The villains are redeemed, and the heroines cry and beg for forgiveness.

Besides the giant-like gorillas, there were also some "air force" members among the beast horde. They looked down at the ground, and some of them tried to rush into the inner city of Azure Dragon City, but they fell down with a thud when they flew over the Dragon Blood River, following in the footsteps of the beasts in front.

Upon seeing this, the other ferocious beasts hesitated. Apart from a few beasts whose rationality had dropped to zero or even turned negative, who were completely oblivious to the principle of seeking advantage and avoiding harm and continued to fly forward recklessly, only to fall down again, the other flying beasts began to turn around and attack the slums.

Although many fortresses were built in the slums, and they were very sturdy, they were still difficult to stop the attack of the berserk beasts.

The fortress defenses retreated step by step, flattened and destroyed.

Countless warriors had their hearts ripped out by claws, their necks pierced by sharp teeth, and their bodies torn apart by ferocious beasts, littering the ground.

The sounds of wailing, crying, cursing, roaring, collapsing, and shattering intertwined, creating a battlefield symphony.

A huge tiger walked gracefully towards them. It was as tall as a two-story building, and its eyes were blood red. However, it did not have the same desire to attack as the other ordinary ferocious beasts. It did not even glance at the humans who were fleeing in disarray around it.

It simply twitched its nose and looked around inquiringly.

"This ferocious beast seems to be looking for something. Have I been discovered?" Gu Ran also saw the ferocious tiger and wondered if he should retreat first and avoid getting involved in the incident before figuring out the situation.

However, Gu Ran stopped immediately, sensing that some people were lurking in the shadows.

"action!"

Just then, a group of soldiers in standard military uniforms suddenly rushed out of a building, carrying huge crossbows, while a huge and ferocious weapon was slowly pushed out from behind them.

"A Star Stone Cannon?" Gu Ran's heart skipped a beat.

The city defense cannons of later generations were not developed overnight, but gradually evolved through the iteration of various star stone cannons over the previous hundreds of years.

But if this really is the era of that legendary tyrant, then shouldn't he be very opposed to Starstone Technology?

Is the legend wrong, or is there another hidden story?

Soldiers wielding massive crossbows surrounded the ferocious giant tiger from several different directions. Then, with a bang, several crossbows fired in succession, and several huge, specially made fishing nets descended from the sky, covering the ferocious giant tiger.

The ferocious giant tiger dodged the first few fishing nets, but was caught in the last one and couldn't break free, roaring repeatedly.

The specially made fishing net quickly began to have several holes torn in it by the ferocious giant tiger. In just a little while, it would be able to break free and devour all the humans who dared to offend it.

"We've trapped it! But time is running out! Hurry!"

The soldiers shouted loudly.

The Star Stone Cannon, slowly being pushed forward, gradually pointed at the ferocious giant tiger in the distance, its massive, black, and thick muzzle gleaming with a terrifying luster.

"Starstone loading, artillerymen in position, prepare—"

The squad commander, holding a small blue flag, looked at his team members who were locked in combat with the ferocious giant tiger, waved it vigorously, and shouted loudly:

"The Starstone Cannons are ready. Retreat immediately! Retreat!"

The soldiers immediately shot an arrow with a rope attached to it, which landed on a tall building not far away. The next moment, their bodies began to rise into the air as the rope tightened, quickly ascending towards the building.

"Roar!"

The ferocious giant tiger broke free from the specially made fishing net that it had torn to shreds. A cruel glint flashed in its eyes. It leaped up and slammed its claws into one of the soldiers who was about to escape, smashing his body to the ground and turning him into a pool of blood and flesh.

Then it used its claws to hook a boulder on the ground, slapped it away, and crushed another soldier who had already flown to the rooftop, killing him.

However, because they were fleeing separately, the ferocious giant tiger only had time to kill two people. Taking advantage of this time, the others successfully moved to the top of a high-rise building and then quickly disappeared on the rooftop.

The squad commander's eyes were bloodshot, but he didn't move an inch. Instead, he swung the flag he was holding down hard and roared, "Fire!"

