Chapter 60: Secret Council
The convoy carried the scarred survivors back to Panshi City in the twilight.
Seeing the miserable state of the returning squad, the guards at the city gate immediately raised the alert level, and the wounded were given priority transport to the military medical zone. The major did not accompany them for treatment. Clutching the complete battlefield records and psychic waveform data, he headed straight for the war zone command headquarters.
After having their wounds treated, Lin Yan, Old Chen, and Su Qing sat in the rest room of the sanatorium.
The room was quiet, filled only with the faint hum of the ventilation fan in the corner. All three had sustained new injuries, and a heavy fatigue weighed down on their shoulders. Of the twenty-seven-man joint reconnaissance squad, only thirteen had made it out alive. The final roars of their teammates inside the rift still echoed in their ears.
"The major is submitting all the data personally this time, so the situation should be different from before," Su Qing said, her fingertip lightly tapping the screen of the detector where the psychic network map was saved. "Multiple waveform charts clearly show that multiple independent psychic sources are linked together, issuing commands synchronously. It is very difficult to explain this away as the herd instinct of a single high-tier scaled beast."
Old Chen leaned back in his chair, rubbing his still-aching calf. "But we can't guarantee that the high command will accept it. It takes immense courage to overturn the ingrained cognition formed over twenty-five years. Once they acknowledge the existence of an intelligent alien race underground, the defense strategies of all six war zones will have to be completely overhauled, involving too many resources and personnel."
Lin Yan sat quietly with his eyes closed, regulating his breathing to repair the depletion of his Sea of Consciousness.
Having forcefully disturbed the priest network node inside the rift earlier, his core had repeatedly oscillated. The barrier at the second-tier peak had become thin to the point of near-transparency, yet it still had not shattered. The bloody battle had been perilous enough, but it was still lacking that final spark of life-and-death impact to complete the breakthrough.
"Regardless of the high command's conclusion, we have obtained more solid indirect evidence," Lin Yan said slowly as he opened his eyes. "Even if this is still categorized as an anomalous biological phenomenon, there will undoubtedly be people within the high command who harbor doubts."
At the same time, in a sealed high-level conference room at the war zone command headquarters.
Only a few people were seated in the room—all top-tier military officers and psychic researchers from the Panshi City war zone. The major projected the battlefield footage, psychic monitoring waveforms, and verbal accounts from the squad members onto the large wall screen, providing a complete briefing on the Green Rock Rift hunting incident.
On the projection, several independent psychic sources intertwined to form a massive network, synchronously dispatching the scaled beast swarm across the entire rift. The traces of signal flow and node synchronization were clearly visible.
A psychic researcher stared at the map, brows tightly furrowed, repeatedly comparing it with all beast tide monitoring archives from the past twenty-five years.
"The collective psychic signals of the scaled beasts we previously observed were divergent, radiating outward from a single entity. But this record shows multi-source signals interconnecting and coordinating. There is information exchange between the signals," the researcher said in a grave tone. "Biological instinct can hardly form such a hierarchical command network."
A gray-haired major general lightly tapped his fingers on the desk. After a long silence, he asked, "Are you suggesting that there are intelligent beings underground with psychic communication capabilities, and that the scaled beasts are war weapons cultivated and controlled by them?"
"This is the most data-compliant speculation, but we still lack direct physical evidence. We have no footage capturing the true body of the alien race, and no live samples," the researcher answered honestly. "Psychic waveforms alone cannot serve as the final conclusion."
The conference room fell into a prolonged silence.
Everyone knew that if this conjecture was true, the nature of the twenty-five-year catastrophe would be completely rewritten. This would no longer be a disaster caused by the accidental emergence of underground alien beasts, but a premeditated, organized invasion by an alien race. All defense deployments, resource allocations, and combat readiness plans across the six war zones would need to be re-planned, and the cost would be incalculable.
"This material is classified as top secret and may only be accessed by the participants of this meeting," the major general finally decided. "It will not be made public, nor will it be reported to ordinary troops. A highly elite, covert exploration squad will be assembled to infiltrate the depths of the Green Rock Rift at an appropriate time to find direct evidence of intelligent life underground. The exploration squad's operations will be highly confidential."
The major spoke up, "What about Lin Yan and the other two? In both battles, they were the first to discover the anomaly in the beast swarm's dispatch. In this rift battle, it was also Lin Yan who disrupted the enemy's psychic network, giving us the chance to break out."
"Put them on the key observation list," the major general pondered for a moment. "Retain their authorization to execute missions. For future exploration operations, we can consider absorbing them as appropriate. But for now, do not reveal the contents of this high-level secret council to them. Continue to observe."
