Chapter 9

... Since the decision to return was made, everyone did not delay and got directly into the armored vehicle again, speeding away in the direction in which the vehicle traveled at maximum speed.

However, after nearly three hours, Fang Yuan first noticed something was wrong - it only took them more than two hours to arrive, and the speed at that time was slower than now. Why hadn't they returned even after almost three hours? Point of departure! "Something is wrong! It's been three hours and we haven't arrived yet!" Fang Yuan's reminder immediately made everyone aware of the abnormality.

"Xiao Song, what's going on? Did you take a detour?" Sister Zhang immediately asked the driver of the lead car, a young soldier named Song.

"This... I have always driven the same way I came here!" From the voice on the other end of the communication, it could be heard that Xiao Song didn't know what was going on.

"Does the armored vehicle have a location? Can you check our movement trajectory in the past three hours?" Fang Yuan felt that machines were more reliable than people in this situation, so it was best to see what the data said.

"Yes. Although there is no satellite signal in the secret realm, the drone over the door has a positioning antenna. We should be able to... Damn it, we can't contact there!" Only then did they realize that they were actually there without knowing it. The connection between the room and the other side of the door was lost, and no one was aware of it! The strange development made everyone nervous - there was no doubt that they were being targeted by something! ')032'>Chapter 32 Speculations and Responses

"It's some kind of mental attack. Everyone, be careful!" Sister Zhang, who has the most combat experience, immediately made a judgment.

"Damn it, we didn't carry mental shielding equipment!" The unexpected and strange mental attack really caught everyone off guard - it seems that their decision to return to the base first was correct, but it seemed to be too late... … "Mr. Magician, do you have any way to block malicious mental attacks?" Captain Liu also turned to ask Fang Yuan. Based on the current situation, the only thing that is most likely to provide help is mysterious magic.

"Don't worry! Calm down! I will solve it!" - Fang Yuan really has a way! "Stop the car first, and then ask everyone to come to my side. I will add a buff to your protective clothing!" I was speechless, but Sister Zhang still issued the order vigorously and resolutely.

Soon, more than a dozen soldiers on the two armored vehicles, including the driver of the vehicle, came to stand in a row in front of Fang Yuan.

Fang Yuan, on the other hand, patted their foreheads one by one - or rather on their helmets. A circle with various symbols and words of unknown meaning appeared as if etched on the originally dark green painted helmets. Form diagram.

"Okay, with this, you don't have to worry about being attacked by this weird mental attack just now!" This is Fang Yuan's reorganization and modification based on the basic refining formula of the soul fixation refining array and the mental power amplification refining array. The new "mental power shielding formation" realizes the remote output of mental power through remote connection with one's own soul, and uses a method similar to infinite power transmission to promote the formation of the formation, and the specific effect is to reverse the increase in mental power. The mental power shielding from the formation can effectively cut off non-physical mental power fluctuations.

In other words, it's something similar to Magneto's helmet.

Although the entire formation took only ten minutes from design to completion, its effects were indeed immediate.

After everyone received a buff on their heads, they immediately felt as if a certain burden had been lifted off their spirits, and their spirits were lifted.

They couldn't be sure when they weren't aware of it, but now as soon as this feeling came out, everyone knew that they had indeed been attacked mentally just now, and it was the most secretive and insidious type of suggestion.

"Sure enough, there is something hidden here!" After ensuring everyone's mental safety, Sister Zhang relaxed a little and began to think about the enemy's situation.

"Can you find out what's attacking us?" she asked Xiang Fang Yuan.

It was Fang Yuan who was the first to notice something was wrong before, and it was he who thought of a way to deal with this invisible and mysterious spiritual attack. Now that he doesn't know what the enemy is, he is the only one who is most likely to find something. .

"...I wonder if you have ever heard of the Earth-Drilling Demonic Insect?" ""Huh?""" Fang Yuan thought for a while, then told his previous guess.

The Burrower is a monster in the Cthulhu mythology system. It is a superior independent race fictionalized by Brian Lumley in his work "The Burrower".

[A bunch of surging tentacles grow on the soft gray-black bag-like body... except for the pile of tentacles stretching out and groping around, it has no obvious characteristics that can be identified.

No, there is - yes, there's a lump on the front of this thing... that's the brain, or nerve center, or whatever it is that controls this horrible, disgusting creature. Containers prepared for diseased organs.

