Chapter 149 The Second Sophon Component

Under the flawless surveillance of the brain-computer map, not a single enemy managed to escape the sector guarded by Chen Mo’s squad. Furthermore, the squad's composition unleashed its maximum lethality; almost every enemy was wiped out with a single set of skills.

Chen Mo’s squad even aggressively charged into the defensive sectors of other squads to slaughter several enemies.

Delighted, Chen Mo plundered another 15 Sophons. His greatest gain, however, was discovering that the Munro Mage had actually self-created a set of mental cultivation techniques called the Munro Heavenly Dao. Through meditation, one could refine their spiritual power and enhance their comprehension of the Heavenly Dao. To be precise, the Munro Mage resembled a Taoist priest from ancient China.

Chen Mo decided to study this Munro Heavenly Dao slowly after returning.

Soon, the round-up and pursuit came to an end.

The Munro Guild was declared annihilated.

The Shadow Legion quickly occupied the destroyed Munro stronghold, and Jiang Ye conducted a post-battle tally.

Out of the 1,000 fighters in the Shadow Legion, 89 were killed in action, 123 sustained minor injuries, and 34 were severely wounded. Since the area was surrounded by dense thorny jungles and inaccessible to vehicles, they had to wait for helicopter support to evacuate the heavily wounded.

As for the four major evolutionary schools, body counts across the sectors revealed that Pingli Middle School had slaughtered 46 fleeing enemies; Mingde Middle School, 32; the High School Affiliated to the Normal University, 23; and Changjun Middle School had killed only 11.

Jiang Ye announced the rewards based on merit: "Pingli Middle School secured the highest kill count, earning a total of one hundred bottles of genetic enhancement fluid, and all their members gain eligibility to enter a high-level instance dungeon; Mingde Middle School takes second place with 50 bottles, along with 50 entry slots; the High School Affiliated to the Normal University is third, with 20 bottles of genetic enhancement fluid and 20 slots; Changjun Middle School gets 10 bottles and 10 slots!"

Upon hearing the results, Fang Zhongyong, the instructor from Mingde Middle School, turned ashen with rage and protested: "I object! On what grounds is Pingli Middle School first? Is it because of their superior strength? They were merely lucky, as the number of enemies fleeing toward the south happened to be greater!"

Changjun Middle School ranked dead last, and their instructor completely lost face, immediately chiming in: "Exactly! It's unfair, utterly unfair! We guarded the eastern side, and not a single enemy fled in our direction. We had to actively approach the south just to barely kill a few enemies!"

The instructors all belonged to the White Clouds and Stray Dogs organization. In particular, Fang Zhongyong was a Moon-tier White Cloud, putting him on equal footing with Jiang Ye of the Shadow Legion. Therefore, even Jiang Ye could not scold these White Cloud members.

Wei Zheng had not defended himself earlier, but when it concerned the interests of his students, he stepped to the forefront: "Fang Zhongyong! What do you mean by that? The rules were made crystal clear before the start: each school defends one direction. If Mingde Middle School had killed the most enemies today, would we be crying about you having all the luck and shouting unfair? With so many students watching, can you retain some dignity as an instructor and set a good example?!"

Fang Zhongyong turned green with anger: "You—you say I lack dignity! Good for you, Wei Zheng. You're just harboring a grudge because I reported you back at the base for sneaking out to drink at night, which got you punished by the higher-ups, aren't you?!"

Unable to watch any longer, Jiang Ye intervened: "Enough! Stop arguing! The Munro Guild's high-level evolution orb is about to activate. Our mission this time is to secure this evolution orb, so do not miss the entry window!"

Jiang Ye led the Shadow Legion to the exact center of the Munro stronghold. Sure enough, all guild bases were established around evolution orbs. Within the Munro stronghold lay a beginner evolution orb and an unopened C-grade high-level evolution orb.

The timestamp displayed upon it read: 14:00!

In other words, it was going to activate in five minutes!

Suddenly, Chen Mo understood why the Shadow Legion had launched a sudden assault on the Munro Guild. It was highly likely because they knew a high-level evolution orb was scheduled to activate today. Being a C-grade, its rank was extremely high, with fewer than a few hundred in the entire Star City, making it exceptionally precious!

