171: Chapter 171 The Beast Tide's Fury

The leader mech's gaze turned toward the center of the Secret Realm as it raised its hand to press the external launch key on the mech's main console.

"Launch all-domain reconnaissance satellite."

A compact silver satellite ejected from the mech's back, broke through the forest clouds, and hovered ten thousand meters above the Secret Realm, its multi-dimensional detection radar activating.

The Origin sensing module started at full speed, penetrating the forest vegetation and surface rock layers to scan the entire Secret Realm territory.

High-definition modeling images were transmitted in real-time to the shared light screens of all mechs, revealing the entire terrain of the Secret Realm at a glance, with the outer forest and valley ecosystems appearing gentle.

However, the center of the Secret Realm was completely enveloped by thick, milky-white fog spanning several dozen miles, which blocked all detection light waves.

The Origin energy fluctuations were thick and majestic, and detection interference alarms continuously popped up on the edges of the light screens, as the fog's coverage area far exceeded estimates.

In the shared channel, the sounds of team members communicating immediately rang out, their tones filled with speculation and gravity.

"The fog is blocking all deep-level detection; we can only detect that the Origin concentration in the fog zone is extremely high. It definitely hides the Secret Realm Origin spirit spring, as well as the Secret Realm core."

"It's too strange. The outer area is full of old and weak exotic beasts with zero combat power. All the prime exotic beasts have vanished into thin air. The old beasts that resisted just now were all the last guardians of their respective tribes, fighting desperately to protect their young; they had no combat power to fall back on at all. Could it be that the prime exotic beasts have all retreated to the fog zone to guard the Origin, deliberately leaving the old and weak groups on the periphery to consume our ammunition and dull our judgment?"

"Unlikely. The all-domain energy detection shows no hidden fluctuations of dormant prime exotic beasts, nor any traces of high-level exotic beasts concealing their breath. I am more inclined to believe that this is the Secret Realm's rules differentiating the Secret Realm; the outer ring is for aging and breeding, while the white fog forbidden zone imprisons all prime exotic beasts. They are locked by the Secret Realm Law and cannot step a single half-step out of the white fog for their entire lives."

Another heavy mech team member added in a deep voice: "There is an even greater possibility: the Secret Realm experienced a cross-boundary war in its early years, and the prime exotic beasts were all killed in battle, leaving only this batch of twilight-aged beasts to survive and raise their offspring. The white fog is a defensive barrier autonomously activated by the Secret Realm Origin to protect the Secret Realm core and the last breeding Foundation of the tribes."

The leader mech integrated all data transmitted back by the satellite and quickly finalized the combat plan, its metallic voice calm and decisive: "All members, listen up. Split into teams immediately. First division: three mechs stay behind at the temporary forest base, reinforce the modular simple defensive Formation, supervise the sorted young beast pods, patrol the scattered nests in the corners, finish collecting the missed young ones, and link with the rift-anchoring mech to receive supplies from outside the territory. Second division: the remaining ten combat mechs will follow me deep into the white fog zone to break through the fog barrier, investigate the Secret Realm Origin core, and verify the true combat power of the exotic beasts within the fog."

"Received!"

The mechs' responses were uniform. The rear-guard division built a circular energy defensive Formation on the spot to guard the storage pods filled with young beasts.

The forward division switched to assault combat mode, fully unlocking their main cannons and battle blades, pushing their mech energy to the max. They turned their courses in unison and advanced steadily toward the churning pure white dense fog at the center of the Secret Realm.

The ten assault mechs walked slowly down the undulating and rugged Secret Realm mountains. The ground was covered with a layer of grayish-white fog frost. The lower they went, the faster the airflow became, and the bone-chilling gale, always wrapped in fine fog particles, constantly scraped against the mechs' outer armor.

When they reached the end of the mountains, the landscape suddenly dropped off.

A circular, boundless abyss lay before them. The pitch-black abyss was like a natural closed-loop trench, completely enclosing the entire enclosed Central Plain in the hinterland.

The abyss rock walls were vertical and steep, bottomless, with no paths for footing.

The entire Secret Realm center, embraced by the abyss, was completely shrouded under the thick, descending dome of white fog. The white fog pressed extremely low, flowing across the surface of the plain without spilling outward.

A closed-loop gale permanently circled the edge of the circular abyss, with airflow circulating back and forth along the abyss rock walls, locking the white fog firmly above the plain. The wind was constant and violent, creating waves without wind, and never ceasing.

The leader mech locked onto the coordinates of the plain's hinterland and immediately released eight low-altitude reconnaissance drones to fly around the abyss, cross the black abyss airspace, and enter the fog-shrouded Central Plain for an all-domain sweep.

The drones flew steadily over the circulating gale above the abyss. Just as they stepped into the boundary of the white fog dome over the plain, the downward gale set by Mo Yufei swept down vertically.

The wind pressure instantly crushed the drones' protective shells, the rotors were snapped off directly by the violent wind, and the onboard sensor modules failed instantly.

All drones tilted and fell uncontrollably, plunging into the circular abyss surrounding the plain, losing contact completely within seconds.

