Chapter 105

Chapter 105

After breakfast, Sun Xuan took out the mutated creature scanner.

Xu Qiao and the others gathered around again.

Within a detection range of five kilometers, a red dot symbolizing an A-grade creature appeared on the edge of the southeastern area, and although there were no red dots in the southwest direction, there was a dense cluster of orange dots representing B-grade creatures.

Sun Xuan pointed to the cluster of orange dots and said, "We're heading here."

Sun Fushan looked suspicious and typed, "Are we supposed to take down B-grade beasts first, then rush to kill the A-grade beast?"

Sun Xuan replied, "The strength of an esper lies not only in the destructive power of a single attack but also in the versatility of their abilities. The clever transformation between offensive and defensive methods can sometimes determine victory or defeat. Your problem right now is a lack of battlefield experience. Both your offensive and defensive methods are too simplistic. Start by gaining experience with the B-grade beasts."

Military service is indeed tough, as one has to fight on the frontlines in dangerous zones or coastal bases for extended periods, but the frontlines are also the best place to quickly enhance combat abilities. The continuous onslaught of mutated beasts and insects pushes people to unlock their potential.

Sun Xuan even felt that if Grandpa had been ruthless enough to send his brother to the coastal base right after he had been promoted to B-grade at the beginning of July, his brother might really have had a chance to reach S-grade by the end of the year.

He looked at his brother.

Meeting his brother's gaze, Sun Fushan felt a sudden chill and moved to the other side of Xu Qiao.

After traveling along a rugged, weed-covered road for over an hour, the four arrived at a mountainous area where the mountain ranges stretched endlessly, each peak averaging over a thousand meters in elevation.

Reopening the detector revealed some red dots deep in the mountains. The cluster of orange dots was in the mountain directly in front of them, and another ten minutes of climbing would lead them to the encounter.

Sun Fushan roughly counted, "They're moving, four, five, ten of them—birds?"

Xu Qiao said, "I've encountered a C-grade swarm of bees before."

Meng Li added, "It could be mutated insects, birds, or monkeys."

Sun Xuan put away the detector and made a gesture to set off.

As they approached the target location, Xu Qiao and the others in the lead observed different directions, not missing anything on the tree tops or the ground.

Suddenly, something shot toward Sun Fushan.

Sun Fushan formed an earth shield to block it, and at the same time, Xu Qiao spotted the culprit hiding in a tree—a B-grade short-tailed monkey about the size of an adult human.

Seeing the short-tailed monkey throw another stone, with enough force to crush a person's skull, Meng Li coldly released a blade of wind.

The wind blade sliced across the B-grade short-tailed monkey's neck, and it plummeted to the ground.

This incident triggered a wave of reactions. A sharp monkey cry echoed from a tree, and the sound spread, quickly eliciting responses from distant parts of the forest, accompanied by the sound of wind breaking as numerous mutated beasts leapt between the treetops.

Sun Xuan said, "Xiao Shan, Xu Qiao, your task is to use different attack methods to defeat the short-tailed monkeys, only repeating after you've taken down more than ten. Meng Li, your task is to familiarize yourself with combo techniques; choose whichever combination you prefer."

The three exchanged glances, spread out, and chose their battlefields before the monkey horde could gather.

Xu Qiao looked up. The first B-grade short-tailed monkey had just landed on a nearby tree but hadn't attacked yet. Xu Qiao's water arrow shot toward the monkey's chest.

The short-tailed monkey tilted backward, hooking its leg around the tree branch, but Xu Qiao's water arrow changed direction and flew downward, meeting the monkey's body as it swung around and piercing its chest.

The second short-tailed monkey, seeing this, let out an angry roar and leapt at Xu Qiao from mid-air.

Xu Qiao sidestepped to avoid it and, as she swung her right hand toward the monkey's back, a meter-long ice sword materialized in her palm and stabbed deeply into the monkey's back.

The third, fourth, and fifth short-tailed monkeys arrived together. Realizing that fighting alone wouldn't work against the esper below, the three B-grade short-tailed monkeys pounced on Xu Qiao from different directions, their thick monkey paws spreading wide with thick, sharp nails, determined to tear through the esper's battle armor and eviscerate her.

Xu Qiao had spent over an hour in the evening yesterday mastering the water snake's attack patterns, and now she successfully condensed three water snakes, each entangling a short-tailed monkey.

While the three monkeys were focused on breaking free, a water blade stabbed into the throat of the left monkey, a water drill pierced the forehead of the middle monkey, and a stream of water engulfed the right monkey, instantly turning it to ice.

The first two died quickly, but the one frozen in ice lasted for more than a minute before it stopped breathing as new monkeys arrived.

Taking advantage of the brief lull, Xu Qiao glanced at Meng Li's battlefield, only to see Meng Li looking calm and composed. Whenever a monkey approached, she waved her hand, sending a dark wind that made the monkey scream miserably before it hit the ground, covering its eyes. After dodging the monkey, Meng Li continued to greet the next one with her dark wind.

By the time Xu Qiao had panted her way through three more B-grade short-tailed monkeys, Meng Li had switched to using fire attacks. A ball of fiery wind chased a mutated monkey, forcing it to roll on the ground. Meng Li controlled the fiery wind to rise into the air, ensuring the mutated monkey was burned from all angles, regardless of how it rolled.

Xu Qiao: '...'

The distant B-grade short-tailed monkeys chose to flee. Meng Li had to chase them while riding a fire scorpion. Once she had chased some of the monkeys back, Xu Qiao and Sun Fushan could continue practicing.

