Chapter 189 - 147: Visitors from the Two Cities

Chapter 189: Chapter 147: Visitors from the Two Cities

There were only some Advanced Member Cards, Watchtower blueprints, or blueprints for Potions and items.

It was no different from clearing out the depths of a Nightmare.

Shi An couldn’t grasp the rules behind it either.

After these two Major Regions were cleared, new Nightmare Regions continued to emerge in the Nightmare Shallow Sea. They were simply inexhaustible. This kind of clearing operation could only curb a Nightmare’s invasion, but could not eradicate it. After that, Shi An stopped organizing clearing operations in such Shallow Areas; the cost-effectiveness was just too low.

The number of Advanced Members had now grown to ten. However, the only Advanced Member squad that had actually recruited a full roster was Chen Baichuan’s. As for the rest, Profound Sword’s squad had eight people in total. Xi Xue’s squad had seven. Some squads even consisted of just a single person.

These squads had cleared out quite a few Nightmares. Elder Level Members like Profound Sword, Xi Xue, and Cheng Ping had long since cultivated to the Peak of the Second Refinements Realm. Perhaps some Elder Level Members had already crossed into the Third Refinements Realm?

Shi An couldn’t intuitively see the members’ realms. He only knew that the number of Dream Descenders beginning the Fusion with their third Lifebound Curse Object was increasing.

Nowadays, the Safe Zone didn’t need to hold auctions; the trading area already had twenty or thirty Rare Level Curse Objects waiting to be sold or exchanged. The hurdle of selecting a suitable Curse Object was no longer a difficulty for the members.

During this period, Captain Lu Qing, leader of the fourth team of the Countermeasures Bureau, used the advantages of the Safe Zone to undergo an Extraordinary Breakthrough. The entire process was not easy, but she ultimately pushed through without any real danger.

Lu Qing advanced to the Extraordinary Realm.

Up to this point, among the twelve captains of the Baijiang City Strategy Bureau, three were Transcendents.

"On the surface, Baijiang City has gained two more experts in the Extraordinary Realm.

"But in reality, it’s four!" Shi An mused.

Zhuo Ling and the others were not Lost Persons. They were indeed anomalies. However, while Lost Persons like Chen Jianghuai and Luo Susu could not return to reality, they could follow Shi An, freely moving in and out between the Present Realm and the Nightmare World.

Shi An tapped his fingers on the table, lost in slight thought.

"During this time, the Pseudo-Men seem to have completely lost their tracks," he pondered. "But all signs indicate that the Pseudo-Men couldn’t possibly retreat just like that."

The birth of a Pseudo-Man had to rely on humans. Humans and Pseudo-Men were locked in a fight to the death!

"Perhaps the Pseudo-Men want to pull off something big?

"But humanity’s understanding of intelligent anomalies is limited, making it impossible to deduce what methods the other party might use," he mused.

It was said that in the extreme depths of the Nightmares, there were also camps, tribes, and even cities built by intelligent anomalies. But those were very far away from the human Present Realm. The Countermeasures Bureau chose to deal with whatever came their way. Naturally, the same went for Shi An.

The Pseudo-Men might be waiting for some opportunity, making some sort of arrangement. But for Shi An, if it meant waiting, so be it. The longer the wait, the more significant the changes would be in his Safe Zone.

Take the Lighthouse Camp, for instance. These past few days, the Lighthouse Camp had added three new members, all of whom were recently lost Dream Descenders. After losing their way, if these kinds of Dream Descenders couldn’t find a safe place, they naturally wouldn’t last long before losing their lives. But perhaps because the Lighthouse possessed the Ability to ’guide’, they had been running around like headless chickens and somehow inexplicably ended up at the Lighthouse Camp.

After Luo Susu observed the breakthroughs of Captains Bai Yu and Lu Qing, she also began preparing for her own Extraordinary Breakthrough. She currently served as the patrol captain of the Lighthouse Camp, while also acting as the head of the Safe Zone’s infirmary.

As for her ritual, Shi An naturally fully supported it.

"No matter what, she’s one of my own.

"Although Zhuo Ling, Little Blood, and the others are strong, human Transcendents are often more useful," Shi An reflected.

Meanwhile, in the suburbs of Baijiang City, a four-person squad arrived from outside the Fog Area.

The Countermeasures Bureau quickly sent dedicated personnel to receive them. Leading the welcoming party was a Captain from the Headquarter, who showed great respect to the arrivals.

"Director Zhou, welcome to Baijiang. Please, come this way. Commander Wang of Chongshan City arrived a few hours ago."

"Good. Thanks for your trouble," Director Zhou replied.

The group drove and soon arrived at the Baijiang Hotel. Director Yan, representing Baijiang City, hosted a reception to welcome the guests from afar.

One was the Deputy Director of the Lindong City Countermeasures Bureau, ’Director Zhou’! An expert in the Extraordinary Realm, he was one of the top figures in terms of power and status in all of Lindong City.

The other was the Commander of the Chongshan City Countermeasures Bureau, ’Wang Tieshan’! Also an expert in the Extraordinary Realm, he was likewise an important figure ranking near the top in power and status within his entire city.

The two of them made a special trip to Baijiang for only two reasons.

The first was the ’Nine Cities Drill’ notified by Celestial South. Since it concerned Extraordinary opportunities, they naturally took it seriously.

But the other matter was something both cities valued even more. The Pseudo-Men!

They had already heard about the Pseudo-Men through letter items. Moreover, within their own cities and the Fog Areas surrounding them, there also seemed to be traces of the Pseudo-Men’s existence.

Director Zhou and Commander Wang exchanged a glance.

"I heard that your Baijiang City has a method to identify Pseudo-Men?" one of them asked.

Lindong City, Chongshan City, and Baijiang City were not far from each other. With a Transcendent leading the team and a precise route, it only took a few days to travel from one city to another. However, the anomalies were familiar with the environment of the Nightmare World, so they could travel through it even faster.

Given this, since the ’Pseudo-Man Disaster’ had appeared in Baijiang City, the higher-ups of Lindong and Chongshan didn’t dare guarantee that there were no Pseudo-Men in their own cities.

Pseudo-Men were like cockroaches; they could be present even when unseen, and by the time you actually spotted traces of their activity, there might already be nests upon nests of them.

The Countermeasures Bureaus of both cities immediately conducted investigations, and they indeed discovered several cases that strongly resembled the work of Pseudo-Men. They weren’t definitively so, they merely resembled it.

But it was already enough to strike fear into their hearts.