by <unknown>
….
Han Xiao woke up soon after he felt the vibration of the train.
The ceiling of the carriage was installed with lamps that illuminated the room under a soft white light. The carriage was filled with lifeless, ice-cold machines and mechanical weapons, but they actually gave him a sense of security.
Han Xiao rubbed his eyes forcefully before he got his full concentration back. He opened the carriage door only to realize that he was on a high-speed train that was already on the move. The wild wind gushed toward his face, blowing his messy hair all around. The floor was vibrating non-stop and the riotous sound of the train movement rushed into his ears. The train moved smoothly along the rail toward their destination.
A galaxy of stars illuminated the dark sky.
Mountains could be seen on the distant horizon.
Have I slept for the entire day?
For a while, Han Xiao was slightly startled. He then put on his Facial Simulator and adjusted his face to that of a regular man from his memory. After which, he placed a mask over the Facial Simulator. He had always been this careful. Afterwards, he followed the trail of light and entered the carriage from the front.
The sound from the wind disappeared the moment he entered the carriage; noisy chatter filled his ears instead. He felt as if he had just transmigrated from the stone age to a modern civilization.
As soon as Han Xiao walked in, everyone stopped talking. Every pair of eyes was fixated on Han Xiao. They scanned him with curiosity.
Di Su Su was the first person to stand up. She moved her beautiful waist and moved seductively toward Han Xiao.
“So, you are Han Xiao?” she asked curiously.
“I think you’ve got the wrong person,” Han Xiao replied nonchalantly. Han Xiao knew that he would lose a lot of face if he answered all the questions directed at him truthfully.
Everyone’s face stiffened. What a blatant lie! Everyone was here in the cabin. Who else could he be‽
Li Ya Lin was instantly delighted as she saw the scheming Di Su Su getting rejected. She waved at Han Xiao. “Xiao Ge, come here and sit.”
Han Xiao nodded and moved beside Zhang Wei and the others. Li Ya Lin whispered to Han Xiao, “Great job! You just embarrassed that scheming Di Su Su.”
“Scheming?” Han Xiao was surprised by her description.
“That’s right. Di Su Su is a scheming, cunning, and sly snake!” Li Ya Lin said with a mouth full of detest.
Han Xiao squinted. “Are you describing yourself?”
Lin Yao could not agree more. However, he dared not add anything for fear being beaten up by Li Ya Lin. He secretly looked at Han Xiao with respect. That’s my Xiao Ge—full of balls—a courageous man who never filters his words.
When Di Su Su saw Li Ya Lin and Han Xiao’s intimate gestures, her face turned black. Traces of angered flashed in her eyes.
On the other side, Ma Qing Yang extended his hand and smiled. “Hey, brother. Nice to meet you. I’m Ma Qing Yang.”
Han Xiao shook his hand as he held back the enraged Lin Ya Lin, unflustered. “Technically, we never met.”
Ma Qing Yang was dumbfounded. He surveyed around Han Xiao’s mask, not knowing whether to laugh or cry. “Oh. You are right.”
Qi Bai Jia clapped his hand. “Since everyone is here, I will now explain the details of this mission. Field personnel please take your leave.”
Field personnel knew that this was the rule, so they left this carriage without hesitation. The place immediately quieted, as only the three covert ops teams and Qi Bai Jia were left inside.
“This is a joint mission between Hesla’s Intelligence Department and us. Hesla’s troops are stationed at the border, and they could move out at any moment. Our job here is to infiltrate the enemy base to gather information about their defenses so that we can provide the troops with intelligence support.
“Hesla has sent us a map of the Dark Crow Valley. This place is easy to hold but hard to attack, and with deep forests, we will not be able to locate the coordinates of the base with our satellites. We have zero information about their troop number and location. We can only attack from land.”
Everyone was very serious when it came to their mission. Di Su Su scratched her forehead and frowned. “This sounds like a heavily-guarded best. Is it possible for Hesla’s troops to storm the base on the ground?”
