Unfortunately, as long as the hatcheries are still around, their numbers are effectively infinite. They sustain their war with war, growing stronger the more they fight.
"We can’t afford to be passive. We have to go on the offensive and destroy all of their hatchery nests."
Only by crushing the Bloodthirsty Fungus’s main fighting force and cutting off their ability to evolve can we make the threat they pose plummet.
Frankly, the spore contagion wasn’t as terrifying as one might think. It could be dealt with as long as there was a comprehensive system of Purification Skills. Besides, as long as the current temperature fluctuations between day and night persisted, the viability of the spores in the air would remain extremely low.
Without giving it much more thought, Su Chen cleared his mind. Taking advantage of his completely transformed Physique, he began to try some different warm-up exercises.
Less than half an hour later, as his warm-up was coming to an end...
He placed one palm on the ground, twisted at the waist, and kicked his legs straight up. Without the support of a wall, he balanced his entire body weight on his right palm, using pure core strength to stabilize his center of gravity and perform one-armed handstand push-ups.
Once his core was stable, he began to lower and raise himself using the strength in his right wrist.
Just then, Yan Ruoruo’s figure appeared in the window of Vehicle 13. Her body, weary from the night before, had let her sleep in for an extra hour.
She stood by the vehicle’s door, sipping from one cup of water and holding another filled with warm water. Her gaze, however, rested quietly on the inverted figure in the yard, watching his taut shoulder line and the smooth muscles of his back.
He flawlessly completed several reps.
Yan Ruoruo didn’t realize that the one-armed handstand push-up he was performing, done to such a strict standard, was a feat no one on Earth could actually accomplish. The videos circulating online didn’t meet the proper form, making the true feat legendary.
’Incredibly difficult.’
With her solid theoretical knowledge of the human body, she naturally recognized that this movement was far beyond what an ordinary person could imagine.
After the previous night, Ruoruo was well aware that the man before her had an extraordinary physique. Seeing him now, she felt that being just a Rune Mage was a real waste of his talents.
After just five reps, Su Chen felt his arm start to shake, so he stopped the exercise.
"Good morning."
Su Chen brushed the dust off his right hand. The rare, invigoratingly intense workout had made him break a sweat.
"Morning."
Yan Ruoruo nodded in acknowledgment, her calm, cool eyes gazing peacefully at the man. Her temperament was still aloof, but there was no trace of distance in her gaze.
And her emotions weren’t always so calm and placid...
At least, during their intimacy last night, Su Chen had felt her surging emotions. Perhaps it was a potent surge of hormones, or maybe her suppressed nature had finally been unleashed, but the large block of ice she once was had mostly melted away.
In her eagerness to please, she had naturally satisfied his requests for quite a few different positions.
Overall, last night had been very pleasant and relaxing.
As a partnership of convenience formed in the apocalyptic era, the two of them shared no grand vows or deep, lingering affection. Still, it was far better than the numb couples from the old world who were just going through the motions of life together.
At the very least, Su Chen could enjoy the emotional fulfillment she provided.
And right now, she was already carefully wiping the sweat from his body with a clean towel.
Just then, an unexpected recruitment order came over the official broadcast.
"...To ensure the safety of the entire city, and for the continued survival of Dongfu City, the Department of Combat and Defense now issues a Hero Recruitment Order to all citizens. A synchronized extermination operation will be launched against the six large hatchery nests recently confirmed by the Investigation Legion.
At the same time, we will be investigating and exploring the numerous unknown and suspicious flesh hatcheries reported by civilians.
At 10:00 AM sharp this morning, the twelve Forward Bases on the border will open for assembly. We cordially invite all individuals and squads with combat experience to report for duty.
This order is not a mandatory draft. All who participate and complete their missions will be granted resource allotments and High-Tier Runes based on their combat performance."
To ensure this recruitment order was widely broadcast,
the message began to play on a continuous loop across all six major platforms of the official broadcast network.
’Good. This is the right strategy,’ Su Chen thought, nodding in approval. At the very least, they couldn’t let the Bloodthirsty Fungus continue to evolve. According to the intel he’d gathered, augmented humans possessing Class Authority hadn’t appeared yet.
But considering their rate of evolution, it probably wouldn’t be long.
The death warrant they’d issued for him was for today.
It was worth noting that the Department of Combat and Defense was one of the three pillars of the Security Committee. Under its command were four major organizations: the Assault Legion, the Law Enforcement Team, the Guard Legion, and the Investigation Legion.
The Assault Legion, composed of seven battalions, was originally established to storm and reclaim key urban areas occupied by monsters.
After completing its historic mission, this formidable force was primarily reassigned to guard Rune structures from destruction.
The Law Enforcement Team was responsible for hunting down and apprehending criminals within the city. Due to the high number of homicide cases, they had to contend with vicious murderers, and naturally had a core of formidable elite members.
The Guard Legion’s original purpose was to protect the public during evacuations, saving them from the monsters that besieged the city. It had now become a mainstay force for maintaining urban order and guarding various resource nodes.
Although numerous, their overall strength was nowhere near that of the first two organizations.
The Investigation Legion, as its name suggests, conducted comprehensive investigations into the state of the Outer Forest, carrying out all-encompassing reconnaissance and intelligence gathering on the terrain, monster movements, fungal colony proliferation, and potential resource locations.
Their work was extremely dangerous, and they were currently the organization with the highest overall strength.
The reason for their recent success was not just on-site exploration, but also thanks to the class abilities of a dozen or so Nature Apostles on the team. They were able to mark and covertly track the Giant-Jawed Flying Insects, which allowed them to trace the creatures back to their source.
However... ’They haven’t pinpointed any large hatchery nests in our direction,’ Su Chen mused as he listened to the rest of the broadcast. The assembly point for their area, the Forward Base at East Gate 2, was only tasked with recruiting volunteers for a joint search-and-investigation mission.
The six large hatchery nests were located either north of the city or to its west, all of which were too far from his current position.
Since that was the case, there was no need for him to tag along with the official teams.
He might as well continue advancing deeper into the forest area he had explored yesterday.
If nothing else, he could try his luck and see if he could find a respawned altar.

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