412-423

Chapter 412: A Persisting Ambush

If it were before the video's release, maybe Chen Xiang would have asked Qin Feng to be careful but now he did not have anything to say!

Strength represented everything.

Qin Feng was really amazing!

The night was getting darker and the Grans had stopped their advance.

Due to Bai Li's attack on them, three thousand of them had perished. That was almost one third of their numbers. After they regrouped, they no longer tried to gather resources!

They must move.

While this pack had no leader, they quickly appointed a genius level Gran as their new commander. The individual they selected agreed to this role without much objection.

Soon, they left their original point of gathering before heading for Colony Three, and along the way, there were no more powerful ultra beasts that came to harass them.

What was more was that the closer they were to the outskirts, the weaker the ultra beasts became, which allowed them time to regain some energy.

Failure was not terrifying, what was scary was that possibility of never recovering.

There were only seven thousand Grans left and none of them wanted to die in an alternate plane.

"It's getting dark, there might be unfamiliar objects in this gloom!"

"Best if we find a place to rest."

"Patrol team, prepare to mobilize! No more incidents!"

Such a large number naturally would make a lot of noise, but the outskirts of the Longchuan Mountain range was filled with normal D-tier ultra beasts. They did not even have time to avoid this army, let alone try to approach it.

After having rushed all the way here, everyone was tired.

But shaky morale was not ideal for an army.

Soon, the Grans had set up camp and were getting some rest.

In the middle of the night, with exception of the countless patrol squads, everyone else fell asleep.

An agile figure bounded through the darkness before jumping out of the trees.

"Dark Shroud!'

Qin Feng unleashed his abilities.

"Dark Ray!"

"Blossoming Flame!"

The patrol team did not even see Qin Feng coming, nor did they see when he left!

The reason was because they were all slain!

Qin Feng put some of the corpses into his spatial rune equipment, hoping that they would be useful to the Human Alliance.

The other patrol teams eventually met a similar fate and were slain by Qin Feng.

When the sixth team lost contact, the Grans realized that something was wrong. The numbers of their patrol teams were decreasing, even a fool would know what was going on.

Qin Feng immediately began to retreat!

After an hour, the Grans tallied up their numbers and realized that fifty of them were missing, they were on the verge of breaking down!

"This land is truly devilish!"

Disappearances without a trace, ultra beast attacks, that was enough to make anyone be on the edge.

This time, the number of teams sent out were doubled!

Ten per team with twenty teams in total with cross patrols. Once an incident occurs, the other team would know about it immediately.

However, tonight Qin Feng was feeling bold.

He did not hesitate to choose another patrol to sabotage.

"Spatial Lock!"

Bai Li unleashed a silver light, blocking out all surrounding noises and preventing any noise from spreading.

Qin Feng suddenly rushed in.

The Verdant Emperor Saber burst into a terrifying flame as it tasted the night air.

"It's you!"

The Grans saw Qin Feng but did not recognize him as a slave who had escaped before but as the one who killed their comrades.

By now they did not have a chance to warn the others!

Perhaps, maybe it was because these Grans thought that they could take him.

Their hands suddenly sprouted sharp claws and they swooped down, ready to tear Qin Feng apart.

"Die!"

A pulse of darkness erupted from Qin Feng's body onto the closest attacker, instantly making them feel lethargic.

The Gran suddenly felt extremely ill, so weak that it did not even have enough strength to lift its arms!

His sword flashed and the Gran's head was removed

"B*stard!"

"Slay him!"

These Grans cried out in arrogance, but they were no match against Qin Feng and his saber.

Qin Feng had gotten stronger after absorbing the crystal cores of the Grans that Bai Li killed before. It could be said that every rank-up he achieved at this point made him even more terrifying in combat!

Ten or so combatants, with Bai Li's help, meant that Qin Feng's fight did not take much effort.

In less than five minutes, all ten were slain.

When Bai Li unlocked the space, the second group was already incoming so she transferred the lock onto them.

With this rinse and repeat method, Qin Feng managed to take down up to one hundred more Grans.

"Another attack!"

"Contact lost! Contact lost again!"

"I found him! There he is!"

A Gran called out before a whole slew of them began to rush toward his position like a tidal wave of darkness.

There were at least a hundred of them and many of them took out their weapons.

Zap zap zap!

A volley of energy bolts were fired in Qin Feng's direction, but with a flash of silver light Qin Feng and Bai Li disappeared from where they were at the same time.

The Grans were very angry but there was nothing they could do!

They felt that everything that could go wrong went wrong the moment they landed here and feared that they would die here too!

Qin Feng did not run away in the midst of the chaos, but reached the other side of the camp instead.

Then, it was another series of fights in the dark.

As they say, a man with nothing feared nobody. Qin Feng basically came in with nobody else besides Bai Li, taking on the fights all by himself, but he was facing against a thousand enemies and he was throwing them for a loop.

In just one night, he had hunted down and killed another two hundred of their numbers. Now the Grans did not dare send people out for patrol. They began to gather together as a group, leaving Qin Feng with no openings to engage.

He sneered, did they really think that tactic would be enough to stop him?

He stopped on a hill that was a thousand meters away and pulled out a massive cannon.

Shwoop!

A shell was loaded into the cannon with a satisfying noise.

That shell was the strongest shell the Fengli Mercenary Troop owned. It was designed to take down beast kings and had enough power to wipe out a small colony!

Just one shell was worth tens of billions, that was enough to emphasize just how deadly the thing was!

"Eat this!"

Qin Feng's eyes glinted with a chilling murderous intent as he pulled the trigger.

The crystal energy shell let out a roar before it soared through the air.

Under the guidance of consciousness, the shell accurately landed on the Grans' encampment.

As they no longer had their machines, other than a general protective cover and a type of communicator device that warned them of dangers, they had no way of reacting to Qin Feng's attack at all.

It was completely unexpected!

Boom!

The darkness was illuminated by a bright white light, a ring of energy expanded from the epicenter of the attack.

Then, a huge mushroom cloud rose from the point of impact after the light subsided, rising up into the air.

Such destructive power was shocking!

Bai Li took Qin Feng and they instantly reappeared next to the enemy's camp.

The scene of the aftermath soon came into view.

Chapter 413: Lei Ying Dices With Death

The trees were scorched and there was a massive crater in the ground with a tangle of broken limbs lying within.

While there was blood everywhere, Qin Feng's consciousness detected that only two hundred Grans in the center had died.

The rest were lightly injured, nothing too serious, but their energy shield was broken.

From the darkness, Qin Feng reappeared in the shadow of a survivor and, using the Verdant Emperor Saber, he slashed in a blue arc that carved through a Gran's chest.

The energy crystal core was instantly knocked out!

All signs of life disappeared!

Qin Feng attacked and carved his way forward all by himself, having moved a few hundred meters in order to reach the edge of the crater.

"Dark Shroud!"

In the blink of an eye, a large mass of dark runes enveloped the bottom of the pit and made it impossible to see.

In the darkness, Qin Feng mobilized his consciousness.

"Up!"

Qin Feng was not here to just kill people, he was here to take away their energy cores.

"Store!"

He was going to take what he saw!

He then rapidly began to retreat.

He left the Longchuan Mountains, arriving on the highway before pulling out the Silver Bolt.

When he returned to Colony Three, all the aptitude users in the watchtowers looked at each other with confusion. They saw Qin Feng return yesterday, but they did not know how Qin Feng got out.

What was more, the current Qin Feng was no longer a previously known D-tier aptitude user!

A lone wolf, hunting down countless enemies stronger than he was, such a record brought him a great amount of glory.

The guards opened the gates and watched him drive into the city.

By 6'o o'clock in the morning, there was not a single soul to be seen in the Aptitude User's Hall.

However, such places worked 24 hours a day and there was still staff on duty there!

"I'm here to submit my missions!" Qin Feng said.

The staff here worked in shifts, swapping out between three people. The one manning the registration was the same person that Qin Feng had met before.

He did not expect that he would be meeting the same person again immediately after he had just started his shift.

"Mr. Qin, could the mission you want to submit be related to the latest situation?"

This staff member recognized Qin Feng. Until now, Qin Feng had been going out on scouting missions to figure out the enemy's situation.

"How about you have a look for yourself?" Qin Feng said in a gentle manner as he put up his combat video.

"Beep. The task has been completed. Sending reward."

In one night, Qin Feng had killed up to seven hundred enemies and the video once again attracted Xu Qing's attention. Although he did not personally show up this time, 10 billion was transferred to Qin Feng anyway.

In comparison, the 532 billion that Qin Feng obtained from hunting was terrifying! That was more money than killing a beast emperor!

Qin Feng's video was soon uploaded onto the battle net.

People began to come up with ideas after watching it. Maybe it was because of how easily Qin Feng fought that raised people's morale, or that because they saw that firearms seemed to be very effective. This caused many gunners to pick up their gears and get ready to mobilize.

There were only six thousand five hundred people left in the Grans' army. If a bomb blew up two hundred, they could earn two hundred billion.

This kind of profit was something that could not be passed up.

Xu Qing watched Qin Feng's video on the battle net and for a moment, he had a sense of admiration.

"Incredible. He inspired people to take action with his own methods!"

Qin Feng had suggested to him to go and set up an ambush ahead of time, but Xu Qing hesitated and had doubts. He thought the Grans would miss Colony Three, maybe go to other colonies or maybe settle in the mountains.

It was clear that this race of beings would not settle for the deep woods.

