“Sister Su Su! There’s another base ahead!”
“Another one?”
Su Su opened the map and studied it for a long moment, her brows furrowing deeper and deeper.
To avoid these scattered large and small bases, their northbound route had already deviated to the farthest eastern island. No matter how much they tried to circumvent them, this one was unavoidable.
“Eh? They even have city walls and watchtowers. This base is actually more complete than any we’ve seen before!”
The off-road vehicle had already reached the edge of the small island. The enormous, plump venomous insects under Pang Cancan’s control were flying at the forefront, transmitting real-time visuals of the base ahead.
“Can you clearly see the power levels of the ability users guarding the watchtower?”
“Not too clearly right now. I’ll have the babies fly a little closer.”
Under Pang Cancan’s command, the four venomous insects ahead moved closer and closer to the island base.
“It seems like there are a few Tier 4 ability users… I don’t see any Tier 5 ones…”
At this moment, the two people in the vehicle were still relatively calm.
At worst, they would just force their way through the base.
The next second, an unexpected incident occurred.
A crisp whistle rang out from the city walls, traveling all the way to the off-road vehicle several hundred meters away.
At the same time, over a dozen pitch-black hawks soared out from behind the walls. When their massive wings spread, they cast large shadows over the ground.
“Chirp!”
The hawks let out sharp cries as they dove toward the four venomous insects at lightning speed, moving so fast they became mere afterimages. Before the venomous insects could escape, the leading hawk king had already reached its target, its hard and razor-sharp beak precisely snapping up one of the venomous insects.
In the blink of an eye, the bulky venomous insect was lifted over ten meters into the air, only to be torn apart by the hawk’s beak and talons. Blood and severed limbs rained mercilessly from the sky.
The other three venomous insects did not escape their fate either, devoured entirely by the remaining hawks.
The sudden attack caught them completely off guard, and Pang Cancan screamed, “Babies!!!”
Another whistle blew.
After shredding their prey, the dozen hawks returned to the city wall in perfect formation, folding their wings and perching atop the barricade.
A woman appeared on the wall.
A silver whistle hung around her neck, and her skin bore the sun-kissed bronze of a coastal city. Her limbs were long and powerful, and her sharp gaze locked onto the approaching foreign vehicle.
“Stop!”
“If you move half a meter closer, I’ll have my hawks tear your vehicle apart!”
Before figuring out the situation, Su Su had no choice but to halt the car in place.
Her gaze repeatedly swept over the dozen giant hawks, and a vague sense of unease arose in her heart.
She remembered… the natural predator of reptiles was hawks, wasn’t it?
“Hiss~”
Even through the thick fabric, the black snake could smell the unpleasant scent. It was just about to slither out of the backpack when Su Su, quick-eyed and swift-handed, pressed it back down.
“Don’t come out yet!”
There were more than a dozen giant hawks on the other side, and in the blink of an eye, they had shredded Cancan’s four venomous insects. Although those insects weren’t particularly aggressive, they were still battle pets of a Tier 5 ability user. They hadn’t even lasted a single encounter… If Xiao Hei stuck its head out and got snatched away, what then?
The black snake obediently curled up inside the backpack.
As long as it was its female giving orders, it always listened particularly well.
Su Su whispered, “Stay put. I’ll see if I can negotiate with this base first.”
Passing through peacefully was obviously the best option.
“Hiss!”
After settling Xiao Hei, Su Su pondered for a few seconds before decisively opening the car door and stepping out.
Pang Cancan called out worriedly, “Sister Su Su, it’s dangerous—”
“It’s fine.”
If their opponent had been a Tier 5 or Tier 6 ability user, Su Su might have been more cautious. But the biggest threat here was the dozen or so giant hawks. If they really dived at her, she was confident she could disrupt their attack and buy enough time to escape.
As soon as someone stepped out of the vehicle, the leading hawk king’s gaze turned sharp.
