"Only a few dozen—kill them all, then abandon the vehicles and cut through the forest." Han Qi's calm voice crackled back over the walkie-talkie.
Wei Gaocheng lifted his radio. "I'll handle it; you keep Supervisor Dong safe."
He tossed the radio aside and looked at Dong Guangjie. "Supervisor Dong, we'll get out together. Head straight for Captain Han's team."
His ability was perfect for dealing with soldiers.
"Understood." Dong Guangjie nodded, picked up a black metal box packed with irreplaceable lab data, and hugged it close.
Riiip!
"Let's move." Wei Gaocheng stepped out; his body ballooned, shredding his clothes.
Whoosh! Before the soldiers could react, the bird-man was a hundred metres above them.
Swish-swish-swish! A sweep of his wings sent a storm of feathers raining onto the troops and tanks.
Boom-boom-boom! Every plume detonated on contact, turning the intersection into an inferno.
Screams erupted as civilians waiting in line fled in terror.
Han Qi exited a sedan, morphed into a 2.5-metre Monster, and with one hand carried Dong Guangjie into the woods.
Behind him, Li Yong bore a portly man with an arm in plaster.
Several other Bodyguards of varying Monster forms followed.
When the smoke cleared, shredded bodies littered the road; tanks had been pierced and then blown apart from within.
Han Qi sprinted through the forest; a hundred metres up, Wei Gaocheng kept pace as aerial guard, Tyrant the hulking rearguard.
"With the Xuanjian Division's Fifth-Level Awakener tied down by the King of the Deep Sea, we're clear," Dong Guangjie said, eyes gleaming as Jiang Yan's occasional texts arrived.
Not everyone was so lucky; at other distant checkpoints, some were about to have a very bad day.
Dozens of kilometres away, another border crossing.
A Wen, masked and sunglasses-shielded, nervously queued in a white luxury car as three soldiers approached.
"Damn it—how did I still hit a roadblock at this speed?" His hands shook on the wheel.
Tap-tap-tap! A soldier rapped on the window.
"Lower the glass—spot check," the soldier barked.
A Wen glanced at the mirror—cars behind, no escape. He had to comply.
He rolled the window down, forcing calm. "Officer, what's with the roadblock?"
Seeing another masked, sunglassed Middle-aged Fatty, the soldier signalled his comrades and raised a tablet.
"Remove the shades and mask," he ordered, suspicion thick.
Sweat soaked A Wen's back. "Sir, I've got a contagious disease—taking them off might infect you."
Before he finished, the soldier slapped the glasses away, yanked down the mask, and scanned his face.
Beep-beep-beep!
An alarm shrieked from the tablet.
"I'm done for…" A Wen went limp as they dragged him out, cuffed him on the asphalt, and marched him away.
The next day, inside a remote valley of Liyang Country.
Jiang Yan wore black trousers and a white shirt, hair loosely tied in a short ponytail; Weaver of Illusions dozed on his shoulder.
He sat on a boulder, mind diving inward where the Ghost Buddha node shone brilliantly.
Ghost Buddha: Advancing… Estimated completion: 5 hours.
"So eating all those people finally triggered the evolution," he mused, exiting his mental space.
Nearby stood Han Qi's group who'd escaped yesterday, plus several of Dong Guangjie's assistants.
An Conghao, face ashen, knelt before Jiang Yan. "President, I'm sorry—I exposed us. If you need to punish me, do it."
The raid had come for him; he'd brought disaster on them all.
Between Bodyguards and lab staff they'd numbered over a hundred; now only thirteen remained—five leaders, five Monster Bodyguards, three assistants.
Jiang Yan glanced at him, voice calm. "Stand up. You're just pieces on my board; lose a few, recruit more. If you feel guilty, prove your worth."
"You follow me for power, money, status—bad luck comes with the territory. Be smarter next time."
His words were cold, yet no one objected; their families were already abroad, so the losses were bearable.
Jiang Yan had recruited them with strength or cash—no sentiment, only 'charisma'.
"Yes, sir!" An Conghao rose, gratitude in his eyes—for what, Jiang Yan neither knew nor cared.
Jiang Yan remained impassive; a dozen pawns made no difference as long as Dong Guangjie lived—he'd started alone anyway.
The world brimmed with power-hungry extremists; with a crook of his finger he could rebuild an army of Monster fodder.
Most had used buddha crystals; captured, they'd become fuel for Ghost Buddha's future resurrections.
"Let's go. Nobody else made it—consider them dead." Jiang Yan rose and addressed the survivors.
A Cloud Ray descended from the sky; the group stared in wonder.
Dong Guangjie studied the Stingray-like creature with keen interest—he'd only just deciphered the King of the Deep Sea's blood, and now this.
"Following Jiang Yan, I'll never run out of Monsters to study," he mused.
Jiang Yan stepped onto the Cloud Ray's back. "Board. We head for Liyang's Capital."
He'd now seen how terrifying Nanwu Country's Xuanjian Division Fifth-Level Awakeners were—one could annihilate the current Monster Association.
Yet Nanwu had at least twenty more like that, with even stronger above them—no place for the Association to grow.