“They refused.” Qi Bai Jia shook his head.
Everyone understood the reason; as long as Hesla could take down the enemy with two thirds of their effort, they would never deploy their full strength. Furthermore, when there was too little information about enemy’s power and location, Hesla would not allow its troops to go in prematurely for fear of suffering too many casualties. The Covert Ops department would be brought in to do the dirty work like such an infiltration.
Li Ya Lin grumbled, “Then where is the infiltrating point?”
Qi Bai Jia pointed at a spot on the map. “On the west side of the valley, there is a large town called Crow’s Forest. The fact that they have the courage to build a town near a base of the Germinal Organization suggests that the two parties are colluding. Therefore, there must be a few scouts from the valley base stationed in the town. This is our opportunity to obtain crucial intelligence.
“And according to intelligence from the higher ups, there are three noteworthy enemies from the Dark Crow Valley base.”
Qi Bai Jia gave out a folder of information sheets to everyone. As everyone was reading through the sheets, he summarized the gist of the information. “Pan Kuang—head of the base, 35 years-old, Asian, E+ Pugilist—is one of the Germinal Organization’s executive officers. His weapon is a blade, nicknamed Blade-soul. His last recorded feat was three years ago, when he defeated twelve Theseus agents at the border alone. Four of them were superhumans.”
The page showed an emotionless man. He looked like any ordinary man but gave off an extremely fierce vibe.
“Ji Jie, deputy head, male, 29 years-old, mixed Asian and Caucasian, limited information. We only know that he seems to be a relative of the leader of the Wind Eye Organization, Ji Nuo.
“Dormund, captain of the security force, 43, from Raylen. He specializes in different firearms, and he is an extremely elite special agent. He used to lead a whole Night Owl squad.”
Doubt filled Ma Qing Yang’s face. “I thought we did not have much information regarding the internal situation of the base? Where did all this detailed information come from?”
Everyone was wondering the same thing.
Qi Bai Jia shook his head. “Not sure. The higher ups said it was classified.”
Everybody stopped their questioning.
Han Xiao pricked up his ears slightly. The source of this intel is sitting right beside you guys.
Qi Bai Jia added more pointers for everyone to take note. Suddenly, his tone changed. “For this combined exercise, Hesla will be sending teams of agents from the intelligence department. They will move with us when we meet at the rendezvous point.”
Zhang Wei’s expression became unnatural, and he questioned, “Agents from two countries working on this mission together?”
Qi Bai Jia was feeling embarrassed and coughed. “Yes.”
That was just courting trouble!
Hesla was unsatisfied with the intel from Stardragon. Also, they didn’t want to expend much of their own force, so they requested that Division 13 deploy manpower for this mission.
The agents looked at one another with unease. The relationship between the two countries were rather stale. The agents even seemed hostile toward one another. It seemed like the mission would turn out to be a flop.
None of this intel was useful for Han Xiao. He yawned and looked out of the window. He squinted after he caught sight of something. He immediately interrupted the discussion and shouted, “We are under attack by beasts!”
Everyone was stunned and could not react. The train vibrated violently, causing the agent to almost fall. At the same time, there wa
s a loud and horrible cry from the field personnel in the back carriage.
Chapter 71. Burn the Damn Creature |
The train rocked violently. The shaking came from the last carriage of the train. The Covert Ops agents, who were trying hard to maintain their footings, peeked out of the windows, and the sight in front of them was shocking.
Under the cover of darkness, a gargantuan black worm was coiled up around the last carriage. The worm’s body spanned over tens of meters, and it had a glossy, black exoskeleton that was composed of chitin, reflecting the moonlight.
The creature looked hideous. The head of the worm housed its gigantic mouth, with sharp teeth that continued way down into its throat. The worm was chewing on the metallic exterior of the train carriage, perforating the carriage’s exterior. An unfortunate agent ended up in the worm’s mouth, and in a brief moment, the screaming ended as the victim turned into minced meat.
