Necromancer, summoning 055? What the heck?

Chapter 535 First Battle on the Beach: Constructing a Fortress and the Mysterious Forest of Giant Trees

The first wave of attacks launched by the Hanhai Field Army was more effective than expected.

This doesn't mean the Wind Serpents are weak; in fact, these guys are incredibly tough.

Almost simultaneously with the launch of the shoulder-fired rockets, the 20mm dual-purpose machine guns of the Hanhai Field Army also began to roar.

A fiery whip made of bullets swept across the sky, chasing the wind serpent and lashing it fiercely. Casings poured out of the ejection port like a waterfall, jumping and rolling on the deck with a crisp clanging sound.

The 20mm caliber is already at the critical point between a "gun" and a "cannon," or you could even say it's a rapid-fire cannon.

The ammunition is equipped with tungsten-core armor-piercing projectiles, which can penetrate 30-millimeter-thick homogeneous steel plates within a range of 500 meters.

Even a regular armored personnel carrier would be reduced to wreckage in an instant if it encountered such a vehicle.

Of course, on such a battlefield, in order to preemptively deny attacks, the Hanhai Field Army could not place such a large vehicle within a dangerous distance and launched an attack from several kilometers away.

At this distance, due to the loss of speed caused by air resistance, the kinetic energy weakens, and the penetration depth of the warhead will drop sharply to one-third or even less.

In this situation, the Wind Serpent actually withstood the onslaught of this barrage of firepower.

From a physical perspective, the wind serpent is undoubtedly a true top-tier biological warfare weapon.

Compared to the dragon race's thick back armor, middle and side armor, and no belly armor, the wind serpent's scale armor covers its entire body, and the scales on its abdomen are even thicker than those on other parts of its body.

According to the analysis of the Dongxia expert team, there may be three reasons.

Although the true dragon race can fly, it is driven by psionic energy. In most cases, they mainly move on the ground. When they are on all fours with their bellies close to the ground, the possibility of being attacked is small, so there is no need to waste extra protection.

The wind serpent, on the other hand, has evolved its forelimbs into part of its wings, and relies on its hind legs for combat most of the time, with its abdomen completely exposed in front.

With wings, most of this creature's attacks come from the sky, making its chest and abdomen its primary targets.

Just like a tank, the front armor is definitely the thickest and hardest.

Another reason is that dragons are considered half magical creatures, while wind serpents are purely physical attackers.

This is similar to an electric eel encountering an alligator snapping turtle. Putting aside their fighting ability, in terms of hardness, the former is definitely inferior to the latter.

This is also the main reason why the true dragon race was almost overtaken by the whelp race on the Sighing Ice Plains.

Because of insufficient supplies and a lack of comprehensive nutrients, the strength of the true dragon race is based on high consumption. In contrast, the sub-dragons born from the hybrid of wind and serpents, which rely on physical strength, do not require as many complex resources, and their consumption during breeding is relatively much smaller.

The fewer true dragons there are, the more wyverns are needed to hunt them, which ultimately leads to the fact that the wyvern population has grown significantly.

As for the last possible reason, it was first proposed by a researcher in the biological laboratory of the [Compassionate Voyage] Engineering Department.

This person is not an expert or professor, but just a video blogger who loves biology. His popular science content is rigorous yet humorous, which makes him very popular. Because of his square face, he is affectionately called "Tibetan Fox" by his fans.

This person, who had been wandering around for a long time, had traveled far and wide and had seen a lot, had his own unique insights and understanding of biological systems. After the establishment of the biological laboratory under [Cihang], he was also recruited.

His argument is that dragons are apex predators, so they only need limited defense. Wind serpents, on the other hand, are likely secondary predators, or even mid-level predators, so they would need to be more heavily guarded.

Based on this reasoning, it is possible that there are even more ferocious and higher-ranking creatures on the Misty Continent than the Wind Serpent.

This is also the core reason why Han Hai Ling has maintained the highest level of vigilance during this exploration.

Back on the battlefield, in the field army's field of vision, the two leading wind serpents had been hit by at least a hundred bullets. From head to toe, a large number of triangular scales exploded, and blood mixed with some biological tissue on their bodies flew everywhere.

