My Apocalypse Territory-Chapter 447 - 416: Military Drill of the Three Armies

The bamboo rat, Xiaoli, turned her spiritual power into a rope and led the "Deceitful Thief" up to the fifth floor of the marketplace.

Xiaoli took the stairs from the first to the fourth floor, passing countless onlookers who gawked at the young man floating in mid-air, his face a picture of defeat, struggling as if bound by innumerable chains.

He didn’t look like the cool and suave "Deceitful Thief" they had imagined!

Nor was he a cute young lady!

"No skills, and not even good-looking, I am now unfanning."

"What a disappointment, it turns out to be a guy."

"Doesn’t anyone think guys can be good too?"

"That little loli is so cute—no, wait, she’s fierce!"

Only when the young man was led to the fifth floor did those Awakeners who had been watching return their gaze, bursting into even louder discussions.

Among the crowd, an Awakener who moonlighted at the newspaper office was so excited he almost jumped up and, forgetting the noisy surroundings, immediately started scribbling with paper and pen.

[Who could have imagined that the "Deceitful Thief" would be such a person!]

Once he started writing, he simply couldn’t stop.

With the notoriety of the "Deceitful Thief," a special feature column was more than justified, no amount of news articles would be excessive.

Then, an Awakener in the crowd shouted, "Photos of the ’Deceitful Thief’ in bondage play, fifty Source Crystals each, no bargaining!"

The young man, who had just been brought to the fifth floor, heard the voices from downstairs, his face turned red and a surge of frustration rushed to his head.

...

Xiaoli withdrew her spiritual power that had been supporting the "Deceitful Thief," and with a stomach-dive-like fall, he plummeted to the ground.

Then Xiaoli bounced over cheerfully:

"Mission accomplished, Boss! Do I get a reward? If not, I’ll ask again later—squeak—"

Humming a little tune, she scampered over to the young man, poked her short legs out to flip him over, to find his eyes rolled back, white and lifeless, the spitting image of utter despair.jpg.

Xiaoli tilted her head, "Got turned into a moron by an illusion technique—squeak?" She spread her spiritual power, "Maybe a shock to his spirit might fix him—squeak!"

The young man, who had been like a dead fish on the ground, suddenly sprang up, tumbling and scrambling to Tang Yu’s feet, "Mercy, my lord, have mercy!"

...

"Your name?"

"Nicholas..."

Tang Yu shot him a chilly glance.

"I’m really... wait, wait, don’t—"

Moments later.

"Your name?"

"Zhuang... Zhuang Laifu." The young man was disheartened.

"Who is Chang Wei to you?"

"Huh?"

...

The "Deceitful Thief," whose real name is Zhuang Laifu, a local from Beiting.

He claimed to be Nicholas, which wasn’t entirely a lie, as after he started his career, he thought his real name was too lame, so he gave himself a heroic thief moniker.

According to him, he was a thief who robbed from the rich to aid the poor, which of course earned him another beating from Tang Yu.

After the beating, Tang Yu felt refreshed and stripped the space ring off the young man’s finger, retrieving the stolen equipment from it.

Zhuang Laifu’s strength was at the Tenth Layer, and upon observation with the "Insight Eye," Tang Yu saw that his cultivation progress exceeded 90%, not far from the Eleventh Layer.

He was astonishingly talented; had he been nurtured by a major power, he might already have entered the Eleventh Layer.

He was already among Beiting’s very best Awakeners.

No wonder he had never slipped up in his actions so far.

Skilled in Illusion Technique and escape tactics, even those at Awakening Tier Perfection may not be able to hold him, and Zhuang Laifu wasn’t indiscriminate in his thefts, at least avoiding the heavily defended places of Beiting.

But, as they say, if you always walk by the river, eventually your shoes will get wet.

And if the shoes are wet, might as well sell himself.

The sitting young man shuddered violently.

...

With the cautionary tale of the "Deceitful Thief," no other mischievous acts stirred up the marketplace in the following days.

Tang Yu’s travels between cities via the transmission array were quite convenient.

Nancy usually cultivated in the territory and only acted as a personal guard when he traveled far.

The security at the Beiting Transfer Station was not a concern.

Grey Blade, Shay, Xiaoli, and the sisters Xing Ling and Xing Yue were all helping, and there was a lot to be busy with at the beginning.

With five great masters around, even if an Awakener stronger than the "Deceitful Thief" appeared, they’d still only be beaten.

But the real trump card of Tang Yu was Guardian Puppet Number Two.

