Chapter 62: Pre-Battle Intensive Training
Piercing sirens hovered over the sky of Panshi City, and red warning lights flashed continuously on both sides of the streets. The originally orderly city district instantly transitioned into a wartime state. Combat troops quickly boarded their vehicles and rushed to the outer strongholds, while logistics personnel hurriedly transported ammunition, psychic stabilizers, and emergency medical supplies.
The broadcast repeatedly announced the news of attacks on multiple outposts in the wasteland, its tone growing graver each time.
"Outpost No. 3 on the north side of the Green Rock Rift is under a massive scaled beast attack! Requesting fire support!"
"The psychic monitoring equipment at the western warning station has been destroyed! Communications are severed!"
"Multiple wasteland monitoring beacons have gone offline. The beast swarm is moving toward the outer defense line of Panshi City!"
Old Chen stood in the corridor of the sanatorium, watching the military vehicles shuttling back and forth outside the window, his brows tightly furrowed. "They've made their move. Attacking multiple outer outposts simultaneously is to disperse the garrison forces of Panshi City. Once the main forces are restrained on the outer perimeter, the exploration squad will no longer receive any reinforcements once they delve deep into the rift."
Holding the newly issued training schedule, Su Qing swiped her fingertips across the densely packed items. "The war zone has compressed the training cycle to just two days. The content includes marching through complex rift terrain, psychic resistance special training, emergency medical treatment, and a set of communication emergency plans for the underground rock layer environment. The exploration squad consists of eight people in total. Besides the three of us, the other five are veterans with a fourth-tier Sea of Consciousness, possessing ample combat experience."
Lin Yan nodded slightly, sinking his mind into the interior of his Sea of Consciousness.
The barrier at the second-tier peak, tempered by the previous rift battle, had become extremely thin. Endless psychic power swirled and crashed within his Sea of Consciousness. With every circulation, it gently struck the barrier blocking his advance to the third tier. Yet, lacking that final spark of a life-and-death crisis, it still could not break through.
"The two-day training is not meant to boost combat power," Lin Yan said slowly. "It is to integrate squad coordination and familiarize ourselves with the underground environment. The Lizardmen are aware of the existence of our exploration squad. There will undoubtedly be layers of traps set deep within the rift. The multi-pronged beast tide is merely a feint; the true target is us, who are entering underground."
The next morning, the intensive training commenced in a closed training ground inside the bastion.
The venue simulated the dim environment of an underground rift. The rock walls were rough, and narrow, branching passages were everywhere. All eight exploration squad members assembled. The team leader was a major named Lu Heng, at the peak of the fourth-tier Sea of Consciousness. Having participated in numerous rift cleansing missions, he was calm and highly experienced.
Lu Heng stood before everyone, holding an alloy long knife, his gaze sweeping over each member of the squad.
"Gentlemen, I don't need to elaborate on the nature of this mission. Our objective is to delve deep into the main passage of the Green Rock Rift to find direct evidence of intelligent entities controlling things underground. Unauthorized separation from the squad is strictly prohibited throughout the mission. Once encountering a large-scale scaled beast swarm, prioritize preserving our personnel and do not engage in prolonged combat." Lu Heng paused, emphasizing a key point, "There is a large-scale psychic network underground. Everyone must continuously maintain their Sea of Consciousness defenses to prevent psychic signals from quietly infiltrating."
The training was divided into multiple modules and conducted alternately.
The morning session focused on psychic resistance special training.
Inside the sealed rooms of the training ground, low-intensity psychic interference was continuously released, simulating the omnipresent psychic probing of the underground Lizardmen priests. The other team members were doing their best to erect their Sea of Consciousness barriers to resist the psychic impacts. Lin Yan, however, took a different approach. He continued to practice the retraction and release of his psychic threads. He compressed the threads to the ultimate extreme of fineness, bypassing the interference sources, and attempted to locate hidden psychic nodes amidst the psychic noise.
Lu Heng noticed Lin Yan's unique training method and walked over to his side.
"Your Sea of Consciousness level is only at the second-tier peak, but the precision of your psychic perception far exceeds that of many fourth-tier warriors," Lu Heng said in a low voice. "The war zone archives record that you can interfere with the enemy's psychic command network. For this mission, your perception ability is one of the squad's most important assets, but it will also make you the primary target for the aliens to hunt. You must protect yourself."