However, the two guys kept pushing forward despite the bullets.

Without any psionic protection, hundreds of 20mm armor-piercing rounds hitting flesh would have turned any creature on Earth into a pile of minced meat long ago.

However, these wind serpents only suffered minor injuries and bleeding, and their flight posture was not even out of control. If a strict injury assessment were conducted, the machine gunners here might not even be criminally liable.

The most effective attack of the dual-purpose machine gun was fully manifested on the wings of the Wind Serpent.

The 20mm armor-piercing round fiercely tore open the wind serpent's wings, instantly tearing more than a dozen bowl-sized holes in the wing membrane. Dark red blood mixed with shattered tissue gushed out from the wounds, drawing a viscous arc in the air.

The wind serpent's wings flapped a few more times unconsciously, which caused the already close wounds to connect with each other due to the tearing, as if a huge piece of silk had been violently torn in the middle and split in two.

The wind serpent let out a sharp hiss, like a metal sheet scraping against a glass plate.

As the massive creature violently tilted to one side, its originally smooth diving trajectory abruptly transformed into a sliding parabola.

Even under these circumstances, the wind serpent did not choose to retreat. Instead, it vigorously swung its tail and frantically flapped its other wing, which was still barely intact, in an attempt to stabilize itself and continue gliding forward.

Those cold eyes burned with a kind of almost insane savagery.

The second wind serpent followed closely behind.

Its condition was even worse; the entire right wing was torn off at the root by a hail of bullets, the break was jagged, and only a few thick wing bones remained, with some broken muscle tissue still hanging on them, like a sail torn by a storm.

The gliding trajectory of the wind serpent had already tilted uncontrollably towards the sea surface, but its large mouth, covered with hooked teeth, was still open towards the direction of the Hanhai assault boat, and it seemed to be spitting out a mouthful of dark green, unhealthy-looking mucus.

In that instant, the Hanhai Field Army seemed to see that night at Dragon Cliff, those dragons whose bodies were half broken, yet still fiercely lunging forward.

A young soldier standing next to Ma Guohe couldn't help but curse, "What a vicious guy!"

Another veteran, wearing a new ammunition belt, grinned and said, "Being ruthless won't help. Cyber-grade ammunition, specifically designed to shoot carbon-based targets!"

"The sixth boat has already prepared a sample; let's open it into these guys' mouths!"

"If they're not afraid of death, then send them to their deaths!"

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Ma Guohe personally set up a rocket launcher, knelt on the deck of the assault boat with his right front knee, pressed his eye against the scope, and took a deep breath.

The whole world in my field of vision shrank into that ever-growing, grotesque, spiky head.

The rocket roared out of the launch tube, its tail flames exploding into a scorching blast of air behind Ma Guohe. Almost at the same moment, from the surrounding assault boats, a second and third rocket followed, firing a dense barrage of fire at the charging beast.

In that instant, it looked as if a dozen dazzling fireworks had swept across the sea at the same time.

This tactic proved to be very effective.

Some of the rockets that pierced the wind serpent's mouth exploded inside its oral cavity, some exploded inside its esophagus, and some even pierced its stomach perfectly.

The wind serpent's body was clearly not prepared with armor; no matter how thick the outer defense was, inside was just a pile of tender flesh.

Flames and shrapnel suddenly exploded from the soft, unprotected depths of the internal tissue, and the first wind serpent's entire head swelled up a size in an instant, its eyeballs bulging high from their sockets, and then blazing flames spewed out from its eye sockets, ear canals, and corners of its mouth.

The scene looked as if the people of Guangdong in Dongxia had accidentally swallowed an extremely spicy food.

The second wind serpent fared no better. Its throat swelled rapidly and then burst open with a large hole. Its neck bent backward at an almost ninety-degree angle, and its long body convulsed violently in the air like a snake with its spine removed before plummeting straight down.

The two wind snakes entered the water one after the other, splashing water six or seven meters high.

