Chapter 75.1: Beast Tide
Cheng Qisheng watched as the Skywing Dragons were dragged into the abyss of war by the people of Blue Sea.
The snow-white basin had become a basin of blood. The mournful cries of the Skywing Dragons echoed without end.
One after another, Blue Sea citizens—each barely a fifth the size of a Skywing Dragon—threw themselves at the black, winged behemoths, hauling them down from the sky with all their strength.
If this scene were filmed and released as a movie back in Blue Sea, the visuals and sound effects alone would make Cheng Qisheng a fortune.
Unfortunately, this wasn’t After Traveling Between Two Worlds, My Real War Footage Became a Blockbuster. As the Great Creator God—cautious to the point of bordering on paranoid—she was the only audience fortunate enough to witness this epic battlefield spectacle.
After the Safe City expanded, the Blue Sea government wasted no time on its first major construction project: city gates.
This Safe City now covered more than 40,000 square kilometers, and it already boasted 2,890 gates, with more still under construction.
The frigid environment of Dazzling Star severely limited Blue Sea’s construction speed. Otherwise, they would have built even more.
Cheng Qisheng had read Aether’s report. Blue Sea’s target was a total of 6,700 city gates.
Why did they need so many?
The answer was right before her eyes.
After more than six hours of fighting, the battlefield had become a sea of blood so gruesome it looked as though it had been censored into a crimson mosaic. The number of Skywing Dragons had dropped dramatically, yet endless streams of Blue Sea citizens were still pouring out from gate after gate, rapidly reinforcing the front lines.
That was why Blue Sea needed so many gates.
Ever since Blue Sea Safe City arrived in this world, it had never once been able to deploy its full military strength.
It couldn’t be helped. Every location where Blue Sea had descended had been a case of too many monks competing for too little porridge.
A battlefield could only accommodate so many soldiers. Pack in too many people, and it would devolve into a chaotic crush. At that point, if someone threw a spear and it fell back into the crowd, even the nimblest Blue Sea citizen wouldn’t have enough room to dodge.
—Don’t ask Cheng Qisheng how she knew.
Back in the Primitive Era, Old Eighth had personally demonstrated the lesson with their own bodies:
On a battlefield, people must never be packed shoulder to shoulder.
A lot of people had been cooped up for far too long.
Take this elementary school teacher, for example. He wore a gentle smile, but with his face splattered in blood, he looked more like a deranged serial killer.
Since he wasn’t a frontline combatant and had to look after the children, he had spent every single day since Blue Sea Safe City arrived on Dazzling Star living in the school’s heated greenhouse.
With. A. Bunch. Of. Blue. Sea. Kids.
Only someone who had worked in Blue Sea’s education system could truly appreciate how utterly maddening that was.
Originally, the government had planned to let the teachers out today to blow off some steam, even if there hadn’t been this many Skywing Dragons.
Who could have guessed that the dragon population here would be so abundant—or that the Great Creator God would issue a divine decree ordering everyone to be deployed?
Our God is merciful!
The people of Blue Sea soon noticed something.
The smaller Skywing Dragons were obviously smarter than the larger ones.
The last time they had attacked a Skywing Dragon flock at the coordinates provided by Puya Safe City, the dragons had stubbornly fought until only a dozen or so remained before fleeing in panic.
But these smaller Skywing Dragons were different. After just six hours of battle and the loss of a little over ten million of their kind, the remaining twenty million or so had already begun to hesitate, circling high overhead instead of diving in to attack.
The endless stream of Blue Sea citizens pouring out of the city gates collectively cried out in despair.
No! Don’t leave! We just got here!
Fortunately, the smaller Skywing Dragons didn’t leave.
“Screee!”
“Screee!”
Their piercing cries rang across the sky.
Soon, countless snow beasts came charging across the endless white plains toward the battlefield.
Every single one of them was Tier 2.
The blood-soaked citizens already standing in the middle of the battlefield…
The citizens who had just reached the edge of the battlefield, rushing excitedly toward the basin…
The citizens who had finally made it out of Safe City after waiting impatiently in line…
Every last one of them lit up with excitement.
Wonderful!
The Skywing Dragons hadn’t fled—they’d even called over more Item Cards…
No, wait—they’d called over more snow beasts!
The countless Blue Sea citizens, who had been itching for a fight, enthusiastically rushed forward to welcome them.
