Chapter 2597: The World Beyond the City Walls
Chapter 2597: The World Beyond the City Walls
"The General really didn’t brief you on the mission, huh?" Wu Wang sighed after hearing Yuan’s words.
"She said that she wanted to keep it a surprise." Yuan shrugged.
"I get that she’s probably confident in our abilities, but this mission isn’t a game..." Shi Fa shook his head.
"Anyway, let’s talk about the mission itself," he continued. "For this mission, we are merely going to do a quick cleanup of the area around the city, which will take about a week or two at most."
"We will meet at the southern gates tomorrow at dawn. Any questions?"
"..."
Shi Fa turned to look at Yuan and asked, "Are you sure you don’t have any questions?"
"I do, but I’ll figure it out tomorrow," he said.
"Alright. In that case, see you all tomorrow."
Everyone returned to their living quarters shortly after.
"Do you intend to leave your living quarters again before the mission?" Sergeant Bing asked Yuan as they arrived at his living quarters.
"No."
"Then we’ll leave you alone to pack for the mission. If you need to go anywhere, make sure to contact us."
"Pack? There are things to pack?"
"Oh, it’s mostly just our weapons and personal luggage. Since you don’t have a weapon, you don’t have to worry about it. You can also bring anything you want."
"When you say weapons, do you mean Limitless Armaments?" Yuan asked in a curious tone.
"Yes."
"How does one acquire them? I also want one," he said.
"Only Sergeants and above can carry weapons," said Sergeant Bing.
"With that being said, you can try asking General Mei for one. She’ll likely make an exception for you."
Yuan nodded.
"I’ll ask her after the mission."
Some time later, Yuan entered his living quarters while Sergeant Bing and Sergeant Quang left to pack their things.
The following day, both of them returned to Yuan’s living quarters and escorted him to the southern gate.
Unsurprisingly, Wu Wang and Shi Fa were already waiting for them when they arrived.
"Let’s double-check our luggage before we head out," Sergeant Quang said.
Once they were done, they signed out at the gate.
"Teleport us to the city wall," Wu Wang said to the soldier on duty there.
"Yes, Sergeant!"
Moments later, the group stepped into the teleportation array and vanished from the military base, reappearing atop the city’s towering wall.
"This is..." Yuan muttered in a dazed voice as he stared at the breathtaking scene before him.
Standing atop the massive wall at the city’s edge, he was seeing the world beyond its borders for the very first time.
However, the sight was nothing like he had anticipated. Beyond the wall lay nothing but a barren wasteland, an endless expanse of sand and dirt stretching to the horizon like a scene from the apocalypse.
"What am I looking at?" Yuan asked out loud without turning away from the scenery, which was a stark contrast to the beautiful city that existed behind him.
"Quite the shocking sight, right? I remember my first time seeing the world beyond our city walls. I couldn’t sleep properly for weeks on end," Wu Wang remarked.
"I didn’t even know there was a city wall since I couldn’t see it from my Sector," said Yuan.
He then asked, "What happened?"
All four of them shrugged.
"Nobody knows for sure."
"What?" Yuan raised his eyebrows, dumbfounded by their response.
"How do you not know what caused such massive destruction?"
"Who said that was the cause?" Sergeant Bing said. "As far as we’re aware, the world outside the city has always been like this."
"It’s always been like this?" Yuan repeated in a low voice.
"Let’s go." Shi Fa said before he suddenly leaped off the city wall and into the barren land.
Sergeant Quang and Wu Wang quickly followed.
"Follow us closely," Sergeant Bing said to Yuan before following the others.
The moment Yuan jumped off the city walls and exited the city’s premises, the suppression on his cultivation was immediately released.
Meanwhile, Wu Wang retrieved his weapon, wielding it as though he was prepared to enter combat at any moment.
Sergeant Bing and Sergeant Quang both wielded a sword like Wu Wang, while Shi Fa wielded a spear.
"I don’t see any enemies," Yuan said.
"You will soon," said Wu Wang.
They traveled for nearly half a day without encountering anything.
"Stop!"
Shi Fa suddenly came to a halt.
"Enemies ahead."
Yuan narrowed his eyes in the direction Shi Fa was looking, but he couldn’t see anything, so he expanded the range of his divine sense.
"T-Those are...?!" Yuan’s eyes widened in shock.
