Chapter 32

At four-thirty on Sunday morning, the three teammates known for their “silence is golden” mantra sat side by side on the aircraft once again.

While other mercenary teams chatted animatedly, Xu Qiao and her two companions were focused on their communication devices.

Sun Fushan: “By the way, do you know why mercenaries have been avoiding An County recently?”

An County was the C-grade danger zone they had visited yesterday.

Xu Qiao: “Is it because An County is right next to the B-grade danger zone, Huang City?”

Even though it was also a C-grade danger zone, being sandwiched between C and D-grade zones obviously made it safer than areas directly adjacent to B-grade zones.

If Meng Li’s level hadn’t increased, Xu Qiao would definitely have rejected the idea of going to An County. However, with one B-grade attacker and one B-grade healer, and Sun Fushan being one of the best defenders among C-grade mercenaries, they could venture into An County, which had fewer people, reducing the chances of Meng Li’s spirit body being spotted.

Meng Li: “Isn’t Huang City to the west right next to the A-grade danger zone, Jing City?”

Sun Fushan: “You two are really clever! So, do you know the current situation in Jing City?”

Xu Qiao feigned ignorance.

Sun Fushan smirked; while he was slow to speak, he typed rapidly: “This year’s second-year graduates are assigned to Jing City. This was supposed to be a secret, but this morning my older brother asked me where I was going, and when I said An County, he told me and reminded us to be careful.”

The Guardian Army’s primary duty is to protect the safety of the base, gradually expanding the scope of human activities is a long-term plan. Therefore, they only send a portion of their forces to explore unknown areas, clear a small number of high-level mutated creatures, and once the corresponding danger zones are designated, they mobilize professional or part-time mercenaries to clear the large numbers of mutated creatures within those zones through basic task releases.

This is part of the base’s “strong citizen” initiative.

Many ability users can choose not to enlist in the military, but they must possess enough combat power to face the inevitable beast tides that occur periodically. The brutal battles in the early days of the New Era had already proven that the Guardian Army alone couldn’t protect all survivors. Whether for their own lives or for the entire base, ability users could not remain holed up forever.
—-
In various danger zones, mutated plants root underground, expanding their root systems without wandering about, and mutated beasts and insects typically have their own territories. However, if a large number of ability users appear at the same time, self-assured mutated beasts will actively attack humans, while weaker or more cautious beasts will choose to flee.

As a result, each year, a portion of mutated beasts and insects dispersed into the surrounding danger zones where military academies are stationed.

Sun Fushan: “Should we change locations?”

The aircraft would stop at three C-grade danger zones, with An County being the furthest.

Xu Qiao: “But the other zones are too crowded lately. I need to keep my water abilities and Meng Li’s wind abilities under wraps.”

Meng Li: “I’ll go to An County with Xu Qiao. You can either go to another zone alone or head back home. You can join us again next week.”

Sun Fushan looked incredulously at his two teammates.

Xu Qiao said seriously, “We don’t want to drag you into our risks.”

Perhaps because his face was pale and tender, Sun Fushan easily turned red. Avoiding Xu Qiao’s concerned gaze, he continued typing: “I’m not scared; I’m just reminding you of the risks. In fact, I’d prefer if you didn’t change locations. I really don’t want to compete with others for mutated beasts in other zones.”
—-
Competing for ownership of mutated beasts requires both combat strength and verbal output, and since he stuttered, he was already at a disadvantage.

Xu Qiao: “Alright, alright, then let’s continue acting together. There’s still Huang City in between; the A-grade beasts in Jing City shouldn’t have to rush over two hundred kilometers to reach An County, right?”

Meng Li: “There really are patrols from Huang City and An County that will give us a warning. We can take the Fire Scorpion back to the aircraft then.”

Although she hadn’t mastered the flying ability of the wind, the Fire Scorpion, which had wings, could fly naturally and wouldn’t struggle carrying the three of them for a short time.

Sun Fushan: “That’s great! Last time we had to rely on Brother Qin to escape from that mother lizard, and now we have a flying powerhouse.”
—-
At exactly six o’clock, the aircraft steadily landed in an open area in the city of An County.