] This is the description of this monster in the original text. From a visual point of view, this creature looks like a giant squid living in the soil.

In addition to using their huge tentacles to pile up prey for crushing attacks, they can also cause strong earthquakes, and can even control creatures of other races using telepathy.

In addition, this monster that looks like a flesh-and-blood creature is extremely resistant to high temperatures and can survive in environments of up to 4,000 degrees Celsius.

Therefore, this kind of creature is actually a high-temperature-adapted species that is more accustomed to living near the earth's core. Only a very small number of them appear on the surface and can be discovered by humans.

These characteristics, coupled with the earthquake and strange spiritual attack that Fang Yuan and the others encountered this time, especially the chaotic, dark, and indescribable consciousness he sensed deep underground, these characteristics made him almost convinced that there was something in this secret realm. There is an adult Earth-boring Demonic Insect hidden inside.

After listening to his explanation, those warriors who didn't know much about the Cthulhu mythology had serious faces. As for the other warriors with powers who knew a lot about Cthulhu monsters, their faces were even pale. Cold sweat broke out all over his face.

——They are experts in handling extraordinary events, but they have never thought of having to face such a super monster that can destroy a city with just one move! "Don't panic!" Fang Yuan saw that everyone's mood was a little wrong and their morale had dropped rapidly, so he quickly said: "Although this kind of monster is strong, it is not invincible! Their weakness is water, as long as the body is immersed in ordinary water If the opponent is really an earth-boring demon insect, we have no chance of winning!" After hearing Fang Yuan's words, everyone who was originally worried that the ball was completely dead this time breathed a sigh of relief. , morale finally picked up a little.

Monsters are not actually scary. What is scary is the complete unknown, the mystery of not knowing the details and weaknesses.

Now that they know the monster's abilities and weaknesses, naturally not much of their original fear is left.

Some team members even became a little excited when they thought that they would fight with this legendary monster and even kill each other.

"But we have to make sure that the thing hiding in the dark is really the monster you said?" Sister Zhang was very calm throughout the whole process, and the question she asked was also the most critical point - Fang Yuan Everything I said is just speculation, and in a real battle, the information obtained based on speculation must not be used casually! "...I'm not sure either."

Fang Yuan also knew that all his guesses were based on a mere moment of mental contact and some signs that were consistent with the setting of the novel. God knows whether the thing hidden underground might be something more terrifying - just in case. If an Old One really jumps out, then if they choose to stay and fight, they are really seeking death.

"So, we have to continue to evacuate!" Sister Zhang finally made the decision, and no one objected.

')033'>Chapter 33 Accidents always happen at the end

"Can we find our way back?" Sister Zhang asked the driver.

"Although there is a map,... there are no landmarks around us, so it is a bit difficult..." The driver, who was called "Xiao Song" by Sister Zhang, lowered his head in embarrassment - as a senior driver, it was hard to get lost. What a shame! Seeing this, Sister Zhang didn't say anything, but turned to the other side: "Where is the drone? Can it fly?" "No! There seems to be some electromagnetic interference nearby. Our anti-interference module has no effect. The drone Even if it flies up, it can't be controlled." The soldier responsible for communications and operating the vehicle-mounted drone shook his head and said he was helpless.

"It doesn't matter. If you are exploring the terrain, I can help here!" But Fang Yuan heard the conversation and took the initiative to come over.

"Oh? Do you have a way to find your way back?" Sister Zhang's eyes lit up, and then she became a little clearer: "That's right, you can fly here!" ... So in front of everyone, Fang Yuan performed again What is the real version of Superman? He looks very out of place in a protective suit that looks like Thor's hammer armor.

Because it was not too late now, Fang Yuan had a very good view in the sky, and he quickly discovered the remains of the city wall in the distance that were clearly visible in the air.

Looking at the location of their convoy, it was still between the second fence and the third fence, but the direction seemed to be at an angle from where the giant tree forest was when they came.

This was probably the effect of mental induction. The soldier responsible for driving probably only tilted the steering wheel a few degrees, but ignored this error due to the interference of some kind of force, and then they kept circling in this vast plain. .

Fang Yuan recorded the location of the convoy against the map on the handheld terminal. Fang Yuan only had to take it back to complete the mission.

But he thought about it and decided to make some preparations first.

