Chapter 675 - 419: By Imperial Decree, Hunt Down the Traitor Chi Shan! (3)

Chapter 675: Chapter 419: By Imperial Decree, Hunt Down the Traitor Chi Shan! (3)

Unlike other envious or calculating aristocrats, Sun Yueying believed that every strong person who could grow was the Empire’s most precious asset in the face of the deep red threat.

Lu Xuan, at just forty years old, had achieved such accomplishments. His value far surpassed that of merely a deputy commander of the Ninth Guard Group.

The Ninth Safety Zone is located southwest of the Empire’s core, the Imperial Capital Yaoguang.

Four military vertical take-off and landing aircraft roared up from the dedicated platform of the outer hall of the royal court, slicing through the sky, speeding toward the southwest.

Three hours later, the flight formation had reached five hundred kilometers away, gradually approaching the border of the safety zone.

Looking down through the cabin window, the outline of a gigantic city came into view.

Layers of old and new buildings mingled closely, many areas clearly abandoned, with the sinister traces of the deep red corrosion occasionally visible on broken structures.

This was a microcosm of human civilization after the deep red catastrophe—the once prosperous urban areas had drastically shrunk.

Survivors could only rely on the last defensive works, cowering within the relatively intact core urban areas, struggling to maintain the continuation of civilization.

From a strategic perspective, the Imperial Capital Yaoguang was indisputably the heavily-protected core inner city.

And areas like the Ninth Safety Zone were akin to ten outer fortresses guarding the core together, forming humanity’s final line of survival.

Of course, the safety zone is not safe, which was common knowledge.

The deep red whispers were pervasive, and even under the protection of the guardian formation, people occasionally fell into corruption and transformed into deep red minions due to weak wills or being consumed by desires.

However, for fallen ones of the Brightening and Starry Stage, their threat was relatively limited.

Once mutated, they generally completely lose their sanity and human form, regressing into low-level aberrant entities that know only slaughter.

More importantly, the energy fluctuations and anomalies triggered during mutation make it easy to expose oneself, often welcoming concentrated firepower precisely as they complete metamorphosis,

ending up torn into pieces in a storm of hot weapons.

Therefore, unless driven into extreme despair or inherently harboring twisted obsessions, few would willingly embark on this path to meaningless destruction.

After all, against the Empire’s equipped heavy firepower, enhanced by Starshine technology,

that "Universal Equalizer" capable of shredding steel, the flesh of low-level deep red fallen ones was indeed woefully inadequate.

Despite this, living within the safety zone, compared to the vast abandoned territories outside, was already paradise in this apocalypse.

Outside the safety zone, in the expansive wasteland corrupted by deep red and riddled with dangers, quite a few human settlements still scattered.

They struggle for survival among ruins, self-sustaining and persistently enduring with the Empire’s leftover technology.

Although constantly facing threats from the outside deep red creatures and fallen ones,

no matter how arduous, as long as a glimmer of hope remains, as long as food can still grow from the land, humanity’s seemingly fragile flame always finds a way to persevere.

Tebike city, one of the towns in the Ninth Safety Zone, near the City Lord’s mansion, at the helipad of a military base, the four helicopters slowly landed.

All seven members of the Ninth Guard Group arrived at this military base in Tebike city.

The base commander had clearly already received direct orders from the royal court, personally leading elite soldiers under his command to line up, forming a solemn military formation.

"Reporting to the commanders of the Guard Group, the garrison of Tebike city’s Base 156 has assembled, ready for deployment at any time!"

The lead commander’s voice was loud, saluting Gao Zheng and Lu Xuan with a standard military salute.

In the context of the deep red catastrophe, those able to stand here were long past the traditional concept of "ordinary people."

Even the most basic soldier had at least cultivation at the Brightening Stage, capable of initially triggering faint Star Power to enhance themselves.

It was precisely this foundational Extraordinary power, combined with remaining human high-tech firepower, that gave rise to the Empire’s new combat mode for its military.

Soldiers used Starshine to strengthen physical stamina, boost reaction speed, and improve weapon control accuracy,

then drove specially modified firearms and heavy equipment capable of carrying and amplifying Star power, forming a steel stream that could crush low-level deep red monsters.

Whether executing sweep tasks outside the safety zone or handling sudden fall events inside the Peaceful District,

as long as the enemy was below Bright Moon Realm, they faced ruthless annihilation from this force blending Starshine and firepower.

"Excellent, let’s go!"

Without any hesitation, Gao Zheng directly took over command from the base commander, issuing orders.

Monitoring from the "Mini Star Array" deployed by Tebike city showed energy signals of mass deep red monster gatherings about fifty kilometers outside the city.

Though they seemed to wander unconsciously, their activity trajectory had a tendency to draw closer to the safety zone.

The Star Empire’s consistent strategy was to proactively dispatch forces to eliminate these threats before they could form a scale, especially before evolving into a "monster tide" state.

More crucially, such large gatherings of monsters often indicate the presence of a stronger "leader"—typically one or several deep red monsters reaching Bright Moon Realm, invisibly commanding and guiding these low-level aberrant entities.

Since arriving at Tebike city, except for Lu Xuan, every Ninth Guard Group member present felt as though heavy stones weighed upon their hearts.

Because just not long ago, Lebri, Chen Xin, and four other comrades, led by Chishan, had ordered to go out of the city to find and eliminate such a "leader."

However, rather than returning in triumph, they were met with the cruelest betrayal and death.

Chishan, a comrade and commander they had trusted immensely, had fallen into deep red, turning his blade against his fighting companions.

After issuing the command, Gao Zheng’s gaze swept across the distance, toward where their comrades perished.

This time, he vowed to personally end Chishan, that beast!