"I understand," Lin Yan replied calmly.
The afternoon session covered rift terrain marching and close-quarters combat.
The simulated passages were narrow and space was limited, making large-scale maneuvers impossible and making it highly suitable for scaled beasts to launch close-range surprise attacks. Old Chen's long knife employed broad, sweeping movements as he adjusted to the most suitable defensive rhythm in the narrow passages. Su Qing practiced maintaining continuous psychic waveform collection with her detector while engaging in fierce close-quarters combat. The other five veterans each had their own specialties; some excelled in explosive clearing, while others were proficient in battlefield first aid.
The squad continuously integrated their formation and drilled response plans for ambushes: once attacked by a beast swarm, immediately form a circular defense, have the detector prioritize locking onto the psychic source, and have the explosives expert seal off the retreat route to prevent being divided and surrounded.
During the rest break, several veterans sat together and chatted.
They only knew that this mission carried extremely high risks and required delving deep into the rift's hinterland; they were unaware of the existence of the underground Lizardmen.
"I heard this outer beast tide came out of nowhere. They attacked multiple places simultaneously, and the scaled beasts coordinated like an army," a scarred veteran said as he wiped his short blade. "In the past, beast tides just rushed in a chaotic mess. When did they ever know how to attack outposts via different routes to disperse the defending forces?"
Another person sighed. "Who knows? The strange occurrences in the wasteland rifts are getting more and more frequent. I just hope we can return safely from this mission."
Lin Yan sat to the side with his eyes closed, regulating his breathing. His psychic threads silently extended outward, attempting to sense the psychic fluctuations beneath the distant wasteland.
Beneath the entire Green Rock Rift, that massive psychic spiderweb was still continuously expanding. Part of the computing power was used to dispatch the outer scaled beasts to keep attacking the outposts and restrain the Panshi City garrison. The vast majority of the computing power, however, was concentrated inside the main passage of the rift, setting up nodes layer by layer, waiting for the exploration squad to step in.
He could vaguely sense that not just three priests were standing by in the depths of the rift. There was even a more ancient, heavy, and cold will lurking beneath the deeper rock strata. It was not participating in the outer command, as if quietly waiting for their arrival.
"There is an even stronger existence inside," Lin Yan judged silently in his heart.
By dusk on the second day, the intensive training concluded entirely. Lu Heng gathered everyone for the final mission briefing and distributed specialized equipment: rock-penetrating detectors, high-explosive rock plug bombs, portable psychic capture recorders, emergency Sea of Consciousness stabilizers, and high-intensity lighting equipment.
"We depart secretly at 3:00 AM," Lu Heng said in a lowered voice. "We will not take the regular reconnaissance vehicle route. We will take a detour through the hidden valley on the north side of the wasteland to avoid the scaled beasts roaming around the outer perimeter of the rift."
After the meeting dispersed, Old Chen, Su Qing, and Lin Yan remained in the training ground. The sky had already darkened, and intermittent artillery booms echoed from the direction of the distant wasteland; the battle at the outer outposts was still ongoing.
"The fiercer the outer battle is, the shorter the window for us to delve deep into the rift will be," Su Qing said as she adjusted the recorder in her hand. "Once the outer outposts fall and the beast tide reaches the walls of Panshi City, the war zone will immediately recall all field squads."
"The Lizardmen don't have much time either," Lin Yan said, raising his eyes to look in the direction of the Green Rock Rift. "They have set up multi-layered ambushes. The deeper we go into the rift, the more lethal the traps will be. The final core area will most likely be the location of that ancient will. If we can reach there, perhaps we can capture the true body of the alien race and obtain decisive evidence."
Old Chen gripped his long knife tightly, his eyes resolute. "No matter what is waiting for us, we must obtain the evidence on this trip. We cannot let the sacrifices of our fallen teammates be in vain."
As night grew deeper, Panshi City remained brightly lit, and the defensive artillery on the city walls was continuously aimed toward the wasteland. Everyone was closely watching the movements of the outer beast tide. Few people knew that an eight-man squad was about to depart quietly at dawn, stepping into the hinterland of the underground alien nest that had been cultivated for twenty-five years.
Deep within the rock strata, the Lizardmen chief priest sensed the signal that the exploration squad was about to depart.
