"Continue..."
Wei Huan issued the silent command within his mind. Simultaneously, the teleportation gate opened behind him. To avoid disrupting the "usurpation" process, the undead emerged one by one in a low-key, almost slow manner, silently drifting into the sky to serve as sentries. At all times, personal safety was the top priority.
At the same time, Wei Huan's divine sense moved into Moji's soul more slowly and gently than usual. Moji offered no resistance, allowing Wei Huan to peer into its very essence.
What Wei Huan saw was a scene that wasn't entirely unexpected.
Moji's soul had become remarkably similar to that of a Thought-Parasite Beast. What was once a chaotic, mist-like mass had transformed into countless soul threads, each thinner than a strand of hair. These threads were connected to individual Dark Beasts. Some were already taut, stretching out and vanishing into the void to link with a distant beast. Others flickered and swayed, searching for a "signal" before darting out like a venomous snake striking from a hole to latch onto a target.
As Wei Huan deciphered this process, his expression became one of disbelief.
'What is this? A massive biological internet? Is the entire Dark Beast civilization a scam? Are they enemies created by a higher lifeform for the sake of humanity? Or are they just touchstones?'
Or perhaps this was simply the truth of a "Hive Civilization."
Wei Huan didn't have the ultimate answer, but there was no doubt that Moji was constructing its own "network." The process lasted a long time. Even though seven or eight beasts were being linked every second, there were simply too many here. Some were in the distance, seemingly unable to approach to offer up their soul threads.
Down at the foot of the cliff, a vast swarm of now-calm Dark Beasts had successfully established a connection with Moji. Without orders, they remained peacefully in place, waiting.
Wei Huan looked at Moji, who was acting purely on instinct. Moji was like a child who understood nothing; to become a true "King," it still had much to learn. Wei Huan didn't mind teaching a subordinate undead—instructing it in basic formation and allocation was a small price to pay when the potential future filled him with such excitement.
This was just the beginning. If this succeeded, he would make it as terrifying as a plague. And the most interesting part was that Sequence 6 of the Gravekeeper was precisely the [Plague Spreader].
He would make that title a reality.
Wei Huan patiently taught Moji how to make the process faster and more efficient. Although Moji's intelligence was somewhat lacking, it was obedient, patient, and incapable of resenting its master. Under step-by-step guidance, the speed of the "usurpation" accelerated. Before total darkness fell, the mental links to over ten thousand beasts were finally completed.
Feeling the surge of combat power added to his subordinate's ranks, Wei Huan felt gratified. He decided he needed to value Moji more; the creature was worth focused cultivation.
'Maybe I should send it to school. If I put it in the same grade as Dou Lin, I wonder if it could keep up?'
Under Wei Huan's control via Moji, the chaotic Dark Beasts quieted down completely before midnight. They returned to their respective tribes and nests, resuming their daily lives—hunting, playing, exploring, and territorial skirmishing—just as they did every other day. The only difference was that most of the Dark Beast Lords were gone.
Wei Huan had wiped out almost all of them. The few remaining Lords that had been hunting Liu Chengzhi and the others were successfully brought under Moji's control with Wei Huan's help and had returned to their tribes. The highest-ranking one among them was a Level 4 Shura Horse. Its tribe was not far from where Mu Zhong and the others were resting. As it galloped across the plain, it no longer felt the mortal hatred for humans it once had, though it wasn't friendly either; it simply bypassed the human camp and returned home.
Wei Huan observed until he was sure it was safe, then brought Moji back to the human camp.
Moji's return was like lighting a lamp in the dead of night. Excited voices rang out across the camp.
"Moji is back!"
"We can finally see again!"
"This godforsaken place... no wonder it breeds such detestable beasts."
Those with data glasses were the minority. Most of the challengers who had rushed in were essentially "blind." If they hadn't been able to see each other and if Moji hadn't been pulled in at the critical moment, the situation would have been horrifying to contemplate. If Captain Fang, one of humanity's pillars, had died here, it would have been an immeasurable loss.
---
After dinner that night, Wei Huan stood with Mu Zhong, with a slightly recovered Captain Fang on his other side. The three of them stood in a row, with Xu Qingqiang, Captain Xue, Brother Hammer, Xiong Yi, Wu Ning, and all the other Daxia challengers standing solemnly behind them.
They gazed forward at the remains laid out on the ground, pieces gathered as best they could. Even with Wei Huan's undead army scouring the area, this was all they could bring back.
Captain Fang's expression was as heavy as if he were drowning in the deep sea. Holding a torch, his lips trembled as he shouted hoarsely, "Brothers, I'm taking you home!"
