You, Do You Have Proof?

Somewhere in the collection zone.

Ren Zhong followed closely behind Luo Beichen.

The two arrived at a secluded spot.

Luo Beichen smiled. "You did well."

"Even something as hard to get as the Phoenix Tail Sunflower, you managed to obtain."

"As expected of my brother."

"Once we're back, I'll put in a word with the group."

"At the start of next month, have your brother come to the group and start work."

Ren Zhong quickly replied, "Thank you, Brother Luo."

Then he snorted and said, "That guy surnamed Luo got off easy."

"I didn't expect Wu Renfan to switch his backpack, and that surnamed Luo still survived. What a lucky bastard."

Luo Beichen said calmly, "No matter. Though he survived, he's injured."

"When the Death Match comes, it's bound to affect him."

"My chances of winning will be greater."

Ren Zhong chuckled. "Even if that surnamed Luo finds out now, there's nothing he can do to us."

"It's just—after we go back, I wonder if the Academy will report this to the Old Master?"

Luo Beichen's face darkened. "Report? Does he have proof? Don't forget, Wu Renfan is already dead."

"Besides, my father doesn't want me to lose this match either."

"It doesn't matter if I die."

"But he'd lose face."

"Moreover, this is a Death Match."

"To the death, no quarter—so naturally, no means are off the table."

"Who would be naive enough to think this deadly struggle only starts on the day of the match?"

"The moment that surnamed Luo agreed to the fight, this battle to the death had already begun!"

Ren Zhong seized the moment and raised his thumb. "Brother Luo is wise."

The two gradually walked away.

A moment passed.

At the spot where they had just been talking, a figure suddenly appeared.

In the blink of an eye.

It was evening.

Luo Beichen and Ren Zhong headed back.

Ren Zhong carried a marching bag on his back.

The bag was bulging.

Stuffed full of various medicinal herbs.

"There shouldn't be any collection tasks tomorrow."

Luo Beichen said as he walked, "These past two days, having you carry the gear—it's been hard on you."

Ren Zhong's shoulders were sore from the weight of the bag.

But upon hearing this.

He quickly replied, "No hardship, no hardship."

"This little bit of work is nothing, a piece of cake."

Just then.

A glass bottle flew above their heads.

Whoosh!

A pebble shot from somewhere unknown.

Struck the bottle.

The bottle shattered.

A cloud of greenish powder spilled out.

Caught by the wind.

It scattered and drifted.

Flying toward the two of them.

Luo Beichen's reaction was not slow.

The moment he saw the bottle shatter, he had already executed a sideways roll.

Putting distance between himself and the source.

Only a trace of the green paste had gotten on him.

Ren Zhong, preoccupied with flattery, was a beat too slow in reacting.

He took the full brunt of it.

His head, face, and body were covered in this plant pulp.

Even a clump had landed in his mouth.

"Ptoo, ptoo, ptoo."

He spat out all the pulp from his mouth.

Looking around, he shouted, "Who's that? Such a rotten thing to do."

"Get the hell out here right now."

But there was no one.

Luo Beichen, however, shot out like a leopard, lunging toward the spot where the bottle had come from.

But aside from a patch of scattered rocks, there wasn't even a ghost in sight.

He furrowed his brow, finding it all rather inexplicable.

Returning to Ren Zhong, he asked, "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine."

Ren Zhong brushed the plant pulp off his body, sniffed hard, then said with confusion, "Strange, this smell is oddly familiar."

But then.

As soon as those words were spoken, Luo Beichen's expression changed instantly.

"What's wrong, Brother Luo?"

Seeing Luo Beichen's face change, Ren Zhong couldn't help but step forward.

"Stop right there!"

Luo Beichen shouted, even raising his rifle.

Ren Zhong was startled: "Brother Luo, what are you doing?"

Luo Beichen quickly brushed off the small amount of plant pulp that had gotten on himself.

"This might be powder ground from 'Phoenix Tail Sunflower'."

Luo Beichen looked at Ren Zhong and said, "Stay here. Don't move. I'll go back to camp for reinforcements."

Just as he spoke.

Whether it was an illusion or not.

Luo Beichen felt that the distant plants seemed to be growing blurry.

As if, mist was rising?

Hearing it was 'Phoenix Tail Sunflower', Ren Zhong was startled and said, "No way, where would 'Phoenix Tail Sunflower' come from?"

Then, he shouted, "Luo Yan?"

Ren Zhong quickly added, "Brother Luo, let me go back with you. It's not far from camp here. If we run fast, we should make it before dark."

Luo Beichen didn't think so.

The distance between them and the camp was not short.

He feared they wouldn't make it back before dark.

If he let Ren Zhong follow along the way.

Wouldn't that mean danger at every turn?

After all, Ren Zhong was now completely covered in 'Phoenix Tail Sunflower' powder.

He was like a lighthouse in the dead of night.

Drawing the attention of that Overlord Level Giant Beast at any moment.

Luo Beichen suddenly lowered his gun barrel and fired a shot into Ren Zhong's leg.

Bang!

In the dull sound of the gunshot, a spurt of blood arced from Ren Zhong's left thigh.

His expression was blank.

As if he hadn't expected Luo Beichen to shoot him.

Only then did he let out a scream and collapse to the ground.

Ren Zhong lifted his head, his eyes instantly bloodshot.

"Why?!"

"This morning you were still calling me brother."

"Is this how you treat a brother?"

Luo Beichen said coldly, "It's precisely because I see you as a brother that I shot you in the leg."

"Otherwise, that bullet would have hit you in the head."

"I'll say it again."

"Wait for me."

With that, he turned and ran.

Without even glancing at Ren Zhong.

Ren Zhong roared, "Luo Beichen, you goddamn bastard!"

"You'll die a miserable death!"

"A miserable death!"

"I curse you to be killed by Luo Yan!"

Panting, Ren Zhong suddenly noticed.

At the corner of his eye, mist was spreading.

Without him realizing.

Everything around had turned a vast white.

He suddenly sensed something and shuddered.

Turning around.

He saw the sun, not yet fully set, dyeing the thick fog a patch of orange-red.

In that hazy red light.

Within the dense mist.

A massive figure crouched silently.

A figure like a cat.

Suddenly, from behind that shadow, three tails flicked up.

"Ah..."

Ren Zhong had just let out a scream.

A shadow surged from the fog.

A tongue covered in countless fleshy spines.

Licked across his body.

In an instant, half of Ren Zhong's body was stripped to the bone!

At the camp.

Luo Beichen rushed in and collapsed to the ground.

He was drenched in sweat.

He had barely made it back to camp before dark.

People passing by pointed and whispered about him.

Luo Beichen ignored them.

He charged into Luo Yan's tent.

Inside the tent.

Luo Yan and Zeng Shan were in the middle of a conversation.

The moment Luo Beichen entered, he lunged at Luo Yan.

Zeng Shan immediately blocked him. "What do you think you're doing?"

Luo Beichen's eyes blazed with fury as he pointed at Luo Yan and shouted, "It was you! You threw the bottle! You sprinkled the powder!"

His yelling drew Wei Fenghua and a group of students over.

Luo Beichen shoved Zeng Shan aside, grabbed Wei Fenghua's hand, and said, "Teacher, arrest him!"

"Arrest him!"

"He ambushed us!"

"He sprinkled 'Phoenix Tail Sunflower' powder on me and Ren Zhong! He wanted to kill me!"

Luo Yan's lips curled slightly.

"You say I wanted to kill you."

"Do you have proof?"

PS: Nearly ten thousand words updated today too. Please vote and add to collection, handsome guys and beautiful ladies!