The Tu family had five of their own guards patrolling the lumberyard with rifles as usual.
Logically speaking, an ordinary lumberyard didn’t need so many people on constant patrol, especially armed. But this lumberyard was clearly not ordinary.
The lumberyard was just a cover. What lay buried deep underground was what the Tu family truly valued.
The ruins of the Hundred Elders from centuries ago—the technology and knowledge within were invaluable. Of course, even with the Tu family’s audacity, they wouldn’t dare act on their own. They only moved after reporting to the central authorities.
The Tu family had arranged guards like these as a line of defense to prevent organizations like The Order from getting close.
From a distance, the Tu family guards heard the rustling of trees being bumped. The leader looked toward the source of the sound and saw two people sprinting frantically through the lumberyard.
Though they didn’t know what was happening, the Tu family guards immediately raised their guns at the running pair and ordered them to stop.
Suddenly, the ground shook. The Tu family guards saw a giant tree about five meters tall charging straight toward them.
“W-What the hell is that thing?!”
Their legs trembled. The Tu family guards could barely even run.
He was just an ordinary person, promoted into the guard team to coast along only because his father had been a driver for the Tu family for ten years and shared the same surname.
Suddenly facing a bizarre monster five meters tall with a human face—he was scared out of his wits!
A masked man ran past him, grabbed the Tu family guard’s arm, and dragged him forward.
It was Zhou Ming!
Originally, Zhou Ming had thought that on the Tu family’s turf, there would be some powerful people guarding it. But it was just a few ordinary people with guns.
Then again, ability users might still be present.
No, this wasn’t the time to think about that!
“Don’t you have any dust-resistance-level ability users protecting this place?!”
Though he didn’t expect much, Zhou Ming still asked the Tu family guard.
“T-To the stone side! There are ability users protecting that area!”
Hearing the Tu family guard’s words, Zhou Ming turned his head and shouted at An Kang and the five Tu family guards, who were also running for their lives.
“Run to the stone side! Find reinforcements!”
“Which way is the stone side?! I didn’t even finish elementary school, I don’t know!”
An Kang’s voice was hoarse from the long sprint. His forehead was soaked with sweat, and he felt terrible. He wanted to stop but didn’t dare. If he let up even a little, he felt like he’d collapse.
“Follow me!”
Behind them, trees in the pine forest rustled as the monster crashed into them. Occasionally, a few tentacles like pine sap whipped toward Zhou Ming and the others, trying to stop their escape.
“How much longer do we have to run?!”
Though his stamina was still okay, seeing the others gasping for breath and looking like they were about to give out, Zhou Ming couldn’t help asking the Tu family guard.
An Kang felt like he was about to die. Hearing that, he nearly broke down and immediately shouted.
“How much longer?! I’m about to drop dead!”
“Stop right there!”
Hearing the rebuke from ahead, the Tu family guard felt like he’d heard heavenly music. Ignoring the discomfort of the metallic taste of blood in his lungs, he quickly shouted.
“We’re Tu family guards! Behind us—behind us there’s a monster! Tall and huge, really terrifying!”
The dozen or so guards holding cold weapons exchanged glances, half believing and half doubting. They were about to restrain Zhou Ming and the others.
Suddenly, they spotted a tall, tree-shaped monster with a human face in the distance. They immediately tightened their grips on their weapons, palms slick with sweat.
“Go!”
Though fear gripped his heart, the guard leader thought of the consequences of fleeing now and being dealt with by the Tu family. His hand clenched the weapon, and he made a split-second decision, barking at the surrounding guards.
As soon as he spoke, he burst forth with all his strength and charged ahead first.
Dragging the gasping guards and An Kang, Zhou Ming glanced at a guard who tried to attack the monster but was sent flying with a single slap. He quickened his pace.
Faster!
After just a few steps, Zhou Ming ran into a large group of uniformed guards holding guns, who blocked him.
“Explain yourself. Who sent you? And what’s your goal?”
Clearly, Zhou Ming and the others were being treated as suspicious infiltrators trying to gather intelligence in the lumberyard.
“No… I’m a Tu family guard! Behind us… behind us there’s a really terrifying monster! Your people are holding it off and told us to bring reinforcements!”
The Tu family guard leaned on his knees, head down, gasping for breath, while explaining to the guards surrounding them.
Looking into the distance and hearing the crashes from behind, the guards surrounding Zhou Ming quickly made a decision.
“You few, watch them. The rest of you, come with me to reinforce!”
Seeing dozens of guards going to help, Zhou Ming still felt worried.
After all, he had faced a dust-resistance-level monster before. He knew that a dust-resistance-level monster couldn’t be handled by dozens of ordinary people or micro-dust-level ability users. So he warned them.
“That monster is at least dust-resistance level. You need at least three dust-suppression-level ability users to deal with it!”
Three dust-suppression-level ability users might not even be enough.
Zhou Ming swallowed that thought and didn’t say it.
“You, go call for backup!”
The leader patted a guard on the shoulder and said.
That guard nodded and ran off to get help.
“Take off your mask. Tell us what you know.”
“We didn’t attack you or do anything. We just happened to be fast runners. Otherwise, we’d have been crushed by it already! To survive, we had no choice but to flee into the lumberyard.”
Zhou Ming took off the mask that covered the upper half of his face, caught his breath, and then said to the guard leader.
“That monster is five meters tall. We met it during a combined air-clearing mission. I don’t know what abilities it has, but one thing’s for sure—”
Zhou Ming pointed at An Kang, who quickly nodded in agreement.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah! That thing can disguise itself as a tree, tried to ambush us. To stay alive, we had to run into the lumberyard. We had no choice!”
The guard leader snorted coldly and went off with his men to reinforce.
“Close call.”
An Kang pointed at the mask Zhou Ming had removed.
“They all saw it.”
Zhou Ming knew perfectly well that wearing a mask covering the upper half of his face looked strange.
He wasn’t some superhero in a skintight suit who needed to show off distinguishing features.
But masks that covered the lower half or the whole face weren’t suitable for intense exercise. He’d had to settle for this kind.
If he’d known this would happen, he wouldn’t have worn a mask at all.
“Bro, thanks for earlier.”
The Tu family guard expressed his gratitude to Zhou Ming for pulling him along earlier.
“No need. If you think about it, this is really our fault.”
“A monster in the lumberyard means someone really has colluded with an evil organization like The Order!”
As soon as Zhou Ming finished speaking, An Kang quickly interjected.
“That has nothing to do with us! That monster is just too ridiculous! It was full of fighting spirit, chasing us all the way into the lumberyard!”
As he spoke, An Kang secretly elbowed Zhou Ming, signaling him not to say more.
Zhou Ming and the others were chatting when they suddenly saw five people dressed casually walk past them, heading toward the monster’s direction.
Reinforcements had arrived.
Zhou Ming finally felt relieved. At least now there was some security.
Boom!
A huge sound came from behind. Zhou Ming’s heart jumped, and he turned to look.
In the distance, pine trees were blasted into the air like they’d been hit by artillery fire, scattering in all directions, revealing a reinforced concrete structure underground.