Chapter 348 - 340: Release Plan (Part 2)

Chapter 348: Chapter 340: Release Plan (Part 2)

Compared to Elder Mo, the man on television looked like an ordinary old man, yet the aura he projected while standing with his staff was still palpable, even after thirty years.

You Xianquan’s resonant voice boomed from the screen.

"Staff techniques include moves like splitting, swinging, jabbing, lifting, hanging, cracking, pointing, sweeping, piercing, blocking, flicking, parrying, supporting, clouding, raising, smashing, and flourishing."

"My You Family’s Mad Demon Staff Technique, in particular, is an impenetrable style, tight as a drum. When your fighting spirit surges, you move like a frenzied demon!"

"The saying ’a staff strikes a wide swath’ describes only the most basic level. A spear moves like a roaming dragon, but a staff should fall like a torrential downpour—a furious, dense storm with no openings. Only then can you begin to grasp its true essence..."

A rare glint shone in Elder Mo’s eyes, while You Yifeng’s were already turning red.

As for You Ye, he was staring, entranced, at the old man brandishing the staff on the television.

’So this is my grandfather? He seems completely different from how he looked in the old photos!’

Even at Elder Mo’s current level of mastery, he felt he was learning a great deal just by watching the old video.

「Twenty minutes later.」

Outside the television station, Elder Mo and the You father and son all had a recorded copy of the video backed up on their phones. The station, after all, would never part with the original tape.

"Yifeng, the levels of Martial Arts mastery go far beyond what you think. And its potential is greater than you could have ever imagined..."

"We’re in your debt for this recording."

Now that the Celestial Travel Association was running smoothly, he had some free time and planned to visit the true, old-guard Martial Artists he knew, one by one.

In the past, the saying was that youth and strength held the advantage in a fight—that even an old master could be overwhelmed by a flurry of wild punches. It was true that old age brought physical decline. But now? It would be a terrible waste to let their mastery of the Martial Dao go to ruin.

Elder Mo looked at the two younger men.

"There are some things I can’t say publicly yet, but it’s a fact that the world is changing. You must resume your Martial Arts training!"

It was less a suggestion and more a demand, delivered in the tone an elder uses with his juniors. The old man’s usually kind and gentle expression had become unusually stern.

You Ye saw a Claw appear in the old man’s hand. It was nearly twenty centimeters long.

The mere sight of it sent a chill down the spines of the You father and son.

Judging from the wear marks and yellowish keratin, it looked like the claw of some kind of animal.

Subconsciously, You Ye thought of the photo Big Head Child had sent. ’It probably wasn’t Photoshopped after all,’ he realized.

...

「At a secret military base in Xisheng Province—also the main base of operations for the Special Security Team in the region.」

Experts and specialists had gathered from headquarters and other regional branches to provide support. Even Huang Jiutian and Tao Xingzhi were here.

One particularly strange thing about this base was the constant smell of a stockyard. Across its vast area, a cacophony of animal noises emanated from various sealed barracks.

Trucks transporting livestock entered the base from time to time.

At its center, a former armory had been converted into a holding pen. It was built with thick, steel-reinforced concrete and a metal shell, enclosing a massive two-thousand-square-meter space.

Inside stood a single, enormous, partitioned alloy cage. It held three giant leopards, confined together yet separated from each other by metal bars.

"ROOOAR—"

The largest one in the middle began to roar, and the two on either side quickly joined in.

"ROOOAR—" "ROOOAR—"

A first lieutenant and seven or eight soldiers watched them. One of the soldiers complained.

"Hungry again already? I thought wild animals could go a long time on a single full meal. It’s only been a few hours since their last one!"

"All right, that’s enough. Prepare to feed them."

A minute later, after a few inputs at the control console, a platform at the bottom of the metal cage opened. From below, it lifted three sturdy beef cattle and six fat hogs.

All nine animals were trembling in terror, too frightened to make a sound.

