Chapter 165 – Base City in Crisis

Time flew by swiftly.

The battle that had taken place in Huaming District, Longyao City now felt like an event from years ago, gradually becoming nothing more than a popular topic of conversation.

With the support of alchemical technology, the former battlefield of Huaming District had been reconstructed. However, it was no longer a residential area but had been designated as a military zone, restricting unauthorized entry.

Especially around the Spirit Demon Abyss Entrance, not only had a military stronghold been established, but numerous research facilities had also been built nearby. It seemed that someone was conducting research on the sealed Spirit Demon Abyss Entrance.

But these were not matters for ordinary civilians to concern themselves with, so they too became mere topics of discussion, causing little significant reaction.

Longyao City appeared to be gradually returning to its former state.

Only those within the Professional circle knew that this semblance of normalcy was merely a superficial illusion.

The lingering effects of the Huaming Campaign were far from easy to erase.

For instance, the remnants of the Phantom Demons that had infiltrated the city had yet to be completely eradicated. They continued to cause casualties daily, covertly posing significant challenges for Longyao City.

As Su Ming had anticipated, after the holiday ended, the students of the Demon Hunter Academy were plunged into a state of constant busyness.

To eliminate the remnants that had escaped from Huaming District, Longyao City assigned a large number of missions to the Academy.

The Academy categorized these missions and, based on their difficulty, delegated them to all the students.

Yes, instead of allowing students to freely choose missions from the Mission Hall or decide whether to take them, the Academy directly notified the students via text messages, messages, chat apps, and other means.

This indicated that these missions were semi-mandatory assignments.

The reason they were semi-mandatory rather than fully mandatory was that failure to complete them or refusal to undertake them would only result in deducted credits, without any further penalties.

Yet, this was enough to show that the situation had reached a critical point, leaving no room for Longyao City or the Academy to assign missions using gentler methods.

“Although they are just a group of stragglers, Phantom Demons are still Phantom Demons. If they are not eradicated, the citizens of Longyao City will never know peace and may face danger at any moment,” Su Ming silently lamented the harshness of this far-from-peaceful world.

He could only say that it was fortunate he possessed the Spirit Constitution, allowing him to become a Sorcerer. Because of this, his parents and family had gained privileges and could reside in the Key Protected Area in the city center. Otherwise, in such turbulent times, Su Ming would have to live in constant fear, never knowing when his family might meet with misfortune.

It was said that the official Professionals in the Professional circle had also been dispatched to various corners of Longyao City to hunt down the Phantom Demons.

This was no easy task.

Each Phantom Demon had its own unique characteristics, and tracking them down one by one to eliminate them required considerable effort.

Unfortunately, Longyao City was currently unable to take large-scale actions.

Although most civilians and even Professionals were unaware of this, Su Ming had received a piece of information through Xu Qianqian’s channels.

“Is Longyao City currently short on manpower?”Su Ming listened to the information Xu Qianqian conveyed from the other end of the phone and couldn’t help but freeze for a moment.

Was this for real?

“It’s true,” Xu Qianqian said, as if she could hear Su Ming’s inner thoughts. “Longyao City is indeed short on personnel right now, both Professionals and military personnel.”

“Why?” Su Ming blurted out almost immediately.

“Because of the war,” Xu Qianqian replied bluntly. “Have you forgotten how many people sacrificed their lives in the Huaming Campaign?”

Those words left Su Ming in silence.

Although Longyao City had emerged victorious in the Huaming Campaign, the number of casualties remained vivid in his memory.

“The number of Professionals who sacrificed their lives exceeded fifteen thousand.”

“The number of military casualties was over a hundred thousand.”

“And how many Professionals are there in Longyao City? How many soldiers are in the military?”

Xu Qianqian’s rhetorical questions were sharp, forcing Su Ming to grasp the cold, hard reality behind those numbers.

Setting aside the military, Su Ming knew that the total number of Professionals in Longyao City was only around seventy to eighty thousand—less than a hundred thousand.

Yet, a single Huaming Campaign had cost Longyao City approximately 20% of its Professionals.

It was undoubtedly a painful victory.

Thus, while Longyao City appeared to have returned to peace and its former state, the heavy price of victory had left it mired in difficulties on all fronts.

Otherwise, why would the Academy semi-forcibly assign tasks to a group of students?

