Han Yingtian looked at Nan Muran, who was walking at the front, and spoke with rare gentleness, “Good morning, Miss Nan.”

Nan Muran gave a slight smile and swept her gaze around the courtyard.

Although there was still a faint smell of blood lingering, the place had already been cleaned up — they were quite fast.

However, in a corner, more than a dozen women of various ages were still left unattended.

“Miss Nan, what about these women?” Han Yingtian was eager to know Nan Muran’s opinion. For some reason, he felt that although she was cold, she was someone worth trusting.

“You decide.” Nan Muran couldn’t be bothered to get involved.

Of course, Han Yingtian’s attitude would directly determine how she would arrange things later.

Han Yingtian pondered for a moment, then turned and stared at the women. His expression gradually turned cold. As the women froze under his gaze, he suddenly bowed deeply to them three times.

A younger, curvy, and slightly plump woman turned pale when she saw this gesture. “What do you mean by that? What are you trying to do?” she cried out.

The military Awakened squad members standing nearby were also stunned, an ominous feeling rising in everyone’s hearts.

“You can no longer be considered human.” These women had spent over a month eating “two-legged sheep” — they hadn’t even spared the children.

Facing him now, apart from Principal Wang’s wife pretending to feel regret, the other women showed only fear and a desperate desire to live. Not a trace of guilt or remorse.

Those who had resorted to cannibalism, utterly devoid of humanity, no longer deserved to live.

“What nonsense are you talking about? How are we not human?” the woman retorted harshly.

Strangely, her reaction made Han Yingtian even calmer. “Without humanity, you are no longer human. You’ve been eating ‘two-legged sheep’ for so long — did you ever feel pain? Regret? Disgust?

Seems like you didn’t, right?”

Hearing that, the woman sneered and rebutted without hesitation, “Didn’t your people eat it too yesterday?”

“We didn’t know it was ‘two-legged sheep’. You did,” a military Awakened team member countered sharply.

“You were all pretty happy eating it, but now you’re trying to act righteous. How hypocritical,” a woman in her thirties scoffed.

Han Yingtian sighed helplessly. He knew that at this point, explanations were meaningless.

He quickly gathered his psychic energy, and a blade of condensed metal slashed through the woman’s skin.

The woman screamed in horror, and others began to curl up and cry, begging for mercy.

At the same time, Fifteen and another teammate beside Han Yingtian also moved. Fifteen’s dagger swiftly slit the throat of the woman at the front and then continued cutting through the crowd.

Besides them, the short-haired girl from the military Awakened squad also acted.

Her face was grim as she concentrated her powers. Three willow-leaf darts shot out from her hand, instantly killing the woman who had spoken first, and then she shifted to eliminate the others.

Four Awakened attacked and killed thirteen women.

Only one woman was left standing — the middle-aged woman with hollow eyes, Principal Wang’s wife.

“Why didn’t you kill me?” she asked, growing anxious amid the blood-soaked surroundings.

In response, Fifteen threw his dagger directly into her chest. The woman looked at the blade piercing her in disbelief.

“You thought your little performance was convincing?

You forgot, it was you who cooked that meal last night,” the short-haired girl said coldly as another dart embedded itself into the woman’s abdomen.

Once all the women in the town fell, a few people in the military Awakened squad couldn’t help but shudder uncontrollably.

Standing to the side, Nan Muran — although she didn’t think much of the whole military Awakened squad — was at least somewhat satisfied with the performance of Han Yingtian and the three others. “Captain Han, we’re heading out to handle some business.

We plan to be back before nightfall.

Before we return, except for the four people who just acted, the rest of you must leave.”

“Miss Nan, I don’t quite understand. You mean…?” Han Yingtian asked.

Nan Muran looked at him, her voice cool and emotionless. “We’re going to risk our lives. We don’t have time to babysit.

And tell Commander Chen: fewer people is fine. What matters is that they’re useful.”

One man from the military Awakened squad stood up and sneered, “Who do you think you are? You say go, and we just go?”

Suddenly, an ice blade shot out of nowhere, piercing through both of his cheeks and silencing him. Blood gushed from his mouth, and he couldn’t utter another word.

Everyone was gripped by fear — they hadn’t even seen who made the move.

Although Nan Muran’s eyes still held a slight smile, Han Yingtian inexplicably felt a chill and sensed an undeniable authority from her.

“Once you’re gone, I’ll handle everything here.”

Nan Muran smiled and nodded. “See you tonight.”

The four of them quickly left the courtyard, got into the car, and headed straight for the back mountain of Emperor Mountain.

Emperor Mountain was about fifteen kilometers from Jin Town, with an elevation of less than two hundred meters. After entering the mountain, they soon found the stream that Principal Wang had mentioned.

They followed the stream westward and started moving south.

“Do you think that giant snake he mentioned actually exists?” Jiawu asked, doubtful.

Si Ye glanced at Lao Ying (Old Eagle) on the side and, for once, joked, “We have a giant snake’s nemesis with us. No worries.”

Old Eagle shrugged regretfully, “If I could fly, I wouldn’t be afraid at all. What a pity.”

Suddenly, Si Ye, walking at the front, raised a hand to stop the others.

Not far ahead, the bushes revealed piles of white bones, with a heap of skulls at the farthest point particularly conspicuous.

“They’re human bones.”

Nan Muran focused her psychic energy to sense the surroundings. “That man wasn’t lying — there really is a giant snake here.

A level five mutated beast. It’ll be a bit troublesome to deal with.”

“If the snake’s that strong, how did Principal Wang get the fruit?” Jiawu asked, puzzled.

Nan Muran sneered, “He didn’t ‘get’ it. He traded human lives for it.”

“You mean… all these bones were caused by Principal Wang?” Old Eagle cursed under his breath. “That bastard — killing him last night was too easy.”

“But he couldn’t have defeated a level five mutated beast either, right?”

As they discussed, the giant snake at the far end of the bones also sensed its territory had been invaded.

And clearly, it wasn’t the humans that usually came to feed it. It slithered out of its cave, heading toward them swiftly.

Upon sensing the four people’s presence, the snake was overjoyed.

That foolish human had only ever fed it ordinary blood. But these four — their blood was delicious, exactly what it had always dreamed of.

“Get ready. The giant snake is about to show up.

And it’s very interested in our blood,” Nan Muran said, grateful that her psychic abilities had reached level four, allowing her to sense the thoughts of a level five mutated beast at close range.

As she spoke, she quickly retrieved a bag of realgar powder from her space and handed it to Old Eagle. “Find a way to trap it.”

Old Eagle nodded and began focusing his power. Their goal was clear: the moment the snake appeared in front of them, he would use his wind ability to quickly draw a circle with the realgar and trap it.