“Their distance is too close. There’s no time to evacuate everyone,” Nan Muran said, glancing at Si Ye with a slightly heavy tone.

“Gather everyone in the village together,” Si Ye said after noticing Nan Muran’s reaction. He realized this situation might be connected to the three-headed snake they encountered while picking fruit.

He immediately turned to Han Yingting behind him.

Han Yingting instinctively looked at the veteran beside him. “How many people are there in the village?”

“Seventeen households. Counting everyone, old and young, there are a total of fifty-nine people. The two cave dwellings behind this courtyard can fit them all,” the veteran answered quickly, understanding their plan.

“Are there any plants near the village that snakes and insects fear, like Wild Cassia, Seven-Leaf Lotus, or Impatiens?” Nan Muran asked.

Since they lived year-round in mountain villages, surrounded by snakes and insects, they must have methods for repelling them.

“There are a lot of snakebane plants at the clearing near the village entrance,” the veteran’s son quickly replied.

He didn’t quite understand the names Nan Muran listed but knew what plants snakes were afraid of.

Snakebane was actually Wild Cassia. Hearing this, Nan Muran immediately took two watches from her backpack and handed them to him. “Watch the time. Find people to dig up the snakebane, roots and all, and plant them around this courtyard.”

“You have half an hour. No matter what happens, you must return when time is up.”

After the son left, the veteran said to them, “You all stay here and prepare. I’ll have my family go door to door and gather everyone at the courtyard.”

The veteran, his daughter-in-law, Qijin, and the twin children quickly left the courtyard.

Nan Muran handed two buckets of realgar powder to Han Yingting. “Spread a thick layer all around the outer courtyard, especially in all the corners of the house.”

Once everyone was busy, only the four of them remained in the courtyard.

Xiaoliu: The three-headed cobra is a female, a late-stage Level 5 mutated beast. There are also two late-stage Level 4s.

Nan Muran had thought as much. If there wasn’t some kind of grudge, the snakes wouldn’t be crazed enough to attack the whole village.

After all, these snakes had lived in the mountains for who knew how long. They had coexisted peacefully with the village. There was no reason for them to suddenly launch a massive assault.

“So it was trouble we stirred up?” Si Ye asked, tone certain.

He knew Nan Muran well. If the disaster hadn’t been their fault, Nan Muran would have stayed silent and observed the situation rather than stepping up immediately.

Nan Muran nodded. “That female Level 5 mutated snake.”

“Seriously? It chased us all this way just to avenge her mate?” Lao Ying couldn’t help but curse.

The four of them understood that since the trouble stemmed from picking fruit, they had to deal with it personally. Otherwise, their consciences wouldn’t rest easy.

Besides, barring any accidents, that little guy Qijin would probably become one of them in the future. And if he was family, how could they just stand by?

Nan Muran looked at the usually playful Lao Ying. “The bad news is, the female three-headed snake is late-stage Level 5. And she brought two mid-stage Level 4s with her.”

“Damn, this is going to be a tough fight,” Lao Ying muttered, his brows twitching. Why did they always run into such insane opponents?

“Everyone, check yourselves. After eating the fruit, has your strength changed?” Nan Muran looked at the other three.

The enemy’s level was way too high. Han Yingting’s group could help handle the lower-tier threats, but the three strongest enemies—they could only rely on themselves.

The four of them focused on sensing the changes in their bodies. Their eyes lit up in surprise—they had really broken through. The fruit and the crystal cores were truly amazing.

• Nan Muran: Plant ability upgraded to early-stage Level 4. Spirit ability rose to late-stage Level 4. As for the mysterious mist ability? No noticeable change.
• Si Ye: Water ability reached late-stage Level 3; fire ability early-stage Level 3; metal ability jumped to Level 2. His time ability also changed slightly, though he didn’t mention it.
• Lao Ying: Wind ability broke through to Level 3; strength ability reached early-stage Level 2; skin hardening at mid-stage Level 1.
• Jiawu: Lightning ability shot up to early-stage Level 4; speed ability to mid-stage Level 1.

Even Nan Muran was surprised—everyone had basically gained a full level!

“With the strength of our little squad, we’ll make sure they come but never leave,” Lao Ying’s eyes gleamed excitedly. Then he suddenly added, “Nan-jie, why don’t we pick a team name?”

Nan Muran was speechless. They were about to go into battle, and he was still fooling around.

But to her surprise, Jiawu nodded in agreement. “I think so too. Nan Muran, pick a name for our team.”

“You’re serious?” Nan Muran was a bit surprised.

“Yeah. You pick it,” even Si Ye agreed.

“Invincible Squad,” Nan Muran blurted out.

The three of them immediately went silent, exchanging helpless looks.

They should have expected it—after all, she had named Xiaoliu, Xiaobai, and Dafu before, each name worse than the last. The only halfway decent one, Tank, was apparently named by her father.

Nan Muran also realized she wasn’t good at naming things. Seeing their reactions, she asked a bit guiltily, “Not good?”

“It’s… okay,” Si Ye said without hesitation.

Lao Ying and Jiawu looked at him in disbelief. This was okay? Invincible??

Was this really the ‘King of Land Combat’ Wolf, with such poor taste? Wasn’t he supposed to have a graduate degree?

Oh well. Nan Muran was also a top university student—maybe education really had nothing to do with naming skills.

“Then you pick one,” Nan Muran said, looking at Si Ye. After all, he had come up with “Mysterious Mist,” which sounded great.

“Star Thorn?” Si Ye thought briefly.

“Sounds nice, but what does it mean?” Lao Ying asked, confused.

Si Ye smiled faintly. “I just came up with it randomly. As long as it sounds good.” In truth, the name came from a stylized ancient script for the character “Nan.”

“I like it too. Let’s go with that,” Nan Muran agreed decisively.

She couldn’t help but think about Han Yingting’s “Night Star” in her previous life, and now this “Star Thorn”—somehow it felt like fate teasing her. Luckily, no one had any bad intentions.

Thus, the Star Thorn Squad was officially founded, with four and a half members for now.

Shortly after they finished talking, the villagers began arriving one after another. Han Yingting and the others also returned to the courtyard.

Seeing that over half the villagers were elderly and children, Han Yingting finally understood why the veteran had refused to leave for the base without hesitation.

“Everyone into the cave dwellings at the back! Han Yingting, set up a defensive line at the doors and have your men protect everyone!” Nan Muran ordered as she saw the veteran’s son return.

The wild cassia plants around the courtyard had already been planted, forming a thick green wall. There were even several four-direction vines intertwined among them.

Nan Muran immediately activated her life force ability, frantically accelerating the plants’ growth. Even areas where there were no plants before were now densely covered in wild cassia.

She only stopped when the courtyard was completely surrounded, except for the entrance.

Han Yingting knew Nan Muran was a plant ability user, but it was his first time seeing her unleash it on such a large scale. Was this really the strength of a Level 3 plant user?

It didn’t seem anything like the plant ability users he had seen before.

Once everything was ready, strange noises started echoing from all directions—hissing, slithering, gurgling—all headed straight toward the veteran’s courtyard.