Ultragene Warlord

Chapter 271: Unfathomable Greed

Unfortunately, Zhang Lie's plan didn't have any effect in the short term, and there were outsiders who viewed all of this as a joke.
For example, when Zhou Ying arrived at the Galewind settlement and relayed what Zhang Lie had told her, she was met with considerable disbelief; indeed, there were even a few people who suspected that Zhang Lie was planning something big here and was hoping to get them out of the way before it happened.

These people dug their heels in and refused to leave.
They announced that, as fans of Zhang Lie, they wanted to see what was going on, that they would surely only play the role of a bystander.

Of course, most of these people were hoping that they could claim some misplaced loot in the bargain, but they had hardly thought to consider the disparity in strength between them and Zhang Lie.

Zhou Ying tried to persuade them as hard as she could, but they only became more and more stubborn.
Sighing, Zhou Ying gave up and teleported back to the real world.

Following Zhang Lie's instructions, she contacted the Blackwind Fort.
Su Feng was currently in the midst of training his soldiers.
When he received the call from Zhou Ying, he was rather surprised—Zhang Lie had always contacted him directly, rather than letting his subordinates do so.

“What's the matter, Zhou Ying?”

“Commander Su Feng, our captain has indicated that there will be an imminent disaster in the first realm of the dimensional world.
He asked me to inform you to have all the soldiers in the first realm retreat, then to sound a red alert and have all civilian hunters, at least from China, do the same!”

Zhou Ying spoke so quickly that it took Su Feng a few additional seconds to process her words.

“The red alert—Zhou Ying, can you tell me precisely what's going on?” Su Feng asked.
Despite knowing Zhang Lie and the rest of Team Zenith well, what Zhang Lie was asking for was too important for Su Feng to proceed without any further information.

“I'm sorry, Commander Su Feng, but I don't know what's going on either.
Based on what my captain told me, there's about to be an impending disaster in the dimensional world, so please, act as quickly as you can!”

Zhou Ying hung up decisively; even if Su Feng pressed her for more information, she had none to give. 

Next, she informed the remaining hunters of Team Zenith to head back to the real world.
When they returned and saw her waiting for them, they immediately peppered her with questions.

“Zhou Ying, what's going on? Where's the captain?”

“There turned out to be an irregularity in the region I was patrolling, and he's checking on it himself.
He told me to inform you that, from now on, without his express order, no one from the Zenith Dojo is to enter the first realm of the dimensional world.”

“Even us? What's going on? Just what happened in your region?” Fang Yi asked.

“There wasn't anything much.
In the evening, one of the rivers in the region I was responsible for began to froth all of a sudden, with far more bubbles than there used to be.
After that, our captain told me to return and warn everyone of an impending disaster.
He even wants Commander Su Feng to announce a red alert!”

“What?” Sun Mengmeng exclaimed.
What sort of disaster would necessitate such a response? If not for the fact that Zhang Lie had commanded them not to enter, they would surely try to help him out.
“We have to do something, don't we? Otherwise…”

Her words were met with fierce agreement from the crowd.

“Right, there has to be something we can do! If our captain doesn't want us to interfere in what's going on within the dimensional world, we can at least help out on the outside.
Can't we work together with Commanders Su Feng and Yan Long to warn everyone?”

Everyone from the Zenith Dojo quickly left the first realm, urged by Zhang Lie and the rest of Team Zenith.
In the outside world, however, except for the hunters affiliated with the military, who had received direct orders from their commanding officers, the hunters by and large refused to believe Zhang Lie's words.

“Disasters” in the first realm were commonplace, and every few months, there would be a stampede of lifeforms that each settlement had to face.
However, the military had never before announced a red alert for such an event.

From these errant hunters' perspective, the military was about to launch a big incursion against something or another, and if they obediently followed the military's instructions, they would lose out on whatever benefits they could otherwise have obtained.

As a result, they began to hide from the military and refused to leave the dimensional world.
Of course, these hunters were just a vocal minority.
Given the combined warnings by the military and the hunters of Team Zenith, most civilian hunters chose to believe their words and to leave the first realm.

In the Galewind settlement, for instance, around 70% of hunters ultimately listened to Zhou Ying's advice and departed, and other settlements behaved similarly.

The remaining 30% of hunters within the Galewind settlement, at the eye of the impending storm, knew that Zhou Ying was broadly responsible for surveilling the region around the Galewind Lake.
If they wanted to obtain any goodies, they had to be present at the scene, so all of them quickly set off for the Galewind Lake.

Given Zhang Lie's strength, none of them dared to disrespect him, but Zhang Lie wouldn't be able to chase them all away, either.
After trying to persuade them to leave to no avail, Zhang Lie gave up.
In the end, he established three directives: first, not to make a loud disturbance; second, not to randomly activate a technique or summon up genetic energy; third, not to summon any objects, or to get within a hundred meters of the lake.

Anyone who disobeyed would die.

After that, the spectators' hubbub quickly died down.
From Zhang Lie's perspective, if these hunters wanted to die, then so be it.
He had no intention of using his genetic energy to save them once the disaster-grade lifeform broke into this world.

The spectators all eyed the lake while cursing Zhang Lie's domineering behavior deep within their hearts.
It was clear that he had done something to the lake, and while no hunter would be stupid enough to break Zhang Lie's three directives now, once something big began to happen, they would take advantage of the chaos to strike.

They were greedily imagining their spoils from this battle, but they didn't realize just how insignificant their strength would be relative to their target.

Would a disaster-grade lifeform, even heavily wounded, be so easy to kill? If so, Zhang Lie wouldn't have chased out even the members of Team Zenith.
After all, the more people were present, the more people would obtain disaster gene fragments as a result.

If it were feasible, Zhang Lie would gladly have called everyone from Team Zenith over, but their ultimate probability of survival would be so low that Zhang Lie didn't dare take such a gamble.
Team Zenith was an elite team that he had spent so much energy and time building, and it would be a waste of his efforts if they were all to perish here.

Night fell.
Beyond a hundred meters of the lake, the spectating hunters lit fires and lamps, providing a stark contrast to the pitch darkness that lay above the lake.
Some hunters began to roast meat, to party, to consume alcohol.

Over 60% of hunters in the first realm of the dimensional world had evacuated because of this emergency, but where the danger was most imminent, a number of greedy, idiotic hunters wined and feasted.

Zhang Lie couldn't help but feel as though he were in a dream, until his gaze turned back to the frothing surface of the lake.
He hoped that the disaster-grade lifeform would make an appearance quickly so as to teach the greedy spectators a lesson, but alas, it was not to be.
The bubbles continued frothing, but no other change seemed forthcoming.