Cold thoughts spread to all nodes. The outer scaled beasts would continue their fierce attacks to drag down the main forces of Panshi City. All ambushes inside the rift were fully in position, quietly waiting for the human squad to step into this meticulously prepared maze of death.
End of Chapter.
The broadcast repeatedly announced the news of attacks on multiple outposts in the wasteland, its tone growing graver each time.
"Outpost No. 3 on the north side of the Green Rock Rift is under a massive scaled beast attack! Requesting fire support!"
"The psychic monitoring equipment at the western warning station has been destroyed! Communications are severed!"
"Multiple wasteland monitoring beacons have gone offline. The beast swarm is moving toward the outer defense line of Panshi City!"
Old Chen stood in the corridor of the sanatorium, watching the military vehicles shuttling back and forth outside the window, his brows tightly furrowed. "They've made their move. Attacking multiple outer outposts simultaneously is to disperse the garrison forces of Panshi City. Once the main forces are restrained on the outer perimeter, the exploration squad will no longer receive any reinforcements once they delve deep into the rift."
Holding the newly issued training schedule, Su Qing swiped her fingertips across the densely packed items. "The war zone has compressed the training cycle to just two days. The content includes marching through complex rift terrain, psychic resistance special training, emergency medical treatment, and a set of communication emergency plans for the underground rock layer environment. The exploration squad consists of eight people in total. Besides the three of us, the other five are veterans with a fourth-tier Sea of Consciousness, possessing ample combat experience."
Lin Yan nodded slightly, sinking his mind into the interior of his Sea of Consciousness.
The barrier at the second-tier peak, tempered by the previous rift battle, had become extremely thin. Endless psychic power swirled and crashed within his Sea of Consciousness. With every circulation, it gently struck the barrier blocking his advance to the third tier. Yet, lacking that final spark of a life-and-death crisis, it still could not break through.
"The two-day training is not meant to boost combat power," Lin Yan said slowly. "It is to integrate squad coordination and familiarize ourselves with the underground environment. The Lizardmen are aware of the existence of our exploration squad. There will undoubtedly be layers of traps set deep within the rift. The multi-pronged beast tide is merely a feint; the true target is us, who are entering underground."
The next morning, the intensive training commenced in a closed training ground inside the bastion.
The venue simulated the dim environment of an underground rift. The rock walls were rough, and narrow, branching passages were everywhere. All eight exploration squad members assembled. The team leader was a major named Lu Heng, at the peak of the fourth-tier Sea of Consciousness. Having participated in numerous rift cleansing missions, he was calm and highly experienced.
Lu Heng stood before everyone, holding an alloy long knife, his gaze sweeping over each member of the squad.
"Gentlemen, I don't need to elaborate on the nature of this mission. Our objective is to delve deep into the main passage of the Green Rock Rift to find direct evidence of intelligent entities controlling things underground. Unauthorized separation from the squad is strictly prohibited throughout the mission. Once encountering a large-scale scaled beast swarm, prioritize preserving our personnel and do not engage in prolonged combat." Lu Heng paused, emphasizing a key point, "There is a large-scale psychic network underground. Everyone must continuously maintain their Sea of Consciousness defenses to prevent psychic signals from quietly infiltrating."
The training was divided into multiple modules and conducted alternately.
The morning session focused on psychic resistance special training.
Inside the sealed rooms of the training ground, low-intensity psychic interference was continuously released, simulating the omnipresent psychic probing of the underground Lizardmen priests. The other team members were doing their best to erect their Sea of Consciousness barriers to resist the psychic impacts. Lin Yan, however, took a different approach. He continued to practice the retraction and release of his psychic threads. He compressed the threads to the ultimate extreme of fineness, bypassing the interference sources, and attempted to locate hidden psychic nodes amidst the psychic noise.
Lu Heng noticed Lin Yan's unique training method and walked over to his side.
"Your Sea of Consciousness level is only at the second-tier peak, but the precision of your psychic perception far exceeds that of many fourth-tier warriors," Lu Heng said in a low voice. "The war zone archives record that you can interfere with the enemy's psychic command network. For this mission, your perception ability is one of the squad's most important assets, but it will also make you the primary target for the aliens to hunt. You must protect yourself."
"I understand," Lin Yan replied calmly.
The afternoon session covered rift terrain marching and close-quarters combat.
