170: Chapter 170 Bullying the Old and Young

Just as Mo Yufei finished collecting the herd of exotic beasts and prepared to return to the Secret Realm.

Inside the Secret Realm.

On the mecha leader's main control panel, a light blue stream of global detection data flowed in incessantly, marking the three-dimensional terrain map of the Secret Realm with dense annotations.

In less than fifteen minutes, the mecha responsible for reconnaissance in the southwest sector was the first to transmit an anomaly alert, and the mecha's loudspeaker broadcasted a team member's surprised report.

"Leader, the investigation of the exotic beast nests in the southwest dense forest is complete. The entire area has been verified. All roaming exotic beasts and those inhabiting the nests are elderly individuals or Innate, weak young ones. No adult combat-capable exotic beasts were detected, and there are no high-level Vicious Beasts or energy fluctuations from prime-aged guardian beasts."

This news instantly caused all field mechas to slow their advance. Each team's detection beams lowered their frequency further, scanning and verifying repeatedly against the forest floor, cave nests, and creek mudflats.

Everywhere, elderly exotic beasts with rough fur and hunched limbs could be seen lying on guard around their nests. Their fangs were worn and blunt, their bones were hunched and deformed, and their spiritual power was decayed and exhausted. All prime-aged exotic beasts of the tribes had vanished, leaving only the twilight-aged beasts of each species behind to guard the nests and care for the young.

The lead mecha tapped the light screen with its fingertips, locking onto the scattered locations of the exotic beast nests, its voice devoid of any emotion.

"Prioritize capturing high-quality exotic beast young. The extraterritorial breeding base can domesticate and breed them. Switch to level three flexible restraint nets for non-destructive capture and categorize them for storage. The elderly exotic beasts of each tribe have low combat power; liquidate any who obstruct on the spot. Capture and liquidation are to proceed simultaneously."

The field mechas immediately retracted their assault thermal weapons, their back hatches popped open, ejecting large quantities of pale cyan low-frequency energy restraint nets, while their multi-functional capture arms switched to soft-cushion flexible mode.

They dispersed to the five major nest locations: river valleys, tree holes, rock walls, and mossy beaches, beginning the capture simultaneously. Wherever a capture action landed, the elderly exotic beasts guarding the nests rose to counterattack immediately, with capture and resistance entangling in battle.

At the mud caves on the creek's shallow beach, two wading mechas leaned down to work, their mechanical claws pushing aside the surface wet mud, intending to round up a nest of mud-scaled crocodile young with soft, unkeratinized scales.

Eight grey-brown baby crocodiles curled up together, their flat mouths toothless, only able to frantically twist their bodies to avoid being touched.

The three elderly mud-scaled crocodiles guarding the cave entrance immediately propped up their stiff bodies, their crocodile armor weathered and mottled, their tailbones aged and bent, and they exerted all their strength to swing their tails at the mecha's legs.

Their turbid eyes stared fixedly at the mecha's capture arm, mouths opening to emit hoarse low roars, gnawing at the mecha's waterproof armor with broken crocodile teeth, only grinding out fine metal scratches.

The mecha couldn't be bothered to circle around; on one side, it released a restraint net to wrap up all the baby crocodiles and send them into the moisturizing cabin, while on the other, it raised its kinetic leg and kicked lightly, directly knocking the three old crocodiles into the mud.

The old crocodiles' abdomens were compressed, and they vomited turbid beast fluid on the spot, struggling to crawl up again to protect their young, only to be paralyzed on the ground by a low-altitude shockwave.

At the same time, at the tall tree hole location, a flight mecha ascended and clung to the tree trunk, its fingertips lightly slicing through the thin wood of the tree hole, preparing to scoop up a nest of six un-opened-eyed milky white downy owl chicks. Their down feathers were fluffy and soft, and the young birds chirped in frightened lament.

The two elderly owl birds crouching by the nest instantly flapped their wings to attack. Their wings were mostly missing, flight feathers withered and falling off, and their flight was bumpy and weak. They could only dive at low altitudes, using their hard beaks to peck at the mecha's optical detection eyes, attempting to interfere with the capture sight.

The mecha raised its hand to prop up a small energy barrier to block the pecking, and backhanded a closing restraint net to wrap the entire nest of owl chicks, sending them into the light-proof, soundproof storage cabin.