With it taking the lead, the other hawks also showed signs of eagerness.
“Wait a moment.”
The falconer woman temporarily calmed her battle pets, her wary gaze locking onto the ability user stepping out of the off-road vehicle.
Before she could speak, Su Su took the initiative to express her harmless intentions. “Hello, we are heading to the northern base and happened to pass by here. Would your base be willing to let us pass through?”
It was a simple and ordinary request, yet the woman’s expression suddenly changed.
“Passing by? There are thousands of roads to the northern base, yet you just happened to pass through our most remote coastal island?”
Su Su knew this excuse was somewhat flimsy, so she further explained sincerely, “S City has fallen, and many ambush and robbery bases have sprung up in the surrounding areas. To avoid them, we took a detour.”
The falconer woman did not accept this explanation and coldly said, “Whether you take a detour or not is your business. Our base does not welcome outsiders. Either leave immediately, or I’ll kill you!”
“Why are you being so unreasonable?!” Pang Cancan jumped out of the car. “We’re just passing through, not here to kill or loot. Why won’t you let us through?!”
“I said no, so it’s a no!”
The woman on the city wall darkened her expression. Without giving the two outsiders a chance to argue further, she blew her whistle once again.
More than a dozen giant hawks spread their enormous wings and dived rapidly toward Su Su and Pang Cancan.
Neither of them expected the falconer woman to turn hostile so quickly.
Pang Cancan, holding back her frustration, shouted, “Babies, attack!”
Hundreds, then thousands of venomous insects surged from behind, fearlessly swarming toward the dozen giant hawks.
If single-target attacks didn’t work, then they’d go for a swarm assault—outnumbering the enemy was always a winning strategy!
The woman on the city wall also saw this scene, her pupils shrinking as she picked up the silver whistle and blew a series of short, sharp notes.
The diving giant hawks let out more than a dozen piercing cries in unison.
“Screech—”
The sound was so shrill that even Su Su and Pang Cancan, standing at the farthest back, found it unbearable.
As for the venomous insects surging forward, they were so startled that they plummeted from the sky, trembling as they lay on the ground. No matter how much Pang Cancan commanded them, they could not muster the courage to take flight again.
Hundreds, even thousands, of helpless prey had willingly offered themselves up, turning into nothing more than a feeding ground for the giant hawks.
Except for the hawk king, the remaining hawks arrogantly dove toward the ground.
Just as they were about to enjoy a feast, a domineering white light engulfed all the hawks.
These reckless birds froze the moment their beaks touched the venomous insects’ backs, unable to move a single inch.
The whistle calls continued to echo.
Yet the dozen hawks remained motionless.
The woman on the city wall quickly noticed something was off. She decisively abandoned control over the other hawks, focusing solely on the strongest among them—the hawk king.
The hawk king, displaying its intelligence, dodged the area covered by the white light and soared several dozen meters into the sky. With a ferocious aura, full of intent to tear its target apart, it dove toward the humans at high speed—
Su Su tilted her head up and locked eyes with it.
At a mere two or three meters apart, the white light landed precisely within the hawk king’s body.
The massive wings abruptly froze in midair.
The falconer woman now realized that the most striking young woman among the group likely possessed an ability similar to hers—the power to control battle pets.
“Fwee—”
A long whistle pierced through the air, reaching the hawk king’s ears.
In an instant, it broke free from the white light’s restraint and resumed its ruthless dive.
“Sister Su Su!”
Before Su Su could unleash a stronger burst of white light, scorching blue flames erupted from behind, surging toward the sky.
The hawk king was descending too fast to avoid the sudden attack. The moment its pitch-black wings brushed against the flames, the blazing fire engulfed each of its feathers in an instant.
A miserable screech echoed in everyone’s ears.
“Hei Bao!”
Before Su Su could react to the vaguely familiar name, both the falconer woman and the hawk king simultaneously turned their attention to the massive python slithering out from the off-road vehicle.
