Chapter 304: Residual Bloodstains
Xu Zhi and Chu Xiaoyue stayed toward the back of the team and didn’t take much action. Chu Xiaoyue simply didn’t lack this bit of combat experience—better to let her teammates get some practice sparring. As for Xu Zhi, she was purely being lazy. She didn’t need the extra experience either. Besides, she was only a freshman—what was wrong with slacking off a little?
Through the observation of her [Eye of Secret], this vine’s level wasn’t low—roughly around the second stage of Longevity. According to what the dean of discipline had said, the outermost areas were mostly populated by Transcendent-level extraordinary creatures. Longevity-level beings existed too, but they were usually the “local tyrants” dominating small patches of territory along the outskirts.
It seemed this vine was the “local tyrant” here.
Generally, killing this kind of “local tyrant” would also yield quite a bit of “gold”—the cores left behind by extraordinary creatures it had slain. If the attributes didn’t match, it couldn’t digest them, but since they were still energy, it would collect them anyway.
Originally, their target hadn’t been this kind of local overlord. Even at the second stage of Longevity, under the righteous power of group beatdown, it wasn’t a particularly difficult opponent.
Their plan had been to venture further inside, to a slightly more challenging location. But since they had run into it now, there was naturally no reason to let it go.
With Chu Xiaoyue not taking action, the team’s main attacker naturally became Shu Yushan. As for the substitute, Ji Muge’s specialty—dual blades—happened to be especially useful at this moment. Of course, useful mainly for clearing out these annoying vines.
As the five of them advanced toward the vine’s core, more and more attacks lashed out at them. Clearly, the vine was astonished—why could these prey, who did not emit particularly strong auras, see through its disguise and head straight for its true body?
One of its greatest home-field advantages was that its main body stayed far from the battlefield and was extremely well-camouflaged. Otherwise, it wouldn’t have suddenly launched ambushes at prey. Yet these seemingly weak prey had pinpointed its true location so quickly.
Once its real body was found, its strategy of attrition no longer worked. It was forced into direct combat with the team and repeatedly attempted to slip away from the encirclement to hide again. Unfortunately for it, because Xu Zhi was present, every time it tried to ambush or escape, it was caught on the spot.
In terms of frontal combat ability, the vine was flexible, strong, and carried a paralyzing toxin. If one wasn’t careful and got slapped hard by it, the damage wasn’t only physical—the paralysis would also slow movement.
If the toxin accumulated to a certain degree, even the circulation of extraordinary energy would become sluggish. So once Su Ran realized the vine’s attacks were poisonous, she immediately urged her teammates to finish it quickly—they couldn’t afford to drag it out.
In Chu Xiaoyue’s absence from the front line, Su Ran could temporarily assume command. Though they had only trained together for about a week, they had already developed a certain level of tacit understanding. Surrounding and suppressing a vine that had lost its concealment wasn’t difficult. In fact, without causing much commotion, Shu Yushan successfully secured their “first kill” since entering the Lost Land.
When his spear tip pierced the vine’s true body, bursting green blood splattered all over Qiu Hou, who had been standing nearby. The fox-eyed young man’s eye twitched as he said in a subtle tone, “You’re not getting back at me for dodging earlier and letting you take that slap from the vine, are you?”
Shu Yushan withdrew his spear. As he turned his head, a conspicuous red welt—like a lash from a whip—was visible on the side of his face. He looked at Qiu Hou with a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “What do you think?”
Only then did Xu Zhi and Chu Xiaoyue stroll over at an unhurried pace. Seeing Qiu Hou’s miserable state, Xu Zhi even let out a “Whoa.”
Fortunately, their specially designed school uniforms came with built-in cleaning circuits. The only things that needed manual cleaning were their hair and faces, which had been drenched in green blood.
“What is that smell? It’s kind of disgusting.” Qiu Hou wiped at the bloodstains in despair.
The mark on Shu Yushan’s face disappeared after some simple treatment. The others had minor cuts and bruises, or slight lingering numbness from the toxin, but none of it was difficult to handle. With [Heart], resting for ten minutes or so would be enough.
Xu Zhi hadn’t deactivated her [Eye of Secret]. After all, they were in unfamiliar territory. Even after killing an enemy, they couldn’t afford to let their guard down.
Thanks to her caution, Xu Zhi quickly discovered something unusual.
To the naked eye, the green blood from the vine that had stained them all seemed to have been cleaned off. But under the effect of [Eye of Secret], Xu Zhi could see faint specks of extraordinary energy belonging to the vine still lingering on them.
What was this?
Xu Zhi informed her teammates of the discovery, choosing not to think too hard herself and instead letting them use their brains.
After hearing her words, the others looked thoughtful. Chu Xiaoyue seemed to realize something.
“The Lost Land has its own ecosystem. Some extraordinary creatures choose to cooperate with each other. Perhaps this vine did the same?”
“Then where’s its partner?”
Asked that, Chu Xiaoyue maintained her usual faint, almost emotionless expression. Looking earnestly at the person who asked, she replied, “How would I know?”
“…Fair point.”
Chu Xiaoyue’s demeanor always gave off the illusion that “she knows everything,” which sometimes led those around her to rely too much on her reliable aura and ask brainless questions. Privately, she would bluntly respond with a look that said “Are you stupid?” and say, “How would I know?”
Of course, that was only in private.
In public, or in the presence of outsiders, she would rely on her unreadable face and dependable temperament to become a riddler. Even if she didn’t understand or know, she would still appear as if she did—like, “I know, but I can’t say.”
Compared to Xu Zhi’s mood-based, free-spirited way of doing whatever she felt like, Chu Xiaoyue clearly had more of a “spokesperson” temperament. Yet, for some reason, in just this short week since Xu Zhi joined, the team members had also begun to subconsciously follow Xu Zhi’s directions during combat. They attributed this instinct to the fact that Xu Zhi’s ability was well-suited for command.
“Once you’re done cleaning up, prepare to move on. Be careful.”
Though they didn’t know what purpose the unremovable blood residue served, they couldn’t just stop here.
After a brief rest, the seven continued deeper into the Lost Land.
As they advanced step by step, they encountered several more attacks, but each time they successfully counter-killed their assailants. Chu Xiaoyue and Xu Zhi rarely made a move. Xu Zhi also didn’t always explicitly tell her teammates the enemy’s position, traits, or attributes.
By the end of the day, aside from the two of them, the other five teammates looked more or less bedraggled.
Even though extraordinary individuals possessed abundant stamina, a full day of constant tension plus intermittent combat inevitably left them showing signs of fatigue.
“Let’s rest here tonight.”
Chu Xiaoyue glanced at the increasingly tall trees nearby and made the decision.
