Chapter 45 Missing Intelligence

Twenty hours later, eight men and four pack-oxen departed from Hanshui City, heading toward the "ruins"—the old urban area of Hanshui.

Chen Jian’s communication with Xu Lie’s team had gone quite smoothly, but what left him somewhat dissatisfied was that, despite Hanshui City intermittently fighting that monster ever since its establishment, the intelligence they possessed was pitifully scarce.

They only knew it was a monster standing around 15 meters tall, its entire body covered in heavy dermal armor, and that its movements were extremely swift with a diverse array of attack patterns.

Yet, when asked to provide specific details regarding its damage resistance or precise attack methods, they drew a blank.

As for anything else, it was a total cascade of ignorance.

Infrared vision? Unknown.

Keen sense of smell? Unknown.

Specialized auditory organs? Unknown.

Weaknesses? None identified.

Under such circumstances, the decisions Chen Jian could make in advance were severely limited.

He could only order his team members to heighten their vigilance for the subsequent operations, enter the urban area with the lowest possible profile, avoid active searching to the greatest extent possible, and rely primarily on fixed-point drone reconnaissance to try and lock onto the monster's whereabouts.

As for further reconnaissance activities, they would simply have to play it by ear...

Following the Wushen Expressway all the way north, turning west onto the S102 after reaching Qingling Lake, the group successfully arrived at the edge of the city after a three-hour trek.

The squad halted to regroup. While the others were resting, organizing their equipment, and concealing supplies, Chen Jian walked over to Xu Lie. Taking a sip from the purified water he carried, he spoke up:

"I still want to confirm one more time. Are you certain that this monster in the Hanshui urban area—the Hanshui ruins—is truly only a Tier 3 monster?"

"With how little you know about it, is it possible it completed an evolution while you weren't looking and became something much stronger?"

"Impossible."

Xu Lie shook his head firmly, then replied:

"There are many monsters in this world, but all monsters only grow; they do not evolve."

"Their ceiling of strength is determined the very moment they are born."

"A Tier 1 monster is a Tier 1 monster from birth, and a Tier 4 monster remains a Tier 4 monster until it dies."

"Of course, if you are talking about evolution in terms of combat techniques, that is indeed possible."

"However, that can only happen with monsters near small settlements that have had long-term conflicts with humans where neither side could finish the other off, allowing them to grow increasingly formidable."

"Obviously, the monster in Hanshui City is not in such a situation."

"It has always entrenched itself near Hanshui City, thwarting numerous hunting operations by the Church of the Machine, but in terms of combat frequency, it is actually not all that high."

"Therefore, I do not believe it is any stronger than it was three years ago—otherwise Hanshui City wouldn't have been able to live in peace alongside it; they would have wiped it out long ago at any cost."

Chen Jian nodded thoughtfully and shifted the question:

"So Hanshui City actually has the capability to take it down?"

"Without a doubt."

Xu Lie answered without the slightest hesitation:

"Not to mention the Blood-Holy Ones and the Church of the Machine joining forces, even the Church of the Machine alone has plenty of successful experiences hunting Tier 3 monsters."

"The prevailing view now is that the upper limit of human hunting capability is Tier 2, while Tier 1 is a level that is utterly unmanageable."

"As for why they haven't made a move, it really comes down to... a matter of cost."

"Not all ruins possess value, especially the Hanshui ruins. After a few peripheral recon missions, we concluded that its value is no higher than other ruins, so we haven't poured excessive resources into it."

At this point, Xu Lie paused. Before Chen Jian could speak, he continued to explain:

"I know the purpose behind your question—you're worried I've concealed information."

"But there really is none... The reason why our information regarding this monster is so scarce was actually explained to you earlier."

"Four words: total annihilation."

"Every single hunting operation launched by the Church of the Machine ended with not a single survivor."

"Reconnaissance operations organized by the Blood-Holy Hall usually resulted in scouts being hunted down and killed before they could even transmit information back out."

"Generally speaking, the one piece of information we are most certain of is that this monster's territorial awareness is unimaginably strong."

"Not only does it refuse to allow life that poses a threat to enter, but once something enters, it doesn't even allow it to leave."

"So think about it, with such high risk and low return, how many people would be willing to do it?"

"I suppose only you Chosen Ones would... To this day, I still don't even know why you insist on killing it..."

"I never said we were dead set on killing it."

Chen Jian refuted Xu Lie's assertion, then said:

"I hope you aren't hiding anything from me. Once we push further ahead, our lives will be bound together."

"Of course, this is a gamble for us as well."

Xu Lie replied without hesitation, and Chen Jian detected no signs of lying in his expression.

This was a good thing; at the very least, it indicated that on matters of life and death, these Blood-Holy Ones wouldn't resort to too many underhanded tricks.

At that moment, the team members had already hidden all the equipment that lacked ammunition replenishment and was temporarily unusable. Lei Jie walked over to report to Chen Jian, who nodded and gave the order:

"Don your exoskeletons."

"Understood."

At the command, everyone sprang into action.

The serviced exoskeletons were unloaded from the ox backs, and the team members paired up, assisting one another in strapping into the rigs.

The Blood-Holy Ones stared in stunned silence at the spectacle. Initially, they had assumed what Chen Jian was wearing was merely some kind of specialized armor mount.

However, when the three weapon racks on Chen Jian's back—respectively loaded with a PBP201 mortar, an individual rocket launcher, and QN-202 miniature individual guided missiles—unfolded amidst the humming whine of electric motors, every single Blood-Holy One, including Xu Lie, was dumbfounded.

What the hell is this?

The eight-armed Nezha from the legends passed down by the elders?

A hint of fear had already crept into Xu Lie's eyes.

If earlier he had merely viewed the gear of these Chosen Ones as "advanced, but comprehensible," then right now, he was genuinely at a loss.

Wasn't this Chosen One named Chen Jian right in front of them the very embodiment of what the Church of the Machine imagined themselves to be?

The ridiculous part was that the very things they had discarded as trash were displaying an incomparably mighty posture right here in the hands of the Chosen Ones...

Xu Lie instinctively took a half-step back, while Li Shi involuntarily took a half-step forward.

He stared at Chen Jian before him with a fanatical gaze, wanting to say something, but unable to open his mouth.

Paying no mind to the emotions of the Blood-Holy Ones, Chen Jian raised his head to look at the towering buildings of the Hanshui urban area in the distance and issued his orders:

"He Shuo, Lei Jie, deploy the drones and organize forward reconnaissance."

"Shen Yue, calibrate the INS, set the departure coordinates, and plan the route of advance."

"Li Shi, carry that lead-lined case."

"Everyone else, maintain a twenty-meter interval and advance in formation."

"Night is about to fall... Let's flush it out before dawn breaks!"