The tossed torch ignited the pyre. Amidst the swirling red flames, muffled sobs broke out continuously. Wei Huan stood in silence, letting the fire sear his eyes as his grief transformed into bone-deep hatred.
He hated this scene. He had always, always hated this scene.
Once the fire died down, Captain Fang collected the ashes, wrapping them carefully in cloth, not letting a single speck of dust escape. Someone had been crying just now. Now, others were crying too.
Wei Huan turned to Mu Zhong, the fire in his eyes still burning fiercely. "I know the location of the next Royal territory. I'm going to check it out."
Mu Zhong sighed. He didn't try to comfort Wei Huan, nor did he stop him. He simply said, "Wait a moment. We're going with you."
Wei Huan started to protest, but Mu Zhong continued, "It's too far; it's likely outside your summoning range. It's better to take us with you—you can go wherever you want. This time, we stay together."
Wei Huan understood and nodded.
The collection process was quiet and heavy. As a sliver of light appeared on the horizon and all the ashes were placed in Captain Fang's hands, the atmosphere finally lifted slightly. The dead were gone; the living had to move forward, kill more beasts, and carry the conviction of their comrades.
Wei Huan summoned the Burrow Beasts and led everyone away. Their goal was clear: slaughter the Dark Beast Royals—the more, the better.
Occasionally, Wei Huan checked the [Quest Log] on the right side of his virtual projection, showing the tasks set by "Iron Heart."
[Main Quest: Rescue Comrades 169/272]
[Quest Failed]
Wei Huan closed his eyes and reopened them. "Close the Main Quest. Only display the Side Quests."
The crimson numbers vanished—from his sight, at least. But that blood-debt was already etched into his heart.
[Side Quest 1: Kill Dark Beast King 0/1]
[Side Quest 2: Kill Dark Beast Royal 1/293]
[Side Quest 3: Kill Dark Beast Lord 5,210/1,000,000]
[Side Quest 4: Kill Dark Beast 1,020,092/100,000,000]
Seeing these numbers made him feel much better. He had already killed a fair amount—ignoring the ordinary beasts, killing over five thousand Lords was somewhat consoling news. Completing Quest 1 would be ideal, but if not, killing more for Quest 2 would do. As for Quests 3 and 4, now that the pressure of the rescue was gone, he was going to do them properly.
The direction Wei Huan was flying was based on the differences he had discerned the previous night while helping Moji "usurp" power. A beast tribe without a Royal is visibly agitated, like a kite with a broken string; they lose their stability and their eyes fill with confusion and fear. Conversely, beasts with a Royal have a very clear purpose—living stable lives in their tribes while remaining highly aggressive toward humans, viewing Wei Huan as a mortal enemy.
Wei Huan's Eye Demon Lords had only flown 20 'li' across the sky before he clearly felt the boundary between the two Royal territories: one side was chaotic, the other orderly.
However, Wei Huan believed the Dark Beast race must know he was here. They wouldn't let him wander so leisurely; they would certainly set a trap for him. His undead had appeared on the edge of this unseen Royal's territory yesterday. If the Dark Beasts were to set an ambush, this was the most likely place.
'Will it be another group of Royal Dharma Images?' Wei Huan pondered. It was a risk, but the rewards were equally massive.
Thinking back to the Opening Battle, killing over ten Royals at once hadn't just been about taking lives. It had boosted his side's morale while terrifying the Dark Beast race. Even though they had their formations ready, they hadn't dared to fight and slunk back to their dens, handing over the victory. Sometimes, you just need a thunderous strike. The harder you swing your fist, the more the opponent fears you.
All schemes and calculations were merely compensations for insufficient personal strength. A truly powerful person can calmly walk away from a dragnet, leaving an eternal shadow on their enemies.
Wei Huan knew there was danger ahead, but he chose to proceed anyway. He wanted to strike head-on at the arrangements the Dark Beasts were most proud of, shattering their calculations and making them tremble at the mere mention of his name from then on.
Wei Huan proceeded at an unhurried pace, giving everyone time to emerge from their grief. When he saw the cliffside where Moji had "usurped" power in the distance, a thought occurred to him, and he called Moji over.
Moji was now the "light" in everyone's eyes. Within a certain range of it, Captain Fang and the others could see the truth of the Dark Beast world. Combined with its unexpected actions yesterday, Wei Huan had not returned it to the Great Tomb.
Moji, roughly the size of an adult horse, should have been a foal within the Shura Horse race. It looked identical to the others he had seen, except for the green flames burning deep in its eyes—souls reignited by the fires of death.
