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

Chapter 274 Backtracking Mode
[Trial Name: Desperate July]

[Trial Mission: Help Glimmer City withstand the Blood Demon's thirty-day attack, or defeat the final Blood Demon to complete the trial.]

[Task Evaluation Basis: Preserve as much of the spark of civilization as possible, at least 10%; Current Progress: 100%/100%]

[Trial Description: Due to the inability to detect any surviving sparks of civilization, the trial has been changed to "Rewind Mode." This will transport the trial participant to a historical point in time, where you will fight alongside past heroes to try and change that tragic ending.]

[Note 1: The scenes and characters appearing in the "Rewind" are all from the past. The results of the trial will not affect the present world, nor can they revive any spark of civilization.]

[Note 2: After the trial ends, the deviation caused by the trial participants in the instance will be converted into Civilization Power. The higher the mission completion rate, the more Civilization Power you will obtain.]

[Note 3: Under normal circumstances, history cannot be changed, but participants may obtain equipment and items lost in the annals of history.]

[Basic Trial Rewards: 37800 Karma Points + Item and Equipment Rewards]

The brand-new mission mode made Chu Xiu's eyes narrow slightly.

"Backtracking mode?"

He looked around thoughtfully. No wonder the sky in this world was so clear. Was this the former world of corpse demons?

Chu Xiu had also heard of this model; it was said that after all the "large" civilizations' gathering points disappeared, they would switch to this model.

After all, there are some worlds where there is absolutely no one left, all of them have been wiped out, and there are still some people hiding tens of thousands of meters underground, and their numbers are extremely small. Some of them have even mutated in harsh environments to the point of being inhuman. These abysses cannot be explored.

After all, the energy generated for the trial is only enough for a general search; it's impossible to thoroughly search every piece of land.

The Blood Demon has strong detection capabilities. It's normal that the survivors of this world either hide very well or, like the people in Peach Blossom Spring, rely on special tools to find new gathering points of civilization.

Therefore, Chu Xiu only lingered for a short while before shifting his attention elsewhere.

To him, the new mode seemed to be just a change in some task backgrounds and rewards; he would still complete the tasks the same way.

"The mission requires protecting as many civilians as possible. It sounds like a mission to defend a stronghold, but with the addition of the kill mode, there is no doubt that I need to take the initiative."

If we honestly wait until the thirtieth day, thirty civilization envoys will arrive on that day alone. If we include the Chu Xiu who has accumulated and strengthened his power before, even if he is strong, he can't stop this kind of thing!

Not to mention that these civilizations can also cooperate, sometimes achieving a result greater than the sum of its parts.

"First, get a general understanding of this world, then find a way to locate the Blood Demon and behead him!"

Chu Xiu had formulated a plan.

"Hey, you over there! Don't move!"

Just as Chu Xiu was pondering, a loud shout suddenly came from afar. He turned his head and saw a blonde girl in a fur coat staring at him nervously.

"How did you get there? Didn't you know that was a minefield?!"

Chu Xiu glanced down and his divine sense penetrated the soil, discovering that the area around where he had landed was densely covered with Claymore landmines, with one almost every ten meters in an area of ​​several square kilometers.

"You're really lucky you made it that far without getting blown up, but whatever you do, don't move! I'm coming to rescue you!"

The girl shouted, then stretched out her hands, and an oak staff took shape in her hands. She whispered a spell, and the tip of the staff was aimed at Chu Xiu.

"Levitation Technique!"

As the girl cried out, a faint white light rose from Chu Xiu's body.

But Chu Xiu's body remained completely still.

"what?"

The girl was stunned. Chu Xiu's lips twitched, and his body slowly floated up, flying to the girl's side.

Seeing this, the girl breathed a sigh of relief and said shyly, "I'm sorry, I just passed the awakening trial not long ago, and I'm not proficient in magic yet."

"Moreover, in order to help the Holy Maiden master the 'Domain' as soon as possible, I voluntarily handed over all my causal points."

The girl's words caused Chu Xiu's expression to shift slightly.

The fact that the other party couldn't lift him wasn't because they weren't skilled enough, but because with Chu Xiu's current physical strength, although he was still in human form, his weight had already exceeded ten tons.

If it weren't for the fact that the spell was constantly levitating, it could easily collapse the hotel floor.

What truly caught Chu Xiu's attention was the word "domain".

Someone here has actually gained control of the territory?

"What level of Awakened One is your Holy Maiden?" Chu Xiu asked.

Faced with his question, the girl was taken aback again, then her eyes lit up with surprise: "Wait, you don't know the Holy Maiden? Did you come from outside? Are there still survivors outside???"

Chu Xiu thought for a moment and did not deny it, saying, "I have been alone for a long time."

The girl looked Chu Xiu up and down again, her expression becoming wary.

Wearing a strange mask, a black robe, and a bizarre crown, he was all smuggled out of the house and had an unusual appearance. He was definitely not a good person!

“Come with me. According to the rules, when we encounter outsiders, we must first contact the tribunal to verify their identity. Before that, I cannot reveal any information about our base to you.”