The resolution was made, and the meeting adjourned. The high command had not publicly acknowledged the existence of the underground alien race, but they had quietly initiated a verification plan.
A thousand meters underground, in the main nest of the Lizardmen.
Inside a massive rock cave, multiple Lizardmen priests sat around a psychic resonance array. Cold, dark blue light flowed across the rock walls, and countless psychic threads intertwined in the air. The intelligence regarding the failed hunt at the Green Rock Rift had been compiled.
Two consecutive assassination operations targeting Lin Yan had completely failed. This human's Sea of Consciousness was stuck at the second-tier peak, yet he possessed the ability to interfere with their psychic command network, making him a massive hidden danger. The priests understood that continuing to rely on small-scale ambushes would hardly eliminate him.
The chief priest, holding the highest status, released a thought that spread throughout the entire resonance array.
The human high command had already begun to suspect that there was a mastermind behind the rift. They did not have much time left. They could no longer sporadically consume their scaled beasts; they had to prepare for a massive beast tide spanning two war zones.
This time, it would no longer be a localized hunting probe within a single rift, but a large-scale assault to冲击 (strike) the human peripheral bastion strongholds. Amidst the turmoil and chaos of the human defensive lines, they would find an opportunity to personally eliminate Lin Yan. At the same time, they would use the beast tide to destroy the massive number of monitoring stations the humans had deployed on the outer perimeter, delaying humanity's progress in exploring underground.
Psychic thoughts flowed through the rock cave as the assassination plan slowly unfolded.
Inside the rest room of the sanatorium, the conversation among the three was drawing to a close.
A notification from the war zone came through their communicators: a review meeting for the Green Rock Rift mission would be held in three days. Lin Yan would attend as the representative of the participating squad members.
"The high command wants to see us," Su Qing said, looking at the communication message. "I don't know if it's a good thing or a trap."
"It's an opportunity," Lin Yan said, standing up and looking out the window at the towering Panshi City walls. "Doubts have already taken root in their minds. We can use this review meeting to continue guiding them and seek the opportunity to join the deep rift exploration mission. Only by going deep underground can we obtain decisive evidence."
Old Chen stood up as well, gripping the hilt of his long knife. "No matter what the underground alien race is preparing, we will face it."
Outside the wasteland, deep within the earth's rifts, darkness was gathering its strength.
A massive beast tide that would sweep across two war zones was quietly brewing beneath the rock strata.
End of Chapter.
Seeing the miserable state of the returning squad, the guards at the city gate immediately raised the alert level, and the wounded were given priority transport to the military medical zone. The major did not accompany them for treatment. Clutching the complete battlefield records and psychic waveform data, he headed straight for the war zone command headquarters.
After having their wounds treated, Lin Yan, Old Chen, and Su Qing sat in the rest room of the sanatorium.
The room was quiet, filled only with the faint hum of the ventilation fan in the corner. All three had sustained new injuries, and a heavy fatigue weighed down on their shoulders. Of the twenty-seven-man joint reconnaissance squad, only thirteen had made it out alive. The final roars of their teammates inside the rift still echoed in their ears.
"The major is submitting all the data personally this time, so the situation should be different from before," Su Qing said, her fingertip lightly tapping the screen of the detector where the psychic network map was saved. "Multiple waveform charts clearly show that multiple independent psychic sources are linked together, issuing commands synchronously. It is very difficult to explain this away as the herd instinct of a single high-tier scaled beast."
Old Chen leaned back in his chair, rubbing his still-aching calf. "But we can't guarantee that the high command will accept it. It takes immense courage to overturn the ingrained cognition formed over twenty-five years. Once they acknowledge the existence of an intelligent alien race underground, the defense strategies of all six war zones will have to be completely overhauled, involving too many resources and personnel."
Lin Yan sat quietly with his eyes closed, regulating his breathing to repair the depletion of his Sea of Consciousness.
Having forcefully disturbed the priest network node inside the rift earlier, his core had repeatedly oscillated. The barrier at the second-tier peak had become thin to the point of near-transparency, yet it still had not shattered. The bloody battle had been perilous enough, but it was still lacking that final spark of life-and-death impact to complete the breakthrough.
"Regardless of the high command's conclusion, we have obtained more solid indirect evidence," Lin Yan said slowly as he opened his eyes. "Even if this is still categorized as an anomalous biological phenomenon, there will undoubtedly be people within the high command who harbor doubts."
At the same time, in a sealed high-level conference room at the war zone command headquarters.
Only a few people were seated in the room—all top-tier military officers and psychic researchers from the Panshi City war zone. The major projected the battlefield footage, psychic monitoring waveforms, and verbal accounts from the squad members onto the large wall screen, providing a complete briefing on the Green Rock Rift hunting incident.
