Chapter 147: The High-Tier Forbidden Zone Has Been Broken!

With Zhang Ziteng acting as a free laborer, Zhang Chu no longer needed to worry about his own cultivation progress.

He had even specifically packed the marching tent from the Armament Department reception room into his storage ring.

By day, he hunted down 8-star star beasts in the Special Operations Hunting Ground.

By night, he would find a dense patch of woods, lie down inside his tent, and binge-watch television series or play on his phone.

Naturally, there was no wireless network coverage out here, so the dramas and variety shows had all been downloaded in advance.

Meanwhile, Zhang Ziteng spent the entire night working within a two-hundred-meter radius.

It devoured accelerated-growth greenery, passively absorbing the life force of the plants.

Given Zhang Chu's 7-star strength, he could execute the passive devouring technique seventy times a day.

The duration for which he could activate the "Accelerated Speed Domain" reached seventy minutes each time.

Over the span of seven days, Zhang Chu's martial power value soared to 1,230,000, and his spiritual power value reached 1,470,000.

Even the size of the vine sprite, Zhang Ziteng, had grown somewhat larger than before.

The maximum distance between the vine sprite and Zhang Chu had extended from the previous one hundred meters to three hundred meters now.

"Brother, please, cut me some slack."

On the morning of the eighth day, seeing Zhang Chu crawl out of his tent, the sprite complained, "I may be your host-bound plant sprite, but humans have human dignity, and plant sprites have sprite dignity too!"

Sitting nearby, the vine sprite spoke with a whiny tone, nearly on the verge of tears.

These past seven days, it had truly experienced the wickedness of society and the ruthlessness of mankind.

In the past, it at least received a decent meal.

Ever since they entered the Special Operations Hunting Ground and Zhang Chu discovered it could absorb greenery to replenish its life force, it hadn't even seen what food looked like.

"Little thing, you even know about dignity?"

Looking at the vine sprite sitting on the ground, Zhang Chu was amused.

With a flick of his spiritual power, the vine sprite swiftly retreated into his lower abdomen: "Today we're going to the Martial Arts Administration for the internal testing of the brain-computer beast swarm, and I'll treat you to something good along the way. Don't go saying I'm exploiting a down-and-out sprite clan member."

Over the past few days, Zhang Chu had already mastered the "Puppet Technique" to perfection.

This combat skill not only allowed Zhang Ziteng to help absorb greenery but also enabled him to control it for long-range attacks.

Its practical combat strength was only one tier lower than Zhang Chu fighting personally.

Simply put, Zhang Chu was a 7-star dual-force warrior, and after using the "Puppet Technique," the vine sprite could unleash 6-star combat prowess.

The most crucial part was that he and the plant sprite could fight in tandem.

However, this came with a massive consumption of spiritual power, making it unsuitable for protracted battles.

"Brother Chu, is there anything you need help with?"

Leaving the Special Operations Hunting Ground, Zhang Chu saw Bai Lulu walking over with a beaming smile.

During this period, Bai Lulu had been a great help, personally delivering all of Zhang Chu's meals.

"Thank you for your hard work these past few days, little sis," Zhang Chu said with a smile.

"Brother Chu, Sister Xueying came by an hour ago. Seeing that you hadn't come out yet, she left first and asked me to pass along a message—she's waiting for you at the Martial Arts Administration."

After exchanging a few brief pleasantries, Zhang Chu even gifted Bai Lulu an 8-star star beast core before driving toward the Martial Arts Administration.

Along the way, his phone rang. It was a call from Hu Sanyi: "Old Hu, what made you think of calling me? Could there be another mercenary group mission?"

"Brother Chu, you've completely vanished lately and couldn't be reached. You'd better check the forum right now; something big seems to have happened."

Hearing the urgency in Hu Sanyi's tone, Zhang Chu activated the Thunder War's autopilot mode and opened the forum to take a glance.

Holy crap!

Seeing the top trending search in the forum's gossip section, Zhang Chu gasped sharply: "Hasn't the Vajra Demon-Suppressing Stone already been repaired?"

The comment section below had completely exploded, with users frantically tagging the official account of the Binzhou Martial Arts Administration online.