Xiao Han felt a cold shiver. The bold ideas he previously had vanished instantly.
“It is the Dark Earthly Worm!” One could see the fear on Qi Bai Jia’s face.
Xiao Han drew his Berserk Eagle out from the holster and fired a shot at the worm. He tensed up the moment the stats of the worm flashed on the screen before his eyes.
_____________
The Dark Earthly Worm
Level: 48
(Infant stage) Lv. 10, (Adolescent stage) Lv. 10, (Adult stage) Lv. 10, (Mating stage) lv10, (???) Lv. 8
Age: 71 years old
Stats: STR 80, DEX ?, END ?, INT?, MYSTERY 1, LUCK 2
Energy: 0
Energy rank: ?
HP: ?
Abilities:
– Thick chitin exoskeleton: DEF +20
– Dark: +15% darkness attributes
– Large body: HP +1000, reduction of shock by 20%)
– Metal-chewing: additional 25% damage to metallic elements
– Rare blood of the Earthly Dragon: HP +2000, +10% defense against supernatural elements
– ???, ???, ??? …
Skills:
– Kill by Strangling Lv. 7
– Slither Lv. 10
– Rotating incisors Lv. 6
– Acid-spit Lv. 5
– ???, ???, ??? …
¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯¯
Xiao Han felt it was really unfair that even the monster had more luck than him.
“Fire!”
The agents fired their pistols. The gunshots were deafening. However, the bullets merely grazed the thick exoskeleton of the worm, causing almost no harm to it.
The wilderness of Aquamarine was especially dangerous. All sorts of ghastly creatures roamed in it. There were many cases from the past where these creatures brutally slaughtered towns and cities. Humans had to rely on their collective intelligence and wisdom to counter these creatures in order to stay at the top of the food-chain.
The Dark Earthly Worm had a long lifespan. Its length increased proportionately with its age. Under normal circumstances, it peacefully resided in darkness with little activity. However, it would be awakened by violent vibrations in the ground.
It became clear to the folks that the worm had been woken up by the noise of the passing train.
To prevent encounters with wild creatures, every rail line had maintenance personnel who would inspect the infrastructure and survey the traffic, which also included surveying the underground for signs of life. If the worm had come before the last survey, it meant that the personnel in charge had slacked and failed to inspect the ground thoroughly.
The agents, who were considered prey by the worm, reacted to the situation with shock by firing their pistols. However, the smaller bullets form the pistol dealt almost zero damage to the worm, whose defense points were way above one hundred.
All the explosives and Gatling guns were in the store carriage. However, the agents were unable to obtain these weapons. Their access to the store carriage was blocked by the worm. The situation was not optimistic for the agents.
Amidst the chaos, a strong gust of wind buffeted the carriage. Random items fell out and started drifting in the wind. The train tilted at an angle of fifteen degrees as sparks flew out from the base of the train screeching against the track. The carriage looked as if it would be flipped by the massive body of the worm at any moment.
“Move aside!” Li Ya Lin shouted as she leapt forward with the foldable machete in her hand. She channeled the flames of yellow energy and hacked hard into the worm’s exoskeleton. A crack was heard, and a distinct cut appeared on the worm’s body.
It was useful!
Pugilists could channel their internal energy to deal astonishing damage. In this case, the punches and kicks had immense power and worked effectively.
After a quick glance, Di Su Su also went forward. With the foldable machete in her hand, channeling the flames of green energy, she hacked hard and fast, like streaks of lightning. A small piece of exoskeleton fell off the worm, and a faint glow of green could be seen.
The worm showed no signs of apprehension. It had its thick flesh and armor for protection and was, therefore, especially calm. It subsequently shrank its body to give the carriage a harder squeeze.
