The behemoth's body began to disintegrate.
The pitch-black carapace peeled away in shards, revealing the pale, lifeless flesh beneath.
The crystals on its back exploded one by one, releasing their final glimmers of light.
Jiang Lin descended slowly, standing beside the massive remains.
He panted heavily, his face as pale as paper.
The continuous combat and summoning had nearly exhausted his mental strength, but the gene bank was finally secured.
“Go in.”
He walked toward the entrance of the gene bank, followed closely by thirty thousand Blood Demons.
The interior of the gene bank was in better condition than Jiang Lin had imagined.
Passing through the metal doors that the behemoth had guarded for untold years, he entered a long corridor.
On both sides of the corridor were blast-proof glass panels half a meter thick. Behind the glass were countless neatly arranged metal racks, filled with densely packed sealed culture tanks.
Inside the tanks were seeds, embryos, and cell tissues of various crops.
They were preserved in a cryogenic environment. Through the glass, one could see tiny, shimmering points of light that looked like distant stars.
Jiang Lin stopped in front of a well-preserved terminal.
He pressed the start button, and the screen lit up, displaying lines of data.
“Fast-growing Rye, seventh-generation improved variety. Yield can reach twelve tons per mu, growth cycle twelve days...”
“Protein Alfalfa, fifth-generation improved variety. Protein content thirty-two percent, growth cycle twenty days...”
“Large White pig, fourth-generation improved variety. Daily weight gain of 1.2 kilograms, feed conversion ratio of 2.5:1...”
“Simmental cattle, sixth-generation improved variety. Adult weight 1,200 kilograms, meat yield percentage fifty-five percent...”
The corners of Jiang Lin’s mouth curled slightly.
These were exactly what the breeding farm needed most.
He turned and issued an order to the Bloodspeakers:
“Move all the culture tanks out of here. Be careful not to damage them. Contact headquarters and have Dr. Villa lead a team here personally to receive them.”
The Bloodspeakers responded wordlessly, and the thirty thousand Blood Demons began the orderly transport of the precious culture tanks.
Jiang Lin walked out of the gene bank and stood at the entrance, gazing toward the distant, dark red horizon.
A million Aberrants had been defeated, the gene bank had been taken, and the breeding farm’s production capacity was about to skyrocket.
The size of the Blood Demon Legion had also surged from one hundred thousand to one hundred and fifty thousand during this battle.
There was still a massive amount of Aberrant flesh that hadn't been used. If he consumed it all, he estimated he could increase the Blood Demon army to around three hundred thousand.
The recovery of the gene bank caused a massive stir within Ember.
When Dr. Villa personally led a team to the complex covered in crystallized vines, the gray-haired head of the research institute stood before the well-preserved culture tanks, his hands trembling so much he could barely hold his clipboard.
He knelt down, staring through the blast-proof glass at the embryos and seeds sleeping in the cryogenic cold, his clouded eyes filling with tears.
“This is... the original mother strain of the seventh-generation Fast-growing Rye...” His voice was so raspy it was barely audible. “Before the Great Cataclysm, one mu of land could produce twelve tons!”
“Twelve tons...”
“Our current improved strains don't even yield two tons per mu.”
He stood up and stumbled toward another row of racks, his fingers brushing the labels on culture tanks marked with dense data.
“Simmental cattle, sixth-generation improved variety, adult weight 1,200 kilograms, meat yield percentage fifty-five percent...”
“Large White pig, fourth-generation improved variety, daily weight gain 1.2 kilograms, feed conversion ratio 2.5:1...”
He turned abruptly toward Jiang Lin, his voice carrying a near-fanatical excitement:
“Mr. Matthew, these things... these things are enough to increase our breeding farm's production capacity tenfold! No, twentyfold! Just give me time, and I can cultivate every single seed and embryo here into living organisms!”
“Within a year, the breeding farm's daily production can increase from thirty tons to five hundred tons! Five hundred tons!!”
Jiang Lin stood at the entrance of the gene bank, his golden eyes scanning the dense rows of culture tanks as he nodded slightly.
“Then I'll leave it to you. If you need anything, just say it.”
Dr. Villa took a deep breath, forcing himself to calm down. He adjusted his goggles and began calculating rapidly.
“First, we need constant-temperature transport equipment. These culture tanks cannot be exposed to room temperature for too long. Then we need manpower—at least a hundred trained technicians to handle the transport and classification. And...”
He paused, his gaze falling on equipment labeled with terms like "Gene Editing," "Cloning Technology," and "Embryo Freezing." His voice dropped lower.
“And I need to rebuild a complete biotechnology research and development system. This will take time, a massive amount of equipment and materials, and...”
He didn't finish, but Jiang Lin already understood.
All of this required a safe, stable environment free from the threat of Aberrants.
And currently, such an environment only existed within the narrow corridor controlled by the Blood Demon Legion.
“It will happen.”
Jiang Lin turned, looking toward the dark red horizon.
“Sooner or later, the entire East Continent will be ours.”