“Move!”
“Drag the Skywing Dragons down first! Don’t let them get away!”
“Here I come! Watch my giant net attack!”
Even with 2,890 city gates, people were still pouring out in an endless flood.
…
Meanwhile, high above the city, inside one of the school’s heated greenhouses, a group of tiny children stood obediently in their uniforms, pressing against the fogged-up windows as they tried to make out the battle outside.
“Wow! It looks so fun! Teacher, I want to go play too!”
“Teacher! Teacher! I’m a Skywing Dragon! Screee! I’m flying! I flew to the left, now I’m flying to the right! Come catch me! Hahaha!”
“Zhang Zhimiao, you’re not a Skywing Dragon! Skywing Dragons fly—they don’t crawl on the ceiling! Look at me! I’m the Skywing Dragon!”
A little boy had somehow climbed onto the three-meter-high ceiling. He suddenly spread his arms and leaped downward.
“Screee! Here comes the Skywing Dragon!”
His target was the teacher’s back.
The teacher, who was looking down at her phone, didn’t even bother to raise her head. She simply extended one hand and, with flawless timing, caught the child in midair.
The little boy instantly ended up sprawled across her palm like a tiny turtle.
“Tian Xiaodou,” the teacher said calmly, “is that how your PE teacher taught you? Tell me, when diving from above onto an enemy, what are you supposed to do?”
The boy wriggled for a moment, but realizing there was no escaping her grip, he answered obediently,
“Protect your vulnerable areas, like your abdomen and your head and neck. Use a weapon to attack first whenever possible. Strike before the enemy can.”
Only then did the teacher look up, forcing a gentle smile.
“Very good. Where are you trying to go?”
The boy excitedly pointed at a desk about five meters away.
With a light flick of her wrist, the teacher tossed him through the air.
He landed lightly on the designated desk.
His eyes sparkled with excitement.
“Woohoo! I can fly!!!”
He thrust one arm into the air, imitating the adults’ battle cry.
“Our God watches over us! Long live Blue Sea!”
Then he immediately resumed scrambling around the classroom, climbing over everything in sight and play-fighting with his classmates.
His behavior wasn’t unusual in the slightest.
Because every child in the classroom was doing exactly the same thing—climbing everywhere, roughhousing with one another, never staying still for even a second.
The Little Long-Tendril was climbing around too.
Its bucket had long since been upgraded to a fish tank, now filled more than halfway with water. The tank had a narrow opening, allowing it to tuck all of its tendrils inside and seal the mouth completely. That way, it could drag the tank around wherever it went without worrying about running out of water.
It crawled over to the teacher’s feet and pressed one of its tendrils against her skin.
“I’m a Skywing Dragon! I’m biting Teacher! Bloop bloop!”
Still wearing her gentle smile, the teacher picked up the Little Long-Tendril.
“Such a good child. Skywing Dragons need sharp teeth, you know.”
The Little Long-Tendril proudly raised its tendrils, indicating that it had sharp tendrils instead.
“Mmm, I suppose those work too. Very nice. Now then, where would you like to go?”
One whisker pointed toward the elastic safety net stretched across the back of the classroom. It had been specially prepared as its “landing pad,” so it could play the game of “Teacher Toss” with the other children without risking its fish tank cracking.
“All right, get ready.”
The teacher lifted the Little Long-Tendril, took careful aim…
Whoosh!
She tossed it through the air.
It landed squarely on the net and let out a series of delighted bloop bloop cries.
The teacher maintained her warm smile as she threw more than thirty students in succession. Finally, the classroom door opened from the outside.
Ji Anze hurried in.
“Ms. Li, I’m here to take over.”
The smile that had seemed welded to Ms. Li’s face instantly turned into one of genuine joy.
“Thank you! Thank you so much! I’m off!”
She dashed out like a gust of wind, silently praying to their God.
Please, don’t let all the Skywing Dragons be dead already… Please leave some for me!
Ji Anze took the seat the teacher had just vacated.
The moment the Little Long-Tendril saw that its “Mama” had arrived, it excitedly climbed down from the elastic net. Weaving around its classmates—who were all running wild like a pack of little demons—it used its tendrils as legs and scampered rapidly across the classroom before climbing onto Ji Anze’s lap.
