Chapter 31: Undercurrents in the Bastion
The military off-road vehicles crunched over the dirt road, entering the south gate of the bastion at dusk.
The towering, thick concrete walls stood between heaven and earth. The Sea of Consciousness early-warning devices arrayed atop the walls slowly circulated with a faint blue light, while patrolling soldiers paced back and forth with their weapons. The air was filled with the unique, taut tension of a city on a wartime footing. The sentry post at the city gate strictly verified the squad's identities and supplies; only after confirming there were no anomalies did the vehicles slowly drive into the city.
Pedestrians flowed through the streets, mostly war zone personnel, logistics craftsmen, and wounded from the field hospital. The exterior walls of the street-facing buildings were covered with reinforcing steel frames, and Sea of Consciousness training halls, ammunition depots, and supply stations were visible everywhere. The lives of the civilians were tightly dependent on the operation of the war zone, and the shadow of war permeated every corner of this city.
The squad's vehicle finally stopped in front of the war zone command center building. Everyone got off in turn, carrying the data chips and battlefield records collected during this patrol mission, and entered the building to submit their mission reports.
The interior of the command center was brightly lit. Holographic screens scrolled with monitoring data for the entire Black Mountain region, with each wave representing the intensity of psychic activity from the scaled beasts in various parts of the rift. Instructor Zhou led the squad into the briefing room, submitting the deployment records of the beacons, the combat logs from the ambush encounter, and the data on the anomalous psychic fluctuations from the third-tier scaled beast's long-range tailing.
The research institute researcher responsible for receiving the report pulled up the psychic wave map. His finger slid across the holographic screen, and his brow furrowed slightly.
"The psychic field of the third-tier scaled beast is very strange," the researcher muttered to himself, staring at the wave curve. "The psychic pressure released solely by the scaled beast itself would fluctuate with its emotional state—frenzied and chaotic. But in this record, the long-range psychic signal is extremely stable, as if there is an underlying signal continuously regulating it."
Instructor Zhou spoke up from the side. "Could it be an individual mutation? This third-tier scaled beast escaped with injuries last time; perhaps its psychic structure has changed."
"We can only classify and archive it as such for now," the researcher shook his head, storing the data in the database. "The current theoretical framework cannot explain it, but we don't have enough evidence to propose a new hypothesis. We will continue to monitor the signal changes in the Black Mountain rift. Your squad should return to rest and stand by."
The researcher simply assumed it was a special mutation of an individual high-level scaled beast, completely failing to associate it with the deeper underground, where a Lizardman civilization was transmitting orders through the Seas of Consciousness of the scaled beasts. This massive truth remained buried in the darkness beneath the earth; humanity's cognition was still stuck at the stage of believing the scaled beasts were native subterranean mutant beasts.
After the mission report was completed, the squad was dismissed on the spot.
Su Qing went to the field hospital for a follow-up check on her Sea of Consciousness, and the two veterans returned to their own barracks. Lin Yan returned alone to his small, single dormitory. The room was simply furnished with an iron bed and a wooden desk, and a basic Sea of Consciousness training device stood in the corner.
He put down his energy rifle and short blade, removed his gear, and sat down in meditation to regulate his breathing.
Closing his eyes, he turned his awareness inward to inspect his Sea of Consciousness. The pale white barrier was covered in dense, old cracks, but after resting along the way, the cracks had stopped expanding. The bottleneck of the second-tier peak was still solid, with no signs of the core loosening. However, after this Black Mountain patrol, his abilities in long-range perception and layered defense against psychic pressure had taken another solid step forward.
For the next few days, he returned to his daily routine.
During the day, Lin Yan went to the war zone training hall to cultivate. He no longer simulated close-range, explosive psychic stings; instead, he focused on practicing the identification of faint, long-range psychic signals. The training device randomly projected chaotic psychic waves mixed together, interspersed with stings from low-level scaled beasts, long-range pressure from high-level scaled beasts, and the faint environmental psychic noise from the rocks and vegetation themselves.
He practiced extending extremely fine mental tentacles, precisely distinguishing the characteristics of different signals within the noisy ocean of data.
Many new recruits habitually spread out their Sea of Consciousness over a large area during training—a simple and crude method, but one with massive consumption that made them easy targets to be locked onto by high-level scaled beasts. Combining his practical experience of being trailed by the third-tier scaled beast, Lin Yan deliberately practiced perception tentacles as thin as silk threads. The consumption was extremely low, and the concealment was strong, making it perfect for wilderness patrols.
