Everything now depended on the results of Dongfu’s various expeditionary forces.
At four in the afternoon.
Su Chen and Yan Ruoruo officially returned to East Gate 2 of the Qixia District. In the time they had been gone, even more of the city walls had been erected, towering and majestic. One of the gates was even beginning to take shape.
As for the group that had set out from this Forward Base, they had clearly found nothing. After an impatient search, they had already gone their separate ways to explore the caves below.
And what of the news from the other expeditionary forces?
In fact, the entire city’s population was watching this matter closely.
From the news that had come in so far, there was both good and bad.
First, the bad news: one expeditionary force had suffered heavy losses, with only a few dozen people managing to escape back. Many more were still missing.
Another force scored an initial victory but was ultimately defeated, barely managing to hold their ranks together as they successfully disengaged and retreated to the main city.
On a more ambivalent note, two elite forces, each a thousand strong, that were supposed to attack large main nests, failed to even find their targets.
That’s right, they got lost.
In such a vast, primordial wilderness, and without satellite GPS navigation, the Nature Apostles lost their tracking markers. Thrown into confusion, they had no choice but to call it quits, and the large force returned empty-handed.
Finally, the good news...
Of the six targeted large hatchery nests, two super-large main nests were successfully destroyed.
There were also reports from other exploratory fronts of five smaller nests being cleared out.
One front in particular, handled by more than half of the commando corps and a group of independent experts, was a resounding success. They deployed a core force of over a thousand people and were virtually unstoppable, leveraging their superiority in firepower and equipment to the absolute fullest. They performed a clean sweep of a valley in the hills, and their achievements were magnificent.
According to the official report, they killed a giant insect over a hundred meters long, cleared out two Iron-Eating Insect nests that were guarding the flanks, successfully destroyed at least sixty-five incubation chambers, recovered several hundred High-Level Runes, and killed over a thousand parasitic monsters.
"Is that for real? It’s not just for propaganda, is it?"
Since the official radio stations didn’t release any details of the battle, many citizens were happy but also felt a sense of unease.
"Could it be that the experts cultivated by the government finally made a move?"
This was a thought on many people’s minds. After all, the entity in the city with the most Runes was undoubtedly the Security Committee. If they were willing, they could easily create top-tier experts.
However, aside from the six major official radio stations, a well-known private civilian station called ’Hunter’s Home’ released details of the battle.
Reportedly, they had also participated in this successful operation.
’It’s not to deny the existence of the top-tier experts the public imagines, but what worked wonders were two invisibility scepters. They were enchanted with two Lv7 Invisibility Skills and were used specifically by a Ghost Assault Team. The Bloodthirsty Fungus’s consciousness was completely unaware that its main nest had been infiltrated.’
’The battle results are also real, but one detail left out of the report is that one of the giant insects managed to escape. It swallowed a large Flesh Mill building and made off with at least a thousand pieces of Rune Essence by burrowing underground.’
’Also, some of the hatching sacs contained strange human-beast hybrids, suspected to be products of a third evolutionary stage. The authorities will release more information on this later.’
Regarding this intelligence,
Su Chen, who was at a Supply Station on the border, heard about it from Yuan Haotian.
They had agreed last night to meet at this time in the afternoon. Yuan Haotian had even arrived a little early to wait.
Everyone loves a bit of gossip.
"The price of the Invisibility Skill shot up on the market. It’s at least a 50% premium compared to half an hour ago." Yuan Haotian was sharing some real black market news. "Word on the street is that a high-level Invisibility Skill is practically invincible. You can stand in front of a cyborg, empty a clip into them, and it’s an instant kill."
To this...
Su Chen just smiled and said, "Isn’t it possible that any Rune is powerful once it reaches Lv7?"
’Following that logic, the effect of his own Lv6 Shadow Jumping Skill was also pretty outrageous. If others knew its properties, they’d also call it unbeatable, a guaranteed kill for whoever strikes first.’
’After a moment’s thought, he concluded it was because Rune Mages were essentially glass cannons. In a one-on-one duel, whoever seized the initiative was practically guaranteed to win.’
’Unfortunately for them, the Bloodthirsty Fungus had inherited this same weakness. Before they could fully incubate their human-beast chimeras, if they were caught on the back foot and faced point-blank fire from enchanted weapons, the Parasite Bodies were as fragile as paper.’
He was about 90% convinced that the Invisibility Skill had indeed worked wonders.
During the great retreat from the campsite, when he and the four-person team from Jingcheng University were heading to the caves at the fissure cliff for the first time, Pang Peng had specifically borrowed an invisibility scepter. He had cast a Lv4 Invisibility Skill on everyone, allowing them to travel safely through the forest canopy without any mishaps.
"Let’s get down to business."
Su Chen would slowly digest the intelligence about the expeditions when he got back. The main reason he’d arranged to meet was to trade his spare High-Level Runes for Spiritual Materials.
"I have a potential buyer. He wants two Lv4 Dark Element Runes in one go, and he’s willing to pay at least four portions of Spiritual Materials."
Yuan Haotian rubbed his hands together excitedly, but then he suddenly remembered something, and his face fell.
"But..."
He warned, "The guy’s a mute, and he’s not someone to be trifled with. There’s a certain amount of risk involved."
Upon hearing this,
Su Chen raised an eyebrow slightly. From those few words, he was already piecing together a mental image of the man.

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