Divide and Eat

"Creak, creak."

The Iron-Armored Lizard's pitch-black, python-like tail could not reach Jiang Qiu's face. As its intestines slid down the spear shaft with its blood, the tail gradually swayed and dropped.

Thud. He pinned its head to the ground with his foot and yanked out the spearhead with a rip.

Slaughter Practice: Once

Ancient Martial Spear (Proficient)

335/1000

Slaying a low-tier beast added 5.

[Kill Count: 1]

A phantom image flashed across the Recording Ring. Jiang Qiu glanced at the stunned crowd, his brows lifting slightly. "What are you looking at me for? Aren't you going to get ready? Iron-Armored Lizards are pack-dwelling beasts, right?"

"!!!"

His words jolted them awake. The students looked around in all directions, their spears moving like extensions of their arms as their eyes darted about. "Then should we retreat?"

Jiang Qiu's face twitched, and his breathing grew a little heavier.

Just then, Zhang Shan, his legs bathed in blood, stepped forward with fury written all over his face. "Retreat my ass! We came here to kill beasts! Brother Jiang, I'll search every room and corner of this supermarket!"

He clenched his fists and spear shaft tightly. His thick brows were drawn in anger; his fighting spirit was the fiercest, and so was his resentment!

Jiang Qiu nodded, holding his spear at a slant. "If there's one Iron-Armored Lizard in this supermarket, there won't be just one.

If your spears get bitten, throw them away and smash it with your fists.

If you can't beat it, call for me."

Liu Zili and Wang Guanjia each gripped their spears and left, their eyes glinting like cold stars. Zhang Shan spat on the ground and cursed before raising his spear and running upstairs.

The remaining students looked at one another, then mostly spread out toward different storage rooms or dark corners, their sword-shaped or conical spearheads gleaming coldly.

Nearby, a somewhat skinny student looked at Li Si, who was watching Jiang Qiu's retreating back, his eyes blazing. "Brother Si, can I go with you? I'm scared an Iron-Armored Lizard will solo me."

"Solo my ass! As long as it doesn't sneak up and get in your face, can't you kill the damn thing?" Like a cat with its fur standing on end, Li Si glared furiously at the student before him. "With Brother Jiang here, who kills Iron-Armored Lizards as easily as spearing rats, Field No. 8 absolutely cannot be the first field where someone gets eliminated! And we definitely can't fail to carve out even a temporary base!

This Practical Training Hunt, we fucking picked this field first!"

The student stood there blankly, wiping the spittle from his face as he watched the aggressive Li Si stride into the darkness beyond the reach of the window light.

Why was even Li Si so impulsive?

Could it be that the spear thrust he had made to save Zhang Shan earlier had been completely useless, and it had gotten to him?

Thinking of this, he pursed his lips and snorted. "Fine, I'll go alone. This is a hunting site selected by the teachers. If I really can't even kill one Iron-Armored Lizard, then I'll... call Brother Jiang."

The last student gripped his spear and walked toward an unopened storage room door in the darkness.

Buzz, buzz, buzz.

The sounds of creatures climbing the walls rose and fell throughout the supermarket, accompanied by creaking shrieks. For a time, the students' spirited roars came one after another. Blades plunged into flesh and were pulled free, while iron edges and armored scales rang out with the sharpest cries.

Slash—

The twin-curved spearhead severed an Iron-Armored Lizard's head. Jiang Qiu carried the remaining corpse one-handedly and tossed it out of the deathly silent storage room, then turned toward the next room where an Iron-Armored Lizard might be hiding.

Why was it called a Practical Training Hunt?

The teachers had already surveyed and slaughtered the area. Most of what remained were low-tier beasts, left for the students to hunt.

As long as they confirmed what kind of beast lived in the supermarket, they could use what they had learned to identify its weaknesses. Iron-Armored Lizards, for example, were actually quite timid. They were prey for many powerful beasts and liked to hide alone in their own little nests.

Perhaps because their chosen location on Central Street was close to the center of the secret realm's distortion, finding an Iron-Armored Lizard nest right from the start was a huge gain.

Each Iron-Armored Lizard should have a hundred jin of pure meat. At two hundred per jin, that was twenty thousand!