The first wind serpent was not quite dead yet. Although it had achieved the true meaning of "bleeding from all seven orifices," it was still half-submerged and half-floating on the sea surface, violently rolling around. Its tail frantically slapped the water, and the splashing waves mixed with blood and fragments of internal organs dyed the surrounding dozens of meters of sea a shocking dark red.

The nearest assault boat didn't hesitate to fire two more recoilless rifle shots, accurately hitting the still-struggling beast. The explosion sent up a water column more than ten meters high.

Once the water jets fell, the wind serpent finally calmed down.

The continuous cluster fire, with at least thirty rockets fired in bursts, formed a huge precision interception network, effectively targeting and striking these Wind Serpents.

While these guys are indeed very tough, it has to be said that opening their mouths wide during attacks is a very bad habit when facing the vast ocean.

The feeding of these wind snakes by Han Hai has caused them to suffer from severe malnutrition.

Monsters that couldn't be dealt with by external attacks were easily eliminated by internal attacks.

With the first batch of six wind serpents all wiped out, the remaining wind serpents that were further away, as well as the second batch that came from an even greater distance, seemed to be intimidated by the battle ahead.

They showed obvious signs of shrinking back, and their original aggressive demeanor vanished.

It's clear that this thing isn't a mindless, reckless creature.

From the field army's perspective, above the cliff, a dozen or so wind serpents were swirling and flying. More and more wind serpents joined the ranks, but their numbers remained quite limited, simply drawing irregular circles in the air.

As a senior artillery commander who was among the first batch of the second echelon to enter the battlefield, Ma Houpao only observed briefly after arriving at the battlefield before immediately taking over battlefield command.

He squatted on the side of the speedboat, one arm resting on his knee, the other holding a walkie-talkie, and began to coordinate the operation.

"It can be basically confirmed that the number of wind serpents in this direction is indeed limited, which should be due to the terrain as previously speculated."

"All units, do not be careless. Take up the drones and be on high alert!"

"The front rank troops enter the water, establish a defensive line, and advance under overlapping cover!"

The centaurs at the front were ordered to jump off the ship and begin wading forward to guard the water.

The high tide had passed, and the waves were gradually calming down. Although the seawater had washed over the backs of the centaurs, these veteran soldiers of the field army paid no attention. The soldiers in the front row used their bodies for support, while those in the back row gripped the machine guns mounted on the backs of the soldiers in front, and immediately entered a defensive stance.

A machine gun unit properly supported by a fixed frame is much more stable than one that's just bobbing around on a ship.

A centaur veteran glanced back at his comrades, grinning to reveal a mouthful of yellow teeth: "How about it? Our backs are sturdy enough, aren't they?"

"Stop talking nonsense, stay still, don't shake!"

As they spoke, the second row of assault boats slipped through the gaps in the defensive positions, dropped off infantry about 150 meters ahead, and set up a new defensive line.

In this alternating manner, six lines of defense rolled forward in turn. During this time, more assault boats were rushing out of the psionic channel from the rear, and troops, weapons, ammunition and equipment arrived one after another.

As the final ship, [Wave-Treading] No. 1, rushed through the passage, Silver Dragon Serand and Blue Dragon Melidis also removed the rickety passageway, following behind the vast ocean army with marks of smoke, fire, lightning, and electricity.

Despite the protection of Dongxia's equipment, the two dragons were still electrocuted round after round in the thundercloud storm, and their expressions were not very good.

Having made it across, Thranduil and Meredith were now under strict restrictions on their movements.

Chen Mo gave the troops a strict order: these two vital pieces of equipment that could support the passage were absolutely forbidden from approaching the front lines or directly participating in the battle.

Therefore, the two giant dragons were closely protected behind them, with at least twenty assault boats forming a circle around them, following closely all the way.

As the vast sea defense cluster advanced in an orderly and cyclical manner, the wind serpents on the cliff finally chose to retreat. Those swirling black dots gradually receded into the distance and eventually disappeared into the vast horizon behind the cliff.

When Macaka arrived at the edge of the cliff, the canopy was already empty.

Six teams of drones took off at full speed and began reconnaissance along the entire contact surface of the cliff.