As the sound faded, the long-prepared weapons of war finally began to display their ferocity.

"boom!"

As the cannonball was launched, the Star Stone cannonball bounced, the stone slab beneath the cannon base cracked in a wavy pattern, the sound of the Star Stone cannon was deafening, and the windows of the nearby buildings were completely shattered.

The ferocious giant tiger froze, its fur standing on end. It turned to the left at top speed, narrowly avoiding the cannonball before it hit.

Before the ferocious giant tiger could even breathe a sigh of relief, the cannonball that had just brushed past it suddenly veered off course and flew back towards it.

This time, the ferocious giant tiger had no time to dodge and was hit directly.

The shell exploded violently the instant it hit the ferocious giant tiger, sending countless fragments of starstone flying into its body.

A small mushroom cloud rose from the spot, and the smoke and dust completely enveloped the ferocious giant tiger, while the other ferocious beasts around it were swept into corners by the airflow like garbage.

"Ouch——"

As the smoke and dust slowly dissipated, the ferocious giant tiger was revealed.

With just one strike, the ferocious giant tiger suffered a massive wound, collapsing to the ground covered in blood, on the verge of death. If it were to be stopped by human strength, even a martial arts expert at the Qi Condensation stage might not be able to defeat it.

But now, it has been severely damaged by just one Star Stone Cannon and a tactical squad without any strong members.

The cost of training such a tactical squad is far less than that of training a martial arts Qi Condensation expert. In other words, the cost of training a "gunner" who calibrates and manipulates the shells is slightly higher. Although the tactical squad also sacrificed two people to deal with this ferocious giant tiger, in terms of cost, it is much more profitable than sending a martial arts Qi Condensation expert to resist it.

Such scenes were constantly unfolding in every corner of the battlefield, with countless tactical squads relying on the starstone cannons previously hidden in various fortresses to ambush and kill the elite-level ferocious beasts one by one.

Meanwhile, the ordinary ferocious beasts that had advanced into the rear of the slums encountered a defensive line of machine gun fire, which turned them into piles of mincemeat.

Some flying beasts attempted to swoop down from high altitudes and attack the soldiers at the machine gun positions with their claws, but the soldiers were prepared. As soon as the flying beasts descended, they were strafed by the machine guns specifically designed to deal with them and exploded in mid-air.

However, some elite flying beasts were not afraid of the machine gun bullets. After diving to the machine gun position, they flapped their wings and created a small tornado on the spot, which swept away the machine guns and personnel.

But before those elite flying beasts could take off again, the star stone cannons hidden on the high-rise fortress fired shells at them, blasting them into a pile of minced meat, and blood fell to the ground like rain.

The entire battlefield was filled with broken walls, rubble, and chunks of flesh and blood, resembling a living hell.

"So this is what a 'gunner' is? How do they guide the trajectory of the shells?"

Hidden in the shadows, Gu Ran watched the gunner operate the Star Stone Cannon, his heart filled with curiosity.

In later generations, the position of artilleryman has long since disappeared, and the artilleryman's skill in manipulating the trajectory of starstone cannonballs has also been lost. People of later generations have no idea how artillerymen were able to accurately aim at distant enemies and manipulate cannonballs to change their trajectory.

Faced with the attack of the beast tide, every major city has been equipped with city defense cannons. These cannons utilize modern technology to accurately locate elite-level beasts. When the cannons fire, they no longer fire cannonballs, but energy beams that travel at the speed of light. The elite-level beasts have no time to dodge and will be killed.

The city defense legions are responsible for dealing with the large number of ordinary ferocious beasts in the beast tide. Each legion is equipped with ordinary firearms developed by modern Star Stone Technology. The advantage of these firearms is that they are simple to operate and inexpensive. Even an ordinary person without any superpowers or martial arts skills can use them to kill ordinary ferocious beasts.

In this day and age, although machine guns capable of shooting down ferocious beasts have been invented, those machine guns have an archaic design, are difficult to operate, and are probably not cheap to manufacture, so there are not many of them, and they are only equipped on the last line of defense.

