It wasn't even light out when Lin Feng got up.
He moved quietly, doing his best not to wake Xiao Yu.
He had packed his meager belongings long ago: two changes of clothes, an old watch his father had left behind, and a family portrait his little sister had drawn in elementary school.
He set down the last three thousand yuan the family had on the coffee table.
It was the savings he'd scraped together over more than half a year working at a martial arts school. He'd planned to save it for tuition, but now he was giving it all to Xiao Yu.
A slip of paper lay beneath the money:
"Eat properly. Don't try to save money. Big Brother will be back soon."
Lin Feng stared at the note for a long time. In the end, he still couldn't bring himself to write anything more.
Some things only hurt more when you said them aloud.
He hoisted his backpack and gently closed the door.
The motion-activated light in the stairwell had been broken for ages. The place was pitch-black.
Lin Feng groped his way downstairs. Just as he reached the first floor, footsteps suddenly sounded behind him.
"Big Brother!"
Xiao Yu stood at the top of the stairs in her pajamas, her eyes swollen and red.
Lin Feng froze. "Xiao Yu, why are you awake?"
"I never went to sleep." Xiao Yu came down, her voice choking with tears. "You think I don't know what the Northern Territory is like?"
Lin Feng opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.
Xiao Yu suddenly rushed at him and clung to him with all her strength. "I don't want you to go. I really don't want you to go."
"Xiao Yu..."
"I can quit school. I can get a job. We can support ourselves together." Tears streamed down Xiao Yu's face. "Please, don't go."
Lin Feng hugged her tightly, his throat constricting.
He wanted to say something comforting, but in the end, he only patted her back. "Silly girl, I promise I'll come back alive."
Xiao Yu cried even harder.
Lin Feng steeled himself, pushed her away, and turned to leave.
He didn't dare look back. He was afraid he'd regret it.
As he walked out of the residential compound, a flash of blue suddenly streaked across his vision.
[Newbie Mission: Reach the Northern Frontier Seventh Defense Line]
[Reward: Martial Path Points ×10]
Lin Feng took a deep breath and quickened his pace.
The assembly point was a military airfield in the outskirts of the city.
Dawn was just breaking, and more than thirty people had already gathered there.
Most were between eighteen and twenty, their faces full of unease and apprehension.
Lin Feng stood in a corner, surveying the people around him.
The most conspicuous was a burly bald man, six foot three, with arms thicker than an ordinary man's thighs.
He was loudly bragging. "I'm a Martial Disciple Rank 9. I came to the Northern Territory to break through to the Martial Artist realm! Once I become a Martial Artist, I'll go straight into the Martial Arts Association when I get back. Starting salary of ten thousand a month!"
A few of the recruits around him listened, wide-eyed.
Lin Feng curled his lip and said nothing.
Martial Disciple Rank 9 was no weakling, but in the Northern Territory, it was hard to say whether that would be enough.
In a corner, a scrawny young man huddled at the edge of the crowd, his eyes frighteningly vacant.
Lin Feng noticed that the young man's hands kept shaking. He could barely stay on his feet.
"That kid's called Li Ming," someone beside him suddenly said.
Lin Feng turned. The speaker was a man in his thirties with a scar across his face, the sort who looked like trouble.
"I'm Wang Tie, a veteran." The man took out a cigarette. "You look like this is your first time in the Northern Territory, right?"
Lin Feng nodded. "Yeah."
"That kid's a first-timer too." Wang Tie pointed at Li Ming. "But he didn't come here willingly. His family forced him. He owes loan sharks and can't pay them back, so he has no choice but to risk his life in the Northern Territory."
Lin Feng frowned. "They forced him?"
"The Northern Territory's so desperate for people, it's gone mad." Wang Tie exhaled a stream of smoke. "Once you sign the contract, it doesn't matter why you came. You're going to the battlefield. If you die, your family gets two hundred thousand in compensation. If you live, you get your money and walk away."
Lin Feng fell silent.
Just then, a military transport truck drove up.
The door opened, and an officer in a Combat Suit jumped down. His face was expressionless as he shouted, "Everyone, get on! We leave in ten minutes!"
The recruits hurriedly crowded toward the truck.
Lin Feng followed them aboard and found a window seat.
The bald man, Zhao Gang, sat across from him, still bragging to the people beside him.
Li Ming huddled in the last row, as if he wanted to melt into his seat.
The truck started up.
