Zhou Yuan's hand was trembling.
He stared at the corpse on the ground, which had yet to go cold. Liu Gang's throat had been cut halfway through, and blood trickled down between the rocks, giving off faint wisps of steam.
That slash had been too fast.
So fast that he hadn't even seen how Lin Feng had drawn his blade.
"Lin Feng, calm down."
Zhou Yuan shuffled half a step backward, holding his knife across his chest, but the scrap of metal offered him no sense of security.
"Liu Gang was Deputy Commander Zhao's man. If you kill him, you'll never make it back to Base Camp."
Lin Feng flicked the beads of blood from his blade. His steps were steady.
"If I don't kill him, will he let me go back?"
There wasn't a hint of emotion in Lin Feng's voice. He held his long blade level, its tip aimed at Zhou Yuan's throat.
"Tell me, then. Why did Zhao Tianxiong have you bring me into the Rift?"
Zhou Yuan swallowed, his Adam's apple bobbing.
He knew he couldn't beat the monster in front of him.
The files said he was a Martial Disciple Rank 7, but the strength and speed he'd just displayed had absolutely surpassed that threshold.
"I can tell you all of Zhao Tianxiong's secrets, including where he keeps the ledgers for the supplies he's been reselling. Just let me go."
Zhou Yuan spoke at breakneck speed, afraid that if he took another second, the blade would plunge into him.
Lin Feng stopped three meters away.
"Oh? Reselling military supplies? That's interesting."
He'd heard before that some people in the military resold supplies for a profit.
He hadn't imagined that even a dignified deputy commander would stoop to it. Truly, a man's greed knew no bounds. In one word: greedy!
Lin Feng let out a cold laugh. He'd finally caught him by the tail.
Seeing a chance, Zhou Yuan hurriedly offered another bargaining chip.
"Zhao Tianxiong is looking for a batch of Body Tempering Pills. They're supplies he intercepted from the Provincial Martial Arts Association—ten pills in all, worth a million."
"He suspects you took them, so he had us deal with you in the Rift and make it look like an accidental death."
"Besides, he planted a tracker in the Tactical Backpack you were issued. As soon as you leave the Rift, his men will surround you."
After hearing that, Lin Feng reached behind him and felt around inside the pack.
Sure enough, in a gap in the lining, he found a hard object about the size of a fingernail.
He squeezed it hard.
Crack.
The sound of electronic components breaking rang especially loud in the quiet cave.
"Finished?"
Lin Feng looked at Zhou Yuan, his eyes devoid of warmth.
Zhou Yuan froze, then nodded.
"I'm finished. I swear I haven't lied. You can take me with you. I know a secret way out through the Logistics Department..."
"Fine. I know."
Lin Feng cut him off and suddenly drove forward.
Zhou Yuan's face changed. He raised his knife to block on instinct.
Clang!
A sharp ring.
The Standard Long Blade in Zhou Yuan's hand, forged from fine steel, was as fragile as paper beneath Lin Feng's blade. It shattered into pieces.
The blade's momentum didn't let up. It sliced cleanly across Zhou Yuan.
Blood burst sideways from his throat. The light in his eyes quickly faded.
Even as he died, Zhou Yuan couldn't understand why, after giving up such important information, his opponent had killed him without even hesitating.
Lin Feng sheathed his blade, bent down, and searched Zhou Yuan. He found two porcelain medicine bottles and a small pouch of Exotic Beast Magic Cores, then hurriedly stuffed them into his belt pouch.
"Secrets are safest with the dead."
He muttered the words, then turned and headed back.
Wang Tie and Li Ming stood at the corner, frozen in place, gripping their weapons tightly.
They'd heard most of the conversation.
Wang Tie watched Lin Feng approach and stayed silent for three full seconds.
He was a veteran of the Northern Territory, accustomed to death and no stranger to the dark side of things.
But he'd never seen anyone as ruthless as Lin Feng.
Decisive and merciless, with no wasted words.
He was even a little glad now that he hadn't made an enemy of Lin Feng.
"Did you take care of it?"
Wang Tie spoke, his throat a little dry.
Lin Feng nodded and pulled the pile of electronic fragments from his pack, tossing them onto the ground.
"There was a tracker in the pack. Zhao Tianxiong never intended to let us return alive."
Wang Tie cursed.
"That old bastard. I've never liked him. He even dares to withhold compensation for new recruits killed in action. I didn't know he was this heartless."