After passing through this thundercloud storm barrier, the electromagnetic interference, or rather, signal isolation, was resolved. Clearly, the barrier only separated the area inside and outside of it, not the entire Misty Continent.

"Has satellite contact been established?"

"Commander, satellite communication channel access has been established!"

"it is good!"

Macaka felt much more at ease.

Although the advance team is currently isolated within the barrier of this misty continent, as long as they can maintain contact with the Vast Ocean, Makaga can consider that his unit has completed more than half of its mission.

Even if the advance team is completely wiped out, what they see and hear can still be clearly transmitted back through the ground-satellite-Han Hai line. And as long as the situation is clear, there is nothing that Han Hai cannot solve.

Macaga has absolute faith in his lord!

The centaur commander, still young but with slightly graying temples, raised his hand.

"Preparing to log in!"

The drone, towing a sling, flew up the cliff and quickly secured itself to the jagged rocks. Then, the first group of climbers rushed up the sling.

These are warriors from the orc longcat clan, also known as the leopard clan.

Centaur warriors are known as small "self-propelled artillery" on land, but they are significantly weak in climbing. Therefore, the task of "first to climb" the cliff had to be assigned to these orc soldiers.

The leader was named Milos, who was the orc garrison commander of the Vulture Cliff mine back then, and is now the commander of the Misty Continent Vanguard Jungle Special Operations Force.

Milos charged the furthest and ascended the fastest; as he flipped and leaped onto the cliff, his pupils involuntarily contracted sharply.

Although they had seen this continent through drone footage before, the sheer scale and vastness of it all struck the soldiers' hearts the moment they arrived in person.

This is a vast land that stretches as far as the eye can see, almost boundless.

The most striking sight ahead is the bare Gobi mountain range.

Having seen the vast desert and the mudflats of Hailuokou, Milos found it hard to understand why there was such a vast Gobi desert by the sea.

As far as the eye can see, there are steep cliffs everywhere, the cliff walls are covered with traces of wind erosion, and the reddish-brown rock layers look as if they have been haphazardly chopped by a giant axe, forming all sorts of messy shapes.

Looking down from above, it looks like a huge stone ball that has fallen from the sky, shattered into pieces, scattered everywhere, presenting a broken and desolate beauty.

Among these Gobi deserts, there are patches of giant tree forests.

Even within the same forest, these giant trees are not densely packed, but rather spaced out, scattered across this vast land in twos and threes. Their trunks are thick, their branches spread out, and their crowns open wide, like umbrellas with their handles pointing downwards into this wilderness.

Between those giant trees, the land was covered with large swaths of low shrubs. These tenacious shrubs sprouted from the cracks in the rocks, revealing small, hard, gray-black leaves that gleamed like cast iron.

The shrubs were surrounded by piles of dead leaves; there was no turf, no moss, only patches of hardened earth.

In some places, there is no vegetation at all; rocks rise from the ground like the spine of a giant beast, winding their way into the distance.

Further away, where the sky meets the earth, lies a blurred horizon.

There were almost no trees there, only endless stretches of hard earth, which rippled in waves of dark yellow in the wind.

The pristine, open, and boundless landscape presented visitors from another land with an extremely stunning visual experience.

Milos shook his head vigorously, and clear, well-organized instructions came through the earpiece.

"Attention all units, deploy into defensive formation! Maintain the perimeter and do not advance without permission."

"Pull the steel cables to facilitate the main force's landing!"

A dozen minutes later, the cable connecting the cliff top to the bottom was completed, and rows of soldiers hooked themselves onto the cable hooks and were hoisted up directly from the sea.

Every few hundred meters, a heavy-duty hoisting platform is deployed to transport the weapon system from bottom to top.

The expeditionary force of the vast sea, like a cold, gleaming torrent of steel, resolutely spread from below the cliff towards this vast and mysterious land.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Over the next few days, the expeditionary force did one thing.

Establish a defensive line.

At the moment of breaking through the wall, Macaga may have been a bit reckless, but after successfully setting foot on the land of the Misty Continent, stability became his top priority.

Relying on this high cliff, the expeditionary force began to build it into a fortified stronghold.

Starting with Commander Macaga, the entire expeditionary force threw themselves into a vigorous construction project.

