What a coincidence

As Bai Mo finished speaking, the rest of the team also turned their gazes toward Chu Yunlong.

Since the day before yesterday, they had begun encountering the corpses of Dustwind Raccoons during their patrols—corpses that looked as though they had been killed by Swiftwind Wolves and had their hearts removed.

As time passed, the number of corpses had also increased.

Chu Yunlong's expression was grave. Facing everyone's gazes, he spoke unhurriedly.

"I've already discussed this with the other two Patrol Teams. If today's patrol reveals the same situation, we'll report it to the commander together. Continue the patrol!"

"Yes! x8"

After answering, Bai Mo casually tossed the corpse into his Portable Space and nodded. Because Space Element magic was the most practical, he was currently walking at the very front of the team.

Leading everyone onward toward the next target point.

He had given them a sufficient warning. What happened after that was beyond his control.

Being the pathfinder required highly flexible responses, because a teammate's scouting would not necessarily identify every danger.

And some dangers had already arrived before you by the time you saw them.

Like this Cauliflower Snake lunging straight at him.

"Fuck, a Void Illusion Snake!"

The moment the thought crossed his mind and Bai Mo recognized the Cauliflower Snake's scientific name, he cried out and raised an arm in front of his face.

A brilliant streak of starlight swept through the air along the path of his arm.

"Mind Control!"

Layers upon layers of space gathered and combined under his control, forming a Space Shield before him.

"Air Shield!"

"Bang~~~~!"

"Crack~!"

A crisp impact rang out, followed by the sound of something shattering. Bai Mo let out a breath of relief.

Though the Air Shield had cracked from the impact, it had held. The books said that Void Illusion Snakes possessed both Space and Psychic attributes, and he had been afraid he would not be able to stop it.

But then his head spun, and a trace of fear rose from the depths of his heart.

He immediately steadied his mind and condensed his mental power, his eyes fixed on the Void Illusion Snake, which had risen to stand as tall as him and was staring straight at him.

"Spirit Ripple—Soothe!" Chu Yunlong immediately cast Soothe, freeing the team from their fear.

Zhao Qingying carefully examined the Void Illusion Snake and sighed in relief. "It's only Servant Level, so we can handle it. Its fangs would make pretty good materials for a Space magic tool."

"No need. It's already gone."

Chu Yunlong shook his head. Only then did everyone notice that the Void Illusion Snake that had been staring Bai Mo down was gradually fading away.

Bai Mo shook his head and sighed.

"What a shame. Space Element Demon Beasts are all treasures. Especially Void Illusion Snakes—with Monarch bloodlines, Servant Level ones are quite rare."

"Holy shit, Bai Mo! You're Elementary Level 3!" Zhou Tianyuan clearly had not been lamenting the snake. He had only just recovered from the shock of Bai Mo reaching Elementary Level 3.

At that moment, several teachers who had been secretly following them to routinely observe the students' performance also widened their eyes, their faces full of disbelief.

"How many years has it been? Is our school finally going to have a mage who reaches Intermediate Level before graduation? This old man wants to transfer to Class One to teach practical combat!"

A refined-looking teacher in his forties or fifties spoke up. The young teacher beside him added, "And he's even a Space Element mage."

"Haha, I knew Bai Mo wasn't like the rumors said," Su Ning, the homeroom teacher following alongside them, said with a broad smile.

The teachers' movements did not draw Bai Mo's attention. He was busy dealing with the praise from the other members of the squad.

But when everyone discovered that no matter what they praised, Bai Mo wore an expression that said, Yes, yes, go on, they stopped talking.

They had never seen such a shameless person.

The patrol continued.

The next day.

In the Third Peak commander's office, Yang Biao held three nearly identical reports in his hand and frowned. He muttered to himself, "Swiftwind Wolves? They're fighting with Dustwind Raccoons? That can't be right. Their Wolf King was killed only five years ago."