Yesterday, the three had gone to the northern part of An County, killing over twenty mutated creatures. Today, they decided to try their luck in the southern part, while cautiously abandoning the western area adjacent to Huang City.

They were in luck. Sun Fushan had just parked the off-road vehicle outside a mountainous area when a nearly two-meter-long C-grade gray-black falcon flew out from the nearby woods, its sharp eyes glinting and its beak like a knife, with its extended claws resembling two deadly iron hooks.

Meng Li swiftly stepped aside, leaving the opportunity for practice to her two teammates.

Sun Fushan could tell that the falcon’s primary target was still him, even though his armor had concealed his scent!

The falcon flew at an extremely high speed, reaching Xu Qiao in the blink of an eye. A thorny earthen shield appeared out of nowhere, but the falcon didn’t slow down. Instead, it suddenly raised its two claws and, using the force of its dive, tore through the earthen shield.

At the same time, a waterfall of rushing water cascaded down from above, unexpectedly drenching the falcon’s wings and forcing it to descend.

A thick earthen spear, as wide as an arm, shot out from the ground and pierced the relatively soft abdomen of the falcon with a “thud.”

The falcon was impaled by the earthen spike. Though it was in pain, it did not die. The pain transformed into anger as the falcon lifted itself back into the air with the earthen spike still embedded in it. It flapped its massive wings, scattering the earthen spikes surrounding its body, and in mid-air, it turned around to target Xu Qiao.

Xu Qiao concentrated and shot a one-meter-long water arrow toward the falcon’s neck, but the falcon dodged it. In an instant, the falcon was upon her again, and just as its claws were about to touch her shoulder, she rolled to the side, narrowly escaping the falcon’s rapidly closing wings.

The falcon landed on the ground with a loud thump. However, before it could return to the air, earthen walls shot up from all sides, quickly forming a thick, inverted earthen pot overhead.

The falcon struggled violently, while Sun Fushan continually thickened the pot’s walls, pressing inward layer by layer.

The physical strength of mutated beasts far surpassed that of ability users of the same level. Sun Fushan’s earthen pot held for about three minutes, but eventually, the falcon’s sharp beak broke through the top of the pot, and the black bird seemed ready to burst out.

However, what reflected in its yellow beast eyes was not just the blue sky above but also a sharp water arrow descending from the sky.

This time, the falcon had nowhere to hide; its only exposed head was deeply pierced by the water arrow.

As the falcon, using its last bit of strength, broke through the thick earthen pot, its body stumbled to the side, with the water arrow still lodged in its head.

Having grown accustomed to this kind of tacit understanding, Sun Fushan maintained a calm demeanor as he followed Xu Qiao to a spot twenty meters away, beginning to watch Meng Li practice her wind abilities.

At this moment, Meng Li was not the rough and reckless version from the night before after receiving guidance from Qin Chi. She no longer attempted to lift the falcon’s corpse using only the wind force; instead, she controlled two gusts of wind to surround the falcon’s wings. The wind stirred the wings, and as it flapped, the dead falcon seemed to come back to life, slowly lifting its head off the ground.

Sun Fushan excitedly grabbed the wrist of the teammate next to him!

Xu Qiao: “…”

Both of them were in combat armor. Xu Qiao glanced at Sun Fushan, who was tightly focused on the falcon, and chose not to respond for now.

Meng Li controlled the falcon to fly in circles in mid-air. Familiar with the flight mechanics of physical wings, she eventually brought the falcon’s body back down to the ground, using a wind blade to roughly sever its wings. Then, she wrapped the falcon’s torso in wind and extended two invisible “wind wings.”

This process took longer, but ultimately, Meng Li succeeded. The falcon, now wingless, lifted off the ground once more.

Bright red blood sprayed from the wounds on either side of the falcon, and Sun Fushan unconsciously released Xu Qiao’s wrist, a complex expression on his face.

If he didn’t know Meng Li and had stumbled upon this scene by chance, he might have thought of her as a bloodthirsty female demon.

Xu Qiao, being a healer, had seen plenty of gruesome wounds, so she was more accepting of the scene than Sun Fushan.