This desolate Gobi Desert, which had been barren for countless millennia, was soon completely transformed.

The core defensive position of the expeditionary force was set up in this high cliff area near the sea. On the seaward side of the cliff, there were rows of hybrid electric engines connected to thick steel cables, hundreds of which were neatly arranged and stretched diagonally from the top of the cliff to the sea. Each cable had a towed simple cable car attached to it.

This allows supplies to be continuously transported up the cliff via sea routes, strengthening the defenses of the fortress area;

Retreat could involve tens of thousands of troops sliding down cableways to the ship area at sea, or, if necessary, withdrawing entirely.

With a stable logistical supply route in place, the construction of the front-line defenses is progressing at breakneck speed.

Extending two kilometers inland from the edge of the cliff, Han Hai's engineering forces are transforming this area into a veritable military fortress at an astonishing speed.

The summer breeze swept across the New World, and the roar of excavators, bulldozers, and concrete mixers never stopped.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Makaga personally went to the construction site.

It had thrown off its shirt, leaving only a cotton robe draped over its lower body. Its muscles bulged out in chunks, gleaming bronze in the sunlight.

His shaved mane flew wildly in the high-altitude air currents, and his arms swung the shovel up and down with incredible agility.

With the Commander-in-Chief personally taking charge, the high-ranking officers of the field army around him certainly couldn't be idle either. They were all sweating profusely, doing the work of engineers while also holding military deployment meetings.

Ma Baoguo walked by, carrying an I-beam, veins bulging on his forehead, a cigarette dangling from his mouth, as he continued to report enthusiastically:
"Reporting to the Commander, the pouring of concrete fortifications in Area A is 75% complete, and it is expected to be fully completed before midnight tonight!"

"The B-sector ammunition depot has been covered with soil, and the internal conveyor belt is being installed."

"Twelve twin-mounted 20mm anti-aircraft guns have been put in place at the central air defense position, and the surrounding firing range has been cleared."

The reports from the engineering corps are always so dry and unemphasized.

However, the results are quite remarkable.

The first thing to be completed was the permanent firing positions that were spread throughout the entire cliff top area.

The originally uneven ground was transformed into smooth, stepped platforms after being blasted. The difference in elevation between each two platforms was about five meters. The defensive fortifications on the platforms were arranged in a zigzag pattern, which ensured unobstructed firing lines and avoided blind spots in one direction.

Because the total amount of quick-drying concrete they carried was limited, the expeditionary force constructed steel-framed concrete rock bunkers with a thickness of about 80 centimeters by cutting a large number of rocks off the cliff edge.

Considering that the enemies currently encountered are mainly Wind Serpents, the Vast Ocean Expeditionary Force has focused a lot of its efforts on air defense.

A semi-open anti-aircraft position was set up at the top of the fortification. The dual-purpose machine guns from the landing craft were brought over and set up here, creating an anti-aircraft position with a firepower density that could be described as insane.

Below the air defense positions was a double-layered roof constructed of large rocks, I-beams, and concrete slabs, with a 15-centimeter gap between the two layers filled with coarse sand and gravel sourced locally from the seaside.

The technical name for this thing is "composite compartmentalized protective structure". It was not invented by Dongxia, but was a design finalized after a bunch of crazy guys in the Hanhai Field Army conducted countless live-fire tests. Its main purpose was to be ready to fight the enemy at any time.

If the positions on the top of the fortifications cannot hold and must be abandoned, the air defense soldiers can immediately retreat into the fortress through the gate at the back of the fortifications and detonate the ammunition on the top-level air defense positions when the enemy approaches.

Actual tests have shown that even if a massive secondary explosion occurs at the top of the air defense position, after the first layer of the roof is breached, the fluid in the sand and gravel layer can absorb most of the kinetic energy of the shock wave and fragments, and the second layer of the roof can still provide good protection.

The enclosed defensive fortifications beneath the second-level roof have firing ports that are wider on the inside and narrower on the outside. They are equipped with a 12.7mm heavy machine gun and an anti-materiel sniper rifle. Inside, a platoon of soldiers, including the main gunner, rotating gunners, ammunition feeders, and infantry, is stationed.