Wei Huan's command to Moji was to be ready to "usurp" at any time. Their goal was to kill the Royal. Once the Royal died, the beasts would be leaderless, allowing Moji to take over. Every beast converted would become their combat power.
Of Moji's three heads, one looked mellow and obedient, one wore a ferocious smirk, and the third had clear eyes and a kind face. Shura Horses usually had three heads, but they never displayed different expressions simultaneously. Moji was unique: the front head was obedient like a child, while the ferocious and kind ones represented its inner light and darkness.
Of course, judging Shura Horses by human standards of good and evil wasn't accurate. It was more that Moji was sometimes very good and sometimes excessively mischievous, though mostly it was just as oblivious as a young child. All three heads only listened to Wei Huan.
When Wei Huan told it to lie down, it did. It even rolled over and lay on the ground, looking around for a bit. Perhaps getting bored but seeing Wei Huan hadn't moved, the oblivious head looked down, raised its six arms, and began playing rock-paper-scissors with itself.
When Wei Huan turned and saw this, he was weirdly charmed by the "cuteness" of it and reached out to pat the obedient, oblivious head. The texture was strange—short, stiff hair flush against the scalp. it felt smooth but wasn't as comfortable as soft fur. It felt more like stroking a powerful beast—smooth, sharp, and hard, with a faint feeling that it might cut his palm. Yet, in Moji's sudden upward look of dependency and enjoyment, he felt a certain softness.
Despite its undead body, it seemed to have warmth, and he could almost feel the blood flowing beneath the skin—a vigorous life. A life truly brought back from the dead.
Wei Huan didn't know what made Moji so different, but this uniqueness made him treasure it. If he could understand why Moji could "live" again, did that mean all the undead in his Great Tomb could be resurrected? One day, when the Great Tombs of humanity appeared before him, could he bring them all back to the world of the living?
"We're here." Mu Zhong's voice pulled Wei Huan's drifting thoughts back. He looked ahead into a dense jungle and saw Dark Beasts peeking through the gaps in the leaves, watching him.
Swift Wolves and Carrion Bears were on the ground, Eye Demon Lords hung from the treetops, and the usually noisy Ghost Crows were silent, hidden everywhere. It was as quiet as if it were just a normal forest. Unfortunately, such concealment was useless against Transcendent humans. Wei Huan not only had Hero-level Eye Demon Lords providing X-ray vision, but his data glasses could easily detect the beasts. The dark energy filling their bodies was as clear as lanterns in the dark.
Wei Huan's killing intent boiled. He intended to intimidate the Dark Beasts again, but he wasn't arrogant enough to charge blindly into a trap. Now that the people were rescued and the grudge was carried, all that remained was the slaughter. Clearing from the edges and pushing forward after everything was wiped out was also good. Either way, they were killing, and this way they avoided being trapped by calculations.
Wei Huan had Dot Mom stop. The teleportation gate behind him opened, and the undead army poured out, charging toward the jungle. Xu Qingqiang was on duty this morning and led his men to join the battle alongside the undead. Wei Huan wasn't the only one who needed to vent; everyone had a fire burning in their hearts.
"Jie jie jie—"
As Xu Qingqiang's eerie laughter drifted away, Wei Huan heard a "Clang!"—a sound like a golden bell falling from the sky. Subsequently, a semi-transparent protective shield appeared around the two Burrow Beasts they were on. It didn't look quite like the shield of a vehicle; it lacked the flowing light effect but looked thicker, appearing almost as if there was a slight spatial displacement with the outside world.
Wei Huan looked at Captain Fang.
Captain Fang said, "A basic ability. Don't worry about my consumption. You all charge ahead; the rear is in our hands."
A crew member beside him nodded. "Exactly. We may be blind, but fighting within a hundred meters is no problem. We owe you and the others our lives; we must contribute something."
Captain Fang forestalled Wei Huan's protests with a smile. "We need this sense of worth, rather than being a group of weaklings who only wait for rescue."
"That's right! Trust us, Captain Wei! Leave your back to us!"
"Even at the cost of our lives, we won't let a hair on you or your crew be harmed."
Wei Huan fell silent and nodded. He turned his attention back to the battlefield ahead. The defensive line the Dark Beasts had prepared against him crumbled instantly under the impact of the undead army. Even if a few high-level Lords occasionally killed many undead, they were quickly targeted by Xu Qingqiang.
An enraged Xu Qingqiang was bloodthirsty; everywhere he passed was a trail of blood and mangled limbs. The undead army pushed forward like a meat grinder, leaving a trail of dead beasts. By the time Wei Huan stepped onto the path, the ground was stained completely black, and a foul, pungent stench rose up as if the whole world were polluted.
