High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

Tianhai City, South District.

An unassuming commercial building with three underground floors.

This place was originally part of the city's underground pipe network, then it was converted into a warehouse, then it was abandoned, and then it was occupied by a group of "people".

They didn't change the appearance of the place, didn't set up guard posts at the entrance, and didn't install surveillance cameras in the corridors.

From the outside, it looks like an ordinary, semi-abandoned commercial building, no different from the hundreds of similar buildings in the southern district of Tianhai City.

But on the third basement level, in a room tightly encased in a psionic shield, five people were sitting around a rectangular table.

They have one thing in common: an abnormal green sheen deep in their pupils.

These people are all "traitors"; they betrayed their own kind and turned to join the beast race.

The man at the head of the table spoke: "The kill list for human geniuses has been updated."

He looked to be about forty years old, wearing a dark gray suit, his hair was neatly combed, and he wore a pair of gold-rimmed glasses.

If you don't look into his eyes, he's just an ordinary middle-aged white-collar worker in Tianhai City.

He raised his hand and waved it lightly above the table.

The psionic particles in the air coalesced into a semi-transparent screen, which floated in the center of the table.

On the screen was a photograph of a young man in a black combat suit, carrying a sword, standing atop a mountain of corpses, covered in blood.

The photo was taken from a live stream, so the image quality isn't very clear, but the face, the knife, and the golden glint in the eyes are all clearly discernible.

"Song Chen, 18 years old, from Anning City, Nanjiang Province, is a freshman at Tianhai University and has just received the First-Class Combat Hero Medal."

Every time the man utters a word, a new line appears on the screen.

"Just received a message: Health and mana value 305, mental strength 246, both at the third tier."

"Special ability: Lightning type, initially assessed as Rank A, name unknown."

"Combat Skill: It is suspected that he has mastered a low-level martial skill to the master level."

"Practical experience: a lot, no less than what we have here."

"Overall assessment, threat level: S, one of the most promising individuals among the new generation of humans."

A woman sitting on the left side of the table spoke up.

She looked to be in her early thirties, wearing a black trench coat, with long hair draped over her shoulders, and striking features.

"S-rank? He's only a third-tier warrior. We've killed hundreds of third-tier human martial artists, haven't we?"

The man at the head of the group shook his head: "It's different. He's only eighteen years old. This is a third-tier cultivator at eighteen. And didn't you hear the other information I read aloud?"

The room fell silent.

The woman's eyebrows furrowed slightly, and her lips pressed into a thin line.

An elderly man sitting on the right side of the table spoke up.

"In what order?"

The man at the front swiped his hand across the screen.

A list appeared on the screen: the Human Race Genius Kill List, numbered from 001 to 020, with each number followed by a name, a photo, and a brief introduction.

Number 001's name and photo were blacked out, with only a small line of text indicating "Killed".

The names and photos of No. 002, No. 003, and No. 004 are available. They come from other base cities of Great Xia and are among the top geniuses of the younger generation.

The number 005 was originally occupied by someone else's name. Now, that name has been crossed out and replaced with two characters: Song Chen.

"005, this is the ranking given by our intelligence analysts. His threat level among the new generation of humans is second only to the four top geniuses who have been famous for many years, and surpasses the one in front of him, a third-year student at Tianhai University, mid-stage fourth tier, and vice president of the student council."

The old man's eyelid twitched.

"A freshman who ranks higher than a junior?"

The man nodded: "Genius isn't just about age and cultivation."

The woman leaned back in her chair, crossed her arms, and sneered, "How do you plan to eliminate him? He's currently at Tianhai University. Tianhai University has a sixth-level Grandmaster in charge, and at least ten top-tier experts above the fifth level. Do you dare to make a move there?"

The man at the head of the group smiled and said, "There's no need to take action at Tianhai University."

"The scouts just sent back news that Song Chen is really ignorant of his own limitations, actually accepting a real combat mission to go to Tianhai East Fortress to wipe out the remnants of the beast tide."

"Tianhai East Fortress is 80 kilometers away from Tianhai City. It is located in the wilderness. There are no sixth-level Grandmasters there, only a group of low-level martial artists and soldiers."

"Isn't this the opportunity?"

The four people in the room sat up straight at the same time.

The man in the lead stood up and walked to the wall.

A map of Tianhai City and its surrounding area hangs on the wall, with the location of Tianhai East Fortress pinned down by a red thumbtack.

He flicked the thumbtack lightly with his finger, and it fell to the ground with a soft sound.

"Mission code name: Zhan Chen, target: Song Chen, execution time limit: 72 hours, priority: highest."

He turned around and looked at the four people sitting there.

"At all costs, understand?"

"clear!"

……

Tianhai East Fortress.

Song Chen stood on the observation platform at the north gate of the fortress, gazing at the battlefield before him, which was even more devastating than the one south of the Tianhe River, and remained there for a long time.

If Tianhe South Fortress is a scarred veteran, then Tianhai East Fortress is a severely wounded soldier who has just crawled back from the clutches of death.

There were at least seven or eight dents in the main defensive wall caused by the monsters. The largest dent was a crack in the wall, revealing twisted steel bars and concrete fragments inside. A hastily repaired alloy steel plate was stuck on it like a band-aid, covered in rust.

A row of psionic grid pillars had fallen over, and new pillars had not yet been erected; they were simply covered up with barbed wire.

Half of the psionic cannons on the wall were gone, leaving the cannon positions empty, with only charred marks and bases knocked askew by the alien beasts.

A faint stench of decay filled the air, not the smell of corpses, but the smell of burnt insulation material from an overloaded psionic grid, mixed with disinfectant and blood, making one's throat tighten.

When Song Chen walked in from the north gate, he saw that most of the people here were injured. Some were getting bandaged, some were resting, and some were carrying ammunition boxes.

Their eyes were different from those of the defenders south of Tianhe. Although the defenders south of Tianhe were exhausted, there was still a light in their eyes, a light that said, "We held on."

But the people here only have one thing in their eyes: numbness. It's as if they've experienced and lost too much, and no longer know how to feel.

Song Chen walked to the registration area, where a middle-aged military officer with a full beard sat behind a folding table, holding a list in his hand and an unlit cigarette dangling from his mouth.

He looked up at Song Chen, his gaze lingering on his young face for a second, before he lowered his head to continue looking at the list. "The students who accepted the mission?"

"Song Chen, C-level mission: Clear out the remnants of the beast tide."

The middle-aged officer's hand trembled slightly. He looked up, his gaze lingering on Song Chen's face for a much longer time, scrutinizing him from head to toe: the young face, the black combat uniform, and the silver battle sword on his back.

His gaze lingered on the dark gold medal on Song Chen's left breast pocket, and his pupils contracted slightly.

He had wanted the First-Class Combat Hero Medal for a long time, but had never received it.