Early the next morning, on the outskirts of Winter Arrival City.
Team after team of Si Nan Family members stood motionless in matching white uniforms. In front of them stood the guards in silver-gray uniforms, with Si Nan Yuan in a blue-gray uniform at the head of the group. Three people stood at the very front: Si Nan Ying, dressed in a gray-black combat outfit; Elder Hong, wrapped in a light black robe; and a bespectacled woman wearing a dark gray suit.
Looking at the shift in colors—the ordinary members wore white, while the higher-ups wore colors close to black—did that mean the higher one's status in Si Nan Family, the darker one's clothes? As I wondered, the white-uniformed team captains began stepping forward one by one.
"Reporting! Team One is ready and can begin the mission at any time!"
"Reporting! Team Two..."
The reports proceeded in orderly fashion. Si Nan Yuan nodded in satisfaction. "Then let me go over each team's assignment again. The First Guard Team, including me, will accompany Second Miss, Elder Hong, and Ms. Si Nan Jing to search the core area alongside the Second and Third Guard Teams. Teams One through Three will provide support from outside, Teams Four through Six will search along the river, and Teams Seven and Eight..."
By the way, I'd been assigned to the Second Guard Team, under Rui Feng. We could enter the core of Winter Arrival Mountains, but we wouldn't be with Si Nan Ying and the others. There were sixteen of us in the team, including me. Rui Feng had been appointed captain because of his extensive wilderness survival experience, and the others weren't pushovers either. Thanks to Si Nan Ying pleading on my behalf, I'd been allowed to join at the last minute. Going by the novels I'd read, the team members should've looked down on the protagonist outsider, found fault with him, and picked a fight, only to get flattened without suspense and become utterly devoted to him, gladly handing over the captain's position... But the guards were all highly disciplined. None of them showed the slightest dissatisfaction with their orders or went out of their way to make things hard for me. Then again, that was what you'd expect from a major power. The so-called big shots in novels who picked fights at the drop of a hat were the ones who seemed abnormal.
"This is our last expedition, but don't let that make you lower your guard. See things through to the end and complete the mission flawlessly!"
"Yes!!!"
Winter Arrival Mountains lay in the north of Tianyuan Kingdom. They were one of the smaller mountain ranges in the region, covered in tall evergreen trees. The main peak stood 2,310 meters high, with relatively sparse vegetation near the summit. The outer reaches of Winter Arrival Mountains had few monsters, but plenty of fine timber, as well as abundant mineral deposits and medicinal herbs. They'd been a great help in building Winter Arrival City, and to this day forestry and mining remained the city's biggest industries. But once you entered the mountains, it was another world entirely: monsters roamed freely, the terrain was rugged, and snow blanketed the ground. Ordinary people wouldn't last a day there.
Under Rui Feng's lead, our Second Team crossed the outer reaches in a single day. By dusk, we'd reached the border between the outer and inner regions. We'd marched at a forced pace the whole way, using spirit stones to recover whenever we ran out of stamina. I'd spent nearly the entire journey absorbing the spiritual energy of heaven and earth to improve my efficiency. It was exhausting, but I really had made some progress.
A wide river with a swift current lay before us. In the darkening dusk, I couldn't make out what was in the water.
"This is Blood Tooth River, named for the large numbers of Blood Tooth Fish that live in it. It marks the boundary between the inner and outer regions of Winter Arrival Mountains." A pleasant female voice came from behind me. The speaker was a young woman of about twenty, with delicate features and a sturdy build. She was Rui Xin, Rui Feng's younger sister. Though she was only a year or two older than me, she seemed mature and dependable. She'd also been the first person on the journey to strike up a conversation with me. Rui Feng must have told her about me beforehand, because she was very curious, and we'd hit it off as we chatted along the way.
"Blood Tooth Fish? What are those?"
"Hmm, they're a little hard to describe. It's better to see one for yourself."
As she spoke, she walked to a spot ten meters from the river and pressed one hand against the ground, as if sensing something. Suddenly, her eyes sharpened. She gave a low shout, and an invisible ripple spread from her palm into the river.
Sound waves! Rui Xin's ability was to emit sound waves. She could use them to disrupt or even kill enemies, but also to transmit sound or locate things through echoes. It was an incredibly useful power.
The river surface, struck by the sound wave, instantly erupted in splashes. By the light of our portable spirit-stone lamps, I saw a grotesque fish, half the length of an arm, leap from the water. Its eyes were blood-red, and it had a hideous gaping mouth like a deep-sea fish from Earth, lined with crimson fangs. Just looking at it made my spine crawl.
"That's one. Blood Tooth Fish are easy to handle when there are only one or two, but when they swarm, even high-tier monsters get gnawed to nothing. We really ought to thank them."