... Flying to the highest height allowed by this secret realm, Fang Yuan looked down at the terrain and found that although the three city walls were badly damaged, they were still lucky enough to maintain a general circular shape - as an alchemy technique. The basic circular array is enough.

Reaching out to bring the box on his back to him and opening it, Fang Yuan activated the spherical drones stacked inside one by one, and then saw them flying in an orderly queue like a swarm of bees towards the ground below. go.

Yes, it is true that ordinary remote-controlled drones cannot fly under electromagnetic interference, but the drones in Fang Yuan's backpack, which he treats as "casting materials", do not use radio signals! As an alchemist, with so many fun toys in his hands, how could Fang Yuan not analyze and transform them? It comes from the same source as the mental shielding formations used as buffs on the warriors below, but the effect is that the formation formations used for mental connection are engraved on the inside of these drones.

With the help of soul connection, which is more mysterious than the fluctuation of mental power and somewhat similar to the long-distance effect in quantum mechanics, Fang Yuan transformed each drone into an alchemical version of the Mage's Eye. His mental perspective can Using these drones as a basis to observe the environment where he passed, his very limited detection range based on mental fluctuations alone was suddenly expanded to another order of magnitude.

As for the control issue, it is also very simple. Fang Yuan consulted the engineers at the base overnight before departure to know what the control ports of these drones were, and then directly replaced the microelectronic chips with the formation array, making them change from remote control to remote control. It has become brain-controlled and actually becomes more useful.

And now, Fang Yuan is using these drones that he has carefully modified to arrange on the ground - he wants to play a big one! "It's done?" "It's done!" Everyone breathed a sigh of relief after receiving a positive answer from the returning Fang Yuan.

He handed the handheld terminal to the two armored vehicle drivers and asked them to find their own route back. Fang Yuan returned to the car and sat in his seat with his eyes closed to relax.

He had a hunch that this time it wouldn't end so easily! ​​… Now that I know where I am, I have a clear map, and there is no external interference, the rest of my return journey goes so smoothly that it’s unbelievable.

Soon, the two armored vehicles returned to the forest of giant trees they had passed through, and soon they could leave this weird place! However, just like those vulgar movie plots, things will always encounter various obstacles at the last and most critical place.

Just when they were about to drive the armored vehicle into the forest, still one or two kilometers away from the space gate, the earthquake struck again! And unlike the last earthquake, which had a prelude, this earthquake was of the highest level from the beginning.

The earthquake was so severe that it was about 9 on the Richter scale. It even overturned a moving armored vehicle. The giant trees in the forest with an average height of more than 80 meters also fell one after another under the rolling soil like water waves. Smash it down until the overturned armored vehicle is buried.

Ten minutes later, the earthquake finally stopped.

With a flash of refined light, the giant tree that had originally crushed the armored vehicle and the rear door of the armored vehicle were completely broken into powder. Fang Yuan climbed out of the vehicle holding on to the edge of the door.

"Quick, look at the situation of the other car!" Sister Zhang's voice came from behind. Fang Yuan saw that the people in his car looked fine, so he ran to the other armored car to rescue the people inside. People.

In the end, when everyone was rescued, very fortunately, almost no one was injured. At most, a few people suffered soft tissue contusions caused by bumping into things around them when the vehicle rolled over - it must be said that the Thor refined by Fang Yuan The quality of the hammer version protective clothing is very good, and it perfectly protected everyone in the event of an earthquake and a car accident.

"It seems like the owner here doesn't want to see us leave!" After everyone confirmed that they were safe, Fang Yuan sighed with an inexplicable tone.

"It doesn't matter. It's less than two kilometers away from the space gate. We can just walk forward!" Seeing the miserable situation in the forest, Sister Zhang became increasingly unwilling to stay here any longer and suggested continuing to evacuate.

However, Fang Yuan's words shocked everyone: "...you go first, I want to stay!" "Stop joking, this is not the time to show off personal heroism!" Sister Zhang said to Fang Yuan in a serious tone. .

"That's right, you don't look like the hero who shouts, 'You go first and I'll take the rear'. Is there any reason why you have to stay?" Captain Liu also persuaded.

"No, this is not a matter of personal heroism, and I'm not that great either.

I just have the confidence that I won’t die! "Fang Yuan said.

