Discussing The Correct Posture To Enjoy Dog Food

Chapter 152 - Banana Flavored Boss Gong (12)

Hi Guys! I’m back. Although I am still busy with my major project work, I will find time to atleast make weekly updates. So let’s get back to spying on Gou Liang’s life

When Bao Zi successfully awakened his fire-based abilities and joined the training program of the special forces at the Jiuzhou Base, Gou Liang, Shi Buyu, and the others concluded their mission of collecting data and hunting mutated beasts in City C, heading south where the concentration of mutated beasts was even higher.

As the vehicle moved further south, the atmosphere within the team grew increasingly tense.

Crossing the deadly latitude of 30 degrees north, Gou Liang noticed that the energy levels of the mutated beasts were significantly higher. Their speed and strength far surpassed any of the beasts they had encountered before.

In fact, the system had already detected the existence of ability-enhanced mutated beasts. The higher the temperature, the denser the distribution of these ability-enhanced beasts.

However, with humanity still in the dark about these ability-enhanced mutated beasts, Gou Liang couldn’t issue any early warnings.

Now, the team encountered their first ability-enhanced mutated beast—a creature capable of turning the ground into a swamp.

The sonic repellers were ineffective against ability-enhanced beasts. As the modified train ventured into the territory of the swamp beast, the ground suddenly transformed into a swamp, and the train was immediately swallowed!

“Evacuate!”

Despite Shi Buyu’s quick reaction, the vehicle was irreversibly sucked into the mire.

The engine was still running, causing the vehicle to abruptly tilt at a 90-degree angle, sending everyone crashing toward the rear.

Yu Sen and Jiang Ren worked together to grab hold of the team members.

“Watch out! An energy mass is approaching! Beware of the beast!” Gou Liang shouted.

Before anyone could escape the vehicle, a giant earthworm-like beast lurking beneath the swamp opened its mouth and swallowed all seven carriages, along with the people inside.

In the next moment, both the worm beast and the swamp vanished in a powerful explosion!

Gou Liang was tightly held in Shi Buyu’s arms. The deafening explosion left him momentarily disoriented. Shaking his head, he opened his eyes to see a massive crater with a radius of a kilometer, scorched earth, and the seven of them.

“The vehicle…” Gou Liang muttered, spotting the remnants of the train. He couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret for the special ice cream he hadn’t finished eating the day before.

“Shh, we need to get out of here first!” Shi Buyu fastened Gou Liang securely to his chest with a belt, placing the only protective helmet he managed to grab onto Gou Liang’s head. “Hold on tight, don’t be afraid.”

“I’m not afraid,” Gou Liang said urgently. “Earlier, I spotted an unmanned rescue drone at the nine o’clock direction.”

“Got it!”

Without the sonic repellers, they were instantly exposed to the keen senses of the mutated beasts. Excited roars echoed as the beasts closed in on them. Before they could climb out of the deep crater, numerous beast heads appeared above, drooling and snarling at them.

“Holy crap!” Even Zhou Gao, who had seen his fair share of danger, couldn’t help but feel his heart racing.

“Old Qin, provide support! I’ll cover the retreat. Everyone else, move at full speed and stay alert!” Shi Buyu commanded.

“Yes!”

A bolt of lightning shot upward. The beasts, naturally fearful of thunder, scattered, creating an opening for escape.

With the boost from Qin Bei’s wind-based abilities, the team leaped out of the crater at top speed. A continuous stream of lightning cleared a path as they sprinted toward the drone’s location.

After breaking through to the second level of their abilities, their speed and strength had significantly improved, but it still wasn’t enough to outpace the beasts.

The beasts pursued relentlessly, with others on the flanks lunging at them. Zhou Gao and Jiang Ren, guarding the sides, narrowly avoided being bitten several times.

Yu Lin hurled ice blocks behind them, shouting, “It’s melting! Hurry, boss!”

Shi Buyu directed a bolt of lightning at the melting ice, causing the electric current to spread across the water’s surface. The beasts stepping on it were electrocuted, their agonized roars causing others to hesitate and stop in their tracks.

“Well done!”

“Damn it, brother, stop talking nonsense!” Yu Sen grabbed Yu Lin, who had fallen a step behind, and pulled him forward. With the beast horde momentarily slowed, this was no time for idle chatter!