Li Ming stood nearby, his face deathly pale and his hands shaking like a leaf.
"Brother Lin, what do we do now? Going back means death, and staying here means death too."
Lin Feng glanced at him and tossed the porcelain bottles he'd found to Wang Tie.
"One pill each. Since our mission is to investigate the abnormal energy fluctuations, we'll keep going deeper."
"If we don't get a mission report, we'll be charged with disobeying orders. That'll give Zhao Tianxiong an even better excuse to kill us."
"Block off our way back, and he'll think we died in the jaws of Exotic Beasts."
Wang Tie took the bottles and opened one to sniff. His eyes lit up.
"Energy Recovery Pills? Good stuff. They'll restore your strength quickly."
He took out two pills, handed one to Li Ming, then returned the bottle to Lin Feng.
"Fine, we'll do it your way. I picked up this life for free anyway. Kill one, and I break even. Kill two, and I come out ahead."
Lin Feng said nothing. He lowered his gaze to the System Panel.
[Steel of the Blade: 51/500 (First Stage Activated)]
Killing those two men with ulterior motives had somehow earned him stacks too.
It gave him a new understanding of this talent.
It seemed that any target harboring hostility could become fuel for building stacks.
That would make stacking up a lot easier.
"Let's go. Third level."
Lin Feng led the way deeper inside.
The farther down they went, the stronger the smell of charred flesh became.
The earth underfoot felt soft and spongy, and radiated a strangely lingering warmth.
Li Ming glanced down and suddenly stopped.
A huge claw print marked the soft soil.
It had three toes, each joint as thick as a bowl, and had sunk at least five centimeters into the ground.
"Brother Lin, this print is warm."
Li Ming crouched down and touched the edge of the print, then immediately pulled his finger back.
Lin Feng walked over and stared at the print for a long moment.
An Exotic Beast of this size shouldn't have been inside an F-Class Rift.
From what he'd learned at school, only Fire-type Exotic Beasts of E-Rank and above left scorchingly hot tracks as they walked.
"The registered data is wrong."
Lin Feng stood and looked toward the dark passage ahead.
"This isn't just an F-Class Rift."
Wang Tie's eyelid twitched at those words.
"E-Rank? That's the kind of thing only a team of Martial Artists can handle. And our makeshift squad..."
He looked at Lin Feng, then at himself.
He knew Lin Feng was a Martial Artist.
But he himself was only Martial Disciple Rank 9, and Li Ming was even weaker—just Martial Disciple Rank 3.
"Scared?"
Lin Feng asked, looking back.
Wang Tie gave a silly grin and spat.
"Scared of what? Magic Cores from E-Rank Exotic Beasts are worth a fortune. Just thinking about it gets me excited."
"Zhao Tianxiong wants us dead. I'll bring back something valuable just to slap him in the face."
The three of them continued forward.
The number of Exotic Beasts grew noticeably along the way.
But most were solitary F-Rank Exotic Beasts.
Lin Feng took nearly every kill for himself.
Whenever they encountered an Exotic Beast, he rushed forward before Wang Tie could make a move.
[Defeated F-Rank Exotic Beast: Fire Beetle, gained Martial Path Points ×1] [Steel of the Blade: 53/500] [Defeated F-Rank Exotic Beast: Rock Snake, gained Martial Path Points ×1] [Steel of the Blade: 54/500]
Lin Feng's movements grew faster and faster, and the sound of his blade slicing through the air grew sharper.
As his stacks accumulated, the long blade in his hand felt like an extension of his body.
With every swing, he no longer needed to think about the angle or the force.
Instinct told him where his opponent's defenses were weakest.
Li Ming followed behind. After watching Lin Feng chop through the beasts one after another with ease, his fear gradually began to subside.
He even started trying to finish off the Exotic Beasts whose legs Lin Feng had severed.
"Brother Lin, this one's still alive. I'll get it!"
Li Ming shouted as he rushed over and stabbed wildly at a writhing Fire Beetle.
Squish.
[Assisted teammate in defeating a target, gained Martial Path Points ×0.5]
Lin Feng paused. He hadn't expected that a teammate's kills could also earn him a small number of Martial Path Points.
It wasn't much, but even a mosquito's leg was meat.
"Keep going."
Lin Feng left those two words behind, then darted into the red glow ahead.
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