The Vehicle Sent to Meet Them

Here was the highway leading to the Danger Zone.

A vehicle was parked by the roadside with its engine and lights off, waiting in silence.

Two people sat inside. One was the driver, while the other was a cultivator who had awakened his Spirit Medium. His name was Zheng Fei, and he was responsible for meeting those who had taken part in this operation.

"Brother Zheng, why don't we go back? It's already so late. No one else should be coming back by now. If we stay here any longer, we might run into danger ourselves." The driver spoke in a low voice. With only his vehicle parked here in solitary isolation, he couldn't help feeling uneasy.

Zheng Fei shook his head. "No. Yang Yilong ordered me to wait until six o'clock. Besides, more than ten cultivators have gone missing in the Danger Zone so far. This is already a huge problem. If any cultivators managed to escape alive but we abandoned them instead of meeting them, and word got out, who would dare deal with the Yang family in the future?"

"In today's world, the stronger a cultivator is, the more important his personal credibility and influence become. Cultivators themselves are symbols. Once their credibility collapses, they'll be shunned by the entire cultivation circle, and everything they try to do afterward will become extremely difficult."

"Why is that? There are plenty of people in society who don't keep their word, but I don't see them being ostracized." The driver was very puzzled.

Zheng Fei looked out the window and smiled. "That's because the law can deal with scoundrels, but it can't restrain powerful cultivators. Cultivators therefore have to restrain themselves. Only then will others trust, respect, and worship you, and even be willing to answer your call. Tell me, would you rather follow someone who always keeps his word, or someone who goes back on it?"

"I think I understand. The higher a person's status, the more they care about credibility and promises. That's why the emperor's words are imperial edicts." The driver looked enlightened.

"That's more or less the idea," Zheng Fei said. "That's why an emperor must be even more careful not to break his word. Once he sets a precedent, his imperial edicts will become nothing but wastepaper, completely useless. Yang Yilong said before that the operation would end at six, so we have to be responsible for meeting the retreating cultivators during this period. If we don't, then Yang Yilong's words will become nothing but fart. No one will believe him or listen to him."

"I never realized there was so much behind such a small act." The driver hadn't expected such profound implications from this seemingly minor gesture.

Then Zheng Fei sighed again. "But I know in my heart that since no one has returned from the Danger Zone yet, it'll probably be difficult for anyone else to make it back. Most of them are probably already dead in there. Wait, hold on. It looks like someone's running this way."

"I'll get out and take a look. Be ready to start the vehicle and retreat at any time."

After saying that, he immediately opened the car door and stepped out. Then he swiftly flipped himself onto a high point and gazed into the distance.

"Who is it?"

Zheng Fei shouted in a low voice, asking for an answer.

He was worried that some unclean humanoid creature might sneak close under cover of darkness.

"It's me, Li Yi." The figure responded.

"Li Yi?"

Zheng Fei immediately recalled the name and remembered at once. "So it's the cultivator who was with Li Tao. I'm Zheng Fei, the person responsible for meeting you. What happened? Where are Li Tao and Zhang Gao, who was traveling with you? No, something's wrong. Stop! What's that thing on you?"

"Li Tao and Zhang Gao are dead. They were killed by a group of monsters at the guard post. I escaped in the chaos. Don't be nervous—the thing on my back is a strange tiger. I killed it. I thought this prey might be worth some money, so I brought it back."

Li Yi was panting slightly. He had carried the Biao and run all the way, finally escaping the Danger Zone and reaching the vicinity of the cordon.

"You killed a tiger? I see. It's fine, come over." Zheng Fei breathed a sigh of relief and gestured for Li Yi to approach.

"What happened? Why are you so on guard?" Li Yi approached with the corpse of the vicious Biao on his back. He reeked of blood, and a fierce aura radiated from his entire body.