Seven days after the recovery of the gene bank, new information arrived from deep within the Corrupted Plains.
When the silver-haired woman's holographic image unfolded in the intelligence room, Jiang Lin was sitting cross-legged on a rock platform at the edge of the Rust Mine, circulating his breathing technique.
He opened his eyes and saw that the silver-haired woman's expression was more solemn than ever before.
“Mr. Matthew, headquarters has detected massive abnormal energy fluctuations.”
Her voice was dry as her finger traced across the holographic map, where three massive dark red points of light lit up simultaneously.
“Deep within the Corrupted Plains, three super-large Aberrant clusters have begun moving at the same time.”
“This isn't a tentative advance like before. They are coming out in full force.”
“What is the scale?”
“Each cluster has at least eight hundred thousand Aberrants, and the number is still growing.”
“Dr. Villa estimates their total number could exceed three million in three days.”
Three million.
Jiang Lin’s fingers tapped lightly against his knees in a steady rhythm.
“Direction?”
“They are all heading toward our defensive line. The west path goes through the Blood Swamp, the middle path points straight at the Rust Mine, and the east path bypasses the Rust Iron Wasteland. It's the exact same offensive route as last time.”
“The exact same...”
Jiang Lin narrowed his eyes slightly.
The evil god was copying his own tactics.
It was learning, adapting, and using the Blood Demon Legion’s own methods to deal with them.
Jiang Lin stood up and leaped down from the rock platform.
The moment he landed, a sea of blood surged out from beneath his feet.
The viscous blood energy spread like a living thing, quickly covering the mountain-like piles of Aberrant remains at the edge of the pit.
After the battle at the gene bank, the Blood Demon Legion had surged from one hundred thousand to one hundred and eighty thousand.
The unused Aberrant flesh was currently piled at the edge of the mine, resembling a silent, dark red mountain.
“Begin.”
Jiang Lin sat cross-legged in the center of the sea of blood, circulating his breathing technique as his mental strength slowly recovered.
The devouring began.
Under the erosion of the sea of blood, the remains rapidly dissolved, turning into the purest flesh-and-blood energy and pouring into that crimson void.
One thousand, three thousand, five thousand...
Jiang Lin controlled the pace of the summoning, moving steadily.
After summoning each batch, he would stop to circulate his breathing technique, allowing his mental strength to slowly recover.
By the time night fell, the Blood Demon Legion had surpassed two hundred and fifty thousand.
He did not stop.
Ten thousand, twenty thousand, thirty thousand...
By the time the three hundred thousandth Blood Demon struggled out from the sea of blood, Jiang Lin’s face was as pale as paper.
But he did not collapse. He simply took out several bottles of magic restoration potions and drank them. The bitter liquid entered his throat and transformed into warm energy that flowed through his entire body.
“Continue.”
He closed his eyes, and the sea of blood surged once more.
Fifty thousand, seventy thousand, one hundred thousand...
When the first ray of dark red dawn light appeared on the eastern horizon, Jiang Lin finally stopped the summoning.
He stood up at the edge of the mine, looking down at the crimson ocean that stretched for dozens of miles.
Four hundred thousand Blood Demons.
Four hundred thousand Blood Demons stood silently on the plains outside the Rust Mine.
Bloodspeakers drifted wordlessly above the legion.
Jiang Lin stood at the very front, his long golden hair fluttering in the polluted wind.
He raised his right hand and pointed toward the deeper dark red horizon to the southwest.
“Departure.”
With that single word, four hundred thousand Blood Demons moved as one.
They did not move out in a single mass, but split into four paths.
One hundred thousand on the west path, heading straight for the Blood Swamp.
But they would not set up defenses in the Blood Swamp. Instead, they would bypass the muddy marsh and flank the Aberrants from the rear.
One hundred thousand on the east path, bypassing the outer edge of the Rust Iron Wasteland.
Again, this was not for defense, but to cut through and divide the enemy, slicing the Aberrant lines into several segments.
One hundred and fifty thousand in the middle path, meeting the enemy head-on.
But they would not fight a battle of attrition. Instead, they would fight and retreat, drawing the main Aberrant force into a pre-set ambush.
And the fifth path, fifty thousand Blood Demons led by the Shadow of Blood himself, would bypass through the uninhabited zone at the southern end of the Corrupted Plains to strike directly at the Aberrants' rear supply lines.
This time, Jiang Lin was no longer passively responding; he was taking the initiative.
So what if there were three million Aberrants?
He would make it so they couldn't even see the defensive line before being torn to shreds on the way.
The battle broke out at dawn the next day.
The west path, eighty kilometers south of the Blood Swamp.
One hundred thousand Blood Demons struck from the flank like a crimson scythe, cutting deep into the waist of the Aberrant formation.
The Aberrants were completely unprepared.
They had assumed the Blood Demons would defend the Blood Swamp like last time, so they had concentrated their main force at the front, with only a few Strollers acting as scouts on the flanks.
