I chose the safe house, and the Human Alliance regretted it.

Outside Jiangnan City, Li An stood alone, guarding the city and blocking the swarming beasts.

Ice crystals danced in the air, covering the entire wilderness.

Zhao Lie and the others wanted to help, but they couldn't get involved at all.

At first, they released their supernatural attacks from a distance on the city wall, but those attacks were nothing compared to the overwhelming beast tide.

After that, everyone stopped.

On the city wall, tens of thousands of eyes were fixed on that petite figure.

She didn't say a word or communicate with anyone.

Just standing there, like a tree that has been there since ancient times, its roots reaching into the void, its branches covering the entire city.

Time passed slowly. Morning, noon, dusk—

One day passed.

Outside the city of Jiangnan, corpses piled up like mountains and blood flowed like a sea.

Looking around, the corpses of the strange beasts were piled up higher than the city walls, and the black blood had formed a swamp, with the blood level slowly rising along the city walls.

The air was filled with a strong, fishy stench that even the wind couldn't dispel.

Night fell again.

Zhao Lie stared intently at the beast tide, his pupils suddenly contracting sharply.

"Something's wrong with the beast tide!" His voice boomed across the city wall.

The group of superpowered individuals immediately tensed up, their various superpowered lights flickering on and off.

"What did you find?" Liu Zhiqiang couldn't help but ask.

"They're all A-grade alien beasts!" Zhao Lie replied in a deep voice.

Liu Zhiqiang stared wide-eyed out of the city.

Sure enough, deep within the beast tide, those figures wreathed in lightning and covered in frost were retreating.

The high-level beasts seemed to have received orders and surged towards the Kashgar Mountains without looking back, leaving behind only a vast horde of low-level cannon fodder.

"Li An, you rest, we'll take over!" Liu Zhiqiang shouted.

These people are enough to deal with a beast tide consisting entirely of A-level alien beasts.

In mid-air, Li An did not respond.

But her petite body slowly descended.

"superior!"

Without time for pleasantries, Zhao Lie gave a low shout and charged forward first.

Liu Zhiqiang and others followed closely behind.

The light of various supernatural abilities exploded in the night sky, like a belated fireworks display.

Li An stood on the city wall, looking down at the black sea of ​​blood below.

A hint of seriousness flashed in his gray pupils.

She sensed that something was changing.

At the same time, the beast tides besieging the other five major bases of the Dragon Kingdom and the four remaining bases outside the country also underwent the same changes.

The high-level beasts retreated like a tide, leaving only the low-level beasts to die in vain.

Although the reason was unclear, everyone secretly breathed a sigh of relief.

The size of the beast tide remains the same, but the pressure has been greatly reduced.

Night falls over the core area of ​​the Kashgar Mountains.

The golden-eyed beast's pupils gleamed with an eerie light in the darkness.

Beneath it, the earth is changing.

The rocks began to crumble, cracking inch by inch, as if some force had hollowed out their vitality from within.

The original grayish-brown rocks turned into a deep black.

Blackness spreads outwards from its feet.

Like a drop of ink falling into water, silent and unstoppable.

In almost a few breaths, the heart of the Kashgar Mountains was transformed into a desolate black wasteland.

This change is strikingly similar to the black wasteland of the Seventh Purgatory.

The black area radiates outwards from the Kashgar Mountains.

The dilapidated villages, towns, and fields closest to the outer edge of the Kashgar Mountains were all swallowed up.

Those places that were once inhabited are now just empty, scorched black earth.

However, under the cover of night, no one noticed this change.

The following morning, in the capital city, at the Alliance Hall.

On the circular electronic screen, satellite images switched frame by frame.

Old Liu and other high-ranking members of the alliance stared intently at the screen, their faces ashen.

The global surface is largely covered by a desolate black expanse.

Blackness spread like a plague around the lair of the four great calamities.

Satellite estimates suggest that this barren land already covers two-thirds of the Earth's surface and is slowly expanding.

"It's gotten like this overnight." The military officer spoke in a deep voice, his tone filled with barely suppressed shock. "However, the rate of erosion has now slowed down."

Old Liu did not turn around.

His gaze was fixed on the black areas on the screen.

Those places were once mountains, towns, and fertile fields.

Now, there's nothing left.

Only black, endless black.

"What about the soil samples we brought back?" he asked.

"Here it is." A researcher stepped forward carrying a tray.

On the tray were several small piles of black powder, like charred ashes.

Old Liu reached out and pinched a small amount, feeling a fine, granular texture on his fingertips—no moisture, no nutrients, no trace of life.

"Like scorched earth after a fire," the researcher said in a low voice. "No, more thoroughly than scorched earth. At least scorched earth can grow weeds, but this stuff... nothing can grow at all."

"Have you found the cause?" Old Liu asked.

"Currently, it's believed that this change is related to the golden-eyed beast," a military representative added.

"Or...it might be related to the blood of the alien beasts. The bodies of the alien beasts that died on the battlefield are still there, but their blood doesn't sink along the ground; instead, it mysteriously disappears."

"We suspect that some substance in the blood seeped into the soil and altered its structure."

Old Liu fell silent.

"The only good news is that the oceans, lakes, and rivers haven't changed yet," the military official added. "And we have enough food reserves, so there's no need to worry in the short term."

"In a short time," Old Liu repeated the three words.

"No matter what, we cannot allow the disaster to continue to erode us," the gray-robed old man sitting in the corner said in a deep voice.

The atmosphere in the hall was unusually heavy.

The extent of this geological erosion is greater than any other since the catastrophe.

Because the beast tide kills people, while it kills the land.

Even when someone dies, others will follow.

When the land dies, there is nothing left.

Old Liu took a deep breath and slowly stood up.

His gaze shifted from the screen to everyone present.

"We need to take the initiative."

He paused for a moment, then uttered four words: "Slay the Beast King."