With these fortifications in place, a dense network of trenches stretched out in front of them.

This is a "three-dimensional communication trench" developed by Han Hai based on years of combat experience. The main trench is 2.2 meters deep and 2.5 meters wide at the bottom, which is enough for fully armed centaur warriors to pass through quickly.

The trench walls were reinforced with rock slabs and steel frames, and were intermittently equipped with covered logistical support points, which included simple medical kits, ammunition racks, and communication interfaces.

The fortifications and trenches formed a grid-like defensive position.

Within each 200-meter by 200-meter grid, there is at least one core fortification support, one logistics support outpost, two auxiliary fire points, and six reserve firing positions.

Light and heavy machine guns, automatic rifles, grenade launchers, large-caliber mortars, anti-tank rocket launchers, recoilless rifles, and 120mm howitzers were arranged in a staggered manner within the position.

The weapons were polished to a gleaming shine, the ammunition boxes were neatly stacked, and the cannons were pointed at their respective sectors of responsibility, ready to fire at any moment.

In the center of these heavily fortified trenches and bunkers, there were two clustered fire positions. The soldiers of the field army carried six honeycomb rocket launcher vehicles up by hand and on their shoulders, making them the core of the defensive positions.

If needed in wartime, these massive, dark machines can unleash hundreds of rockets in any direction within thirty seconds.

Besides defensive fortifications, the most important factor is personnel.

Because the first engagement was small in scale, the expeditionary force won a decisive 6-0 victory with no casualties, allowing them to enter the position fully equipped.

The force of 8,000 men was divided into three combat echelons and two reserve echelons, taking turns on duty and resting. Macaga also issued a strict order requiring frontline commanders to ensure they got enough sleep.

In this uncertain and dangerous unfamiliar territory, a dazed and confused commander is more dangerous than an army without a commander.

Fortunately, the centaur officers inherited some characteristics of their beast form, allowing them to enter a light sleep state while standing. Whenever they get tired from working, they can simply stand in a corner of the trench and take a short rest.

When Milos first saw this scene, he was completely stunned.

A centaur officer stood with his four legs slightly apart, his heavy weapon leaning against the trench wall. His eyes were closed, and he was already snoring, but his body remained motionless on the ground, as if rooted to the spot.

"This fucking works?" Milos couldn't help but mutter.

The centaur veteran beside him grinned: "Talent can't be learned."

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

Macaja felt reassured by their defensive posture.

However, the external investigations were shrouded in mystery.

In order to broaden the field of vision and clear the shooting range, the Han Hai Expeditionary Force planned to cut down several groves of trees near the cliff. Before that, the accompanying technical department conducted a careful survey and discovered some rather strange phenomena.

According to on-site exploration, these extremely thick, leathery broad-leaved trees, temporarily named "Coastal Giant Hibiscus," are actually single trees forming a forest.

In other words, a forest covering an area of ​​approximately 0.6 to 0.8 square kilometers actually consists of only one tree. All the tree trunks on the ground, which are tens of meters tall, are branches extending from the same underground root system.

No wonder the trees are spaced so far apart; it's clear that this guy arranged them himself, probably to avoid crowding each other and fighting for resources.

That's fine, the expeditionary force was equipped with botanists who had received professional training from Dongxia. Although they couldn't find the family and genus of this plant in the database they carried, similar plants existed on Blue Star and the main continent of Prosperous Star. It wasn't surprising that this new continent had another new species.

However, the problem is that, apart from plants, no trace of any other animals was seen throughout the entire forest area.

The field army's search team carefully turned the woods upside down, but they couldn't find a single bird or beast, or even an insect.

Apart from the occasional breeze blowing through the woods, the place was deathly silent, like a vast graveyard.

That's a bit like a ghost story.

Whether in Dongxia or Hanhai, the ecosystems are interdependent, which is a consensus in the biological community.

Under normal circumstances, trees rely on birds, arboreal mammals, or insects for pollination. Even those banyan or fir trees that form a forest on their own, which can reproduce asexually through their root systems, still need to achieve a certain number of sexual reproductions; otherwise, it is very easy to cause a decrease in genetic diversity and population degradation.

