First Entry into the Wilderness Zone

Several hundred li southeast of Kyoto Base City, there was a military garrison.

"Rumble—" The train slowly pulled to a stop at the military station.

One by one, fully armed martial artists stepped off the train. There were about fifty people in this batch, who naturally split into over a dozen squads.

"Ji Yun, when we martial artists go out to hunt monsters and need to resupply along the way, we always enter the military base." Zhang Taofang pointed ahead at a towering iron tower at least fifty or sixty meters high. "See that tower? Throughout the entire Huaxia Nation, and even the whole world, every military base sets aside a special area as a supply base for martial artists, a place for us to rest. This kind of martial artist supply base usually builds such a lighthouse. It symbolizes lighting the way home for us martial artists."

"This lighthouse will also be prominently marked on our maps, making it easy for us to navigate our way back."

The martial artist supply base was located inside the military garrison. Rows of quiet little buildings made for an excellent environment.

"Eagle Strike Squad, you'll stay and rest at C5." An officer who also held a position in the Underground Alliance handed the key to squad leader Zhang Taofang, patting his shoulder with a smile. "Old Zhang, how long do you plan to hunt this time? If you get any good haul, feel free to sell it to my Underground Alliance. I'll give you a high price."

"Haha, we'll talk about that." Zhang Taofang laughed heartily. "Hurry up and arrange lunch for us. We're heading to a good spot this time—might just strike it rich."

"C5, over there." Sharp-eyed Naili quickly spotted the villa representing C5. The key with its chip slid across the gate, and the villa's door swung open. Until the Eagle Strike Squad left the supply base, this building was theirs to use.

Once everyone had found a spot to lie down, Zhang Taofang clapped his hands and said, "Rest now if you want. We set out officially tonight. We'll have to cover a long distance on foot, and there won't be such leisurely rest time in the coming days."

"Understood."

Zhang Yan and Li Ke both acknowledged, then immediately lay down to sleep. Naili also went upstairs to find a room and rest. Only Ji Yun stood in the living room downstairs, unsure of what to do.

"Captain, I'm not tired. I don't need to rest."

"Ah Yun, we might have to walk for days without stopping day or night. If you don't rest now, you'll be miserable in a few days. Besides, it's early September, the hottest time of year. Conserving energy during the day is the smartest move. We'll set out at night and take advantage of better weather."

"Alright, even if you're not tired, lie down for a while and recharge. We leave tonight," Zhang Taofang said.

At dusk, the fully armed Eagle Strike Squad of five left the supply base and entered the Wilderness Zone.

Squad leader Zhang Taofang carried a large box on his back, with two sharp daggers strapped to the outside of his thighs. The blades were over twenty centimeters long, clearly suited for close-quarters combat.

Once inside the Wilderness Zone, they hadn't gone far before Zhang Taofang set down the box and opened it. Inside was a silver machine gun, fully assembled.

The rest of the box was packed with dense belts of ammunition, already linked and ready to fire once loaded into the magazine.

"RG112 Heavy Machine Gun, 12.7mm caliber, massive firepower. Can fire up to 1,500 rounds per minute. This gun is the pinnacle of individual infantry firearms. Any faster rate of fire would be pointless."

Zhang Taofang wrapped the ammunition belts around himself, cradled the gun in his arms, and slung the ammo box on his back. "I'll take the middle. Ah Yun on my right, Zhang Yan in front, Xiao Li on my left, Li Ke bringing up the rear."

"Our main concern is monster ambushes. Generally speaking, we won't run into much of a threat."

"We'll follow this highway. In about four or five days, we'll reach our destination—City 091, Dongying City," squad leader Zhang Taofang said. Ji Yun couldn't help but look at the highway before him. For humans living in base cities, highways existed only in legends.

The road beneath them was already dilapidated, with several cracks running through the pavement.

Looking ahead, the endless stretch of highway was littered with broken or shattered cars, trucks, and freight vehicles. Scattered tires lay everywhere. Here and there, the ground showed patches of dried, blackened blood.

"Move out," squad leader Zhang Taofang said quietly.

The reddish glow of the setting sun shone down on this silent, broken highway that had been neglected for decades. The five members of Eagle Strike Squad advanced quickly along it.

"Ah Yun, take on an F-rank monster first and show us your skill," squad leader Zhang Taofang's voice rang out. "This is your first battle in the Wilderness Zone!"

"Ahead is an F-rank Tiger-Cat Beast. This monster's trait is that it has a cat's speed combined with a tiger's strength. More importantly, because this type of monster once lived alongside humans, its intelligence is no lower than that of an average Beast General rank monster."

"But with your Warrior-level strength, I believe you can handle it."

"Ah Yun, little brother, this is your first fight. Don't get careless. The wild instincts of these monsters are far sharper than those raised in the military compound," Naili warned seriously.

The other three all looked at Ji Yun, their eyes full of encouragement.

"Alright, then watch me take out its tail tendon."

Ji Yun took his spear off his back, rolled his white robe sleeves into his Combat Suit, and charged forward with the spear in hand.

