Reborn as a lotus, she initially refuses to hand it over to the state.

But His roar was destined to be in vain, for Chu Zhou's spiritual projection had already dissipated.

Only Xuanjia remained guarding the entrance to the underground river. It glanced at the strange rocks, then at the newly appearing water ripples on its shell. Its gaze hardened. Since its master had entrusted it with guarding this place, from this day forward, the underground river would be Xuanjia's territory.

No polluting organisms are allowed to set foot in Heilong Lake.

At the same time, in the center of Black Dragon Lake, the blue lotus swayed, and Chu Zhou's consciousness completely returned to his body.

The lake surface rippled, and a large amount of moonlight cascaded down like a waterfall. Chu Zhou sensed the changes within his body.

Having just devoured the source and purified the polluted crystal core, my evolution points have increased significantly.

Although he was still some distance from the sixth rank, he was already much faster than before, but Chu Zhou did not relax because of this.

The underground city made him realize that the secrets hidden in this world were even more terrifying than those in his previous life.

Just then, a system notification sounded: "Ding, abnormal fluctuations in the spiritual energy of heaven and earth have been detected, and high-intensity energy reactions have been detected in multiple areas."

"Scanning..."

As the notification sound faded, a virtual map of the Nine Provinces appeared out of thin air in front of Chu Zhou.

One by one, the red dots on the screen lit up.

Qinling Mountains, Changbai Mountains, Shennongjia, Kunlun Mountains, East China Sea—each red dot represents an unusual fluctuation of spiritual energy.

Especially in the Qinling Mountains, the energy fluctuations are the most intense.

Chu Zhou's gaze instantly turned serious: "Qinling, could it be that the White Ape King has awakened ahead of schedule?"

In his previous life, and in the future among the many rulers of forbidden zones, the White Ape King was definitely a very special one, because he did not rise to power through slaughter, but through wisdom.

After the first spiritual energy surge in my previous life, a fifth-tier spiritual fruit tree appeared deep in the Qinling Mountains.

Countless exotic beasts fought fiercely for it; at the time, there were more than ten fourth-tier exotic beasts alone, and the battle lasted for three days and three nights.

The entire mountain range was covered in blood, and the one who ultimately obtained the spiritual fruit was the White Ape King.

After consuming the spiritual fruit, it successfully broke through to the fifth rank, becoming one of the earliest masters of forbidden zones in China. However, what is truly terrifying is not its strength, but its wisdom.

It is said that after the White Ape King broke through, he took the initiative to restrain his beasts and prevent them from launching large-scale attacks on human cities.

At the same time, they began to gather various strange beast groups in the Qinling Mountains and establish their own power. In the later stages, even the prototype of a beast city appeared deep in the Qinling Mountains.

Many mythical beasts divided their territories according to rank, forming an extremely strict order.

The peak period of the Qinling Forbidden Zone in my previous life.

There are more than twenty fifth-tier beast kings alone, and dozens of exotic beast races such as apes, wolves, bears, eagles, and snakes have all submitted to the White Ape King.

As a result, the three large base cities surrounding the Qinling Mountains were completely sealed off.

Tens of millions of people live under the shadow of the beast tide every day.

Thinking of this, Chu Zhou's expression turned serious.

The most terrifying aspect of the White Ape King was never its strength, but its ability to rule; it was a being who truly understood how to manage power.

Currently, they coexist peacefully with humans and other strange beasts, but that doesn't mean there won't be conflicts in the future.

Thinking of this, Chu Zhou withdrew his gaze. The White Ape King's premature awakening was not good news.

But he wasn't too worried, because he was the one who was truly ahead of the game.

The lake surface returned to calm, and the blue lotus took root in the heart of the lake.

Countless roots spread into the ground, constantly devouring and refining a large amount of spiritual energy from heaven and earth.

Meanwhile, in Beijing, the headquarters of the Ninth Bureau was brightly lit in the highest conference room.

The huge long table was filled with people on both sides, including military representatives, heads of the Academy of Sciences, and directors of various war zone bureaus.

The atmosphere in the meeting room was tense, because what was laid out in front of everyone was not an ordinary document, but a top-secret report that had just been compiled.

National Restricted Area Hazard Level Assessment Report.

Zhou Zhenshan sat in the main seat, closed the file, glanced at everyone, and said, "Have you all finished reading?"

