Chapter 349 - 341: Release and Ritual

Chapter 349: Chapter 341: Release and Ritual

Tao Xingzhi contemplated the plan’s broader implications for a full half minute before speaking again.

"How are the initial preparations coming along?"

Cui Jian nodded to an animal expert from the base standing nearby. The expert stepped forward, holding a tablet, and displayed its screen.

"After four months of preparation, the number of animals Major Cui has influenced has reached 5,000. This includes 800 tigers, 300 lions, 400 leopards, 1,200 wolves, 200 lynxes, 400 primates, 600 birds of prey, 60 pandas, and the remainder are reptiles, such as snakes..."

Some of the newer experts, and even Agent Xie of the Special Security Team, were astonished. This was only the first batch; if the plan went smoothly, there would be two more. They had truly spared no expense.

Huang Jiutian laughed and punched Cui Jian lightly on the chest.

"You’re a real beast, kid! Not much different from Ivan, huh?"

Cui Jian just smiled.

"Not at all. We’re not the same type. In fact, he’s superior to me in many ways. As long as he’s in the wild, everything is his friend. However..."

"His communication isn’t always one hundred percent effective. My influence, on the other hand, is highly reliable as long as the target can’t move its eyes while I’m using my ability—especially on simple-minded animals."

"Oh yeah? So confident. Does that mean you can build an army of beasts?"

Jiutian said jokingly.

"Don’t make fun of me, Captain Huang. Even Ivan can’t do that, let alone someone with my ability. At most, I can keep a few pets. As for the other wild animals, they’ll have to slowly deepen their relationships with their designated Beast Tamers."

Tao Xingzhi smiled as well.

"Even so, this is a rare feat. It’s more than enough to support our plan."

The expert at the side looked at the data, nodding in approval, then continued presenting the preparatory materials.

"All 500 Beast Tamer platoons have established a relationship of trust with the six beasts they are each responsible for, meeting the conditions for deployment. So far, 367 of the forward contact stations have been constructed, and the remaining 133 will be completed within half a month."

As the briefing continued, the other agents and experts gained a clearer understanding of the plan.

Cui Jian’s conceptual conversion created a foundation of trust between the animals and humans. This allowed the Beast Tamers to slowly build an emotional bond. This deepening influence would gradually cause the initial conceptual imprint to take root and sprout like a seed, ultimately fostering an intimate and unspoken understanding between the beasts and the humans they knew.

The intelligence of Evolution Beasts was often greatly enhanced, and their later interactions could even surpass those of some military dogs.

Each of the 500 platoons consisted of 30 people. Unlike traditional animal taming, they acted more like caretakers for the beasts and were required to accompany them on a series of field training exercises.

After all, conceptual hypnosis or conversion wasn’t a form of direct control; it couldn’t be used to command an animal from the outset. Its terrifying power, however, lay in the fact that as long as the target did not resist, the influence would deepen over time, potentially even surpassing the effects of Ivan’s ability.

Now, seeing that Cui Jian’s ability was effective even on a powerful evolved animal like the giant leopard, Tao Xingzhi knew the time was ripe.

Throughout this verification process, an accompanying Soldier had been filming, and the footage was being broadcast live to Kyoto.

Tao Xingzhi took out his phone and dialed a number. The call connected instantly, as if the person on the other end had been waiting for it.

"Xiaotao, go ahead."

Tao Xingzhi took a deep breath.

"Chief, the Reintroduction Plan is ready for execution."

The other end of the line was silent for a moment, as if in contemplation, before a single sentence was uttered.

"Proceed without reservation."

"Yes, sir!"

Once the call ended, everyone at the base quickly grew both excited and tense.

...

Over the next half month, a large number of transport vehicles moved in and out of the base. Convoys carrying beasts and Soldiers from the Beast Tamer platoons continuously departed, heading for major mountain forest regions across the country.

On the peripheries of those no-entry zones, the various outposts had been completed one after another.

The Taihang Mountains, the Qinling Mountain Range, Shennongjia, Anling Ridge...

At outposts surrounding the vast and sparsely populated no-entry zones—mountain forests and similar environments—one captive-bred beast after another, each fitted with a tracking device, was released back into the wild.

The animals were nervous and uneasy, as were the people in the outposts. The pressure on the decision-makers in high positions was even greater.

What slightly reassured the beasts was that familiar Soldiers would often accompany them to the dangerous edges of the forests to explore and hunt, gradually venturing deeper. When food was truly scarce, emergency airlifts of livestock would arrive.

Those Soldiers had long known that this endeavor was extremely dangerous, but their sense of duty and their military orders compelled them to do it.

