134: Chapter 134 Fang's Counterattack

In the thick, swirling strange fog, Hu Xiner's Lighthouse Sequence scanned the north side of the Provincial Road day and night. During the probing battles over the past period, this early warning mechanism had never failed.

Every time the scouts of the Fang Organization approached the Exorcism Boundary, the Lighthouse Sequence could capture their energy signatures in advance, leaving the Outer Defense Team with sufficient time for deployment.

But this time, the early warning system did not issue any alerts.

It wasn't until the observers at the outer outpost saw the Anomaly Tide surging from the depths of the gray mist with their own naked eyes that the base realized the Fang Organization had already reached their doorstep.

Chu Shuang's voice came through the encrypted channel, her tone more tense than ever: "Directly north of the Exorcism Boundary, a large-scale Anomaly Tide is assaulting the Exorcism Field of the Provincial Road safety node. It is led by a B-rank Elite Specter, followed by a dense swarm of low-level specters. The Rotten Skin Ghost defense line at the node's perimeter has already engaged with the Anomaly Tide, and the resonator's energy consumption curve is climbing sharply."

Dr. Guan's voice cut in immediately after, against the background of the buzzing cooling fans of the oscilloscopes and the crisp sound of a cane tapping rapidly against the armrest of his wheelchair.

He saw the energy distribution map of the outer Anomaly Tide in the shared data of the guard tower, and with just one glance, he made his judgment: "Someone has artificially deployed high-concentration strange fog bait around the node's perimeter. The deployment location was precisely calculated, right in the weak coverage area of the Exorcism Field. This is not a random harassment; it is a premeditated node destruction operation."

He paused, tapping his cane heavily on the armrest, "What's more troublesome is that the person who deployed the bait was not scanned by the Lighthouse Sequence. They either possess some kind of device that can shield the energy fluctuations of a Sequencer, or they used some other method to bypass our early warning system."

Before his voice had even faded, the overload alarm for the first node's resonator exploded in the guard tower.

The seventh safety node in the direction of the Old Mining Road was breached head-on by the Anomaly Tide. The resonator casing suffered structural failure under the continuous impact of the B-rank Elite Specter, and the energy output curve on the monitoring panel plummeted in a straight line.

Immediately following was the twelfth node in the direction of the Quarry, which also suffered concentrated attacks from an Elite Specter. Although the resonator did not fail completely, it had entered overload protection mode, and the Exorcism Field at that node dropped sharply to only 30% of its usual strength in a short time.

Wu Ran grabbed the walkie-talkie.

"Old Fang, Uncle Chen, take the repair team to the seventh node immediately and restore the resonator's operation at any cost. Li Wei, take the Outer Defense Team to the twelfth node and hold off the subsequent impacts of the Anomaly Tide with physical fortifications until the resonator is restored. Captain Wang Xuan, take the Emergency Response Group to patrol the Provincial Road line and check if other nodes have had bait deployed; eliminate them immediately if found."

He paused and turned to Hu Xiner: "Adjust the scanning frequency of the Lighthouse Sequence to the maximum. Don't just scan for Sequencer energy fluctuations; scan the movement trajectory of the Anomaly Tide as well. Since they used shielding devices to evade direct scanning, we will deduce the bait deployment location and the hiding place of the Fang Organization controllers by tracking the abnormal gathering direction of the Anomaly Tide."

As soon as the orders were given, Little Claw flew down from the wall and landed on his left shoulder, its golden feathers slightly puffed up, and its pupils constricted into pinpoints. Little Mist slid silently onto his shoulder, the bone spur at the tip of its tail tapping rapidly against his collar several times. The little tyrant lay at the entrance of the poultry house and raised its head, its crimson-gold vertical pupils locked onto the churning gray mist in the direction of the Provincial Road, a tiny wisp of crimson-gold flame flashing deep in its throat.