The leader mech's central control terminal froze on the last image transmitted back by the drones, quickly reviewing all sensor data. Its metallic voice calmly summarized:

"All residual data has been recovered; the sweep is complete. There are no ambushes along the mountain route, no hidden exotic beasts in the circular abyss. Inside the Central Plain embraced by the abyss, there are no alien life signals, no Formation energy, and no Secret Realm erosive toxins. The only anomaly in the entire domain: the dome-like enclosed fog locks the plain's airspace, and the circular abyss's circulating gale is constant and uninterrupted. The environment inside the plain is completely sealed; detection signals cannot penetrate the fog layer."

A mech operator in the team immediately requested instructions: "Captain, the plain is isolated by the abyss and locked by the gale. The terrain is easy to enter but difficult to retreat from. Shall we stand by and analyze the route?"

"The abyss width is manageable. Mechs can cross the wind belt via low-altitude jumps. Everyone, charge up, cross the circular abyss, and head straight into the Central Plain."

The leader mech's engine power increased, its body hovering as it charged up, while the other nine combat mechs lifted their bodies in synchronization.

The main cannons and battle blades charged up, glowing with cold light, aimed at the gap in the abyss wind belt, ready to use the momentum to jump across the abyss and step into the white fog-enveloped Central Plain.

Just at the moment when the mech cluster was about to leap into the air, the entire sky outside the Secret Realm changed suddenly.

The originally light high-altitude clouds gathered and piled up frantically at a speed visible to the naked eye. The base color of the clouds turned from light white to crimson, then deepened to a dark blood-red, and finally condensed into heavy, ink-black thunderclouds.

The cloud layers swirled and overlapped, their speed changing from slow to fast. The entire sky was slowly rotating counter-clockwise, and fine purple-gold thunder light constantly darted out from the gaps in the clouds, crackling loudly.

The first thing to form was a giant lightning vortex. The ink-colored thunderclouds collapsed and gathered inward, and the inner walls of the vortex were entwined with surging, inextinguishable thunder, its aura suppressing the entire Secret Realm airspace.

In just an instant, a second, a third... a full nine lightning vortexes of various sizes formed one after another, scattered across the sky above the Secret Realm. The thunder roared, shaking the abyss gale until it briefly stagnated.

The next moment, at the bottom of each lightning vortex, a pillar of gilded thunder-patterned light, reaching from heaven to earth, descended. The light pillars fell straight toward the mountain forests on the periphery of the Secret Realm, the original tribal settlements of the exotic beasts from outside the territory.

Within the light pillars, beast shadows surged; scales shimmered, wingspans blotted out the sky. The massive tide of exotic beasts that had been fighting outside the territory followed their exclusive extradition light pillars, crossing space to return home from the external Secret Realms.

Winged exotic beasts broke through the light and flapped their wings, blocking the sky's light. Heavy-armored giant beasts stepped out of the light and landed, shattering the mountain rock layers. High-level exotic species, wrapped in Evil Qi from outside the territory, all returned to their native mountain forests.

The main force of the exotic beasts was fully conscious as usual. Upon landing, they immediately sensed that the aura of their tribes was incomplete, and unease suddenly rose in their hearts.

The leaders of the major tribes immediately ordered an all-domain investigation. In just a moment, the investigation results were transmitted back to the minds of all the exotic beasts.

The elderly exotic beasts left behind in the tribes had all been hunted and killed, their remains scattered across the forest camps. The young beasts of the tribe, still in their infancy and yet to undergo Awakening for combat power, had all vanished into thin air. The camps were covered in marks from mech cutting and energy bombardment.

The exotic beasts had already been through bloody battles outside the territory, and their bodies were filled with violent killing intent. Upon learning that the old and weak of their tribes had been brutally killed and their young kidnapped, the killing intent in their hearts instantly turned into monstrous fury.

Low, shrill, and grief-stricken beast roars erupted one after another, rising and falling from the major tribes in the mountain forests, the sound waves stacking and colliding with the thunderclouds in the sky.

The roars spread throughout the Secret Realm mountains, the abyss, and every inch of the Secret Realm's land. Vegetation trembled, fog surged, and the entire Secret Realm was completely plunged into the furious roars of beasts.

At the moment when heaven and earth were in turmoil, Mo Yufei, standing within the main lightning vortex, closed his eyes and focused, the golden contract markings on his forehead lighting up with a faint glow.

He activated the all-domain Soul Contract. Without a trace of emotion, he transmitted the entire process: the mech squad breaking into the Secret Realm, stationed in zones to capture the young beast pods, hunting the old beasts left behind, and preparing to invade the Origin plain.

Without any omissions, the images were synchronously transmitted into the depths of every exotic beast's consciousness.

The hunting scenes, the scenes of kidnapping the young beasts, and the combat orders of the mech squad were clearly branded into the Divine Soul of all the exotic beasts.

The hatred of the tribe's slaughter and the pain of being separated from their flesh and blood instantly twisted into a desperate Battle Intent. Thousands of exotic beasts raised their heads in unison, their scarlet beast eyes staring fixedly at the ten cold mechs on the edge of the abyss, low roars sounding out, Battle Intent boiling.