Chapter 488:Trouble brewing.

Chapter 488: 488:Trouble brewing.

The first report arrived thirty-six hours after the destruction of the research facility.

It came from a military reconnaissance unit stationed near the outer boundary of the Red Zone, where a routine patrol had discovered the remains of an abandoned research transport lying in the middle of a forest road. The vehicle had been overturned, its reinforced doors torn away, and the surrounding trees had been flattened across an area stretching nearly two hundred meters.

Blood covered the interior, although the soldiers found no bodies, and the emergency transmitter continued broadcasting a damaged identification signal belonging to a research organization that officially had no facilities operating in that region.

The patrol commander initially suspected an attack by a high-tier beast, which wasn’t particularly unusual considering their proximity to the Red Zone. What disturbed him was the condition of the surrounding forest.

Several enormous trees had been uprooted, but the damage didn’t resemble the territorial markings of a predator. Instead, the vegetation had been crushed in one direction, as though a large number of creatures had passed through the area in a hurry. Tracks belonging to different species overlapped one another, including several that should never have appeared so close to the Green Zone.

A Tier Three Ironback Boar, A Tier Four Bloodfang Panther, several species of lower-tier herbivores and something considerably larger.

The soldiers followed the tracks for nearly a kilometer before discovering the first corpse.

It belonged to a Bloodfang Panther, an aggressive predator known for hunting smaller beasts and occasionally attacking isolated Contractor teams. Its body had been crushed almost beyond recognition, with several enormous hoofprints embedded in the surrounding mud.

There were no bite marks, no signs of feeding and no evidence that another predator had claimed its territory.

It had simply been trampled.

The patrol commander immediately ordered his men to withdraw and transmitted an emergency report to their regional headquarters.

Unfortunately, that report was only the beginning.

Over the following two days, similar incidents appeared across several military sectors bordering the Red Zone. Reconnaissance teams reported abandoned beast territories, damaged observation posts, and strange migrations involving species that normally attacked one another on sight.

A patrol consisting of twelve Contractors disappeared after reporting an unusually large herd moving through a Yellow Zone corridor, while another military unit discovered an entire valley littered with dead animals that appeared to have been crushed during a stampede.

Then came the news about the research facility itself.

An emergency investigation confirmed that a classified biological research center had suffered a catastrophic containment failure. Most of its personnel were presumed dead, several experimental specimens were missing, and the facility’s destruction had rendered much of its remaining research inaccessible.

The public announcement was considerably less detailed.

[ALPHA THREE REGIONAL NEWS NETWORK]

[Breaking News: Research Facility Disaster Confirmed Near Red Zone Boundary.]

[Multiple Scientific Personnel Presumed Dead Following Containment Failure.]

[Military Authorities Investigating Unusual Beast Movements Across Border Regions.]

[Residents Advised to Avoid Unauthorized Travel Near Yellow and Red Zone Territories.]

The announcement spread quickly.

Within Alpha Three, people discussed the incident in restaurants, transport stations, shopping districts, and public gathering areas. Merchants began raising the prices of beast-derived materials, independent hunting teams postponed expeditions, and several smaller settlements requested additional military protection after reports of unfamiliar creatures appearing near their farms.

However, most residents weren’t particularly frightened.

Alpha Three was a major sanctuary.

Its defensive walls were reinforced with advanced materials, its military possessed high-ranking Contractors, and several powerful families maintained private security forces capable of dealing with threats that would overwhelm ordinary settlements.

A few unusual beast sightings weren’t enough to convince most citizens that they were in danger.

Far beyond the sanctuary walls, however, the situation was considerably different.

At a military observation station near the Yellow Zone boundary, a young soldier watched through a pair of enhanced binoculars as several creatures emerged from the distant forest.

He initially identified them as a group of Tier Two grazing beasts, then he noticed what was running beside them.

A predator.

A large, black-furred beast with elongated claws and a mouth filled with serrated teeth.

The soldier frowned.

Normally, the predator would’ve attacked the smaller animals immediately; instead, it was running alongside them.

All of them were moving in the same direction, away from the Red Zone.

The soldier lowered his binoculars.

"Commander?"

The officer beside him looked up.

"What?"

"Something’s wrong."

The commander approached and the soldier handed him the binoculars.

For several seconds, the officer watched silently, then his expression changed, because behind the first group of animals, another herd had appeared, then another and another.

Within minutes, the grasslands seemed to be moving.

The commander immediately reached for his communicator.

"Observation Post Seventeen requesting emergency contact with regional headquarters. We have multiple beast species crossing the Yellow Zone boundary. Estimated numbers are increasing. Requesting immediate reconnaissance support."

Static crackled, then a voice answered.

"Post Seventeen, confirm hostile activity."

The commander stared at the distant forest.

"No." He swallowed. "They’re not attacking."

A pause followed.

"Then what’s the emergency?"

The commander watched as a large predator stumbled, fell beneath the approaching herd, and disappeared under hundreds of pounding feet.

His expression hardened.

"Something is chasing them."

---

At the Academy, Silver Ruddington was having a considerably more peaceful morning.

He stood in one of the advanced training rooms, holding a practice sword in his right hand while several small metallic targets floated around him at different heights.

The room’s environmental settings had been adjusted to simulate a moderately unstable spatial field, causing the targets to change positions unpredictably while the floor occasionally shifted beneath his feet.

Silver closed his eyes as he concentrated. For several seconds, he remained completely still, then a familiar notification appeared.

[Spatial Sense Lv3 Activated.]

The surrounding environment unfolded within his perception; the targets, the walls, the changing floor panels and the faint disturbances created by the room’s spatial equipment.

Everything became clearer.

He exhaled slowly, then moved.

[Short-Step Lv3 Activated.]

His figure disappeared from its original position and reappeared beside the first target.

He slashed towards the target with split in one hit.

Before the fragments reached the ground, Silver activated Short-Step again, appearing several meters away as his blade struck the second target.

A third moved behind him.

He didn’t turn; instead, he extended his left hand.

[Spatial Distortion Lv2 Activated.]

The target’s trajectory shifted slightly and it passed beside his shoulder.

He stepped forward and struck it. Three targets were immediately destroyed and the remaining four accelerated towards him.

He smiled faintly.

"All right," he muttered.

He raised his sword.

[Advanced Swordsmanship Lv3 Activated.]

His movements became smoother.

He didn’t rely entirely on his superior speed or spatial movement. Instead, he adjusted his stance, anticipated the changing positions, and used the smallest movements necessary to maintain control over the surrounding space.

A target approached from above, he stepped aside. Another moved toward his back, he turned. His slashed his sword once and two targets fell.

The final pair separated; one moved left and the other right.

He extended his perception.

For a brief moment, he felt the strange clarity that had accompanied him ever since consuming the Void Tempering Fruit.

Space no longer felt like an empty distance separating one location from another. It felt structured, layered and connected.

Not in a way he could completely explain, but enough that he was beginning to recognize subtle relationships between the positions of objects and the energy required to move through them.

He raised his left hand and a faint distortion appeared.

The two targets shifted toward one another.

Silver stepped forward and struck once. Both targets split.

[Training Sequence Completed.]

[Targets Destroyed: 7/7.]

[Spatial Synchronization Efficiency Improved.]

[Spatial Distortion Lv2 Proficiency Increased.]

He lowered his sword, then exhaled.

"Not bad."

He was now a Rank Three Contractor.