Zheng Fei sized Li Yi up. When he saw the Fierce Beast on his back, he was instantly stunned. "Good heavens, you didn't kill a tiger at all. That's a Fierce Beast Biao! Yang Yilong sent out a message earlier saying there was an abandoned zoo in the Danger Zone where an Extraordinary Creature had raised many Fierce Beasts, including Biao, mountain demons, and human bears. Later, he hunted down that Extraordinary Creature, but was too exhausted to deal with the remaining Fierce Beasts. As a result, they went berserk and started roaming wildly through the Danger Zone. That's why we're on such high alert."

"So the Biao Yang Yilong mentioned must be the one you killed."

As he spoke, Zheng Fei moved closer and repeatedly examined the Biao's corpse.

When he saw the clearly sunken Fist Prints and palm prints on the Biao's corpse, his pupils suddenly contracted.

This Fierce Beast had actually been beaten to death by someone's bare fists and feet.

"You really beat this thing to death? Incredible. Yang Yilong warned us that these Fierce Beasts were extraordinarily powerful. Even cultivators in the Spirit Medium Realm would become prey upon encountering them. Killing one required powerful firearms, and several cultivators working together at that."

Zheng Fei found it unbelievable. Li Yi was merely an assistant who had accompanied Li Tao, yet not only had he escaped the Danger Zone alive, he had also killed a Fierce Beast Biao bare-handed. How could anything be this bizarre?

After all, quite a few cultivators in the Spirit Medium Realm had failed to return this time.

"At the brink of life and death, my body was stimulated into evolving. I grasped some tricks of boxing and kicking, then killed it instead." Li Yi set down the Biao's corpse and wiped away his sweat. "I wondered why this thing was so fierce. It wasn't a tiger—it was a Biao. I was almost eaten by it."

"I see. Have you awakened your Spirit Medium?" Zheng Fei only then noticed that Li Yi's eyes glimmered with light. His Spirit Medium had already awakened, making him a cultivator in the Spirit Medium Realm just like Zheng Fei.

Yet he was still puzzled.

For a cultivator who had only just awakened his Spirit Medium, even if he erupted with strength in a desperate situation, killing a Fierce Beast bare-handed was no small feat.

However, Zheng Fei didn't ask any further. He merely said, "Do you need help? I have a vehicle here to meet you. I can take you and this Biao's corpse back to An Ding District. Don't worry, you hunted it, so we won't confiscate it. We might even buy it at a high price."

"Good. Take me back now. I don't want to stay here another moment. There's too much danger. On the way back, I even saw Yin Soldiers and evil spirits. I almost got noticed by them." Li Yi answered immediately.

Zheng Fei's eyelid twitched. "Yin Soldiers and evil spirits? Your trip was far too dangerous. Fortunately, what you encountered were only ghostly entities. They don't dare leave that Ghost Domain. The earth's energy field has been polluted. Whether they're evil spirits or Yin Soldiers, the moment they leave the Ghost Domain, they'll be polluted by the earth. By then, they won't even know how they died."

Li Yi nodded, deeply agreeing.

Zheng Fei lent a hand, lifting the Biao's corpse from the ground and placing it in the vehicle. Then he continued, "But things aren't absolute. If an evil spirit possesses a human body, it can temporarily avoid the pollution by using a living person's body. In addition, some powerful ghostly entities can move through the polluted world if they possess their own energy fields. But those are extremely rare cases and have no practical value as reference."

"All right, this is everything, right? Nothing else?"

After hearing Zheng Fei say that, Li Yi regretted it again. If he had known, he would have bought more things on Ghost Street. It wasn't as if he feared debt-collecting ghosts coming to demand payment anyway.

But now was not the time to think about that. He immediately said, "It's just this Biao's corpse. There's nothing else. Let's leave at once. This place is very close to the Danger Zone, so we'd better not stay long."

"All right, I understand. Get in. We're leaving now." After picking up Li Yi, Zheng Fei didn't linger. He instructed the driver to set off immediately.