Ji Anze lowered his head slightly in practiced cooperation, allowing his child to press its interface tendrils snugly against his cheek.
He heard the child exclaim excitedly,
“Fight! Fight the Skywing Dragons!”
“That’s right,” Ji Anze replied. “Everyone outside is fighting the Skywing Dragons. When you’re a little older, you’ll be able to fight them too.”
The Little Long-Tendril chirped,
“Bloop bloop! Mama fights Skywing Dragons!”
Ji Anze—a man in every sense of the word—didn’t even blink.
“Mama has already fought them before. Your teacher has been staying at the school this whole time and never got the chance, so Mama came to take over for the teacher.”
The teachers were heading out to fight, but someone still had to look after the children.
So the government and the schools had jointly recruited volunteers from across Blue Sea to substitute for the teachers for a day.
Officially they were volunteers, but the government was offering very generous substitute pay. Even so, relatively few people had signed up.
After all, it was a day off.
Nobody wanted to spend their holiday supervising a classroom full of Blue Sea children during their time off.
In the end, most of the volunteers were parents like Ji Anze.
They all shared roughly the same mindset:
The teachers have been suffering on our behalf all this time. Now that it matters, it’s our turn to make the sacrifice.
Ji Anze didn’t actually think looking after the Little Long-Tendril was suffering.
But he knew the little one loved being with its family, so he had signed up to spend the day with it.
Something poked his calf.
Looking down, he saw a little girl with sparkling eyes.
“Baby’s mama! Let’s play Chase Battle! You be the Skywing Dragon, and we’ll chase you, okay?!”
Behind her stood a whole crowd of children with equally sparkling eyes. Some were hanging upside down, some were standing on top of their classmates, and others were crawling across the floor. Every one of them was eagerly waiting for his answer.
The Little Long-Tendril slid down from his lap and “stood” together with its classmates.
Though its face was unreadable, Ji Anze, as its parent, could easily sense its anticipation.
Ji Anze: “…”
Imitating Ms. Li’s warm, gentle smile, he forced one onto his own face.
“Of course. Let’s play.”
…All right.
Ms. Li had only just left, and he was already starting to miss her.
…
After confirming the number of Tier 2 land-dwelling snow beasts that had been summoned, Cheng Qisheng posted a message in the City Lord group chat.
Blue Sea Safe City: [Everyone, be careful. The snow beasts may be evolving. I’ve discovered a large number of Tier 2 snow beasts. There are a lot of them, and they may have already broken free of their reproductive lock.]
The previously casual, chatty group instantly fell silent before erupting.
[Huh?!]
[A huge number of Tier 2 snow beasts?! Damn it! Tier 1s already give my residents enough trouble. Are Tier 2s seriously supposed to let us live?]
[Thank you, Boss Blue Sea! You’re such a good person, sharing information this important with the rest of us!]
[Thanks, Boss! My boss is the kindest!]
[Is that really true? I can believe the snow beasts evolving, but if they’ve broken their reproductive lock, then how are we supposed to fight them?]
Normally, when City Lords discovered information this important, they would keep it under wraps for a while. At most, they’d drop a vague hint in the group chat, attach a purchase link, and earn themselves a tidy sum of crystals.
Blue Sea Safe City, however, had completely ignored the unwritten rules and dropped such explosive news without asking for anything in return.
It was the first time anyone had seen something like this.
Since she had already shared the most crucial piece of information outright, the other City Lords stopped worrying about secrecy as well.
[Damn, damn, damn! It’s true! A whole bunch of Tier 2 snow beasts have appeared near my Safe City!]
[A beast tide! It’s a beast tide! How is this possible? Beast tides are only supposed to attack small villages with low populations!]
[Danger! I see them too!]
[No, that’s not right. The beast tide isn’t attacking Safe Cities specifically—it’s attacking the entire world! The world’s difficulty has increased!]
[I’ve got to go! I need to command my troops! Good luck, everyone! I hope we all survive!]
As soon as Cheng Qisheng sent out the warning, Safe Cities across the world immediately went on high alert, rapidly mobilizing their residents to prepare for battle.
Thanks to the advance notice, many Safe Cities were able to respond in time to the sudden worldwide beast tide instead of being caught completely off guard.
Only a handful of messages remained in the group chat—mostly words of thanks. The vast majority of the City Lords had already shifted their full attention to fighting the beast tide.
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