Ye Zhongming stopped. Xia Bai took a step forward and stood by his side. Her wings extended from behind, lifting her entire body about one meter off the ground.
Two ice birds circled above the two, emitting waves of cold air.
Both human and beasts looked ahead.
There had only been a pile of ruins there.
A few seconds later, a giant snow-white wolf slowly climbed to the top of the ruins, staring down at the four lives opposite it.
This mutated wolf was enormous, standing over three meters tall with thick limbs. Its hard black claws rested casually on the ruins, easily piercing the thick ice layer.
Its tail was thick and swung behind it.
If not for the demon crystal on its forehead, aside from its massive size, it would be no different from a tundra wolf before mutation.
But it was precisely that demon crystal on its forehead that made Ye Zhongming, the number one in the national rankings, tense up, ready to defend at any moment.
A perfect match for its body color.
Level nine!
A level nine mutated wolf!
Ye Zhongming knew who it was—it must be the Ice Plains Snow Wolf King, ranked sixth on the national mutated lifeform leaderboard.
It had actually come to Black Dragon City!
No wonder there had been disturbances here—this was undoubtedly the Snow Wolf King’s doing.
Ye Zhongming immediately guessed the purpose of this mutated lifeform.
At its current level, the Snow Wolf King could indeed force the mutated lifeforms here to obey it. But to say it was interested in the evolved here wasn’t entirely accurate. While eating an eight-star evolved might still be somewhat beneficial, those of lower levels wouldn’t even fill the gaps between its teeth.
However, killing an eight-star evolved was no easy task. Most lived in heavily fortified camps at that level, usually surrounded by large guard teams. Even if killed, the energy gained might not offset the expenditure. Moreover, human eight-star evolved were elites among elites, each with one or two life-saving tricks. Even a level nine lifeform couldn’t guarantee catching an eight-star evolved who was determined to escape.
For level nine lifeforms, absorbing energy from the world and consuming special items were what truly allowed them to continue evolving.
Thus, level nine lifeforms generally had little interest in attacking human cities—unless they urgently needed energy.
In Ye Zhongming’s past life, the few instances of level nine lifeforms massacring cities were either because humans had provoked them or because the level nine lifeforms were injured and needed energy to recover.
These level nine lifeforms were surely the same.
So why was this Snow Wolf King driving mutated lifeforms to attack the city, or at least to disrupt Black Dragon City? Its goal definitely wasn’t to eat one or two eight-star evolved humans—it was interested in the energy source inside the city’s four dragon-head structures.
As for whether it could eat eight-star evolved, those were just after-meal “desserts.”
Ye Zhongming realized he might be one such dessert that had stumbled in.
The Snow Wolf King sat its massive body atop the ruins, its wolf eyes shifting between Ye Zhongming, Xia Bai, and the pair of ice birds, as if deciding which target to attack first.
It made no move, and Ye Zhongming didn’t respond either, resulting in a brief standoff.
“Human, you’re different,” the Snow Wolf King suddenly lowered its body as if tired, then spoke in human language.
Ye Zhongming wasn’t surprised. One hallmark of level nine lifeforms was understanding human language. While not all level nines did, most could.
“Not panicking? Or not kneeling to beg for mercy?”
Ye Zhongming smiled.
The man and wolf spoke while keeping their eyes locked on each other. It was clear that given any opportunity, neither would hesitate to strike.
When the Snow Wolf King said Ye Zhongming was different, was it being polite? No—it simply found Ye Zhongming difficult to deal with, or more precisely, taking on four level eight lifeforms at once was troublesome.
Level nine lifeforms were indeed extraordinary, but not invincible—otherwise, humans wouldn’t have been able to hunt them down through teamwork.
Facing someone like Ye Zhongming, whose true strength hovered between level eight and nine, plus three powerful allies, even the Snow Wolf King had to be cautious.
“You carry something that interests me greatly,” the Snow Wolf King stood up, its eyes gloomy as it stared at Ye Zhongming. “Submit to me, and you may continue living.”
Ye Zhongming smiled again.
“You know, even the Armor King back in the day didn’t dare speak to me like this,” Ye Zhongming’s smile faded as he spoke with disdain. “For a level nine lifeform, you’re quite pathetic—needing to wait for backup to deal with me.”
Hearing the name “Armor King,” the Snow Wolf King visibly paused, its eyes showing hesitation. But by then, four level eight snow wolves had appeared beside it and from two other directions, forming a semi-encirclement around Ye Zhongming’s group.
“You’re waiting for backup? So am I,” Ye Zhongming summoned both Wind and Thunder and the Undead Sand Moon Blade.
……………………………………
At the Concave Exit, Ah Kai coldly watched the group of women opposite him, his forehead deeply furrowed.
These women had appeared here silently. They ignored questions about their purpose and refused to leave when told. Everyone knew they were bodyguards of that Mr. Ye, so no one dared lose their temper. But standing at the edge of the Concave Exit not only prevented defensive personnel from taking position but also disrupted the entire defense system. What if mutated lifeforms attacked now?
Yet no matter what was said, the women ignored them, simply staring toward Blood Street as if waiting for something.
Another key reason was that these women’s battle beasts were all high-level—some even at level seven, most at level six, with only a few at levels four or five that clearly had special support abilities.
A force like this wasn’t something even Ah Kai dared provoke lightly.
As the leader of Night Kill, Ah Kai was cold by nature and poor with words. But now that he was on rotation here, this was his defensive zone. If problems arose, he’d be held responsible.
After waiting a while with no sign of the women leaving, he approached their leader and said, “You can’t do this. I know you’re Mr. Ye’s people, but you must follow Black Dragon City’s rules. This is a defensive zone against mutated lifeforms—we can’t afford negligence. Whatever your business is, this takes priority.”
The leading woman acted as if she hadn’t heard, still staring toward Blood Street.
“You—”
A Kai grew angry and was about to threaten her when he noticed her expression suddenly change. Then, she tore off the thick fur coat covering her, revealing red form-fitting battle armor and a head of blood-red hair.
Ah Kai, whose own hair was red due to his bloodline, froze at the sight.
Night Kill members and other defenders at the Concave Exit gasped as well.
Following their leader’s example, hundreds of women behind her shed their animal hide clothing, revealing battle armor and weapons! An overwhelming aura erupted from them!
“My god, what am I seeing?!”
“Is that… blue-grade equipment?”
“All blue-grade! My god!”
“And gold-grade! Those few were holding gold-grade weapons! How… how is this possible? So many?”
“Their aura… what level do you think they are?”
“That leader… the leader…”
Amidst the murmurs, the women leaped straight off the city wall at the Concave Exit.