They were moving.

They were one day away from reaching Colony Three.

However, Qin Feng managed to slow them down.

After a night of combat, the Grans were exhausted, injured and more importantly, shaken.

Since they did not rest well, they decided to not advance and continued to rest at where they were. The conditions during the day were far better as they could see if there were any incoming missiles.

As such, they stopped moving.

As for Qin Feng, he collapsed onto his bed after a night of fighting.

What he did not know was that people had begun taking action as well.

That included Lei Ying.

Lei Ying, Han Chengming and the others, along with their subordinates of at least two hundred D-tier aptitude users, carrying two hundred billion worth of ammunition, marched into the Longchuan Mountains.

However, they had one massive oversight.

Distance.

Qin Feng had Bai Li's spatial manipulation, but Lei Ying and the rest did not.

After travelling for a long time, they still had not found any signs of the Grans.

The Grans were resting and healing themselves throughout the morning. By the afternoon they had all become fully rested and regained their powerful resilience and were full of energy again.

Then, they set out once more!

They still sent a small patrol forward, because of their unique flying ability their perception was far stronger than a human's.

At three o'clock in the afternoon, a Gran hovered through the air and suddenly used its communicator to transmit a message.

"I've spotted the natives of this plane. All except for five adults have weak auras, but it could be defective hardware!"

The Grans considered those with C-tier capabilities as adults, anything lower were naturally considered less than nothing to them.

"Be cautious and stay hidden, perhaps the person from last night is here!"

"Let's avoid them and stay together!"

"Don't rush, no point dying alone. We will go together!'

Once the message was sent out, several more came in response and stealthily began to approach.

Countless of them gathered into a swarm.

Shink!

The claws of a Gran jammed into the chest of a D-tier aptitude user.

"Gaaaah!"

The unsuspecting D-tier let out a scream before it was quickly cut short. His heart had been removed!

Fresh blood invigorated the Grans. They had been battered for two days and desperately needed a way to vent their frustration.

They came in like a pack of wolves upon a flock of sheep.

Not only that, there were too few sheep for this pack of wolves!

It was a complete massacre!

"Run!"

"Sir! Save me! Sir?!"

"Aaiee!"

People screamed in misery but there was nothing they could do to fight off this feast of vengeance.

"Crashing Thunder!"

Lei Ying wanted to survive, no longer caring about those around him as he unleashed a powerful ability.

A true C-tier aptitude user was more powerful than some expensive artillery shell.

The sky darkened as storm clouds manifested overhead, rumbling before a resounding blast of thunder crashed down toward the ground.

It trembled even the soul.

Chapter 414: Commotion

The thunders struck on the Grans, which electrocuted and numbed them.

"What are you guys waiting for? Fall back with a waymark now!" Lei Ying yelled.

However, not everyone had prepared a spatial waymark beforehand.

Lei Ying was surrounded by silver lights, and he disappeared on the spot the next moment.

"Lei Ying, you son of a b*tch!" Wang Jian howled angrily.

He was one of those who had not pre-constructed a waymark.

Ten Grans cornered Wang Jian and smashed his inner power shield with their sharp claws.

Wang Jian retaliated mightily by exerting all the power that he still had.

However, he realized that killing these Grans was not as simple as Qin Feng had shown in the video. They had been too optimistic about this ambush.

Wang Jian raised his weapon to his chest level to block an attack coming from his back, only to find himself sent flying by the Gran's mere strength.

Another Gran appeared in front of him and grabbed on his shoulder.

Splash!

A piece of flesh was scraped off his body.

"Argh!"

Wang Jian struggled. It somehow only delayed the inevitable.

The next moment, the sharp nail of a Gran beheaded Wang Jian. The huge impact bounced his head high in the air, which then dropped back hard onto the ground and rolled into a puddle.

Despite being a C-tier aptitude user, Wang Jian could not even die with his body intact.

In the end, out of the two hundred people that joined the ambush, only half of them had brought along a spatial waymark and managed to escape.

Normally, a party would retreat together through a proper spatial tunnel. But the Grans did not give them any opening to prepare one.

Just like how they had brutally massacred Gao Yukang's team the last time.

More so, the Grans did not lose a single soldier after the battle. This greatly boosted their morale.

"Oh, lord! Look at this thing that I found!" One of the Grans exclaimed.

In his hand was a silver spatial rune equipment.

"Spatial stone!"

"I can't believe spatial stones exist in this dimension!"

"Great! We can return home with this!"

They were thrilled by the new discovery.

But soon after, they turned grim after remembering their lost comrades.

Grans were a race that thrived by war and bloodshed.

"Why not have our kind come here instead?"

The other Grans looked at each other. Immense hatred began to emerge on their faces.

"That's right!"

"Open the channel and let our kin in!"

"We should ask for more soldiers to colonize this dimension!"

"The species that dominates this dimension is not that strong!"

"If those are the best fighters they have, then they won't stand a chance!"

The Grans excitedly discussed their takeover strategy.

Then, they ravaged the battlefield rapidly and gathered the spatial rune equipment. The amount was too little for the Grans to execute their grand plan.

But they were now fueled to kill and snatch more of them from the weaker human beings.

The newfound purpose enthused the Grans. They continued to approach human civilization.

***

At the same time, Lei Ying who returned to Longchuan in a bad shape immediately rushed to the certification hall to deliver the warning.

The merciless Grans were coming at them now!

Since there were so many humans in Colony Three, it was only time the Grans would find this place following Lei Ying's trail.

Lei Ying shouted urgently once he stepped inside the hall, "I have intel for General Xu!"

Though C-tier and B-tier were only separated by one level, there was a huge gap between the two in terms of social status. Lei Ying did not have Xu Qing's personal contact. The only way to reach higher personnel, like everyone else, is by coming to the certification hall.

"Please wait for a while. I will inform the general now." One staff member said carefully and ran upstairs.

At the same time, many aptitude users had heard about the news and were gathered at the hall. They began to question him.

"Mr. Lei, what's all this about?"

"Han, say something! Don't leave us hanging!"

"Where's Wang Jian? I saw him heading out with you all!"

Han Chengming and Liu Yi did not say anything and looked on in despair.

The death of a C-tier was a huge deal. To put it plainly, they had abandoned Wang Jian to bolt like a coward. If someone were to figure that out, they would be held responsible for his death.

***

Qin Feng was inside the training room to coach his mercenaries when Lei Ying was making a commotion at the hall.

His members looked at him admirably. They never expected Qin Feng to have such an in-depth insight into ancient martial arts.

Of course, Qin Feng did not teach them anything regarding ability. After all, his ability was gained through the Hell Stone, his absorption ability, as well as his otherworldly conscious power.

These were not the things you could just teach to someone. Thus, he could not do anything to help the ability users like Chen Xiang, who were struggling with their powers.

"Boss, we've got news!" Chen Xiang reported to Qin Feng after he received the development through the communicator.

"What news?"

Chen Xiang immediately told him about Lei Ying's embarrassment.

Qin Feng smirked. "Come, Bai Li. This is going to be interesting."

"Another mission? I thought we were running out of time?" Despite the complaint, Bai Li was ready to go.

"No. It's just a show that I cannot miss."

***

Inside the certification hall, Xu Qing walked down and was shocked to see Lei Ying covered in blood.

"What happened?" Xu Qing asked solemnly.

Lei Ying gripped his hand and told him what they had gone through in the past few hours.

Xu Qing pulled a long face.

"Show me the video!"

"Sorry general. I didn't get to do the recording just now as everything happened too quickly. Let me ask my men whether anyone got it on video."

Xu Qing was bemused to the point where he found this rather amusing.

"Lei Ying! Why didn't you stay put to protect the colony in such a critical time? What's going on in your goddamn mind? Ambush the enemy, really? If you can pull it off, then fine. But you came back to tell me that half of your team, including Wang Jian, are dead! Can you bear the consequences? It seems to me you are actually giving freebies to the enemy!" Xu Qing fired at him ceaselessly.

Lei Ying's face could not be any darker. He had not been scolded like this for years. He resisted the urge to talk back. Veins could be seen pulsing visibly near his temple.

"Please use your f*cking brain! Qin Feng warned us yesterday that those monsters would not stop moving even though they had been attacked the night before. Do you think they would stay at the same place like an idiot to be bombed the second time?" Xu Qing was maddened by Lei Ying's dumb action.

Some people among the crowd felt the heat too. After all, there were people like Lei Ying who had planned to take the same action. The only difference was that ly difference was that they did not move as fast as Lei Ying.

After all, they had seen how easily Qin Feng had managed to crash the Grans' camp. If they were already injured, was it not a golden opportunity to finish them off with more people and more bombs?

No one had ever considered the possibility that the Grans could still easily overwhelm humans even when they were not in their best shape. They were relieved that Lei Ying, but not them, was the one who figured it out in the most tragic manner.

Chapter 415: Stupidity

When Lei Ying heard Qin Feng's name, he finally lost it like a startled cat.

"It's all Qin Feng's fault!"

Lei Ying had lost too much. He had invested hundreds of billions of ammunition and had more than twenty D-tier aptitude users sacrificed in the failed ambush. These were Leitang's precious assets that he had accumulated painstakingly over the years.

The disastrous ambush pained him both mentally and financially. He had every reason to blame it on Qin Feng for the huge loss.

"If not because the brat had taken multiple actions and uploaded the video, I would not have been tempted to launch the ambush. It's impossible to kill those beasts so easily. I am sure those videos were made-up hoaxes!"