Seeing the effectiveness of their earlier tactic, Yu Lin continued to hurl ice blocks as they ran, repeatedly hindering the beasts’ advance. Just as they thought they might catch a breath, a screech echoed from the sky.

A flying beast swooped down, its sharp claws aimed straight at them. Shi Buyu’s eyes narrowed.

Shi Buyu released one arm from holding Gou Liang, summoning the Sky-Splitting Sword. With one hand, he wielded the sword to strike at the flying beast, while the other hand continued to lash out with whip-like bolts of lightning to clear their path.

“We’ll handle the ones in the sky! Boss, you can’t keep this up! You’ll collapse!” Jiang Ren shouted.

“I can manage! Everyone, pick up the pace!”

Shi Buyu refused Jiang Ren’s plea. Their abilities weren’t yet a match for these beasts. While they could hold them off temporarily, it would significantly slow them down. Thinking this, Shi Buyu unleashed even more of his lightning power. Thick bolts of electricity swept left and right, driving the beasts further back and reducing the pressure on their flanks, allowing the team to move faster.

“Shi Xiaoyu, open your mouth!” Gou Liang shouted.

Seeing Shi Buyu’s face pale, Gou Liang knew his energy reserves were depleting faster than his body could handle. He was pushing himself to the limit.

The earlier thunderous attack to kill the worm beast and destroy the swamp had already drained a significant amount of his energy. Coupled with the strain of their frantic escape, even Shi Buyu couldn’t sustain this for long. The laws of the World were harsh, and under its suppression, both human and beast abilities were strictly limited.

If he didn’t replenish his energy soon, even with Shi Buyu’s immense soul power, the strain would cause severe damage to his body.

Without hesitation, Gou Liang purchased an energy pill from the system and shoved it into Shi Buyu’s mouth.

Shi Buyu swallowed it without question. Feeling his energy reserves surge back to their peak, he was astonished but didn’t waste time asking questions. Thickening the bolts of lightning several times over, he roared, “Full speed ahead!”

After a narrow escape from the pursuing beasts, they finally entered the sonic repeller range of the drone. But they didn’t slow down.

Yu Sen used his wood-based abilities to secure the drone, then helped Shi Buyu and Yu Lin, who had expended the most energy, into the two-seater helicopter. The others clung to the helicopter’s sides using vines.

Yu Lin glanced at Shi Buyu, who was holding Gou Liang in the co-pilot seat. Seeing that Shi Buyu’s complexion had improved slightly, he felt somewhat reassured. He then piloted the helicopter back in the direction they had come from.

The earlier failure of the sonic repellers had made them extra cautious. They remained on high alert, wary of any flying beasts attacking them. Fortunately, no further incidents occurred.

They flew straight out of the deadly zone below the 30-degree north latitude before Shi Buyu finally ordered them to stop.

“How’s the boss?”

“Should we go hunt some beasts now?”

The team anxiously asked.

“I’m fine. Let’s rest here, but stay alert,” Shi Buyu said, unstrapping Gou Liang from his chest. Gou Liang removed the helmet and checked Shi Buyu’s energy levels, letting out a sigh of relief.

Shi Buyu kissed him and set him down before asking, “What was that thing you gave me earlier?”

“A super beast core,” Gou Liang replied, wiping the sweat from Shi Buyu’s face. “Remember how I was extracting energy from beast cores to make those instant energy pills? This was a half-finished product, containing the energy of fifty beast cores. Good thing I had it on hand today.”

With that, he motioned for Yu Lin to step aside and began tinkering with the drone’s communication equipment.

The train’s communication system had been constantly linked to the Jiuzhou Base. If they lost contact, General Yao and the others would likely have already sent troops to assist. But with the situation in the deadly zone still unclear, sending reinforcements would be suicidal. They needed to establish contact as soon as possible.

The others, however, were momentarily stunned by Gou Liang’s casual explanation.

Fifty beast cores?!

Yu Sen and the other four exchanged glances, each seeing a hint of disapproval in the others’ eyes.

This was far too dangerous. Although the energy consumed hadn’t reached the upper limit of their physical tolerance, ingesting too many beast cores at once could lead to a catastrophic explosion, given the body’s limited digestion rate!

There had already been a case like this at the Jiuzhou Base.

The victim was a fairly accomplished ability user who, after consuming five beast cores in quick succession, suddenly exploded without warning, his body torn apart. The incident had terrified the base, leading to the immediate implementation of restrictions on beast core consumption.

