An invasion from the Abyss? I, a demonic cultivator, laughed.

Chapter 100 Brothers, Our Own People
"The armor is finished?" Chu Qin was a little surprised.

"Yes, I've been working underground all this time."

Chu Qin hesitated for a moment: "Why don't you come again tomorrow morning? Shen Tu Hu is in a bad mood right now and might make things difficult for you."

Chu Xiu glanced at the brightly lit office, from which came several unsteady breaths.

"No need, he's concerned about his reputation. There are many people around now, so we're not afraid he'll renege on his debt."

This left Chu Qin feeling quite helpless. She thought to herself that her friend was really someone who valued money over life. Wasn't he afraid that Shen Tu Hu would hold a grudge?

"Then you should watch your words."

After giving her a word of advice, Chu Qin pushed open the door and walked in.

Inside the office, Shen Tu Hu listened to several analysts' reports with a gloomy expression.

"Outpost 07 agreed to our request to send personnel, but with several conditions: first, our personnel must obey their orders; second, we will act as reserve members, and can only enter the lair when the other side deems the time right."

"Isn't this just a nanny? We don't get any of the benefits, but we'll take the fall when something goes wrong?" Shen Tu Hu roared. "Tell them all to get out of here! Tell them that if they don't take my people, I'll just rob them! Don't blame me for being ruthless then!"

"You guys go and figure out a way to get the information on the other outposts' lairs!"

The analysts looked at each other, not daring to utter a word.

Because of the new horde of ghouls, everyone in the nearby strongholds is now living in fear, and all action plans are being accelerated.

The exact location of the nest was already highly confidential, so how could we possibly reveal its location to them under these circumstances?

Just as the atmosphere was becoming increasingly tense, Chu Xiu's voice broke the silence: "I've finished the armor, thirty suits, for a total of three hundred karma points."

After a pause, Chu Xiu added, "Thank you."

Shen Tu Hu was already furious, and upon hearing this, he glared at him fiercely: "Cause and effect my ass! The nest is gone, what do I need armor for?"

Chu Xiu calmly said, "So you're trying to renege on your debt?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the room fell into a deathly silence. Several analysts looked at him with a mixture of shock and admiration, while Chu Qin helplessly held her forehead.

Shen Tu Hu laughed in anger: "Fine, fine, fine, you've got guts, kid."

After saying that, he waved his hand and threw a piece of azure light at Chu Xiu: "Take it and get lost."

Chu Xiu took it, glanced at it, and left the office without saying a word.

Chu Qin chased after him, but did not blame Chu Xiu. She only warned him, "Shen Tu Hu is in a bad mood right now. You've offended him, so be careful he doesn't take it out on you."

Chu Xiu paused in his steps: "Would he send someone to assassinate me?"

Chu Qin: "?"

Seemingly surprised by Chu Xiu's comment, he hesitated for a long time before saying, "...It's not that serious. Why do you have this idea? Have you been reading some strange online novels?"

Chu Xiu looked disappointed. He was actually looking forward to Shen Tu Hu using some extreme methods, so that he could legitimately collect gold coins.

After thinking for a moment, Chu Xiu took out some items from his storage bag: "Oh right, these are for you."

With a flick of his right hand, four items fell out.

"What is this?" Chu Qin picked up an item to check its properties, and her smile immediately froze on her face.

This is actually a Warrior-class [Rare] quality equipment!
She then looked at the other three items, and each one was a [Treasured Collection] of the Warrior rank!
"Ah Chu, where did you get all these things?" Chu Qin was so shocked that she stammered.

[Rare] quality equipment is basically only obtainable from elites! There aren't many warrior-level creatures now, and warrior-level elites are even rarer!

Where did Chu Xiu, a mere mortal-level support class, get so many good things?

"I was lucky enough to stumble upon a hidden quest," Chu Xiu shrugged. "I can't equip these warrior-level gears, so keeping them would be a waste. Sister Qin, you can keep them for now and return them to me when we get back to Blue Star."

"A hidden mission?" Chu Qin's eyes showed a hint of doubt, but there seemed to be no other explanation. She could only sigh, "Ah Chu, you're really lucky."

Without further ado, he raised his hand and put away the four pieces of equipment.

