At the abandoned water tower ten kilometers outside Chongming Island, the intelligence officers from Jiangnan city base’s Martial Arts Department (MAD) appeared utterly shocked.
Even from over a dozen kilometers, they could still clearly feel the surge of energy caused by the violent battle over Chongming Island.
It was overwhelmingly horrific!
The best amongst them—a rank-six martial artist was actually having heart palpitations. If he had been too close to the battle and caught in the shockwaves, he would have died a horrible death.
Suddenly, one of the officer’s cellphone rang.
He answered the call, exclaiming, “That someone has started fighting the Black King Drake, boss.”
“Specifics?”
“No idea. All we could see here from the water tower are some obstacles, so we couldn’t see what’s going on at Chongming Island at all.”
However, even from the other end of the call, Wang Gang could vaguely hear the distant rumble, explosion and Feral bellows from the distance.
He hence somberly said, “Everyone, I’m counting on you. Alert me immediately if there are any new developments. Chief Qin had already reported the incident on Chongming Island to headquarters, and they would be dispatching their elites… eh?”
Wang Gang paused at that, because the vague beastly cries and the rumbles of battle had suddenly vanished.
“What’s going on?”
“Boss…”
Over the water tower, the martial artist who answered the call had a look of anguish as he answered gravely, “The fight… it’s over.”
“Not Feral in pursuit… that someone must have fallen.”
Thud!
Wang Gang’s phone dropped to the floor.
Though it was an expected outcome, it was still hard to accept.
Even if Wang Gang never met the elite who landed on the island to challenge the Black King Drake, he could tell that the elite was just one step away from ‘divine’ after he fought the Black King Drake for so long.
The battle on the island might even have been a trial for the elite to refine himself with the Black King Drake as an opponent, and use it to reach divine-tier.
And yet, the Black King Drake had ascended as a King Feral.
Be that as it may, there was only one reason for that: Wang Gang’s intelligence wing only received news of the Black King Drake’s recent ascension at five in the afternoon, and could not announce it in time.
That elite might not have gone to Chongming Island at all otherwise.
Arriving at Qin Fan’s office like a walking dead, Wang Gang informed his chief about what happened, before hoarsely saying, “This is my fault, Chief Qin. The intelligence wing had failed in their duty—if I had learned about the Black King Drake’s ascension immediately and announce it, that elite would not have gone to Chongming Island.”
Qin Fan forced a smile and said, “It’s not your fault. I’ll contact HQ at once to see if we could find out his identity. He must not be allowed to die anonymously on Chongming Island.”
“Moreover, we are not to relax on the situation over there. Keep an eye out, and inform me immediately once a Feral Swarm appears!”
Qin Fan rose to his feet, took a deep breath and whipped out his phone again.
There was no telling how many calls he made on this single night, contacting headquarters, the three great martial clans of Jiangnan, every elite and Awakened who came to the city to participate in the auction…
***
Meanwhile, Jiang He had no idea how much of a storm he had caused.
After all…
His original intent was only to get two portions of rank-nine Feral flesh.
And in his perspective, what was the big deal with killing a Feral at the peak of rank-nine?
The most he did was kill several hundred gathered Ferals that could have formed a Feral Swarm before killing the Black King Drake… as well as several rank-seven Ferals along with others in the river with a handful of pea bombs…
As for the six rank-sevens, two rank-eights, and one rank-nine Feral on Chongming Island…
Those were merely done in passing and did not really count.
Still, Jiang He became a little bothered as he stood beside the corpse of the Black King Drake.
How was he supposed to bring so many Feral Corpses back?
His System Backpack had twelve boxes but only three were empty, and Ferals of different species do not stack.
“Oh, right… there are only two cucumbers left and I could vacate them… there are also dozens of qi pellets left, but those could be dumped as well since it’s useless for me.”
With that, he freed two boxes.
