Chapter 144: Special Logistics Unit - 1

The Transcendent warriors descended to the next level of the rat-run, their hands brushing against the rock walls to cushion the impact of their fall. By doing so, they accelerated their descent, bypassing the spiraling rat-run to provide urgent support to the Transcendent units holding the line below.

Seeing the reinforcements rushing down, the members of the Seventh Squad had no intention of getting in the way. They quickly moved aside to clear the path, planning to depart via the spiraling rat-run once the main force had passed.

"Huh?"

Before the swarm of Transcendent warriors had fully passed, the Seventh Squad saw the four core members of the Firebird Squad sprinting down. Old Lei, who led the group, skidded to a sudden halt, looking at them in astonishment. "What are you all doing here?"

Caught off guard and lacking time for explanations, Luo Fei briefly gestured toward the cave behind them. "This tunnel just happens to lead to the D24 sector we were assigned to..."

Old Lei frowned. He took a quick look at the group, whose energy signatures were still leaking, but he didn't say much else. Seeing that they hadn't suffered any casualties, he nodded and said, "It’s too dangerous here. You lot, get back to the surface!"

With that, he abandoned the Seventh Squad and continued downward with his three core members.

The group exchanged glances and shrugged. Sticking close to the rock wall to avoid the high-level Transcendent warriors rushing past, they slowly began their ascent. They lost count of how many loops they traversed; feeling nauseated, they finally reached the exit where the sinkhole shaft connected to the outside world.

The massive breach that had been carved into the mountain was already sealed off by a new barrier. Large numbers of logistics personnel were busy clearing away the mountains of rat carcasses. When they saw this squad—clearly comprised of trainee warriors—emerging from the depths of the core zone, the cleanup crew stared in disbelief.

Finally safe, the group couldn't help but exhale in relief. Before leaving through the exit opened by a particle disruptor, Bai Yuxi took one last look downward. He saw that the large group of high-level Transcendent warriors had already reached the very bottom. He had hoped to see what exactly had destroyed the previous barrier, but the air was now filled with the flashing, layered light of supernatural energy. The sinkhole had been sealed off by countless new layers of barrier energy, completely blocking it from view.

Unable to see the outcome, a disappointed Bai Yuxi followed his companions out of the sinkhole. It was understandable why the Transcendent Management Department was so nervous and willing to invest such vast resources into sealing the core area with expensive, high-level barriers. After all, a large-scale anomaly point still existed at the bottom of the sinkhole.

From what they had heard, this anomaly point was different from those that had appeared in the past. Not only was it massive in scale, but its dimensional spatial field structure was also remarkably stable. This meant the Hualanshan anomaly point would remain active for a very long time.

A "manifest dimensional coincidence point"—or "coincidence point" for short—was an energy-anomalous region created where a dimensional space overlapped with Earth's space. Built upon that, a "multi-dimensional spatial rift," or "anomaly point," acted as a gateway connecting the two realms. While anomaly points composed of spatial field fragments were not easily traversed, the existence of a "rift" meant that something would inevitably come through.

It wasn't just about communication with another dimension; human civilization hadn't even managed to step beyond its own home planet yet, let alone prepare for contact with other civilizations—especially when the dimensional civilization on the other side didn't seem particularly friendly. The unique supernatural energies and source materials inherent to creatures from different dimensions placed both civilizations in a state of being "natural enemies" from the very start.

Without resolving this hostility, rooted in the "Dark Forest" law of predation, there was no possibility of the two sides sitting down for friendly negotiations. The only consolation was that the civilization on the other side of the rift was not like the "alien invasions" humanity had fantasized about for centuries. Their level of civilization appeared to be at a very primitive stage. This allowed human civilization, while caught off guard by the sudden contact, to at least have some recourse.

However, those were problems for the big shots to worry about; they had nothing to do with low-level grunts like Bai Yuxi and his team.

After exiting the core zone, the Seventh Squad realized that the defensive positions previously set up around the mountain peak had been completely destroyed. The entire core area of Hualanshan was in a state of utter ruin. Aside from the piles of rat carcasses and bloodstains, no one knew how many of the garrisoned Transcendent squads had been killed or wounded when the barriers collapsed.

Consequently, after Bai Yuxi and his team emerged, no one paid them any mind. The worst part was that the entire core area was sealed within a massive barrier, and without the proper access codes for the barrier gates, they couldn't leave. Seeing the chaotic, busy scene, Bai Yuxi and his team decided to find a spot to rest and try to gather information about what had happened.

Since nobody was bothering them, Willy and Jitui sneakily raided the logistics supply area, making off with several supply crates during the chaos. After forcing them open, the group—exhausted and drained from the long battle—divvied up the water and field rations like starving wild dogs.

Although Bai Yuxi had infinite stamina provided by his "Super Evolution," the toll on his physical body had been staggering. The supplies they had brought in before entering the mountain were long gone. Finding "free" goods, he didn't hold back, guzzling high-grade "Super-Vitality" potions—a rarity—and stuffing his face with high-energy nutrition bars meant for treating injuries and replenishing carbon-based tissue loss.

Usually, these were life-saving items and essential field medical supplies. They were expensive, and worse, unavailable to the general public. But Bai Yuxi treated them like soda and cookies, thinking, "might as well eat them while I can."

Though the Seventh Squad huddled in a corner to minimize their presence, the only people left in the core area were the logistics troops and the Transcendent squads that had been hastily mobilized from the rear to replace the LDH Transcendent warriors who had pushed into the mountain's depths.