It then raised its hand to release a small Wind Blade, precisely severing the old owls' broken wings. The two elderly owl birds fell to the ground, flapping a few times and unable to take off again, only able to look up and emit sorrowful screeches.

Under the forest, in the moss cluster, the mecha activated its negative pressure suction device, collecting over a dozen glowing star-patterned slug young from a distance. The translucent young, startled, secreted pale purple paralytic mucus, which stuck to the mecha's shell and dissipated in an instant.

The elderly mother slug coiled in the center of the moss cluster had a shriveled and atrophied body, several times larger than an ordinary slug. It writhed to block the front of the young, struggling to spray a wide range of paralytic fluid, attempting to block the negative pressure suction.

The mecha directly increased the suction power, collecting all the young slugs, and then a low-frequency shockwave fell; the shriveled elderly slug's body directly went limp, completely losing the ability to move.

At the crevice nest in the rock wall, two mechas surrounded and blocked the entrance, preparing to capture a nest of five rock-patterned wolf pups the size of kittens. The wolf pups' ear cartilage was soft, and they bit the energy net threads, struggling in vain.

Outside the nest, a lame old wolf and two elderly rock wolves with shedding fur heard the sound and counterattacked. The old wolf limped and rammed into the mecha's body, while the other two wolves coordinated, tearing at the mecha's joint connections from left and right, their claws and teeth exerting force but unable to penetrate the alloy surface.

On one side, the mecha tightened the restraint net to pack and store the wolf pups, while on the other, it linked to release two pulse shockwaves, precisely hitting the three old wolves' limbs. Their aged joints shattered with the sound, and the few old wolves fell heavily, yet still gritted their teeth and raised their heads, staring fixedly at the direction of the mecha's storage cabin, refusing to yield.

At the last location in the Spiritual Plant cluster in the river valley, the mecha turned off its body's roaring, released a warm energy shield simulating the aura of a mother beast, and approached four snow-white crystal-horned deer fawns with crystal points on their heads. The timid fawns' limbs went soft, and they collapsed in the grass on the spot.

The elderly crystal-horned deer guarding on the side lowered its head and bowed, its weathered and cracked old antlers pointing straight at the mecha's chest and abdomen, its steps unsteady but moving forward with determination.

Even knowing it would surely die, it still stood between the fawns and the mecha, its neck tense, emitting a low, mournful cry.

The mecha tightened the energy net at a constant speed to wrap the fawns, raised its wrist to lightly slice with a short blade, directly cutting through the thin beast skin on the old deer's neck. This elderly deer, which had guarded the last of its tribe's young, swayed and then collapsed heavily onto the green grass.

The five major capture locations in the entire forest area were locked in a simultaneous melee, with capture, resistance, and suppression intertwined throughout.

At every capture site, elderly exotic beasts of the same tribe exhausted their Lifespan and depleted their decayed spiritual power to sacrifice themselves and block the process.

Except for some large, ferocious beasts, such as wolves, tigers, leopards, and bears—large beasts that caused some trouble when encountering resistance from old beasts during the capture of their young.

All resistance from other beast tribes was futile and powerless; their flesh and skin were aged, their bones fragile, and their spiritual power depleted. All their counterattacks only resulted in the mechas' swift and decisive suppression.

In less than five minutes, the capture in the entire forest area was finished. More than forty young exotic beasts of different species were categorized and stored in exclusive cabins adapted for temperature, humidity, light avoidance, and sealing. The storage cabin was filled with the frightened, fragmented whimpering and chirping of the young.

A total of seventeen elderly exotic beasts from several major tribes who participated in the resistance all fell around their nests. Some had broken bones and were paralyzed on the ground, others were severely injured and dying; none survived. Their turbid eyes still gazed toward the direction of the mecha's storage cabin, full of unwillingness and despair.

The field mecha team members simultaneously transmitted the global battle situation, their tone flat: "Leader, the capture of all nests in the entire area is complete. The elderly exotic beasts left behind by each tribe all blocked and resisted, and have been liquidated on the spot. There are still no energy fluctuations from prime-aged exotic beasts or high-level exotic beasts in the entire area; the ecology of the Secret Realm is extremely abnormal."

Mo Yufei sensed what was happening in the Secret Realm and gritted his teeth, saying: "Damn it, taking advantage of my main force not being home to bully my old and young!"