The instructor in charge of training passed by, observed the waves on the instrument's screen for a while, and offered a comment.
"You've chosen a very steady path. At the second-tier peak, you aren't forcefully trying to break through to the third tier, but are专心 (dedicated) to polishing your perception and defense. Many new recruits are eager to break through and desperately overdraw their Seas of Consciousness to force a breakthrough, only to damage their cores and remain stuck in place for life." The instructor paused. "Remember, the third tier is a watershed. Before the third tier, relying on continuous training and accumulation from controlled battlefields gives you the opportunity to steadily improve. But once you cross the third tier, simple simulation training and low-risk patrol missions will hardly bring further progress; you must face true, life-and-death extremities, tempering your Sea of Consciousness through mortal peril."
"Noted," Lin Yan replied calmly.
In the evenings, when he returned to his dormitory, he would practice his ancient martial arts breathing techniques. The long, continuous flow of energy slowly circulated within his body, soothing his physical exhaustion and calming his mind. This ancient martial art from his previous plane could not directly elevate his Sea of Consciousness tier, but it allowed him to hold onto his true heart under psychic impacts, making his mind less prone to collapse. This was Lin Yan's unique trump card, one that no one else could replicate.
In his spare time, he would browse the war zone's publicly available archives. They recorded cases of rift eruptions and scaled beast attacks since the catastrophe twenty-five years ago, along with a vast amount of psychic wave maps of the scaled beasts.
Lin Yan carefully studied the pages one by one, comparing them with his own practical combat experiences from his two stints on the Black Mountain frontline. He noticed that many of the coordinated behaviors of high-level scaled beasts were simply attributed to tribal instinct in the archives. A faint sense of unease stirred in his heart, but without any clues pointing to the subterranean Lizardmen, he could only temporarily suppress this doubt.
The few days of rest passed without a ripple.
The war zone's orders had not yet arrived; no one knew if the next mission would be wilderness patrol or some other arrangement. But the briefings within the bastion city were updated daily, and the activity data of the scaled beasts in the Black Mountain rift continued to rise slowly. On the holographic screens in the command center, the curve of psychic fluctuations in that area was climbing upward, bit by bit.
Those eyes beneath the earth had not stopped observing just because the squad had retreated. A greater undercurrent was quietly brewing deep within the earth.
End of Chapter
The towering, thick concrete walls stood between heaven and earth. The Sea of Consciousness early-warning devices arrayed atop the walls slowly circulated with a faint blue light, while patrolling soldiers paced back and forth with their weapons. The air was filled with the unique, taut tension of a city on a wartime footing. The sentry post at the city gate strictly verified the squad's identities and supplies; only after confirming there were no anomalies did the vehicles slowly drive into the city.
Pedestrians flowed through the streets, mostly war zone personnel, logistics craftsmen, and wounded from the field hospital. The exterior walls of the street-facing buildings were covered with reinforcing steel frames, and Sea of Consciousness training halls, ammunition depots, and supply stations were visible everywhere. The lives of the civilians were tightly dependent on the operation of the war zone, and the shadow of war permeated every corner of this city.
The squad's vehicle finally stopped in front of the war zone command center building. Everyone got off in turn, carrying the data chips and battlefield records collected during this patrol mission, and entered the building to submit their mission reports.
The interior of the command center was brightly lit. Holographic screens scrolled with monitoring data for the entire Black Mountain region, with each wave representing the intensity of psychic activity from the scaled beasts in various parts of the rift. Instructor Zhou led the squad into the briefing room, submitting the deployment records of the beacons, the combat logs from the ambush encounter, and the data on the anomalous psychic fluctuations from the third-tier scaled beast's long-range tailing.
The research institute researcher responsible for receiving the report pulled up the psychic wave map. His finger slid across the holographic screen, and his brow furrowed slightly.
"The psychic field of the third-tier scaled beast is very strange," the researcher muttered to himself, staring at the wave curve. "The psychic pressure released solely by the scaled beast itself would fluctuate with its emotional state—frenzied and chaotic. But in this record, the long-range psychic signal is extremely stable, as if there is an underlying signal continuously regulating it."
Instructor Zhou spoke up from the side. "Could it be an individual mutation? This third-tier scaled beast escaped with injuries last time; perhaps its psychic structure has changed."
"We can only classify and archive it as such for now," the researcher shook his head, storing the data in the database. "The current theoretical framework cannot explain it, but we don't have enough evidence to propose a new hypothesis. We will continue to monitor the signal changes in the Black Mountain rift. Your squad should return to rest and stand by."