In reality, these equipment were of no use to Chu Xiu. He could only take them back and sell them for money. Anyway, Chu Qin would return them to him when they returned to Blue Star. It was better to enhance the other party's self-protection capabilities in advance.

Chu Xiu can snatch other people's resources without any psychological hindrance, but Chu Qin is, after all, his own friend, so he still has to give her some compensation.

These four [Treasured] pieces of equipment will be far more helpful to Chu Qin's upcoming exploration than the meager rewards from clearing a nest.

After that, he didn't say anything more and went to his room to rest with his eyes closed.

He had a good night's sleep, which relieved the fatigue that had accumulated over a long period of time.

The next morning, Chu Xiu, who had mostly recovered, walked out of his room.

The awakened individuals outside were still discussing the matter. After a night of wrangling, they had reached a preliminary conclusion.

Support roles remain unchanged, continuing to provide logistical support within the strongholds, while combat roles will assist other strongholds with non-combat tasks such as reconnaissance and exploration. In return, those strongholds will allocate a portion of their resources.

Only high-level combatants like Chu Qin would participate in the direct assault on the nest, but they would not be the main force. Instead, they would take on a role similar to an emergency response team, sending them to provide rapid support to any squad in danger.

After giving Chu Xiu a few instructions and asking the combat professionals who stayed behind to protect the stronghold to look after him, Chu Qin left alone.

Chu Xiu asked Chu Qin about the location of the stronghold, but unfortunately, she didn't tell him.

"It seems we can't get the location of the outpost through legitimate means."

He had originally planned that if he were assigned to another stronghold, he would use the same method to take over the nest before the others.

However, Chu Xiu was not in a hurry. He walked out of the stronghold and quickly located a building three kilometers away.

This is an office building with a height of fifty stories, which can be considered a small landmark in the area. Chu Xiu moved and appeared on the top of the office building a quarter of an hour later.

Looking down from this angle, you can see most of the city.

According to information on strategy websites, all Awakened Ones' initial arrival area is in the outer city, which is roughly a semi-circular area. Outside the semi-circle is a dense primeval forest. These forests are like artificially planted on the outskirts in a simulation building game, with a clear boundary between them and the city, giving people a rather strange feeling.

The center of the semicircle is the central urban area, which is easy to identify. There is a concrete wall more than ten meters high separating the inside from the outside, with a total of nine entrances and exits. Roughly estimated, it is an area of ​​about two or three hundred square kilometers, much smaller than the outer cities, but still very large. Many second- or third-tier cities have urban areas of this size.

In the center of the city, there is a towering building that pierces the clouds. Chu Xiu suspects that this is the location of the Corpse King.

On the other side of the semicircle lies the boundless sea.

To be precise, it was a sea of ​​blood.

When Chu Xiu was in the apartment building, he couldn't see the other side of the city at all, but now, standing in this office building, he could vaguely see the blood-red sea of ​​blood from today.

This reminded Chu Xiu of the description he received when he received the Blood Moon Reward.

[While within the territory of the Boundless Blood Pool, a secret can be obtained every day at midnight.]

"An endless pool of blood?"

Chu Xiu gazed at the sea of ​​blood and murmured to himself.

Shaking his head, Chu Xiu stopped thinking about it and began searching for traces of other awakened individuals.

Since he couldn't find the location of the lair, he decided to locate other awakened individuals first and then follow them until he could find the lair eventually.

But after observing for a while, he frowned slightly.

Even on the 50th floor, the view is still not good.

Because there are so many buildings in the city, they block each other out, creating numerous blind spots at a distance where you can't see the streets at all, only the sides and rooftops of the buildings.

No Awakened would be so bored as to wander around on the rooftops; they usually move inside the building, trying to hide their presence as much as possible.

More than 1,500 Awakened Ones entered the Abyss this time. It sounds like a lot, but scattered across an urban area of ​​several thousand square kilometers, the density is pitifully small.

He observed for three or four minutes and only saw about ten Awakened Ones, all of whom were from his own base within a three-kilometer radius. The Awakened Ones further away were completely obscured by numerous buildings and could not be seen at all.

However, Chu Xiu was not in a hurry.