"Furthermore, the monster in this secret realm is obviously targeting us. If no one is holding it back, I don't believe we can really leave smoothly!"')034'>Chapter 34: Kai Da is a warrior when we meet etiquette

"I know you won't believe it, so..." Fang Yuan raised his right hand as he spoke, and the fingers wrapped under the metal armor made a snapping gesture.

"So, let me show you my confidence!" Bang - There was a crisp sound of metal collision, and in the distant sky, which should be the direction of the second city wall, a huge light curtain suddenly rose from the ground - - No, you can still see the boundary if you look to the left and right sides. This should be a pillar of light, but it is hundreds of kilometers in diameter and looks like a light curtain across the sky.

This light pillar is also wrapped with dazzling huge blue lightning, flying in the sky like giant dragons, making the huge light pillar even more spectacular and majestic.

Ten seconds later, the shock wave that exceeded the speed of sound turned into a huge wind wave and rushed towards the people hundreds of kilometers away, knocking them staggering again after they had just stood firm.

The whole scene was like witnessing a big Ivan detonating in front of his face - it would have been more like a mushroom cloud instead of a beam of light! Woo——————! ! ! Hiss——————! ! ! Roar------! ! ! From hundreds of kilometers away, there came from the place where the light pillar soared into the sky. It was not like a human being, but it was definitely not an angry roar that could be uttered by any kind of beast.

Yes, although they don’t know what happened, everyone can feel the emotion of the owner of the roar from those dull roars. It is similar to the pain of a cat teasing a mouse but the mouse turns back and bites the balls. With a feeling of embarrassment and anger.

Accompanying this roar was a wave of strong earthquakes. Although it was not as high as the previous one, which was about 9 on the Richter scale, it was at least above 7 on the Richter scale.

Everyone could feel that it, or rather they, were irritated! "..." "..." "..." Except for Fang Yuan, the instigator, everyone was shocked.

On the one hand, they were surprised that Fang Yuan actually hurt the unknown monster; on the other hand, they were shocked by the big scene caused by Fang Yuan.

——A beam of light with a diameter of hundreds of kilometers. No matter what kind of attack this beam of light is, its range alone has exceeded most tactical nuclear weapons and even some strategic nuclear bombs! In other words, the self-proclaimed magician who snaps his fingers, likes cosplaying movie characters, and whose true identity is unknown is a literal humanoid nuclear bomb! In fact, there is nothing wrong. If they could see what was happening in the light beam now, they would definitely think that he was a hundred times more dangerous than a nuclear bomb! Do you still remember that Fang Yuan released a swarm of drones when he went out for reconnaissance? With the help of the circles that existed in this secret realm, Fang Yuan used each drone as a base point and the laser emitted by the drone, which was originally used to locate guided bombs, as a line to lay out a huge circle with a diameter of hundreds of kilometers on the ground. Refining the formation has only one function, and that is to decompose.

Using light as a carrier, it decomposes matter, energy, and everything the light beam comes into contact with! At just this moment, Fang Yuan's refining formation decomposed all surface materials within the second circle of walls, and even everything within tens of kilometers deep underground into atoms! ——That’s where the source of the earthquake caused by Fang Yuan’s induction lies.

... "You... you..." After listening to Fang Yuan's description of the attack effects, Sister Zhang was speechless while pointing at him.

This is a normal reaction for human beings when seeing things that exceed the limits of their own rational understanding. In fact, if this were the world of COC running groups, everyone would probably have to go through a SanCheck.

Of course, what surprised others the most was Fang Yuan's approach of opening the door directly without saying any nonsense. Is there something wrong with this process? Shouldn't it be to test first, then grind the blood, and finally take away the head? "Forget it! Since you've already taken action, we won't be cowardly!" Sister Zhang gave up the idea of ​​evaluating Fang Yuan and said instead: "But we won't just leave you behind and fight alone - we I won't be a deserter!" Looking at the others, although his expressions were invisible through their masks, they all picked up their guns and stepped forward, as if they were fighting side by side with Fang Yuan, letting him know that this group of people Probably won't listen to advice.

"...It's up to you! But let me tell you the information about those monsters first - our previous guess was wrong. There was not one earth-boring demon insect on the other side, but many, many! The attack I just made seemed to be to destroy Most of them have been killed, but the remaining ones have been enraged and are now coming from the ground! "Shock! That exaggerated attack just now didn’t actually destroy all those monsters? ! ! However, it is no longer time to be surprised.