"Thank them? Aren't you afraid they'll eat you?"
"It's because they're here that the river became a natural barrier. Unless they're tired of living, even the fiercest monsters wouldn't dare cross it. That's why the outer reaches of Winter Arrival Mountains are so safe."
"But I heard two people were killed by a Bone Armor Lion last time..."
"Those thick-shelled or flying ones are the exception."
"You two over there, quit chatting and get over here!" Rui Feng called from a short distance away. Rui Xin and I quickly stopped talking and joined him.
"Let's assign the tasks. I'll supervise. Li Cha, Mo Xiao Hong, and Zhang Tian Luo, put up the tents. Rui Xin, Liu Ye..."
"We'll catch something to add to dinner!" Rui Xin cut in at once, fixing him with a pair of fierce, wide eyes.
"...All right. Go catch something, then. Eating nothing but dry rations would be too dull." Rui Feng, usually so serious, had actually been cowed by his little sister's glare. Was he secretly a siscon?
Blood gathered into threads, and the threads wove into a net. I controlled the blood net as it sank into the river, carefully sensing the information that flowed back through it.
...There!
Something touched the net. I immediately tightened it, and it curled into a ball, rising from the river with five large fish trapped inside. After a full day on the road, we couldn't have asked for better ingredients.
Rui Xin watched with interest, cheering now and then. Her cheers made me feel a little pleased with myself. I was about to show off again when she stepped forward. "You're pretty good, but now it's my turn."
Rui Xin stamped her foot, sending a powerful sound wave across the river. It caused some strange resonance with the water, and the surface immediately began to boil. Several fish leaped out, quite a few landing on the bank and thrashing about, their eyes rolling. At a glance, there were at least eight of them, including two Blood Tooth Fish. She looked at me triumphantly, showing off her catch.
My competitive spirit flared, too. This time, I changed tactics. Instead of using a net, I sent more than a hundred blood threads into the river. The mass of threads gathered and scattered, swimming through the water like a monster. The moment they touched a fish, they pierced its body and dragged it ashore. It was a simple, brutal strategy, but it was fast. Rui Xin wasn't about to be outdone either. She sent sound waves crashing against the surface, making the water even more turbulent. Fish after fish leaped into the air and landed on the bank. She was every bit as fast as me!
We kept catching more and more, until...
"You two really went all out..." Rui Feng had come to check on us, and he stared dumbfounded at the little mountain of fish. "Isn't this great? We can finally have a proper feast!" Li Cha, a tall, thin, dark-skinned man who'd come with Rui Feng, was quite excited. "Boss Yuan keeps us on such a tight leash most of the time. The only chance we get to enjoy life is in the gaps between missions~"
"Hey! The fire's ready over here. Bring over whatever you want to grill!" someone called from the tents. Rui Feng shook his head and helped us carry the fish over.
Dinner that night was skewer after skewer of grilled fish. The huge fish, each as thick as a thigh, were roasted until their skins were crisp and golden, then sprinkled with simple seasonings. Eating them in big mouthfuls with our dry rations was pure bliss. Rui Xin had even brought liquor, but Rui Feng had strongly objected, so we didn't get to drink any. That was the only disappointment.
Once we'd eaten our fill, everyone began cleaning up. We still had nearly half the fish left after the feast. Rui Feng worried the smell might attract monsters that had somehow crossed Blood Tooth River, so he had Rui Xin and me dispose of the leftovers somewhere.
By "dispose of," he really meant bury them. Rui Xin used sound waves to find a patch of soft soil. I shaped blood into a drill and dug a large hole in the ground, and together we tossed the fish into it.
"What a shame. I'd wanted you to try the local liquor. It's made by fermenting rice with herbs, and it tastes amazing," Rui Xin said regretfully.
"It's fine. Besides, I'm used to the liquor from my hometown. I don't know if I'd like this stuff."
"By the way, what's the liquor from your hometown like?"
"It's called Pan-Galactic Gargle Blaster."
"What's that!?"
"I'm kidding. Actually, we have beer, red wine, baijiu—lots of different kinds."
"I've never heard of any of those..." She seemed thoughtful. She'd probably asked about the liquor from my hometown to discreetly probe my background, but I didn't mind. While she was thinking, I quietly reached into the soil and touched the fish we'd just buried.
Absorb!
A surge of rich Blood Energy flowed from my fingertips through my whole body, instantly lifting my spirits. It felt great to be full of energy! I also realized that after absorbing blood essence, my physique seemed to have grown a little stronger. But I didn't dare use this skill in front of outsiders. For one thing, I was afraid the fish's dried-up corpses might make the Si Nan Family members think of that Bone Armor Lion. For another, the skill was a little too sinister. Devouring life and all that—it was just like the power of a villain in some trashy game.
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