Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 133 - 41: No Advantage This Time

Chapter 133: Chapter 41: No Advantage This Time

The Anqing Ruins are on the west bank of the Yangtze River, while Anqing City is further downstream on the east bank.

When the wooden boat drifted near the Anqing Ruins, all the crew on board tensed up.

And when Chen Jian requested to stop the boat on the east bank, they repeatedly refused.

According to them, although the east bank was not the territory of the terror demons within the Anqing Ruins, due to the bridge connection, terror demons occasionally appeared nearby, making it too dangerous to stop the boat recklessly.

----But Chen Jian and the others offered too much.

Thus, the team successfully landed near the Anqing Bridge on the east bank. After quickly clearing the surrounding area, they set up simple camouflage, and the drone took off immediately, starting a close aerial reconnaissance of the Anqing Ruins 5 kilometers away.

Chen Jian synchronized the drone footage to the smart eyewear and PDA, handing the PDA to Zeng Yi and the others to ensure they received the intelligence simultaneously.

Everyone was intently watching the drone footage, and soon, the first abnormal heat source appeared in front of them.

The drone lowered its altitude, and the imaging switched to white light mode.

Chen Jian saw that within the Anqing Ruins, on the plaza on the west side of the big lake, they had built more than a hundred different types of sheds.

Campfires burned among the sheds, but the light didn’t just come from them.

From a few sturdier, more refined-looking sheds, cold light emitted from electric lamps, and following the direction of the wires, Chen Jian also located the generator on the south side of the shed area.

Human and animal-powered generator.

Several gigantic hamster wheels turned the generator rotors, distributing electricity continuously to the shantytown interior.

Chen Jian zoomed in and found that those working in the generator were not the captives he had initially guessed, but relatively strong-bodied terror demons.

They had already formed a social division of labor in this settlement, completely different from the horror demon camp near Han Shui City!

This was a bad sign.

If further evidence showed that their social structure was becoming more complex...

Then this group of terror demons would no longer be a disorganized mob but could transform into a loosely commanded "army"!

When the number of combatants reaches a certain threshold, each small step up in organization exponentially boosts combat power.

There were already hundreds of terror demons here, so how many were there in the entire Anqing Ruins?

Chen Jian signaled He Shuo to raise the drone and continue the search, and soon, they discovered more scattered terror demon camps in the city.

Most of these camps consisted of outdoor sheds, but a few directly utilized the low-rise structures within the ruins.

All camps were relatively scattered around a hospital building, forming a circle.

Roads had already been opened between each camp to ensure smooth movement and communication for the terror demons within the ruins.

This kind of "urban planning" couldn’t be said to be sophisticated, but at least...

It wasn’t something those brainless half-beasts could do!

Chen Jian’s mood grew heavier, and after observing for a while, he spoke:

"A conservative estimate of the number of terror demons in the Anqing Ruins has already exceeded 3000, and this is just a simple guess based on the number and scale of the camps."

"If we consider the small groups of terror demons roaming within the ruins, the number needs to be further increased."

"4000 to 5000, that should be a relatively reliable number."

"Troublesome."

"Very troublesome."

"Didn’t the Ring Chamber of Commerce know there were so many terror demons before assigning this task? Has no one ever approached the Anqing Ruins to attempt close reconnaissance?"

"Probably not."

On the side, Ji Xing shook his head and said:

"Anqing was originally an almost exhausted ruin, one of the most critical nodes on the trade route."

"Decades ago, the Mechanical God Sect spared no expense in clearing out several active monsters nearby, including one Level 3 Monster."

"After that, the Mechanical God Sect led a large number of civilians to scour the Anqing Ruins, using the resources found to establish a new Anqing City on the east bank."

"By that stage, they had no motivation to continue exploring within the Anqing Ruins."

"At least nobody’s entered the Anqing Ruins for over a decade... The trade route doesn’t pass through there, and there’s nothing of value."

"Even knowing there are terror demons inside wouldn’t draw much attention from Anqing City—after all, where are there not terror demons?"