Seeing her nervous expression, Chu Xiu smiled and said, "I can go with you, but you can't even reveal my rank? I don't think that's a secret, is it?"

Perhaps seeing that he did not resist, the girl's expression softened a bit. She tilted her head and thought for a moment, then said, "Take off your mask and I'll tell you."

Chu Xiu did not refuse. He had kept his face covered during the previous trials because he did not want his true identity to be discovered. Since this trial was a rewind of the past, there was no need to hide it anymore.

He took off his mask, revealing a young and clean-looking face.

The girl was slightly taken aback, seemingly not expecting that this strange fellow was actually a young boy, who looked not much older than herself.

"You...you're an Awakened One too, right?" she asked hesitantly.

Chu Xiu nodded: "Without being an Awakened, one cannot survive in the wild alone."

Upon hearing this, the girl thought to herself, "Then it's not surprising. Awakened beings come in all shapes and sizes. Take the Holy Maiden, for example. Her appearance has remained unchanged for twenty years since her birth. She is still so pure and beautiful, with silver hair flowing like moonlight through the folds of her holy robes. Even the morning light seems to slow its pace when it touches her eyelashes." The girl shook her head, stopping her reverie. In fact, she had only seen the Holy Maiden three times, but each time she had left an indelible memory in her heart.

Clearing her throat lightly, the girl proudly declared, "Our Holy Maiden is a King-level Awakener!"

"King Rank?" Chu Xiu nodded thoughtfully, knowing that this so-called "domain" was most likely just a pretext to collect causal points and fool others.

The domain spirits in the Hundred Ghosts Furnace can be said to have gathered the right time, place, and people to barely possess a portion of the domain's power. For ordinary awakened beings to open a domain at the King rank is undoubtedly a pipe dream.

Over the next few hours, Chu Xiu and the girl went through a screening process. He didn't encounter any difficulties. After verifying his identity and confirming his human race with a strange device, they let him in.

It seems that the censorship criteria have been relaxed because the radar station at the front detected the movement of the Blood Demon army and there is an urgent need for manpower to defend the base.

However, Chu Xiu did not receive permission to enter the depths of the base city, which seemed to be a civilian settlement, and where labor exchange was required if food was desired.

Chu Xiu didn't pay any attention. He simply used his divine sense to take in the entire terrain within a ten-kilometer radius.

He saw thick smoke rising from the chemical plant in the center of the base, continuously producing high explosives. He saw the mines built against the mountain being dug day and night, transporting various raw materials to the industrial area by truck. He saw the awakened ones gently chanting incantations, and the crops under their feet growing rapidly.

He also saw a tunnel leading directly underground at the deepest part of the base, where a large, actually constructed shelter had been built. People had already moved in, but survival supplies still had to be provided by the outside world, and self-sufficiency was not yet possible.

Under the scan of his divine sense, Chu Xiu could see many awakened individuals continuing to dig underground, opening up new spaces, and many scientists conducting experiments on underground crop cultivation.

In just a few seconds, the entire situation of the base appeared in Chu Xiu's mind like a 3D scan, and he quickly made a rough judgment:

"The military strength here is roughly equivalent to that during World War II, but the scientific theories are much more advanced, and all kinds of knowledge are far ahead of their time, not inferior to that of the previous world."

"But probably due to limited resources and development time, industrial production capacity is much worse."

The area that this base can control is not very large, and it shrinks further as the Blood Demon continues to expand. Many rare metals are unavailable, which prevents many technological directions from being unlocked.

Currently, the base administrators' policy is quite simple: to focus on producing weapons, prioritizing durability, sturdiness, and large-scale production.

Chu Xiu glanced at the armory and found that there were quite a few artillery shells and ammunition, including a large number of Russian-style artillery pieces that lacked any cutting-edge technology and relied entirely on brute force.

The base is completely fixed, and the huge diameter of over one meter is enough to shatter most large blood demons of the general rank.

The accuracy is somewhat difficult to guarantee.

"These weapons should be enough to hold off some ordinary blood demon tides, but unfortunately, this is a King-level trial of ultimate difficulty."

Chu Xiu seriously suspected that he would actually encounter a genuine Blood Demon, a terrifying being whose rank reached [Heroic Spirit] and whose strength had not diminished in the slightest, and who might even give an additional +200% Abyss Power bonus.

That's completely insignificant in the face of an attack of that scale.

Chu Xiu didn't expect the people here to help him pass the trial, but he needed to have some ability to protect himself, otherwise he wouldn't be able to protect so many people at the same time.

However, just as Chu Xiu was feeling somewhat disappointed, his eyes suddenly lit up, and he focused his divine sense on a certain spot.

There, on the outskirts of the base, an Awakened One's tattooed hand was deeply embedded in the soil. As a deep, ancient voice rolled in his throat, the entire earth began to tremble. Before long, the rocks and soil from the ground tore through the grass and emerged. The rock layers and mudstones piled up and interlocked, forming a circular stone wall thirty meters long and five meters wide in the blink of an eye.

