Chapter 43

Chapter 43

Night watch was required from seven in the evening until five in the morning, a total of ten hours.

Given that Xu Qiao and her two companions needed to train, Qinchi, who provided the luxurious accommodation, was excluded from the night watch roster.

Qinchi sat on the sofa, smiling as he watched his teammates earnestly discuss the plan.

Xu Qiao: "The captain needs to drive tomorrow, so he should rest well tonight. Meng Li and I will take care of the night watch. If we get tired during the day, we can catch up on sleep in the backseat."

Sun Fushan: "No..."

Meng Li: "Yes, Xu Qiao will take the first half of the night, and I'll take the second half."

Sun Fushan: "I..."

Xu Qiao smiled. "It's settled then. You guys go to bed early. I'll go up to the roof to keep watch."

Leaving the task of restraining Sun Fushan to Meng Li, Xu Qiao returned to the bedroom to change into her freshly cleaned armor. After stepping out, she leaped nimbly onto the rooftop of the forest cabin.

Meng Li went to the bedroom.

Qinchi said to Sun Fushan, "Go inside and sleep. I'll read for a bit longer."

Sun Fushan remembered the opulent and exquisite style of the master bedroom. He took out his own tent from his storage space, set it up, and typed to Qinchi, "Your bed is too soft; I'm not used to it. Sleeping on the floor suits me better."

Moreover, Sun Fushan seriously doubted that if he slept in Qinchi's bed, this teammate might throw away the brand-new bedding and replace it with new ones.

Seeing his insistence, Qinchi did not persuade him further and went to his room with his book.

Sun Fushan stood alone in the living room for a while, thinking about the B-level danger zone they would visit tomorrow. He glanced at the ceiling, shook his head helplessly, turned off the lights, and entered his tent.

The light in the left bedroom soon went out. In the master bedroom, Qinchi stood by the floor-to-ceiling window, watching the area illuminated by the light spilling outside.

The fire dragon, restless after being cooped up all day, stirred.

Qinchi closed the curtains and let it out.

The fire dragon circled the bedroom and spat fire at him. "Why didn't you dodge when she ambushed you?"

As soon as the water above appeared, it sensed it. Whatever it could sense, Qinchi definitely wouldn't miss either.

Qinchi: "If I showed too much prowess, she might suspect my true strength."

Fire dragon: "Then why aren't you angry?"

Qinchi: "She had no ill intent. I don't take jokes as seriously as you do."

The fire dragon got so angry it forgot to spit fire.

Qinchi sat on the sofa by the window and continued reading.

Fire dragon: "Let me go wander around the woods. I promise to hide well and not be seen by anyone."

The higher an ability user's level, the farther their spirit body can travel independently until it must return due to losing connection with the physical body.

Qinchi: "You also promised never to fight me for control of the body again."

With that, he unilaterally recalled the fire dragon.

On the roof, Xu Qiao kept watch for a while, then released her spirit body, letting the lotus flower monitor any unusual movements nearby. She silently summarized the day's training insights and experimented with new ideas using her abilities.

Occasionally, low-level beasts or insects approached, but the lotus flower spirit body handled them automatically without disturbing Xu Qiao or the sleeping teammates inside.

Completely focused, Xu Qiao paid no attention to time until she heard a soft door opening downstairs.

Immediately afterward, Meng Li landed on the roof.

Xu Qiao checked her communication bracelet; it was five minutes to twelve.

Meng Li whispered, "Qinchi seems to still be awake." Despite the strong blackout curtains, a sliver of light still escaped.

Xu Qiao: "Could it be that he's worried about me?"

Indeed, she was the weakest in terms of overall combat power in the team. If a powerful B-level beast attacked, she might not even be able to protect herself, let alone warn her sleeping teammates.

Meng Li had no answer; she rarely speculated about her teammates' thoughts.

Xu Qiao jumped back down to the ground and looked toward Qinchi's room, but found it completely dark.

Exhausted, Xu Qiao returned to her room to sleep.

