ASER - Chapter 90
Chapter 90: Lair
What's going on? There are no resources inside, just some medicinal resources for combat and battle resources.
There are no Spirit Cores.
"It seems this old dog is still cautious, not carrying assets when going out to battle. But this also means the Cui family must have a secret vault somewhere."
This is troublesome.
She's already dealt with the person, so how can she find the vault?
Could it be that after all this, all she got from Cui Yong was his life and a set of armor worth 3.5 billion?
Alright, it's a huge windfall, but A'Diao is greedy; she feels it's far from enough.
Toilet: "Next, we can go after the Fierce Bandit Organization. Maybe we can make a killing."
Who knows? If that Li Yuanshu is also this cunning, she might end up with nothing.
A'Diao didn't absorb spirit energy from the Toilet to replenish her Spirit Power. Instead, she directly took some medicine to replenish Spirit Power. She checked her Mental Power, which had accumulated to one million, and was somewhat surprised. But she quickly realized it was sent by the people from the Jinxiang Area.
The larger the scale of the Jinxiang battle, the greater their emotional fluctuations.
Toilet: "Aren't you afraid the Jinxiang battle will fail? What if all those people die..."
A'Diao: "Well, even if they die, wouldn't they send me a wave of Mental Power before that? No matter how you look at it, I won't lose out."
Oh, she almost forgot. Chen A'Diao from Qishan was an opportunist who prioritized benefits above all else.
And the people in the Jinxiang Area were also opportunists.
They vied for the spoils of the era through slaughter, their lives and deaths determined by human effort and the will of heaven.
No one should feel wronged.
Kyoto. Cui Liang had indeed received Shen Shan's secret report and was quite shocked at the time. He truly hadn't expected his father to find the lair of the Fierce Bandit Organization.
That was an immense fortune, perhaps no less than the Cui family's total current resources.
Thinking about where the Cui family's resources had been going during this time, Cui Liang felt very uncomfortable.
Cui Yong never explained these things to him, only giving him some allocated resources. But from Shen Shan, he knew that the resources he received were not even one three-hundredth of the total.
Was this reasonable?
Cui Liang was dissatisfied but dared not show it. He only thought of studying further in Kyoto, and once he controlled more capital, he would pressure Cui Yong to get the resources. If he still refused, a certain thought had crossed Cui Liang's mind, but it quickly vanished.
However, at this moment, that thought arose again.
Because—such a big matter, yet Father hid it from me. What does he mean? Is he afraid I'll ask for benefits? But the direct line of the Cui family is just us, father and son. Hasn't he thought about me inheriting?
Cui Liang was suspicious, even wondering if Cui Yong had an illegitimate child outside.
Suspicion easily breeds dissent. A certain thought stirred restlessly, but he still told himself: Give him one more chance. Perhaps after he slaughters the Fierce Bandit Organization and obtains huge resources, he will tell me and allocate some benefits to me. After all, I am the heir of the Cui family, his most outstanding son.
However, after suppressing that thought, he couldn't help but think again: If I wore the Wolf Spine armor set that Father has, my ranking in school could probably rise by hundreds of places. My strength... And how many resources does he still have? How strong is his cultivation? Has he already spent all the resources? And will I be left with nothing?
While A'Diao was taking Shen Shan and others on an airship to a certain destination, on another airship that was originally only an hour away from the Jinxiang Area, Zhang Que decisively changed direction.
As for some of the Cui family's former subordinates already in the Jinxiang Area, they were told to stay put and avoid people from the Song and Chen families as much as possible. If people from the Wang family asked, then...
In the Jinxiang Area, personnel from the Patrol Army and the Academy, as well as wilderness teams, were naturally all in position. Among them were also people sent by various factions from Danzhou for support (to farm resources). They had completely surrounded the vicinity of the cavern.
But the Wang family members were perceptive and noticed that the Cui family's forces had not arrived on time. They were puzzled and sent someone to inquire.
The Cui family's former subordinates, following Zhang Que's instructions, replied secretively: "Our Lord... was ambushed. He's worried there might be an ambush targeting him here in the Jinxiang Area. If someone assassinates him during the demonic spirit turmoil, then..."
Wang family: "!!!"
Such a thing? Impossible. The Song and Chen families wouldn't be so bold.
But Cui Yong was known to be cunning, and this was his only chance to rise. If he was willing to give this up, it could only mean the situation was indeed perilous. Perhaps he had solid leads, so he chose not to come to save his life, even recalling his forces.
The Wang family members became nervous.
Currently, in Danzhou, the Song and Chen families were the strongest. And the Grand Governor-General had clearly favored them before. Would he turn a blind eye and let them conspire?
But the Cui family has run off now, and my damn Wang family is still here!
Compared to the Cui family, my Wang family is probably more like a thorn in their side.
