Bloodstar System: Infinite Evolution Through Beast Slaughter

Chapter 16: Antares Command!

The off road vehicle roared away from the slaughter district, leaving the oil stains and blood smell behind.

Outside the window, the scenery thinned out fast.

The dense blocks of buildings seemed to have been wiped from the earth by some unseen force. In their place stretched huge patches of ruins, overrun by mutated plants growing wild.

"Almost there."

Tavian’s one eyed voice came from the front seat.

Joren looked up.

A towering steel wall stretched across the horizon like a black python, cutting the world of human civilization off from the madness of the wilderness.

The wall was at least a hundred meters tall. Thick alloy armor covered its surface, along with laser turrets and automatic machine gun posts.

The pressure from it was suffocating.

This was [The Absolute Barrier].

Humanity’s final line of defense.

Joren’s gaze shifted toward the checkpoint.

The city exit should have been crowded with vehicles, but now it was strangely quiet. Several heavy armored cars blocked the road, sealing off every lane. Red and blue warning lights flashed hard enough to sting the eyes.

"Stop! Inspection!"

A cold warning blared from a loudspeaker.

Tavian slammed the brake.

The tires shrieked against the ground, leaving two black marks before the vehicle stopped outside the cordon.

"What the hell is this?" Arlen scratched at his scalp, veins twitching across it like worms. "Normally we just scan through at this hour. Why is the road sealed today?"

Tavian stared at the emblem on the armored vehicles.

A silver wolf head.

Behind it, a broken long blade.

Antares Command.

"Why are these killing gods here?"

Antares Command.

The most elite special operations force in the Federation.

They handled only the highest level Voidbeast threats and the purge of traitors inside humanity.

Among wilderness hunters, that name meant absolute authority and death.

No one wanted trouble with them.

Tavian led the team out of the vehicle.

The air had a sharp, killing stillness to it.

Several figures in black combat uniforms stood beside the armored cars. Each of them carried the same alloy long blade at the waist, the black scabbards engraved with intricate patterns.

Cold.

Lethal.

Even from dozens of meters away, Joren could feel the pressure seeping from their bones.

"Damn rotten luck."

Tavian cursed under his breath, but a smile was already spreading across his face as he hurried forward.

"Officer, what is this about..."

The leader was a woman.

Tall, dressed in a black fitted combat uniform that outlined a striking figure, though no one dared to look for long. Her short black hair ended neatly around her ears. Her skin was pale, almost sickly white.

Her face was beautiful.

Too beautiful, and far too cold.

When Tavian spoke, she only lifted her chin slightly.

A young man who looked like her adjutant stepped forward and stopped Tavian.

Tavian’s smile froze for half a breath, then returned even more carefully.

"We are Deadwater. Took a mission up north..."

"No one cares where you are going. Documents."

The adjutant cut him off coldly.

Tavian hurriedly handed over his electronic ID.

The adjutant took a scanner and swept it over him.

Beep.

A green light came on.

"Go."

These old wolves had spent years surviving in the wilderness. At least their identities were clean.

At last, it was Joren’s turn.

He walked up to the adjutant.

His young face looked badly out of place among the thick faced thugs around him.

The adjutant glanced at him. A flicker of surprise passed through his eyes, then vanished.

To Antares Command, wilderness hunters were consumables.

Old men, children, it made no difference. Once they stepped beyond the wall, they were only corpses that had not yet fallen.

Joren took out the document the fixer had prepared and handed it over.

The adjutant accepted it and swiped it across the scanner.

A piercing alarm screamed.

Red light flashed wildly.

Every gaze landed on Joren.

Tavian’s only eye filled with panic and rage.

Damn it.

The fixer had screwed them.

The adjutant’s face sank. His hand moved to the hilt of his blade.

The other Antares Command soldiers entered combat stance in an instant, their cold gazes locking onto Joren like blades.

The woman who had kept her back to them slowly turned around.

Her eyes were calm, without a ripple, as they passed over Joren.

"What happened?"

The adjutant immediately lowered his head, his posture respectful to the extreme.

"Captain, he is using a fake ID."

The woman walked over on long legs.

Her black combat boots struck the ground with a crisp rhythm.

Each step seemed to land on everyone’s heartbeat.

She stopped in front of Joren and looked down at him.

Joren could even catch the faint cold fragrance on her.

Pleasant.

Dangerous.

"Still in school?"

She suddenly spoke.

Her gaze landed on Joren’s washed pale school trousers.

He had changed his upper clothes, but the pants were still standard school issue.

"Used to be. Dropped out."

The woman raised a brow.

A trace of interest finally appeared on that cold beautiful face.

"Expelled?"

Joren said, "I want to be a hunter."

Simple.

Direct.

She had seen too many people like this.

Most of them turned into scraps in Voidbeast dung within the first hour outside the city.

"You want to be a hunter?"

There was faint mockery in her voice, but beneath it seemed to be a sliver of pity.

The kind of pity the strong had for the weak.

"Do you know what kind of place lies out there?"

She pointed at the barren world behind her.

"A little thing like you, barely grown, will only be a snack once you go in."

"That is my business," he said.

The air locked up again.

Even Tavian wanted to clap a hand over the kid’s mouth.

The woman did not get angry.

Instead, she let out a soft laugh.

"Interesting."

She took the fake ID from the adjutant’s hand. With a light flick of her slender fingers, the card traced an arc through the air and landed neatly back against Joren’s chest.

"Let them pass."

"Yes!"

The adjutant shivered and lowered his head at once.

The woman turned toward the armored car.

When she passed Tavian, she stopped.

"Something has been moving in the wilderness recently. Do not go too deep unless you want to die."

Her gaze swept toward Joren’s battered off road vehicle.

"Especially when you are dragging along this kind of burden."

With that, she climbed into the vehicle without looking back.

As if those few words were already a great mercy.

Tavian nodded and bowed again and again.

"Thank you for the warning, officer! Thank you!"

Only after the Antares Command convoy rumbled away and completely vanished from sight did Tavian wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.

Then he glared at Joren.

"Kid, I do not know what kind of filthy luck you stepped in."

"That woman actually let you live."

Joren quietly picked up the ID from his chest and tucked it into his pocket.

He glanced in the direction the woman had left.

Antares Command...

If he could join Antares Command, then would the method he needed to break through to Awakened Warrior be settled?

He pulled open the door and climbed into the iron cage that reeked of sweat and engine oil.