The monsters on Aquamarine were ferocious, and many had stacked abilities that made them especially hardy. The worm was evidently a wild BOSS level creature, and without the firepower of the modern military, it would be difficult to slaughter the monster. The worm was a creature that required at least fifty players of the same level to defeat. However, there were some instances where the monster was defeated by solo players.
In two gulps, another two agents were swallowed by the worm. The flesh of humans tasted much better than that of the sandworms underground. The Dark Earthly Worm ground its teeth as if it had enjoyed the meal.
The agents were shivering, and the brutality of the predator caused many to almost collapse to the ground. At that instant, it seemed like humans had lost their intelligence and had been reduced to prey waiting for their fateful moments to arrive.
“Use fire, the worm is afraid of fire!” Di Su Su yelled.
The worm had poor eyesight and was especially sensitive to heat and sparkles of ember, which had a similar effect on the worm to flashbangs on humans.
The agents realized that if the situation remained stagnant for much longer, the train would be destroyed. The only solution was to use flames to push the worm back. Zhang Wei immediately took out the magazine housing the High-Explosive ammunition.
Bang!
Instantly, the impregnable exoskeleton of the worm started burning. The worm lost its composure and started wriggling violently. The flames and the temperature made it especially uncomfortable. It became as agitated as a restless baboon.
Xiao Han stood there steadily like a nail in a plank. The increasing magnitude of the jolts made him worry about the carriage flipping. Almost all of Division 13’s agents had purchased the High-Explosive rounds, so he was confident that they could handle the situation effectively without him getting involved.
The fire started growing on the worm, and in less than a moment’s time, the worm could no longer withstand the glaring ember. It gave a shriek and loosened its grip on the carriage. Following that, it tunneled into the ground. In a matter of seconds, it was deep in the ground, leaving only piles of dirt.
The agents that managed to escape the wrath of the monster were still feeling shocked and fearful. They collapsed onto the ground.
“We are saved!”
“We are not dead yet, not dead yet…”
“Mama, I miss you!”
Although the worm only appeared for a few minutes, the damage it had caused was immense. There were holes everywhere on the carriage. It was in a shambles. If the worm had not been chased away, the train along with its passengers would have… well, maybe not all of the passengers would have perished, but the train was definitely going to have been delayed.
Luckily, the
re was the High-Explosive ammunition. The folk all looked toward Xiao Han. One could sense the appreciation in their eyes.
Zhang Wei patted on Xiao Han’s shoulder. No words could describe his gratitude.
“If you want to thank me, just say it. I can’t really read minds.”
“…”
Everyone was speechless.
Xiao Han’s words completely destroyed the atmosphere.
The agents rested for a moment and started clearing up the mess.
The attack by the Dark Earthly Worm was ultimately a one-time incident, and the fact that only one of such accidents had occurred proved that the military rail line was safest.
The scenery outside the train’s windows was mainly mountains, dense forests, and loess plains, which gradually became boring.
Along the way, Xiao Han stationed himself in the large black carriage, practicing his energy training technique and machine manufacturing skill.
Three days later, the train arrived at the Hesla Border station.
Chapter 72. The Camp-Destroyer Mission |
Hesla and Stardragon belonged to the same continent. The more liberal culture on Hesla was perhaps due to the hot and humid climate. Even outside of the beaches, bikini girls and topless guys could be seen walking on the streets.
The train pulled in to the military train station. Looking through the window, a man in shades wearing a loose-fitting flowery shirt could be seen standing on the platform. He was probably the next point of contact.
Han Xiao alighted from the train together with the rest as Qi Bai Jia led the way. Qi Bai Jia walked up to the man and introduced himself. “I am Qi Bai Jia from the Stardragon’s Division 13.”
The man laughed and removed his shades. He had unshaven stubble and looked unkempt, as if he was a fishmonger from the market.
“I am Ye Fan from the Hesla Intelligence Department.”
Han Xiao was in disbelief.
Ye Fan‽
Which Ye Fan was he?
What exactly happened!