The whistle sounded again.
The hawk king immediately adjusted its direction, shifting its focus to the prey further down the food chain, lunging toward it.
In its lifetime, it had hunted and devoured countless reptiles. This fire-ability python, while perhaps a slight threat, would soon become nothing more than its next meal.
“Hiss!!”
Before everyone’s eyes, the black snake expanded from an ordinary two-meter-long python into a sky-covering, sun-blocking giant serpent.
The foolish bird that had been rushing in with its wings spread wide instantly appeared pitifully small in contrast. With a casual flick of its half-coiled tail, the snake effortlessly swatted the hawk king aside.
“Screech—!”
The hawk king let out a shrill cry, struggling to twist its body midair, barely managing to steady itself.
“Hiss!”
A surge of blue flames shot toward the giant hawk once again.
The falconer woman gripped the city wall with her fingers, leaning forward as she shouted, “Hei Bao! Come back!”
But the hawk king was unwilling to retreat. Flapping its wings furiously, it dodged the blue flames, searching for the perfect opportunity to dive toward the serpent’s vertical pupils.
If it could just get close enough, its razor-sharp talons would be able to blind its enemy with a single strike!
However, how could the giant serpent possibly give it that chance? Between its lashing tail and the burning blue flames, it had the hawk spinning in circles, unable to get close.
With every moment of delay, more of the hawk king’s feathers burned away.
The acrid stench of scorched flesh drifted up to the city wall with the wind.
The falconer woman’s face was full of anxiety as she kept calling out to her stubborn battle pet.
“Hei Bao—!”
Just then, a similarly dark-skinned hand landed on her shoulder.
She turned her head, and upon seeing her twin brother, her expression shifted from desperation to joy. “Di! Quickly, put out Hei Bao’s fire!”
“Mm.”
Another Tier 5 ability user—this one with water abilities—activated his power, dousing the blazing flames on the hawk king from afar.
At the same time, he extinguished the blue flames the giant serpent had just breathed out.
“Hiss!”
The massive serpent’s cold, vertical pupils locked onto the newly appeared Tier 5 ability user on the city wall.
With its attack halted, the hawk king finally seized the chance to fly back to the wall.
Both sides ceased their offensives simultaneously.
The battlefield was instantly locked in a tense stalemate.
“Xiao Hei.”
The giant serpent obediently lowered its head.
Su Su skillfully climbed atop its head.
When the serpent straightened up once more, Su Su was now at eye level with the twin siblings on the city wall.
In an instant, the dynamic shifted from one side towering over the other to an even match—or perhaps even slightly in Su Su’s favor.
Now that things had escalated to this point, it was difficult for Su Su to remain patient. “I’ve already explained—we’re just trying to avoid conflict and ended up detouring here. We didn’t expect to find a base in such a remote coastal city.”
“If you insist on blocking our way, then we’ll just have to force our way through.”
Taking another detour would only waste more time.
And what if other places also had bases and ability users as domineering as this one?
Su Su was already prepared to fight again.
Her voice carried clearly to the city wall.
The dark-skinned man who had arrived later had a solemn expression, his gaze shifting between the frozen hawk flock and the menacingly terrifying giant serpent.
Two Tier 5 ability users. A Tier 5 battle pet.
If a fight really broke out, the base might not be able to withstand it.
But… they claimed to just be passing through—was that really the truth? What if they were just like the one who had deceived his sister before, harboring ill intentions toward the base?
“Di.” The falconer woman shook her head. “We can’t let them in.”
She couldn’t make the same mistake twice.
She had already suffered enough and had brought too many unnecessary disasters upon the base.
Besides, S City Base had just recently fallen—who knew what these high-tier ability users fleeing from there were really after?
The dark-skinned man pondered for a long time.
Just as Su Su was about to lose her patience, he finally relented, “You can come in—but you must leave as soon as possible!”