Chapter 121: Wasteland Sentinel Beacons
The seven days of Sea of Consciousness special training passed in a flash.
When he walked out of the training pod on the final day, Instructor Wen pulled up the Sea of Consciousness waveforms recorded by the instrument. The thin, steady line on the optical screen was far more composed than it had been on the first day. Even in the simulated environment with the dual interference of the stagnation field and illusions, Lin Yan could still firmly guard the core of his Sea of Consciousness, using only a single thread of perception to probe his surroundings, without easily having his mental state dragged down by the pressure.
"Simulation is simulation, after all." Instructor Wen put away the panel, her silver-gray prosthetic eye rotating slightly as she spoke in a calm tone. "The illusions created by the instrument lack true, life-and-death obsessions. The illusions woven by the illusion web matrix directly seize your true memories and regrets from the bottom of your heart; their power far surpasses this. All I can teach you are the methods of guarding your heart. Whether you can endure it still depends on yourself."
"Thank you, Instructor Wen." Lin Yan bowed his head slightly.
"Your special training quota has expired, and Lieutenant Colonel Shen's transfer order has arrived." Instructor Wen handed him a standard paper document. "Return to your squad, follow Captain Lu Heng's team, and take your turn patrolling the outer perimeter of the Western Front wasteland. There have been frequent anomalies in the wasteland recently, with scattered scaled beasts harassing the patrol lines. Your mission is to inspect the early warning beacons along the route and investigate small secondary rifts. Do not actively delve into large rifts."
Lin Yan took the transfer order.
Return to the squad.
This was exactly the arrangement he had anticipated. Special training was to make up for his shortcomings, but actual combat was the true whetstone for Sea of Consciousness cultivation.
Early the next morning, Lin Yan met up with the squad at the west gate of the bastion.
Lu Heng, Old Guo, Su Wan, and Chen Ye had all arrived. The five of them were fully equipped in combat gear. An armored all-terrain vehicle was parked inside the inspection channel, equipped with a signal detector and a high-rate-of-fire autocannon on its roof, and its body coated in a matte layer to prevent psychic infection.
Seeing Lin Yan, Chen Ye took the initiative to walk over. His demeanor was much more composed than it had been a few days ago, and the lingering daze from their previous underground mission had vanished from his eyes.
"I've been practicing close-quarters coordination with Old Guo these past few days, and I've also learned a lot about the habits of scaled beasts," Chen Ye said in a low voice. "After the last mission, I repeatedly recalled the illusion. Now, when I see similar illusions, my mind won't be so easily thrown into chaos."
"That's a good thing." Lin Yan nodded.
Old Guo leaned against the front of the vehicle, checking the ammunition. He grinned. "The kid is growing up fast. The last mission wasn't endured in vain. This patrol is different from infiltrating a rift; it's mainly patrolling the outer perimeter, so the pressure is much lower. But you absolutely cannot let your guard down. The scaled beasts recently aren't swarming to charge; they specifically pick off isolated sentry posts and lone patrol members to ambush. They are incredibly insidious."
Su Wan was calibrating the vehicle's detector. The screen displayed a map of the Western Front wasteland, densely marked with early warning beacons, old rifts, and abandoned outposts.
"According to the updated intelligence from the intelligence department, the recently active scaled beast squads have very regular movement routes, as if someone is commanding and deploying them." Su Wan's fingertip circled a few locations on the map. "It's not random hunting. They are deliberately avoiding our main patrol teams and specifically targeting the poorly defended outer sentinel beacons. The intelligence department speculates that the two priests from Rift No. 79 are active in the shallow areas. They are no longer using large-scale resonance choruses to create illusions; instead, they are using dispersed guidance to probe our defensive lines."
Lu Heng closed his tactical backpack and looked up at everyone. "Move out. The route is set: Beacons One through Seventeen, a total of 120 kilometers, returning before dusk. Everyone remember the bottom line: stay on the outer perimeter. Report any anomalies immediately. Do not actively pursue, and do not delve into any unregistered rifts."
"Received!"
The group boarded the vehicle. The alloy gate slowly lifted, and the all-terrain vehicle drove out of the bastion, stepping once again onto the gray wasteland.
