Chapter 140 – Honeymoon Trip?
They were to hunt down and kill mutated beasts, but in reality, the large majority of students had only seen them in laboratories and never actually killed them before.
Wang Zhong also lacked the experience of doing this. He’d only played monster card games with Simba. While it had indeed been a very fun game, he sincerely wished to never play it a second time…
Furthermore, the main reason this task was issued was so that they could evaluate the strength of the group. What exactly were the strengths of a group? Other than collaborating between attack, defense, and auxiliary support during combat, they also had to showcase a concrete division of work on a day to day basis.
While the situation with the other groups was unknown, the five-person group formed by the Prodigy Society and Hymin had already divided up their work with exceptional clarity.
Barran dauntlessly took up the toughest and most tiring job of making a path. There were simply no such thing as a ‘route’ within this restricted region. The environment was covered with all kinds of shrubbery of various heights. Much of it was also overgrown with sharp thorns. Even with Barran’s tough and resilient skin a simple slip of of his concentration would mean getting pierced. While it wasn’t as bad as his injuries getting infected, the spilt blood could actually attract a large number of blood-thirsty mutated lifeforms toward them.
But Barran wearing armor while opening a path was a different story. His wide shield and greatsword hacked in all directions and created a path that people could easily walk through. As such, their traveling speed wasn’t slow. And with a heavy soldier at the front, it allowed those behind enough time to respond to any changes in their surroundings.
Emily was in charge of warning the group. Her keen, acute senses revealed themselves not long after the group set out. As a member of the Assassin Clan, Emily had already anticipated this kind of thing for a long time. This was a true adventure!
Not too much time had passed before Emily dealt with two mutated mice. The others only need to watch her take action. Having pulled off the two hits successfully, Emily felt extremely happy.
Wang Zhong and Grai watched over everyone from the middle. Grai was also the group’s main combat force.
Although Hymin possessed pretty good combat capabilities, she was more inclined toward coordinating with the group and giving first-aid treatment. The passionate Hymin took the initiative and offered to point out the way. After all, she was still a third-year senior sister. Her breadth of mind and knowledge was definitely higher than everyone else’s.
After a few hours everyone in the group felt a bit stupefied. After successfully ‘fishing’ at the old nests Hymin pointed, not even a single ant could be seen. They wasted a few more hours of their time and only managed to step on old animal feces. Well, at least this showed that there had indeed been a mutated beast herd here before.
“Senior sister, are you certain the route is correct?” Emily felt extremely doubtful. The three men had felt too embarrassed to open their mouths but she didn’t mind. This was due to her not feeling so interested in how this big sister acted so familiar with them since the beginning. Hymin’s chatty energy gave Emily goosebumps.
“Little Mi Mi just needs to relax and it’ll all be fine. Isn’t it just a few mutated beasts? There’s no problem. If there isn’t much here, then they’ll be plenty of them over there. It is strange though. I received some knowledge of this place before the training started and even spent some money to buy this information. I don’t know why it turned out like this.” Hymin did feel it was somewhat odd. Reeves was able to get his hands on this information so it was natural for her to obtain it and make preparations for it.
Emily felt a chill run through her body. Her face turned black as she shouted, “Don’t call me Little Mi Mi!”
“Okay, Little Mi Mi,” Hymin replied with a chuckle. Teasing these little junior sisters made her quite happy.
Emily’s expression turned blank before she decided to decisively break away from the group and rush into the wilderness. Since they were group mates taking direct action wasn’t possible. Her arguing abilities was also quite lacking, but since she didn’t want the sickening ‘Little Mi Mi’ nickname to be brought back to the academy, she decided to maintain some distance between her and this big sister!
She didn’t look like she was experiencing a trial but here for tourism. Hymin pointed toward the roadside and said with surprise, “Grai, that yellow-coloured little flower looks very pretty. Do you recognise what it is?”