The city gradually disappeared beyond the window, replaced by desolate stretches of Gobi.
The sky was gray and gloomy, without a trace of sunlight.
The truck was quiet, save for the rumble of the engine.
After about two hours, the convoy suddenly came to a stop.
The escorting officer jumped down from the cab, his face grim. "Everyone stays in the truck. No one gets out!"
"What's going on?" Zhao Gang leaned forward and asked.
The officer ignored him, picked up his radio, and spoke quickly into it.
Lin Feng looked out the window. Three kilometers ahead, it was as if something had torn a hole in the sky.
The Rift was irregularly shaped, its edges flickering with an eerie purple light.
Something inside seemed to be writhing.
"Holy shit, is that a Rift?" Zhao Gang's voice cracked.
The truck erupted into chaos.
"F-Class Rift activity. We need to take a detour." The officer climbed back aboard. "Stay put, and don't move around!"
The convoy began to turn around.
Lin Feng stared at the Rift, his heart racing.
It was his first time seeing a spatial Rift with his own eyes. It was far more terrifying than it looked on the news.
Even from several kilometers away, he could feel its oppressive presence.
The convoy took a wide detour and drove for another three hours before finally reaching its destination.
The Northern Frontier Seventh Defense Line.
The moment the doors opened, every recruit drew a sharp breath.
Before them stood an alloy wall dozens of meters high, its surface covered in claw marks and dents from impacts.
In some places, bloodstains still remained.
The air was filled with an indescribable stench of decay.
A watchtower stood every hundred meters along the wall. Armed guards stood atop them, their eyes as numb as a dead man's.
"Out!" the officer roared.
The recruits climbed out one after another and formed several crooked lines.
The moment Lin Feng landed, he felt something sticky beneath his feet.
He looked down. A pool of blood on the ground hadn't dried yet.
"Stand the hell straight!"
A voice rang out from ahead.
Lin Feng looked up and saw a one-armed, middle-aged man walking toward them.
He wore a tattered uniform. His right arm had been severed at the shoulder, and the empty sleeve swayed in the wind.
The man walked to the front of the recruits and swept his gaze over them with a sneer. "I'm Chen Lie, your instructor."
"See this arm?" Chen Lie raised his stump. "A C-Rank Exotic Beast tore it off three months ago. I used to be a Martial Master. I spent five years in the Northern Territory, and still lost an arm in the end."
He paused, his voice turning even colder. "So don't go thinking you're hot stuff. Here, Martial Disciples don't even count as cannon fodder."
Zhao Gang's face went deathly white.
"Now for the rules." Chen Lie took out a roster. "The Recruit Camp training period is seven days. After that, every last one of you goes to the front line. Each of you will be issued a Standard Long Blade and three Healing Pills. If you die, your family gets two hundred thousand in compensation."
Li Ming collapsed to the ground.
"Get up!" Chen Lie kicked him. "You're not afraid to die, but you're afraid to stand?"
Li Ming shakily scrambled to his feet, tears almost spilling from his eyes.
Chen Lie continued, "The rules of the Northern Territory are simple. If you're alive, you've won. If you're dead, you got what you deserved. No one will pity you, and no one will save you. If you want to live, then fight like hell!"
With that, he turned and walked away. "Follow me. I'll assign your rooms."
The recruits followed Chen Lie into the Base Camp.
As they passed an open area, Lin Feng saw more than a dozen wooden crates laid out on the ground.
White sheets covered the crates, but the shapes of human bodies were unmistakable beneath them.
"They died yesterday." Wang Tie walked beside Lin Feng, his tone flat. "An E-Rank Rift erupted. Thirteen dead."
Lin Feng said nothing.
The dormitory was a row of prefab buildings, with four people in each room.
Chen Lie stood at the entrance and called out the names. "Lin Feng, Barracks No. 12."
Lin Feng pushed the door open.
Two people were already inside. One bunk stood empty, its bedboard still streaked with dark red bloodstains.
"Well, what do you know? What a coincidence." One of them looked up at him. It was Wang Tie, whom he'd met on the truck. The other was Li Ming, the one his family had forced to come.
Lin Feng nodded and set his backpack on the empty bunk.
"Not one person from the last group that stayed here came back." Wang Tie's expression didn't change. "You're lucky. At least the bed's clean."
Lin Feng looked at the bloodstains on the bedboard and didn't reply.
It was time for dinner.