The wind on the wasteland, as always, carried fine sand. The view was open, yet danger lurked everywhere. Broken concrete roadbeds jutted diagonally among the wild grass and gravel, and rusted barbed wire fences stretched into the distance, many of them torn open by scaled beasts into massive gaps. Every few kilometers stood a three-meter-high red early warning beacon, its signal light blinking slowly, like a lonely eye on the wasteland.
The vehicle's detector continuously hummed in a low tone, scanning in real-time for spore concentrations and faint psychic fluctuations in the air.
The first half of the journey was relatively peaceful.
They stopped one by one to check the power supply lines of the beacons, clear parasitic fungal hyphae tangled on the signal probes, and record the spore readings. Several beacons had minor damage caused by scaled beast bites, which Su Wan quickly repaired and recalibrated.
Chen Ye held a scanner, keeping watch in the surrounding area, his gaze carefully sweeping over the rock crevices and collapsed concrete ruins. Having experienced the underground battle, he now knew not to only stare at open areas; dark crevices were always the scaled beasts' favorite ambush points.
As they drove near Beacon Thirteen, the instrument in front of Su Wan suddenly emitted a series of urgent, soft beeps.
"There are faint psychic fluctuations. It's not a single scaled beast; there are at least three. The signal source is to our front left, in the direction of the abandoned highway culvert. The intensity is very low; they are deliberately suppressing their psychic aura and maneuvering toward our rear flank." Su Wan quickly locked onto the coordinates. "They want to circle behind us and cut off our route back to the bastion."
Lu Heng immediately raised his hand. "Stop the vehicle. Kill the engine. Turn off the headlights. Everyone disembark and spread out for perimeter watch. Old Guo, guard the right flank. Chen Ye, push forward with me from the front. Su Wan, stay by the vehicle and keep locking onto the signal. Lin Yan, take the left flank and probe along the dirt embankment. Remember, prioritize confirming the targets; do not rashly launch a strong attack."
The five quickly dispersed, using the undulating dirt embankments and ruined walls to cover their movements.
Lin Yan lowered his body, moving slowly forward along the embankment. His Sea of Consciousness was gathered into a fine thread, steadily tracking those hidden psychic signals. He was now very familiar with this aura; they were scout scaled beasts dispatched by the priests, skilled at stealth and ambush.
The wind blew through the culvert, emitting a hollow, wailing sound.
Lin Yan slowly crested the top of the embankment and looked down.
The entrance to the abandoned culvert was half-hidden by scorched shrubs. Three large scaled beasts were lying in the shadows, not charging directly. They lay in wait quietly, their heads slightly raised, their tentacles trembling gently in the air, as if receiving orders from somewhere further away.
They had not passed by by chance.
Someone had set up a small outpost here.
Lin Yan's wisp of Sea of Consciousness traced back along the psychic link of the scaled beasts.
In the next instant, a faint but familiar, sinister consciousness brushed against his perception from a great distance.
It was one of the two priests.
It did not reveal itself. Hidden in the shadows of a small secondary rift further away, separated by a layer of fungal carpet veins, it was remotely commanding these three scaled beasts. Although it clearly sensed Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness probe, it did not immediately order an attack. Instead, it slowly retracted the psychic signals from the scaled beasts.
Receiving the command, the three scaled beasts stood up silently, turned around, and retreated deeper into the culvert, intending to abandon this ambush.
Lin Yan did not rashly pursue. He firmly remembered Lu Heng's order: no unauthorized pursuit into unknown rifts. He raised his hand and reported in a low voice over the communication channel: "Three scaled beasts confirmed, remotely commanded by a priest. The enemy has detected us and has abandoned the ambush, retreating into the culvert. The priest's signal is in the area of the secondary rift behind the culvert. They are very far away, providing only remote command and not appearing in person."
Lu Heng's voice came through quickly. "Received. Do not pursue. Mark the coordinates of this secondary rift, take photos for the record, and we will notify the next patrol team to focus on monitoring this area."
The group reunited, and Su Wan synchronized and uploaded the coordinates to the war zone's intelligence network.
Old Guo looked at the deep, dark opening of the culvert and clicked his tongue. "They're getting more cautious. In the past, these things would go crazy and pounce the moment they saw people. Now they've learned to fight guerrilla warfare and intelligence wars."
"The matrix in Rift No. 79 has adjusted its tactics." Lin Yan stared into the deep darkness of the culvert. "After losing the dual resonance chorus, they no longer rely on large-scale illusion webs to crush squads. They've switched to scattered sentries and multi-point probing, slowly figuring out the rotation patterns and reinforcement routes of our patrol teams."
