Little Eagle was overwhelmed by the woman's imposing aura and could hardly breathe: "Qing Chen said that you just finished a battle and it's not suitable for you to go on an adventure in City 10..."
Li Changqing walked out with a cold smile: "He didn't come to find me, but went to the Privy Council. It's obvious he doesn't want me to go, but I'm going anyway."
However, at that moment, Li Shu strode over: "Lieutenant General Li, the Shindai just held a press conference. They claimed that City 10 has been biologically contaminated and is now brewing a huge disaster. The Shindai Northern Fleet will set sail in 8 hours to provide support to City 10."
Li Changqing frowned: "They're using this excuse to cry 'stop thief!'"
In the battle of Forbidden Land No. 002, the Kei, Lee, Kashima, and Chen families all participated, but the Kamishiro Foundation remained silent and plotted its own schemes.
The timing of this move by the other side is just when all parties are preparing to regroup and recuperate.
Li Changqing walked back to the command post. She calmly and silently looked at the holographic sand table, surveying the entire northern battlefield.
Ten minutes later, the operations staff walked into the command post: "Kashima has also announced that it will move south to support City 10."
She paced back and forth in the command post, and finally made a decision: "We will not go to City 10. We will report back to the Privy Council. My unit will complete logistical preparations within 8 hours and rendezvous with the frontline commander, Li Yunmu, in 16 hours... We are about to fight a tough battle."
At this time, the Aoyama was unable to take off, but the Kamishiro Foundation's air fortress remained intact.
This battle will not be easy.
Li Changqing glanced at City No. 10 on the sand table, which looked like a lonely city, and she really wanted to go there.
But she was a general of the Li family. Before, she could pilot the Qingshan and appear in front of the Chen family's fleet at will, but now that a full-scale war was about to break out, she had to be responsible for the soldiers of the Li family.
Li Changqing knew very well that from the moment the all-out war broke out, all the main forces would be tied up on the front lines, and City 10 would probably not receive any real support.
This is what Qingchen said to Xiaosan: what they might be waiting for is not support, but war.
...
...
Return countdown: 166:00:00.
Only two hours have passed since this journey.
"Keep up!"
Iodine solution was leading more than 600 Kunlun members through the streets.
At this time, the rat swarm had just emerged from underground, and their main activity areas were still in Zones 2, 5, and 6.
These rats didn't arbitrarily extend their battle lines; instead, they planned to devour these three areas completely before scheming to conquer other regions.
At that time, their population will undergo a complete transformation, and the entire city will become their granary.
Plan A, which Qingchen gave to Iodine, was that if the city did not fall into darkness after the journey, then the Kunlun members would swear to protect the power plant to ensure a normal power supply.
But if they don't make it in time, then Plan B must be activated: immediately head to the PCE Security Management Committee headquarters in District 5.
There are nearly three months' worth of police call records there.
At first, Iodine didn't understand why Qingchen wanted them to retrieve a police report in such a critical moment.
But after the explanation, they understood that Qing Chen wanted the alarm records from the PCE headquarters to analyze the location of the Rat King.
According to Qingchen's deduction, the Rat King wanted to invade the Lower Three Districts as soon as possible because it was a no-man's-land and could easily become a blind spot in the city, which was a strategic choice.
However, what the Rat King didn't expect was that when it was drawing power from the corpse of Shindai Chika, the Lower Three Districts had already become the Parents' Association's private territory, which made it impossible for it to get involved.
Qingchen analyzed that since the rat swarm's invasion of the lower three districts failed and there was no optimal strategic target, it would be the same no matter where they invaded the remaining areas.
Therefore, their next area of frequent activity must be the area closest to the rat king, because they need to transport food nearby to ensure the continuous reproduction of their colony.
When the rats first started to run rampant, some residents must have been lucky enough to survive.
And what will the surviving residents do? They will definitely inform the PCE Safety Committee of this horrific event as soon as possible.
The PCE Safety Committee headquarters has a backup generator. He needs Kunlun members to analyze the rat population's activity areas using the report records to pinpoint the location of the rat king. Only in this way can Qing Chen find a way to behead it.
Moreover, Qingchen was thinking about a question: what if Kamishiro Chika was holding the forbidden item ACE-022 Queen Ant?
If we find the Rat King, we might be able to find Chika Kamishiro.
"Captain, are we sure we want to go to the Fifth District?" someone in the Kunlun team asked in a low voice. "Actually, we can still retreat now. We can go to the Lower Three Districts to meet up with the Parents' Association members. As long as we stay there for a few days, the Federal Army's reinforcements should be able to arrive by now."
Now, everyone knows that a rat infestation is about to break out in the city.
In the academy, the orders given to the 99 teams of Time Walkers were to memorize the route, use Plans A and B as guidance, and retreat to the outskirts of the city or the lower three districts.
Kunlun was the only one whose orders were to advance into the city center.
They all knew that this was a deadly path, and once they embarked on it, there was no turning back.