The researcher simply assumed it was a special mutation of an individual high-level scaled beast, completely failing to associate it with the deeper underground, where a Lizardman civilization was transmitting orders through the Seas of Consciousness of the scaled beasts. This massive truth remained buried in the darkness beneath the earth; humanity's cognition was still stuck at the stage of believing the scaled beasts were native subterranean mutant beasts.
After the mission report was completed, the squad was dismissed on the spot.
Su Qing went to the field hospital for a follow-up check on her Sea of Consciousness, and the two veterans returned to their own barracks. Lin Yan returned alone to his small, single dormitory. The room was simply furnished with an iron bed and a wooden desk, and a basic Sea of Consciousness training device stood in the corner.
He put down his energy rifle and short blade, removed his gear, and sat down in meditation to regulate his breathing.
Closing his eyes, he turned his awareness inward to inspect his Sea of Consciousness. The pale white barrier was covered in dense, old cracks, but after resting along the way, the cracks had stopped expanding. The bottleneck of the second-tier peak was still solid, with no signs of the core loosening. However, after this Black Mountain patrol, his abilities in long-range perception and layered defense against psychic pressure had taken another solid step forward.
For the next few days, he returned to his daily routine.
During the day, Lin Yan went to the war zone training hall to cultivate. He no longer simulated close-range, explosive psychic stings; instead, he focused on practicing the identification of faint, long-range psychic signals. The training device randomly projected chaotic psychic waves mixed together, interspersed with stings from low-level scaled beasts, long-range pressure from high-level scaled beasts, and the faint environmental psychic noise from the rocks and vegetation themselves.
He practiced extending extremely fine mental tentacles, precisely distinguishing the characteristics of different signals within the noisy ocean of data.
Many new recruits habitually spread out their Sea of Consciousness over a large area during training—a simple and crude method, but one with massive consumption that made them easy targets to be locked onto by high-level scaled beasts. Combining his practical experience of being trailed by the third-tier scaled beast, Lin Yan deliberately practiced perception tentacles as thin as silk threads. The consumption was extremely low, and the concealment was strong, making it perfect for wilderness patrols.
The instructor in charge of training passed by, observed the waves on the instrument's screen for a while, and offered a comment.
"You've chosen a very steady path. At the second-tier peak, you aren't forcefully trying to break through to the third tier, but are专心 (dedicated) to polishing your perception and defense. Many new recruits are eager to break through and desperately overdraw their Seas of Consciousness to force a breakthrough, only to damage their cores and remain stuck in place for life." The instructor paused. "Remember, the third tier is a watershed. Before the third tier, relying on continuous training and accumulation from controlled battlefields gives you the opportunity to steadily improve. But once you cross the third tier, simple simulation training and low-risk patrol missions will hardly bring further progress; you must face true, life-and-death extremities, tempering your Sea of Consciousness through mortal peril."
"Noted," Lin Yan replied calmly.
In the evenings, when he returned to his dormitory, he would practice his ancient martial arts breathing techniques. The long, continuous flow of energy slowly circulated within his body, soothing his physical exhaustion and calming his mind. This ancient martial art from his previous plane could not directly elevate his Sea of Consciousness tier, but it allowed him to hold onto his true heart under psychic impacts, making his mind less prone to collapse. This was Lin Yan's unique trump card, one that no one else could replicate.
In his spare time, he would browse the war zone's publicly available archives. They recorded cases of rift eruptions and scaled beast attacks since the catastrophe twenty-five years ago, along with a vast amount of psychic wave maps of the scaled beasts.
Lin Yan carefully studied the pages one by one, comparing them with his own practical combat experiences from his two stints on the Black Mountain frontline. He noticed that many of the coordinated behaviors of high-level scaled beasts were simply attributed to tribal instinct in the archives. A faint sense of unease stirred in his heart, but without any clues pointing to the subterranean Lizardmen, he could only temporarily suppress this doubt.
The few days of rest passed without a ripple.
The war zone's orders had not yet arrived; no one knew if the next mission would be wilderness patrol or some other arrangement. But the briefings within the bastion city were updated daily, and the activity data of the scaled beasts in the Black Mountain rift continued to rise slowly. On the holographic screens in the command center, the curve of psychic fluctuations in that area was climbing upward, bit by bit.
Those eyes beneath the earth had not stopped observing just because the squad had retreated. A greater undercurrent was quietly brewing deep within the earth.
End of Chapter