In the morning, they hunted mutated monkeys, and in the afternoon, Sun Xuan carefully selected a grove of mutated bamboo.

The B-grade bamboo leaves, like flying knives, were even more terrifying than pine needles.

By dusk, the exhausted Xu Qiao sadly noticed that her A-grade battle armor had been scratched by the dense bamboo leaves.

Like water dripping through stone, a single bamboo leaf might not penetrate A-grade battle armor, but multiple flying knives would definitely do the job. The same principle applied when the three of them "cut down" an A-grade water pine yesterday.

After setting up camp, Sun Fushan downed two tubes of nutrient solution and said to his elder brother, “Tomorrow, I want to fight an A-grade!”

A single B-grade creature wasn't scary, but a group could be exhausting!

Sun Xuan: “Alright, take turns. It’ll keep things fresh for you. You and Xu Qiao will stand guard tonight, decide the order yourselves.”

Sun Fushan looked at Xu Qiao: “You first, I’ll take the rear.”

Xu Qiao: “Sure, we can switch next time.”

As usual, Sun Xuan set up a makeshift guard tower.

The three entered the tent, and Xu Qiao sat in the guard post, silently taking her turn on duty.

Around eight o'clock, a golden-red streak suddenly cut through the night sky, slowing down as it neared the guard post before diving into Xu Qiao's arms.

Xu Qiao glanced at the tent and cupped the coiled fire dragon in her hands, asking softly, “Why are you here again?”

Fire Dragon: “We can’t sleep well when you're not here.”

Xu Qiao was at a loss: “I’ll stand guard for the first half of the night. Why don’t you and Lotus sleep in the tent first?”

Lotus refused from within the crystal core, and so did the fire dragon: “It's too cold outside; I'll help keep you warm.”

It transformed into a length of about two meters, quickly wrapping around Xu Qiao, its head resting on her shoulder as it said, “I’ll keep an eye out for you. If they come out, I'll hide right away.”

Xu Qiao smiled, stroking the section of the dragon wrapped around her waist, without any resistance.

This was Qinchi’s spiritual being; what was there to fear?

The thought of missing him surfaced but was quickly pushed down by Xu Qiao. At least for the first half of her night shift, she shouldn’t be distracted.

After about ten minutes, a gentle breeze carried a slip of paper into Xu Qiao's arms.

Staring at the direction the paper came from, she saw a familiar tall figure emerge from the darkness, stepping closer until he stopped on the other side of the waist-high earth wall.

Xu Qiao felt both a longing and nervousness, glancing towards the tent.

Qinchi: "Don't worry, I won't let anyone find out."

Saying that, he pulled down the fire dragon wrapped around Xu Qiao, making it go up to the roof of the guardhouse to stand guard.

The fire dragon lowered its head and eagerly looked at Xu Qiao. "Could the lotus flower come up to keep me company?"

Before Xu Qiao could ask about the lotus flower, it appeared on its own, and Qinchi skillfully took out a small blue vase.

The lotus flower settled inside, and the fire dragon stretched out and carried away the blue vase.

Qinchi circled into the guardhouse.

The simple guardhouse had only an earthen stool, but Qinchi had placed a single sofa. He sat down first, then looked at Xu Qiao.

Xu Qiao pretended not to understand.

Qinchi gripped her wrist, intending to pull her over.

Xu Qiao quickly said, "I need to sit here. If someone comes out, they’ll definitely look at this spot first."

Qinchi: "Everyone is resting; who would come out?"

In the end, Xu Qiao was pulled into his arms.

In this position, Xu Qiao naturally wrapped her arms around his waist. Tonight, Qinchi wore a black woolen sweater.

His body was very warm, and the sweater was warm too. As soon as Xu Qiao's face touched it, she didn't want to leave.

Qinchi looked down at her. "Are you sleepy? Want to nap?"

Xu Qiao: "If I sleep, what will you do?"

Qinchi tightened his arm around her waist. "Hold you."

Xu Qiao secretly savored the moment, then looked at his blurry face and said, "I told you not to come, yet you still did. If they find out, I'd feel embarrassed, as if I can only dare to train outside the base with your protection."

Qinchi: "I didn't come to protect you."

Xu Qiao: "Then why?"

Qinchi: "Because only by coming here can I fall asleep at night."

Xu Qiao glanced upwards and guessed, "If you don't come out, the fire dragon doesn't let you sleep peacefully?"

Qinchi held his girlfriend a little higher and whispered in her ear, "It's not because of its disturbance; I miss you more than it does."

Xu Qiao felt her heart was like ice cream, melting away with his words, soft and shapeless.

Qinchi rubbed her earlobe, and when her earlobe started to heat up, Qinchi nestled her into his shoulder, took out a blanket from his spatial pocket, wrapped her up, and said, "Sleep, we'll do other things when we return to the base."

Xu Qiao: "..."

Her boyfriend had come all this way to accompany her; Xu Qiao didn't think she could fall asleep. But Qinchi stopped talking, everything was so quiet, and he was so warm. She didn't know when she actually fell asleep.

Qinchi woke her up at 11:30 that night.

Qinchi placed her on the earthen stool, looked down at her sleepy and reluctant expression, and said, "I have to go; I'll come back tomorrow night."

Xu Qiao neither nodded nor shook her head, just hugged his neck, closed her eyes, and tilted her face up.

Qinchi pressed a kiss on her soft lips and then pulled away.

Xu Qiao opened her eyes in confusion.

Qinchi's right index finger touched the corner of her mouth, and he explained peacefully, "I liked the way we kissed that night. Thirty minutes wasn't enough, and I don't want you to worry about someone coming out while we kiss."