At five in the morning, Xu Qiao was awakened by her alarm. After washing up, she walked out of the bedroom and saw Sun Fushan packing up his tent. Qinchi, dressed in his armor, emerged from the opposite room.

Xu Qao asked curiously, "Did you only go to bed late last night?"

Qinchi: "Yes, I've gotten used to reading every day. Since I couldn't read during the day, I read a bit longer at night."

Xu Qiao, Sun Fushan: "..."

Meng Li descended from the roof, her face pale and eyes clear, showing no signs of staying up late.

After enjoying a delicious breakfast prepared by Qinchi, they packed up the forest cabin and set off for the B-level danger zone, Yellow City.

Different levels of danger zones have officially installed surveillance cameras along their boundaries. Once a high-level beast enters a lower-level danger zone, the camera scans its level and transmits the information to the patrol teams. However, these cameras can malfunction or be avoided by beasts, making it impossible to entirely prevent accidents solely through surveillance.

Considering that the three had just been promoted to B-level, the team decided not to venture deep into Yellow City but to train near An County in the east.

Finally, Qinchi put on his helmet without needing any reminders.

A B-class wild boar, as big as a small hill, charged over with great momentum. According to the order, Meng Li went first.

Meng Li tried to control the wild boar's movements with wind, but unexpectedly, the B-class wild boar was too strong, and her wind couldn't exert much effect. She used wind blades to pierce the boar, but its thick hide provided super-strong defense, failing even to cut through it.

Not wanting her teammates to wait too long, Meng Li switched to her more proficient Fire Element ability. Several fireballs slammed into the wild boar, setting its hair ablaze.

The wild boar's skin needed to be preserved for points, so Meng Li controlled it with a ring of fire and then released toxic mist inside.

The wild boar grunted and ran in circles, gradually slowing down until it collapsed on the ground, powerless.

Meng Li extinguished the fire and plunged a wind blade fiercely into the wild boar's head.

Sun Fushan was incredibly envious. With poison support, fire offense, and wind flight, Meng Li still had the potential to become the strongest B-class ability user.

The second B-class creature they encountered was a giant centipede, with high agility, high defense, high attack, and poisonous!

Sun Fushan's earth spikes couldn't penetrate the centipede's carapace, so he continuously released earth walls to block its attacks and the toxins it spat out. Meng Li took this opportunity to control the wind and sweep away the drifting toxic mist, preventing it from harming the three spectators.

Sun Fushan confirmed that he couldn't defeat this creature in a short time, so he released his spirit body the moment the centipede turned. A green-shelled turtle, larger than an off-road vehicle, descended from the sky and landed heavily on the centipede's back.

The centipede tried to flip over, but the green-shelled turtle remained immovable. Taking advantage of the centipede's restricted movement, Sun Fushan simultaneously condensed three massive earth blades and chopped the twenty-meter-long black centipede into four segments in one breath.

The centipede writhed in pain, but its head, still over three meters long, burrowed into the ground to escape.

As soon as it entered the soil, the earth bulged outward, and a row of earth spikes pierced through the wound, finally stopping only when they extracted the crystal core from the centipede's mouthparts.

Sun Fushan succinctly declared, "Burrowing? No way!"

Xu Qiao happily said, "Such a big one! Just the carapace alone can earn us a lot of points."

High-defense beasts were tough to fight but were therefore worth more!

Seeing his teammates happy made Sun Fushan even happier. He carefully collected the twenty-meter-long trophy and placed it in a corner of the spatial crystal where beast corpses were stored.

The team continued forward. Xu Qiao waited excitedly and nervously for her opponent.

However, by eleven o'clock in the morning, apart from some low-level beasts, the team hadn't encountered any other B-class beasts.

Meng Li: "It might be because we're close to An County. Patrol teams focus on clearing high-level beasts in this area."

Xu Qiao: "It's okay. Safety comes first. We'll head back after another hour."

Driving back to the urban area of An County would take at least three hours, plus additional time to clear the obstructing beasts along the way. The aircraft takes off at five and doesn't wait. To avoid delaying tomorrow's work, the team must plan their schedule well.

Qinchi suddenly stopped and looked ahead. "There are beasts, quite a few."