"ROOOAR—"

A pleased note tinged the roar as the brutal feeding began. Blood splattered against the bars of the cage.

It took several rounds of feeding to satisfy the three giant beasts’ appetites.

Just then, Cui Jian entered the holding pen with Tao Xingzhi and the others.

"Chief, these are the two female leopards and the young male. Tests show the two females are sisters, and the little male is the offspring of the larger one."

"They certainly are massive."

"ROAR—"

One of the leopards roared at Cui Jian, as if in greeting.

Meanwhile, a few of the newly arrived zoologists and biologists couldn’t wait to crowd around the cage, snapping pictures and murmuring in awe.

"Have the shrapnel and bullets been removed from their bodies?"

The experts asked the soldiers and veterinarians on duty.

"We didn’t remove them, to be exact. Within two days of their arrival, their own muscle tissue gradually pushed everything out."

Tao Xingzhi and the others overheard the conversation. He remarked with a sigh.

"What terrifying Life Force."

"Xiaocui, your Ability is surprisingly effective on wild animals. It might not be as convenient as the one Ivan from Russia has, but it has its own distinct advantages. Even when you’re not around, they’re unlikely to lose control."

The latter pushed up his glasses.

"To be precise, for simple-minded subjects like animals, my conceptual hypnosis can almost be considered conceptual conversion."

"ROOOAR—"

The experts had gotten too close, and an impatient roar from one of the female leopards sent them scurrying back.

"Jiutian, check their condition."

"Yes, sir!"

Huang Jiutian looked like a perfectly ordinary man. If you didn’t know he was the famous "human-form Radar," even a fellow Evolver like Cui Jian would mistake him for a regular person.

But the moment he received the order, the hairs on Cui Jian’s arms instantly stood on end.

It was as if an invisible barrier had instantly unfurled. For a split second, the colors in Cui Jian’s vision seemed to fade to gray—a momentary illusion caused by his mind being disrupted by a far more oppressive power.

Jiutian’s eyes filled with a swirling, nebulous white light.

At that same instant, the leopards in the cage went rigid, not daring to make a single move.

Their gazes were fixed warily on the man beside Cui Jian.

’This person is extremely dangerous!’

After ten or so seconds, everything returned to normal.

Normally, he wouldn’t need to exert his presence so deliberately, but this was part of the plan. It was meant to suppress the beasts’ ferocity. Cui Jian’s Ability took effect gradually over time; Jiutian’s show of force would put pressure on the giant beasts and help accelerate the process.

"Chief, Xiaocui’s Ability has taken root. The leopards are showing no signs of mental instability."

"Excellent! With the changes in the natural world accelerating, capturing them was crucial for us!"

Tao Xingzhi gazed at the now much more docile beasts in the cage, but his thoughts seemed to travel beyond the building, out toward the dense mountain forests. He spoke, as if lost in thought.

"Very soon, humanity will have to redefine its relationship with nature."

Several days of research and observation had essentially verified the reliability of Cui Jian’s Ability on evolved animals. The plan the Special Security Team had drafted long ago was finally ready to be implemented.

Although the "spirit factor" meant humans had a far higher probability of becoming Evolvers than other animals, the environment in the wild mountains and forests seemed to be changing much more rapidly than human society.

As the global environment continued to change, the number of evolved animals would only increase. Given Hua Country’s current strategic doctrine, simply building a fence and waiting foolishly was not an option.

The "Reintegration Plan" was a vital part of their strategy. Cui Jian’s existence was the cornerstone of that plan, and successfully controlling these giant leopards was the crucial test.

Besides adhering to the fundamental principle of spirit and body, evolution in the wild also seemed to follow a more colloquial rule proposed by biologists: the "food chain principle."

Rather than waiting for incidents to happen and then trying to fix the damage, it was better to lay the groundwork ourselves.

Ironically, the plan benefited, to some extent, from Hua Country’s history of indiscriminately hunting and killing wildlife, which had driven the apex predators that once ruled the wilderness to near extinction.