After establishing the sub-territory, the Guardian Puppet could arrive through the transmission array, and with Number Two equating to the strength of two or three Yan Dingtians, any undercover moves by Lu Changhong and his ilk would be crushed under sheer power.

However, Tang Yu waited several days without noticing any covert actions, which puzzled him.

Instead, some of Beiting’s higher ranks sent frequent overtures, signals of courtship.

Several top-notch families placed orders.

Every power hoped to be the first to get their hands on the equipment.

Tang Yu spent a lot of time recently in the workshop manufacturing equipment, to the point where every sight of the touch panel made his fingers itch to tap it.

Simply exasperating!

He tried letting Eileen manufacture it, but to no avail; unless he operated it by hand, the workshop was nothing more than a hunk of metal.

Including refreshing the market purchases, recruiting at the inn, etc., although the followers could enter, they had no authority to control—among the four core structures, only the research lab could be operated by others.

Yet some core functions of the research lab still required Tang Yu’s direct manipulation.

Tang Yu didn’t just focus on making equipment to earn money.

Source Crystals were important, but strength, research on cutting-edge technology, and comprehensive planning for the territory, among other things, were equally indispensable.

As a result, high-end rune equipment remained scarce.

With the expansion of the production lines, batches of low-end rune equipment and countless Puppets were transported to Beiting through the transmission array.

Nowadays, the most distinguishing feature of the Green Shadow Transfer Station was the number of Awakeners followed by Puppets.

Newcomers are followed by the round and rotund basic Puppets.

Veteran Awakener teams mostly bought two or three Gun Fighter Puppets for remote support, which, unlike close-combat Puppets that can be scrapped after a few uses, had the highest cost-performance ratio.

Guardian Puppets were generally affordable only to advanced Awakeners, but their sales were not low and were mostly used to protect their own families.

Having a Guardian Puppet accompanying a loved one was akin to hiring an indefatigable, fully loyal bodyguard with formidable strength adept at protection.

Expensive as it may be, it was worth it.

Tang Yu didn’t prize the sales of the Puppets; they couldn’t compare to the sales of conventional weapons and equipment.

After all, wearing weapons and equipment doesn’t provide blue-purple special effects for all to see, unlike Puppets, which are immediately noticeable!

Conspicuous.

It really stands out when taken out.

What’s more, it’s something you can’t buy elsewhere!

It’s a kind of indirect publicity for the Green Shadow Shopping Center.

...

On the tenth day since the shopping center’s opening,

Tang Yu’s focus had already shifted back to the main Territory, setting himself a small goal to develop the Territory to the scale of the Beiting Defense Circle.

Grey Blade had once again applied for leave to go into seclusion, and as there seemed to be no major issues with the Transfer Station, Tang Yu was ready to approve it.

At that moment,

the Anti-Demon Bureau sent an invitation.

It wasn’t for a meal but for a visit to a Military Drill, extended by the Beiting Council.

"What’s this ’Military Drill of the Three Armies’ all about?"

...

After Grey Blade’s detailed introduction, Tang Yu finally got an understanding of it.

The Three Armies weren’t regular troops but referred to the Ancestor Dragon.

Under the Ancestor Dragon’s command were three Corps with special designations.

The Candle Dragon Army, Ying Dragon Army, and Azure Dragon Army.

Together, these three Corps gathered more than seventy percent of the top experts within the Defense Circle.

This Military Drill of the Three Armies was a routine competition among the Ancestor Dragon’s three main Corps.

Every so often, similar drills took place involving battles, sparring, exchanges, and learning, as well as offering rewards to motivate the experts of the three Corps.

Tang Yu had implemented similar strategies within his own several Corps, though not as formally as in Beiting.

"However, the Military Drill of the Three Armies is an internal affair of Beiting, so why have they invited us?"

Mercenary Corps, commercial forces, no matter how large, had never been heard of attending the Military Drill of the Three Armies.

To visit the drill seemed not to be a decision made by the Anti-Demon Bureau Chief alone—the invite was signed by the Beiting Council.

There might be a deeper implication.

Tang Yu thought of the calm these past days. Although there was no need to supose the worst in others, in the eyes of Beiting, Green Shadow was an element of instability.

In peacetime, this would mean a thorn in the side.

In the apocalypse, cooperation took precedence, but Beiting indeed had not foregone showing its power to intimidate.

Tang Yu was also very curious about the Military Drill of the Three Armies.

...

The date for the drill was set three days later.