The food in the Canteen was surprisingly good: braised pork, stewed chicken, stir-fried greens, and all the rice you could eat.
By city standards, this was top-notch food!
Zhao Gang sat down with a tray. He stared at the dishes for a long moment. "This is really that good?"
"Dead men don't need the money saved." Wang Tie picked up a piece of meat. "They're just feeding you well before you head off to your deaths."
Zhao Gang's chopsticks stopped in midair.
Lin Feng finished his dinner in silence.
Back in the dormitory, the others soon fell asleep.
Only Lin Feng lay on his bed, staring blankly at the ceiling.
In his mind, the System Panel hovered quietly.
[Host: Lin Feng] [Mental Strength: 10] [Realm: Martial Disciple Rank 5 (35/50)] [Technique: Basic Body Tempering Art (1/10)] [Martial Techniques: None] [Talent: None] [Martial Path Points: 10]
Lin Feng focused, trying to invest Martial Path Points in his technique to see what would happen.
[Spend 1 Martial Path Point to upgrade Basic Body Tempering Art?]
"Yes."
In an instant, a wave of heat surged from his dantian and flowed through his meridians, spreading throughout his body.
Lin Feng felt as if countless needles were pricking him. A tingling numbness came with the sting.
A few seconds later, the heat dissipated.
[Basic Body Tempering Art (2/10)] [Remaining Martial Path Points: 9]
Lin Feng clenched his fist. He could clearly feel that he was a little stronger.
He invested all his remaining nine Martial Path Points in his realm.
[Realm Upgrade: Martial Disciple Rank 5 (44/50)] [Remaining Martial Path Points: 0]
His strength grew again.
Lin Feng took a deep breath and closed his eyes.
With the system, his odds of surviving in the Northern Territory would be much better.
But how long he'd actually live still depended on tomorrow's training.
Three in the morning.
A piercing alarm suddenly blared.
Lin Feng jolted awake. Before he could even react, the dormitory door was kicked open.
"Everyone, fall in!" Chen Lie roared from the doorway. "The F-Class Rift erupted ahead of schedule! Everyone get to the wall, now!"
The recruits scrambled out of bed, fumbling to get dressed.
Zhao Gang grabbed his long blade, his hand shaking badly. "We're going to the battlefield already?"
"Less talk, move!" Chen Lie turned and ran.
Lin Feng followed the crowd as they charged out of the dormitory and sprinted toward the city wall.
In the night sky, a massive Rift tore open in the distance once more.
This time, the Rift was far larger than the one they had seen during the day, its purple light illuminating almost half the sky.
Countless dark shapes poured out of the Rift.
Lin Feng rushed up onto the city wall and saw real Exotic Beasts for the first time.
A vast, dark mass of beasts surged toward them. At the very front were Iron-Armored Demon Wolves, their bodies covered in metallic scales.
Even larger creatures lurked behind them in the darkness, their enormous silhouettes all that could be seen.
The heavy machine guns atop the wall began to roar, their muzzle flashes lighting up the night sky.
"Listen up, recruits!" Chen Lie stood at the edge of the wall and pointed below. "Your job is to clean up any F-Class Exotic Beasts that get through! No retreating. Anyone who retreats will be killed on the spot!"
As soon as he finished speaking, an Iron-Armored Demon Wolf suddenly leaped onto the wall.
It moved with astonishing speed, swiping a claw at the head of a recruit beside it.
Bang!
The recruit's head burst like a watermelon, splattering Lin Feng's face with blood and brains.
Lin Feng froze.
That recruit had just eaten with him in the Canteen.
"What are you standing there for? Kill it!" Chen Lie roared.
Lin Feng instinctively swung his blade to block. The blade struck the Iron-Armored Demon Wolf's forepaw, sending sparks flying.
The tremendous force numbed his hand and sent him staggering back several steps.
The Iron-Armored Demon Wolf pounced again.
Lin Feng gritted his teeth and dodged to the side, then swung his blade backhanded at its neck.
This time, he struck at an awkward angle, and the blade slid into a gap between its scales. Blood gushed out.
The Iron-Armored Demon Wolf let out a pained howl and collapsed, twitching.
[Slain F-Class Exotic Beast: Iron-Armored Demon Wolf] [Martial Path Points ×1 gained]
Panting heavily, Lin Feng stared at the corpse on the ground.
This was the Northern Territory.
Kill or be killed. There was no third option.
Before you continue