It was a matter of necessity.

“So, you’re saying Longyao City’s current situation is dire?”

Su Ming asked this question.

“Worse than you can imagine,” Xu Qianqian replied in an unemotional tone. “I’ll share two pieces of information with you. Just listen and don’t spread them around.”

Su Ming remained silent, quietly waiting for Xu Qianqian to continue.

What followed were two earth-shattering revelations.

“The first piece of information: among the escapees from the Huaming District Battlefield back then, there weren’t only lower-level Phantom Demons. There was also a Hazardous Species—a genuine upper-level Phantom Demon.”

Xu Qianqian delivered this shocking news slowly and deliberately.

“The second piece of information: just the night before last, the family of Longyao City’s mayor was attacked. The entire family was slaughtered, the mayor is suspected to have been captured, and the mayor’s daughter is currently missing, her whereabouts unknown.”

These two staggering pieces of news left Su Ming utterly stunned.

“How could this happen?”

Even someone as detached as Su Ming couldn’t help but be shocked.

Each of these revelations was enough to plunge all of Longyao City into severe turmoil.

To say nothing of the rest, the mere fact that a Hazardous Species—a genuine upper-level Phantom Demon—had escaped from the Huaming District Battlefield was enough to throw the entire city into panic.

That was an upper-level Phantom Demon.

A terrifying entity that even Four-Star Professionals could only barely contend with, unable to defeat.

For such a Phantom Demon to be lurking in a Base City with a population of over sixty million was like throwing a carnivorous dinosaur into a flock of sheep. Countless people would inevitably fall victim, hunted as prey.It is important to understand that Upper-Rank Phantom Demons cannot be compared to Lower-Rank Phantom Demons. If they desire to feed on blood, they can endanger hundreds or even thousands of people in an instant. Should they unleash their power within the city, it would undoubtedly be a catastrophe of apocalyptic proportions.

Su Ming could already imagine the chaos that must have erupted among the higher-ups of Longyao City.

Moreover, the news that the mayor’s family had been attacked, with the entire household slaughtered and the mayor himself seemingly abducted, was equally shocking.

This was the mayor—the highest authority in Longyao City’s power structure, the nominal master and owner of this Base City, the one who could determine the direction and policies of the entire Longyao City.

For such a supreme authority to be attacked—how was this any different from the earth-shattering event of a president or chairman being assassinated?

In any case, Su Ming was genuinely stunned by these two pieces of news.

Xu Qianqian appeared calm, but her voice carried an unmistakable gravity.

“These two pieces of information are currently under lockdown. If they were to leak out casually, it would undoubtedly plunge the entire Longyao City into chaos,” Xu Qianqian explained. “The Base City’s higher-ups have been holding emergency meetings day and night for two consecutive days, mobilizing the maximum manpower currently available. They have designated the subjugation of the Hazardous Species lurking in the city and the search for the mayor and his daughter as the highest-priority missions, rated at SS-Rank.”

The so-called SS-Rank Mission is a difficulty level that does not typically appear during normal operations.

When a Base City functions normally, the highest difficulty of missions it issues is merely S-Rank.

This is not the S-Rank Mission from the Academy, but an S-Rank Mission in the Professional circle—its difficulty is targeted at all Professionals, not just trainees.

Generally speaking, a C-Rank Mission in the Professional circle is more challenging than an S-Rank Mission issued by the Academy.

After all, the strongest individuals in the Academy are, at best, Two or Three-Star Professionals, whereas the Professional circle is different—even Upper-Rank Professionals take on missions, and the difficulty of the tasks they accept is beyond the imagination of those at the trainee level.

However, this is only the mechanism during normal operations.

Once a crisis emerges that threatens the entire Base City’s functioning or even its survival, the mission difficulty instantly skyrockets.

SS-Rank represents this level of mission.

It is said that beyond SS-Rank, there is an even higher SSS-Rank Mission.

If a mission of that caliber appears, it signifies that the Base City has truly reached a moment of life and death—failure to resolve it would result in the Base City’s destruction.

Although Longyao City has not yet reached that critical point, the emergence of the Hazardous Species and the attack and disappearance of the mayor’s family have plunged the city into turmoil and chaos.