As an invited guest, Tang Yu was definitely going to attend, accompanied by Nancy and his Personal Guard.

In addition, members like Shay and Xiaoli from the Transfer Station were clamoring to join, and Tang Yu had agreed, much to Grey Blade’s chagrin. His leave of absence request, which Tang Yu was ready to sign, was now rejected.

The look Grey Blade gave him was so mournful that Tang Yu dared not appear before Grey Blade lately.

It wasn’t just Shay and the others; Tang Yu also planned to bring Luo Zhe, Kong, Eileen, and a few high-ranking members of his various Corps.

Tang Yu didn’t speculate about Beiting’s purpose in inviting him.

Yet observing the Military Drill of the Three Armies could be beneficial for him and for people like Luo Zhe!

Taking Luo Zhe and the others was in the hope that they would absorb Beiting’s advanced management and training concepts from the drill... In this regard, Tang Yu trusted that these professionals like Luo Zhe knew more than he did.

...

Three days later.

The north wind whistled.

A convoy consisting of three Rhino Chariots and two Floating Chariots left the Green Shadow Transfer Station.

Their destination: Ancestor Dragon Base. freeωebnovēl.c૦m

Positioned southwest of the Base City of Beiting, roughly seventy to eighty kilometers away.

After traveling along the road for over an hour, the silhouette of the base became visible in the distance—the towering steel walls.

The walls and surrounding mountains were outfitted with countless defense lines.

In fact, they had entered a military restricted zone several kilometers back. Soldiers were on guard and patrolling, but as invited guests of Green Shadow, they were allowed to drive straight in, with a vehicle from Beiting leading the way.

Other Awakeners would be halted outside, and even when the base was originally constructed to combat Demonized Beasts, it wasn’t a place humans could sneak into.

The gates of Ancestor Dragon Base stood open, and Tang Yu, using his perception, noticed every guard stationed there possessed strength above the Sixth Layer.

Outside, they would at least qualify as Commanders of Elite Mercenary Corps.

Yao Jun, the Anti-Demon Bureau Chief, was already waiting there, indicating the importance Beiting placed on their presence.

"Brother Yao seems to be in high spirits lately."

"Haha, all thanks to Young Brother Tang’s good fortune. I was actually thinking of ordering another batch of equipment."

"No problem, no problem. I hear Brother Yao’s men often clash with Demonized Beasts. I recommend the Purification Scroll and Imprisonment Scroll, definitely worth the value."

"In that case, let’s start with five hundred of each kind."

...

Inside the Ancestor Dragon Base, there was a guard every three steps and a post every five.

Tang Yu noticed many science fiction-like weapons and equipment, which he scanned one by one through his ’Insight Eye,’ and then withdrew his satisfied gaze.

"There’s an Abyssal Rift suppressed within Ancestor Dragon Base?"

Tang Yu observed the misty red fog permeating the air over a distant cleavage in the mountains.

"Correct." It wasn’t a secret, so Yao Jun did not hide it, and any well-informed individual could deduce it, "Moreover, it’s the suppression of the largest Abyssal Rift within the Beiting Defense Circle, measuring five hundred meters in size!"

Tang Yu was also surprised.

A five hundred meter-scale was the largest Abyssal Rift he had ever heard of, potentially unleashing Demonized Beasts different from those elsewhere.

Tang Yu asked casually, but since it likely entailed classified information, Yao Jun merely smiled without speaking.

As they made their way, they occasionally saw other individuals not in Ancestor Dragon attire.

Although the Military Drill of the Three Armies was an internal event of Beiting and not public, there were more observers than Tang Yu had anticipated.

There were bigwigs from the Security Bureau.

There were commanders of the City Defense Army, senior officials of the city bureaus, and department heads of special departments.

There were also high-ranking individuals from the eight Satellite Cities.

Satellite Cities do not have a City Lord but are led by a Guardian Envoy. For this Military Drill of the Three Armies, four of the envoys from the eight directions had come.

Even more high-ranking individuals were present, and Yao Jun eventually stopped introducing them, as the no-nonsense man felt his mouth going dry.

Tang Yu also saw Lu Changhong, Kang Jiaming, and others.

Soon, they arrived at the drill field.

A vast open space with facilities for training visible in the distance.

In a distant area, Awakeners from the Candle Dragon, Ying Dragon, and Azure Dragon Armies had already assembled.

Their formidable strength meant that merely standing there distorted the surrounding air with the power they emitted.

The guests gradually arrived, with the last five minutes ticking down until the beginning of the drill.