Chapter 270: Blood-red Fortress
Early the next morning, a bus that looked like a steel behemoth was driving out of Morninglight Base.
The vehicle’s destination was a checkpoint in the Furious Flood Dragon Mountain Range. Passing through that checkpoint would allow entry into the area of the Endless Tree Sea.
At this moment, Zhou Ming was seated inside the bus.
As the bus continued forward, various other buses—also resembling steel behemoths—gradually appeared around it. Some were heading toward checkpoints guarded by Alliance troops, while others were returning to Morninglight Base.
In addition to these, many heavily armored combat vehicles with fierce firepower could be seen.
These mostly belonged to different hunting corps.
Although the Endless Tree Sea was dangerous, the benefits hidden within still attracted many forces to proactively venture inside.
When the sun rose to the zenith, a massive fortress entered Zhou Ming’s field of vision.
A city wall stretching several kilometers in length and nearly a hundred meters in height stood towering and majestic. The metallic sheen rippling across the walls made it feel as if the structure had been cast from molten iron.
Zhou Ming was now fairly well-informed. At a glance, he recognized that the fortress walls were constructed from Sinking Star Stone.
The hardness of this material was already close to that of a first-tier spiritual material ore. Combined with the various enhancement runes engraved on the surface of the walls, Zhou Ming estimated that even Transcendent-level experts would find it difficult to shake the fortress before him.
Coupled with anti-air energy shields and all kinds of concealed strategic heavy weapons, only Legendary existences could pose a real threat to the fortress’s safety.
The fortress’s official name was Blood-red Fortress. It was quite renowned along the defensive line of the Furious Flood Dragon Mountain Range and could rank within the top ten of the fortress list.
“Blood-red Fortress, we’re here.”
As the bus stopped at the fortress gate, the driver called out for the passengers to get off.
“I didn’t expect there to be so many Professional Beast Tamers entering the Endless Tree Sea.”
After getting off, Zhou Ming saw more than a thousand people lingering near the fortress gate, with no fewer than a hundred Professional Beast Tamers among them.
Even among hunters who had not advanced to Professional Beast Tamer status, Zhou Ming could sense an extremely intense Killing Aura on them—an aura tempered through life-and-death struggles.
He had even spotted no fewer than a dozen people wearing Thunder Type-2 Revolvers strapped to their thighs, a weapon that Zhou Ming had once regarded as one of his trump cards.
Whether in quality or quantity, the Beast Tamers and hunters on the Alliance’s eastern front were far stronger than those in the Alliance’s north.
After sweeping his gaze around, Zhou Ming—wearing a Saint Elephant Type-3 Combat Suit—walked toward the interior of the fortress.
In the next instant, a bustling scene filled with the stench of blood rushed into view.
There were giants patrolling with firearms, vendors sitting casually on the ground, and shouts of hawking echoing all around.
Weapons, potions—Transcendent equipment was practically everywhere, though naturally all of it was ordinary-grade Transcendent equipment.
As for martial arts manuals, Beast Taming secret techniques, and various spells, Zhou Ming saw plenty of them as he wandered about.
“Six-tusk Mammoth calves for sale! Highest bidder wins!”
Just as Zhou Ming was marveling at the environment inside the fortress, someone nearby loudly advertised Ferocious Beast cubs.
“Six-tusk Mammoth calves?”
Seeing the surrounding crowd surge over, Zhou Ming had not expected cubs of such a high-tier Ferocious Beast to be sold directly on the street.
The Six-tusk Mammoth had ivory of uneven lengths growing from both sides of its mouth, shaped like crescent moons. From afar, they resembled sharp serrated blades.
Their hardness and sharpness were sufficient to pierce the armor of ordinary combat vehicles.
An adult Six-tusk Mammoth, relying on its terrifying strength and defensive power, ranked among the top ten overlords of low-tier Ferocious Beasts.
Compared to ordinary low-tier Ferocious Beasts, this species faced much lower difficulty when advancing to high-tier Ferocious Beasts. In the north, they were usually auctioned off in formal auction houses.
Before Zhou Ming could even approach, bidding voices rang out from afar.
The opening bid was a direct ten million Alliance Coins.
Although the price was not quoted in Source Crystal Coins, it was still exorbitantly high.
After all, the Tusked Battle Boar that Wang Yan’s father had bought for him back then had only cost two to three million.
As for more common low-tier Ferocious Beasts—such as Ironfang Hounds or Jungle Wolves—they usually went for only tens of thousands of Alliance Coins.
Even so, ordinary families would have to exhaust their savings just to purchase a common low-tier Ferocious Beast as a Beast Taming partner.
If someone had better talent and could handle a superior Ferocious Beast, they generally had no choice but to enlist in the military and obtain the required Beast Taming resources through the Alliance armed forces.
The reason the Alliance officially possessed over a hundred Transcendent-level experts was precisely because many talented citizens, due to their backgrounds, were forced to enlist in order to acquire resources.
Just as Zhou Ming was about to go take a closer look, a soft, boneless slender hand reached toward his chest.
In the next moment, Zhou Ming’s iron-clamp-like hand seized the other party.
Turning his head, he saw a woman dressed rather revealingly, her hair tied in a ponytail, attempting to steal from him.
Caught in the act, panic flashed through the woman’s eyes, but she reacted almost instantly.
“Non—”
Before the word “molestation” could even leave her throat, Zhou Ming’s eyes erupted with Throne Power of the Dark-gold Serpent Pupils.
In the woman’s mind, a gigantic python from the primordial wilderness instantly manifested, devouring her remaining rationality. Terror spread through her heart, leaving her completely incapable of resistance.
Had Zhou Ming not supported her, she might have already collapsed to the ground.
“Interesting. You chose to steal from me. What do you think should be done?”
Encountering theft for the first time, Zhou Ming instead found it somewhat amusing. Holding her waist as if she were a lover, he questioned her calmly.
“M-My lord, I was wrong.”
Seeing the faint smile at the corner of Zhou Ming’s lips, the woman felt as if a colossal python were staring at her, ready to swallow her whole at any moment.
Regret flooded her heart. Why had she chosen the wrong target this time?
Zhou Ming had entered the fortress looking around curiously, clearly appearing to be a first-timer. Coupled with his young appearance, she had assumed he was here merely to broaden his horizons.
Among wealthy young heirs with a taste for novelty, such cases were not unheard of.
After all, not everyone who came to the fortress was heading into the Endless Tree Sea—some were simply traders.
“Making a mistake requires punishment.”
“My lord, if you like, I can accompany you.”
Upon hearing the word “punishment,” the woman unhesitatingly pulled down her shoulder strap, as if willing to submit to Zhou Ming’s ravaging.
To her, treating her body as a commodity was already second nature. If she could cling to a powerhouse like Zhou Ming, that would be even better.
“Heh. I’m not interested in your body. Do you know where valuable items are sold?”
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhou Ming released her. Holding her for too long would have been too conspicuous.
However, to prevent her from running, an ordinary Ironthread Snake slipped into the woman’s bra.
“I do. I do.”
Feeling the Ironthread Snake slither against her chest, the slick sensation instantly made her scalp go numb. She dared not harbor even the slightest ulterior thought.
When answering Zhou Ming’s question, her voice even carried a hint of sobbing.
“That’s good. Lead the way. If you lie to me, I can’t guarantee where the Ironthread Snake inside your clothes might crawl. It might even…”
As Zhou Ming pointed below her abdomen, the woman’s body immediately began to tremble.
A demon.
At this moment, the woman’s gaze toward Zhou Ming was filled with fear. She hurriedly led the way, not daring to hesitate in the slightest.