As for wind pollination, it might work barely on plants with small flowers and large pollen, but in this leathery broad-leaved forest area, the possibility is almost zero.

Furthermore, according to biological theories, a complete ecosystem needs to include producers, primary consumers, secondary and apex consumers, and decomposers. They are in a cyclical demand relationship, jointly transferring energy from the lower to the higher levels, thus forming a stable cycle in the ecosystem.

In this process, plants typically play the role of producers.

Plants may not need consumers, such as animals that eat fruit or gnaw on leaves, but decomposers such as insects, earthworms, and soil arthropods are essential for plants. Plants need these creatures to work with microorganisms to break down and decompose decaying leaves and branches, converting organic matter into inorganic matter and reintegrating it into the soil; otherwise, the soil will quickly become barren.

And this was indeed the case on site. Large amounts of leaves were piled up on the ground, mixed with the soil, with almost no signs of decomposition, showing typical characteristics of peatification.

The lower ground surface has shown obvious signs of becoming gravelly due to the large amount of nutrients being absorbed, and in some places, cracks and crusts have even appeared.

Has no animal ever ever lived here?
Obviously not!

The expert team found bird beaks, feathers, hoof shells, and insect exoskeletons in the thick, non-decomposing humus, all evidence indicating that a very rich ecosystem once existed here.

How did you die?

Why did they all die so cleanly?

It's one thing for the flesh to rot, but where are the animal's bones?
Also, what's the story behind the many remnants of humanoid creatures here?

Field himself squatted at the excavation site, holding a small pair of tweezers, carefully peeling away a layer of humus, pulling out several white objects from the sand, and arranging them neatly according to their corresponding positions.

Field is a half-elf biologist and the technical lead for this research team. He is of druid origin and has a strong sense of nature but limited psionic abilities. He is an unusual case of "all talk and no action." He can understand and explain many life-based spells, but he just can't do them well.

Then, Han Hai opened up a completely different path for him.

Optical microscopes, laser confocal microscopes, high-content imaging systems, quantitative PCR instruments, ultra-micro spectrophotometers, incubators, biosafety cabinets, flow cytometers, protein electrophoresis apparatus, automated pipettes, refrigerated centrifuges…

Although Field still only has a vague understanding of most of the equipment and has to operate it stiffly by following the operation videos, this does not prevent him from becoming a key technical expert in the field of HanHai Biology.

Under his command, the reconnaissance team carefully removed numerous suspected human tissues from the soil using small shovels, brushes, curved pliers, and long clamps, and arranged them in an open area in the center of the site.

Hair on the head, body hair, and a lot of nails...

These items were roughly placed on a white plastic sheet, roughly shaped like an "invisible person".

Upon hearing the news, Makaga personally came to the excavation site.

"Reporting to the commander, judging from the position and shape, this should be a complete set. I personally think that the odd number is not right. It is possible that one or more fingernails are missing."

"The humanoid creatures here may have five fingers like us, or they may have four fingers and four toes. Based on the samples collected so far, our team tends to favor a four-plus-four finger structure."

"In any case, the existence of humanoid beings should be certain."

Makaja stared at the "person" for a long time. He remembered the glimpse of the tattered humanoid creature being held in the mouth of a wind serpent in a photo sent back by the Nine Springs troops when he stopped at the Q07 forward base before entering the Misty Continent.

"If there were people, why is there no body, not even bones?"

This is the part that Macaka feels most uncomfortable about.

Without bones, wouldn't the necromancers of the [Nine Springs Army] be completely useless?

Field picked up his laptop and, combining the clues from the database he had consulted earlier, attempted to provide a solution.

"According to the information provided by [Mirage], bones are composed of inorganic mineral calcium hydroxyphosphate and organic matrix collagen, while hair and nails are composed of keratin, and insect exoskeletons are composed of chitin and quinone tannins..."

Makaga frowned and interrupted him: "Don't use those words on me, say something I can understand!"

"Yes, Commander. We suspect that there is some kind of organism or microorganism here that can devour or decompose flesh and bones, but does not eat hair, nails, or the like, so these organisms remain."

