Armor-Piercing Munition: Face Me, Carbon-Based Monster!
Chapter 63 Changing the Approach

Chapter 63: Chapter 63 Changing the Approach

In the room, Chen Jian listened to Zeng Yi’s narration while recording the existing information on his PDA.

Most of the information was about the monster in the Huangzhou Ruins, but there was also some information about Yellow Stone City mixed in.

[Level 4 Monster, but classified under ’not highly aggressive,’ possibly approaching or reaching the strength of a Level 3 Monster]

[Entire body covered with thick armor, once attacked by the Mechanical God Sect using a 10-kilogram caliber smoothbore cannon, but it couldn’t penetrate]

[Fast-moving, but not active often]

[Appears to have low intelligence, not sensitive to humans]

[Territory covers Huangzhou Ruins, has a fixed nest]

[There is a record of it attacking human settlements, but the last recorded instance was 10 years ago]

[Few civilians in Yellow Stone City worship the ’Mongolia’ monster, but their numbers are not many]

...

With all the information compiled, Chen Jian frowned, feeling increasingly puzzled.

After a moment’s thought, he said:

"Based on the current information, this monster is indeed suitable for use as a barrier."

"But the problem is, I always feel something isn’t right."

"If it serves as an excellent barrier for us, it should naturally do the same for the residents of Yellow Stone City."

"But why is it that under this barrier’s protection, the population here continues to decline?"

"Haven’t you noticed? This Yellow Stone City hasn’t reached the scale of the 2000 population you mentioned."

"I even suspect it’s not even reaching 1000—where did your information come from?"

Finishing his words, Zeng Yi was similarly confused and shook his head before explaining:

"As I said before, there’s no council hall set up here by the Holy Blood Temple, so most of the information we obtained is from the Mechanical God Sect."

"Like when we first arrived, we would ask them for information under the guise of cooperative reconnaissance, and most of the time they would cooperate, but the accuracy of the information is not guaranteed."

"Two years ago, I indeed saw relatively detailed information about Yellow Stone City, back when the Holy Blood Temple was attempting to send a Blood Source there."

"I can confirm that at that time, Yellow Stone City still had a population of 2000 people."

"But for some unknown reason, it has declined to this extent over the past two years."

"Actually, it’s not just you who noticed; Xie Liu and I asked the same question to the priest here just now, but he refused to answer, simply saying it was natural death."

"Natural death reducing the population by half in two years??"

Chen Jian sarcastically shook his head and said:

"Yellow Stone City has secrets, and the Mechanical God Sect people don’t want to tell you."

"Alright, let’s not worry about this for now."

"I need to confirm one thing: have the Mechanical God Sect members here been notified of the sudden event in Han Shui City?"

"No."

Zeng Yi replied definitively:

"They only have one radio, which broke two weeks ago."

"Plus, their road communications with Han Shui City are blocked by two monsters, so interaction is not very frequent, making it credible to believe what they say."

"That’s fine then."

Chen Jian slowly nodded and then commanded:

"He Shuo, launch the drone to monitor the entire city."

"Pay special attention to the movements of the Mechanical Divine Guardian Army, and alert us promptly if there’s any unusual activity."

"Everyone else, follow me."

"We’re going to take a stroll through the city and find out why this city is left with so few people!"

"Understood!"

"Alright, no problem."

At the command, everyone immediately sprang into action.

He Shuo quickly launched the drone from a concealed corner, entered the intelligent cruise mode, and followed Chen Jian out of the inn.

The group of four walked leisurely along the streets of Yellow Stone City, but their eyes scanned everywhere, searching for any discoverable information.

Having just walked past a small section of the residential area, Chen Jian’s expression became grave.

He lowered his voice and said to the three people by his side:

"Widespread hunger."

"Most of the residents here show signs of malnutrition, which is very unusual."

"From the previous human settlements we’ve been to, although they were not living well, there was no issue with the food supply."