Behind her, another awakened one leaped onto the stone wall. She was an extremely beautiful young woman. A dozen hydraulic shears extended from the suspended toolbox behind her and began to operate rapidly. The supports of heavy machine guns were inserted into the stone grooves, and the clicking sound of gears meshing mingled with the blue light of electric welding. The circuits were tightly connected, emitting crisp metallic clanging sounds and faint buzzing of electricity.

As the last bulletproof shield was bolted in place, within a very short time, the barrels of twenty machine gun turrets protruded from the city wall like steel reeds.

What's even more astonishing is that the base of these heavy machine guns all have a hydraulic device that is clearly out of step with the technology of this world, used to control the up and down movement of the machine gun in the firing port.

"This is a mechanic! And just like Guan Ke, a mechanic with the talent of [Consciousness Attachment]!"

This made Chu Xiu's heart stir slightly. A mechanic with this talent could be described as a one-man army. Without any cutting-edge technology, he could turn these firearms into unmanned automatic turrets.

"These two Awakened Ones must both be King-level to have completed such a powerful defensive device in such a short time. If the Awakened Ones here are not weak, then my life will be much easier."

Mechanics, given sufficient preparation, can unleash a large-scale battlefield capability far exceeding that of other professions. Chu Xiu glanced around and saw that similar city walls and trenches were almost everywhere in the base city, which could effectively block low-level blood demons.

"Unfortunately, this girl seems to be only a B-rank [Consciousness Attachment]. Even though she's a King-rank, the weapon she can control at once is not as powerful as Guan Ke, who is a General-rank."

"Moreover, due to the limited level of industrialization in this area, the quality and power of the weapons are far inferior."

Mechanics can use their professional skills to produce specific weapons and equipment, essentially making them a highly precise human factory. However, to deploy a large-scale defense system capable of protecting a city, one person alone is certainly not enough; most weapons still need to be manufactured with external assistance.

After careful observation, Chu Xiu also noticed this.

In short, after inspecting the area, he made a judgment: the people here are fine at defending against attacks from low-level blood demons below the Ferocious Rank. No matter how many there are, they cannot break through these layers of defensive barriers in the short term. However, they would have a headache if they encountered a General Rank demon, and a King Rank demon would require a top-level Awakened to deal with them one-on-one.

However, if facing an envoy from a different civilization, it would most likely be necessary to take action oneself.

"A common problem with modern weapons is that while they have a large kill area and wide range, they are not suitable for dealing with powerful individual organisms."

Knowing what was going on, Chu Xiu took to the air, spread his Garuda wings, and began searching the surroundings.

After determining the overall strength of the base city, his next task was to assess the enemy's strength and find the Blood Demon's whereabouts as soon as possible to decapitate him.

With the activation of spatial power, Chu Xiu easily accelerated to more than ten times the speed of sound. He spread his divine sense around the base city, continuously expanding the reconnaissance range. An hour later, Chu Xiu's expression changed, and he felt that he had found his target.

He is currently located 370 kilometers east of the base city, where he is near the coastline and can see an endless sea of ​​blood when looking down from the sky.

Meanwhile, low-level abyssal creatures were constantly crawling out of the sea of ​​blood! Most of these creatures were the [Blood Demon Servants] that Chu Xiu had fought in the Corpse Demon World. They were no different from ordinary people in appearance, with skin as pale as vampires and varying numbers of blood-red tentacles growing on their backs.

Chu Xiu still remembered that the Blood Demon Servants he had encountered were elites of the Warrior Rank 6. The Blood Demon Servants here were similar, with most of them being Warrior Rank. The larger the Blood Demon Servants and the more tentacles they had, the higher their rank. Occasionally, one could even see ferocious-rank servants that were as tall as three meters.

This wouldn't have been a problem in itself, but the issue was that there were simply too many of these Blood Demon Servants. As far as the eye could see, Blood Demons were constantly emerging along the entire coastline, and they seemed to be guided by some kind of direction, moving rapidly and purposefully towards the base city!
In fact, Chu Xiu could already see the rushing blood demons on his way here. They even automatically formed assault teams. According to the time estimate, the first wave of attacks would probably arrive in less than two hours.

"The base city should be able to withstand this attack. I should focus on decapitating the Blood Demon as soon as possible, but..."

Looking at the boundless sea of ​​blood, Chu Xiu suddenly felt a very ominous premonition.

In the last trial, the alien civilization envoy joined forces with Asura and fully informed him of his identity and the rules of the killing mode. He even rapidly strengthened himself with Asura's help.

If the Blood Demons in this trial have also made contact with the alien civilization envoys, then they only need to hide in the depths of the Blood Sea for thirty days, wouldn't I be doomed to lose? No matter how powerful his divine sense is, he can't possibly find the Blood Demons in the vast Blood Sea!

By the thirtieth day, half of the 465 alien civilization envoys had received a +200% boost to their combat power. How could he possibly fight them?

(End of this chapter)