Shi Buyu, however, had absolute trust in Gou Liang and didn’t think his actions were reckless.

He knew full well that Gou Liang wouldn’t have done it without absolute confidence. Patting Gou Liang’s head, Shi Buyu changed the subject: “You all stay here. I’ll go hunt a beast and bring it back.”

After their frantic escape, they needed to replenish their energy quickly and restore their physical condition to its peak.

Before leaving, he shot the others a look, silently telling them not to question Gou Liang.

Seeing this, the others didn’t press the matter.

However, Yu Lin, after wrestling with his thoughts for a while, couldn’t help but speak up just before Shi Buyu returned: “Teacher Tang, wasn’t giving the boss that half-finished product… a bit too risky?”

Gou Liang, who was still adjusting the communication frequency, replied, “He doesn’t need a digestion process for beast cores. There’s no risk of explosion. I was actually planning to make a hundred-beast core pill.”

Gou Liang had indeed considered this, but he hadn’t had the chance to complete it yet.

Since he was the one in charge of the beast cores, and the others never interfered with his experiments, they had no way of knowing whether he had a finished product. Now that their stock of beast cores had been reduced to ashes, there was no way to verify whether he was telling the truth.

Hearing this, Yu Lin finally relaxed and gave Gou Liang an apologetic smile. “Teacher Tang, don’t take it the wrong way. I just…”

Gou Liang shook his head, looking at him sincerely. “Thank you for caring about him.”

Yu Lin was taken aback, suddenly realizing that, in the eyes of Shi Buyu and Gou Liang, he was now an outsider.

Ah, children grow up and no longer listen to their parents—wait, no! It’s more like “when it rains, it pours.” The boss now has someone special in his life.

Yu Lin sighed inwardly.

The others weren’t as perceptive as him. Qin Bei, for instance, eagerly asked, “Teacher Tang, can we take the hundred-beast core pill too?”

If they could, their leveling speed would increase dramatically!

Gou Liang glanced at him and said, “Probably not. Even a ten-beast core pill would put you at risk of exploding.”

Qin Bei: “…”

Before Zhou Gao could speak, Gou Liang looked at the others and concluded, “You’re all the same.”

Yu Sen, however, was focused on a different question: “If the captain can absorb so much energy, why hasn’t his ability level shown any significant change?”

Gou Liang explained, “His energy foundation is many times higher than yours. Compared to you, he was already a third-level ability user when I first met him. To level up, he needs an enormous amount of energy.”

Yu Lin asked, “So the boss needs more beast cores?”

“Yes,” Gou Liang nodded.

The group exchanged glances, each coming to a decision.

Qin Bei slapped his thigh in frustration. “Then why were we stockpiling emergency beast cores? We should’ve given them all to the boss! Now they’re all gone up in smoke!”

As they spoke, Shi Buyu returned, carrying a beast on his shoulders. Jiang Ren quickly took over to process the beast meat.

Meanwhile, Gou Liang successfully connected the drone’s communication equipment, which was fixed to the Jiuzhou Base’s rescue communication channel, to the base’s secure communication line.

“Is this Major General Shi?!”

As soon as the connection was established, General Yao’s voice came through urgently. After receiving confirmation, he let out a sigh of relief and immediately asked, “You lost contact twenty-three minutes ago. Did you run into danger? Any casualties?”

“It was a close call, but we’re fine,” Shi Buyu replied.

Shi Buyu recounted their encounter with the swamp beast, and General Yao’s heart grew heavy. “You’re saying there are beasts with abilities now?”

“Yes, General,” Shi Buyu replied, his expression grave. “At least the one we encountered had a special ability—it could turn the ground into a swamp. It lived underground, and not only could our current detectors not pick it up, but it also seemed unaffected by the sonic repellers. We don’t know how many of these beasts exist or what kind of attacks they’re capable of.”

“Also, its energy level is about ten times higher than that of the vertical-pupil beast,” Gou Liang added.

This revelation shocked not only General Yao but even Shi Buyu and the others who had experienced it firsthand.

The vertical-pupil beast was currently the most energy-dense beast they knew of. Although it wasn’t a match for Shi Buyu, it would take at least a hundred first-level ability users to subdue one. If they were to face the swamp beast, they wouldn’t even stand a chance!

And this was just one ability-enhanced beast. If such creatures appeared in large numbers in the north, the Jiuzhou Base would be defenseless.

The thought made everyone’s expressions turn grim.

