As the team pushed deeper into the third level of the Rift, the students from Ping'an Martial High School had already split into three groups.
The instructors led the way, the veterans guarded the flanks, and the students followed in the middle.
Wang Jianguo had tucked himself at the very back, keeping more than ten meters between himself and the students ahead.
Lin Feng walked behind him, his pace unhurried.
"Lin Feng." Wang Jianguo suddenly spoke, his voice low as he tentatively glanced over his shoulder.
"You're not still holding a grudge over the subsidy, are you?"
Lin Feng didn't answer.
When Wang Jianguo saw that he wasn't responding, he grew a little bolder.
"I admit I was in the wrong back then, but you hit me too, so we're even. You're a Sergeant Major now, with a bright future ahead of you. Why bother picking a fight with an Academic Affairs Office director like me?"
He pulled a card from his pocket and held it out behind him.
"There are fifty thousand yuan on this card. Consider it an apology. Come on, let it go. We can both walk away with our dignity."
Lin Feng glanced at the card.
"Fifty thousand?"
"That's right, fifty thousand! That's no small amount!" Wang Jianguo said ingratiatingly.
"Director Wang, you're quite generous."
Wang Jianguo smiled broadly but said nothing.
Lin Feng's voice was soft.
"Do you know that I signed away my freedom in the Northern Territory for that two hundred thousand, and nearly died in the Beast Tide?"
Wang Jianguo's smile faltered.
"Let's not dredge up the past."
Lin Feng pushed the card back.
"It's not enough."
"Then how much do you want? One hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand?" Wang Jianguo panicked.
Lin Feng shook his head.
"Your life."
At those three words, Wang Jianguo's face turned deathly pale.
"What kind of joke is that?"
Lin Feng said no more.
The team continued forward.
At the end of the third level, the path forked. The instructor led the main group down the left-hand main passage and stationed the veterans at the fork.
Lin Feng called out to one of the veterans.
"I'm taking a few students from Ping'an Martial High School down the side passage for some individual training. You can wait here."
The veteran glanced at Lin Feng's Sergeant Major insignia, then nodded and let him pass.
Lin Feng turned and called to the students walking ahead.
"Go with the main group. I'm taking your Director Wang to have a look at the side passage."
The students were more than happy to get away from Wang Jianguo. Without even looking back, they followed the main group down the left-hand passage.
Only Lin Feng and Wang Jianguo remained at the fork.
Wang Jianguo's legs began to tremble.
"What are you going to do?"
"Walk." Lin Feng pointed to the side passage on the right.
"I'm not going!"
Lin Feng glanced at him.
The pressure of a Martial Master Rank 5, even with only a tenth of his power released, was more than enough for an ordinary person to bear.
Wang Jianguo's knees buckled, and he nearly fell to the ground.
His face flushed bright red, sweat covered his forehead, and his lips moved, but he couldn't get a word out.
"I'll say it again. Walk."
Wang Jianguo's numb legs carried him toward the side passage.
The side passage was narrow, just wide enough for two people to walk side by side.
Water seeped from the rock walls, and the ground was slick.
After about three minutes, the passage opened up into a small cavern.
Three Venom-Sting Lizards were inside, all F-rank and at Martial Disciple Rank 5.
When they saw the two men enter, the lizards hissed and slithered toward them, their tongues flicking.
Wang Jianguo collapsed to the ground in terror, a large wet patch instantly spreading across his pants.
"Help! Help—"
Lin Feng stood motionless.
The three lizards went around him and charged straight at Wang Jianguo.
They could sense the difference in strength. The aura of a Martial Master made them instinctively avoid Lin Feng and pounce instead on the weaker prey.
"Lin Feng! Save me! Please! I'm begging you!"
Wang Jianguo scrambled backward, only to slam into the rock wall. He had nowhere left to go.
The first lizard pounced.
Its venomous barb stabbed into Wang Jianguo's thigh.
"Ah!!!" His scream echoed through the cavern.
The second lizard bit down on his arm.
The third lunged for his throat.
Only then did Lin Feng move.
Mountain Splitter flashed from its sheath. Three strikes, and all three lizards were dead.
But he'd struck at just the right moment.
Deep bite marks and venomous barb wounds already marred Wang Jianguo's thigh, arm, and neck.
The Venom-Sting Lizard's venom wasn't fatal, but it was enough to make an ordinary person writhe in agony.
Wang Jianguo lay sprawled on the ground, his whole body convulsing as muffled groans escaped his mouth.
"Lin Feng, please... save me."
Lin Feng crouched beside him.
"Director Wang, do you remember what you said to me in the Academic Affairs Office?"
Wang Jianguo's face was twisted with pain. How could he remember what he'd said?
"You said, 'What can you do to me?'"
Lin Feng patted his face.
"Now you know."
He stood up and took a step back.
Psychic Power gathered at his fingertips.
An invisible force slammed straight into Wang Jianguo's mind.
Wang Jianguo's body stiffened abruptly. His eyes flew wide, and his pupils dilated rapidly.
The next second, his body went limp.
There were no external injuries, no traces of blood.
Cause of death: psychic backlash, or a ruptured heart from the extreme terror of an Exotic Beast attack.
Either explanation would hold up.
Lin Feng dragged the three lizards' corpses beside Wang Jianguo and arranged them to look like the two sides had fought to the death.
The bite marks and venomous barb wounds on Wang Jianguo were real.
The lizards' corpses were real.
An Academic Affairs Office director who couldn't fight his way out of a paper bag had encountered three Exotic Beasts alone in the Rift, been bitten, and died from the poison.
It all made sense.
There wasn't a single flaw.
First, Lin Feng pocketed the thick gold chain around Wang Jianguo's neck, then searched his pockets.
He tucked the fifty-thousand-yuan bank card into his own pocket.
From the inner pocket of Wang Jianguo's jacket, he also pulled out a phone and an envelope.
Inside the envelope was a document labeled "Compensation for Practical Simulation Participants: 150,000 yuan."
The money had been jointly allocated by the military and the Department of Education. If a student or teacher met with an accident inside the Rift, the compensation would go to their family.
Wang Jianguo had also signed a Life-Death Contract.
Everyone had signed one before entering the Rift.
Black ink on white paper, stamped with an official seal.
Lin Feng put the envelope away, wiped the phone clean, and tossed it beside Wang Jianguo.
He checked the scene one last time.
Perfect.
He turned and walked back out of the side passage. At the fork, he met the veteran standing guard outside.
"Reporting." Lin Feng's voice was steady. "I found traces of an Exotic Beast nest in the side passage. Director Wang from Ping'an Martial High School was attacked by three Venom-Sting Lizards while helping with the investigation."
"When I arrived, the lizards had already been killed, but Director Wang's injuries were too severe. He was already dead."
The veteran's expression changed.
"He's dead?"
"Yeah. Please notify the instructor and the military, and have someone retrieve the body."
The veteran dashed off like a gust of wind.
Lin Feng leaned against the rock wall and closed his eyes.
The score over the subsidy was settled today.
"At least it wasn't all for nothing."
He murmured to himself.
Then he opened his eyes and followed the team toward the exit of the Rift.
Before you continue