Filthy black blood splattered beneath the clear blue sky, and stinking rotten flesh was devoured in great mouthfuls.
Leng Qiongling stood there, utterly at a loss, wanting to go here, wanting to go there, but there was nowhere she could intervene.
Waves of Mad Beasts surged from all directions, but the other four each held a direction, steadily pushing back the crimson line drawn by the beasts.
“I can’t… get involved…”
Leng Qiongling stood there in distress, stomping her feet anxiously.
She wanted to call out, but she hesitated and held back.
Fortunately, Xi Si Te turned around at that moment, saw the bewildered Leng Qiongling, let out a helpless laugh, and ran over to her side.
“Come with me, Miss Leng Qiongling.”
“Okay…”
Xi Si Te had deliberately left one Mad Beast alive.
When it saw her return, it immediately lunged at her.
“Come now, Miss Leng Qiongling. I’ll explain some theoretical basics to you.”
Xi Si Te grabbed the charging Mad Beast by the throat, slammed it to the ground, and placed her weapon on its body, instantly pinning it down.
The beast could only whimper and thrash its limbs helplessly.
“First, ordinary Mad Beasts are all these quadrupedal creatures. Their general appearance is similar to large dogs, but their size is considerably larger than typical big canines.”
“Mm…”
Leng Qiongling glanced at the Mad Beast pinned under Xi Si Te’s weapon.
Its head was now flattened, and its limbs had stopped moving—it seemed to have lost all energy.
“Their weak point is usually the heart, protected by the sternum in their lower abdomen. If you can’t directly destroy the beast’s body with your strength alone, attacking here is the best option.”
“Mm.”
“Next are their habits and attack patterns. They usually move in packs like this, with no fewer than ten at a time. But these lowest-tier Mad Beasts don’t know how to coordinate attacks. They just follow their instincts and lunge at you, so you can counter directly without much thought.”
As she spoke, Xi Si Te walked over to the beast and picked up her weapon.
“Now, Miss Leng Qiongling, you give it a try. It’s already in a very weakened state.”
Xi Si Te leaped aside, dodging the beast’s bite.
Even though it was exhausted, the Mad Beast still wanted to tear apart the person in front of it.
“Good luck, Miss Leng Qiongling.”
“I’ll try…”
Leng Qiongling straightened the longsword in her hand, pointing its tip at the beast.
Cold sweat streamed down her face.
She knew she was facing nothing more than an ordinary, utterly average Mad Beast—one so weak it couldn’t even manage a charge.
Yet the life force it radiated was still so oppressive.
Hmm…
Leng Qiongling swallowed her saliva, relaxed her tightly clenched hand, then gripped it again.
With a single step—faster than she herself could have imagined—she reached the beast’s front.
Her blade mercilessly severed its forelimb, sending it crashing face-first into the ground.
She stopped abruptly behind the beast, the sword trailing a line of blood.
Trembling, Leng Qiongling stared at the sword in her hands.
Only the very edge of the blade was stained with a trace of blood.
Feeling her own power for real, Leng Qiongling couldn’t stop shaking.
Fear, excitement, dread—a tangled web of emotions toward her own strength.
The reality that she could avenge her family made Leng Qiongling excited.
But that same reality tore at her self-awareness.
She was now a Madman, no longer the ordinary person she used to be.
She was an existence beyond reason.
Her very existence… perhaps it was inherently wrong.
Leng Qiongling staggered toward the beast that had lost its forelimbs.
It couldn’t even turn its head to look at her, only barking wildly in confusion.
She raised her sword and plunged it straight into the beast’s body, piercing its heart.
In a moment, the creature collapsed to the ground.
Leng Qiongling, as if losing her only support, knelt down.
She was an Outsider, an object of scorn for the world.
She had now become what she once despised.
Was she still alive, or was she dead?
Leng Qiongling clutched her head and sobbed uncontrollably.
I don’t want this.
I was just an ordinary person…
Why did this have to happen to me…
Xi Si Te stood silently by, not stepping forward to comfort her.
She knew this feeling: abandoned by the world, forced to accept reality, forced onto the battlefield to slaughter.
Every team member had felt this way.
No comfort could ease it.
Those who couldn’t bear it went mad, lost their minds, and ultimately destroyed themselves.
Where Leng Qiongling’s fate would lead, only she could decide.
After waiting—who knew how long—Leng Qiongling used her sword to support herself and staggered to her feet.
Xi Si Te stepped forward to steady her.
“Should we head back?”
Her gentle words were like cotton candy, softening Leng Qiongling’s stiff limbs.
The other three in the distance had also nearly finished their work and were walking back toward the small hill where Wu Yin stood.
“Should we hurry over there?”
Xi Si Te supported Leng Qiongling, but as soon as they took a step, the ground began to shake violently.
Gravel and sand were thrown into the air, then fell back down.
Following the trail of debris, they could trace the sound coming from beneath the earth—and its source.
Sensing something was wrong, Xi Si Te immediately hoisted Leng Qiongling onto her back.
She stomped hard against the ground, launching herself more than ten meters into the air, landing precisely on the small hill where Wu Yin was.
The others had clearly noticed as well, listening to the rumbling from underground.
The rumbling stopped.
Then, from beneath the earth, a jet of mud and rocks burst into the sky.
“This is…”
From within the mudslide, a giant silhouette gradually took shape.
Its body was long enough to nearly encircle the entire hill.
It was entirely earthy yellow, streaked with black patterns.
Its sharp, vertical pupils stared at the group on the hill like a venomous snake.
The antennae on its head pointed straight into the sky, as if declaring its existence.
“Sand Lizard…”
I clenched my teeth and spoke the name of the creature before us.
Leng Qiongling, unable to contain her shock, stared at the beast.
“Th-this is a Sand Lizard?”
“Yeah, we just named it after something that looks similar. This thing is a high-tier Mad Beast, somewhere between an evolved form and a Giant Mad Beast. Strange. Even though it’s pretty desolate out here and there’s a fair amount of sand, we shouldn’t be deep enough in the desert yet to attract one of these. Why would it come here?”
“Never mind that—what do we do now? Should we run?”
“No need. Since we’ve encountered it, dealing with it is our duty. Ou Mi You!”
“Here!”
“Got it.”
I caught the earpiece Ou Mi You tossed from the off-road vehicle and put it on.
“Alright, it’s been a while since we’ve hunted a high-tier like this. Let’s show our best and not embarrass ourselves in front of the newcomer.”
I snapped my fingers.
The veteran team members understood without a word and picked up their already-sheathed weapons.
“Come on. Let’s dance a brilliant finale.”