The Wang family members observed carefully and indeed found something fishy: Damn it, Chen Ran is viciously ambitious! He even brought Feng Ting, who controls the Lingcheng armed forces!
What about the Song and Chen families? Well, there were no other Chen family members, just Chen Ran, a weakling Governor-General, holding the fort in the rear. It was mainly the Song family who had many people; even their nephew Jiang Chao had secretly taken leave to come back and farm some resources. Even a rough fellow like him sensed something was off and secretly discussed with Song Ling: "What's up with the Wang family people? They look so nervous. Are they planning some conspiracy?"
Song Ling had long sensed something was amiss, but she couldn't figure out the situation for a while. The Song family members, however, were vigilant, reminding each other to keep some distance.
Jiang Chao prepared to stand in front of her, ready to act as a human shield to protect his family's mind mage little sister.
But he found that there was already a human shield in front of her.
Tian Zhongye and the others were there.
In fact, many school teachers had also come, far more than students. After all, there were only 15 students who had reached F-rank, while many teachers were E-rank or even D-rank.
Zhou Jiang led people to protect them. At this moment, he scanned the area and found that some people from the Lingcheng Training Hall had also come.
There's considerable strength. They should be able to deal with the demonic spirit nest, right?
He thought to himself, but he always felt the atmosphere was strange. What was wrong with these forces from noble families? Each of them, in their positions, collectively exuded an air of "there are always treacherous subjects who want to harm Us."
The demonic spirits haven't even come out yet!
"Why not just bomb it directly? With so many people and such a grand display, there won't be many Spirit Cores to divide later."
Some pampered children from certain families were not as intelligent as the students from Jinling Academy. They thought themselves clever, talked too much, and asked a stupid question.
Yuan Shu glanced over, annoyed, and said: "The lair is hundreds of meters deep below the cavern. To effectively strike the core, the military weapon's attack would need to penetrate that deep vertically. The planar coverage would then be at least fifty kilometers. How much land could withstand such devastation? If it could really be bombed like that, what would we be needed for?"
Having been intellectually crushed by others in Class 1 for so long, it was rare to encounter such an idiot. He finally regained some confidence.
Ying Da and others not far away also heard it. Looking at some of the young and silent students beside Yuan Shu, they thought to themselves: What's his ranking in the academic exam? Top three? He doesn't look stupid.
Soon, following an order from Chen Ran and other high officials.
The Patrol Army's information department began operations. A swarm of drones was released at the cavern entrance, carrying large amounts of lethal poison, flying into the cavern towards the lair.
And the main target of these poisons was—to poison the Ghoul fetuses.
On the screen, everyone could see the footage captured by the drones...
"Something's not right. Why are all the Ghouls gone?"
"Most of the equipment sent in before was shot down by Ghouls midway. The situation beneath the lair couldn't be surveyed. Mainly because our personnel movements have been too frequent these past few days, they must have noticed."
"The Ghoul Mage is highly intelligent. It must have manipulated things..."
"But this is also good. No matter what conspiracies they have, as long as we deliver the poison beneath the lair and release the poison gas, if those female Ghouls inhale it, it can kill those fetuses..."
This poison gas was developed by the Jinling Research Institute, specifically targeting Ghoul fetuses. If it's effective, then this Ghoul reproduction crisis can be half-solved.
Just as everyone was discussing, the drones descended into the depths of the cavern at top speed—one hundred meters, two hundred meters, three hundred meters... Suddenly!
Pop, pop, pop! One by one, the drone screens flashed with fire and then went dark.
Not good, they were shot down!
The information department personnel quickly maneuvered the last drone to change direction, but it only managed to hold on for two seconds.
In the instant the screen went dark after those two seconds, the last thing captured on screen was a pair of dark green eyes in the dimness, cold and vicious.
It was the Ghoul Mage.
Failed!
Chen Ran was just about to issue a second command.
Suddenly, the air reconnaissance team sounded a warning siren.
"Ghouls are emerging from the grass and woods in various areas of Jinxiang! There must be tunnels underground!"
In other words, they were now surrounded by Ghouls?
"Four to five thousand in number, at least four to five thousand!"
"They are consciously outflanking our troop deployment positions!"
"Attention! Attention!!!"
The warning from the air force spread everywhere, and many people felt shocked and panicked.
Song Ling frowned: How could this be? Could it be... a leak of military intelligence?
Who was slaughtering whom?
Would Jinxiang become their graveyard?
And some people looked at Chen Ran. If this operation failed completely with heavy losses, then Chen Ran would likely not only be dismissed from his post but could also have his entire clan exterminated and property confiscated.
The airship didn't go directly to the destination but stopped at a red line outside the range for surveying sky signals.
"The distance is too great, and there are too many signals. We can't capture the specific situation for now, but this is footage from a satellite."