But Wu Ran held it down. This time, he didn't intend to let the tyrant rush into the Anomaly Tide alone; the people from the Fang Organization were hiding behind the Anomaly Tide. Shielding devices could hide energy fluctuations, but they couldn't hide the movement trajectory when deploying the bait. Only when Hu Xiner deduced their location would it be time for the tyrant to act.

Yun Ye and Ou Shang were already standing at the door of the Brick Kiln reception room. The enamel cup in Yun Ye's hand was still steaming, but his expression was no longer the relaxed curiosity he had shown earlier when watching the tyrant sneeze.

He had seen Anomaly Tides many times in the Mangyan Safe Zone, and he had also seen the outer defense lines of the Safe Zone breached by Anomaly Tides. Although only two nodes of the Exorcism Field had been broken at this moment, the gray mist on the entire north side was churning.

"Is there anything I can help with?" Yun Ye asked.

Wu Ran glanced at him: "The seventh node needs urgent repairs; Old Fang and Uncle Chen have already taken the engineering team over there. During the repairs, the node will be completely exposed to the Anomaly Tide, and it requires combat-type Sequencers to provide cover."

Yun Ye nodded, put down the enamel cup, and walked toward the Provincial Road. Ou Shang followed behind, cracking his knuckles, his vertical pupils glowing slightly in the gray mist. Old Duan was already waiting at the Provincial Road intersection carrying his old military saber; seeing Yun Ye and Ou Shang coming up, he just nodded slightly to them, as silent as ever.

The battle on the Provincial Road had been going on for nearly half an hour. Old Ma led the Provincial Road patrol team and collided head-on with the Anomaly Tide outside the seventh node. The formation of the Rotten Skin Ghost defense line had been scattered several times and reorganized, with Old Ma himself carrying a machete and standing at the very front.

Old Fang's bulldozer was parked next to the base of the seventh node, and Uncle Chen was crouching on the resonator casing, testing wire by wire with a multimeter. Old Qian led the engineering team to unload the spare lattice modules from the bulldozer's bucket and hand them to Uncle Chen.

Yun Ye manipulated the airflow to create a low-pressure zone within the Anomaly Tide, causing the specters to briefly lose their sense of direction amidst the sudden change in air pressure. Ou Shang, in his beast form, blocked the front of the node, tearing apart an Elite Specter that attempted to pounce on the repair team with his claws. Old Duan guarded Uncle Chen's side with his old military saber, the blade stained with the corrosive blood of low-level specters.

Meanwhile, Hu Xiner captured a key piece of information in the guard tower.

After adjusting the scanning frequency of the Lighthouse Sequence to the maximum, she discovered that the movement trajectory of the Anomaly Tide showed traces of artificial manipulation. Each wave of impact was precisely directed at the gaps between the nodes, and the bait deployment locations followed a clear geometric distribution. All deployment points led to an abandoned old industrial ruin on the north side of the Provincial Road. That ruin was not on the regular patrol route, and there had been no previous records of any Fang Organization activity there.

Her voice came through the encrypted channel: "The deployment point is at the old industrial ruin on the north side of the Provincial Road, not far from the twelfth node. The energy signature of the shielding device has been marked by me; Little Claw can launch a surprise attack."

This was exactly the moment Wu Ran had been waiting for.

"Little Claw, take out the shielding device. Little Mist, use the strange fog to mask Little Claw's flight path to ensure the surprise attack isn't detected in advance by the Fang Organization's detection-type Sequencers."

Little Claw slid silently into the depths of the gray mist. Its golden feathers were tightly wrapped by Little Mist's strange fog, leaving almost no energy traces in the air. A moment later, a golden Claw Qi tore through the gray mist and struck the shielding device on the perimeter of the ruins. The golden energy collided with some kind of gray-black energy shield, exploding into a blinding ball of light. Immediately after, a second Claw Qi slashed through the shield, and a sharp scream and the crisp sound of metal equipment shattering came from deep within the ruins.