Before these people could finish digesting the information from Fang Yuan, the attack had already come! Boom——————! ! ! Like a heavy bomb exploding underground, a huge amount of soil was lifted into the air, but before the soil and rocks turned into rain of earth and rocks and fell from the sky, the faster attack had already crushed them.

A huge tentacle that was hundreds of meters long and seven or eight meters thick, with its surface covered with mucus, earth and rocks, and countless terrifying spikes at the top, was crushing down with fierce force.

And directly under this terrifying attack was Fang Yuan and others! "I've been waiting for you for a long time!" But Fang Yuan seemed to have been prepared for it. The moment the opponent launched the attack, he had already raised his right hand. On the originally smooth armor surface in the palm of his hand, an unknown word had been engraved on it. A circular array pattern engraved with fine symbols and lines.

I saw a conical beam of light emitting from this formation, like the light beam of a flashlight at night, covering most of the tentacles. A burst of white light flashed, and this part of the tentacles had disappeared.

This is the same decomposition and refinement as the previous attack that turned into a beam of light with a diameter of hundreds of kilometers, but it is just a hand-held miniature version.

Roar------! ! ! A dull and painful roar came from the ground. When the other soldiers who had just recovered from the death crisis heard it, they immediately became energetic - it turns out that this monster can also hurt! With Fang Yuan's start, the soldiers naturally did not stand and watch, and everyone launched attacks in their own way.

Ordinary soldiers without superpowers raised their weapons, regardless of whether these small-caliber thermal weapons could hurt the other party, and poured ammunition on the half-broken tentacle stumps that were flowing with something that could not be counted as blood.

The soldiers with superpowers used their own extraordinary powers, which they were proud of, to launch a grand offensive against the terrifying monsters in front of them.

For example, Captain Liu, she no longer cared about all-round protection. She used her ability to melt or even vaporize her hand armor directly, and her exposed hands shone with azure flames - that was a super-high temperature plasma flame that exceeded the combustion temperature of most substances, more than 100,000 degrees Celsius, turning into a blue-white hot light band, leaving a huge charred mark on the half-struggling and twitching tentacle.

- Even the earth-drilling demon worms that can survive near the core of the earth will still be injured when encountering this super-high temperature that exceeds the tolerance limit of all earth materials.

Another example is an inconspicuous soldier in Sister Zhang's team. He directly slammed his hands heavily on the ground, which was no less powerful than the earthquake just now. No, it should be said that the more condensed and terrifying shock wave attacked the direction of the tentacles under the control of consciousness. The ultra-high frequency vibration directly caused the broken part of the injured tentacles to spray out large amounts of liquid suspected to be blood.

... There are also frost, lightning, gravity... Various supernatural forces hit the huge tentacle section, breaking out large pieces of body tissue that should be called "flesh and blood".

That is, the physical strengthening system and close combat psychics like Sister Zhang and Xiao Zhang can only attack with guns like ordinary soldiers. Facing the huge tentacles that are seven or eight meters thick and hundreds of meters long, with their body size, the punches they throw out can only make a basin-sized pit on the body at most, which is no different from being pricked by a needle, and there is also the danger of being crushed to death at any time, so forget it! However, although the attack by the crowd looked quite spectacular, and Fang Yuan even directly cut off a large part of the tentacle, you have to know that the monster underground does not have only one tentacle! In just a few seconds, even the first round of attack by the warriors has not ended, the second, third, fourth... a total of more than ten tentacles from the underground turned out together, and crushed down from all directions towards the crowd in the middle with the force of a net.

')035'>Chapter 35 Let me take you flying!

"Everyone lie down!" Fang Yuan shouted, and everyone lay down at the same time - after getting along with each other before, the trust between them and Fang Yuan has been basically established, and naturally they will not ask "why" like those stupid characters who are destined to die in the movies at this time.

He raised his right hand, and the circle in his palm burst out with a light ten times brighter than before. With his palm as the center, it scattered in all directions at an angle of nearly 180 degrees. In an instant, all objects above Fang Yuan's raised palm within hundreds of meters disappeared.

Naturally, the same was true for those huge tentacles. They were all cut off smoothly from a height of more than two meters above the ground. The hot "blood" of the monster flowed on the cross section, and there were more violent vibrations and roars from the ground - this really hurt it badly.

