Chapter 1 A Brutal Battlefield

The land was a scene of utter devastation. The wreckage of over twenty light tanks, anti-aircraft guns, and armored vehicles lay scattered across an area of three kilometers. The ground was scarred and ravaged, riddled with the scorched craters left by artillery shells. Fragments of steel were embedded in the surrounding rocks.

At the center of the battlefield, some of the stones had taken on a glazed, almost glass-like appearance. This was the result of the intense heat generated by the exploding shells, which had melted the rocks and, under sustained high temperatures, caused them to undergo a process akin to "purification."

Countless corpses of rebel soldiers lay strewn across the ground, or slumped beside shattered tanks. In the distance, the wreckage of armored vehicles still burned, thick smoke billowing into the sky, carrying a nauseating, acrid stench.

What was most bizarre was that not all of these light tanks had been destroyed by direct hits. Several of them had been sliced clean in half, as if by an incredibly sharp object, leaving perfectly smooth edges!

"This must be the assassination squad..." Wang Caijun's helicopter landed, and he surveyed the gruesome battlefield with a grim expression. "Their heavy weaponry is all anti-air guns and cannons, clearly designed for a specific purpose. If we had encountered them, we could have suffered heavy losses."

"The vehicles of this unit are coated with a material that interferes with electromagnetic signals," a technician said with certainty after examining the wreckage. "While it's nowhere near the complete isolation offered by the coating on a B2 bomber, it would have made it very difficult for our helicopter's reconnaissance radar to detect them!"

A cold sweat broke out on Wang Caijun's forehead.

He could imagine the devastating blow his helicopter squadron would have suffered if this unit hadn't been destroyed. The rebels were clearly prepared to carry out a suicide attack with the intention of taking them down.

"I have only one question now: who took out this assassination squad?" Wang Caijun asked, genuinely puzzled. "I haven't received any information from headquarters!"

The soldiers exchanged confused glances, none of them able to answer Wang Caijun's question.

"Who is this nameless hero who did such a good deed?" Wang Caijun exclaimed. "What was their purpose? Even if they're friendly forces, they should at least come forward!"

Wang Caijun couldn't make sense of it, but ultimately decided not to waste too much time on the matter, and resolved to set off immediately.

The truth could be uncovered later. For now, they needed to return to the Xijiang Military Region as quickly as possible, before anything else happened.

*Woom, woom!*

Wang Caijun's helicopter took to the sky again, following the main force ahead. At that very moment, they were less than a hundred kilometers from crossing the border into Yanhuang.

Meanwhile, Li Tianran, the "nameless hero" in Wang Caijun's eyes, was observing the helicopter squadron from the shadows.

...

Two hours earlier, when Li Tianran realized that the unit which had ambushed him was the same "enemy" he'd seen in Hanhan's dream, he immediately decided to eliminate them before anything could happen!

Li Tianran's massive mobilization was born of necessity. He didn't know the specific unit number of Yuan Wen's service, nor her current location, otherwise he could have simply taken Yuan Wen away, solving the problem directly and efficiently.

He also considered infiltrating the Xijiang Military Region to search for information, but there simply wasn't enough time.

Having exhausted all other options, eliminating the prophesied "enemy" seemed to be the only choice.

And with this unit having conveniently attacked Li Tianran, war was unavoidable.

This was the first time Li Tianran had fought against a heavily armed human force. Although he was confident, he lacked experience.

The Combat Berserkers beside Li Tianran were all deployed in heavy firepower mode. Faced with heavily armored tanks and armored vehicles, the sniping and combat abilities of adult-level Berserkers were clearly useless. They shouldered RPG rocket launchers, moving with extreme agility through the mountains, providing covering fire for the enemies lying in ambush in the distance.

Although the enemy's camouflage was effective at blocking radar scans, the brainwaves of the enemy soldiers hidden inside the tanks could not be shielded. Hanhan could easily pinpoint their positions, and then work with Li Tianran to identify the targets within the system. A barrage of firepower soon forced all the lurking enemies out into the open.

The rebel unit probably hadn't expected Li Tianran to survive, nor had they imagined that Li Tianran, who had only had one helicopter, would suddenly produce a large number of Combat Berserkers with such terrifying firepower. In this situation, although the rebel unit had the advantage in numbers, they were repeatedly routed by Li Tianran's sudden counterattack.

Hundreds of shells streaked through the air, leaving long trails of fire. The intense heat generated by their explosions caused the very ground to melt.

After a brief observation, Li Tianran determined the enemy's numbers.

Seventeen tanks, five anti-aircraft guns, two anti-tank guns, and some individual heavy weapons - these were the main threats! Ordinary soldiers, no matter how many, could hardly cause any harm to Li Tianran.

In terms of species and abilities, Evolvers were indeed far superior to ordinary humans. Apart from the most common atavistic Evolvers, the gap between other Evolvers and ordinary people was difficult to bridge with numbers. Human wave tactics were useless against powerful Evolvers.

Even if Evolvers couldn't defeat a human sea, if they wanted to escape, it would be very difficult for a human sea to stop them.

Li Tianran moved through the battlefield, shells flying past him. He seemed to be in a special state, able to precisely control every move on the battlefield. The enemy's tactical shifts, the sound of tank treads crushing rocks, all were captured by Li Tianran's senses.

Li Tianran briefly thought he had unlocked another special ability, but soon realized that this was due to Hanhan's Cerebro waves covering the area. His perception was entirely due to Hanhan.

In other words, he was seeing what Hanhan was seeing. Hanhan was transmitting the battlefield scene she observed to him through brainwaves, which was why he could grasp the battlefield so precisely.

This discovery delighted Li Tianran.

Since arriving on the Island of Frenzied Breath, everyone had been frantically consuming beast king flesh, but Li Tianran had never paid attention to how powerful Hanhan's Cerebro abilities had become, or how large her coverage area was. Only now did Li Tianran realize that Hanhan's brainwaves had become so powerful that they could cover a battlefield of nearly two kilometers!

However, coverage did not mean influence!

Coverage was observation.

Hanhan could not yet use brainwaves to influence objects within a two-kilometer radius. Her brainwave influence range was… 300 meters!