Hence, after putting in the Black King Drake along with the single rank-nine and two rank-eight Ferals into his System Backpack, he had one box left.
Jiang He glanced at the six rank-seven Feral corpses on the ground then, but decided to leave them there.
After all, those rank-sevens looked nowhere as tasty as the giant crab he retrieved.
“If I remember correctly, there are a lot more fishes and prawns in the river. Those are rare at Xibei… I’ll put in several variants of prawns to change my palate for a scrumptious meal to clean my palate.”
Jiang He arrived at the river.
Its boiling waters had long since calmed down as it continued to flow.
He leapt into the river, but only recovered six rank-six prawns. Still, those creatures that grew up to eight meters long were wafting with a meaty aroma thanks to the pea bombs’ detonation and quite cooked.
Their meat was not tasty like this, however.
That said, all Jiang He had to do was take them home, wash them, and have the old blacksmith make him a giant steel pot. Would it not be absolutely delightful if served fried with hot spices?
Additionally, he had also found an eel.
It was as thick as an arm and around four to five meters, and must have been rank-four when it was alive. Though worthless for Jiang He, he did promise that loli back in Lingzhou city’s MAD that he would catch her an eel to play with, and bringing it home counts as fulfilling his promise.
“But she wanted one alive, and this one’s dead… can’t play with a dead one, can we?”
Jiang He shook his head, saying, “Still, she could eat it even if she can’t play with it…”
Nonetheless, since his System Backpack was full, he had to carry it with his hand.
“Oh, wasn’t that loli’s name Liu Xue too?” Jiang He could not help laughing when she suddenly remembered the loli’s name.
Liu Xue, Zhou Yu…
It turns out that two out of three of the people he beat up in the morning shared the same name as his other acquaintances. That was not weird, however, since the Hua Nation was too vast and there were only too many people who shared the same name. He would have to admit that the hands of fate was ironic that both those person with the same name got beaten up by him.
Nonetheless, eel in hand, Jiang He skipped over the surface and back to the other end of the river.
“I now have two portions rank-nine Feral meat and the Orirocks, meaning I have enough materials to level my farm. After the auction tomorrow, I’m heading back to Lingzhou City… not planting stuff for a day is leaving my whole body unsettled.”
Jiang He sighed.
He whipped out the phone and saw that it was already eleven, and it was a four hundred-mile journey back to Jiangnan. The time would be right for him to fall asleep when he got home.
Whoosh!
Casting Blind Princess’s Eight Practices, Jiang He turned into an afterimage as he vanished into the night.
***
Above the water tower.
The Awakened with ‘all-seeing eyes’ who had headsets equipped was taking a break, with an average martial artist taking his place in surveillance.
As he held up his binoculars and looked around, he vaguely saw a figure flashing by in the distance. But when he looked again…
It appears that he was merely seeing things.
***
Covering over a hundred miles under a single breath, Jiang He took out his sports car from his System Backpack.
Hence gaining another spare box, Jiang He put the eel into his backpack and issued a command with a thought. The engine of the red Ferrari rumbled and bounded back towards Jiangnan city base.
Soon, he was just a dozen kilometers away from the city base when he ran into quite a few cars.
All of them had recently returned from the wildlands.
Just as Jiang He parked his car to relieve himself he ran into a burly bearded man.
He stared at Jiang He’s car for a while before chuckling. “Interesting, not many people would drive their sports car out here lately… are you out to hunt Ferals too, bro?”
Jiang He nodded and smiled in return. “Yup. Just had too much free time, so I went outside for a bit.”
The man smiled but said nothing else.
You’re quite the bragger—too much free time, went outside for a bit… Just look at that blood-splattered clothes of yours, anyone who did not know would think that you were in a bloody battle that lasted days!
Where are your Feral materials?
Everyone heading to the wildlands would either drive pickup trucks or off-road vehicles, so that it was convenient to carry Feral materials home… you couldn’t have stuffed yours at your car trunk, could you?