Centuries of development in Star Stone technology have greatly improved humanity's ability to deal with beast tides. Although some people still die, they no longer pose a significant threat, and the beast tides can't even reach the edge of the inner city.

Some major cities have even used the beast tides as a clever way to reduce the unchecked population growth in the slums. As long as the population of the slums is controlled and outstanding talents emerging from the slums are accepted to a certain extent, the social structure of the major city will remain "stable" and there will not be any major "social problems".

"But if the legendary tyrant was in power in Canglong City at this time, why would there be so many Star Stone weapons? Wasn't he madly hostile to all Star Stone technology? Star Stone weapons are Star Stone technology, aren't they?"

Gu Ran became increasingly interested in the ruler of Canglong City.

However, now was not the time to enter the inner city to investigate. After seeing that the beast tide's offensive was gradually weakening and that humanity had secured victory, Gu Ran headed towards the direction where Xue Xiling and the others were.

"We've won! We've won! That's fantastic!"

"We've wiped out the beast tide!"

The survivors cheered loudly.

Almost everyone on them was covered in wounds, their faces smeared with dust and grime, but at that moment, every single one of them wore a happy smile.

At that moment, the soldiers transferred from the inner city and the ordinary soldiers from the slums became one, some even forming camaraderie and embracing each other.

"Whether it was hundreds of years ago or later, Canglong City should be considered the most tolerant of the poor among all the major cities..." Gu Ran took in everything along the way.

"But people in the slums are still considered inferior to those in the inner city. This social system is still a cannibalistic society, and people in the inner city live a happy life by feeding the people in the slums."

Gu Ran began to ponder.

However, this system has been in operation for thousands of years and has a very strong stability, which proves that it conforms to the reality of human society to a certain extent.

"If you make changes arbitrarily, it may not necessarily make things better."

Gu Ran shook his head inwardly, then continued to think.

"If we rely on the advancement of Star Stone Technology, as long as Star Stone Technology becomes more and more advanced, it can solve the problem of the beast tide. Then the slums will no longer need to serve as a barrier for the main city, and we will no longer have to rely on the beast tide to consume the excess population of the slums due to food shortages."

This is the best solution Gu Ran could think of, or at least the best solution he believed in.

Technology is the primary productive force. As technology advances and productivity increases, it will affect the economic base and thus the superstructure.

This system of separating inner-city areas from slums, with the slums acting as a barrier, is the most obvious and deeply felt "superstructure" of our time.

Putting aside his thoughts for the time being, Gu Ran returned to the building where Xue Xiling and the others were staying before nightfall.

Gu Ran was relieved to find that Xue Xiling and the others had all returned safely without incident.

"Leng Ran, you're back!" Xue Xiling ran over happily, carefully looked Gu Ran up and down, and then said with a sigh of relief, "It's so good that you're not hurt!"

“I said it’s alright, so it’s alright.” Gu Ran nodded to Xue Xiling, then said to Wu Wang and the others behind him, “The beast tide has passed. Let’s spend the night here and explore the inner city tomorrow.”

No one present had any objections. It was already late, and it was indeed not a good time to explore the inner city. Moreover, they were already unable to cross the Dragon Blood River, and they would have to find a way to get through it tomorrow.

Gu Ran blocked the hole he had made with a stone, preventing outsiders from seeing them inside. He, on the other hand, could sense whether anyone was watching them by blending into his surroundings.

Time flies by like flowing water.

Seemingly due to the stress of the day, everyone was quite tired and quickly fell asleep.

Gu Ran felt sleepy and yawned, thinking that she should just fall asleep and get some rest.

But then Gu Ran felt a sudden tightness in his chest.

wrong!

With my physical condition, I can go without sleep for ten days or half a month without any problem, so how could I feel so sleepy in less than a day?

Gu Ran glanced around and found that everyone except him had fallen asleep.

At the same time, Gu Ran sensed that the external environment was changing rapidly.