Shadow Sentinel

The sound came from above Bai Pu's head—from the Spirit Energy Camera that had been floating there all along.

Bai Pu had always treated the camera as if it did not exist. He had not expected anyone to send him a message. He raised a hand, plucked down the Spirit Energy Camera, and tapped the message button.

With a chirp, the Spirit Energy Camera projected a virtual light screen, revealing lines of text.

Awakened No. 97, Bai Pu. This message is from the General Control Room of Jiangnan Special Military Base. (Official blue verification)

General Control Room: Bai Pu, it's Li Ling! Listen carefully. You're in a very dangerous situation right now. Two Awakened from Sting Squad have also entered the Intersection Lands of the Dead Bone Mountain Range. They're looking for you!

General Control Room: Once you receive this message, leave the Intersection Lands immediately!

Bai Pu's eyes narrowed slightly. He reached out and typed a reply on the virtual light screen.

No. 97: I understand, Ling-jie. Thank you for the warning, but I don't want to go back.

Beep beep.

Li Ling's reply came even faster.

General Control Room: Don't try to act tough, and don't assume the Intersection Lands are necessarily safe! Some "bloody items" designed for Awakened may temporarily prevent you from leaving the Intersection Lands!

No. 97: I'm not acting tough. I simply have nowhere to retreat to. Sooner or later, I'll meet them on a narrow road.

Bai Pu raised his head, his gaze deep.

After merging with Evolution Source Blood and advancing into an Awakened, Bai Pu had gained a second life.

Only those who had once "lost" could understand the preciousness of "gaining" something. Bai Pu cherished his current life, so full of vitality.

But that did not mean he would tiptoe through everything, locking himself away somewhere absolutely safe and waiting to die of old age.

On the contrary, Bai Pu would experience this wonderful world even more earnestly. To do that, he had to seize every opportunity to strengthen his combat power, fight his enemies, and seek out a sliver of survival.

Survive through battle!

This time, Bai Pu had received an early warning and could leave the Intersection Lands.

But what about next time? The time after that? Superpower Corporation could endlessly send Awakened assassins after him, but Bai Pu could not endlessly hide and retreat. He needed experience too. He needed to grow stronger.

Bai Pu would not be frightened away from this trial in the Intersection Lands.

There was one thing Bai Pu was certain of: the enemy's level would definitely not exceed Level 3! Since no intermediate or High-Level Awakened were involved, Bai Pu felt he was not at much of a disadvantage. He was confident he could fight them.

Beep beep.

General Control Room: Fine. I can't persuade you, so I won't waste my breath. I have some information on bloody items here. I'll send it to you. Don't pass it on.

No. 97: Thank you.

Bai Pu opened the document and was surprised to find that the materials Li Ling had sent included not only information on bloody items, but also intelligence on the two Awakened.

Ye Xiao, codename Fish Intestine, Level 3 elite, profession: Shadow Sentinel...

Jin Hui, codename Containing Light, Level 2 standard template, profession: Shaper...

After reading the information, Bai Pu got to his feet.

"Who knows when Sting Squad will come looking for me, but I can't stop moving forward. I can't farm monsters too recklessly from now on. I need to save more than half my Spirit Energy and Blood Battle Qi, ready to fight at any time!"

Jiangnan Special Military Base, General Control Room.

"This guy!" Li Ling let out a long sigh.

Behind her, base instructor Xiang Yinghua showed a faintly approving smile. "This kid's not bad! He's got guts."

"I'm afraid he's just blindly confident." Li Ling muttered, then awkwardly pleaded, "Instructor Xiang, could you tell our people to head to Black Mist Valley now and protect Bai Pu in secret?"

Whenever the Intersection Lands of the Dead Bone Mountain Range opened, the military had the largest quota of Awakened allowed to enter.

"No."

Xiang Yinghua shook his head and refused cleanly. "Leaving aside whether it complies with the regulations, judging by that young man's attitude, he probably wouldn't agree to have soldiers babysit him."

Li Ling went out and made a phone call.

After some time, Li Ling returned. "Can you give me two more entry slots for the Dead Bone Mountain Range? I posted a mission within the God Strategy Army to send in two Level 3 elites," Li Ling insisted.

She could not explain why she valued Bai Pu so highly.