"We can't find any trace of them now, but once they start attacking the lair and a large-scale battle breaks out, the commotion will be impossible to conceal."

"Furthermore, I can go to other observation points to expand the scope of observation."

Almost as soon as he had this thought, a slight popping sound reached his ears.

Chu Xiu suddenly turned his head and looked down. He saw that a building in the direction of the sound seemed to have been violently impacted, raising a cloud of dust.

From the 50th floor, the smoke and dust were almost imperceptible, but Chu Xiu could see them clearly with his current eyesight!
In that smoke and dust, there were traces of battle!

This made his eyes light up!
Suddenly, Chu Xiu's expression turned serious, because a familiar figure rushed out from the dust and smoke—it was Chu Qin!

At this moment, Chu Qin seemed to be injured and was fleeing in a disheveled state, while a dark figure was chasing after her.

"Humph."

Chu Xiu snorted coldly, donned the Pain Elder's robe and mask, and then took a step forward, leaping directly off the office building!

A strong wind blew in his face, and under the influence of gravity, he fell at an extremely fast speed. Just before he hit the ground, the Mysterious Steps suddenly erupted, canceling out most of the potential energy!

"boom!"

Chu Xiu crashed to the ground, creating a large crater. Several awakened individuals witnessed this and stared in shock.

Chu Xiu ignored them completely and rushed towards Chu Qin's location. He used the Misty Step to its fullest extent, and with the Boots of Speed ​​and a physique of up to fifty points, Chu Xiu almost became a phantom.

In less than half a minute, he traversed a distance of over a thousand meters!

After rushing out of a building, he happened to see a figure, just like him, wrapped in a black robe, rush out and slash Chu Qin in the back with a knife!
"Pfft!"

Even with the protection of the Warrior-rank [Treasured] armor that Chu Xiu had just given Chu Qin, the blade still left a huge wound, almost cutting to the bone! Chu Qin's back was instantly covered in bright red blood. If it weren't for the armor Chu Xiu had given her, this strike could have severed Chu Qin's entire right arm from behind!
Chu Xiu's eyes turned cold. Without saying a word, he rushed out, and the bone spear in his hand suddenly sprang up like a venomous snake that had been gathering power for a long time, heading straight for the mysterious man's chest!
The man seemed surprised that someone would suddenly appear. His eyes flashed with astonishment, but he remained calm and composed. A circular shield suddenly appeared on his right arm, and he raised his hand to block Chu Xiu's attack. At the same time, the blade in his hand nimbly turned and slashed at Chu Xiu!

His strike was clearly the result of some kind of skill; the trajectory of the longsword completely defied human anatomy, and the blade was imbued with an extremely sharp aura!
Just as the blade was about to strike Chu Xiu, the Heavenly Demon Hand appeared from the void, grabbed the blade, and at the same time slammed another fist heavily into the man's body!
"Oh!"

With a muffled thud, the man was blasted far away by the Heavenly Demon Hand, but with a nimble flip, he dissipated the impact and got up from the ground.

A hint of seriousness appeared in Chu Xiu's eyes.

This person is very strong!

Judging from the exchange just now, his physique is only slightly weaker than mine. Considering that Chu Xiu is already level 4, no one else can keep up with his leveling progress. So if this person doesn't have equipment that can greatly increase physique, then he must be at least an S-level combat professional!

That's about the same level as the Seven Knights!

Moreover, his reaction speed is extremely fast, and he is extremely skilled at activating his skills, making him one of the best among the Seven Knights!
No wonder Chu Qin was chased and beaten by him.

Unfortunately, he encountered Chu Xiu.

Killing intent brewed in Chu Xiu's eyes, and the Heavenly Demon Hand gradually grew larger and more violent.

However, at that moment, the man suddenly raised his hand.

"Wait, brother, we're on the same side!"

"I'm a 'Yakuza' too!"

As he spoke, he lifted his black robe, revealing his right hand.

There was a jet-black six-pointed star mark on his arm, surrounded by many intricate runes.

The pattern made Chu Xiu, who was preparing to attack, pause.

He's seen this pattern before!
During the Warrior Trial, when the Avatar of Pain was summoned, a huge array appeared in the sky.

And this pattern is right at the very center of that formation!

(End of this chapter)