Chapter Seventeen: The Savage Arrives

At this moment, Zhang Desen began to carefully observe those suddenly appearing high-tech terrors through the images transmitted back by the drone, trying to spot any flaws to determine whether these terrors were merely humans disguised in camouflage suits. However, after thorough scans using infrared and multispectral imaging technology, no flaws could be found. Zhang Desen had no choice but to accept the fact—they were indeed real terrors.

Just then, Zhang Desen operated the drone to drop a spherical, button-sized audio collection device, which rolled down the slope to land beside Qian Yanei and his group, allowing him to listen in on their conversation. He also activated recording and translation devices to document everything.

After the terrors exited their ship, they began to inspect Qian Yanei and the idlers who had entered the mountains with him. One attendant asked the commanding officer, “Director of Intelligence, sir, these humans are all lying here. Are we here to rescue these useless humans? Is it necessary?”

The Director of Intelligence replied, “You really lack perspective. That alien has been missing for quite some time, and despite trying various methods, we still can’t find it. We have to change our approach now.”

The attendant asked, “Can’t we activate the distress signal device from the unidentified craft that emerged from that mysterious spatial passage to lure out this new alien?”

The Director of Intelligence said, “My friend, you’re far too naive. Do you know why the Supreme Leader refuses to activate the distress beacon on that unidentified craft again?”

The attendant replied, “I don’t quite understand.”

The Director of Intelligence said, “Because we don’t understand them. What if they already know of our existence and purposely released these ships to lure us into capturing them, only to reveal our position and ultimately destroy us?”

The attendant was startled but remained skeptical, “That can’t be possible…”

The Director of Intelligence responded, “Why not? One should always err on the side of caution. Let me tell you, we have a better plan now: these humans.”

The attendant was puzzled, “What use are they?”

The Director of Intelligence explained, “Over the past month, I have investigated thoroughly. These humans hold significant status in their society. If we rescue them and use certain means to control them, just like the human we captured from the unidentified craft, though the process need not be as elaborate, they can help us search for the being that emerged from the new spatial passage a month ago. Isn’t that convenient?”

The attendant immediately understood, “I see now.”

“Enough talk,” said the Director of Intelligence. “While there are no other humans around and these are inexplicably unconscious, begin the procedure at once. We’ll need to deploy the smaller super-creature soon as well. Move quickly and stay alert.”

“Yes, sir!” the terrors replied in unison.

However, rather than taking Qian Yanei and his group aboard their ship for surgery, the terrors simply took out their tools and began right there on the spot. Zhang Desen inwardly scoffed, “Damn, these beings have so little regard for humans they won’t even provide a proper surgical table. Fine, I’ll keep watching to see what you’re up to.”

He observed as the terrors prepared their instruments and swiftly inserted needle-like devices into the back of Qian Yanei’s neck and other places. The same procedure was performed on all the idlers. Zhang Desen surmised these were likely tracking devices or something similar, though their exact purpose remained unclear.

The terrors continued with other procedures, treating Qian Yanei and his companions’ injuries with a degree of care—though not completely healing them. For instance, Qian Yanei’s teeth, knocked out by Zhang Desen, were only treated to stop the bleeding.

Once the work was done, the terrors injected them with something else. Soon, Qian Yanei and his group regained consciousness. Upon seeing the terrors, they immediately screamed in terror, “Help! Monsters!”

The terrors said little. The leader produced a remote-like device and pressed a button. Instantly, Qian Yanei and the others collapsed, unable to move, their faces frozen in terror. The terrors, however, had no intention of harming them further. The Director of Intelligence quickly pressed the button again, restoring their ability to move.

This time, the group prostrated themselves on the ground. Qian Yanei was the first to speak, “Great immortals, please don’t torment us further. Command us as you wish. If you desire temples, I can ask my father to build them for you—ten, a hundred, a thousand, it’s no problem!”

The other idlers hastened to agree, desperate to preserve their lives.