The wingless falcon was even heavier than Sun Fushan had anticipated. After half an hour of continuous control, Meng Li felt her mental energy waning and quickly let the falcon down.

She shared her feelings with her teammates: “I can only maintain flight for about half an hour right now. With more practice, I think I can extend that time.”

Attacking mutated beasts has intervals, but flying requires continuous support from abilities.

Xu Qiao: “That’s already impressive! You’ve made such great progress in just one night.”

Meng Li rarely smiled, “Qin Chi is a good teacher, and I also want to thank you.”

If Xu Qiao hadn’t brought her into this small team, she wouldn’t have had the chance to meet Qin Chi.

Level A Danger Zone, Jing City.

This was already the third day of practice for the second-year graduates, but for this batch of graduates, every day spent in Jing City felt like a year.

The plants near their temporary rest point were possibly high-level mutated plants. The rustling of leaves overhead could be caused by Level A mutated beasts. Even when they were exhausted and wanted to sit on the ground to rest for a while, they might accidentally touch a mutated insect.

They were busy during the day and had no rest at night. Too many beasts that liked to hunt at night would come around, no matter what potions they sprayed; a few would always show up.

Despite the exhaustion, this group of Level A graduates was still very strong. They had basically completed their team’s kill tasks, and after a few more hours, they would be able to return to the base.

However, there were still two or three teams that had not completed their tasks and were still exploring the forest.

“Are all the mutated beasts killed by someone else? Why haven’t we encountered a single one all afternoons?”

“We five have enough B-level and C-level crystal cores; we just need two more A-level crystal cores.”

“I never thought I would one day be so eager to encounter an A-level beast.”

The atmosphere was relatively relaxed among the four combatants and one healer when suddenly one of them stopped, pointing at a tree thick enough for three people to hug.

The teammates looked up in unison and saw a black area reflecting sunlight among the lush green branches and leaves.

There was something on the tree.

When the five students reached this unanimous conclusion, that black area slowly moved. With a change in angle, it no longer reflected light, revealing a layer of dark green scales.

A snake—a Level A black snake as thick as an adult’s waist.

The five students were excited rather than afraid; the healer instinctively stepped back, and the four combatants launched an attack simultaneously.
—-
In just a few minutes, this fifty-meter-long Level A black snake lay stiffly on the ground.

The five students happily gathered around—one dug for crystal cores while the other four skinned the snake.

The strong, fishy smell of blood spread with the sweltering heat.

Over a hundred meters away, in a deep underground cavern, a pair of gigantic crimson beast eyes suddenly opened in the darkness, gazing toward the cave entrance.

As the owner of the beast eyes crawled out along the winding cave entrance, the five students, focused on processing the Level A black snake’s corpse, remained completely unaware.

At the gathering point filled with a large group of students, those who had been quietly discussing their recent experiences suddenly noticed that Teacher Qin, who had accompanied them for two days without taking action, walked out of the tent. He was dressed in a black A-level combat suit issued by the second school. With broad shoulders, a narrow waist, and long legs, he might not have been as stout and strong as some of the accompanying instructors, but he wore the combat suit with the most striking presence.

From his physique, he appeared tall, lean, and powerful, and the black combat suit exuded both authority and restraint.

As their gaze moved up, they found that his handsome face was gentle, instantly transforming the cold, imposing aura of the combat suit into an elegant and composed demeanor.

It was as if he wasn’t there to accompany the students in their training but had come to appreciate the unique scenery of the A-level danger zone along the way.

Facing the varied expressions of the students, Qin Chi said to one of the instructors, “There’s still some time. I’ll go collect two types of mutated plants.”

The instructor replied, “Should I send a few students to accompany you?”

Qin Chi shook his head. “No need, I won’t go too far.”

The instructor respected his choice.
—-
Qin Chi walked calmly out of the gathering area and slipped behind a tree. He removed the second school instructor’s uniform and changed into his own S-level combat suit.

The fire dragon roared excitedly in his mind, demanding to be unleashed.

Qin Chi replied, 【Just one, no need for you. 】