Wang Zhan and Song Dongming hurriedly moved to the side of the stretcher.
Fortunately, although Huang Pufeng appeared to be seriously injured, his spirits were surprisingly good.
Seeing Wang Zhan and Song Dongming, he wasn't surprised in the slightest.
"HAHAHA, I knew you guys would come... OUCH!" Huang Pufeng cried out in pain as his laughter tugged at his wounds.
Seeing Huang Pufeng in such high spirits, Wang Zhan and Song Dongming both sighed in relief.
"What happened? How did you get hurt so badly?" Wang Zhan asked.
Upon hearing this, Huang Pufeng immediately became agitated.
"DAMN! I took a fall when I least expected it!"
Before Wang Zhan and Song Dongming could respond, Huang Pufeng lowered his voice. "General Lin originally didn't want this known, but it should be fine to tell you two... Today, after the small Beast Tide, my team clashed with the original organization."
"The original organization again?" Wang Zhan frowned. "The situation in Chang'an City is already so dire, and the original organization still wants to cause trouble?"
"They weren't exactly causing trouble. In fact, the people from the original organization even helped us fight the beasts. But after we repelled the Beast Tide, they turned on us without the slightest hesitation," Huang Pufeng said in frustration. "At that time, everyone was exhausted. But those people from the original organization had harbored nefarious intentions from the start; each of them had conserved a good deal of their strength."
At this point, Huang Pufeng's voice became tight with anger, his teeth gritted.
"DAMN IT! Hundreds of beast cores were all snatched away by those bastards from the original organization!"
So their real target was the beast cores? Wang Zhan nodded, confirming some of his earlier suspicions.
Since the last incident, Wang Zhan had learned a fair bit about the original organization and understood their objectives.
Beast cores are concentrated forms of a beast's power. Those shadowy figures are probably scheming some bizarre experiments again.
Soon, medical personnel arrived and carried Huang Pufeng away.
After asking, Wang Zhan learned that Huang Pufeng's injuries were not light; he wouldn't be able to fight for at least half a month.
He must really hate the original organization now, Wang Zhan thought, watching Huang Pufeng's ignominious departure, and then chuckled aloud, "He even sent us photos to brag. Turns out, he got stuffed by the appetizers before the main course even arrived."
"HAHAHA! Serves him right for being so cocky," Song Dongming couldn't help but laugh as well.
After seeing Huang Pufeng off, Wang Zhan and Song Dongming returned to their quarters to rest and conserve their energy.
The battle was far from over, so they couldn't truly relax.
「Late that night, deep within the wilderness area.」
This place was over three hundred kilometers from Chang'an City, a region humans rarely dared to tread.
Soldier-level beasts roamed freely here, and General-level beasts had carved out their own territories, commanding vast packs to fight and hunt.
To survive in the depths of the wilderness, both humans and beasts had to follow the law of the jungle: survival of the fittest.
It was the stark law of the jungle.
But that was how it used to be.
Yet now, in this vast expanse three hundred kilometers from Chang'an City, not only was there no sign of powerful beasts fighting each other, but even their roars were seldom heard.
However, anyone scanning the area with an infrared telescope would discover it was teeming with an innumerable horde of beasts.
As moonlight spilled onto the land, a black shadow slipped into this beast-dominated territory.
As soon as he stepped into this area, he was met with countless predatory glances.
These beasts radiated ferocity, their eyes fixed on the black shadow as if it were delectable prey.
Yet, despite this, not even a single beast attacked the black shadow.
Such terrifying discipline! Not just the soldier-level and General-level ones, but even ordinary beasts, whose intelligence is comparable to wild animals, are all perfectly obedient, the black shadow mused.
This was the truly terrifying aspect of the beasts.
Humans possessed powerhouses, but the beasts had them too, and in greater numbers! Humans valued discipline, yet the beasts could display it with even greater rigor!
How could humans possibly win against such opponents?
The black shadow removed his hood, revealing his gaunt, slightly aged face.
The next moment, a vast mental energy surged outwards, instantly blanketing an enormous area nearly a kilometer in radius, and it continued to expand.
Suddenly, the black shadow felt his mental energy constrained; a clear will was reflected back.
"Come in."
The black shadow gave a humble smile, then his body abruptly shot into the air, entering the beasts' main base.
A few minutes later, he landed in front of a cave.
The cave was pitch black and seemed bottomless.
As the black shadow approached the cave entrance, six crimson points of Fire Light suddenly ignited within the pitch-black depths.
"Yuan Qi, long time no see." A hoarse voice rasped, accompanied by a scorching breath. Yuan Qi felt a wave of heat rush towards him.
As one of the top ten members of the original organization and a Grandmaster expert, Yuan Qi should not have felt scared.
Yet, facing the formidable presence within the cave, though his expression remained impassive, a flicker of dread still stirred in his heart.
"My Lord still remembers me," Yuan Qi replied.
"HEHE! Your original organization is a friend to us variant beasts. How could we forget a friend?" The laughter from the cave was extremely grating. "The term 'beast' is merely what humans call us."
