Dawn of a New Era

After the tiring task of attending to Shell Lady and then taking a bath himself, Chen Shouyi finally had time to address his own issues.

It wasn't painful, just a bit numb and swollen.

Yet this was worse than pain; pain is merely physical injury, self-healing can resolve it.

Numb!

Who knows what's wrong with the body?

Especially the tailbone area, already affecting the lower body, earlier when he urinated, what used to be a stream of three feet with just a thought, now nearly came to nothing even after half a minute of effort.

Chen Shouyi held onto his waist, looking gloomy as he stepped out of the bathroom.

Massaging with his hands for a long time, proved utterly useless.

"It couldn't be that, could it?" Thinking of such serious consequences made Chen Shouyi feel utterly despondent.

Maybe in the future, he'll have to rely on the pitiful Shell Lady to reluctantly live out a lifetime together.

"Why does every enemy attack the lower regions?" Chen Shouyi thought bitterly.

Ever since he acquired the ability of Giant Transformation, his lower body had been repeatedly injured - if not the lower abdomen or kidneys receiving blows, then it's the tailbone, buttocks, even...

He immediately stopped the thought.

Refusing to scare himself with wild imagination.

"No, I think there's still hope, but first I need to replenish the energy consumed by Giant Transformation, let's eat something first!"

Chen Shouyi tiptoed downstairs, his parents and sister were already asleep, the ground floor was empty.

Arriving at the kitchen, he found quite a lot of leftovers, some remaining dishes as well.

Too lazy to heat them, he devoured half a pot of cold rice, finally suppressing the hunger.

Returning to the bedroom, he glanced at Shell Lady, amusing herself by pushing a ruby with her raised behind. Then he sat cross-legged on the bed, closed his eyes to perform inner vision, and soon the internal scenes of his body began to reveal themselves in a four-dimensional image.

Chen Shouyi quickly identified the anomaly.

His abdomen and tailbone areas presented a glow of abnormal red light.

These red lights occupied and looked bewitching yet dangerous, accompanied by some interference, causing this entire region to be thoroughly shielded, making inner vision impossible.

Chen Shouyi watched for a while and immediately felt relieved.

He found that this energy wasn't difficult to resolve.

This energy perhaps contained a strong imprint of willpower, each time his sight focused on it, his mind would swiftly consume energy, accordingly, the red light began to oscillate, seemingly struggling to maintain its energy structure.

He immediately concentrated his mind, focusing on the most critical area, the thoracic vertebrae.

Not long after, the outermost red energy began to collapse, transforming into unaligned Original Force, was soon absorbed by the body, disappearing without a trace. His spirits lifted, pressing on, soon the surface began to disintegrate as well...

Ten minutes later, Chen Shouyi opened his eyes, his face lit with joy, immediately reached to touch his tailbone.

He could still feel the skin with a burning heat, the numbness had already withdrawn, sensation fully restored to normal.

To be safe, Chen Shouyi stepped off the bed to move around, finding no further problems, as agile as before.

"Really gave me a fright!"

Once his mind settled slightly, Chen Shouyi resumed resolving energy occupying other areas.

After over an hour of busy work, the abnormalities within his body were at last fully resolved.

...

Late night.

The bright moonlight poured through the gaps in the curtains.

Chen Shouyi, in deep sleep, was awakened by the roar of warplanes; the frequency of warplane deployment had been unusually high these past two days, perhaps yet another problem had arisen somewhere.

Since the mutation, Jiangnan Province hadn't been peaceful for a single day.

Once noise disrupted his slumber, Chen Shouyi thought of the words the barbarians said last night and couldn't fall back asleep. He went to the washroom to splash water on his face, leaned on the bedpost:

"From the barbarian's words, it seems these barbarians had come directly for him!"

"At least part of their aim was to kill him." Chen Shouyi mused, thoughtfully:

"Considering all the barbarians he's slaughtered, they're almost countless, perhaps a powerful brother, uncle or cousin, and some great uncle or another, might come for revenge, to take his life, it's not impossible."