On the projection, several independent psychic sources intertwined to form a massive network, synchronously dispatching the scaled beast swarm across the entire rift. The traces of signal flow and node synchronization were clearly visible.
A psychic researcher stared at the map, brows tightly furrowed, repeatedly comparing it with all beast tide monitoring archives from the past twenty-five years.
"The collective psychic signals of the scaled beasts we previously observed were divergent, radiating outward from a single entity. But this record shows multi-source signals interconnecting and coordinating. There is information exchange between the signals," the researcher said in a grave tone. "Biological instinct can hardly form such a hierarchical command network."
A gray-haired major general lightly tapped his fingers on the desk. After a long silence, he asked, "Are you suggesting that there are intelligent beings underground with psychic communication capabilities, and that the scaled beasts are war weapons cultivated and controlled by them?"
"This is the most data-compliant speculation, but we still lack direct physical evidence. We have no footage capturing the true body of the alien race, and no live samples," the researcher answered honestly. "Psychic waveforms alone cannot serve as the final conclusion."
The conference room fell into a prolonged silence.
Everyone knew that if this conjecture was true, the nature of the twenty-five-year catastrophe would be completely rewritten. This would no longer be a disaster caused by the accidental emergence of underground alien beasts, but a premeditated, organized invasion by an alien race. All defense deployments, resource allocations, and combat readiness plans across the six war zones would need to be re-planned, and the cost would be incalculable.
"This material is classified as top secret and may only be accessed by the participants of this meeting," the major general finally decided. "It will not be made public, nor will it be reported to ordinary troops. A highly elite, covert exploration squad will be assembled to infiltrate the depths of the Green Rock Rift at an appropriate time to find direct evidence of intelligent life underground. The exploration squad's operations will be highly confidential."
The major spoke up, "What about Lin Yan and the other two? In both battles, they were the first to discover the anomaly in the beast swarm's dispatch. In this rift battle, it was also Lin Yan who disrupted the enemy's psychic network, giving us the chance to break out."
"Put them on the key observation list," the major general pondered for a moment. "Retain their authorization to execute missions. For future exploration operations, we can consider absorbing them as appropriate. But for now, do not reveal the contents of this high-level secret council to them. Continue to observe."
The resolution was made, and the meeting adjourned. The high command had not publicly acknowledged the existence of the underground alien race, but they had quietly initiated a verification plan.
A thousand meters underground, in the main nest of the Lizardmen.
Inside a massive rock cave, multiple Lizardmen priests sat around a psychic resonance array. Cold, dark blue light flowed across the rock walls, and countless psychic threads intertwined in the air. The intelligence regarding the failed hunt at the Green Rock Rift had been compiled.
Two consecutive assassination operations targeting Lin Yan had completely failed. This human's Sea of Consciousness was stuck at the second-tier peak, yet he possessed the ability to interfere with their psychic command network, making him a massive hidden danger. The priests understood that continuing to rely on small-scale ambushes would hardly eliminate him.
The chief priest, holding the highest status, released a thought that spread throughout the entire resonance array.
The human high command had already begun to suspect that there was a mastermind behind the rift. They did not have much time left. They could no longer sporadically consume their scaled beasts; they had to prepare for a massive beast tide spanning two war zones.
This time, it would no longer be a localized hunting probe within a single rift, but a large-scale assault to冲击 (strike) the human peripheral bastion strongholds. Amidst the turmoil and chaos of the human defensive lines, they would find an opportunity to personally eliminate Lin Yan. At the same time, they would use the beast tide to destroy the massive number of monitoring stations the humans had deployed on the outer perimeter, delaying humanity's progress in exploring underground.
Psychic thoughts flowed through the rock cave as the assassination plan slowly unfolded.
Inside the rest room of the sanatorium, the conversation among the three was drawing to a close.
A notification from the war zone came through their communicators: a review meeting for the Green Rock Rift mission would be held in three days. Lin Yan would attend as the representative of the participating squad members.
"The high command wants to see us," Su Qing said, looking at the communication message. "I don't know if it's a good thing or a trap."
"It's an opportunity," Lin Yan said, standing up and looking out the window at the towering Panshi City walls. "Doubts have already taken root in their minds. We can use this review meeting to continue guiding them and seek the opportunity to join the deep rift exploration mission. Only by going deep underground can we obtain decisive evidence."
Old Chen stood up as well, gripping the hilt of his long knife. "No matter what the underground alien race is preparing, we will face it."
Outside the wasteland, deep within the earth's rifts, darkness was gathering its strength.
A massive beast tide that would sweep across two war zones was quietly brewing beneath the rock strata.
End of Chapter.