Xu Qing did not even know what to say about Lei Ying anymore.

Qin Feng had actually suggested ambushing the Grans but definitely not in the same way Lei Ying had executed it. Lei Ying's action was plain stupidity.

"You are lacking in both execution and brain cells. More pathetically, you don't even have the gut to bear responsibility for your own failure…" Someone in the crowd spoke unhurriedly.

The crowd looked toward the direction of the voice. They subconsciously made way for the person, despite being C-tier aptitude users themselves.

The presence of Lei Ying only further underscored Qin Feng's excellence as a tactician. The latter had earned his respect from the crowd.

Qin Feng held Bai Li's hand and walked to the center of attention. He stood in front of Lei Ying and Xu Qing. His face carried a mocking smile. "Lei Ying, how old are you now? I would have thought that you are just a theorist in a university instead of a soldier in the frontline, judging by your naivety." Qin Feng's words were full of sarcasm.

The crowds were amused and laughed boisterously.

If Lei Ying tried to push the blame to Qin Feng in front of Leitang's men, then maybe his underlings would have echoed him.

But shifting the blame in the middle of the hall in front of a B-tier general was just a brainless act.

His arrogance had gotten the better of him. Lei Ying's action only revealed how narrow-minded and self-centered a person he was in front of the crowd. Everyone in the crowd lost their respect toward him.

"Quiet!" Xu Qing bellowed. He had grown tired of Lei Ying's clown act. Qin Feng appeared even more amiable in front of Lei Ying.

"Now is not the time to laugh. Don't you guys understand what's going to happen soon?"

The laughter slowly died down. The same horrible thought began to creep into everyone's mind.

"Qin Feng, tell them what's going to happen next!" Xu Qing asked.

Qin Feng did not shy away. "At first, the Grans would probably be too frightened to make another move after losing some of their soldiers in the past two days. Unexpectedly, one of our comrades, Lei Ying here, had generously given them a lifeline. With the encouraging battle outcome, the Grans' spirit must have been revitalized. I bet they are already on their way toward the colony."

His words sent a dark cloud over everyone's mind. The C-tier aptitude users in this hall were at the same level as Lei Ying and Wang Jian.

If Wang Jian could not survive against the Grans, then they probably would not stand a very high chance too.

If they wished to live, then the only way was to desert the colony.

But deserting before an imminent war would leave a bad record in their profile. Worse still, they might be given a warning by the Human Alliance and have their certification revoked.

Qin Feng watched the crowd and continued, "Based on my prediction, the Grans will reach Colony Three quickest by 5 hours and not later than 7 hours."

Xu Qing nodded in agreement and ordered, "So stop standing here and prepare for battle!"

"Yes! General!"

The crowd left the hall in heavy footsteps.

Lei Ying, too, left grudgingly. He had come to the certification hall not to be mocked by the others. Instead, his plan was to inform Xu Qing about the movement of the Grans, hoping that he would be rewarded tens of billions for providing intel like Qin Feng.

All he got was being publicly shamed. Lei Ying was even holding a grudge over Xu Qing now.

But that was not his immediate concern at the moment. Lei Ying gathered his remaining troop and went back to his base. He needed to tend to his wound and set up a proper defense.

Two hours later, a spatial portal appeared on top of Longchuan Colony Three. Two figures flew out from it not long after.

Xu Qing, who was in the certification hall, opened his eyes sensing the arrival. He walked to the entrance to welcome the guests. The two hovering figures saw him and descended. They reached Xu Qing in the blink of an eye.

"Xu Qing!"

"Wang Zhou, Guang Wei!"

They shook hands and greeted each other.

Those inside the colony knew that the Human Alliance had dispatched two B-tier aptitude users from other Longchuan fortresses to aid Colony Three's defense.

After all, this was where an all-out war would most likely erupt.

***

Five hours later.

The Grans had flown non-stop. They had reached the edge of Longchuan Mountain and would see the colony if they continued to move forward.

But it was already eight in the evening. The sun had set by now even though it was summertime.

The Grans could not help but recalled the mysterious creature that had hunted them in the dark the night before.

That "thing" was probably the same species as those that had attacked them today. However, he was far more superior as compared to those weaklings this morning.

"We will rest for now and continue our march tomorrow during the day."

"Good idea!"

"Damn it. Let's look for some food. I have not eaten for two days."

"Yea! We need to battle with a full stomach. Who knows the slaves here might be too primitive to have proper food in their base?"

The Grans set into motion quickly. Thanks to their otherworldly battle capacity, most beasts living in the Longchuan Mountains were being hunted down.

Food for six thousand and five hundred Grans was not a small amount. Besides, they craved more after battling on an empty stomach for two days. It was highly inconvenient for them after they had lost their nutrient solution supply.

The Grans stationed on a hill after the meal and set up their camp.

On the other side of the hill, inside Colony Three that the Grans had yet to discover, the scout at the border had detected the Grans that were 20 km away.

To the elites, such distance was just about ten minutes away. So this distance had long been included within the scouting perimeter of the Longchuan surveillance drones.

Everyone inside the colony got nervous.

They had seen the Grans and their activities through the communicator.

A new map then came up on the communicator displaying concentrated purple spots near the hill. The amount of detected movement reflected six thousand beasts swarming the hill. That was an absurd number.

Even with a few B-tier aptitude users in the colony, they still feel that Colony Three could be easily trampled over by the Grans in a few hours.

At this moment, the aptitude users based inside the colony felt utterly hopeless.

Chapter 416: A Chance

The Grans had stopped for a breather. They were unaware that soldiers in the Longchuan camp had already set their sights on them.

Despite his stupidity, Lei Ying at least did return with useful information—The potential arrival of the Grans.

When Qin Feng saw that the Grans had stopped their march and begun to hunt for food, he murmured, "A chance!"

He figured that this might be a rare opening.

"Gunners, carry your most powerful ammunition and come with me."

Members of the Fengli Mercenary Troop were in high spirits hearing that.

Ten gunners and five ability users moved behind Qin Feng covered by the dark. Even the aptitude users inside the city had not noticed them owing to Qin Feng's Dark Shroud.

Soon, they reached a highland that was about 5 km away from the Grans' camp. This distance was the maximum range Qin Feng could use his dark ability to mask the flying bomb.

"Set up the launcher, fast!" Qin Feng controlled his voice with inner power so that it was only audible to his men.

The gunners took out their kits and swiftly assembled fifteen launchers in one row.

Qin Feng obviously thought that it was not enough so he ordered Bai Li to take out another twenty launchers. The ammunition of such launchers cost at least ten billion.

Of course, Qin Feng did not buy any of it. These weapons were found in the stash they had plundered from the Xue family.

Ever since he found success in using a launcher against the Grans, he had preinstalled all the launchers at hand and kept it in Bai Li's space.

"Remember to immediately retreat into the spatial portal and go back to Colony Three after the bombing. Don't linger around to disassemble the launchers. I will take care of them."

"Ready!"

The other members nodded in silence.

Qin Feng made a final adjustment on the bombing angle, then unleashed his consciousness.

"Fire!"

Everyone pressed on the trigger almost simultaneously.

Bomb! Bomb! Bomb! Bomb!

Thirty-five bombs were launched at once, which made a truly magnificent scene.

Qin Feng's consciousness caught up to the bombs quickly and wrapped them with dark runes, which turned them invisible under the dark sky.

***

Inside Colony Three.

"It seems like the Grans are not going to attack today."

"This will be the last day of peace. I wonder whether we can live past tomorrow."

"Wait, listen. What's this noise that the drones are picking up?"

"This is…"

Everyone who paid attention to the signal was stunned.

This was a familiar sound. The sound of bombs breaking through the airspace.

They then saw some shadows flash across the night sky. It was hard to have a clean look as Qin Feng's consciousness and dark runes were barring the bombs from being seen or sensed.

Except for the sound, which could still travel as long as it was not in a vacuum.

However, the sound could only be caught from a near distance. It was already too late for the Grans when they heard it.

The onlookers inside the colony soon witnessed a horrifying scene.

Numerous shockwaves resulting from the blast covered an area of about a thousand meter wide.

Judging by the scale of the blast, it was easy to estimate that at least thirty bombs had been used.

"Who launched the attack?"

"Damn! Would the Grans survive such a gruesome attack?"

"This person… F*ck! Let's move out. Let's go now! It's our chance!"

The aptitude users inside the colony finally realized that someone had grabbed the opportunity and moved ahead of them.

These aptitude users knew that bombs were the most effective strategy against the Grans but none of them made the call. They were still under shellshock after seeing how badly defeated Lei Ying was.

Hence, they subconsciously avoided confronting the Grans and bet their best hopes on the B-tier aptitude users.

But to everyone's surprise, someone had taken the initiative.

Besides, it was not even a probing attack but a full-scale bombing that was intended to wipe out the Grans.

At the same time, Bai Li had activated several spatial rune equipment to create a home passage near the highland.

The fifteen aptitude users were excited and hung around to view their masterpiece one last time. Never did they think that they would be part of such a heroic feat.

Of course, this was all thanks to Qin Feng's decisiveness.

After all, though the launchers cost nothing, Qin Feng did still need to spend on the ammo. Such a destructive coverage bombardment was glorious.

Qin Feng's mission did not end here after everyone else had retreated. He wanted to enter the camp and check the results with his own eyes.