They were learning human tactics.
Back in the underground corridor, the matrix had watched his fighting style; now, the results of that learning had been brought to the wasteland.
Lu Heng glanced at the time on his watch. "It's getting late. Quickly check the remaining beacons and prepare to return. Everyone raise your vigilance. Since they've set up an outpost here, there might be other ambushes along the way."
The team boarded the vehicle again, and the all-terrain vehicle continued forward.
They did not encounter any more scaled beasts along the way, but the atmosphere in the cabin was no longer as relaxed as when they had departed. Everyone knew in their hearts that the peace on the wasteland was merely an illusion. The ancient lizard progenitors were no longer in a rush to unleash a beast tide to charge the bastion; they had switched to a more grueling, nibbling encroachment.
They were like patient hunters, probing, recording, and planning bit by bit.
The sun slowly sank toward the horizon of the wasteland, dyeing the gray sky a layer of gray-purple. When the tall silhouette of the bastion came into view in the distance, Lin Yan turned back to look at the endless wasteland behind him, and at the countless dark rifts hidden in the folds of the earth.
The illusion web matrix was deducing his fighting style, and the ancient lizard progenitors were adjusting their hunting methods.
The tug-of-war between the two sides had quietly shifted from frontal slaughter to a game of intelligence and patience.
As for Lin Yan himself, he was still stuck at the second tier of the Sea of Consciousness.
This journey of patrolling, probing, and the distant psychic stare-down with the priest had continuously applied pressure to him, yet it still hadn't reached that life-and-death threshold capable of shattering and rebirthing his Sea of Consciousness. He was waiting, and he knew clearly that day would inevitably come.
Deep in the darkness underground, within the secondary rift.
The injured priest retracted its perception cast upon the wasteland, transmitting the scene of its brief psychic contact with Lin Yan along the fungal carpet veins back to the deeper illusion web matrix in Rift No. 79.
The purple patterns of the illusion web flowed slowly, silently noting the details of this skirmish.
It was not in a rush.
It had plenty of time to slowly weave a more dangerous net, tailored specifically for Lin Yan.
End of Chapter.
When he walked out of the training pod on the final day, Instructor Wen pulled up the Sea of Consciousness waveforms recorded by the instrument. The thin, steady line on the optical screen was far more composed than it had been on the first day. Even in the simulated environment with the dual interference of the stagnation field and illusions, Lin Yan could still firmly guard the core of his Sea of Consciousness, using only a single thread of perception to probe his surroundings, without easily having his mental state dragged down by the pressure.
"Simulation is simulation, after all." Instructor Wen put away the panel, her silver-gray prosthetic eye rotating slightly as she spoke in a calm tone. "The illusions created by the instrument lack true, life-and-death obsessions. The illusions woven by the illusion web matrix directly seize your true memories and regrets from the bottom of your heart; their power far surpasses this. All I can teach you are the methods of guarding your heart. Whether you can endure it still depends on yourself."
"Thank you, Instructor Wen." Lin Yan bowed his head slightly.
"Your special training quota has expired, and Lieutenant Colonel Shen's transfer order has arrived." Instructor Wen handed him a standard paper document. "Return to your squad, follow Captain Lu Heng's team, and take your turn patrolling the outer perimeter of the Western Front wasteland. There have been frequent anomalies in the wasteland recently, with scattered scaled beasts harassing the patrol lines. Your mission is to inspect the early warning beacons along the route and investigate small secondary rifts. Do not actively delve into large rifts."
Lin Yan took the transfer order.
Return to the squad.
This was exactly the arrangement he had anticipated. Special training was to make up for his shortcomings, but actual combat was the true whetstone for Sea of Consciousness cultivation.
Early the next morning, Lin Yan met up with the squad at the west gate of the bastion.
Lu Heng, Old Guo, Su Wan, and Chen Ye had all arrived. The five of them were fully equipped in combat gear. An armored all-terrain vehicle was parked inside the inspection channel, equipped with a signal detector and a high-rate-of-fire autocannon on its roof, and its body coated in a matte layer to prevent psychic infection.
Seeing Lin Yan, Chen Ye took the initiative to walk over. His demeanor was much more composed than it had been a few days ago, and the lingering daze from their previous underground mission had vanished from his eyes.
