Chapter 153: Chapter 141: Relentless Pursuit
West Defense Wall, top platform.
Rows of Beastman soldiers stood guard at the platform’s edge. Beastman soldiers also guarded every tunnel entrance in the wall, attacking any Mutant Species they saw climbing up its face.
With the King Seed slain, the Mutant Species outside the wall were running around like headless chickens, their attacks scattered and disorganized. They no longer needed to use wide-area weaponry.
"There aren’t many Mutant Species left. Looks like we’ll be able to have our victory banquet early this year."
A Beastman captain said with a laugh.
"It’s all thanks to Alex. His defense system saved us a lot of effort."
"We were still the ones who had to do all the work."
"He was sent by the higher-ups. Building the defense wall was his job to begin with," another Beastman captain said with a hint of disdain.
"True. Anyone with the Upper District’s resources could’ve built the wall."
"They might have even come up with a better defense system, one that didn’t require concentrating the entire power grid on the wall."
"He’s just here in Zone 19 to pad his resume. You can’t seriously think he actually cares."
"He just got lucky. This year’s Mutant Species King Seed was super weak. It looked all big and scary, but didn’t the aerial unit take it out in a few strikes? Even without these defense systems, we could’ve still crushed the Mutant Species."
"..."
"These guys..."
Kloer, hearing their words, was furious. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to go teach them a lesson when Alex held him back.
"Boss, don’t hold me back! I’ve got to beat the crap out of them. Let’s see how tough they really are! See if they can take a punch from me," Kloer said, his face flush with anger.
Alex said, "There’s no need."
The captains shot Kloer a provocative look, clearly daring him to come over and start a fight.
Kloer glared at them, then said sullenly, "Boss, life in Zone 19 is so damn frustrating."
In Zone 5, if he wasn’t happy about something, he could just start a fight. Here, he had all this strength and nowhere to use it.
He let out a breath and said, "Good thing we’ll be heading back in a few days. These Mutant Species weren’t as tough to deal with as I thought."
Alex remained silent. His gaze drifted to the snow-white plains outside, sweeping over the scattered black dots, a faint worry etched between his brows.
"It’s too quiet."
Andrew said, having walked up to Alex’s side without him realizing it.
Alex turned his head and asked, "General, in your experience, is the battle over?"
"Over?" Andrew asked in return. "What do you think?"
Alex mused, "The number of King Seeds doesn’t match the intel. This is my first time fighting in Zone 19, so I don’t know if this situation is normal."
"There’s no such thing as normal or abnormal in Zone 19. The unexpected always happens," Andrew said. "As long as winter isn’t over, we must be prepared to fight at any moment."
Andrew sized Alex up. "You’re in a hurry to leave Zone 19?"
Just as Alex was about to speak, several figures flew in from the distance and landed before them.
"They’re back." Andrew’s gaze swept over the small aerial squad, landing on their leader, Philinos. "Well? Did you find the target?"
Philinos flapped his wings a couple of times, shaking off the misty water droplets, then folded them and said, "No. We searched a ten-kilometer radius and only saw some scattered, low-level Mutant Species. Nothing significant."
"There was probably only that one King Seed," a squad member said. "We’ve scoured Zone 19 inside and out these past few days and haven’t seen a trace of any other King Seeds, just some minor leaders."
"Maybe Zone 19’s defenses were too strong this time, so they didn’t dare show themselves."
Andrew thought for a moment and said, "Then we’ll have to resort to other means."
Hearing this, Philinos and Cyril, who was standing beside him, both glanced at Andrew at the same time.
Upon hearing this, something stirred in Alex’s mind.
"You’ve all worked hard, flying around in the sky these past few days," Andrew said to Philinos’s squad. "Go back and get some proper rest."
Philinos gave a slight nod and brushed right past Alex.
Watching these Birdmen walk around with their noses in the air, Kloer couldn’t help but roll his eyes in disgust.
"Alex, you should get some rest too," Andrew said, patting his shoulder. "Young man, don’t let trivial matters throw you off your game. You need to look at the bigger picture."
Alex registered the admonishment in Andrew’s words. He gave a slight nod without responding and turned to leave.
Just then, a commotion broke out up ahead.
The silhouette of a wolf was charging headlong in their direction, pursued by several other beast-form wolves.
The pack of giant wolves took over the wide platform, making it feel somewhat crowded.
The Beastman soldiers had no choice but to get out of the way to avoid being sent flying by the pack.
"What are these dogs doing? Aren’t they supposed to be fighting on the ground? Did they come up here to play?"
"What unit are they from? Have they got no discipline?"
"..."
Philinos frowned at the approaching wolf pack, his hand resting on the sword at his waist. But when he glanced over and saw Andrew and the others, he stepped aside to let them pass.
"Isn’t that Seth?"
Kloer stared in surprise at the wolf in the lead. "What’s he doing here? Isn’t he supposed to be in the east with Little Gu Ning?"
No one answered him. He turned his head, but Alex was already gone from his side.
Seth was being relentlessly pursued by the wolves behind him.
The elevators on the West Wall were out of service, so they had chased him all the way up the simple steel staircases to the top of the high wall, as if he owed them a million bucks.
He was carrying Gu Ning on his back and hadn’t dared to stop for a second. It was only when he saw Alex that he finally screeched to a halt.
The sudden stop nearly threw Gu Ning off his back; she barely managed to hang on by grabbing a fistful of his fur.
She looked behind them. The pursuing wolves showed no signs of stopping, baring their teeth as they prepared to pounce.
No one around them stepped in to stop it.
The beast-form wolves were split into two factions. This was clearly a conflict within the Wolf Clan. Anyone who got close would get caught in the crossfire, and only an idiot looking for trouble would try to break it up.
Just as two giant wolves lunged at Gu Ning and Seth with bared fangs, a massive black shadow appeared in front of them.
It was a black wolf, a full size larger than any of the other beast-form wolves present, so large it almost completely blocked Gu Ning’s view.
"Seth, run!" Gu Ning cried out in terror, burying her face in the fur on Seth’s head.
Seth, however, was panting and letting out an excited sort of yelp. He showed no fear or intention of running; instead, he wagged his tail and moved closer to the black wolf.
The black wolf bit down on the two attacking wolves, its massive body easily pinning them to the ground.
Seeing this black wolf, their companions behind them showed fear in their eyes and stopped their pursuit.
The black wolf grabbed one of the wolves by the neck and gave it a shake. Seeing it expose its belly in terror, the black wolf didn’t deliver a fatal bite. It tossed the wolf aside and stood glaring at the pack, baring its teeth.
Seth stood behind the black wolf, tilted his head back, and let out an "AWOO."
Gu Ning looked up. The black wolf’s mountain-like form stood protectively before them. The wolves that had chased them all this way now had their ears flattened and tails tucked, and they were whining and backing away.
The black wolf leaned forward, slammed a forepaw on the ground, and let out a low growl at them.
The other wolves all took a step back in unison, then turned and fled for their lives, quickly vanishing from Gu Ning’s sight.
Once they were gone, the black wolf turned, walked over to Gu Ning, and gently nudged her with its snout.