No one spoke; the meeting room was so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

After a moment, Zhao Guofeng, the head of the Northeast Theater Command, spoke first: "The situation in Changbai Mountain has deteriorated. According to the latest intelligence, the tiger king has devoured three more alien beast groups."

"The black bear pack was wiped out, the snow wolf pack was wiped out, and even a herd of mutated bison was slaughtered by it."

At this point, Zhao Guofeng's face turned grim: "Now all the strange beasts around Changbai Mountain are fleeing; they are hunting down all living things."

The people in the conference room looked solemn, because they all knew what this meant: Tiger King was getting stronger, and at a very rapid pace.

Just then, a middle-aged officer suddenly sneered, "Then kill it."

The speaker was tall with a hideous scar on his face, and his military uniform shoulder insignia were particularly conspicuous. He was Lei Zhenyue, the representative of the Eastern Theater Command.

Lei Zhenyue, the most famous advocate for war within the Ninth Bureau and a notoriously tough figure, slammed the documents on the table and said coldly, "I've said it before, these beasts shouldn't be allowed to live. The spiritual energy has only been recovering for a short time, and already one forbidden zone lord after another is starting to emerge. Give them another six months, and who can suppress them?"

Lei Zhenyue: "I propose that we immediately carry out the decapitation plan, prioritizing the attack on the Changbai Mountain Tiger King, followed by the Qinling White Ape, and finally Shennongjia."

"Kill them all; better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free."

A commotion broke out in the meeting room, with many people frowning. Li Yuanqing, the president of the Academy of Sciences, was the first to object: "General Lei, things are not that simple."

Lei Zhenyue sneered, "What's so difficult about it? Not enough missiles? Or not enough artillery shells?"

Li Yuanqing shook his head and said, "That's not the problem. Have you thought about what to do if we can't kill him?"

Lei Zhenyue's face darkened, and Li Yuanqing continued, "The Lingnan Black Dragon Mountain incident is the best example, up to this day."

We don't even know the true strength of that Azure Lotus Lord. The display above showed it to be at the fifth rank, but what about its growth rate now? If we rashly start a war, who will bear the consequences?

Upon hearing the words "Lord of the Azure Lotus," the conference room fell silent once more. Everyone knew that the most mysterious forbidden zone in the country was none other than Black Dragon Mountain in Lingnan, where no beast tide had been unleashed.

They have no history of attacking cities or even intentionally harming people, but the more they do so, the more people are wary of them.

The Northwest Theater Command leader said, "Actually, I'm more worried about the Qinling Mountains. According to intelligence, that white ape has begun to gather the surrounding alien beast forces."

"In the past two weeks, at least seven groups of strange beasts have entered the depths of the Qinling Mountains, and none of them have come out again."

Lei Zhenyue sneered: "That's why we should kill it even more. If we don't kill it now, or wait until it establishes its beast kingdom or leads a beast tide to attack the base city, even more people will die then."

Everyone fell silent again, because they had to admit that Lei Zhenyue was right: the greatest threat from the alien beasts was never their numbers, but their organization.

Once intelligence and order are established, it will no longer be a beast tide, but a war.

Zhou Zhenshan had remained silent until this moment, when he finally spoke: "Keep the Qinling Mountains in place for now."

Lei Zhenyue frowned: "Why?"

Zhou Zhenshan calmly stated, "Because it hasn't crossed the line yet. As of now, the Qinling restricted area has no record of attacking cities."

"There is no record of large-scale massacres of civilians, and they even actively restrained some of the animal herds."

"We cannot start a war before it crosses the line."

Lei Zhenyue sneered: "Director Zhou, you're raising a tiger to your own detriment. If the Qinling Mountains can't be touched, what about Changbai Mountain?"

Upon hearing Lei Zhenyue's words, Zhou Zhenshan said, "The Tiger King of Changbai Mountain has crossed the line."

"Exterminate hordes of alien beasts, raid villages, and devour the living. These are the kinds of enemies that the Ninth Division must prioritize eliminating."

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the conference room nodded. Zhou Zhenshan stood up and scanned the entire conference room with his eyes.

"It is now announced that headquarters has decided to designate the Changbai Mountain Tiger King as a Level 1 elimination target, codenamed Operation King Hunt."

"The Northeast Theater Command will be responsible for its execution, with the military providing support."

"All Tier 3 Awakened Ones are on standby; strategic-level firepower may be used if necessary."