"Too late!" Xiang Yinghua suddenly fixed his gaze on the screen. "Good lord, they got here fast! How did they pinpoint Bai Pu's location so accurately?"

Li Ling hurriedly looked toward the surveillance display.

A silent pantomime was playing out on the screen.

Two figures appeared one after the other in the black mist, blocking Bai Pu's path. Blood flashed in the hand of a short man, and a slightly illusory chain had already connected him to Bai Pu.

"It's Battle Shackles!" Li Ling clenched her fists. "It really is a bloody item! Instructor Xiang, this is a serious crime!"

"Understood." Xiang Yinghua raised a hand and pressed a red button in the General Control Room. A clear command rang out. "Dongfeng Squad One, Squad Two, converge on Black Mist Valley. Two Awakened have used prohibited items. Arrest them immediately! If they resist, execute them on the spot! The coordinates are..."

After arranging the deployment within the Intersection Lands, Xiang Yinghua also assigned a squad of Awakened soldiers to wait outside the gateway. If the two offending Awakened left the Intersection Lands, they would be arrested immediately.

Li Ling watched the battle on the screen anxiously. She had investigated the information on the two members of Sting Squad, so she naturally knew their names and codenames.

On the screen, Fish Intestine, whose profession was Shadow Sentinel, vanished from the spot after binding Bai Pu with Battle Shackles. Then he emerged from Bai Pu's shadow and launched a vicious throat slash!

Clang! Bai Pu had already been on guard after receiving the Spirit Realm Will's notification about Battle Shackles.

He dodged with all his might, but he was slightly too slow. The blow struck his shoulder, and the Iron Thorn Shoulder Guard and dagger let out a piercing metallic screech. The force wrapped around the dagger did not diminish, piercing through the shoulder armor and into his flesh!

A corrosive dark energy invaded him immediately afterward.

An unknown enemy's skill, Shadow Assault, dealt 9 Sharp Damage + 25 Shadow Damage to you and inflicted Poison. Current stacks: 1. Poison effect: lose 3 Health Points per second.

Very strong. Mixed Damage, and it's Poison Coating too... It looks like the poison can stack! Bai Pu's thoughts flashed.

What he did not know was that Fish Intestine on the other side was already cursing furiously in the Team Channel.

"What kind of monstrous rookie has 380 Health Points?! One of my profession skills didn't even take off a tenth of it, and my normal attacks can only deal single-digit damage! I'm a whole level higher than him, with a 10% damage bonus!"

With Keratinous Skin reducing Sharp Damage, Bai Pu's own high base armor of 19 points reducing damage, and the Iron Thorn Shoulder Guard providing an additional 10 armor on the shoulder...

It was perfectly normal for Fish Intestine's normal attack to deal less than two digits of damage.

Containing Light swung her staff, firing a dull gray energy bolt that dealt non-elemental magic damage to Bai Pu. This was her basic magic skill as a Shaper. It had no additional damage bonus, but it could provide sustained output.

After Fish Intestine's normal attack came Death Cross. Two daggers carved a bloody cross-shaped blossom through the air, opening fresh bloody marks across Bai Pu's body.

Death Cross dealt Bai Pu 7 + 8, for a total of 15 Sharp Damage.

"Damn it! I can only stack the poison to its maximum of three layers first. That's 9 Health Points lost per second. Over the 60-second duration of Battle Shackles, factoring in his health regeneration, it'll still be enough to bleed him dry! Not to mention the sustained pressure from Containing Light and me!" Fish Intestine calculated rapidly.

Fish Intestine's calculations were accurate, but he had missed one thing.

Bai Pu might have been a rookie, but he was no lamb waiting to be slaughtered!

Thank you to all my old brothers for your tips, votes, chapter comments, and other support. This book managed to reach the top three among new sci-fi novels even with no promotion. My deepest thanks!!

This week is the trial recommendation period. Recommendations now advance through PK, and everything depends on the 24-hour follow-up reading data. The quality of that data directly determines whether this book can advance to the next round.

Please don't stockpile chapters~ Once we advance to the next round, I'll add an extra chapter! Lao Ya will also regularly ask the editor about the follow-up reading data. At 500, 1,000... there will be extra chapters too! I'll add one more chapter at midnight today first as a show of sincerity (and to show the depth of my backlog).

I sincerely ask all new and old readers to turn on update notifications for this book and keep reading promptly!