"I've been practicing close-quarters coordination with Old Guo these past few days, and I've also learned a lot about the habits of scaled beasts," Chen Ye said in a low voice. "After the last mission, I repeatedly recalled the illusion. Now, when I see similar illusions, my mind won't be so easily thrown into chaos."
"That's a good thing." Lin Yan nodded.
Old Guo leaned against the front of the vehicle, checking the ammunition. He grinned. "The kid is growing up fast. The last mission wasn't endured in vain. This patrol is different from infiltrating a rift; it's mainly patrolling the outer perimeter, so the pressure is much lower. But you absolutely cannot let your guard down. The scaled beasts recently aren't swarming to charge; they specifically pick off isolated sentry posts and lone patrol members to ambush. They are incredibly insidious."
Su Wan was calibrating the vehicle's detector. The screen displayed a map of the Western Front wasteland, densely marked with early warning beacons, old rifts, and abandoned outposts.
"According to the updated intelligence from the intelligence department, the recently active scaled beast squads have very regular movement routes, as if someone is commanding and deploying them." Su Wan's fingertip circled a few locations on the map. "It's not random hunting. They are deliberately avoiding our main patrol teams and specifically targeting the poorly defended outer sentinel beacons. The intelligence department speculates that the two priests from Rift No. 79 are active in the shallow areas. They are no longer using large-scale resonance choruses to create illusions; instead, they are using dispersed guidance to probe our defensive lines."
Lu Heng closed his tactical backpack and looked up at everyone. "Move out. The route is set: Beacons One through Seventeen, a total of 120 kilometers, returning before dusk. Everyone remember the bottom line: stay on the outer perimeter. Report any anomalies immediately. Do not actively pursue, and do not delve into any unregistered rifts."
"Received!"
The group boarded the vehicle. The alloy gate slowly lifted, and the all-terrain vehicle drove out of the bastion, stepping once again onto the gray wasteland.
The wind on the wasteland, as always, carried fine sand. The view was open, yet danger lurked everywhere. Broken concrete roadbeds jutted diagonally among the wild grass and gravel, and rusted barbed wire fences stretched into the distance, many of them torn open by scaled beasts into massive gaps. Every few kilometers stood a three-meter-high red early warning beacon, its signal light blinking slowly, like a lonely eye on the wasteland.
The vehicle's detector continuously hummed in a low tone, scanning in real-time for spore concentrations and faint psychic fluctuations in the air.
The first half of the journey was relatively peaceful.
They stopped one by one to check the power supply lines of the beacons, clear parasitic fungal hyphae tangled on the signal probes, and record the spore readings. Several beacons had minor damage caused by scaled beast bites, which Su Wan quickly repaired and recalibrated.
Chen Ye held a scanner, keeping watch in the surrounding area, his gaze carefully sweeping over the rock crevices and collapsed concrete ruins. Having experienced the underground battle, he now knew not to only stare at open areas; dark crevices were always the scaled beasts' favorite ambush points.
As they drove near Beacon Thirteen, the instrument in front of Su Wan suddenly emitted a series of urgent, soft beeps.
"There are faint psychic fluctuations. It's not a single scaled beast; there are at least three. The signal source is to our front left, in the direction of the abandoned highway culvert. The intensity is very low; they are deliberately suppressing their psychic aura and maneuvering toward our rear flank." Su Wan quickly locked onto the coordinates. "They want to circle behind us and cut off our route back to the bastion."
Lu Heng immediately raised his hand. "Stop the vehicle. Kill the engine. Turn off the headlights. Everyone disembark and spread out for perimeter watch. Old Guo, guard the right flank. Chen Ye, push forward with me from the front. Su Wan, stay by the vehicle and keep locking onto the signal. Lin Yan, take the left flank and probe along the dirt embankment. Remember, prioritize confirming the targets; do not rashly launch a strong attack."
The five quickly dispersed, using the undulating dirt embankments and ruined walls to cover their movements.
Lin Yan lowered his body, moving slowly forward along the embankment. His Sea of Consciousness was gathered into a fine thread, steadily tracking those hidden psychic signals. He was now very familiar with this aura; they were scout scaled beasts dispatched by the priests, skilled at stealth and ambush.
The wind blew through the culvert, emitting a hollow, wailing sound.
Lin Yan slowly crested the top of the embankment and looked down.
