Beside the Abyssal Rift, a temporary command post.
Lu Jianjun was exchanging information with several high-ranking officers under his command.
Suddenly, a young officer hurried over to report.
"Report, Commander, we've received a message that Lin Wei led his high-end combat power and secretly left."
"That's impossible, I just saw Lin Wei on patrol," the second battalion commander expressed his doubts.
"No." The young officer shook his head, "There is indeed a 'Lin Wei' in the positions, but that one is fake, just a substitute, and according to reliable information, Lin Wei has already been gone for at least two hours."
Lu Jianjun fell into thought.
By today, the defensive line had stabilized. If Lin Wei wanted to leave, he wouldn't stop him. Even he would only stay here for one or two more days before returning to oversee the overall situation in Lindong.
But Lin Wei chose to leave stealthily and even left behind a substitute, as if he were afraid others wouldn't know that he, Lin Wei, was still at the positions.
Instinctively, Lu Jianjun felt there was a problem.
He then asked the young officer again, "Who did Lin Wei take with him?"
"Lin Wei mainly took people from the first Corps. It's not clear who the rest are, but based on the analysis, it's very likely that Lin Wei also took members of the Dark Owl Group with him."
Among Lin Wei's subordinates, there were several Corps. Only the first Corps were Lin Wei's true trusted troops and the Corps with the most masters.
Lu Jianjun didn't want to fall out with Lin Wei, as it was for the stable development of the Lindong Sanctuary. However, he wasn't a fool and had long planted spies among Lin Wei's subordinates.
The highest-ranking of these spies had already become a high officer in the second Corps, only, they couldn't get into the first Corps and ultimately couldn't become one of Lin Wei's trusted.
It was this person who had sent the message this time, but as for the crucial matter of Lin Wei's whereabouts, he still knew nothing.
"And also, the Dark Owl Group..."
Lu Jianjun thought intently.
Compared to Lin Wei's overt strength, the amount of power Lin Wei controlled in secret was what worried him the most, and among these, the Dark Owl Group was undoubtedly Lin Wei's trump card forces.
According to his investigation, even the weakest of those selected for the Dark Owl Group had the strength of an Awakener of the third layer. However, how many Awakeners were there in the Dark Owl Group, and how their abilities were distributed, he couldn't ascertain.
"Even the Dark Owl Group has been taken along." Zhou Zhenglei, the leader of the Guard Team next to Lu Jianjun, also frowned, "Every time Lin Wei mobilizes the Dark Owl Group, there must be some conspiracy!"
Zhou Zhenglei had also briefly clashed with Dark Owl, the leader of the Dark Owl Group, during a chance encounter.
At that time, during the incident of the mass disappearance of the Sanctuary's children that was getting bigger and bigger, he was reluctantly sent by the Commander to assist in the investigation. When he followed the clues to the end, he discovered Dark Owl and several of his subordinates.
He was astonished to find that an Awakener whose name was unknown had strength comparable to his.
It was known that his own strength could be ranked among the top three in the Lindong Sanctuary.
Yet he felt a great threat emanating from Dark Owl.
"We must find out the purpose of Lin Wei's secret departure. Have our people there keep a close watch," Lu Jianjun said to the young officer.
The young officer saluted and quickly left.
Weeds were overgrown everywhere, roads cracked, and from time to time, the roars of Demonized Beasts could be heard.
For ordinary survivors, and even Awakeners, being cautious was the first principle when traveling through the wilderness.
A massive team approached from the distance. To ensure the secrecy of their movement, Lin Wei didn't ride any form of transportation. Like any ordinary survivor, he walked in the middle of the team.
The team didn't care about Demonized Beasts, brazenly marching through the wilderness.
Along the way, any Demonized Beasts that attacked were easily slain by the Awakeners on the periphery. The team even designated people to handle the spoils of war and to clean up their tracks as they progressed, making sure not to leave any clues that Lu Jianjun's men could follow.
At that moment, a subordinate came forward to report, "Boss, we've found a few survivors. What should we do with them, kill them?"
"Kill them," said Lin Wei indifferently, but then he had a thought, "Wait, don't kill them. Capture them all first."
Dr. Zheng had been urging for more experiment subjects, and while these survivors weren't exactly prime material, they would make do.
It just so happened that he was planning to visit the pharmaceutical factory to check on the progression of the Beastification Soldier experiments, and he could bring these experiment subjects with him then.
Before that... Lin Wei looked into the distance and decided to drop by the Lindong Sanctuary on the way.
"It just so happens that the Lindong Sanctuary has many survivors. Originally, I planned to dispose of these people, but now that I think about it, capturing the Lindong Sanctuary survivors for experimentation might mean that Dr. Zheng won't nag about needing experiment subjects for a while."
"Not only that, but the Lindong Sanctuary has ability users, who are absolutely top-tier test subjects. With ability user material, the plan might be accelerated, and perhaps, a powerful Beastification Soldier could even be created based on the abilities of the experimented users."
After wiping out the Lindong Sanctuary, he could also have his men disguise it and operate it anew. On the one hand, it would provide cover for the mining of the Source Crystal Mine, and on the other hand, any survivor seeking shelter there could be directly captured and sent to Dr. Zheng's laboratory.
Two birds with one stone.
Training camp, Gravity Room.
Since the camp had been upgraded to the second layer, the facilities had undergone major renovations. The Gravity Room had considerably expanded from the size of a room to that of a large hall.
Tang Yu, bare-chested, wearing tight-fitted training shorts, was sweating profusely in the Gravity Room.
During high-intensity training, the residual effects of the Body Tempering Liquid slowly integrated into his body, and he felt a surge of satisfaction as he sensed himself growing stronger.
Indeed, Body Tempering Liquid and the Gravity Room were a perfect match.
After a period of basic training, Tang Yu stopped and took out an ordinary Longsword he had prepared earlier. Grasping the sword in one hand, his gaze fixed on the blade, his expression turning serious and focused.
He took a deep breath, raised the Longsword above his head, and then slashed down vigorously, sending a visible silvery-white Sword Qi flying from the blade.
The Sword Qi was like a rainbow, carrying an incredibly sharp force, directly striking the inner wall of the Gravity Room.
Light flickered on the metallic wall—this was the Gravity Room's self-defense function at work, absorbing the fierce Sword Qi.
It took a while for the flickering light to gradually fade, and the sharp force to dissipate.
Tang Yu exhaled lightly, collapsing exhausted to the floor.
The Source Power Crystal clutched in his left hand turned to powder in that instant.
This Sky Breaking Slash was a reward from the Lord's exclusive mode.
If Heavy Slash and Continuous Slash were considered low-level Combat Skills, then Sky Breaking Slash was at least a mid-to-high level Combat Skill.
To learn a skill of this level without a reward infusion could take an unknown amount of time. Even now that he had mastered Sky Breaking Slash, it was still very difficult to use.
Low-level Combat Skills like Heavy Slash consumed Qi Power, or physical strength, but high-level skills like Sky Breaking Slash could only be performed by expending Source Power. Even with all the Source Power reserves from a Source Power Crystal, this one strike had drained him completely.
Tang Yu shook his head, controlled the Gravity Room's gravity to return to normal, changed into his clothes at the storage area near the door, grabbed his belongings, and left the Gravity Room.
Suddenly, he felt a familiar vibration from his pocket, similar to a phone's from months ago.
Taking it out, it was a detection lens triggering an alert he had set.
Tang Yu glanced at it, indeed, most of the marked dots on the lens were moving toward the Territory, and the nearest one had just entered the alert distance set by him.
They were arriving just in time.