Chapter 172 - 141: The Returned Captain

Chapter 172: Chapter 141: The Returned Captain

"Although, a team entirely composed of Refining Stage members would catch up to the various combat squads of the Countermeasures Bureau right from the start. The Refining Stage members in each branch of the Countermeasures Bureau roughly number around ten or so; some might not even have that many, right?"

Calculating briefly, Shi An realized that the number of Refining Stage powerhouses in his Safe Zone might be catching up to or even surpassing the Countermeasures Bureau.

It was quite an exaggeration. However, he and the Countermeasures Bureau were not competitors. He operated a platform with infinite inclusivity. In terms of the total number of powerhouses, the Safe Zone still fell far short of the Countermeasures Bureau, Shi An pondered.

"It is known that the Countermeasures Bureau has five Extraordinary Realm powerhouses. The top three seats of the Wizard’s House are all Extraordinary. The Extreme Intent Martial Arts Hall seems to have two or three Extraordinary as well. We can estimate that there are more than fifteen Extraordinary Powerhouses in the entire Baijiang City."

That was a considerable amount! However, was it really a lot? Not at all!

"If a Nightmare invades Baijiang City, the invading ghosts are indeed not strong. But if ghosts swarm into Baijiang City under the influence of the grey fog tides, they will not only be numerous but also incredibly powerful."

A super-small-scale grey fog tide Shi An had encountered before contained several ghosts and one Elite Level ghost.

He heard that if a large-scale grey fog tide erupted, hundreds of ghosts would surge in like a flood, and there might be more than one Extraordinary Ghost among them. Baijiang City had experienced grey fog tides of this scale more than once since its fall.

Nowadays, thanks to the continuous expeditions by the Safe Zone’s powerhouses, the sporadic Nightmare invasion incidents within Baijiang City had grown increasingly rare. Occasionally, one or two Nightmare invasions still occurred. This could not be completely eradicated, as Baijiang City was situated right in the middle of the Sea of Nightmares. However, the situation was no longer as critical.

"Unfortunately, this ’not as critical’ situation is strictly limited to Nightmare invasion incidents.

"The Safe Zone’s expeditions into Nightmares can’t affect the surging of the grey fog tides. What’s more, there are Pseudo-Men watching like predators!"

The Countermeasures Bureau had made some gains these past few days. They had grasped some clues and traces of the Pseudo-Men. Yet, the deeper they investigated, the more troublesome it turned out to be. The feud between Pseudo-Men and humans was a true fight to the bitter end.

"Because humanity is the breeding ground for Pseudo-Men! Pseudo-Men must be born from humans!

"And for a ghost tribe like the Pseudo-Men, the Countermeasures Bureau has discovered through research that there is definitely a significant number of ghosts among them!

"Ordinary Pseudo-Men can advance to Extraordinary through Cultivation, or they can directly transform into Extraordinary Realm Pseudo-Men by eroding human Extraordinary!"

Currently, he had the Lighthouse, which could see through the disguise of Pseudo-Men. The Countermeasures Bureau was also studying the Lighthouse, hoping to develop similar items. Even so, setting aside their disguises, the strength of the Pseudo-Men was enough to evoke apprehension and even terror.

"This is the terrifying aspect of intelligent ghost tribes! Intelligent ghosts improve their strength rapidly; after all, even the most Ordinary ghosts are comparable to Refining Stage powerhouses.

"However, the vast majority of my Safe Zone members are also capable of fighting Ordinary ghosts and are improving just as fast."

Regarding Pseudo-Men, Shi An did not have a direct solution for the time being. Then he would prioritize upgrading. If he had dozens of Extraordinary Realm members under his command, and if his Safe Zone had tens or hundreds of elite squads, why would he fear mere Pseudo-Men?

...

"Pseudo-Men? They are indeed a terrifying ghost tribe!

"Thinking carefully, I encountered an intelligent ghost similar to a Pseudo-Man earlier this year. But back then, that ’Pseudo-Man’s’ disguise Ability was clearly not as realistic. This shows that the Pseudo-Men are improving, and improving very fast!"

Deep in the Nightmare, somewhere still relatively far from Baijiang City. A travel-worn young man was reading a secret missive transmitted by the bureau through special means. The secret missive primarily warned him: Beware of Pseudo-Men! Beware of Pseudo-Men! Beware of Pseudo-Men!

Without precautions, even an Extraordinary Powerhouse like Long Xingzhou could be killed by an Ordinary Pseudo-Man, but as long as he was on guard... A cold gleam flashed in Long Xingzhou’s eyes.

"Currently, there is no direct method to see through a Pseudo-Man’s disguise. However, one can verify if someone is a Pseudo-Man through blood tests and common sense questioning!

"After Pseudo-Men erode and replace humans, they gain human memories and even behavioral habits. But there are certain details they fail to notice and wouldn’t bother to pay attention to! Ultimately, they are not human!"

Soon, Long Xingzhou ordered the team to set up camp and rest. Through various means, he verified that there were no Pseudo-Men in his squad. The result was to be expected, but he still breathed a sigh of relief.

It was only then, after following his orders to the letter to complete the blood draws and verifications, that the team members voiced their inner confusion. They didn’t understand why their captain was doing this.

"It’s the Pseudo-Men," Long Xingzhou stated.

As the first branch of the Baijiang City Strategy Bureau, these dozen or twenty elites had traveled far and wide, accumulating quite extraordinary experiences. They had seen and even killed many intelligent ghosts! Yet, this was their first time hearing of such a terrifying ghost as the Pseudo-Men.

"Not only that," Long Xingzhou continued, "the Pseudo-Men have already set their sights on our Baijiang City. The bureau urgently summoned us back this time precisely to completely resolve this Pseudo-Man disaster!

"Fortunately, this time..."

Long Xingzhou looked at the other few people in the team. They were a group of six—a traveling merchant squad from Celestial South City!

Celestial South City was relatively far from Baijiang. The two cities near Baijiang were Lindong City and Chongshan City. Long Xingzhou had previously gone to Lindong City on business, where he bumped into the Celestial South City squad, who were there for a trade. They instantly hit it off and decided to travel to Baijiang together.

And this time...

The captain of the Celestial South squad, Extraordinary Realm powerhouse Chen Moxuan, spoke up, "We cannot stay in Baijiang City for long, but we can lend you all a helping hand. Our interests align; existences like the Pseudo-Men absolutely must not be spared!"

Chen Moxuan was also worried about these Pseudo-Men spreading to their side of Celestial South City. Since he was heading to Baijiang City, he had to thoroughly investigate the characteristics of the Pseudo-Men.

"Let’s go, Long Team," Chen Moxuan urged. "Since the current situation in Baijiang City isn’t too optimistic, we need to hurry back to Baijiang as soon as possible."