Furthermore, he was determined to claim the Grans' power cores.

"Come!" Bai Li dragged Qin Feng's arm after the others had left.

In the next moment, Qin Feng and Bai Li had re-appeared nearly a thousand meters away after a silver flash.

A few jumps later, Qin Feng could feel the heat wave. The surroundings were burning as a result of the explosion.

The bombardments had taken out at least half of the Grans. This meant that they were now only left with three thousand soldiers, and these soldiers were all heavily injured.

"Die!" Qin Feng unsheathed his Verdant Emperor Saber and attacked mightily.

"Hell Magma!"

Magma erupted from the ground and swallowed those Grans that had lost their wings. The Grans shrieked in fear.

"Argh!"

"No, I don't want to die!"

"Help!"

Unfortunately, no one could help them. This was because, for those that were still able to fly, they had nowhere to run either.

"Decaying Rain!"

A daunting dark cloud abruptly appeared in the sky. Dark rainwater fell from it and bathed the Grans. Their skins corroded instantly once they came into contact with the rain.

Qin Feng was like a moving disaster.

"Run! Quickly!"

The Grans were utterly defeated.

They abandoned their camp and fled in all directions.

Qin Feng chased them like a madman but was unable to pin down every last one of them.

In the end, he obtained roughly three hundred fifty new power cores in his spatial equipment. Qin Feng then proceeded to gather all the loot found inside the camp and on the dead Grans as well.

To his pleasant surprise, Qin Feng even found the spatial runes equipment the Grans had robbed from Lei Ying's party earlier.

Then, he heard numerous piercing sounds approaching fast.

Qin Feng's face changed. "These opportunistic bastards!"

It was obviously the friction of bombs grinding through the air.

Chapter 417: War Against the Grans

Qin Feng might have been the first to act but the others quickly followed suit.

The short distance could be reached within a few tens of minutes, to begin with. The latecomers even began to fire from five kilometers away. Qin Feng, who was still at the site, was naturally exposed to the barrage.

"Run!" Qin Feng shouted. Bai Li held Qin Feng's hand and instantly teleported a thousand meters away.

Boom!

A bomb exploded behind Qin Feng.

However, bombing the area was just a waste of energy now. The Grans had long deserted the camp!

Those bombs were no different from blind shots. They were just repeating Lei Ying's mistake.

After all, not everyone was like Qin Feng.

They wanted Qin Feng's credit without having Qin Feng's dark ability and Bai Li's spatial ability.

Hence, they had to reap what they sow.

At the time, Grans only had less than three thousand soldiers left. They fled in all directions so some were inevitably running toward Colony Three.

Roughly twenty Grans scrambled in a fluster as they could not tell where they were going in the dark. Then they saw the light coming off one of the muzzles.

"It's them. They are the ones who attacked us!"

"We will kill them even if it costs us our lives!"

"Charge!"

The Grans growled! They fanned their wings at maximum speed.

The aptitude users were running on a rather empty plain without a lot of shrubs to cover them.

The Grans plunged straight toward them without much of a hindrance.

"Die!"

The Grans fired bright lasers from their guns and the shot reached the running group within seconds.

It was a miniature version of the floating city's laser gun but it fired at a faster rate.

C-tiers might be able to dodge it but it was too fast for a D-tier. One of the gunners could not react in time and got hit on the shoulder. In the next moment, his shoulder was no longer there. All that was left was a layer of skin.

"Argh!!" The gunner yelled in pain.

The shouting further aggravated the Grans. They fired even more rapidly.

Pew pew pew!

Another three D-tier aptitude users were instantly put down.

"Kill them all!" The Grans showed no mercy.

In less than five minutes, the small group of twenty D-tier aptitude users was instantly killed. The troop leader, who was a C-tier, also did not manage to escape.

"Kill them! They are weak. Only the bombs are scary!"

The Grans contacted their comrades and converged toward Colony Three.

Qin Feng immediately appeared beside the twenty-man team and triggered his ability undetected.

Three minutes later, the twenty Grans were killed too.

But Qin Feng's night vision could see that more than a few hundred Grans were approaching in their direction fast.

"Retreat at once if you don't want to die!"

Qin Feng sent the warming through his communicator.

Unfortunately, the others on the field refused to listen or maybe it was already too late for them to run.

Most groups had been cornered by the Grans.

"Hahaha! Kill them!"

"Kill them all!"

"Chase them! I am going to rip them apart!"

The aptitude users who rushed out from the colony finally grasped the still overwhelming number of Grans left. They were deeply frightened and regretted their recklessness.

"Run!"

"Get back!"

They used everything they had—weapons, skills, abilities—to keep themselves alive.

But in the end, they were unable to outrun the Grans.

The Grans flew and dived like an eagle aiming at the running humans on the ground. A Gran landed precisely on top of its target and its claws soon penetrated the prey's head.

"Ahhh!!!"

The aptitude user's shriek then turned into silence as his head was being forcefully detached from his body.

The others dared not look back.

They had come unprepared and there was no way they could defeat a Gran. The Grans were all equivalent to a C-tier beast.

The Grans gathered once again. Even though their numbers had been halved, an army of around three thousand alien soldiers was still pretty daunting.

They tirelessly flapped their wings and killed whomever that crossed their paths onward to the human colony.

The terrified users who ran back to Colony Three led the Grans straight back to their base.

This place was only half an hour away from the Grans' temporary camps on the other side of the hill.

"So this is the city of the lowly species?"

"Such a primitive civilization!"

"They are extremely weak! Kill them all!"

"Revenge!"

The Grans were born violent. The urge to kill was boiling inside their blood now.

They were extremely furious after understanding that they had been fooled earlier.

In fact, the human race was extremely weak. Only one or two elites among them were trying to scare them away using the guerrilla tactic.

After exposing the true strength of the Human Alliance, the Grans felt that they had been humiliated multiple times in the past few days.

Such anger was followed by the desire to destroy everything on sight.

The Grans charged forward angrily.

Actually, the Human Alliance had already lost about three hundred aptitude users to the Grans outside the city. This caused some parts of the city to be void of defense now.

Qin Feng and Bai Li teleported back into a quiet alley.

It was a concealed passage at about fifty meters long. This was the place where they would have a final battle with the Grans later.

***

Everyone's breath became heavier.

Some watched toward the sky, while some looked down at their communicators.

On top of the certification hall, a man stepped out silently. It was Xu Qing. He stood there calmly and imposingly.

The Grans noticed Xu Qing and they dived toward him angrily. Any human was a pest in their eyes now and deserved the most brutal death.

Xu Qing jumped to the air and brought out his long sword.

The sword was at least two meters long and weighed heavily. He swung the sword and struck one of the Grans.

The Gran instantly split into half like Xu Qing was cutting tofu. The debilitated beast plunged straight to the ground.

Xu Qing moved in zig-zag and attacked frantically. Then, he made a half turn and slid his sword around 180 degrees. The inner force infused into the blade blasted off along with the blade motion.

In one shot, six Grans were cut into half at the waistline. They were no match to Xu Qing, who was a formidable B-tier user.

Wang Zhou and Guang Wei joined in on the battle as well.

Wang Zhou had chosen the tallest building inside Colony Three. He was tall and possessed two thick arms. Hanging on those muscular arms now were two half-a-meter long machine guns.

The guns had multiple muzzles that were shaped like a beehive. The guns were connected to a power tong on Wang Zhou's back. He was a rare B-tier gunner.

Wang Zhou raised both of his arms. Soon, white-colored plasma bullets shot out toward the sky like fireworks. The Grans that he aimed at fell to the ground one after another.

On the other hand, a pair of ice blue gloves was seen on Guang Wei's hand. Frosty wings appeared on his back as soon as he put on the gloves.

Guang Wei ascended to the sky and threw a punch with his right fist. A blast of ice exploded from his punch and spread out a few hundred meters.

Thirty Grans were instantly frozen by Guang Wei's skill. He was seemingly unbeatable.

Chapter 418: Heavy Casualties

B-tier aptitude users were too powerful!

It might be a little exaggerated to assume that they could go against tens of thousands of enemies at one time, however, it would be a piece of cake for them to handle the enemies in hundreds.

Furthermore, the Grans were restricted and could only launch attacks from the sky.

It was impossible for them to cause any significant harm toward the B-tier aptitude users.

The Grans broke out in cold sweats again.

Their weapons were destroyed from the explosions earlier, hence, it was highly unlikely for them to kill all three of the B-tier aptitude users with their sharp claws.

"Steal, and take away the spatial stones from the weak!"

"Spread out, and avoid being forced to fight them!"

"Kill, and take down the others!"

The numbers of Grans had spiked.

A hundred of them remained around the three B-tier aptitude users, while the others had gone into the city.

One of them was walking on the streets when an unexpected rock fell from the sky and hit its body, and as soon as it managed to crawl back up, a group of ancient warriors that had come out of nowhere threw punches at him.

One of them was an ancient warrior that was fairly capable.

In the blink of an eye, the Gran was besieged to death by an inundation of ancient warriors.

However, within a short moment, tens of Grans had arrived at the scene, and every one of the aptitude users that had exposed themselves were being mercilessly slaughtered.

There were only three hundred C-tiers that had arrived at Colony Three, while the remaining five thousand D-tier aptitude users had failed the ambush at the outer city, and a thousand of them had been annihilated by retaliation.

Despite the efforts, the aptitude users were unable to pose any significant threat when they were facing against the Grans.

