10 Chapter 10 The War is Coming

Green blood gushed out, and the Demon clutched its throat, unwilling to kneel on the ground with eyes as wide as a lobster's.

"First kill achieved, reward of thirty skill points and fifty experience points." In his mind, the Destiny System suddenly broadcast a system notification.

"First kill?" Wang Lan murmured and immediately grabbed Song Jia and ran outside.

All the way, Song Jia remained silent, perhaps terrified by the monstrous and frightful appearance of the Demon. Suddenly, Song Jia lifted her head and looked at Wang Lan, "Brother..."

"Jiajia, don't be afraid, I'll protect you."

"Was that a member of the Demon Clan from our textbooks just now?"

"Yes, a Demon! They must be from the lower ranks of the Demon Clan. The blood of lower-ranked Demons is mostly green with a fishy smell."

"Demons really do look terrifying. Such invaders should all be killed."

"Yes, I'll do my best."

At the entrance of the Multi-wheel Bilingual Academy, a school bus wobbled to a stop at the school gate, and the security guard walked out of his booth with a puzzled face.

"The traffic was terrible; I've never encountered such congestion before," the driver said with a smile as he rolled down the window.

"What are you doing at the school?" asked the security guard curiously.

"Huh? Weren't you the ones who booked a ride to the Sky Curtain Lake?"

"The bus left nearly an hour ago, and you're just getting here? That's not right, the school only booked two buses, are you sure you were booked by our school?"

"Look, here's the order information, my license plate number..."

"You're on the second route? Then which second route left earlier? Wait, let me make a call to confirm."

At the Sky Curtain Lake Resort Area, Mr. Huang was also frantically making phone calls, "What's going on, I got here with the group, but there's no sign of them? And their phone has been out of the service area... Did something happen?"

The students of the Multi-wheel Bilingual Academy were all either wealthy or noble; the school always took great care to ensure the children's safety, even if it was a hassle. Once the school leaders learned of the situation, they immediately checked and found that there was no information on this school bus at all.

At this point, the school leaders were sweating buckets. They promptly reported to the traffic management department to check the whereabouts of the bus.

The safety of more than twenty children and that many wealthy and influential parents was at stake, so of course, the traffic management department cooperated fully. But strangely, once the bus left the congested area, it headed straight for the Ring City National Highway and disappeared.

"Send police cars to search, a bus can't just disappear without a trace."

"Call the mayor," said the head of the traffic bureau with a grave expression.

"Ah? Isn't that unnecessary? We don't need to inform the mayor, do we?"

"Qin Weimin, the military advisor at the Southeast Military Region's headquarters, was on that bus, and its arrival was suspicious. Our vehicle identification system has no record of it, so it's likely someone specifically targeted it."

"This could mean trouble... Director, you make the call."

At the headquarters of the Tianjian Bureau in Suzhou City.

The phone on Wang Qianfeng's desk suddenly rang, "Speaking..."

Suddenly, Wang Qianfeng stood up, "Director."

"Yes, send someone to search immediately." Putting down the phone, Wang Qianfeng picked up another one, "Ask Xu Shiyun to come to my office."

As he frantically ran with Song Jia, Wang Lan soon saw the bus in front of him, which seemed to be about to leave.

"Hey, wait a moment—"

Wang Lan hurriedly called out. Though the bus's brakes were broken, it had just started moving so it quickly came to a stop.

"Young man, didn't Mr. Qiu say you were by the canyon entrance?" Mr. Qinqin asked as he opened the door to let Wang Lan in.

"Hm?" Upon hearing this, Wang Lan furrowed his brows and quietly covered Song Jia's mouth. "Mr. Qin, where are we going?"

"Song Jia, come here, come to the teacher. Hello, Wang Lan, Mr. Qin told me you went looking for us. After we passed through the woods, we found the exit of the canyon, but the exit was blocked by rubble. Outside the exit, there's a road.

So, we had Mr. Qin drive the bus over here first, and once we clear the rocks, we can leave this cursed place," Mr. Qiu said with a smile on his face. Then he gestured for Song Jia to come closer.

"Jiajia, come here..."

"Brother... the teacher is missing an ear..." Song Jia said softly, her face buried in Wang Lan's chest.

Damn, where does this girl's eyesight come from, spotting a missing ear hidden under hair?

But Song Jia's observation made Wang Lan even more certain there was something wrong with this Mr. Qiu. Or rather, all the parents who had gone on this outing were likely in grave danger.

"Kids, get ready, uncle is going to drive soon," Mr. Qin said with a smile.

Wang Lan took quick strides towards the bus interior, appearing to look for a seat, but as he passed by Mr. Qiu, the fruit knife hidden behind him thrust out in a flash, driving deeply into Mr. Qiu's eye socket.

Green blood spurted out, and Wang Lan swiftly pulled out the fruit knife, and before Mr. Qiu could react, he plunged it into the other eye socket.

Wang Lan's speed was too fast, and his strikes too ruthless. Both cuts were made in under two seconds. This scene left the group of elementary students with a blank in their minds.

The driving Mr. Qin was also startled by Wang Lan's sudden move, but his mind didn't go blank; instead, he made an analysis immediately. Seeing the green blood gushing from Mr. Qiu's mouth, his tense nerves slightly relaxed.