"Yellow Stone City is in the center of Great Governance Lake, with abundant fishery resources and clearly cultivated land in the surroundings. It’s reasonable to say that supporting 2000 people shouldn’t be a big problem."

"But now, there are less than a thousand people here, and yet they are still starving."

"Where has their food gone?"

"I don’t know either..."

Xie Liu thought for a moment, then suddenly said:

"The Mechanical God Sect personnel don’t seem to have this problem. When we entered the church, their Church Protection Army was having breakfast, and the food was plentiful."

"That’s normal."

Chen Jian shook his head and said:

"After all, they are the rulers here; if they were starving, this city would have been destroyed long ago."

As his words fell, Chen Jian continued looking into the alleys between the buildings.

In the alley, a few ragged civilians huddled in the corners, huddling together for warmth.

It’s already late autumn, with the temperature dropping below 20 degrees, not to freezing levels, but still cold enough to cause problems without sufficient warm clothing.

Not only is food scarce, but materials are also extremely poor.

Are the residents of Yellow Stone City living that miserably?

"The level of technological application here is much lower than that of Han Shui. Not to mention electric lights, I haven’t even seen a stove."

"There’s no hot weaponry on the streets; the guards are not holding the single-shot rifles used by Han Shui guards, but rather smoothbore flintlocks constructed who knows how."

"Is there something restricting the development of this town?"

"Maybe the Mechanical God Sect intentionally suppressed technology here..."

Zeng Yi exhaled slowly, about to continue speaking, when suddenly the sound of gunfire came from the end of the street.

"Bang!"

The anti-sniper radar immediately responded, and several people’s gaze locked towards the direction of the gunshot.

And there, a few civilians wielding sticks, harpoons, and crudely-made weapons charged at the roadside guards.

A single guard couldn’t withstand the onslaught of so many cold weapons, and was quickly cut down to the ground.

But other guards quickly reacted, formed a human wall, and opened fire toward the revolting civilians.

"Bang!"

"Bang bang!"

"Bang!"

Gunfire echoed continuously, white smoke rising from the streets.

With sunlight casting down, what would have been a beautiful Tyndall effect instead led to blood spilling everywhere.

"The Church Protection Army is moving."

He Shuo whispered, as Chen Jian looked at the images on his intelligent goggles and saw the fully equipped Church Protection Army rushing out from the city center, heading swiftly toward the street where the conflict had occurred.

A few minutes later, under the "overwhelming" firepower of the Church Protection Army, the rebellion was quickly quelled.

Guards carried off bodies, while others indifferently cleaned the blood-stained streets.

Chen Jian blinked, softly ordering the others to retreat.

Back in the inn, he spoke:

"Yellow Stone City is already on the verge of collapse."

"If it were only a matter of a sharp population decline, it would be manageable, but now that there’s a rebellion, it proves that the Mechanical God Sect’s rule here is already faltering."

"This is our opportunity."

"Originally, we were reluctant to act against large settlements because of the overly firm rule by the Mechanical God Sect and the Holy Blood Temple. Even if we could barely defeat the enemy, it would be difficult to eradicate the deeply rooted ideological imprints."

"Yellow Stone City is different now."

"The imprint is loosening; we can help them!"

After Chen Jian finished speaking, Zeng Yi instinctively shook his head, then said:

"But we still don’t know what really happened here; if we act rashly...."

"What happened doesn’t matter; we can slowly seek the truth."

Chen Jian interrupted Zeng Yi, then decisively stated:

"We need a barrier, but transplanting the monster to the Han Shui Relics is too difficult."

"Let’s change our approach: eliminating Yellow Stone City’s garrison and clearing out the Mechanical God Sect members here will be easy!"

"We don’t necessarily have to hold the 7025 fortification; losing territory and people means losing everything."

"He Shuo, notify Lei Jie to bring enough equipment to support us in Yellow Stone City."

"Once we take this place, it will be our first stronghold!"