It was a Barbary lion, completely beastified.
His eyes were wild and manic, his enormous body charging recklessly, every step making the very ground tremble.
There were many soldiers from the First Army controlling the scene, but those soldiers seemed to be wary of something, not daring to strike him with full force.
Qin Mo's pupils dilated.
There weren't many males in the Federation with SS-rank abilities, and Qin Mo didn't know all of them.
But this Barbary lion just happened to be among the males he recognized.
Commander of the First Army, Leo.
Qin Mo had grown up hearing about Leo's legendary feats. It was because of Leo that he had joined the Federation Army.
So he never imagined that the male who lost control today would be Leo.
Though he knew that most Federation soldiers met their end in death, such an outcome for any soldier was worse than being killed by the Zerg.
Qin Mo took a deep breath, suppressing the grief in his heart, and joined the team trying to contain the situation.
Those First Army soldiers were unwilling to lay heavy hands on their commander, and the scene was already slipping out of control.
The sudden appearance of a massive white tiger caught them all by surprise.
But having help still gave them some breathing room.
In the warship forced to land in the distance, the pilot in charge of controlling the vessel was frantic.
"Lord Zhiwei has gone to the Third Army's garrison and can't make it back in time. Have you gotten in touch with Lord Yulu?"
"No, Lord Yulu hasn't replied to any messages."
"Why of all times do we lose contact now!" The lead pilot slammed his fist on the control console. "Are we really going to have to resort to the final measure against the Commander?"
The co-pilot's eyes were filled with sorrow, but soon, he noticed a massive white tiger appearing in the footage transmitted by the tracker.
His eyes widened. "Where did this white tiger come from? It can actually withstand the Commander's attacks!"
"White tiger..." The lead pilot quickly looked over, then his face lit up. "This seems to be Deputy Qin from the Twenty-Third Army!"
Thank goodness. Deputy Qin was an S-rank ability user. With him joining the fight, there was hope of bringing the situation under control.
If they could successfully control it, they wouldn't have to resort to the final measure.
The lead pilot made an immediate decision. "You stay here and guard the warship. Keep trying to contact Lord Yulu. I'm going to help too."
The co-pilot nodded and continued sending messages to Yulu via his optical brain.
The lead pilot transformed into his beast form and rushed out of the warship, quickly reaching the out-of-control Leo.
·
Under the escort of Xuan Yu and Fu Shiyi, Yunyang quickly arrived at a safe zone.
The moment she landed, she grabbed Fu Shiyi's hand. "Fu Shiyi, I'm safe here. Go help Qin Mo."
The situation earlier had been too frantic—she hadn't even had a chance to bestow her blessing on Qin Mo.
The fact that even the Federation Army couldn't control the situation and had to evacuate the crowd meant that the rampaging male had to be of a very high ability rank. She was worried something might happen to Qin Mo.
Among her three beast husbands, Fu Shiyi had the strongest ability.
Fu Shiyi looked at her heavily. "Mistress, your safety comes first."
"Xuan Yu is here, so I won't be in danger." Yunyang looked at the frost wolf who had followed them. "If either of you gets hurt, I'll be very worried."
Fu Shiyi was silent for a moment, then turned to look at Xuan Yu.
"Protect the Mistress."
Xuan Yu shifted back to human form and shot him a glare. "Do you even need to say that?"
The Mistress's safety mattered more to him than his own life.
Only then did Fu Shiyi turn to leave.
Just before he went, Yunyang suddenly grabbed his hand and bestowed her blessing on him with all her ability.
Her ability had grown a lot over the past few days. The duration of her blessing on a single S-rank ability user had extended considerably—probably around seven or eight minutes.
She didn't know if the blessing would fade if Fu Shiyi got too far from her, but if she didn't do something, she'd be worried sick.
Before this, Yunyang had absorbed Zerg cores whenever she had the chance, so Fu Shiyi knew she had some kind of ability—he just didn't know what it specifically was.
So now, he was visibly taken aback.
He didn't ask further. He bent down and pressed a kiss to the corner of Yunyang's lips before turning and rushing back.
He could use his ability to boost his flight speed, so the round trip didn't take too long.
But in that brief window of time, Qin Mo had already been injured.
Fu Shiyi's arrival let Qin Mo breathe a sigh of relief, but almost immediately, his heart clenched again.
If Fu Shiyi was here, then where was the Mistress?
"Xuan Yu is over there." Seeing his worry, Fu Shiyi explained briefly before joining the fight.
He had already been just a hair's breadth away from SS-rank, and with Yunyang's blessing, his current ability was no different from SS-rank.
With him, Qin Mo, and the Federation soldiers working together, after a fierce battle, the situation was finally stabilized.
The Barbary lion was bound with the most durable restraint straps, and no matter how he struggled, he could no longer cause chaos.
The Federation soldiers all shifted back to human form one by one.
The execution officer from the First Army who had been responsible for escorting Leo to the Purification Tower walked up to Qin Mo and Fu Shiyi, saluting with the utmost solemnity.
"Deputy Qin, Designer Fu, thank you for your help."
Qin Mo returned the salute. "What exactly happened? How did Commander Leo suddenly..."
He remembered that just a few months ago, Commander Leo's contamination value had still been stable below 90.
"As Deputy Qin knows, the Zerg Queen's breeding season is approaching. Not long ago, some Zerg came to scout our territory."
"The Commander led us to successfully repel the Zerg, but because we couldn't administer the suppressant in time, his contamination value spiraled out of control."
"We had hoped the Commander could hold out until we reached the Purification Tower, but who would have thought that on the way..."
The execution officer couldn't bear to continue.
The Commander had fought for the Federation for so many years. If he knew he had become like this, he would probably rather have died on the battlefield.
Qin Mo, of course, knew about the breeding season, but he hadn't expected the Zerg to make a move this early.
Wasn't it still three months away?
He frowned and continued to ask, "What is Commander Leo's contamination value?"
He could only hope that Leo's contamination value hadn't reached 100 yet—otherwise, it would be a devastating blow to the First Army, and even the entire Federation Army.
Fu Shiyi's gaze fell on the restrained Barbary lion, and he quickly gave a precise number.
"99. But to be more accurate, it's 99.9—infinitely close to 100."
Qin Mo whipped his head around.
Only 0.1 away.
If he couldn't be purified in time, Commander Leo would likely become a completely mindless beast.
Only a Lord with mental strength above S-rank could purify an SS-rank ability user. That was also why Leo, who had gone without the suppressant, had lost control so quickly.
In the entire Federation, there were only three Lords with S-rank mental strength.
At that moment, the lead pilot stepped forward. "Execution Officer, Lord Zhiwei is at the Third Army's garrison, and Lord Yulu... can't be reached."
"What did you say?" The execution officer couldn't believe his ears.
One Lord was far away on a border planet, and the other was unreachable—did that mean...
The execution officer's eyes reddened.
God of Beasts, why were they being so cruel to their Commander?
The main pilot was also grief-stricken, but still offered words of comfort: "Chief Executive, Lord Zhiwei said she would rush back as soon as possible. As long as the Commander can hold on, there's still hope."