A spatial barrier breach had occurred in the high-tier forbidden zone of Mount Canglong, and star beasts had broken through the barrier.

The Martial Arts Administration had even posted an official statement on the forum.

It was true that the barrier had been breached.

However, the inspection squad had launched a full counter-offensive, slain the ten star beasts that had broken out, and repaired the barrier, urging everyone not to panic.

"Could my luck be so terrible that barely three months after reincarnation, I'm about to witness the Battle of the Demon-Rejecting Gate from fifty years ago?"

A chill ran down Zhang Chu's spine.

He had reincarnated to enjoy a life of high position and great power, not to throw his life away.

"You have arrived at your destination. Please take your belongings and exit the vehicle."

Right at that moment, the car had automatically driven into the ground parking lot of the Martial Arts Administration.

Recovering his wits, Zhang Chu stepped out of the car.

On his way to the gaming center of the Martial Arts Administration, the staff members he passed all wore furrowed brows and whispered among themselves, creating an unusual and tense atmosphere.

"Teacher Xiaochu, long time no see."

As soon as he reached the entrance of the underground level, he spotted Zhang Xueying.

She was wearing a pair of blue slim-fit jeans, white sneakers, and a white off-the-shoulder crop top—she looked stunning.

"Let's make this clear first: don't use mind-reading on me."

Mind-reading was simply too heaven-defying; if he wasn't careful, it would expose the secret of his cheat system.

"So you actually have things you're afraid of."

Zhang Xueying was amused, and her smile was utterly captivating: "Let's go. Bureau Chief Chen, President Luo, and the others have all arrived. It must be because of the barrier breach in the Mount Canglong high-tier forbidden zone two days ago."

Entering the lobby...

Sure enough, Chen Tianxiang, Fan Tianlei, and Luo Zhidong were all present.

Zhang Daoyi was not there.

In addition, neither Huang Lili nor Liu Tianhe was anywhere to be seen.

"Kid, I called you several times and you didn't answer. If Xueying hadn't mentioned that you were in seclusion at the Armament Department's Special Operations Hunting Ground, I would have thought you went missing."

Seeing Zhang Chu walk through the door, Fan Tianlei teased him.

"Bureau Chief Fan, weren't we talking about the third internal test? Is it just me and Sister Xueying?"

Zhang Chu vaguely suspected that today probably had nothing to do with the internal testing of the brain-computer beast swarm.

Zhang Xueying was equally curious.

"Xiaochu, you two must have seen the posts on the forum, right?"

Luo Zhidong's expression was grim, and he had heavy dark circles under his eyes, making him look as though he had stayed up all night.

Zhang Chu nodded to indicate that he had seen them.

"Hasn't the barrier entrance already been plugged?"

Zhang Xueying was sharp and caught an unusual vibe in the air.

In past years, the barrier occasionally developed minor breaches—bugs that occurred when the spirit realm arrays replenished their energy—but they were always repaired quickly.

Even if star beasts seized the opportunity to rush out of the breach, the Mount Canglong patrol squads would eliminate them on the spot to prevent them from leaving the mountain and entering human activity zones, which would cause casualties among ordinary people.

"The barrier is broken."

At that moment, Chen Tianxiang, who had remained silent until now, spoke up.

Broken?

What does broken mean?!

Zhang Chu and Zhang Xueying exchanged bewildered glances.

"The Vajra Demon-Suppressing Stone of Mount Canglong is gone. It vanished unexpectedly, without any prior warning or detection on our part."

"Right now, the barrier of the entire Mount Canglong high-tier forbidden zone has completely collapsed across the board. Zhang Daoyi has already secretly led a thousand martial artists and the inspection squad in a joint operation, urgently deploying temporary arrays to prevent star beasts from swarming out of Mount Canglong on a massive scale."

No sooner had Chen Tianxiang finished speaking than Fan Dayong rushed in frantically from outside: "Bureau Chief Chen, something's gone wrong! A massive tide of star beasts from the Mount Canglong high-tier forbidden zone is already moving toward Qingcheng Town, three hundred kilometers away!"

Holy crap!

Did they really have to play it this hard?

Hearing the four words "star beast tide," Zhang Chu's head buzzed violently.

Tens of thousands of star beasts invading human society!

This was a catastrophic disaster!