Danger Arrives

Lin Hao's face flushed bright red as he scooped up Xiaorou. "This is big brother's friend, not his girlfriend, okay?"

"But Aunt said that when big brother brings home a pretty sister one day, that sister is big brother's girlfriend." Lin Xiaorou sold out Lin Yueyue without mercy. Lin Hao's eyelid twitched. "Aunt, what exactly have you been teaching Xiaorou at home?"

Lin Yueyue was also quite embarrassed. It was Fang Yao who broke the awkward atmosphere. "Well, since it was so sudden, I didn't know what you all liked, so I just grabbed some things from the mall in a hurry." As she spoke, Fang Yao pulled out the items she'd bought earlier. Hearing there were gifts, Xiaorou happily hugged Fang Yao and planted a kiss on her cheek. "Big sister is the best!"

Just then, Grandma came out of the kitchen. "Time to eat."

Everyone quickly lined up to wash their hands and sit down for the meal. During dinner, Grandma kept piling food onto Fang Yao's plate, while completely ignoring Lin Hao. Lin Yueyue silently mourned for her nephew for a full minute.

After the meal, Grandma chatted with Fang Yao about everyday things. Lin Hao was sent off to wash the dishes.

"Xiaoyao, how many people are in your family, and what do they do?" Grandma looked at Fang Yao with growing satisfaction.

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

Grandma sighed. "A poor child, too."

That evening, Fang Yao stayed overnight at Lin Hao's home. Though the house wasn't large, there was a spare guest room, and Fang Yao didn't refuse.

And so, Lin Hao spent a rare seven days with his family. Lin Xiaorou, for the first time ever, got Grandma's permission to take leave from school. Every day she ran wild with Lin Hao and Fang Yao, and the little girl was overjoyed. Before leaving, Lin Hao quietly transferred one million to Lin Yueyue. He didn't dare send too much, afraid his family would get suspicious. He just said it came from selling the corpses of fierce beasts the instructor had helped him hunt during military training.

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

He went straight to Jiang Weiwei's office. Seeing she was the only one there, he breathed a slight sigh of relief.

Ah, at least that Female Devil isn't around.

From chatting with Jiang Weiwei, he learned that after the freshman military training, there would be a field training mission. Su Xiaorui was out in the wild with the new students. The training was simple: group hunts of ordinary fierce beasts. Over three months, the university students had picked up quite a few combat techniques from the training. Now, led by instructors and homeroom teachers, they were heading into the wild for actual combat against fierce beasts—a trial every batch of martial university students had to face. Only those with the courage to face death could protect their homeland.

The training area for freshmen typically didn't even have Bronze-rank fierce beasts. Each team was led by a Gold-rank instructor, so student safety was guaranteed. As for freaks like Lin Hao, who had already charged in and out of the Fierce Beast Forest seven times, Jiang Weiwei didn't bother recalling him for such meaningless training.

"Today's the last day of training. Want to come take a look?" Jiang Weiwei thought about inviting Lin Hao for a walk. She also had to give a speech on behalf of the school after training ended. Having not seen Lin Hao for a few days, she felt a bit unaccustomed.

Lin Hao didn't refuse. "Sure, let's go." He was also curious if there were any standout geniuses among the freshmen. Jiang Weiwei had mentioned before how hard it was for Shancheng Martial University to recruit students. Plus, the Hundred Schools League was three months away, and Lin Hao wanted to see if there were suitable teammates.

After lunch, Jiang Weiwei drove them to the Fierce Beast Forest beyond the Fortress. This forest wasn't the one Lin Hao had gone to before—it only had ordinary-level fierce beasts. But it wasn't close to the Fortress wall either; the drive took a full hour to reach the destination.

"Weiwei, besides me, are there any genius students in this batch? You're not planning to send me alone to the Hundred Schools League in three months, are you?"

"There are some genius types, but not many. We recruited three students with good talent this year. They're all martial artists, with A-class talents."

Lin Hao's mind went numb. "Weiwei, only three with A-class talents? No S-class ones?"

"Do you think S-class talents are cabbages at the market? We're actually doing well this year—previous years only had one or two. Look, those are the three." Jiang Weiwei rolled her eyes at Lin Hao.

Lin Hao and Jiang Weiwei were both in the shadows, not disturbing the students' training. Following Jiang Weiwei's pointing finger, Lin Hao saw three students each soloing an ordinary fierce beast. The fights ended in under a minute.

"All three are at Bronze Initial Stage." Jiang Weiwei pointed at a burly, chubby kid. "That's Wang Meng, an A-class talent martial artist. His weapon is the Blazing Flame Blade. His family, the Wang Family, is a major clan in Shancheng. They have a hereditary blade technique called the Nine Soul Severing Forms. He's already mastered the third form, recognized as the family's greatest genius in decades."

Jiang Weiwei then pointed at a taller, leaner boy. "That's Lei Yunfan, an A-class talent martial artist. His weapon is the Sky Qilin Halberd, and he awakened the combat skill Six Illusory Dance Forms. His spearplay is superb."

Finally, she pointed at a cute, loli-like girl. "That's Xia Qiuling. Don't let her looks 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 Xia Family patriarch's eye. The Xia Family has a hereditary combat skill called the Thirty-Six Heavenly Gang Axes. It's said that whoever can swing all thirty-six axes can split mountains and sever peaks."

Lin Hao studied the short little loli curiously. "That axe is taller than she is. Poor girl."

"The Hundred Schools League has ten participants: five starters and five substitutes. Among the starters, there will be three first-year students, one second-year, and one third-year. I plan to have all three of them join—two as starters, one as a substitute."

Lin Hao nodded. "Alright, let's go with that for now. In three months, whoever has the weakest cultivation among them will be the substitute."

Just then, the system's voice suddenly rang out.

"Ding. Warning. Warning. Detected that the host is about to face danger."

"Ding. Detected 268 Hellhounds near the host, approaching."

"Ding. Detected that the Hellhounds will encounter the host in half an hour."

"Ding. Danger level: Level Five. Extreme danger!!!"

"Ding. Danger level: Level Five. Extreme danger!!!"

"Ding. Danger level: Level Five. Extreme danger!!!"

"Ding. Danger level: Level Five. Extreme danger!!!"

The system's highest danger level was Level Five, and this was the most critical situation.

This was the first time the system had warned him of Level Five danger. Even back when he was slaughtering through the Fierce Beast Forest, it hadn't happened. Running was out of the question—Lin Hao couldn't abandon so many students and teachers to be a deserter. Leading the students to flee was even more impossible; they were too slow, and the Fortress's defensive zone was far away. Rather than wasting stamina on escape, it was better to conserve it for a desperate fight against the beasts. Also, this forest was extremely disadvantageous for the students—it was like the fierce beasts' home turf. Fighting them here would undoubtedly cause heavy casualties. Lin Hao's mind raced, searching for the best plan.