186: Chapter 187 The War That Is About to Break Out

Two hours later, the roar of the helicopter gradually faded.

Through the porthole, the outline of the city below could be seen.

But this outline was broken, like a gnawed skeleton, with countless skyscrapers snapped and collapsed.

The helicopter did not land on the ground but precisely hovered above the rooftop platform of a skyscraper that was still relatively intact.

At the edge of the platform, several fully armed Soldiers were already waiting.

"Mr. Song, we have arrived."

Qin Feng unbuckled his seatbelt and was the first to jump off the helicopter.

The three of them crossed the platform and walked into a thick alloy gate, behind which was a freight elevator that looked quite old.

The space was large, enough to accommodate a small armored vehicle.

As the elevator started, the platform beneath their feet began to descend steadily.

The light vanished completely, and everything around them plunged into pure darkness, with only the emergency lights on the inner walls of the elevator emitting a faint glow.

"We are entering the entrance level, three hundred meters underground. The entire Shelter city has a vertical depth of over one thousand meters and is divided into five levels."

I don't know how much time had passed, but the descent suddenly slowed, and after a piercing alarm, the elevator doors slowly slid open to both sides.

A wave of warm air mixed with the smell of disinfectant rushed toward them.

Immediately after, there was the sound of noisy crowds and a blinding, soulless, pale light.

Outside the elevator was an immensely huge underground cavern.

Its dome was very high, and one could only see hundreds of huge searchlights hanging high above, illuminating this underground space as bright as day.

Beneath the dome was a real city.

Neatly planned streets, three or four-story buildings, and even plazas and public facilities; people came and went on the streets—patrolling Soldiers, vendors pushing carts and hawking their wares, and civilians in a hurry—everything seemed orderly.

Arriving at a building, it was already packed with people.

More than two hundred Evolvers stood in groups of three or five, clearly divided into different factions.

In the east corner, a dozen men and women wearing standard-issue combat uniforms stood against the wall.

On the west side, a burly man with a massive axe as wide as a door panel on his back was holding court, spitting as he spoke, while the people around him occasionally burst into coarse laughter.

"Damn it, why do we have to wait for those bird-brained people to gather! If it were me, I'd take my axe, charge straight into that golden-haired, flat-feathered beast's lair, and..."

Song Yang's gaze only lingered on the burly man for a moment before turning to the other side.

A thin man wearing a leather jacket was leaning against a load-bearing pillar, leisurely wiping a dagger with a cloth.

"Another one arrived; he must be an expert invited from another city," a companion beside him whispered while staring at Song Yang.

"An expert?"

The man wiping the dagger sneered, his voice very low, "How much of an expert can he be? Once you're here, you have to coil if you're a dragon and lie down if you're a tiger. I only care if that batch of promised energy crystals will be delivered on time after the job is done."

Before long.

The noisy human voices seemed to be strangled by an invisible hand and instantly died down.

The crowd parted to create a path, and an old man dressed in a crisp military uniform walked out.

His hair was grey, but his back was as straight as a javelin. There were no military ranks on his shoulders, but the aura of iron and blood, forged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood, was more chilling than any general's insignia.

The burly man with the giant axe, who had been holding court, tactfully shut his mouth.

The man wiping the dagger also stopped his movements, looked up, and squinted as he sized up the old man.

Song Yang could feel that the energy contained within the old man was as heavy and solid as a mountain; he was undoubtedly the top expert in the room.

The old man walked to the front of the crowd, his gaze like lightning, sweeping across the entire room, finally resting on Song Yang and the other new faces for a brief moment.

"I am Xiao Huaqiang, the person in charge of this operation."

"I won't waste time with small talk; there is only one mission objective."

Xiao Huaqiang held up one finger, "Kill the Golden-Winged Beast Emperor and all its identified King-level Monster subordinates."

As soon as these words were spoken, a suppressed gasp echoed throughout the room.

Kill a Beast Emperor?

It was easy to say, but that was a Beast Emperor!

A terrifying existence capable of destroying a city Shelter single-handedly!

"I know this is very difficult, a nine-deaths-and-one-life situation."

Xiao Huaqiang seemed to see through everyone's thoughts, "Therefore, the reward this time is also unprecedented."

"During the operation, all spoils of war belong to the individual. Furthermore, the higher-ups will open the 'Merit Exchange Repository,' which is stocked with all kinds of mysterious objects you cannot even imagine."

"However, the things inside cannot be bought with money, nor are they divided by headcount."

"Everything is determined by battle merit."

"Battle merit?"

The burly man with the giant axe spoke in a muffled voice, "How is that calculated? If I'm on the front lines hacking a King-level Monster to death, and some coward hiding in the back shoots a few hundred small fry, does the battle merit count the same?"

His words were crude but made sense, immediately drawing agreement from many people.

"That's right, this needs to be made clear!"

"Don't let us risk our lives only for the credit to go to someone else!"

Xiao Huaqiang seemed to have anticipated this question. He did not get angry but calmly raised his hand and snapped his fingers.

Hum—

On the metal wall behind everyone, a screen of light was projected and slowly unfolded.

[Beast Emperor-level 'Golden-Winged Beast Emperor' head: 50,000 battle merit points]

[King-level 'Heavy-Armored Thunder Dragon' head: 5,000 battle merit points]

[King-level 'Black Armored Pangolin Beast' head: 5,000 battle merit points]

The battle merit points for various King-level Monsters were listed.

"I know what you are thinking."

There was not the slightest ripple on Xiao Huaqiang's face, "You think this is an impossible mission, that we are being sent to our deaths."

"That's right, you guessed half of it correctly."

As soon as these words were spoken, a low commotion immediately broke out in the crowd.

"What the hell is that supposed to mean? Using us as cannon fodder?" someone couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

The burly man with the giant axe widened his eyes, his chest heaving, and two puffs of coarse air sprayed from his nostrils, clearly suppressing his urge to lash out.

Xiao Huaqiang ignored these reactions and just raised his hand.

Several Soldiers immediately stepped forward and distributed a black watch-like terminal to everyone present.

Song Yang put it on his wrist; the screen lit up automatically, and a soft light screen was projected into mid-air.

On the light screen was a list.

It contained over a dozen mysterious objects with various names and unimaginable functions.

In an instant, everyone in the hall's breathing became heavy.

The Evolvers who had previously thought it was a suicide mission now had eyes shining, staring fixedly at the light screen in front of them, their Adam's apples bobbing.

"These are the foundations the country has accumulated since the apocalypse."

"But they are limited in number and do not belong to anyone; they only belong to the warriors who can risk their lives for this city."

"The Beast Emperor must die, but it is not the only enemy. Just five minutes ago, three King-level Monsters under the Golden-Winged Beast Emperor had already infiltrated the city. They are the Beast Emperor's minions and the first hurdle on our path to victory."

The old man held up three fingers, his voice suddenly rising.

"Kill one King-level Monster, and with the battle merit, you will have the chance to exchange for any mysterious object on the list!"

"This is a war that concerns the life and death of us all, but at the same time, this is also an opportunity!"

"An opportunity for you to be reborn and ascend to the heavens in a single step!"