Ripples (1)

Compared to Liu Jie, Ma Qiang did not have much—only a money pouch, a small porcelain bottle, and a brocade box.

Lin Sheng first glanced at the money pouch. It held roughly a dozen taels. He then opened the small white bottle and found a pink pill inside. He lifted it beneath his nose and gave it a light sniff.

He immediately felt his body growing warm, most noticeably a stream of heat in his lower abdomen.

Especially below his lower abdomen—it felt as though it had been stimulated. A strange expression appeared on Lin Sheng's face as he put the pill back into the bottle.

Only after taking several deep breaths did he finally calm down.

"This is fucking aphrodisiac—and fucking potent aphrodisiac at that!!"

He could not help cursing, then shifted his gaze to the final small box. The brocade box was exquisitely crafted and did not seem like an ordinary item.

I hope what's inside won't disappoint me.

Muttering to himself, Lin Sheng directly opened the brocade box. Inside lay a crimson pill, red as blood and about the size of a quail egg.

He likewise picked up the pill and sniffed it beneath his nose.

Very quickly, he felt the blood and qi within his body becoming active.

"This is..."

Feeling the changes in his body, Lin Sheng's eyes lit up.

Although he did not know much about pills, merely taking a few deep breaths had stirred the blood and qi within him. Clearly, this pill was no ordinary item.

There was an eighty percent chance it was a high-grade blood and qi treasure pill.

The thought flashed through Lin Sheng's mind, but he had no intention of taking it right away.

After all, he had yet to determine exactly what this pill was. He would not recklessly try it. At the very least, he needed to figure it out before choosing to consume it.

Until then, he should hide it away first.

After taking stock of this haul, Lin Sheng put everything away in a concealed spot. Only then did he stop. He ate a little food and lay down to rest.

He had not slept well these past few days in the mountains. Now that he was home, he naturally needed to get some proper rest.

As for how this mission had gone, he did not know. Given his current status, he was merely an unnoticed nobody in the Beast Hunter Hall. Whether the mission had been completed or not depended on Wang Sanyang and the others.

He slept until noon the next day. When Lin Sheng pushed open his door, he heard a burst of commotion from the street, seemingly coming from the direction of the Ninth Squad's station.

"They're back!?"

Hearing the disturbance, Lin Sheng got dressed and hurried toward the station.

His residence was not far from the station, only a few hundred meters away. In less than a few minutes, he had arrived. By then, quite a few people had already gathered there.

A small half of them were hunters originally from the Ninth Squad. The rest were strangers, but judging from their standard-issue clothing, they were also members of the Beast Hunter Hall, likely personnel from other squads.

Wang Sanyang stood in the center of the courtyard. His body was covered in blood, and one arm was bent at an unnatural angle—clearly broken.

Yet on his back were four entire white tusks stained with blood.

"There are actually four of them. Looks like Captain Wang and the others killed another Tusk Mountain Boar."

Lin Sheng was rather surprised, but on second thought, if not for that, given Wang Sanyang's skills, he should have returned long ago.

Tusk Mountain Boars were thick-skinned, tough-fleshed, and possessed tremendous strength. Even with Wang Sanyang's considerable ability, he would find it difficult to deal with one alone.

Lin Sheng looked farther inside and saw that, besides Wang Sanyang, several others were also covered from head to toe in blood.

Zhang Ding was among them. He lay on the ground, his right leg a mangled mess of flesh and blood, with bits of stark white bone even visible. He had long since fallen unconscious, while a physician beside him treated his wounds.

The others were not much better off than Zhang Ding. Physicians were likewise treating and tending to them.

From this scene alone, it was not hard to imagine how brutal the battle had been.

"Wang Sanyang!"

At that moment, an indifferent voice suddenly came from outside the courtyard.

Then a tall man, around thirty-two or thirty-three years old, walked in. His face was expressionless, yet an indescribable air of authority radiated from him.

The people in the courtyard promptly moved aside upon seeing him, seemingly regarding him with considerable awe.

"This is... Ma Qiang's older brother."

Seeing that this man bore some resemblance to Ma Qiang, Lin Sheng's heart stirred. He had basically confirmed the man's identity.

Just as he had guessed, the newcomer was Ma Long, captain of the Beast Hunter Hall's Third Squad.

After entering the courtyard, Ma Long swept his gaze over the people around him. He frowned and looked toward Wang Sanyang in the center.

"Where is Ma Qiang!?"

Wang Sanyang had noticed Ma Long as well. His brows furrowed as he glanced around, seemingly searching the crowd for Ma Qiang's figure, but unfortunately, he found nothing.

"I don't know. Something went wrong with this mission. Three Tusk Mountain Boars appeared at once. We could barely save ourselves—how could we still spare any attention for your brother?"

"You mean Ma Qiang is already dead?"

Ma Long's frown deepened. Though he did not think highly of his useless younger brother, Ma Qiang was still family. There was, after all, some brotherly affection between them.

Hearing that his younger brother might already be dead, a trace more coldness appeared on his face.

In truth, when Lin Sheng and the first batch had returned, he had already received word that the Ninth Squad's mission had taken an unexpected turn. He had personally led people into the mountains to meet them, intending to bring Ma Qiang back.

Unfortunately, they had found no clues. He could only pin his hopes on Wang Sanyang and the others, who had yet to emerge. But now they had returned, and there was still no news of Ma Qiang.

Then Ma Qiang's fate was likely more grim than hopeful. Especially since Liu Jie, whom he had sent to protect Ma Qiang, was likewise missing. That only further confirmed it.

At that thought, fury surged in his heart.

"Useless trash."

The reason he was so furious was, first, that Ma Qiang had died; second, he had only just bought two Blood Cultivating Pills for him at a high price, yet they had now gone down the drain.

"Ma Long, you know very well how strong Tusk Mountain Boars are. Our Ninth Squad ran into three of them at once. Even for Body Tempering martial artists, surviving would have been no easy feat. This time, nearly seventy percent of my Ninth Squad were killed or injured... What else do you have to say!!"

Wang Sanyang's face was somewhat pale now, and even his voice carried a hint of weakness.

"Seventy percent killed or injured..."

Ma Long's expression was dark as water. He stared fixedly at Wang Sanyang, then looked at the several severely injured people on the ground. Faced with this scene, he truly had nothing to say.

Then, as though he had suddenly recalled something, his gaze began searching through the onlookers, seemingly looking for someone.

"I heard your Ninth Squad recently got a rather promising newcomer named Lin Sheng, right? Where is he?"