"Ah-- you bastard..." A rough male voice suddenly emerged from Mr. Qiu's mouth. Wang Lan didn't dare to hesitate, and he threw Mr. Qiu to the ground, stabbing fiercely towards his forehead with the fruit knife in his hand.

Crack--

There was a crisp sound as the fruit knife broke, but the blade remained lodged in the demon's brain. The demon convulsed on the ground, its body rapidly deforming.

"Open the door--" The car door opened, and Wang Lan threw the demon's corpse out.

"Why did you just throw the corpse out?" Mr. Qin asked in surprise.

"Shouldn't I have?"

"Aren't you going to extract the Soul Bead?"

Wang Lan slapped his forehead, having completely forgotten in his nervousness. Soul Beads are pure, round beads produced in the brains of demons and exotic beasts containing pure Star Power. Star Martial Warriors can absorb Soul Beads to supplement their Star Power or raise their Star Martial level.

In layman's terms, Soul Beads are like elixirs for Star Martial Warriors, but these elixirs cannot be made; they can only be obtained through hunting.

"It looks like my guess wasn't wrong..." Mr. Qin lit a cigarette, taking a heavy drag with a solemn gaze, "You don't mind, do you?"

"I don't mind." Wang Lan was somewhat disordered now. Although he had acted decisively just before, it was a burst prompted by the face of danger. Now the crisis was past, and his heart was in turmoil.

Many tales of the blood feud between the human race and the Demon Clan can be found in books, and history books record the litany of blood debts. But how many people can face the war with the Demon Clan calmly when it really happens?

Those who constantly shout about exterminating the Demon Clan and avenging wrongs, how many of them will put their words into action when they actually encounter the Demon Clan, wielding knives and guns to fight on the front lines?

Wang Lan was just a visitor from another world; to him, the existence of the Demon Clan seemed even more unscientific than his own transmigration.

"My name is Qin Weimin."

"I'm Wang Lan!"

"I'm a military advisor in the Southeast Military Region and also a weapons researcher. I speculated we might have entered a different dimensional space when I found out that cell phone signals were blocked.

To avoid causing panic, I chose not to disclose the details. My phone's GPS is on 24 hours a day, so the Southeast Military Region must have been alerted within an hour after the signal was lost.

By now, people outside may have started looking for us, so you needn't worry too much; we are not without support."

"I've heard that different dimensional spaces are full of fierce exotic beasts and that when they open, exotic beasts rush into the human world. But... why are there members of the Demon Clan? I didn't see any exotic beasts?"

"This only indicates one thing: this dimensional space isn't one of exotic beasts but was opened up by the Demon Clan, and our entry into it was premeditated by them.

I've mentioned before that this vehicle was reinforced, which is why we didn't suffer many casualties when we fell from the cliff. All these were arranged by the Demon Clan. From Mr. Qiu's condition, I can roughly guess their objective.

They intend to replace everyone on this bus."

"The Demon Clan is about to invade again just seventy years after being defeated?" Wang Lan felt even heavier. War is an unbearable burden, especially for Star Martial Warriors who bear the legacy of all human civilization.

The atrocious scars of the last war haven't even scarred over. That astronomical number of casualties weighed heavily on Wang Lan, almost suffocating him.

"You are a Star Martial Warrior, and since we've ended up in this predicament together, it must be fate. I can responsibly tell you that the history textbooks have beautified the wars that began two hundred years ago.

Maybe humans have defeated the Demon Clan in history, but definitely not the last time. In reality, we lost, lost the last of our resistance."

"Lost? If we lost, why weren't we ruled by the Demon Clan? Why are we still able to..." Wang Lan couldn't believe it. Although he had the spirit of two lives and knew that many truths could be altered, he still found it hard to believe that seventy years of rapid development and peace were built on a defeat.

"Because the Demon Clan withdrew their troops at the last moment," Qin Weimin blew out half a cigarette in one breath.

"You should know how devastating the Third Demon Calamity was. Jade Country was the first to declare the abandonment of all prejudices and interests, solely to protect human civilization.

Afterward, two hundred seventy-three countries around the globe announced their commitment to the war effort. For an entire century and thirty-two years, five generations struggled.

Can you imagine scenarios where after the father fell in battle, the son would take up arms, followed by the grandson, and then the great-grandson? These were common occurrences in those war-torn years.

In the Third Calamity, the death toll of Jade Country was one hundred and twenty million? That's the number of soldiers who died in battle, but if you ask for the total number of deaths in Jade Country, you could add a zero to that.

One billion!

A hundred and thirty years, five generations! What a heart-wrenching number. Can you understand the despair behind it?

Think of the host country. The King of the host country announced to the world in a hoarse voice that he would rather be a shattered jade than an intact tile before ordering the detonation of twelve nuclear bombs buried in seven cities of his own nation, taking seventeen million people and the Demon Clan army with them to oblivion.

King Kathe committed suicide by crashing into a wall after the nuclear explosion.

You've read about this in your history books, haven't you? While we extensively praise the integrity of the host country, have we ever thought about what kind of desperate straits could have forced them to make such a decision?

Because the Demon Clan succeeded in overtaking the entire territory of the host country and amassed a large force there. Their spears were pointing directly at Jade Country. At that time, Jade Country had reached the point of being out of ammunition and out of provisions, completely unable to withstand the Demon Clan's army."