The entrance to the abandoned culvert was half-hidden by scorched shrubs. Three large scaled beasts were lying in the shadows, not charging directly. They lay in wait quietly, their heads slightly raised, their tentacles trembling gently in the air, as if receiving orders from somewhere further away.
They had not passed by by chance.
Someone had set up a small outpost here.
Lin Yan's wisp of Sea of Consciousness traced back along the psychic link of the scaled beasts.
In the next instant, a faint but familiar, sinister consciousness brushed against his perception from a great distance.
It was one of the two priests.
It did not reveal itself. Hidden in the shadows of a small secondary rift further away, separated by a layer of fungal carpet veins, it was remotely commanding these three scaled beasts. Although it clearly sensed Lin Yan's Sea of Consciousness probe, it did not immediately order an attack. Instead, it slowly retracted the psychic signals from the scaled beasts.
Receiving the command, the three scaled beasts stood up silently, turned around, and retreated deeper into the culvert, intending to abandon this ambush.
Lin Yan did not rashly pursue. He firmly remembered Lu Heng's order: no unauthorized pursuit into unknown rifts. He raised his hand and reported in a low voice over the communication channel: "Three scaled beasts confirmed, remotely commanded by a priest. The enemy has detected us and has abandoned the ambush, retreating into the culvert. The priest's signal is in the area of the secondary rift behind the culvert. They are very far away, providing only remote command and not appearing in person."
Lu Heng's voice came through quickly. "Received. Do not pursue. Mark the coordinates of this secondary rift, take photos for the record, and we will notify the next patrol team to focus on monitoring this area."
The group reunited, and Su Wan synchronized and uploaded the coordinates to the war zone's intelligence network.
Old Guo looked at the deep, dark opening of the culvert and clicked his tongue. "They're getting more cautious. In the past, these things would go crazy and pounce the moment they saw people. Now they've learned to fight guerrilla warfare and intelligence wars."
"The matrix in Rift No. 79 has adjusted its tactics." Lin Yan stared into the deep darkness of the culvert. "After losing the dual resonance chorus, they no longer rely on large-scale illusion webs to crush squads. They've switched to scattered sentries and multi-point probing, slowly figuring out the rotation patterns and reinforcement routes of our patrol teams."
They were learning human tactics.
Back in the underground corridor, the matrix had watched his fighting style; now, the results of that learning had been brought to the wasteland.
Lu Heng glanced at the time on his watch. "It's getting late. Quickly check the remaining beacons and prepare to return. Everyone raise your vigilance. Since they've set up an outpost here, there might be other ambushes along the way."
The team boarded the vehicle again, and the all-terrain vehicle continued forward.
They did not encounter any more scaled beasts along the way, but the atmosphere in the cabin was no longer as relaxed as when they had departed. Everyone knew in their hearts that the peace on the wasteland was merely an illusion. The ancient lizard progenitors were no longer in a rush to unleash a beast tide to charge the bastion; they had switched to a more grueling, nibbling encroachment.
They were like patient hunters, probing, recording, and planning bit by bit.
The sun slowly sank toward the horizon of the wasteland, dyeing the gray sky a layer of gray-purple. When the tall silhouette of the bastion came into view in the distance, Lin Yan turned back to look at the endless wasteland behind him, and at the countless dark rifts hidden in the folds of the earth.
The illusion web matrix was deducing his fighting style, and the ancient lizard progenitors were adjusting their hunting methods.
The tug-of-war between the two sides had quietly shifted from frontal slaughter to a game of intelligence and patience.
As for Lin Yan himself, he was still stuck at the second tier of the Sea of Consciousness.
This journey of patrolling, probing, and the distant psychic stare-down with the priest had continuously applied pressure to him, yet it still hadn't reached that life-and-death threshold capable of shattering and rebirthing his Sea of Consciousness. He was waiting, and he knew clearly that day would inevitably come.
Deep in the darkness underground, within the secondary rift.
The injured priest retracted its perception cast upon the wasteland, transmitting the scene of its brief psychic contact with Lin Yan along the fungal carpet veins back to the deeper illusion web matrix in Rift No. 79.
The purple patterns of the illusion web flowed slowly, silently noting the details of this skirmish.
It was not in a rush.
It had plenty of time to slowly weave a more dangerous net, tailored specifically for Lin Yan.
End of Chapter.