “Captain Gao, are you thinking of expanding our territory here?”

 

Gao Syang replied, “Recently, some of the teams that went out on missions have brought back quite a few survivors. Since they’re idle anyway, we can have them clear out the scattered half beastman in the surrounding area. That way, it won’t go to waste, as we’ll be providing them with supplies anyway.”

 

“If we just let them be without giving them work, they might end up resenting us. It’s better to get them used to working for their supplies now.”

 

Liu Zhongyuan nodded, “That makes sense. Since we have to provide them with supplies anyway, it’s better to get them used to working for it now. If they never get used to it, it might cause new problems in the future.”

 

Qin Jiulin, standing beside Liu Zhongyuan, didn’t say much, but he could feel a particularly irritating gaze coming from a certain direction.

 

Fortunately, Liu Zhongyuan would occasionally change his standing position, effectively blocking that line of sight. Whenever he did so, the gaze would shift to Liu Zhongyuan instead.

 

Unlike the gaze directed at Qin Jiulin, this one was clearly filled with malice and killing intent. The source was none other than Xia Liangsheng, who harbored deep hatred towards Liu Zhongyuan and would not hesitate to seize any opportunity to kill him, if only he had the chance.

 

Alas, Liu Zhongyuan’s strength was too formidable to be assassinated openly. The only possibility would be to catch him in his human form, but unfortunately, no one knew the full extent of Liu Zhongyuan’s abilities.

 

Qin Jiulin’s gaze remained fixed on the screens, clearly seeing how many half beastman remained in the city. At the current rate, it seemed they would be able to take complete control of the city in a month or two.

 

He hoped this method would not bring too much danger. Once the half beastman were cleared out, the heavy stench of blood and the vast number of corpses would likely attract a large number of animals. 

 

While the animal population might not exceed the half beastman, their intelligence was significantly higher, especially with the current shortage of people and weapons in their group.

 

The lack of a massive influx of animals was solely due to the overwhelming presence of half beastman in the city, which not only hindered their takeover but also deterred the surrounding animals with their formidable combat capabilities.

 

Qin Jiulin said, “The number of corpses is too high, and the stench of blood is too strong. When we take over the city, we must be prepared to face a large number of animals. The situation may not be better than it is now.”

 

Liu Zhongyuan paused, “Ah, you’re right…”

 

Gao Syang also nodded, “That’s a big problem as well. We’ll need to…”

 

At this point, Gao Syang didn’t continue, but both Liu Zhongyuan and Qin Jiulin knew what the unfinished sentence implied.

 

It was nothing more than wanting to get them to think of a way to get their hands on the large stockpile of military weapons stored at the military base. If they had those weapons, it could at least help them hold out for a few more years!

 

Liu Zhongyuan said, “We can’t rush this matter. We need to take it one step at a time, and eat our meals one bite at a time. For now, let’s focus on the matter of the half beastmen.”

 

The implication was that they would temporarily not consider the extremely difficult task. Gao Siyang sighed inwardly. He had no choice, as the task was indeed too difficult. He would not really let Liu Zhongyuan and the others go on a suicide mission.

 

Perhaps they could make it back alive, but the injuries were uncertain. At this time, Gao Siyang still did not wish to lose a significant combat force.

 

Gao Siyang said, “Do you all think there is a need to carry out the blood bag mission today?”

 

Liu Zhongyuan said, “I think it’s not necessary today. We’ll continue it tomorrow. Didn’t the Captain say earlier that we should secure some of the surrounding streets in this area?”