The only determining factor was Qin Feng's presence at the scene!

Qin Feng was different from any other ordinary D-tier.

Tens of Grans glided across the sky at a low altitude, they were aiming to look for humans and kill them for their spatial rune equipment.

Qin Feng struck from the dark with his deadly attack.

"Dark Shroud!"

"Dark Ray!"

In the blink of an eye, the combat power of the Grans had almost been drained out.

Members of the Fengli Mercenary Troop launched their attacks from the dark.

The Grans were being slaughtered mercilessly like helpless sheep; they were instantly torn into pieces.

From Qin Feng's past encounters with the Grans, none of the Grans had managed to capture him, and all of them were dead.

Hence, they had no idea that Qin Feng was the devil who had haunted them.

As they had sensed Qin Feng's "weakness" and assumed that he was incapable of posing any significant threat, they Grans were rushing toward Qin Feng.

Furthermore, as the number of fallen aptitude users grew, the Grans had shifted their attention toward Qin Feng.

Also, some of the aptitude users who were escaping had flocked toward Qin Feng to seek assistance.

Surprisingly, Qin Feng's team was growing bigger.

They were on par with the numbers of the Grans.

Battle cries echoed and channeled to the sky!

However, the majority of the people in Longchuan Colony Three were being evacuated.

Aptitude users were being torn apart from their chests, and skulls were being disintegrated.

The smell of fresh blood filled the entire area of the colony.

It was a brutal slaughter!

Beep beep beep beep!

Qin Feng was alerted by an urgent notification from his communicator.

"Commander, there is an order from the general, everyone shall retreat and take cover at a safe place!" Chen Xiang took a peek at his communicator.

It was a news announcement by Xu Qing.

The number of Grans was too overwhelming!

Despite facing against bombings from Qin Feng, the damages had not stopped them from marching forward and continuing on with their attacks. However, the battle that had lasted for three hours resulted in a thousand lost lives for the Grans, and the majority of them were killed by the B-tier aptitude users!

Unfortunately, there were three thousand D-tier aptitude users that had been killed at the same time.

The numbers were terrifying.

If the battle were to go on for another hour, all of the D-tier aptitude users could even vanish completely!

It was indeed a disastrous impact toward the Human Alliance.

"Retreat!"

Qin Feng shouted.

The Fengli mercenaries were fully prepared for it, and they began to coordinate themselves for the retreat.

As for the wounded D-tiers that had lost their commanders, they also followed those that were from Fengli colony to fall back.

One of the Grans continued the pursuit and was instantly met by Qin Feng's Fire Dragon Style.

"Do you think that you could still get away with that when I am here?"

The Gran was instantly shrouded by flames that swept across it and was tossed away.

Boom!

Its body was engulfed in flames and it was thrown onto a tall building.

"Kill him!"

The Grans looked toward Qin Feng with their blood-red eyes, they were consumed by the anger that provoked them to tear Qin Feng into pieces.

However, there was no way that they could do that!

Although they might have stronger capabilities than Qin Feng, Qin Feng was equipped with dark abilities that could diminish their energy instantly, with that, they could be instantly killed by Qin Feng.

"Die!"

Qin Feng landed his final slash onto the Grans and went ahead to catch up with the team.

The Fengli mercenaries had gradually arrived at the entrance of an underground parking space.

"Everyone get down there, identify our casualties! Take cover!" Qin Feng shouted.

"Affirmative!"

The crowd answered unequivocally.

Every had immense trust toward Qin Feng and would not oppose any of his suggestions.

There were about two hundred people that were hiding at the safe defense base of the underground parking space.

Only Qin Feng took guard at the entrance of the parking space and took on every terrifying attack from the Grans.

"Hellfire Carpet!"

The entrance was instantly divided by flames, and the heightened flames had formed into a veil that restricted any form of penetration.

Qin Feng and Bai Li guarded the spot.

The numbers of corpses at the entrance of the parking space grew tremendously.

One, two… ten… a hundred corpses!

It was like an endless battle.

There were no longer any Grans that came into Qin Feng's view.

Perhaps they were afraid!

"Dadada… sss…"

The loud noise from the guns nearby Qin Feng had stopped.

At that moment, the wild gun firings were no longer heard, and those that were left behind noticed that the noises from the battle had diminished!

The edge of the sky emerged in pale-white color.

Unknowingly, another four hours had gone by, and it was already past four o' clock at dawn!

"Go away!"

An enraged roar was heard from a tall building that was far away, the loud and deafening roar was channeled along with conscious energy.

Conscious energy impact wave!

It was Wang Zhou.

Wang Zhou had run out of ammo.

Furthermore, gunners would usually have lower physical energy!

Wang Zhou was the first who became exhausted by the hard-fought battle that lasted throughout the night.

At that moment, the Grans were enlightened by hope, they went wild and began to rush toward Wang Zhou.

There were fifty of them that were left around Wang Zhou!

Wang Zhou hopped from a tall building to another while continuing the attacks.

However, within the blink of an eye, Wang Zhou was being forced to a corner with nowhere to escape.

It was at that moment, scorching flames descended from the sky.

"Fire Dragon!"

"Roar!"

A gigantic fire dragon ramped through the crowd and tossed the Grans away.

It was Qin Feng.

In contrast to everyone else, Qin Feng's combat energy had not decreased at all.

It was because of his devouring ability that had constantly fueled himself by consuming from the dead enemies.

Qin Feng continued the battle and became more courageous.

"Die!"

Qin Feng beheaded a Gran with his Verdant Emperor Saber.

Dark rays exploded and several Grans were instantly paralyzed and fell onto the ground.

"Magma Burst!"

The Grans were instantly surrounded by scorching magma.

Qin Feng had only appeared for a minute, and he had already taken down seven enemies by just casting simple abilities and moves.

Chapter 419: Post-battle Conflict

The remaining Grans had also sensed the unfavorable situation that they were in, and they immediately stopped diving down!

At that moment, the sun had already risen from the edge of the sky, darkness was casted away, and the land was brightened up by the lights.

Colony Three was filled with fresh blood and corpses, and it was like a dire battlefield.

Most importantly, the Grans who looked up to the sky had noticed that they were only left with several survivors.

"Ah ah ah ah!" The Grans cried out in an unusual way.

It was only after the long battle that they had noticed that the majority of them had not survived!

"Let's fall back!"

The Grans broadcasted their conscious energy signal.

It was also received by the humans that had survived.

Everyone was shocked and in dismay.

Their communicators were immediately adjusted to capture the situation on the outside via the remaining drones.

Some of the Grans were seen again in the ruins of Colony Three, their numbers were easily identifiable by rough calculation.

Surprisingly, there were only about three hundred Grans that had survived.

Guang Wei and Xu Qing were still dealing with some Grans, and their movements were slowing down.

However, they still maintained their dominance.

As soon as the Grans began to fall back, Xu Qing and Guang Wei instantly felt relieved.

The Grans flew up high into the sky, and the B-tier aptitude users were also unable to pursue any further.

At that moment, aptitude users that were hidden gradually came out, however, they were shocked by the scene and forfeited the idea in pursuing further.

After all, they were only left with tens of C-tier aptitude users and more than a thousand D-tier aptitude users.

"General Wang, are you alright?" Qin Feng looked toward Wang Zhou and evaluated his condition.

Wang Zhou took a deep breath, and all he could feel was numbness, and the pain on his shoulder that had intensified to an unbearable level.

"I am alright, glad to have your assistance on this, you may check on the battlefield now!"

"It was my responsibility to contribute, now if you'll excuse me!" Qin Feng nodded and immediately raised his hand to set the corpses of the Grans on fire, and the remaining energy cores were taken away.

As soon as the battle had ended, aptitude users returned to the scene again, they were energized and began to go for their loots.

As the looting spot had already been assigned accordingly, hence, there was an unspoken rule on the loot distribution.

However, there was nothing left on the streets where Qin Feng's Fengli Mercenary Troop was at!

The reason was because of Qin Feng's practice to burn off the corpses and retrieve the cores.

However, a large number of C and D-tiers had died within Colony Three.

Many of the streets were empty!

At that moment, the default was to distribute the remaining spatial rune equipment from the D and C-tiers that had died among the survivors.

Although it might seem to be cruel, however, it was an ideal compensation for the aptitude users that had gone through the tough battle.

Fortunes from the dead!

It was the most horrifying reward among all others.

The crowd acted quickly to be the first to claim their entitlement.

Members of the Fengli Mercenary Troop went toward different directions.

As Qin Feng had played the core role throughout the battle, the Fengli Mercenary Troop had rarely appeared during the battle. Hence, they were able to secure zero casualties with only three heavily wounded members, and the mercenary outnumbered the others.

Compared to other mercenaries that had suffered plenty of losses, the Fengli Mercenary Troop was in a better state.

Qin Feng had cleaned up another street while there was no one there.

Vigorous flames burned down several corpses of the Grans, while several bodies of other aptitude users were being checked on.

Qin Feng frowned a little.

He had made sure that there was no one around before he got there, however, there was no spatial rune equipment left.

Only those that were still equipped on the body of the aptitude users were left.

Unfortunately, the majority of the spatial rune equipment was broken!

Qin Feng was struck by something, he remembered the spatial rune equipment that he had obtained during the bombings of the Grans' camp.

All of a sudden, he had a bad feeling about it.

"Hopefully nothing bad will happen!"

At that moment, Qin Feng was alerted by his beeping communicator.