The driver had been ready for a long time. He had long been itching to leave this haunted place. The vehicle started, and he slammed his foot down on the accelerator, rapidly carrying them away.

On the road out, another vehicle suddenly came toward them, heading back toward the Danger Zone.

"People are still going to the Danger Zone at a time like this?" Li Yi was resting in the vehicle. When he saw another vehicle, he immediately grew curious.

"That's another vehicle Yang Yilong arranged for the rescue," Zheng Fei explained. "Once my vehicle leaves, the next one waits at the place we just came from. After all, it's the Danger Zone. We can't arrange too many people to provide aid at once in case something happens. Besides, you probably don't know this, but apart from you, eleven other cultivators have lost contact. And with the news you brought that Li Tao and Zhang Gao died, seven cultivators have now been confirmed dead."

"So many people ran into trouble?" Li Yi was astonished. "I thought only Brother Tao and I had been unlucky enough to encounter danger. I didn't expect everyone else to have suffered the same fate."

"Exactly. Yang Yilong is having a headache over this right now. And it isn't just you. Yang Yilong's companion, that girl Qin Qing, was also gravely injured. Several sections of her spinal column were smashed, and they're currently contacting major pharmaceutical companies to arrange treatment." Zheng Fei shook his head and revealed another piece of news.

"Qin Qing? You mean that woman with the vertical blue pupils?" Li Yi asked.

He had a deep impression of the woman beside Yang Yilong. Brother Tao had even explained the knowledge behind vertical pupils because of her.

"Who else could it be? I heard it happened while she was covering Yang Yilong. She almost lost her life." Zheng Fei sighed. "Fortunately, I'm only a bodyguard responsible for meeting you all. If I had gone into the Danger Zone this time, I probably wouldn't have made it back either."

"Don't blame us. Yang Yilong originally meant well. Before dismissing you, he wanted you to accompany them into the Danger Zone for a trip and earn some extra money. Who could have expected things to turn out like this?"

After hearing all this, Li Yi clicked his tongue in amazement.

Even Yang Yilong had almost capsized in the Danger Zone. This trip had truly been perilous.

Thinking about it now, the fact that he had survived and returned was really a stroke of luck.

"By the way, what kind of Extraordinary Creature did they hunt? How could it be so powerful?" Li Yi asked curiously.

"We don't know yet," Zheng Fei said. "But the corpse has already been brought back. We'll have to consult the records and examine it before we can determine what it is. Still, this hunt was hardly worth it. So many people died, and the losses are enormous. Who knows how much compensation will have to be paid? On top of that, Qin Qing's injury requires an exorbitant treatment fee. I don't know whether the Extraordinary Creature's corpse will be enough to offset the losses."

"We risked our lives for this mission. Yang Yilong ought to pay up and compensate us," Li Yi said.

Looking at Li Yi, whose body was covered in blood and grime, Zheng Fei nodded. "That's true. Money can be earned again once it's gone, but once your life is gone, nothing remains. Still, don't rush. After you return, take a bath, get some proper rest, and eat a meal. In a few days, the supervisor will discuss compensation with you. They won't shortchange you. But you only suffered injuries, so your compensation won't be very high."

"I know. That's why I'm counting on this thing to make money. I've always heard that Fierce Beasts in the Danger Zone are worth a great deal." Li Yi pointed at the corpse of the Fierce Beast Biao in the vehicle.

"Don't worry. As I said before, Yang Yilong will definitely buy this Biao's corpse back at a high price. You can take my word for it."

Zheng Fei said this with a smile. He was courteous to Li Yi not only because they were both cultivators in the Spirit Medium Realm, but also because he admired Li Yi's strength.

Besides, at a juncture like this, Li Yi's killing of a Biao was actually a good thing.

Only by buying bones for a thousand pieces of gold could Yang Yilong restore the credibility he had lost this time.

Zheng Fei understood this principle, and Yang Yilong certainly understood it as well.