Conflict

Upon returning to the base, Gao Zheng headed straight for the medical room.

During the examination, the doctor discovered that Gao Zheng's wound was unlike a normal bite; the surrounding flesh had begun to ulcerate, and tests confirmed the presence of toxins accelerating the tissue decay.

After testing and comparing the teeth of the Black Leopard, it was confirmed that the toxins indeed originated from those saber-teeth.

The base currently lacked any effective treatment for this toxin, so at Gao Zheng's insistence, the doctor began repeatedly scraping away the affected flesh.

Following this battle, the Xingyan Group base had temporarily lost a key general, and the mission to explore and reclaim Chuilong Town shifted primarily toward exploration.

The base's subsequent development and exploration strategy was once again redirected toward Hehe County.

In fact, the base had previously attempted to advance toward Hehe County multiple times, but they had been forced to pause after discovering a high-level Beast General-class monster, accompanied by several low-level Beast Generals, along a vital road.

This road passed through Ming Township, a large township near the county seat, and the monster pack had claimed the entire township as their nest.

Now, although the direction had shifted back, they could only bypass this area and struggle to find smaller paths to reach the county seat.

Originally, Xi Qing had volunteered to lead this wave of exploration, but events unfolding within the base forced her to remain behind.

Inside the base, although Gao Zheng was recuperating, construction continued unabated under his arrangements.

However, the consequences of the previously increased benefits for Martial Artists finally erupted into a significant conflict.

With the improvement in status, the families of Martial Artists also gained better conditions, enjoying privileges near those of the Martial Artists themselves, which led to a growing sense of arrogance.

One day, the family member of a Martial Artist from an Exploration Team got into a violent altercation over a minor friction, injuring a small, thin boy and threatening that if the boy ever appeared before them again, they would have their brother cripple him.

However, it was clear that this overbearing family member had not thoroughly investigated the boy's background, or they would not have been so bold.

The boy's father was the captain of an Exploration Team and a high-level Warrior; the family member was relying on a brother who was merely a mid-level Warrior, making the disparity in strength obvious.

The boy did not tell his father about the incident, choosing instead to silently avoid the man and resolve to train himself.

The boy's father was pleased to see his son move past his former mischief and allocated more resources to help him grow stronger, while also gathering his own team members to instruct the boy daily.

Over half a month passed, and one day, following the guidance of his father's team members, the boy went to the base's Underground Training Ground, hoping to use the equipment for more advanced training and to test his current strength.

Unexpectedly, the man from before also appeared in the Underground Training Ground.

The man happened to spot the boy, approached him with sneers and mockery, and gathered several other family members of Martial Artists from his brother's squad to harass the boy.

If the boy had remained as he was before, nothing might have happened, but after half a month of training, he now possessed the ability to resist; he threw a punch at the man, sending him flying with a single blow.

The man lay on the ground, his head buzzing, staring at the boy in confusion.

The boy looked at his own fist, shocked that his strength had seen such a massive breakthrough.

Growing excited, the boy lunged at the man, sat on top of him, and rained down punches, desperate to release all the resentment he had been holding inside.

Bystanders saw the man's face beaten black and blue and immediately pulled the boy away.

At that moment, the man's brother emerged from a private training room; it turned out the man had been accompanying his brother there.

As an older brother, the Martial Artist was enraged to see his sibling beaten like this; he lunged forward and struck the boy in the abdomen, sending him flying.

The boy, unable to withstand a punch from a mid-level Warrior, vomited blood and collapsed, unconscious.

The situation escalated, as the team member who had guided the boy to the training ground arrived late; upon pushing the door open and seeing the scene, his eyes turned red. Over the past few days, the boy's diligent efforts to learn from them had made them feel the joy of being mentors.

The team member rushed to the boy's side, immediately picked him up, and rushed him to the training ground's medical room, casting cold glares at the Martial Artist who had injured the boy the entire way.

The Martial Artist had sobered up by now, and upon noticing that other Martial Artists had rescued the boy, he knew this matter would not end easily.

Sure enough, a day later, the boy's father arrived with all his team members, and the two squads clashed directly within the base.

This destruction naturally drew the Law Enforcement Team, and with their overwhelming strength, everyone involved was detained.

The matter should have ended there, as the Law Enforcement Team should have been able to handle the grievances between the two squads, and the sequence of events was easy to investigate; unfortunately, both sides held onto their own narratives, and neither was willing to let the other go.

However, the Martial Artist's captain was no simple figure; this was his second time being detained by the Law Enforcement Team, the first being when he was a member of the Rescue Team.

After contacting his former colleagues in the Rescue Team, the team sent people to the Law Enforcement Team, claiming to supervise the enforcement process, though every move they made was clearly intended to assist their comrade.

The already strained relationship between the two sides shattered at that moment.

The Law Enforcement Team began to penalize the Rescue Team for their non-compliant behavior, while the Rescue Team began to smear the Law Enforcement Team for their improper methods, throwing the base into chaos once again.

At this time, Gao Zheng, due to his own wounds ulcerating once more, shared the same thought as He Qishun: to let the situation continue to ferment, intending to step in at the end to settle the matter and determine the future balance of power.

During one conflict, a Rescue Team member, while cursing the Law Enforcement Team, mentioned Lin Chenxing, claiming that the Law Enforcement Team was only acting lawlessly in the base by relying on the authority of Gao Zheng and Lin Chenxing. He added that since Gao Zheng was crippled and Lin Chenxing was lying in bed like a vegetable, wasting the base's resources, they might as well die sooner.

The Law Enforcement Team could not allow the Rescue Team to insult their leaders in such a way and immediately took action.

The Rescue Team had been waiting for this moment; as the two sides exchanged fire, the Rescue Team continued their taunts, even threatening to send someone to kill Lin Chenxing to avoid wasting so much of the group's energy on his treatment, claiming that even if he were saved, he would never catch up to their progress, so they might as well use those resources to help the group explore more areas and save more people.

After this incident, although Gao Zheng knew these Rescue Team members could not actually go through with it, he could not afford to be careless, so he sent Xi Qing to stand guard in Lin Chenxing's room.