The rat infestation is currently only sporadic, so they still have time to retreat.
“No,” Iodine responded coldly. “An order is an order. Qingchen ordered us to take over the PCE headquarters before the rat swarm fully breaks out, and we must do it. So far, everything Qingchen said has come true. He prepared Plan A and Plan B for everyone. Since he hasn’t made a mistake so far, I have no reason to question him.”
Someone asked, "What if he's actually wrong?"
Iodine paused for a moment: "...Even if he is really wrong, we must carry it out."
In fact, Iodine admired Qingchen quite a bit. As the person in charge of Kunlun in City 10, he witnessed firsthand how Qingchen painstakingly found a way out for everyone and formulated a backup plan during the remaining five days before his return.
At this very moment, even though everyone is in a city without electricity or communication, they can still continue to respond according to the plan. This is entirely because Qingchen had done all the planning, variables, and preparations before the time travel.
It could be said that Qingchen's work was already over the moment they crossed over.
Just like the words that Shadow once said to Qingchen.
Qing Chen once asked Shadow in Forbidden Land No. 002, "The Federation is at war. Is it appropriate for you to run around like this?"
The shadow replied, "I have done everything I was supposed to do."
At this moment, in the vast city, the residents began to panic as the rat swarm became increasingly active, with countless people running towards the edge of the city, trying to escape.
Residents who went to bed early were also awakened by the screams.
Iodine stopped a fleeing refugee and asked, "Is there a rat swarm coming from the direction you came from?"
The refugee exclaimed in horror, "Yes! There are rats everywhere over there!"
Iodine frowned, not expecting that the fifth district they were going to was one of the hardest-hit areas!
"Keep moving forward!" Iodine said gravely. "Brothers, we must complete the mission."
At midnight, everyone was running outside, but this group of over six hundred people was going against the current.
Chapter 680, Fight your way out!
"stop."
On the city streets at midnight, Qingchen pulled Zhang Mengqian to a quick stop.
Zhang Mengqian held his breath. He could hear a swarm of rats marching ahead, no more than twenty meters away from them.
The road was littered with white, withered bones, piled one on top of the other.
The flowing blood stained the road red.
The streets, which should have been bustling and lively, were now eerily silent; even the cries of anguish were barely audible.
They're all dead.
Zhang Mengqian asked in a trembling voice, "Boss, who did this?"
Qing Chen sighed, "The Age of Gods."
At that moment, Zhang Mengqian saw several small human skeletons. He slowly clenched his fist: "Boss, I want to kill all the people in the Kamishiro Corporation. They don't care about other people's lives at all!"
Qing Chen said expressionlessly, "Then you have to become stronger."
He did not choose to slaughter the rats because there were simply too many of them.
Qing Chen couldn't act rashly; he had to wait patiently for the right moment, locate the Rat King, and then behead him.
With the Rat King dead, at least the rat horde won't attack humans in a planned way like an army. Their instincts will make them fear fire and guns again.
If the Rat King doesn't die, even several of Qing Chen's lives wouldn't be enough for the rat horde to eat.
"Boss, where are we going now?" Zhang Mengqian asked.
"Go through the fourth district to the lower third district and meet up with the parent-teacher association! That will be the last line of defense for the entire city, and I have to defend it with the members of the parent-teacher association!"
The two moved quickly again, and as they were walking, a rat suddenly pounced on Qingchen from the shadows.
Before it could pounce, when it was about 20 centimeters away, just like static electricity on a person's body in autumn or winter, a very thin arc of electricity struck its forehead.
At this moment, Qing Chen was like an electric hedgehog; no mouse could attack him silently and still survive.
The rat, which had been baring its teeth and claws, suddenly stiffened and fell straight to the ground.
Just then, several more rats pounced out of the darkness.
Qingchen originally intended to electrocute them all, but he managed to stop himself and left one alive.
He flicked the mouse away with his finger, then stared at it coldly, as if trying to verify something.
There are two possibilities: one is that the rat swarm has not yet been controlled by Chika Kamishiro.
Another possibility is that Chika Kamishiro had already hidden in the city with his new identity after being possessed, and then completed the control of the Rat King.
If the current situation is the latter: that Kamishiro Chika has taken control of the Rat King and unleashed a catastrophe upon the entire city, then that would be the worst-case scenario.
At this point, the rat swarm will surely help Chika Kamishiro search for his whereabouts and kill him, the future leader of the knights.
But now, the mouse doesn't recognize itself.
Qing Chen didn't kill it; he turned and left.
As he moved forward, he repeatedly checked his surroundings. No rat army suddenly came to surround and attack him. Qing Chen was certain that there was a 90% chance that the rat swarm had not yet been controlled by Shen Dai Qian Chi.
This is a good thing.
...
...
The two of them walked and stopped, relying on their hearing to avoid the marching tracks of the rat swarm.
The noise from the crowd grew louder and louder.
Wailing cries could be heard from the darkness of the fourth district from time to time.