"Keep killing."

As those three words fell, phantom images flashed across the Recording Ring one after another.

[Kill Count: 3]

[Kill Count: 4]

Click.

A flame sprang from the lighter. Fire caught on the waste wooden boards wrapped in plastic, blooming like a lotus. In an instant, the firelight fell across the seated figures of sixteen students in the storage room.

"Killing beasts feels so damn good! When that Iron-Armored Lizard bit at me, I was really scared. But when I thought about Brother Jiang being nearby, I stopped being afraid. I just instinctively dodged and thrust my spear, killing it on the spot!"

"Hahaha, Brother Jiang can pierce an Iron-Armored Lizard's armor and kill it with a casual thrust. With him here, what are you afraid of?"

"Yeah. Good thing Brother Jiang led us, or we would've missed out on so much Iron-Armored Lizard meat. This is Beast Meat. Eating it can temper the body. I heard it works pretty well if you eat it at our stage."

"My dad bought some to eat before. The effect was actually decent. The feeling of tempering your body isn't as good as Martial Spirit Incense, but if you eat it for a few days, the results are obvious too. Mm, it smells good now."

The sizzling of bursting fat tempted their taste buds. Under everyone's eager gazes, Zhang Shan lowered the spear he had been using to roast the meat over the fire and used a dagger to cut a large chunk of belly meat from an entire charred-black Iron-Armored Lizard. Grinning, he handed it to the young man seated at the head, staring into the bonfire. "Brother Jiang, the Iron-Armored Lizard meat is cooked."

"Thanks."

Jiang Qiu took the steaming, blackened Iron-Armored Lizard meat. Under everyone's focused stares, he took a bite, his teeth breaking through the crisp charred skin and tearing off the firm, tender flesh.

After chewing for a moment, he swallowed with a gulp. It was as though a burning coal had sunk into a sea of coal; the heat passed straight through his stomach and intestinal walls, boiling his blood until it surged like a rolling river.

This was Beast Meat?

Jiang Qiu's eyes lit up slightly. Then he noticed everyone was still watching him and raised a brow. "It tastes pretty good. Go on, eat."

"Alright, thanks, Brother Jiang."

"This stuff is seriously expensive. We can finally gorge ourselves on Beast Meat!"

"Don't fucking rush. Fourteen we killed, plus the ten Brother Jiang killed—twenty-four in total. We wiped out every last one in the supermarket building. There's enough to fill everyone up!" Zhang Shan laughed and cursed as he cut off several large chunks, handing them one after another to Liu Zili, Wang Guanjia, and himself. Then he tossed an entire charred carcass with its belly torn open to Li Si. "You split this one up. Next time, you do the grilling."

"I killed one too, and you're making me grill?" Li Si snorted, pulling out a dagger to cut the meat. "Wasn't Hu Yeye the only one who didn't kill anything? She can grill from now on."

"Catch."

Hu Yeye, huddled in a dark corner, froze for a moment. When she looked up, a five-pound chunk of Beast Meat had already landed in her palm, accompanied by a rich, mouthwatering aroma of oil.

The clamor continued around the campfire. Alone, she gnawed on the crisp, tender Iron-Armored Lizard meat, occasionally stealing glances at Jiang Qiu as he ate with gusto. Something at the corner of her eye seemed to reflect the firelight, flashing away in an instant.

So this was what Beast Meat tasted like?

Jiang Qiu...

Mmm... mmm...

The hearty feast continued. Jiang Qiu's cheeks moved tirelessly as he silently listened to them talk and chat.

One low-quality body refinement

Iron Flesh

21/1000

Hmm?

Jiang Qiu's chewing paused.

Eating Beast Meat also refined the body...

No sooner had the thought crossed his mind than a harsh, rhythmic crawling sound came from outside the door, drawing closer. It sounded similar to an Iron-Armored Lizard, but it was accompanied by the piercing scrape of claws against concrete. The entire wall trembled.

Gradually, the sounds in the storage room died down. Fifteen hands reached for the spear shafts at their feet, one after another, while Jiang Qiu had already risen.

"Did you really scatter the beast-repelling powder?"

"I did."