As the voice faded, a dog's head, a full two meters in diameter, emerged from the cave!
Its fur was a mottled dark green and black, and its eyes blazed with red Fire Light. As the massive dog's head drew closer to Yuan Qi, a putrid stench wafted over him.
Suppressing his discomfort, Yuan Qi respectfully said, "My Lord, I have investigated the situation in Chang'an City. Apart from a Grandmaster in the City Defense Army, there is also a Grandmaster and a Grandmaster in the Chang'an Martial Arts Academy."
A Grandmaster is one rank higher than a Grandmaster, and one step further would be a Martial King.
Such a level already represented one of the most formidable powerhouses among humans.
"Two Grandmasters and one Grandmaster." The dog head seemed to grin, but its ferocious appearance made it difficult to see clearly. "Very strong, but still not enough!"
"Perhaps your foolish compatriots are unaware that this time, our goal as variant beasts isn't simply to launch a Beast Tide! We intend to make Chang'an City the first city to be utterly destroyed in decades!"
Hearing these words, Yuan Qi drew a deep breath and bowed his head deeply.
"With you here, My Lord, all this will naturally be achieved effortlessly."
The dog head seemed to lose interest in talking. It opened its mouth wide, spitting out a package wrapped in beast hide and covered in foul-smelling saliva.
"This is for you. If you have any more intelligence, report to me promptly."
"Understood." After taking the package, Yuan Qi did not hesitate to leap into the air and leave.
Staying in this damned place was a torment for him.
Long after Yuan Qi had departed, new voices suddenly echoed from within the cave.
"I will take care of the Grandmaster," a slightly sharp voice stated.
"Why should you? You two take the Grandmasters; I will deal with the Grandmaster!" the husky voice that had previously conversed with Yuan Qi retorted.
"HEH HEH, we'll see who's more capable when the time comes," replied another, somewhat coarse voice.
Subsequently, the three voices grew increasingly agitated, their speech shifting from human language to the unique tongue of the variant beasts—or 'beasts,' as humans called them.
Not until much later did the commotion slowly fade.
「Early morning.」
Today was Wang Zhan's sixth day in Chang'an City.
Wang Zhan and Song Dongming, under Yang Hu's guidance, were still wandering around a ten-kilometer radius in the wilderness area, hunting high-rank beasts.
Today, Wang Zhan was taking on all comers. For the past few days, he had never attacked any beast below level 7, always leaving them for Song Dongming to deal with.
But today Wang Zhan took on everything, insisting on dealing with all beasts level 6 and above himself.
"I say, aren't you being a bit excessive?" Song Dongming complained, looking aggrieved.
In the battle that had just ended, Wang Zhan, who was far from the battle location, had leaped from the vehicle and rushed into the fray at tremendous speed. In less than a minute, all six level 6 beasts were killed.
It was only then that Yang Hu finally arrived with Song Dongming.
"Well, you know, I was quite angry seeing Huang Pufeng so badly injured yesterday," Wang Zhan said.
His true reason, of course, was that he had just broken through and needed to accumulate ordinary attribute points.
Compared to extreme attributes, ordinary attribute points were much easier to obtain, requiring only opponents of a similar level. Both attacking and taking hits would increase them.
By noon, Wang Zhan had successfully maxed out the 100 basic attribute points for level 7.
Wang Zhan opened his attribute panel.
Host: Wang Zhan
Strength: 1250
Agility: 1250
Physique: 1250
Charm: 30
Wisdom: 21
Mental power: 15
All that's left are the 50 extreme attribute points. This is going to be a bit tricky, Wang Zhan heaved a long sigh.
The higher the level, the more stringent the conditions for acquiring extreme attributes became.
One had to kill beasts three levels higher than oneself.
So now I must kill level 9 beasts to get extreme attributes. But where can I find so many level 9 beasts? Wang Zhan scratched his head in vexation.
Meanwhile, Song Dongming, seeing Wang Zhan's troubled expression, grumbled discontentedly, "What's with that look after you hogged all the kills? Who owes you money or something?"
Wang Zhan snapped back to reality and looked at Song Dongming.
"No, I've had an epiphany. I really shouldn't be so overbearing," Wang Zhan said earnestly. "From now on, all beasts below level 9 are yours. I absolutely won't interfere. I'll only kill level 9 ones."
Song Dongming stared at Wang Zhan intently, saying nothing.
They had become quite familiar with each other. Song Dongming prided himself on being a good judge of character, but he genuinely couldn't figure out Wang Zhan, who changed his tune inexplicably all the time.
Just moments ago, he wouldn't even spare level 6 beasts, and now, after a few words, he didn't even want to touch level 8 ones.
What on earth was this guy thinking?
Just then, Yang Hu beckoned. "Get in the vehicle! There's a level 9 beast ten kilometers south. Our people can't hold out!"
Before Yang Hu had even finished speaking, Wang Zhan darted into the vehicle and yelled at Song Dongming, "Stop dawdling! Get in, quick!"
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