Today’s wilderness no-entry zones were fraught with peril. Even though Hua Country had few large predators, ordinary animals, even those that hadn’t evolved, were already beginning to show physical changes.

While it was true that humans could readily awaken as Evolvers, the physical enhancement of unawakened wild beasts—perhaps due to living in the mountains—was progressing faster than that of ordinary humans.

So far, discoveries included giant versions of small reptiles, more lethal venomous creatures, and more intelligent and agile macaques.

The recent beast attack on a mountain road near Taihang had sounded the alarm for the Special Security Team and the upper echelons of Hua Country.

Of course, the crisis couldn’t possibly originate solely from the Otherworld. This was a point established back during the Shen City rat infestation. Now, it could be said that the Reintroduction Plan was a matter of utmost urgency.

If they didn’t intervene now, the "food chain principle" would soon become inapplicable to captive-bred animals. In the future, a single stray dog might be able to kill a captive-bred tiger.

If that happened, their only hope would be for more animal-related Power Users like Ivan to appear in the future.

The biggest concern with the Reintroduction Plan was the possibility that beasts, upon evolving, could override the conceptual conversion from the Power User. If that happened, the plan would truly be a case of letting the tiger return to the mountain. Even if humanity and the new natural world could eventually reach a new equilibrium, there would undoubtedly be a painful transitional period.

Fortunately, the outcome was positive. Thanks to the help of a passing Dawn Guardian, they had successfully captured the three giant beasts, decisively verifying the reliability of Cui Jian’s ability.

...

On Dawn Silent Moon Island at the end of May, Qin Xiaoxia sat atop the castle in the storage level of the Secret Realm, watching the Forged Gold Monsters perform their "Pilgrimage ritual" to the giant Celestial Pillar.

Their bizarre, jerking, and writhing prostrations had once struck many members of the association as utterly ridiculous.

But Qin Xiaoxia couldn’t laugh. He had already come to watch this more than a dozen times.

’As expected of a mystical race that claims to be born for forging.’

The eight Forged Gold Monsters, led by Big Brother, prostrated themselves at the edge of the Magic Steel Mountain. Their multiple arms and legs danced while two hands were pressed together, twisting. Then, they would bizarrely stand straight up as if defying gravity, only to prostrate themselves again.

Each time they repeated this motion three times, a subtle change would occur around the Celestial Pillar the Forged Gold Monsters were worshipping.

The first few times, Qin Xiaoxia didn’t understand what this change was. Only after many observations did he realize it was a form of mystical assimilation. The ritual was rapidly increasing the Celestial Pillar’s compatibility with the Magic Steel.

The first time Qin Xiaoxia had made a special trip to observe this ritual was because of something South Wind had said.

Back when South Wind was reporting to him, he had mentioned that every time the Forged Gold Monsters returned from their pilgrimage, they would be unable to move for a whole morning, flopping onto their large beds in a state of utter satisfaction, almost as if they were high on drugs or had just reached a climax.

This had caught Master Sage’s attention, leading him to observe the changes in the materials being used for assimilation.

The twenty-minute-long Pilgrimage ritual finally ended.

The eight Forged Gold Monsters now felt completely limp. They struggled to move their bodies and stand up. The mutated candidates of the Knight Order, who had been waiting, came over to help them leave this level of the Secret Realm. They were heading to the Forged Gold Monster’s rest area; these eight behemoths would be unable to work until the afternoon.

Qin Xiaoxia, however, remained in that level of the Secret Realm, sensing the changes in the Celestial Pillars.

There were six pillars in total pinning down Jilian’s body. Three of them had been placed on the Magic Steel Mountain. Though they were made of the exact same material, he could now sense a distinct difference between the three on the Magic Steel Mountain and the three he still held.

’The Lost World, Zevari...’

He had a feeling that although the current amount of Magic Steel was substantial, it was nowhere near enough—at least not enough to forge the six Celestial Pillars. That was why, at the headquarters’ Secret Place, Magic Controllers were taking turns to continuously convert more Magic Steel. The bottleneck now was the supply of Magic Energy Crystals.

The Magic Energy Crystal Ore he possessed was already a heavenly fortune for the small faction he controlled, but his ambitions were large, and consumption was a bottomless pit!

Although the three Celestial Pillars were cylindrical, they didn’t necessarily have to be forged into clubs in the future. He felt a little thrill every time he thought about them being forged into weapons.

Other than the Craftsmen responsible for forging and a few people at headquarters, few even within Dawn knew that the association was creating mystical weapons.

He could give that Monkey a surprise when the time came.

P.S. Saturday’s second Chapter.