Still, the man did not point that out.
“By the way, bro, I’ve noticed many martial parties rushing back to Jiangnan City overnight… are the wildlands around here that dangerous?”
The man cast Jiang He another glance.
Just as he thought…
The kid was a newbie who didn’t know this bit of common sense.
“Yes, the wildlands could be more dangerous at night, but it’s no trouble if you could hide well,” he explained. “Most Ferals only come out at night, so it’s normal for martial arts to stay the night out in the wild.”
“The reason we came back is that we heard that there are trouble up in the wildlands. One particular Feral might have ascended as a King Feral and could incite a Feral Swarm at any moment.”
“I see.”
Jiang He nodded with a grin. “That is indeed quite dangerous… alright, bro, I’m off to have a bath. It’s quite uncomfortable with all this blood over my body.”
He climbed into his sports car and sped off.
Meanwhile, the burly bearded man smiled begrudgingly, shaking his head.
It was not as if he had not encountered such persons before, since most kids from rich or influential families would tend to go on trips at the wildlands to show off, caking themselves with blood and go home bragging about it.
***
Back at the hotel.
Jiang He took a bath, threw away all his blood-coated clothes, and put on his silk pajamas before going to sleep.
Life without a maid’s service was so dry and monotonous.
Sleeping until he woke up naturally, Jiang He washed up, put on a new set of jersey and shorts, when he heard a knock on his door just as he took out a lunchbox was about to have breakfast.
Long Mountain Lin entered after he opened the door.
There was a look of solemn sadness as he gravely said, “Jiang He, have you heard about last night? That vermin on Chongming Island had ascended as a King Feral and even slew a top rank-nine champion.”
Jiang He: “…”
Left dumbstruck for a moment, he could not resist a chuckle. “Never take rumors for truth, Elder Lin. Have you had breakfast yet? Come, come, let’s have some together.”
‘King Feral? Is that not just nonsense?
‘How could I not know when I was on Chongming Island?’
At the abandoned water tower ten kilometers outside Chongming Island, the intelligence officers from Jiangnan city base’s Martial Arts Department (MAD) appeared utterly shocked.
Even from over a dozen kilometers, they could still clearly feel the surge of energy caused by the violent battle over Chongming Island.
It was overwhelmingly horrific!
The best amongst them—a rank-six martial artist was actually having heart palpitations. If he had been too close to the battle and caught in the shockwaves, he would have died a horrible death.
Suddenly, one of the officer’s cellphone rang.
He answered the call, exclaiming, “That someone has started fighting the Black King Drake, boss.”
“Specifics?”
“No idea. All we could see here from the water tower are some obstacles, so we couldn’t see what’s going on at Chongming Island at all.”
However, even from the other end of the call, Wang Gang could vaguely hear the distant rumble, explosion and Feral bellows from the distance.
He hence somberly said, “Everyone, I’m counting on you. Alert me immediately if there are any new developments. Chief Qin had already reported the incident on Chongming Island to headquarters, and they would be dispatching their elites… eh?”
Wang Gang paused at that, because the vague beastly cries and the rumbles of battle had suddenly vanished.
“What’s going on?”
“Boss…”
Over the water tower, the martial artist who answered the call had a look of anguish as he answered gravely, “The fight… it’s over.”
“Not Feral in pursuit… that someone must have fallen.”
Thud!
Wang Gang’s phone dropped to the floor.
Though it was an expected outcome, it was still hard to accept.
Even if Wang Gang never met the elite who landed on the island to challenge the Black King Drake, he could tell that the elite was just one step away from ‘divine’ after he fought the Black King Drake for so long.
The battle on the island might even have been a trial for the elite to refine himself with the Black King Drake as an opponent, and use it to reach divine-tier.
And yet, the Black King Drake had ascended as a King Feral.
Be that as it may, there was only one reason for that: Wang Gang’s intelligence wing only received news of the Black King Drake’s recent ascension at five in the afternoon, and could not announce it in time.