"Though the terror demons occasionally attack the trade route here, the losses are still not significant enough for major forces to be motivated to eradicate them."

"Only the people at the Ring Chamber of Commerce would issue such a task; they just love doing things that make no sense."

After Ji Xing finished speaking, Chen Jian shook his head and said:

"Reasonable, but not reasonable as well."

"With over 4000 terror demons, it’s a larger scale than Anqing City itself."

"The resources they need to consume daily are enormous. Can they be self-sufficient?"

"The hunting grounds on the north side."

Zeng Yi added:

"They might conduct raids and hunts to the north and west."

"You have to know, the Blood Skulls can eat monster meat."

"Their blood is even more stable than the monsters’.

"Even if polluted by monsters, the probability of spawning Blood Skulls remains high."

"And those spawned monsters would also, through some latent blood connection, become special Blood Skulls—just like the Blood Sun General we saw before."

Chen Jian nodded in realization.

What Zeng Yi said was something he had also guessed, but because it was "not that important," he hadn’t sought confirmation from others.

But now, it seemed that this feature wasn’t insignificant.

What exactly was Huadu researching?

Is their research related to this unique genetic stability of the Blood Skulls?

Damn.

Could it be they’re also trying to save humanity?

Using this method??

Chen Jian turned to look at Shen Yue, whose expression was equally solemn.

After hesitating for a few seconds, he slowly spoke:

"If it were me, after discovering that Blood Skull genetics are far more stable than ordinary human individuals, I would also attempt to research them."

"From an intuitive standpoint, this does seem like a pathway that could potentially allow the human race to continue."

"The genetics of Blood Skulls are much more stable than that of the so-called holy blood, and inherently resistant to monster genes."

"What if....we introduced this gene into human DNA?"

"Those gigantic monsters obviously can’t reproduce; they’re just mutated creations."

"If this path proves feasible, humanity wouldn’t even need to be enemies with the monsters."

"We just need to hide, live well, and wait for the monsters to naturally go extinct...."

"The only challenge would be how to effectively control the currently unstable Blood Skulls—Huadu’s solution is using cheap drugs."

"Shit, the logical loop is closed!"

Shen Yue exhaled deeply, then said:

"This matter really isn’t that simple; after taking down Anqing, we need to try to collect their research data as much as possible."

"Perhaps, their data might genuinely enlighten us."

"As much as possible."

Chen Jian thought for a moment, then spoke:

"8 against 4000, the advantage certainly doesn’t lie with us."

"The strike must be quick, efficient, one-time, and highly lethal."

"Even if we can’t eliminate all the terror demons, we must precisely clear out most of their leaders and the Huadu personnel among them."

"We need to deploy a thorough and detailed operational plan."

"This will be a... major battle."

....

Meanwhile, in Huayang Town.

Wang Lizhi had just arrived here and received news from the Ring Chamber of Commerce.

The Huaxia Army team had left Huayang a few hours ago, heading to the Anqing Ruins 50 kilometers away.

En route, they wiped out two scattered terror demon encampments, showcasing extreme force and high efficiency in destruction.

Wang Lizhi was pleased with this news, but even so, he still had little confidence in the upcoming battle.

Standing by his side, Qin Yuan silently gazed at the river flowing east. After a moment of silence, he asked:

"Sir, do you really think they can solve the problem at Anqing?"

"There are thousands of terror demons there, along with a significant number of Huadu forces mixed in."

"The difficulty level of this task is quite high; perhaps we should have been honest with them about the details from the start."

"At least they would have time to prepare..."

"That’s not right."

Wang Lizhi shook his head and said:

"You must first understand your trading partner, then formulate a trading strategy."

"If we’d revealed the task details to them from the start, it could only be a simple transaction."

"But now..... the things they are doing have already transcended the transaction itself."

"I dare bet that even if we don’t raise the stakes anymore, they’ll find a way to eliminate the Blood Skulls at Anqing Ruins."

"Because that’s the kind of people they are."

"Our plan is already halfway successful.... Next, it’s time to provide them with more support."

"Make Level 2 controlled supplies available to them."

"They need more weapons for this battle!"