After thinking for a while, he called out, "Xiao Ye, go make a round of the other peak commanders' offices and ask whether the Swiftwind Wolves have made any unusual movements. Text me the results."

"Yes!"

This was the information age, and he was not out in the wilderness. He was not putting on airs by doing this—the commanders of the other peaks were simply in the offices next door.

After giving the order, Yang Biao did not wait idly. Instead, he directly called several capable subordinates. He intended to personally investigate Third Peak.

At the same time, on Third Peak.

Beside a dried-up stone pool, an enormous wolf with a green glow covering its body lay crouched.

One Swiftwind Wolf after another leaped out of the stone pool before it, spitting out Magic Stones that glowed with the same green light.

Meanwhile, several Swiftwind Wolves came running over from the other side, some sooner and some later, carrying bloody hearts one by one to lay before it.

With a single inhale, it swallowed it into its belly. The cyan glow around its body brightened another notch.

"Awuuuuuuuuuu!"

A long, low cry came from its mouth, urging its subjects to dig up more Wind Demon Ore from the cave at the bottom of the pool and hunt more Dustwind Raccoons, increasing its chances of advancing and shortening the time required.

"Commander, how about we just use the Demon Detector?"

After wandering through the forests of Third Peak with Yang Biao for half the day and still finding nothing, one of his subordinates made the suggestion.

Their investigation had hit a bottleneck. What they could confirm was that the Swiftwind Wolves of Third Peak were hunting Dustwind Raccoons—and doing so with increasing frequency and scale.

But they had not found where the Swiftwind Wolves were taking those hearts. They had tried following them, but tracking Swiftwind Wolves through the forest was even harder than catching them.

Moreover, the Swiftwind Wolves had keen noses and could easily detect magical markers.

So, unsurprisingly, they lost the trail.

Chu Yunlong, the Fifth Team captain who had been brought in to lead the way, was deep in thought as well. His Mind Element cultivation was not high enough to detect anything too far away. If only they could pinpoint their location.

Thinking of this, he looked at Wang Feng, the First Team captain, and fell silent in thought.

Wang Feng was baffled. He had merely made a suggestion, so why was Chu Yunlong staring at him like that? He said faintly, "Chu Chu, people are going to get the wrong idea if you keep looking at me like that."

Chu Yunlong's mouth twitched. "I'm not interested in you. I just thought of a way to track those wolf pups."

"What way?"

The other three asked at the same time.

Chu Yunlong did not answer. Instead, he gave a mysterious smile and asked Wang Feng, "Old Wang, I remember you got scammed while treasure hunting on Antique Street last time. You spent a fortune on a Tracking Magic Artifact, only to find that only Space Mages could use it. Do you still have that thing?"

"I do, but where are we supposed to find a Space Mage now? Those things are treasures no matter where you go. Anyone capable of using one is some big shot too busy to spare the time. Middle Town certainly doesn't have one."

The moment Wang Feng heard Chu Yunlong's words, he understood the plan and directly raised its biggest problem.

Chu Yunlong smiled in satisfaction, glanced at Yang Biao, and rubbed his hands together.

"What a coincidence. A student just joined my team, and he happens to be a Space Mage."

"A student?" Wang Feng frowned, as did Yang Biao and the others. "Can a student handle it?"

"My little brother is no worse than an ordinary Military Mage. Besides, we're only having him use a magic artifact, not asking him to fight. Commander Yang, what do you think?"

Chu Yunlong explained briefly before turning to the person beside him who could make the decision.

Yang Biao recalled the text message he had received when they first arrived. It said that there were no abnormalities on the other peaks, meaning the source of the anomaly lay on Third Peak.

The matter could not be delayed. Using the Demon Detector would require filing applications level by level.

It would also be equivalent to directly going to war with the demons of Third Peak, and might even set off a chain reaction. It was neither worthwhile nor feasible.

That left only the method Chu Yunlong had proposed.

Yang Biao nodded. "We can give it a try. Old Wang, go back with Old Chu and invite that young man over."