"Commander, we need you! We are facing the people from the Leitang Organization!" Gao Li reported the news.

Longchuan Colony Three was not a huge area; hence, Qin Feng was able to locate Gao Li's location by spreading his conscious energy across.

Qin Feng travelled separately with Bai Li, and Bai Li was the first to arrive!

"Are you looking for trouble?" Bai Li drew out her spatial whip from her waist. "Do you have any idea what you have gotten yourself into?"

Lei Ying seemed to be extremely agitated.

Being an ultra beast herself, Bai Li was also deceptive in nature, and her attractive appearance had protected her from exposing her powerful capabilities.

Also, those who were less capable would perceive Bai Li as a mighty figure, however, it would only take several days for them to forget all of it!

Hence, her presence would often be regarded differently!

Her solo encounter with Lei Ying had left him mad with rage.

Qin Feng was not the only one with great arrogance, and it was shocking for Bai Li who had always been calm and unbothered by anything to make such a provoking statement.

"Totally arrogant and conceited!"

Lei Ying was in high dudgeon.

All of a sudden, a gigantic arm protector equipped with a massive energy core appeared on Lei Ying's right arm; from the appearance of it, it would at least be a D-tier emperor level item.

The entire spatial rune equipment was overflowing with imposing dominance as it gleamed with beaming purple lights.

"Try me, and I will strike you into charcoal!"

Bai Li seemed to be unbothered.

In the next moment, her spatial whip had already been lashed out.

Silver lights flickered and a spatial gap was formed.

Lei Ying was instantly shocked and stepped back.

"I dare you!!!"

Bai Li went ahead to attack!

A crucial mandate by the Human Alliance was to prohibit fights driven by greed for loot at the end of battles.

At that moment, a terrifying presence shrouded everyone.

An ice cold aura struck everyone on the face, it was like mornings in the month of May, and it was as cold as the winter season.

"What are you doing? Tired of living? Unsatisfied with being a survivor of such a battle? I can fulfil your wish to end your life!"

It was Guang Wei.

The aptitude users immediately turned toward Guang Wei and greeted him.

"General Guang!"

Lei Ying seemed to have found an aid, an evil sneer was immediately reflected on his face.

"General Guang, as you have seen, it was them that have made the first move!"

At that moment, Qin Feng approached in a calm manner.

"She was just having fun with you; it's surprising to see Director Lei being such a coward!"

Lei Ying immediately looked irritated and stared lividly at Qin Feng.

"Qin Feng, stop changing the topic, you have broken the rules, and you shall be punished!"

Qin Feng let out a cold sneer and answered, "What sort of rule, I did not know that such rules existed!"

"Are you really trying to break the rules? Conflicts driven by loot from post-battle are prohibited, is this your attempt of flagrant violation of the rules?"

Gao Li immediately shouted furiously, "Actually, we were here first, it seems like you are the one who is attempting to violate the rules by demanding that we leave!"

Lei Ying instantly targeted Gao Li with his conscious energy, and he was about to suppress Gao Li with his domineering energy.

However, he recalled the rules that had just been stated by himself and immediately stopped, and he gave Gao Li a cold stare.

It seemed to indicate his intention to take on his revenge at a later time.

Meanwhile, Qin Feng acted like he was genuinely surprised. "Is there such a rule? My apologies on that, those who were not aware of it should be forgiven, we should be the one at fault, my girlfriend and I have just awakened last year; being an elder yourself, Director Lei, could you just give a little leeway?"

Chapter 420: Horrifying Scores

Qin Feng ended his sentence with a face filled with mockery!

Lei Ying glared furiously at Qin Feng.

Qin Feng had pointed out Lei Ying's old age.

Actually, it was possible for Qin Feng to get away with it, after all, geniuses would always be favored by the Human Alliance.

Furthermore, Bai Li's attack did not strike her opponent.

At that moment, Guang Wei's cold stare instantly shifted toward Qin Feng and Bai Li.

"Seventeen years old?" Guang Wei looked toward the D-tier badges on their chests, he frowned and asked, "Were you from any of the prestigious families? From the Dragon Capital?"

The Dragon Capital was a mythical center of Huaxia, and also a sacred place for aptitude users.

"How could that be possible, General Guang, you got me wrong; however, I do not have any other intentions, we were genuinely unaware of such rules!" Qin Feng maintained his calm and polite manner. However, he began to frown a little from within his heart.

He was bothered by the negative emotions that he had sensed from Guang Wei.

However, it was too mild, and Qin Feng was afraid to infringe the B-tier aptitude user with his conscious energy sensing.

"Hmm!" Guang Wei nodded as he swept his emotionless eyes across both of them, he answered, "Lei Ying's team had suffered more severe losses, give this street to them, you may look around at other streets!"

Qin Feng's calm expression did not falter as he looked toward Guang Wei.

"Alright!"

Qin Feng did not object to that, and the Fengli Mercenary Troop did not voice themselves either. However, there were still some of them that could not hold it in but to express their dissatisfaction on their faces.

"Let's move on!"

Qin Feng led the others and left, while Bai Li also starred emotionlessly at Lei Ying and Guang Wei before turning around.

Guang Wei stared at Bai Li's hand, the spatial whip had caught his attention.

For the others, it was merely an insignificant post-battle incident. Despite the frustration, they soon shifted their attention toward the clean-up process and were no longer bothered by what happened.

However, they soon realized that only the cores of the Grans were left, and the majority of the spatial rune equipment had gone missing.

There were only one out of ten corpses that was left with equipment that was well hidden.

The lucky survivors were puzzled, could it be someone that had already been there to take away the spatial rune equipment?

Who could that be?

Everyone was suspicious as they looked around.

Of course, that only lasted for a short moment, some of the aptitude users had cleaned up the corpses of their dead comrades; as for those who had been annihilated entirely, it would require extra manpower from the Human Alliance.

Certainly, the primary focus now would be the post-battle military accomplishments.

Everyone had high anticipation toward the reward which would be in the form of tokens.

As the battle had come to an end, it was time for the final harvest.

As most of the aptitude user hall was destroyed, everyone had gathered around the central square. Undoubtedly, the three generals stood in the middle while surrounded by about fifty C-tier aptitude users, and also a thousand D-tiers, at the outer ring.

Of course, none of them moved forward.

"Beep beep beep, inspection completed, hunted kills 714!"

"Beep beep beep, inspection completed, hunted kills 752!"

"Beep beep beep, inspection completed, hunted kills 802!"

Everyone was struck dumb by the numbers of the three generals.

Of course, they did not care much about the reward as they were anticipating direct compensation from the Human Alliance.

Those would be B-tier equivalent resources.

Hence, three of them maintained their emotionless expression throughout the entire inspection and immediately returned to rest at the aptitude user hall as soon as the inspection had ended.

The battle was not over, after all, the remaining hundreds of Grans might return; for the sake of ending the battle sooner, as soon as they had had enough rest, the three generals might initiate another operation to wipe out the remaining Grans and put the battle to an end.

At that moment, Wang Zhou waved toward Qin Feng.

Qin Feng casually walked toward his direction and asked, "General Wang, do you need something?"

Wang Zhou nodded and answered, "I prefer not to owe anyone a favor, as I will need to take care of some other tasks later and not remain here, hence, is there anything that you wish to have now? If there is any, let me know."

Qin Feng had saved Wang Zhou's life and he wished to return the favor to Qin Feng.

Any amount or items would be acceptable.

Certainly, it would be rude to have such a demand for others.

Qin Feng paused for a short moment and answered, "General Wang, if possible, I wish to enter into the higher management level of the Human Alliance earlier, also, to take up the governor role of the Four Cities of the North Sea!"

Qin feng raised his palm and showed him Gao Yukang's badge.

"This is from Governor Gao Yukang, and he entrusted me with this responsibility before he died!"

Wang Zhou was shocked for a moment, he nodded and continued, "I will submit the request to the Human Alliance for you, with your current battle scores, I will utilize my Hero Class identity to grant you early access into the higher management level!"

"My gratitude to you General Wang!"

"Hmm, if there is anything else, please contact me!"

Wang Zhou passed on the number of his communicator to Qin Feng.

Qin Feng noted it down, and Wang Zhou entered into the hover car and returned for a rest, he was exhausted from the battle that had lasted for an entire day. His main purpose for being there was only to bring peace to the public sentiment with his presence.

After all, the number of deaths was horrifying!

Xu Qing noticed that Wang Zhou had left, he came over and told Qin Feng, "You did well, hopefully you will be able to join the higher management level of the Human Alliance soon!"

"Hmm, certainly!"

Qin Feng nodded.

Then, Xu Qing also left, while Guang Wei had already left as soon as the inspection ended.

Everyone looked toward Qin Feng, they were proud of his recognition from two of the B-tier aptitude users.

Boundless prospects ahead!

Whereas some of the others viewed it differently, and they were filled with jealousy!

Of course, Lei Ying was one of them.

"Commander Qin, why don't you go through the inspection first?"

One person suggested.

"That's right, you first!"

"Yes, this time, you have contributed the most!"

Everyone was eager to find out about Qin Feng's scores.

Actually, there were tens of temporary counters built by the inspection department to ensure a swift inspection for everyone.

However, everyone would not want to miss the opportunity to witness the miraculous moment of Qin Feng's inspection.

There would often be heroes and miracles that would emerge from every battle, and they would most probably achieve greater heights by obtaining a huge amount of wealth from the rewards.