Wang Zhong and Barran looked over with sympathetic gazes. All along this route she had asked numerous questions. Questions about the skies and the earth, the trees and the flowers. The only thing missing was asking what kind of underwear Grai was wearing. If it were any other person they would have already collapsed. Grai, however, responded with exceptional gentleness and patience. “I’m sorry, senior sister, but I have a pollen allergy. As such, I don’t know much about flowers.”
“Ah!” Hymin was filled with understanding as she held Grai’s hand. “Doesn’t that mean I can’t give you flowers during Valentine’s Day? You’re actually willing to tell such a secret to me. It makes me very touched. I’ll also tell you a little secret about me!”
“Okay, senior sister.”
Grai’s face looked the same while chatting as it did while he was traveling. Other than giving him sympathetic looks, they also felt admiration for him. This kind of explosion of questions would’ve tormented the others and made them go mad. Hymin would have already dispatched them long before a mutated beast horde appeared.
Grai truly was a god-like man. No wonder there were so many female students worshipping him. Hymin’s opera-like performance made the entire journey less boring. Wang Zhong and the rest didn’t interfere with her and Grai and instead, Wang Zhong could see that although she was chatting she was very focused on the task at hand. Being overly stressed would just lead to an increased consumption of energy.
Barran sighed deeply when he suddenly heard Emily’s voice ring out from behind.
“Barran, duck!”
“Barran assumed she’d seen a mutated beast. Without thinking he immediately shrunk his neck. Soul power erupted from his entire body and with a ‘ping’, his shield was anchored into the ground. Within that second he had entered a battle-ready stance!
This reaction speed made even Barran himself extremely satisfied. It had been the result he obtained from the group training last month. Anyone that had been constantly sneak-attacked by the instructors day and night would be able to train and acquire such a god-tier level of responsiveness.
Suddenly, he felt a cold glint shooting over his head from his rear. He didn’t hear the shriek of mutated beast as he expected, but a soft ‘thump’ was heard. Emily appeared right after and dashed toward the front.
So fast!
…………
Hrm? What was next?
Barran lifted his head from behind the shield, unsure of what was happening. Emily came back and carried an unknown fist-sized fruit in her hands. With high spirits she said, “It’s a fire dragon fruit! This is the first time I saw one that was still growing on the tree! Brother Wang Zhong, let’s share half each. It’s very delicious!”
“We’re currently having a test…” Wang Zhong felt a bit groggy. This girl… why was she so similar to Hymin? Yet, the fragrance coming from the fruit still managed to attract his good-for-nothing stomach. “This thing is, however, quite fragrant…”
With Hymin’s existence Emily no longer felt that being intimate was an especially embarrassing thing to be. She moved to grab Wang Zhong’s arm and didn’t let go. This was the most beautiful, romantic atmosphere. Emily suddenly felt that the test was indeed too perfect!
“Grai, you’re not allowed to tell my little secret to other people.”
“Yes, yes…”
“Brother Wang Zhong, its skin can also be eaten!”
“Yes, yes… let’s eat along the way…”
The Prodigy Society group instantly became unusually lively as they scattered the serious and strict atmosphere they previous had after entering the restricted region. Only Barran continued to heft his shield and maintain his posture from that previously chaotic moment.
Why do I suddenly feel a bit lonely standing in this autumn wind? So cold!
☀
While the Prodigy Society became a hideous mess, a foreign group suddenly slipped into the eastern side of the restricted region.
It was a six-person group. Each and every one of them was tall and well built and one of them even carried a massive steel-plated contraption on his back. It weighed at least 150-200 kilograms but didn’t seem to hinder his movement speed in the slightest as they traveled through the shrubbery.
A scar-faced man led them at the front. It was like a walk in the park to him as he guided the way. On his forehead was a strange third eye. He was a mutated human.
After avoiding all of the mutated beast dens along the way, they entered the middle region of the restricted region in less than a day’s worth of time. In the distance they could faintly make out a thirty-plus story high rise building.
Their surroundings were filled with a faint, odd flower fragrance. The high rise building seemingly gave off a demonic feeling that made the two youths within the group unable to tear their eyes away from it.