This trick is really useful! Fang Yuan thought so in his heart, but his movements were not slow at all. He stomped his feet, and a mysterious array pattern emitting a faint glow flashed on the ground where everyone was.

In the next instant, the entire piece of land with a diameter of dozens of meters with Fang Yuan as the center of the circle turned into steel in an instant, and was lifted up with the roar of a jet engine, and flew into the air! "... Shit... Shit!" Xiao Zhang, who was standing right at the edge of the circle, couldn't help but swear as he lay on the ground and looked at the earth slowly receding below.

And where he couldn't see, below this veritable "enclave", there were several huge air intakes on the side that had been completely transformed into a metal mechanical structure. In the center and around the bottom, there were five devices like aircraft tail nozzles spewing hot high-temperature airflow downwards.

——This was exactly the result of Fang Yuan's improvisation just now. The ground soil layer with a diameter of tens of meters and a depth of several meters was completely converted into solid and stable metal, and then a jet engine and supporting fuel were generated in the cavity created by the reduction in volume that was enough to lift the entire ground into the sky. A simple floating platform was completed! 　　The structure of the jet engine itself is actually not complicated. Although there are only a few countries in the world that can independently produce fighter jet engines, the key technology is not the structure, but the parts, especially the blade material of the high-temperature turbofan. The technology that can forge an entire blade into a single crystal has been stuck in China for decades.

But this is nothing to Fang Yuan, an alchemist. If he wants, he can even refine the entire floating platform into a single crystal, not to mention the small turbine blades.

As for the complex circuits and pipelines in the jet engine, although Fang Yuan lacks some basic knowledge in this area, he has other ways to make up for it - he replaced all related functions with the alchemy array.

Don't worry about too much mental power consumption.

After all, it is only used for control, and the real work is still the engine itself. Fang Yuan's mental power is enough to support it for several hours.

And if he was allowed to control the formation purely by airflow and push the entire platform into the sky, it probably wouldn't last for more than a few seconds.

——The essence of technology is to use various methods to reasonably amplify the relatively small power of human beings! "You actually have this skill..." Sister Zhang and others also saw the scene of the platform taking off, and they all looked at Fang Yuan with complicated and unspeakable expressions - is this still a magician? This is a super engineer! Fang Yuan ignored these looks as much as possible. Originally, he did not intend to reveal too many abilities when he accepted the official invitation this time. According to his original idea, he only needed to show off his muscles appropriately.

But he didn't expect that this exploration would fall into an unforeseen and dangerous situation at the beginning. The monsters underground had no intention of letting them go. Fang Yuan had no choice but to activate the back-up plan he had deployed before, giving them They are fierce at once.

——And now that the large-scale killing ability has been exposed, it doesn't matter if some more abilities are exposed.

"...Fighting a monster that can burrow into the ground would be too much of a disadvantage if you fight on the ground. I can still fly in the sky for several hours on this platform. Should I continue fighting or return to the door immediately?" General Fang Yuan The conversation turned to the question of whether to go or stay - after all, they now have flying tools, and earthquakes and the like can no longer affect them.

"No, we have to at least repel those monsters first, and preferably completely eliminate them!" Originally, Sister Zhang made the decision to retreat because she considered that the force possessed by them could not deal with the monsters hiding underground and causing earthquakes. But now that Fang Yuan has exposed the nature of his super killer weapon, why should he worry about it? Just kill him back! "Well, in this case, you don't have to take action anymore. After all, your attack power..." Fang Yuan did not continue, but the hint of dissuasion in his tone was still received by everyone - he This is because everyone’s attack power is too low! "...Okay, I'll leave it to you, Great Magician!" Sister Zhang said word by word, and it seemed that she was not in a good mood.

... A few minutes later, when Fang Yuan walked to the edge of the platform and prepared to fight again, he looked down and saw dozens or hundreds of thick tentacles at least a hundred meters long emerging from the ground below near their original position, rising in the air. He was waving in vain - the flying platform had risen to a height of over a thousand meters, which was far beyond the attack range of the tentacles underground.

Therefore, the offensive and defensive modes have become reciprocal. Before, they could only be beaten passively, but now it is the turn of the underground monsters to be beaten unilaterally.