In the distance, several shadowy entities wandered aimlessly. Though their forms resembled humans, they appeared to possess no physical bodies, their entire beings composed of swirling black fog.
’Black Death?!’ Yuan cried inwardly, as these entities resembled the Black Death he encountered when he was inside Vanishing Valley.
"We call them Void Specters because it’s almost like you’re staring into the void when you look at them," Shi Fa explained. "They don’t have physical bodies and are immune to physical attacks."
"All they do is wander this barren land, as if they’re constantly searching for something," Sergeant Quang continued.
"So our mission is to... kill them?" Yuan asked.
"Well... not exactly." Sergeant Bing shook her head. "These things are immortal. You can ’kill’ them as many times as you want, but they will return a few weeks later as if nothing happened."
"Then why bother with them? Do they pose a threat to the city?"
"Not directly," Shi Fa explained. "When they get too close to the city, their presence interferes with our technology."
"That’s why, before they get too close, we have to ’clean’ them."
"Is that so..." Yuan mumbled.
"I know you’re probably itching to fight them, but stay back for now," Wu Wang suddenly said. "We’ll show you how it’s done first."
"Sure." Yuan did not object.
Wu Wang and Shi Fa exchanged a glance.
Without a word, they nodded to each other before approaching the Void Specters.
"Hah!"
Their weapons surged with Limitless before they struck the Void Specters, slashing them in half without any resistance from the entities.
After being struck, the Void Specters dispersed like smoke, leaving behind a decent amount of Eternal Essence that lingered for a moment before disappearing as well.
"?!"
Yuan raised an eyebrow at the sight.
’These things leave behind Eternal Essence when killed? I can probably train my Eternal Essence with this!’ he immediately thought to himself.
However, the Eternal Essence disappeared after three seconds, so if he didn’t immediately absorb them, it would vanish completely.
A few minutes later, Wu Wang and Shi Fa returned after clearing out all of the Void Specters.
"Is that it? That seemed a little too easy," Yuan remarked.
"For some reason, the closer they get to the city, the less aggressive they become," Shi Fa explained. "Once we venture farther out, they’ll start fighting back."
"It still won’t be too dangerous, but you can lose your life if you let your guard down, since they kill anything they touch," Wu Wang added.
"They don’t have any long-range attacks, so you’ll be relatively safe as long as you keep your distance," Sergeant Bing said. "The real danger lies in their numbers. You’ll understand soon enough."
Shortly afterward, they continued venturing farther from the city.
A few minutes later, they encountered another Void Specter.
"You can take care of this one," Shi Fa said to Yuan. "Since you don’t have a weapon, you can just shoot your Limitless at it. Though, it won’t be as effective, and you might need to hit it a few times—"
Before Shi Fa could even finish his sentence, Yuan shot a single bullet of Limitless at the Void Specter.
Pop!
The moment the bullet reached the Void Specter, it exploded, instantly erasing the entity.
"..."
Shi Fa’s mouth remained open for a good moment before he cleared his throat and spoke in a stiff voice, "Not bad, I guess."
<You have absorbed some Eternal Essence>
However, Yuan was focused on the notification that appeared after he absorbed the Eternal Essence the Void Specter left behind.
Although it wasn’t much, it was better than nothing.
’At least I have a way to train my Eternal Essence now,’ he smiled inwardly.
Not only that, but the others did not notice what he was doing. No, they were incapable of sensing Eternal Essence without the system, so there was no way for them to even know in the first place.
They continued their mission, eliminating every Void Specter they encountered. As they ventured farther from the city, the number of Void Specters steadily increased.
At first, they encountered only two or three at a time. Now, more than a dozen roamed within sight.
While the sergeants fought on the front lines, Yuan picked off the Void Specters from afar and absorbed the Eternal Essence they left behind.
Before long, he realized that their numbers weren’t the only thing increasing. The Void Specters were also growing stronger and becoming increasingly difficult to kill.
However, that only meant Yuan needed two or three more bullets instead of just one to kill them.
Time flew by, and before they knew it, nearly a week had passed since they began their mission.
"All right, that should be enough cleaning for now," Shi Fa said. "Let’s start heading back now."
"Huh? That’s it? I want to clean up a little more," Yuan replied, dissatisfied that it was ending so soon.
"What? Why?" Wu Wang looked at him with a surprised expression.
"It’s not like you’ll gain bonus merit for going above and beyond for this sort of mission," he said a moment later, misunderstanding Yuan’s intent.