Chen Shouyi shook his head, soon dismissing the thought: "Such a possibility is too small, the biggest likelihood must be the Barbarian God sending them."

Among the Barbarian Gods that he had offended and who are still alive, there are only two.

One is the God of Hunting, the other the God of Order.

The former he killed once, the latter he dealt with one of his important subordinates.

In terms of extreme enmity, most likely to take action presumably is the God of Hunting!

Initially, he had deceived him twice, even humiliated him with a brutal beatdown, finally stepping on him to death. Given the God of Hunting's vengeful nature, he must have long harbored a deep hatred.

"Could it truly be the case?" Chen Shouyi wondered, a hint of grimness crossing his face, but the matter was quite simple to ascertain.

He promptly closed his eyes, entered the Memory Virtual World for some interrogation, then once again slew the barbarian.

Half a minute later, he opened his eyes, looking gloomy.

Indeed, this legendary-level barbarian was dispatched by the God of Hunting to assassinate him.

"Damn, fortunately, I wasn't home at the time!"

Chen Shouyi felt a flash of fear.

Had he been at home, even if eventually killing the barbarian, his parents and sister surely wouldn't avoid collateral damage.

...

Dongning Battlefield.

At the foot of one mountain.

In the darkness of night, the area was dotted with watchtowers.

Massive searchlights swept back and forth.

A gust of wind blew, the distant mountains appeared bare, scattered with large and small craters.

On one watchtower, several lookouts, holding binoculars, surveyed inch by inch, one lookout noticed something, quickly picked up the phone: "Situation in zone 21 45!"

Seconds later, a rapid-fire cannon opened a probing shot, shells dropped onto the mountainside, bursting into balls of fire.

A dozen silhouettes swiftly scattered, moving quickly over the slope.

The "tearing cloth" sound of machine cannons grew loud, high-explosive shells, like a storm, bombarded the mountainside ahead into a blaze of fire.

Amongst it mixed the rattling of heavy machine guns.

"Whew!"

A grenade flew hundreds of meters far, accurately threading through the loophole of the watchtower.

With a "boom", an intense explosion.

One machine cannon immediately fell silent.

Moments later, several heavy cannons in the rear finally unleashed.

"Boom! Boom! Boom…"

...

In truth, direct ground warfare against the barbarians posed significant challenges for humans.

As time went on, barbarians grew ever more cunning, ever tougher, gradually adapting to human warfare rhythm, no longer standing still before muzzles without attempts at evasion.

Some barbarians even began learning to use human weapons.

Fighting here, with pauses, continued for half a year; barbarian raids and assassinations never ceased, combined with human pseudo-armies either coerced or cult affiliates; the defensive lines were breached several times.

Military suffered heavy casualties, within half a year, soldiers had dwindled by over fifty thousand.

Throughout Dongning City, though bombings were relentless from aircraft, ruins were everywhere, the frontline advanced ten kilometers, yet the war persistently endured, vast numbers of barbarians ceaselessly pouring forth from passageways, rushing to the battlefield, the war dragging on in a see-saw.

Nuclear weapons could be a definitive solution, but such arms, unless facing a Barbarian God directly or in dire emergency, won't be used lightly, the authorities wouldn't make that decision, particularly within their own territory.

Directly flattening Dongning might be convenient.

Yet next time, if the barbarians attacked another city, would flattening happen again?

By then perhaps few barbarians would be killed by the Great Xia Country, yet its citizens' morale severely undermined.

...

In recent days, barbarians suddenly intensified their assaults, frantically charging the frontline, instantly tightening the situation.

Numerous barbarians breached defensive lines, roaming around neighboring cities.

Bad news came one after another, particularly targeted decapitation operations in surrounding cities.

Dongning Battle Zone Command sharply sensed the war's breath, turmoil was brewing.

A true great battle was about to unfold!

...

PS: Headache, only one chapter today, tomorrow definitely two chapters.

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