That elite might not have gone to Chongming Island at all otherwise.
Arriving at Qin Fan’s office like a walking dead, Wang Gang informed his chief about what happened, before hoarsely saying, “This is my fault, Chief Qin. The intelligence wing had failed in their duty—if I had learned about the Black King Drake’s ascension immediately and announce it, that elite would not have gone to Chongming Island.”
Qin Fan forced a smile and said, “It’s not your fault. I’ll contact HQ at once to see if we could find out his identity. He must not be allowed to die anonymously on Chongming Island.”
“Moreover, we are not to relax on the situation over there. Keep an eye out, and inform me immediately once a Feral Swarm appears!”
Qin Fan rose to his feet, took a deep breath and whipped out his phone again.
There was no telling how many calls he made on this single night, contacting headquarters, the three great martial clans of Jiangnan, every elite and Awakened who came to the city to participate in the auction…
***
Meanwhile, Jiang He had no idea how much of a storm he had caused.
After all…
His original intent was only to get two portions of rank-nine Feral flesh.
And in his perspective, what was the big deal with killing a Feral at the peak of rank-nine?
The most he did was kill several hundred gathered Ferals that could have formed a Feral Swarm before killing the Black King Drake… as well as several rank-seven Ferals along with others in the river with a handful of pea bombs…
As for the six rank-sevens, two rank-eights, and one rank-nine Feral on Chongming Island…
Those were merely done in passing and did not really count.
Still, Jiang He became a little bothered as he stood beside the corpse of the Black King Drake.
How was he supposed to bring so many Feral Corpses back?
His System Backpack had twelve boxes but only three were empty, and Ferals of different species do not stack.
“Oh, right… there are only two cucumbers left and I could vacate them… there are also dozens of qi pellets left, but those could be dumped as well since it’s useless for me.”
With that, he freed two boxes.
Hence, after putting in the Black King Drake along with the single rank-nine and two rank-eight Ferals into his System Backpack, he had one box left.
Jiang He glanced at the six rank-seven Feral corpses on the ground then, but decided to leave them there.
After all, those rank-sevens looked nowhere as tasty as the giant crab he retrieved.
“If I remember correctly, there are a lot more fishes and prawns in the river. Those are rare at Xibei… I’ll put in several variants of prawns to change my palate for a scrumptious meal to clean my palate.”
Jiang He arrived at the river.
Its boiling waters had long since calmed down as it continued to flow.
He leapt into the river, but only recovered six rank-six prawns. Still, those creatures that grew up to eight meters long were wafting with a meaty aroma thanks to the pea bombs’ detonation and quite cooked.
Their meat was not tasty like this, however.
That said, all Jiang He had to do was take them home, wash them, and have the old blacksmith make him a giant steel pot. Would it not be absolutely delightful if served fried with hot spices?
Additionally, he had also found an eel.
It was as thick as an arm and around four to five meters, and must have been rank-four when it was alive. Though worthless for Jiang He, he did promise that loli back in Lingzhou city’s MAD that he would catch her an eel to play with, and bringing it home counts as fulfilling his promise.
“But she wanted one alive, and this one’s dead… can’t play with a dead one, can we?”
Jiang He shook his head, saying, “Still, she could eat it even if she can’t play with it…”
Nonetheless, since his System Backpack was full, he had to carry it with his hand.
“Oh, wasn’t that loli’s name Liu Xue too?” Jiang He could not help laughing when she suddenly remembered the loli’s name.
Liu Xue, Zhou Yu…
It turns out that two out of three of the people he beat up in the morning shared the same name as his other acquaintances. That was not weird, however, since the Hua Nation was too vast and there were only too many people who shared the same name. He would have to admit that the hands of fate was ironic that both those person with the same name got beaten up by him.
Nonetheless, eel in hand, Jiang He skipped over the surface and back to the other end of the river.