Shen Shan and the others were professional, high-quality military personnel, naturally experienced and shrewd. The Cui family's assets included officially approved satellites. Using satellites, they could bypass local anti-reconnaissance systems and get a general view of the situation within the vast target area.
A'Diao also saw these images. She swiped her finger over some areas and quickly locked onto a location.
"They are here."
Actually, A'Diao had known for a long time where these people were hiding, even down to the specific building. This was because she had previously let Vulture go, precisely to have Sparrow tail him. Later, after entering the area, Sparrow increased the distance and was controlled by A'Diao to conduct a macroscopic survey of the region, finally confirming the location of the enemy's lair.
Later, Sparrow placed surveillance mechanical cicadas nearby before returning to her side.
But now, A'Diao couldn't reveal this. After all, even if Cui Yong found this place using "confidential connections" as a reason, it couldn't be too precise. This was because Shen Shan and other confidants wouldn't understand—they had some understanding of Cui Yong's abilities and sphere of influence.
Shen Shan's judgment was actually quite similar. "Yes, it's too abnormal for their farm to be built here. And the value of these crops isn't enough to support the rapidly rising land value in the area. It would be better to develop tourism."
Since the enemy's lair was confirmed, they had to plan how to strike precisely and then slaughter them...
"The commotion can't be too big. Otherwise, when claiming credit from the imperial court later, it will be easy for Chen Ran and his group to accuse us of harming civilians and damaging the local economy..."
Having suffered such losses a few times, they were naturally cautious. A'Diao enlarged the aerial view of the farm, then had Shen Shan use his connections to obtain data from the power bureau and the water resources bureau. In front of Shen Shan, she sent this data to someone... asking them to help analyze it. In reality, she sent it to a fake social media account associated with Sparrow. It wasn't Sparrow doing the calculations, but A'Diao herself, using this data for her computations.
After a while, A'Diao handed an annotated topographic map to Shen Shan.
Shen Shan looked at it. It noted the real agricultural production areas and hidden residential areas... and also the energy sector.
"Lord, your connections are truly formidable, to have such talented people. However, it seems this area is farmland, with residential areas underneath. That means it's an underground complex. Given the depth, a direct aerial strike probably won't be effective. These fierce bandits are clever. But this energy sector can be directly destroyed, crippling their systems."
"It's best not to attract the attention of those tourists. Use an invisibility spell on a high-speed light projectile. After destroying their system, everyone goes down into the underground complex to kill. Since they like it underground, let them stay there forever!"
A'Diao, wearing Cui Yong's persona, was putting on an act, but her subordinates were used to it.
Shen Shan received A'Diao's permission and arranged for people to prepare for the attack.
Linghuang County, Aishi City, within Danzhou territory. There was a large agricultural base for flowers and plants here, which had always been a famous tourist destination in Danzhou. The local people lived and worked in peace and contentment, relying on wholesale agricultural products and tourism income, making it quite prosperous among the counties of Danzhou. This also led to frequent population inflow, and many people contracted to manage mountains and land in the area.
Among them, a farm in Linghuang County, located deep in the mountains, was far from the county's tourist areas. It seemed to have deliberately chosen a remote place to build the farm. That made sense; this appeared to be a place that only sold agricultural products and didn't engage in tourism development, otherwise, it wouldn't have chosen such a remote location.
The cultivated land was orderly, and the crops were lush. Looking at the green fields was very pleasant, but no one knew that there was a huge underground complex beneath the ground.
Beneath the underground complex, in a winding maze, lived nearly a thousand fierce bandits who had once entered and exited Linghuang County as tourists but had made their fortunes abroad as killers, plundering resources.
That's right, this was the lair of the Fierce Bandit Organization.
At this moment, Li Yuanshu and other high-ranking members were still monitoring the situation in the Jinxiang Area. When they learned that no one from the Cui family had gone, Li Yuanshu frowned slightly, feeling something was strange.
Shuang Jin was somewhat suspicious. "Looking at the Wang family's behavior, they seem very wary of the Song and Chen families. Could it be that Chen Ran and his group played a dirty trick, scaring Cui Yong into not going to the Jinxiang Area?"
"This matter is strange. If Cui Yong didn't go to the Jinxiang Area, did he return to the Cui family?"
"It seems not."
Li Yuanshu felt inexplicably uneasy, always feeling that something was wrong, but before he could figure out the crux of the matter...
Buzz! The underground complex's alarm system blared sharply. Li Yuanshu and the others were shocked, but Li Yuanshu reacted quickly, immediately activating the counter-strike defense system with his authority...
But it was too late.
This light projectile was not a large-scale attack with lethal destructive power, but a "flying bird" light projectile primarily focused on speed. Speed was its purpose.
One second after the alarm system had just sounded the warning, before Li Yuanshu's command could be issued, it had already hit the target.
It had destroyed the energy system of this place.
And at this time... A'Diao and the others were already piloting their aircraft, whistling down.
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