"Hmm, I'll go first then!"

Qin Feng stepped forward and submitted his recordings.

He had quite a lot of recordings.

"Beep beep beep, inspection completed, hunted kills 3419."

Everyone was shocked with their eyes wide open by the scores.

It was utterly out of the ordinary!

However, some came to and noticed that Qin Feng was the first person to have released mass coverage attacks.

The scene recordings from the drones had proven that Qin Feng had secured a huge victory.

It was tenfold of the reward.

How could anyone not be jealous of such an accomplishment?!

A huge sum of funds was transferred into Qin Feng's personal terminal account.

When combined with previously obtained funds, it was a total of four hundred and fifty billion!

Chapter 421: Consciousness Connector

Even a B-tier aptitude user would have been jealous of those kinds of numbers!

Fortunately, the three B-tiers had all left, otherwise Qin Feng's record would have just been a slap to the face!

"Alright everyone, I'll be leaving now!" Qin Feng said.

The crowd automatically parted for Qin Feng to pass. A D-tier that could remain calm and collected under the gaze of multiple C-tiers. Needless to say, he had a very strong mentality.

Of course, they could not have known that Qin Feng had gone through rebirth!

The Fengli Mercenary Troop followed him back to the battlefield. Although the ground was littered with bodies, there were always some residents' homes on the streets that could provide them with some shelter.

Life on the front was not going to be as luxurious and peaceful as the rear colonies, but nobody was going to complain.

After all, their spirits were too high.

They did not need to individually verify their videos, after all, there were other kinds of monitoring equipment already watching them and after a team was formed, their performance was measured as a whole.

The person who contributed the most was Qin Feng.

"Everyone gets 30 billion per person, 10 billion in addition for firearm subsidies and the deputy head gets 50 billion. Does anyone have any objections to that?" Qin Feng asked.

How could they have any objections when they could not help but get excited!

Thirty billion after one night of battling was enough.

What was more, this was not just simply said by Qin Feng. The mercenary troop itself relied on Qin Feng as the mainstay. He got seven tenths of the spoils while they got three tenths, not only that he had even put out an additional 200 billion!

The money was gradually transferred to each of them and those in the group all had smiles on their faces, anticipating the moment they got to announce just how much they had gained so the whole world would know about their wealth.

After all, an ordinary D-tier could only accumulate ten billion after several decades.

***

Three days later in Longchuan Colony Three, things seemed to have calmed down with the Grans being nowhere in sight. The three B-tiers set out in search of them but came up with no signs whatsoever.

Since there were no longer that many Grans, the Human Alliance's top resource could not be wasted here so Xu Qing and Wang Zhou were transferred away. The only one who stayed was Guang Wei.

Qin Feng knew about this, and received Wang Zhou's message.

"The news about you asking to be governor has already been sent up the ladder, but for the time being you'll be acting governor. The title will only become official when you reach C-tier."

"Thank you, General!"

"You're welcome. Oh, by the way, someone will be coming over tonight with a consciousness connector to teach you how to use it. The Human Alliance's inner network has a lot of treasures that you're not aware about. Take care of it, you're being allowed in at a very early stage!"

"Right, I understand!"

"Alright then, I'm off now!"

Wang Zhou and Qin Feng both ended their calls.

That night, just as expected, someone entered the hotel that Qin Feng was located in. She was a beautiful D-tier aptitude user with long hair.

The group of D-tiers that had been in the colony for more than half a month turned their attention to her.

"Excuse me, is Qin Feng here? I'm Li Zishan, a special agent from the Human Alliance and I'm supposed to hand over a consciousness connector to him!"

She took out her credentials and showed it to everyone, indicating that she had no ill will.

Even if she had malicious intent, the Fengli Mercenary Troop would think that she would not be able to harm Qin Feng anyway.

"Right, right. This way please!"

One of them led her to Qin Feng's room.

Before she even knocked on the door, he already detected the presence of two aptitude users with his consciousness.

When Bai Li opened the door, the aptitude user quickly said, "Miss Bai, this woman here is an aptitude user from the Human Alliance. Said she was going to give the boss a consciousness connector!"

With this item, Qin Feng was not any different from a C-tier!

"Then come in! My husband's been expecting you!" Bai Li said.

Li Zishan looked at Bai Li and there was a look of surprise on her face, her brows involuntarily furrowed.

"Welp. I'm going away now!" said the person who guided Li Zhishan there.

Bai Li ignored him and made the gesture of inviting the special agent inside.

When she walked in, she saw that Qin Feng was already sitting in the living room. She smiled and offered a hand.

"Hello! I'm Li Zishan!"

"Hello! Qin Feng."

"Naturally. I already know who you are. Your combat prowess is astounding and I can't believe you're only a D-tier!" She said with a manner of frankness.

Qin Feng only smiled, he was not humbled and did not want to waste the agent's time.

"So, where's the consciousness connector?"

Li Zishan's face had an expression of embarrassment for a brief moment but she quickly regained composure and said with a serious face, "Leader Qin, because of orders from above, I've specifically come to give you this connector. I'll teach you the basics on how to use it. Of course, so long as your consciousness is strong enough, it should be easy!"

Then she took out a pair of silver spectacles.

These spectacles were also rune equipment, C-tier king level in fact. Very rare.

This was something that C-tier users would commonly have after achieving that rank.

It was convenient for many users and allowed discrete communication thanks to how inconspicuous it looked.

He put the glasses on and focused his consciousness in the center of his forehead before linking with the consciousness connector.

In the next moment, his vision had become blurry and he felt as if he had arrived at an entirely different place.

He did not panic though. After all, he had been here before, even if it had been a year since then.

What he saw was a massive and bright building, reaching into the skies with massive words written at the top.

The Human Alliance Huaxia District!

Straight and wide streets. The people hurrying about it were all C-tiers, not only that, they seemed to reappear and disappear in an instant.

When he looked at himself, he was shocked to see the scars on his arms.

He had been reborn, but he subconsciously chose his original appearance after using the consciousness connector.

This time, he was at the full height of 192cm, had a well built body, sharp features and a glint of madness and cruelty in his eyes, but that was overshadowed by the look of perseverance his face gave off.

He was familiar with this kind of aura, and outside he looked more like a twenty seven or twenty eight year old.

He focused on his consciousness for a moment and his features became a little more handsome. His skin was not as tan as before and his hair even grew slightly longer. Although he was tall, he looked like a teenager.

Now he looked like he was only about seventeen or eighteen.

Then, a person suddenly appeared in front of Qin Feng. It was Li Zishan.

Chapter 422: Governor Review

"You seem to be quite comfortable here Captain Qin, please enter your information first!"

A form automatically appeared in front of him. It asked for nothing much except for where he was born, his birthday and his personal account number and so on.

All Qin Feng did was think and the form was filled instantly.

Li Zishan was slightly surprised. "It really looks like it's not the first time you've used a consciousness connector!"

Qin Feng simply said, "Controlling consciousness isn't so hard!"

"Haha, I forgot that Captain Qin is a dual-type ability user!"

There was a trance of coldness in Qin Feng's eyes. "Miss Li, you seem to know a lot about me!"

Li Zishan's smile faltered before she laughed again, "Of course, I have to verify your identity, don't I?"

"I sure hope so!" Qin Feng mumbled. He had a feeling that things would not be going smoothly today.

"Captain Qin you can now apply to serve as the governor for the Four Cities of the North Sea and three B-tiers will be randomly selected to review you!"

He frowned. "General Wang Zhou has already said that I'm currently acting governor, why do I have to get reviewed again?"

Li Zishan gave him a small smile. "Captain Qin, General Wang does indeed have the right to make you acting governor but that position is only temporary. If someone applies to be governor it will be different. So now you have to compete with others!"

This was naturally different from what Qin Feng and Wang Zhou had discussed.

By now, Wang Zhou had left Colony Three, even if he tried to look for him it would not be helpful.

"Then, I'll apply!" Qin Feng said coldly, even if he was competing with others, how could he be afraid?

Qin Feng's consciousness moved and the battle net's page appeared before him. Only now, there was another link available: The Human Alliance's senior member management.

Qin Feng clicked on the link and quickly found the Four Cities of the North Sea. At this time, the position for governor was vacant but it looked like someone else was already applying for it in the application's section.

His face fell, but quickly clicked to apply as well, bumping the numbers up to 2!

Afterward, Qin Feng waited patiently for a few minutes before he suddenly received a message in his mind.

[D tier aptitude user Qin Feng, the reviewers for your application regarding the governor position for the Four Cities of the North Sea are: Fu Wenjue, He Liming, Guang Wei!]

There was one person that he recognized. Moreover, he was the one who remained in Colony Three.

However, Guang Wei and Qin Feng did not have relations with one another.

[Choose to enter the review room immediately: 10, 9, 8, 7…]

Even if he did not choose, the moment the countdown finished Qin Feng's consciousness would appear in the review room!

"Enter!"

Qin Feng's vision blurred for a moment before appearing in a solemn looking room.

In front of him was a high platform with solid wooden tables and chairs that looked very sturdy and had a dark brown wooden color and texture.

Three judges were already sitting there.

Qin Feng, on the other hand, was standing.

This moment would be intimidating for any aptitude user.

More importantly, these three were all dressed in military uniform, the badges on their chests identified them as B-tiers and told them apart.

All of them were looking at Qin Feng's information. However, not all of the information was what he filled in.