The simulated passages were narrow and space was limited, making large-scale maneuvers impossible and making it highly suitable for scaled beasts to launch close-range surprise attacks. Old Chen's long knife employed broad, sweeping movements as he adjusted to the most suitable defensive rhythm in the narrow passages. Su Qing practiced maintaining continuous psychic waveform collection with her detector while engaging in fierce close-quarters combat. The other five veterans each had their own specialties; some excelled in explosive clearing, while others were proficient in battlefield first aid.
The squad continuously integrated their formation and drilled response plans for ambushes: once attacked by a beast swarm, immediately form a circular defense, have the detector prioritize locking onto the psychic source, and have the explosives expert seal off the retreat route to prevent being divided and surrounded.
During the rest break, several veterans sat together and chatted.
They only knew that this mission carried extremely high risks and required delving deep into the rift's hinterland; they were unaware of the existence of the underground Lizardmen.
"I heard this outer beast tide came out of nowhere. They attacked multiple places simultaneously, and the scaled beasts coordinated like an army," a scarred veteran said as he wiped his short blade. "In the past, beast tides just rushed in a chaotic mess. When did they ever know how to attack outposts via different routes to disperse the defending forces?"
Another person sighed. "Who knows? The strange occurrences in the wasteland rifts are getting more and more frequent. I just hope we can return safely from this mission."
Lin Yan sat to the side with his eyes closed, regulating his breathing. His psychic threads silently extended outward, attempting to sense the psychic fluctuations beneath the distant wasteland.
Beneath the entire Green Rock Rift, that massive psychic spiderweb was still continuously expanding. Part of the computing power was used to dispatch the outer scaled beasts to keep attacking the outposts and restrain the Panshi City garrison. The vast majority of the computing power, however, was concentrated inside the main passage of the rift, setting up nodes layer by layer, waiting for the exploration squad to step in.
He could vaguely sense that not just three priests were standing by in the depths of the rift. There was even a more ancient, heavy, and cold will lurking beneath the deeper rock strata. It was not participating in the outer command, as if quietly waiting for their arrival.
"There is an even stronger existence inside," Lin Yan judged silently in his heart.
By dusk on the second day, the intensive training concluded entirely. Lu Heng gathered everyone for the final mission briefing and distributed specialized equipment: rock-penetrating detectors, high-explosive rock plug bombs, portable psychic capture recorders, emergency Sea of Consciousness stabilizers, and high-intensity lighting equipment.
"We depart secretly at 3:00 AM," Lu Heng said in a lowered voice. "We will not take the regular reconnaissance vehicle route. We will take a detour through the hidden valley on the north side of the wasteland to avoid the scaled beasts roaming around the outer perimeter of the rift."
After the meeting dispersed, Old Chen, Su Qing, and Lin Yan remained in the training ground. The sky had already darkened, and intermittent artillery booms echoed from the direction of the distant wasteland; the battle at the outer outposts was still ongoing.
"The fiercer the outer battle is, the shorter the window for us to delve deep into the rift will be," Su Qing said as she adjusted the recorder in her hand. "Once the outer outposts fall and the beast tide reaches the walls of Panshi City, the war zone will immediately recall all field squads."
"The Lizardmen don't have much time either," Lin Yan said, raising his eyes to look in the direction of the Green Rock Rift. "They have set up multi-layered ambushes. The deeper we go into the rift, the more lethal the traps will be. The final core area will most likely be the location of that ancient will. If we can reach there, perhaps we can capture the true body of the alien race and obtain decisive evidence."
Old Chen gripped his long knife tightly, his eyes resolute. "No matter what is waiting for us, we must obtain the evidence on this trip. We cannot let the sacrifices of our fallen teammates be in vain."
As night grew deeper, Panshi City remained brightly lit, and the defensive artillery on the city walls was continuously aimed toward the wasteland. Everyone was closely watching the movements of the outer beast tide. Few people knew that an eight-man squad was about to depart quietly at dawn, stepping into the hinterland of the underground alien nest that had been cultivated for twenty-five years.
Deep within the rock strata, the Lizardmen chief priest sensed the signal that the exploration squad was about to depart.
Cold thoughts spread to all nodes. The outer scaled beasts would continue their fierce attacks to drag down the main forces of Panshi City. All ambushes inside the rift were fully in position, quietly waiting for the human squad to step into this meticulously prepared maze of death.
End of Chapter.