When one hundred thousand crimson claw-wings dove from the sky, the scouting Aberrants didn't even have time to sound the alarm before being torn to shreds.
The west path was commanded by three 3rd-rank peak Bloodspeakers.
They were in no hurry to expand their gains. Instead, they divided the one hundred thousand Blood Demons into five waves, striking the Aberrant flanks in rotation.
The first wave of twenty thousand crimson claw-wings dove down, tearing open a gap.
The second wave of twenty thousand Bloodblade Butchers poured through the gap, expanding to the sides.
The cursed blood bone dolls' curses fell behind the Aberrants, cutting off their retreat.
The fourth and fifth waves took turns, slowly consuming, dividing, and surrounding the Aberrant lines piece by piece.
Two hours later, the eight hundred thousand Aberrants on the west path were cut into three segments, unable to support each other.
The east path battle broke out simultaneously.
Sixty kilometers east of the Rust Iron Wasteland, one hundred thousand Blood Demons struck from an abandoned mine, driving straight into the heart of the Aberrant formation.
Commanding the east path were five 3rd-rank peak Bloodspeakers.
Their tactics were completely different from the west path.
Instead of surrounding and dividing, they struck from the center.
Thirty thousand Bloodblade Butchers charged the front, forcefully tearing a blood-soaked path through the Aberrant ranks.
Twenty thousand crimson claw-wings provided cover from the air, blasting Aberrants trying to close the gap into fragments.
Fifty thousand cursed blood bone dolls followed closely behind, with blood-colored runes exploding repeatedly in the densest areas of the enemy.
One hour later, the eight hundred thousand Aberrants on the east path were cut in half, their front and rear disconnected.
The middle path, forty kilometers west of the Rust Mine.
One hundred and fifty thousand Blood Demons collided head-on with one million Aberrants.
But Jiang Lin did not let the Blood Demons engage in a desperate struggle.
The middle path was commanded by ten 3rd-rank peak Bloodspeakers.
They divided the one hundred and fifty thousand Blood Demons into three lines, providing alternating cover while fighting and retreating.
The first line of fifty thousand Bloodblade Butchers constructed a defense, using their flesh and blood to block the Aberrants' charge.
The second line of fifty thousand crimson claw-wings harassed from the air, specifically targeting Mental Polluters and Aggregates.
The third line of fifty thousand cursed blood bone dolls released curses from the rear, blasting Aberrants that broke through the defense into a mist of blood.
Whenever a defensive line was about to collapse, the Bloodspeakers would order it to retreat, with the next line taking over.
Through this repeated process, the Aberrants paid a heavy price for every step they took.
Three hours later, the one million Aberrants in the middle path were dragged into exhaustion. Their formation was scattered, and their supply lines were stretched to a dangerous degree.
And right at that moment, the fifth path of fifty thousand Blood Demons, led by the Shadow of Blood, struck from the uninhabited zone at the southern end of the Corrupted Plains, hitting the Aberrants' rear supply lines.
That was the Aberrants' weakest and most lethal point.
Three million Aberrants required a massive amount of pollution energy every day to maintain their existence.
This energy was transported through underground pollution veins. The most obvious surface markers of these veins were the "supply stations" guarded by layers of Aberrants.
The Shadow of Blood’s target was precisely those supply stations.
The fifty thousand Blood Demons moved like a crimson bolt of lightning, driving deep into the Aberrants' rear.
The guarding forces at those supply stations were already weak, and most had been diverted to the front lines. They simply couldn't stop the Shadow of Blood’s assault.
One, two, three...
In just two hours, the Shadow of Blood destroyed seven supply stations in a row, dismantling the pollution nodes that provided energy to the front lines one by one.
Having lost their supplies, the Aberrants at the front began to fall into chaos.
Their movements became sluggish, their attacks lost their force, and the crystallized patterns on the super-large Aggregates began to flicker and fade.
The west, east, and middle paths of Blood Demons launched their total assault almost simultaneously.
On the west path, one hundred thousand Blood Demons surrounded and annihilated the Aberrants that had been cut into three segments. On the east path, one hundred thousand Blood Demons expanded from the center of the severed formation, dividing the Aberrants into countless small pockets.
On the middle path, the one hundred and fifty thousand Blood Demons stopped retreating and launched a full counter-attack, becoming a crimson torrent that completely submerged the exhausted Aberrants.
The battle lasted for a full day and night.
When the final Mental Polluter was pierced through its core by the Shadow of Blood’s sword, and the last roar faded over the Corrupted Plains, the entire land fell into a deathly silence.
Jiang Lin stood atop an abandoned signal tower, looking down at the mountain-like remains of Aberrants below.
Three million Aberrants had been completely wiped out.
As for the Blood Demon Legion, out of four hundred thousand, one hundred and twenty thousand were lost, leaving two hundred and eighty thousand.
With the remains on the battlefield yet to be collected, he was confident he could restore the Blood Demon Legion to over five hundred thousand within three days.
...
Rate on N.U.