“I now have two portions rank-nine Feral meat and the Orirocks, meaning I have enough materials to level my farm. After the auction tomorrow, I’m heading back to Lingzhou City… not planting stuff for a day is leaving my whole body unsettled.”
Jiang He sighed.
He whipped out the phone and saw that it was already eleven, and it was a four hundred-mile journey back to Jiangnan. The time would be right for him to fall asleep when he got home.
Whoosh!
Casting Blind Princess’s Eight Practices, Jiang He turned into an afterimage as he vanished into the night.
***
Above the water tower.
The Awakened with ‘all-seeing eyes’ who had headsets equipped was taking a break, with an average martial artist taking his place in surveillance.
As he held up his binoculars and looked around, he vaguely saw a figure flashing by in the distance. But when he looked again…
It appears that he was merely seeing things.
***
Covering over a hundred miles under a single breath, Jiang He took out his sports car from his System Backpack.
Hence gaining another spare box, Jiang He put the eel into his backpack and issued a command with a thought. The engine of the red Ferrari rumbled and bounded back towards Jiangnan city base.
Soon, he was just a dozen kilometers away from the city base when he ran into quite a few cars.
All of them had recently returned from the wildlands.
Just as Jiang He parked his car to relieve himself he ran into a burly bearded man.
He stared at Jiang He’s car for a while before chuckling. “Interesting, not many people would drive their sports car out here lately… are you out to hunt Ferals too, bro?”
Jiang He nodded and smiled in return. “Yup. Just had too much free time, so I went outside for a bit.”
The man smiled but said nothing else.
You’re quite the bragger—too much free time, went outside for a bit… Just look at that blood-splattered clothes of yours, anyone who did not know would think that you were in a bloody battle that lasted days!
Where are your Feral materials?
Everyone heading to the wildlands would either drive pickup trucks or off-road vehicles, so that it was convenient to carry Feral materials home… you couldn’t have stuffed yours at your car trunk, could you?
Still, the man did not point that out.
“By the way, bro, I’ve noticed many martial parties rushing back to Jiangnan City overnight… are the wildlands around here that dangerous?”
The man cast Jiang He another glance.
Just as he thought…
The kid was a newbie who didn’t know this bit of common sense.
“Yes, the wildlands could be more dangerous at night, but it’s no trouble if you could hide well,” he explained. “Most Ferals only come out at night, so it’s normal for martial arts to stay the night out in the wild.”
“The reason we came back is that we heard that there are trouble up in the wildlands. One particular Feral might have ascended as a King Feral and could incite a Feral Swarm at any moment.”
“I see.”
Jiang He nodded with a grin. “That is indeed quite dangerous… alright, bro, I’m off to have a bath. It’s quite uncomfortable with all this blood over my body.”
He climbed into his sports car and sped off.
Meanwhile, the burly bearded man smiled begrudgingly, shaking his head.
It was not as if he had not encountered such persons before, since most kids from rich or influential families would tend to go on trips at the wildlands to show off, caking themselves with blood and go home bragging about it.
***
Back at the hotel.
Jiang He took a bath, threw away all his blood-coated clothes, and put on his silk pajamas before going to sleep.
Life without a maid’s service was so dry and monotonous.
Sleeping until he woke up naturally, Jiang He washed up, put on a new set of jersey and shorts, when he heard a knock on his door just as he took out a lunchbox was about to have breakfast.
Long Mountain Lin entered after he opened the door.
There was a look of solemn sadness as he gravely said, “Jiang He, have you heard about last night? That vermin on Chongming Island had ascended as a King Feral and even slew a top rank-nine champion.”
Jiang He: “…”
Left dumbstruck for a moment, he could not resist a chuckle. “Never take rumors for truth, Elder Lin. Have you had breakfast yet? Come, come, let’s have some together.”
‘King Feral? Is that not just nonsense?
‘How could I not know when I was on Chongming Island?’