Information about him was being drawn from other places, all his tasks from the Aptitude User's Hall or during his time while fighting in the front line were clearly presented. Even his hunting data from the Bounty Hunter Network.

"Just half a month after awakening, participated in a dark invasion event and took down an F-tier beast king? Then became the district chief of a small colony!"

"The mission to defend Han Town!"

"Commendation from the Zhongchen Group, dueled with the E-tier Wraith Devil?"

"Shadong Town's combat reports. These look quite solid!"

"The latest ones are from Longchuan. This record… more than 4,000 Wisdom Tribe creatures? These were all C-tiers?"

The expressions of these three people changed. In fact, even Guang Wei was astonished.

He had left after the audit was completed, not knowing that Qin Feng had killed so many as a whole.

Moreover, this task was clearly priced. Suffice to say, Qin Feng's personal account had to have at least 4 trillion!

That was a number that would tempt even a B-tier.

Qin Feng was a terrifying person.

The first to speak was He Liming. He sat in the center and was the strongest of the three, being at B4-tier. After entering the consciousness connector, he was randomly placed in here.

He just happened to come across the record of this astounding youth who defied all the odds that was placed against him.

"Qin Feng, your record is incredible. With your current strength, you'd be strong enough to serve as the Four Cities' governor!" He Liming looked at the other two when he was done talking and used his consciousness to ask, "What do you two think?"

Fu Wenjue did not think too much of it, but he quickly glanced down and smiled faintly. "Since there's another applicant, let's review the next one!"

He Liming frowned. "Is that necessary? This person's record…"

He did not get to finish as he was interrupted by Guang Wei, who said in a chilly tone, "It must be reviewed, after all, the position of governor is serious business!"

"Compared to Qin Feng's prowess, the other's one's a little bit far off, especially their last mission's record!" He Liming said.

Guang Wei stared at He Liming. "Strength isn't everything. Sometimes a person's actions are more worthy of our consideration. Such an important position should be given to someone that's capable!"

He Liming frowned, suddenly realizing that today was not going to be as easy-going as he thought.

When he looked at the other's information, he saw that they were only an ordinary C-tier and it was impossible to match their record with Qin Feng's.

And some of the information, even when just briefly glanced over, had a very telling sign that they had probably been exaggerated. A person with this kind of record was not necessarily doing well!

However, reviewing was not a job done by one person and it seemed that Guang Wei was obviously biased toward this person.

Could it be a crony?

That thought made He Liming uneasy and he felt a little displeased but he suppressed those thoughts and said, "Shall we review the next one then?"

Suddenly, Qin Feng, who had been silent throughout this entire scene, abruptly spoke.

"Although strength doesn't mean everything, I feel that having strength means more people can be protected. And in this apocalyptic world, isn't it the strong that respects the strong? So why are we suddenly discussing actions, then I want to know, what has this person done to be commended? Let me guess, the person who's competing with me for the Four Cities is called…"

Qin Feng's gaze locked onto Guang Wei as he opened his mouth, saying two words.

"Lei Ying!"

Chapter 423: Reporting Qin Feng

This was just a guess but he thought that there was at least an 80% possibility that he was right!

He Liming looked at the information with surprise and did not bother to try and hide it.

"Indeed! It seems like you're quite familiar with this person!"

Qin Feng said with a calm demeanor, "I'm very familiar with him and he lost more than half his people during a mission against the invaders of Longchuan! A C-tier aptitude user who went with him on the mission died because of his poor decision-making skills!"

He spoke with tactful euphemism, also revealing that Lei Ying had abandoned his comrades.

This was not good for the reputation.

He Liming's brows were furrowed. "Really?"

Fu Wenjue, who sat on the left, said, "These are just your own words, we will investigate the rest!"

Obviously, he also did not approve of Qin Feng becoming governor.

Out of the three people, there were two that were not optimistic about Qin Feng. Originally, the whole process of making a person governor would have some problems, but now it has become very problematic!

Not only that, Guang Wei suddenly held up an additional piece of information in his hand and said, "After these missions, I've also received a piece of new information. Someone's reported your offenses, Qin Feng!"

Qin Feng was taken aback.

Guang Wei continued, "First of all, this informant initially suspected that this massive spatial passage had occured because of your girlfriend's weapon causing space-time fluctuations that formed a crack and sent out our world's space-time beacon!"

Qin Feng's face suddenly fell. He did not deny that, but he did not admit it either.

The Grans had been studying Earth's space-time beacon for a while, even without Bai Li, the event would have still happened in ten days. It only ended up happening ahead of schedule.

It was obviously unreliable to use this as a report.

Qin Feng replied coldly, "Skepticism and guesswork! Where's the evidence?"

Guang Wei said, "This report was based on suspicion, and there is another point. Your previous misleading reports. On the first time one C-tier aptitude user and one hundred D-tiers died, the second time it caused the deaths of three C-tiers and more than five hundred D-tiers! What's more, launching the battle ahead of time while the aptitude users were still disorganized and caused a high number of deaths. Close to one hundred C-tier aptitude users have died and more than three thousand D-tier aptitude users were killed. These deaths are heavy losses for the Human Alliance."

Qin Feng let out a frustrated chuckle, "General Guang, I'm guessing your informant is also Lei Ying?"

Rage flickered in his eyes, but his tone was mocking.

"First off, he's an idiot who thinks he can do what I can do, and he tried to take advantage of the situation. Instead of gaining any advantage, he went ahead and delivered a genocide buffet right up to the invaders. Then he abandoned his teammates and is blaming everything on me!"

"Second of all, you were at Longchuan's Colony Three. You've experienced this personally! I wiped out three thousand of those Grans in one go and if you didn't have that precious opportunity then the ones attacking the colony wouldn't be that three thousand but double the amount! Do you think you could have held on then?"

"Wind it back a thousand steps, if they weren't so self-righteous, going about things their own way then maybe that Wisdom Tribe would have been scared away by my gunfire!"

"But what then? A great combat opportunity, yet these people went ahead to die and revealed that we're just bluffing at the beginning! These are intelligent creatures, not mindless beasts!"

After hearing his words, He Liming understood what was going on and felt embarrassed for Guang Wei after hearing his report!

Guang Wei on the other hand did not show any embarrassment. He maintained a straight face and said, "No matter what you say, you're still responsible for this matter!"

Qin Feng sneered, "There's nothing wrong with the crimes you want to add. What responsibility should I bear? Why should I even bear the brunt?"

"Of course you have to be responsible! For the future safety of the Human Alliance, it's best if you hand that spatial whip your girlfriend Bai Li has to us. Not only that, you'll have to compensate up to 5 trillion to compensate for the Human Alliance's heavy losses!"

Qin Feng was in disbelief!

"I'm sorry but I can't agree to those two terms!" He said coldly, with a chilling murderous intent in his eyes.

He always understood that a common man's crime was to carry jade.*

But that was before, when he was weak.

This year, he had not been too outstanding and his strength had been steadily increasing into incredible levels, but he had not participated in any sensational event.

Now, his strength had almost reached the minimum requirement for joining the Human Alliance but it turned out that someone was trying to sabotage him.

Bai Li's spatial whip naturally could not be handed over.

The spatial whip was not some S-rank super artifact but it was meshed well with Bai Li's spatial manipulation so it would allow her to be at her strongest potential.

If this were taken away, would that mean she had to diminish herself again?

As for 5 trillion, Qin Feng did not have that kind of money on his personal account right now.

What was more, why should he pay, just because Guang Wei said so?

Nobody could insult him or provoke him this much.

He was not going to give them anything, not even if he had something to give!

"Qin Feng, does this mean you're betraying the Human Alliance?" Guang Wei bellowed.

Qin Feng replied in the same chilling tone, "Betray the Human Alliance? You're the one pushing it, Guang Wei, you're the one who's trying to take advantage of me beyond what I can do!"

Guang Wei said with a serious tone, "Stop arguing Qin Feng and hand over the spatial whip and compensation, or else you'll be marked as a wanted criminal of the Human Alliance!"

"Then put me on a wanted poster, try it!"

Qin Feng smiled fearlessly.

So what if it were a B-tier, give him time to climb up to the top and his retribution would be a hundred times worse than today's!

By then, Guang Wei realized that Qin Feng had made up his mind, so he did not hesitate to take action.

In an instant, consciousness burst out.

The consciousness connector was originally controlled by the consciousness, which gave ability users a huge advantage. Here, together with gunners, they were stronger than ancient warriors.

Qin Feng's consciousness was not as strong as Guang Wei's, but his control over the consciousness connector was good enough!

In an instant, he reappeared at the edge of the review room.

Then, he began to slip through the wall.

"Guang Wei, I hope you don't regret what happened today!" Qin Feng said before he completely phased through the wall, disappearing without a trace in an instant.

Guang Wei's face was a cold mask, it was as if he was answering Qin Feng, but it seemed more like he was talking to himself.

"How could I regret this, it's you who should feel regret because after today, there will be no chance for you to even feel regret!"

There was a murderous glint in Guang Wei's eyes before he disappeared from the consciousness world of the Human Alliance.

He Liming sat in his chair, his face was that of suppressed rage.

"What the hell is going on? If word gets out about this scandal even the Dark Coalition would be laughing at us!"

He slammed his palm into the table, instantly scattering it into powdery fragments.

Soon, the table began to reform itself.

Translator's Note: Translated from the Chinese saying that means: 'So long as someone has wealth, power and so on, there would be people trying to persecute them'.