The four immediately formed their formation.

Two B-class gray wolves sprinted over, the strong wind from their speed causing their long fur to lie flat against their backs. Behind them, three similar-sized giant wolves followed closely.

Meng Li: "I and the captain will each take two. Xu Qiao, you handle one. Qinchi, stay alert!"

Sun Fushan cheered and mobilized the earth around the five wolves, raising three arena-like thick walls with a rumbling sound.

The startled B-class wolves no longer had the speed to break through the earth walls or enough space to run and jump.

The three teammates jumped into their respective "trial grounds."

Before Xu Qiao could land, the B-class gray wolf pounced, and a stream of water as thick as the wolf's body shot out, forcing the wolf to dodge and retreat to the ground.

Xu Qiao took the opportunity to steady herself and fired three water arrows at the gray wolf. The wolf dodged two but was hit in the ear by the third.

The gray wolf howled in anger and pounced again at Xu Qiao.

Xu Qiao sidestepped, and another water arrow struck the wolf's neck as it passed by.

Wolf skin wasn't as tough as wild boar skin, and Xu Qiao's water arrows had improved through repeated attempts to break through Qinchi's wind circle.

This arrow deeply penetrated the wolf's neck. As the wolf landed, Xu Qiao withdrew the water arrow, causing a gush of blood from the wound.

The wolf staggered and turned but couldn't launch another attack, collapsing to the ground.

Only then did Xu Qiao look up.

Qinchi stood atop the high earth wall, giving her an approving glance before flying to the adjacent trial ground.

Xu Qiao was also pleased with her performance, skillfully extracting the crystal core and peeling off the intact wolf skin.

Then, she flew out of the earth wall and landed beside Qinchi.

In the trial ground below, Sun Fushan fought two B-class wolves, using his abilities to block one and attacking the other with earth spikes, managing both tasks smoothly.

Xu Qiao then looked at Meng Li, who had just finished her battle. She killed one wolf, while her Fire Scorpion spirit body killed another with its tail stinger.

The forest ahead erupted with the sounds of beasts charging again.

Xu Qiao looked up and saw a majestic Snow Wolf, four meters long, shimmering in the sunlight.

This was a spirit body.

When Xu Qiao looked over, the Snow Wolf spirit body hesitated, stopping and lifting its head to gaze at her.

An eagle spirit body descended from the sky and landed on a tree beside the Snow Wolf.

A camouflage-patterned off-road vehicle arrived, and five armored mercenaries jumped out as the doors opened.

The leader, without a helmet, had silver-white short hair, with bold and confident features.

Meng Li landed beside Xu Qiao, her helmet concealing a slight frown, clearly recognizing their former classmate, Zhao Feng.

She whispered to Xu Qiao, "It seems these five wolves are their prey."

Xu Qiao: "If the wolves aren't injured, whoever kills them gets them."

Beside them on the earthen wall, Qinchi remained silent. Sun Fushan, who had just flown up, glanced at the opposite side and then at Xu Qiao, unable to speak due to his stutter, he could only remain still.

In the standoff, the Snow Wolf's spirit form turned back to Zhao Feng, rubbing against his palm before looking again at Xu Qiao, whose face was concealed by her battle armor.

Xu Qiao frowned. Could it have recognized her?

Zhao Feng lowered his eyes, a hint of irritation flashing across them. Where did she get an A-grade battle armor, and how dare she come to a B-grade danger zone?

After a moment, he raised his head and asked with a smile, "Did you kill all five wolves?"

Sun Fushan stood tall and proud. "Yes!"

As he spoke, he reminded his teammates and then restored the three trial grounds to flat land, revealing the five wolf corpses, some skinned and others killed by different means.

Zhao Feng understood that Xu Qiao's three teammates were at least two B-grade in strength, and one of them was clearly wealthy and generous.

He gave a nod to his teammates and walked toward the off-road vehicle.

The Snow Wolf's spirit form looked back longingly.

Zhao Feng rubbed the top of the Snow Wolf's head and said telepathically, "Wait a bit longer; today isn't the best time to meet her."