“We need to assess their situation. Major General Shi, I’ll send ability users to support you—”

“General, sending them now won’t help,” Shi Buyu interrupted. “These beasts are powerful, but their cores contain level-ten energy, which is also an opportunity for us to rapidly enhance our abilities. General, I’ll find a way to gather more information about them. First, I’ll help my team level up, and then we’ll figure out how to provide more beast cores for our comrades at Jiuzhou. No matter what, only by increasing our strength do we stand a chance against these beasts.”

“…Alright.”

After some thought, General Yao agreed with Shi Buyu’s plan. “But your safety comes first. Don’t push yourselves too hard.”

“Understood!” the team responded.

Next, Gou Liang requested that the base send over the computers and other materials he urgently needed.

The last time their vehicle was nearly destroyed by a snake-like beast, he had taken precautions by encrypting and backing up all their data at the Jiuzhou Base. Although the recent losses were severe, at least they hadn’t suffered irreversible data loss.

General Yao naturally agreed to his request but couldn’t help bringing up an old topic: “The death zone is too dangerous, Teacher Tang. Staying there—”

“There’s no place safer for me than by Shi Xiaoyu’s side. I’m not considering returning to the base,” Gou Liang cut him off.

General Yao thought about it and realized he was right. If Shi Buyu couldn’t protect him, then the Jiuzhou Base certainly couldn’t.

He chuckled and approved the request, then added, “Major General Shi, I still haven’t received your marriage report. When did your efficiency drop so low?”

Shi Buyu was momentarily stunned, then laughed. “My oversight, General. When the time comes, you’ll have to officiate our wedding.”

“Of course, of course,” General Yao replied with a hearty laugh, lightening the mood.

Three hours later, the supplies from Jiuzhou Base arrived. After a night of rest, Shi Buyu set out the next day with Gou Liang’s newly upgraded beast detector.

He didn’t take anyone else into the death zone—this trip was primarily for reconnaissance. With the abilities of these beasts still unknown, he could protect himself, but he couldn’t guarantee the safety of others.

Shi Buyu’s mission lasted ten full days.

During this time, Gou Liang completed the hundred-beast core pills.

Upon learning that Shi Buyu’s ability upgrade required a massive amount of beast cores, Yu Sen and the others didn’t dare slack off. They even temporarily halted the reserve supply to Jiuzhou Base, sending only beast meat back.

[Ding, friendly reminder: Target is within 100 meters of you.]

Gou Liang, who had been fully immersed in researching the larvae of locust-like beasts, suddenly snapped back to reality and rushed to open the door.

Shi Buyu was just greeting Zhou Gao, who was on guard duty, when the vehicle door flew open. Gou Liang’s eyes lit up, and he leaped out of the armored vehicle toward Shi Buyu.

“Shi Xiaoyu!”

Shi Buyu, startled, hurried to catch him. Just as he was about to scold him for being reckless, Gou Liang wrapped his arms and legs tightly around him.

He eagerly caressed Shi Buyu’s face, nuzzling his neck, pressing himself tightly against his body before letting out a contented sigh: “Shi Xiaoyu… I missed you.”

Shi Buyu chuckled, soothing him with kisses and stroking his back: “Xiao Keng’er, I’m back.”

“So good.”

Under his kisses, Gou Liang’s restlessness gradually subsided, but he still clung to him, unwilling to let go.

Zhou Gao, standing on top of the armored vehicle, watched as Teacher Tang, who had been quiet and unsmiling these past few days, finally return to normal. He shouted with a laugh: “Boss, you better cure our Teacher Tang of his thirst! These past few nights, even hugging your clothes didn’t help. He hasn’t been sleeping well.”

Shi Buyu had missed Gou Liang too, worrying incessantly the moment they were apart—even though he knew Zhou Gao and the others would protect him with their lives if necessary.

Hearing this, his heart ached with tenderness. He leaned close to Gou Liang’s ear and whispered: “I’ll apply for a day off tomorrow and spend twenty-four hours by your side, okay?”

“Okay!”

Gou Liang’s eyes sparkled with joy, but then he hesitated: “But what if there’s an emergency rescue mission…”

He gave Shi Buyu a resentful look, which immediately brought back the memory of their last interrupted intimate moment—just the thought of it was enough to stir him.

Kissing his lips, Shi Buyu nibbled his ear and said: “Even if the sky falls, I won’t stop this time.”