The leader didn’t activate the device again and spoke in human language, “As long as you’re sensible, I won’t make things difficult for you. As you’ve just experienced, with a flick of my finger, you’re paralyzed. And that’s not all—if I ever see you do something that displeases me, I only need to press another button and…”

With that, the Director of Intelligence pressed another button. Instantly, one idler’s neck exploded and his head was blown off.

Witnessing this, Zhang Desen was filled with rage. While he didn’t consider Qian Yanei and his followers good people, they were still human; to see one’s own kind slaughtered by another species was infuriating.

But Zhang Desen knew that his priority was to locate any nearby terror bases. If they’d captured Tang Shijie, as their conversation implied, he needed to keep observing. He forced himself to endure.

He immediately activated the launch protocols for the escape pods. The main ship was needed to power and control the base, but there were two pods—one for upward flight, one for downward.

If circumstances allowed, Zhang Desen planned to pursue the terror ship in the escape pod.

Meanwhile, on the mountain path, Qian Yanei and his group were terrified out of their wits; every one of them, including Qian Yanei, had wet their pants. Seeing the effect of their intimidation, the terror leader spoke again:

“In truth, we have no desire to harm you. But a month ago, an unknown temporal-spatial tunnel was opened. We launched an attack on that tunnel—you don’t need to understand, you lesser beings have no right to ask questions…”

Both Zhang Desen and Qian Yanei’s group felt indignant at being spoken to this way, but Zhang Desen chose to keep observing, while Qian Yanei and the rest had no means to resist.

The Director of Intelligence continued, “After our attack, the tunnel was destroyed, but an unidentified craft escaped. We wanted to destroy it immediately, but the tunnel’s power exceeded our expectations, even as it collapsed.”

He went on, “Our weapons overloaded and were rendered useless. The craft entered the atmosphere, passing over the ancient and savage battlefields of our primitive kin and you humans. Our tracking indicated it finally landed in this area and then vanished.”

He paused, then said, “We don’t want to reveal our presence, so we need you to use your resources to search this region. Since that craft came from an unknown place, its crew will be unusual. Help us find them, and you will be rewarded.”

Upon hearing the word “reward,” Qian Yanei’s eyes brightened. Though cowed by the terrors’ power, the promise of benefit—especially if he could obtain items he believed to be magical artifacts—made him forget his fear. He broke into a wide grin and kowtowed repeatedly, “Thank you, great immortals, thank you!”

The terrors had nothing more to say. They left a communicator, taught Qian Yanei and his associates how to use it, then boarded their ship, which immediately took off.

Seeing this, Zhang Desen felt inwardly troubled. He had planned to pursue them in the escape pod, but with Qian Yanei and his group below, launching the pod would expose his location. After some thought, he decided to use a drone to track them instead, at least to confirm whether they were still nearby.

The drone tailed the terror ship, which lingered in the area instead of leaving. Soon, the ship hovered south of Western Capital, opened its lower hatch, and a cylindrical beam of light shot down.

A tall, powerfully built humanoid creature was gently lowered to the ground, whereupon it rushed into the forest to hide.

Watching this through his drone, Zhang Desen was both shocked and horrified. The creature bore a striking resemblance to the legendary wildman.

Once finished, the terror ship departed at an unimaginable speed. Zhang Desen sensed the enormous threat posed by this creature and thought, “What is going on? Could the so-called wildmen of legend truly be biological weapons of non-human intelligence? From what I know, these creatures possess great strength, likely enhanced with biological agents—making them extremely formidable.”

Biological agents, also known as gene weapons, are bio-agents developed through genetic engineering—third-generation biological weapons and a new frontier of modern warfare.

Zhang Desen had no idea what level of technology these terrors possessed, so his only option was to keep tracking the humanoid with his drone.

Meanwhile, Qian Yanei and his group were already plotting their next move. The sky remained overcast, even gloomier than before, with no trace of daylight. A creeping sense of dread settled over them all.