Therefore, both the subjugation of the Hazardous Species and the search for the mayor’s family are classified as SS-Rank Missions.

“These two missions have diverted a large portion of the current manpower in Longyao City. The remaining personnel, when distributed across the various areas of the Base City, are clearly insufficient.”

Xu Qianqian relayed this to Su Ming.

“In the days to come, our lives are likely to become considerably more difficult.”

This was beyond doubt.

Su Ming’s brow furrowed tightly.

He truly had not expected that beneath the surface of a seemingly restored peace, Longyao City was embroiled in such a dire crisis.Su Ming temporarily set aside the matter of the Hazardous Species and shifted his attention to the incident of the mayor’s family being murdered.

“Why was the mayor’s family attacked?” Su Ming asked. “Was it the work of terrorists?”

“It’s unclear,” Xu Qianqian shook her head and said. “The exact circumstances are still under investigation. The only certainty is that the perpetrators weren’t ordinary people.”

As the mayor of Longyao City, the mayor’s family was also a large Family.

“The Wang Family is the Family with the longest Legacy history in Longyao City. Since ancient times, they have been a renowned Hunter Family. Though not a Super Family with Nightmare Species Bloodline Legacy, they still rank among the top-tier Families. Their profound foundation and formidable strength surpass even the Xu Family and Li Family.”

Xu Qianqian explained slowly.

“I heard from my father that the Wang Family’s ancestors were the ones who established Longyao City as a Base City. Therefore, over half of Longyao City’s successive mayors have been elected from the Wang Family. The Wang Family’s strength is acclaimed as second to none among the many Families in Longyao City. They alone have over a dozen Upper-Rank Professionals, making them the faction with the most Upper-Rank Professionals in Longyao City, aside from the Sorcerer Guild and Cloudflow Commerce.”

For such a Wang Family to be breached, how could the Attackers possibly be ordinary people?

But this raised another question.

“What kind of origins must the Attackers have to be able to breach a great Family like the Wang Family?”

Su Ming unconsciously murmured this doubt aloud.

“This is what the entire upper echelon of Longyao City wants to know as well,” Xu Qianqian said with a heavy voice. “After all, if even the Wang Family could be breached, it means the other party’s strength is sufficient to breach any Family in current Longyao City.”

How could this not make Longyao City’s upper echelon feel uneasy?

Chaos among the upper levels was undoubtedly inevitable.

Of course…

“During the Huaming Campaign, the Wang Family, as Longyao City’s oldest Family faction and the mayor’s family, consistently led by example and charged at the forefront. Consequently, their sacrifices were the greatest among all Families – nearly half of their dozen-plus Upper-Rank Professionals perished. They’re currently at their most vulnerable state, so it’s unavoidable that someone would take advantage of this weakness.”

Xu Qianqian told Su Ming this.

“According to my father, the suspects currently under consideration by Longyao City’s upper echelon aren’t within the city, but outside it.”

In other words, Longyao City’s upper echelon believes this incident was perpetrated by forces outside the Base City.

“Forces outside the Base City…”

Su Ming suddenly recalled one particular organization.

“Could it be Sin’s doing?”

Su Ming’s words made Xu Qianqian fall silent for several seconds.

“Very likely,” Xu Qianqian gradually responded. “When speaking of forces outside the Base City, Sin should indeed be the primary suspect.”

Who could blame them? This underground mercenary organization had previously appeared in Longyao City, and even operated extensively under the protection of a certain high-ranking official in the Base City.

If not them, then who else could be suspected?

And Sin indeed possesses such capability.

They are the largest mercenary organization in the underground world, one of the biggest Underground Professional groups. Within their organization, they even have two Seven-Star Professionals – they’re absolutely not something a remote coastal Base City like this can compare to.Longyao City is merely one of the many Base Cities on the surface, and not even a top-ranking one.

Sin, however, is one of the largest organizations in the entire underground world, and ranks among the top underground organizations globally.

There is simply no comparison between the two.

Thus, if Sin truly made a move, Longyao City would be in serious trouble.

Naturally, if it really was them, Su Ming would also need to be cautious.

“Little Hai’er is their target,” Xu Qianqian stated gravely. “If it’s truly them, you might very well be targeted as well.”

Hearing this, Su Ming narrowed his eyes.

It seemed he would need to take some measures himself.

(End of Chapter)