Danger Approached

Lin Hao's face turned bright red, and he scooped up Xiao Rou. "She's your brother's friend, not his girlfriend."

"But Auntie said that when Brother brings home a pretty sister one day, she'll be his girlfriend." Lin Xiaorou threw Lin Yueyue under the bus without mercy. Lin Hao's eyelid twitched. "Auntie, what have you been teaching Xiao Rou at home?"

Lin Yueyue was feeling rather awkward too, but Fang Yao broke the tension. "Um, since this was so sudden, I didn't know what you all liked, so I hurriedly bought a few things at the mall." As she spoke, Fang Yao took out the things she had bought earlier. At the mention of gifts, Xiao Rou happily hugged Fang Yao and planted a kiss on her cheek. "You're the best, Big Sister!"

Grandma came out of the kitchen just then. "Dinner's ready."

Everyone hurried to line up, wash their hands, and eat. Throughout dinner, Grandma kept piling food onto Fang Yao's plate, while she completely ignored Lin Hao. Lin Yueyue observed a minute of silence for her nephew.

After the meal, Grandma and Fang Yao started chatting about everyday things. Lin Hao, meanwhile, was sent off to wash the dishes.

"Xia Yao, how many people are in your family? What do they do?" Grandma was growing more and more fond of Fang Yao.

"Grandma, my father's in the Eastern Military Region. My mother left when I was very young."

Hearing that, Grandma sighed. "You poor thing. You've had a hard life."

That night, Fang Yao stayed at Lin Hao's house. Though it wasn't very big, there was an empty guest room that was just right for her. Fang Yao didn't refuse.

And so, Lin Hao spent seven rare days with his family. For the first time ever, Lin Xiaorou even got permission from Grandma to take time off. Every day, she went out to run wild with Lin Hao and Fang Yao, and the little girl couldn't have been happier. Before leaving, Lin Hao secretly transferred one million to Lin Yueyue. He didn't dare send too much, in case his family grew suspicious. He just said it was money from selling the Fierce Beast corpses his instructor had helped him hunt during military training.

Seven days later, Fang Yao boarded a plane back to the Eastern Military Region, while Lin Hao returned to Shancheng Martial University.

The first thing he did was head to Jiang Weiwei's office. When he saw that Jiang Weiwei was the only one there, he let out a small sigh of relief.

Whew, at least that Female Devil isn't here.

From chatting with Jiang Weiwei, he learned that there would be an outdoor training mission after the new students' military training. Su Xiaorui was currently out training with the freshmen. The exercise was simple: split into groups and kill ordinary Fierce Beasts. Over the three months of military training, the students at the Wu University had learned quite a few combat techniques. Now, their instructors and homeroom teachers were leading them into the wilderness to train by fighting Fierce Beasts. It was a trial every class of Wu University students had to face. Only those with the courage to stare death in the face could defend their country.

The area where the new students trained was generally free of even Bronze-rank Fierce Beasts. Each team was led by a Gold-rank instructor, so the students' safety was assured. Someone like Lin Hao, a freak of nature who had already fought his way through the Fierce Beast Forest time and again, had no need to be recalled for training that would be meaningless to him. So Jiang Weiwei hadn't called him back.

"Today's the last day of training. Want to come with me and take a look?" Jiang Weiwei had been thinking of asking Lin Hao to go for a walk with her. She also had to give a speech on behalf of the school after training ended. It had been a few days since she'd seen Lin Hao, and Jiang Weiwei had grown a little unaccustomed to it.

Lin Hao didn't refuse. "Sure, let's take a look." As it happened, he wanted to see whether there were any impressive geniuses among the new students. Jiang Weiwei had told him before about how difficult it was for Shancheng Martial University to recruit students. Besides, the Hundred Schools League was only three months away. Lin Hao wanted to see if there were any teammates who might suit him.

After lunch, Jiang Weiwei drove them to the Fierce Beast Forest outside the Fortress. This wasn't the same forest Lin Hao had visited before; only ordinary Fierce Beasts lived here. But it was still quite far from the Fortress walls, and it took them a full hour to reach their destination.

"Weiwei, besides me, are there any other talented students this year? You're not planning to send me to the Hundred Schools League alone three months from now, are you?"

"There are a few talented ones, but not many. We recruited three students with good potential this year. They're all martial artists with A-class talents."

Lin Hao was stunned. "Weiwei, there are only three with A-class talents? No one with an S-class talent?"

"Do you think S-class talents grow on trees? This year was pretty good for us. In the past few years, we've only had one or two. Look, those are the three." Jiang Weiwei shot Lin Hao an exasperated look.

Lin Hao and Jiang Weiwei were hidden from view and hadn't disturbed the students' training. Following Jiang Weiwei's gesture, Lin Hao saw three students each fighting an ordinary Fierce Beast alone. They finished their battles in less than a minute.

"All three are at the Bronze Initial Stage." Jiang Weiwei pointed to a stocky, burly boy. "That's Wang Meng, an A-class talent martial artist. His weapon is the Blazing Flame Blade. His family, the Wang Family, is one of the famous lineages in Mountain City. The Wang Family has a hereditary blade art called the Nine Soul Severing Forms. He's already mastered the third form, and the Wang Family has recognized him as their greatest genius in decades."

Jiang Weiwei pointed to another student, a tall, rather slender boy. "That's Lei Yunfan, an A-class talent martial artist. His weapon is the Sky Qilin Halberd, and he awakened the Battle Skill Six Illusory Dance Forms. His halberd technique is also incredibly refined."

Finally, Jiang Weiwei pointed to an adorable little girl. "That's Xia Qiuling. Don't let her being a little girl fool you; she's also an A-class talent martial artist. Her weapon is the Thunderous Axe, which is completely out of proportion to her height. She's the apple of the Family Head of the Xia Family's eye. The Xia Family has a hereditary Battle Skill called the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Axes. They say that anyone who can unleash all thirty-six strikes can split mountains and sunder peaks."

Lin Hao curiously studied the little girl, who wasn't very tall. "That axe is taller than she is. She must have a hard time lugging it around."

"The Hundred Schools League has ten competitors in total: five starters and five substitutes. The starting lineup includes three first-year students, one second-year student, and one third-year student. I'm planning to have all three of them compete—two as starters and one as a substitute."

Lin Hao nodded when he heard that. "All right, let's settle on that for now. Three months from now, whoever among them has the weakest cultivation can be the substitute."

Just then, the system's voice rang out without warning.

Ding! Warning! Warning! The host is about to face danger!

Ding! Detected 268 Hellhounds nearby, closing in on the host!

Ding! The Hellhounds will reach the host in half an hour!

Ding! Danger level: 5. Extreme danger!!!

Ding! Danger level: 5. Extreme danger!!!

Ding! Danger level: 5. Extreme danger!!!

Ding! Danger level: 5. Extreme danger!!!

The system's danger scale went up to level five. This was the most dangerous situation possible.

This was the first time the system had warned him of a level-five danger. Even when he had fought in the Fierce Beast Forest, it had never happened. Running was out of the question. Lin Hao couldn't abandon so many students and teachers and flee like a coward. Taking the students with him was even less of an option. They were slow, and the area was especially far from the Fortress's defenses. Rather than expend their strength running, they might as well save it to fight the Fierce Beasts to the death. On top of that, fighting in this forest would put the students at a severe disadvantage. The Fierce Beast Forest was like the beasts' home turf. If they fought here, there would undoubtedly be heavy casualties. Lin Hao's mind raced as he tried to think of the best plan.