"You mean, something has devoured all the living things here?"

Could it be a wind serpent?

Field adjusted his glasses: "Reporting to the commander, I don't think so."

Using tweezers, Field carefully picked up a piece of insect carapace and showed it to the officers of the field army. "The wind serpent is over ten meters long. Under normal circumstances, it is unlikely that it would even turn over and eat such a small insect."

"Another noteworthy phenomenon is that during our search of the region, we found that most of the remaining structures showed a clear distribution of limb positional relationships."

What Field meant here was that when these remaining items were discovered, they could vaguely make out human shapes, with hair on the head, toenails on the feet, and even the local correspondence of the toenails in a considerable number of cases was still clearly discernible.

"If it was swallowed by the wind serpent, then whether these indigestible parts were vomited out or excreted, these hairs and nails should have gathered together."

"Therefore, our technical team believes that this is unlikely to be caused by the wind serpent feeding. It's more likely that the corpse was placed here and then its flesh, internal organs, and bones were digested, leaving only these indigestible things."

"And this method of decomposition and consumption..."

Field looked up at the towering tree before him, swallowed hard, and said hesitantly, "It's more like it was drained by plants or fungi."

Macaka followed his gaze.

The giant tree's canopy remained unmoved, casting dappled shadows from the sun.

"You mean there's something wrong with these trees?"

"This is one of the suggested answers provided by [Mirage], and I think it's very likely!"

Macaka was silent for a few seconds, then squeezed out two words through gritted teeth: "Let's give it a try!"

The testing team responded quickly.

It can be basically confirmed that it is from these tree trunks.

As captured by the camera, after nightfall, under the cover of darkness, the meat and bones placed under the tree were enveloped by roots that sprouted from the ground.

The roots are extremely fine, but numerous. As they silently emerge from the soil, they spread like a spider web, slowly covering the surface of the flesh and skeleton.

These roots climb slowly, but they devour quickly.

The bait placed under the tree visibly shrank and gradually disappeared.

The soldier from the "Nine Springs Unit," who had provided two ribs, couldn't help but let out an uneasy clanging of his teeth.

By midnight, the roots had silently dispersed, leaving only a few fingernails and a small tuft of hair.

Makaja immediately dialed the contact number with Hanhai headquarters.

After listening to the report, Chen Mo pondered for a while before giving a clear response.

"Don't think about research for now; prioritize the safety of the troops and the integrity of the defense line."

"Chop down what needs to be cut down and burn what needs to be burned. Once we've established a foothold, we'll have plenty of opportunities to study this later!"

"Yes!"

Macaja put down the phone and looked at the distant forest. The giant trees stood silently in the night, but at this moment, in the eyes of the centaur commander, they had become ferocious, greedy, and extremely patient hunters.

Of course, it turned out that Macaga overestimated "them," or rather, "it."

This guy has no ability to resist.

The unmanned engineering vehicle entered the forest area, its rolling saw teeth cutting through the dry bark and scattering the white wood inside. It didn't utter a sound or move an inch.

One after another, giant trees large enough for two people to hug fell down, all while the wind and rain remained calm.

The subsequent digging and root excavation proceeded without any significant disturbance. The thin, long tendrils that had devoured flesh and bone seemed to have never existed. However, upon closer inspection of the excavated roots, one could see numerous tiny, dot-like protrusions in certain locations, which felt soft and elastic to the touch.

After emergency construction in the latter half of the night, the entire forest area was uprooted. The engineering corps' machinery drilled as deep as nine meters underground, completely excavating the main root of this [Seaside Giant Hibiscus].

The lack of resistance only intensified Macaga's unease.

What does it mean if a carnivore is not capable of hunting on its own?
This means it is highly likely that it will need to form a symbiotic relationship with other predators and have something to feed it.

Could it be a wind serpent?
The humanoid natives of this continent seem to be living...not a very ideal life?

Macaka looked up, and before him lay the long, dark night.

The mists of the Misty Continent still shroud the vast sea.

In the distant horizon, the white sky is rising, and a new day is about to begin.

(End of this chapter)