Jiang Ye stated: "Once the evolution orb activates, entry will be granted according to the dungeon's capacity limit. If the maximum allowable capacity exceeds 1,400 people, I will make an exception and let everyone enter. If it is fewer than 1,000 people, we will strictly follow the previously established rules, entering according to the slots allocated to each school!"

Fang Zhongyong wanted to argue further, but was stopped by Jiang Ye’s sharp, hawk-like gaze. Although he and Jiang Ye were peers in rank, Jiang Ye was the battlefield commander for this operation, and everyone had to obey orders unconditionally.

The students of Pingli Middle School were overjoyed. Regardless of how many people the dungeon could accommodate, every single one of them was guaranteed a slot. Moreover, being a C-grade dungeon, it promised massive rewards.

Right in front of all the students, Wei Zheng praised: "I would like to give special commendation to Chen Mo’s squad! Their squad eliminated a total of 15 enemies. If not for them, Pingli Middle School probably wouldn't have secured first place. I secretly observed this squad; every member had a clearly defined role and seamless coordination, and the captain even risked himself multiple times to scout out the fleeing enemies alone and deploy tactics in advance. All our other teams should learn from Chen Mo and his squad!"

Clap, clap, clap!

Given that it concerned their own interests, the other squads burst into applause with genuine gratitude.

Naturally, Wei Zheng had no idea that Chen Mo’s solo dashes were not to scout enemy intelligence, but to plunder Sophons. Chen Mo’s spiritual power was far superior to Wei Zheng’s, so he had indeed sensed Wei Zheng watching him. However, Chen Mo did not panic; showing panic would only invite suspicion. Instead, he simply pretended to scout the situation and later shared the fabricated intelligence with his teammates.

Soon, the five minutes were up.

The C-grade red high-level evolution orb abruptly opened its eye. Even more horrifyingly, the eyeball seemed to come alive, shifting left and right as it scrutinized everyone in the vicinity!

This was the first time Chen Mo had seen an evolution orb look so terrifying. That bloodshot eyeball resembled the pupil of hell, gazing upon mortals facing impending death.

Someone muttered that since the evolution orb was so terrifying, it meant the dungeon must be extremely rare and precious.

Instantly, the fear in everyone's hearts diminished significantly, replaced by eager anticipation for this red-eyed evolution orb.

"Wait!" Wei Zheng suddenly spoke up. "There is something wrong with this evolution orb. Normally, high-level evolution orbs have the remaining attempts and participant limits written on them, but this one has nothing written at all!"

Hearing Wei Zheng say this, the other instructors also reacted, finding it highly unusual.

Jiang Ye was also uncertain, as he had never witnessed such a phenomenon before.

However, the activation window for a dungeon usually lasted only half an hour. Hesitating here and letting this C-grade high-level evolution orb go to waste would be a failure on his part as the commander.

"Big Soldier! Go take a look!" Jiang Ye ordered one of the Shadow Legion's tanks to probe first.

The tank known as Big Soldier was fearless. He raised his greatsword toward the red eyeball and shouted, "Still looking? Keep staring and I'll chop you down!"

As Big Soldier drew closer to the red eyeball, the red light emitted by the evolution orb grew increasingly intense. When Big Soldier stood completely in front of the evolution orb—under normal circumstances—he would have been automatically sucked into it to trigger the dungeon.

Instead, Big Soldier stood motionless in front of the evolution orb.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

The red evolution orb suddenly emitted a piercing sound, abruptly contracting and shrinking before violently expanding and growing larger, resembling a time bomb as its red light flared brighter and brighter.

Suddenly remembering what this object was, Jiang Ye shouted, "Big Soldier! Run!"

Boom!

A heaven-shaking explosion echoed!

Big Soldier the tank was blasted away, leaving not even a speck of dust behind.

The red evolution orb had long since vanished, leaving behind a shocking, gaping red spatial rift!

Wei Zheng, Fang Zhongyong, and the other instructors stared at the red spatial rift, all of them finally realizing what it was.

Wei Zheng roared: "Run! Flee! This isn't an evolution orb; it's a defensive sphere guarding an S-grade evolution orb! An S-grade evolution orb must be about to open nearby! This is beyond anything we can handle! Quick, notify the Shadow Legion headquarters and the White Clouds and Stray Dogs headquarters!"

Crack! Crack!

With the sound of snapping bones, a skeletal finger abruptly reached out from within the spatial rift!