Captain Fang and the others, experiencing this for the first time, frowned slightly. Only those who had fought alongside Wei Huan all the way remained calm, believing Captain Fang's group would soon adapt.
Liu Chengzhi's voice came from behind: "Holy crap, it stinks. Did we walk into their latrine?"
Wei Huan was amused and felt fortunate that Liu Chengzhi was still alive. Dou Lin had long recovered from his shock. Children born in the Challenge World had been fighting for survival since birth and were used to such life-and-death crises; he was laughing as soon as his stomach was full last night.
At this moment, he even had the mind to peer down from the Burrow Beast's shell. "I've smelled this before. It shouldn't be a latrine—didn't the place we came from smell like this too? It must be because the Dark Beasts are too stinky. They never wash."
Liu Chengzhi: "Exactly. They don't wash—do you expect them to build toilets for themselves? They definitely just go wherever they are."
Dou Lin: "But to hide their scent and tracks, some wild animals bury their droppings."
Liu Chengzhi: "So Dark Beasts are worse than the wild animals of Blue Star. They're the lowest form of life."
Dou Lin: "Right! But is it true what you said about rabbits you can hold in your arms that don't eat people? How can rabbits not eat people? They definitely eat people..."
The sense of security they felt from being with Wei Huan allowed them to chat back and forth, adding a bit of lightness to the slaughterhouse of the battlefield.
Captain Fang, seemingly reminded of all the children born in the Challenge World who couldn't return home by this conversation, was about to chat with Wei Huan when a sudden change occurred.
The ground they were passing over suddenly erupted. Tongues of fire spat out amidst swirls of grey smoke, and countless shells whistled into the air. They were incredibly fast, reaching Wei Huan in the blink of an eye.
'Boom! Boom! Boom!' They exploded in succession.
Wei Huan reacted instantly, and Dot Mom immediately enlarged, intending to use her body to block the shells and protect everyone. But the shells exploded prematurely a hundred meters away; the entire force of the explosions was blocked by the protective shield.
Wei Huan turned to look at Captain Fang. Captain Fang responded with a relaxed expression, as if the ambush the Royals had prepared to kill him was no more threatening than a gentle breeze.
Wei Huan looked at the thermal weapons striking the shield. It was truly a bizarre, jarring contrast to see such things on a planet of beast civilization, which explained why they hadn't been detected initially.
But it wasn't surprising. The Dark Beast Lord assessment was like a "college entrance exam" for intellectual improvement. Dark Beasts with low IQ and only instinct couldn't learn "1-2-3-4" even with lifelong compulsory education. Even for high-intelligence beings like Royals and high-star nobility, getting them to give up their claws, teeth, and tough hides to pursue academic endeavors—to smelt ore, build factories, and manufacture weapons—was an extremely difficult task.
At least until now, this was the first time he had seen thermal weapons in the Dark Beast Plane. These things were here, undoubtedly, to deal with him.
As humanity's First Knight, Captain Fang's greatest strength was defense. In the past, during siege battles between humans and Dark Beast Lords, if Captain Fang hadn't been able to shield part of the vehicles to reach the city walls, humanity—as a "late-game race"—might have been finished much earlier.
Captain Fang's ability was unquestionable. Defending against the explosion of thermal weapons happened to be his specialty. Letting the shells roar against the shield, Captain Fang sat cross-legged like a compassionate Buddha, eyes half-closed—part wrathful Vajra, part merciful Bodhisattva—ultimately manifesting as this steady little world protecting everyone's safety.
Wei Huan had always respected Captain Fang, and he did so now more than ever. It was precisely this heart for the world that allowed for such absolute defense. The special talent awakened by a challenger seemed to come from a resonance deep within the soul; although Captain Fang didn't look like a Buddha on the outside, his heart was incredibly pure.
Once the Dark Beast ambush was blocked by Captain Fang, it became nothing more than a fireworks display, devoid of any threat. And Wei Huan's undead army was no slouch; upon discovering the ambush, the ground units immediately rushed in—dismantling, destroying, or simply trampling through with their bodies.
The threats were being cleared rapidly, and soon even the fireworks display was gone.
Wei Huan said to Captain Fang, "Fortunately, we have you."
Captain Fang smiled. "I'm at peace knowing I can help."
Wei Huan said, "You've already done enough for the human race, and I've always received your protection and care."
Captain Fang replied, "You've already repaid it a thousandfold. We are all working toward the same goal. That is enough."
"Yes. For the human race."