Ji Yun strode quickly behind a low, flat building and peered at the Tiger-Cat Beast not far ahead. Its fur was a yellowish-brown, gleaming faintly in the sunset. Its sharp claws and fangs reflected cold light.

The ranks H, G, and F corresponded to Low-rank Beast Soldier, Mid-rank Beast Soldier, and High-rank Beast Soldier respectively. Clearly, this Tiger-Cat Beast was undoubtedly F-rank.

Having made up his mind, Ji Yun appeared directly in front of the Tiger-Cat Beast.

Ji Yun flicked the tip of his spear, as if mocking the Tiger-Cat Beast, asking if it dared to face him head-on.

The Tiger-Cat Beast licked its lips, its oily green eyes fixed on Ji Yun, as if searching for an opening. Suddenly, it moved, shooting forward like an arrow, its sharp claws inches away.

Ji Yun immediately sidestepped, simultaneously pulling his spear back and thrusting it in an instant toward the Tiger-Cat Beast's relatively soft belly.

"Die."

Ji Yun adjusted his position based on the Tiger-Cat Beast's movements. The beast tried to change direction mid-air, extending its claws to swipe at Ji Yun. As Ji Yun dodged several times, the Tiger-Cat Beast swiped just as many times. Finally, Ji Yun pierced its abdomen.

The thrust only pierced through the belly, not passing clean through the Tiger-Cat Beast's body as Ji Yun had expected. The beast struggled weakly in the air a few times before falling to the ground with the spear tip, where it lay still.

Ji Yun pulled out his spear and was about to cut the Tiger-Cat Beast's tail tendon when suddenly, the beast's eyes snapped open. Its foul, bloody mouth lunged for Ji Yun's neck.

"What—Ah Yun!" The four watching were extremely tense. They had guessed the Tiger-Cat Beast's intelligence was considerable, but they hadn't expected it to feign death in a bid for mutual destruction. Knowing it couldn't survive after being stabbed by Ji Yun's spear, it had come up with this way to retaliate.

"Hm?" Ji Yun was startled. He instantly leaped backward, simultaneously punching the side of the Tiger-Cat Beast's head, sending it flying.

"Thud." The Tiger-Cat Beast's heavy corpse hit the ground. Ji Yun's furious punch had instantly unleashed Fierce Wind First Layer, exploding with nearly 16,000 kg of force. The Tiger-Cat Beast's brain had been shattered by the punch mid-air, killing it instantly. Blood flowed from its head and abdomen, quickly forming a small stream.

Ji Yun breathed heavily.

"That was close. If my physical fitness hadn't been far superior to its, I might have been done for today."

The four behind him also breathed a sigh of relief. Although Ji Yun's death would have been hard to explain to Ji Shan, they preferred to see Ji Yun become a rising star for humanity.

"A-Yun's combat awareness, strength, and technique are all decent," Li Ke said with a smile as the danger passed.

"Yeah, he's just lacking experience in the Wilderness Zone. But experience is the easiest thing to learn; I'm sure he'll become a good hand after some tempering."

"Come to think of it, though, that last punch from Ji Yun must have reached Mid-Level War General level," the sturdy man Zhang Yan said, a strange look on his face. "My strength barely qualifies as Mid-Level War General, but I'd still have a hard time sending that monster flying with one punch."

Recalling Ji Yun's punch, the four of them were slightly startled.

It took over twenty seconds for Ji Yun to quickly calm his breathing, which had been too rapid from the scare, and walk forward. He harvested the tail tendon of the Tiger-Cat Beast.

"Captain," Ji Yun said, carrying the pelt back to his teammates.

"You killed it, so the spoils are yours, of course," Zhang Taofang said.

Among monsters, materials from Beast Soldier Rank monsters generally weren't worth much. Because Beast Soldier Rank monsters could be killed entirely with thermal weapons... even a Junior Warrior, wielding a machine gun with good marksmanship, could easily kill one Beast Soldier Rank monster after another. So Beast Soldier Rank monsters weren't valuable!

"This tail tendon, if sold to the martial arts hall, should be worth four or five thousand. You'll also get a few Contribution Points. If you sell it to the Underground Alliance, it should fetch six thousand," Li Ke said with a smile.

"A-Yun, your performance just now, while not bad, won't keep you alive in the Wilderness Zone," Sister Naili, who had been silent until now, spoke up.

"Sister Li?" Ji Yun looked at her. "I was too careless."

"It's a matter of experience, don't worry, you'll learn soon enough," Naili said with a gentle smile. "I'll show you with an example later how to judge whether a monster is dead."

The team moved on, and before long, Naili killed an F-level canine-type monster.

Looking at the canine monster's body, Naili said to Ji Yun, "To judge whether a monster is dead, don't look at whether it's still moving."

"Many monsters, especially Beast General Rank ones, can suppress their aura, making warriors let their guard down."

"If you knock down a monster, you need to see how it's bleeding. Because if it bleeds too much, even if the monster is still alive, its muscles won't have the strength to support a counterattack."

"If the monster has lost about a third of its body's blood, it's completely dead."

Sure enough, after losing roughly a third of its blood, the canine monster stopped struggling, its corpse falling to the ground.

At that point, Naili stepped forward and removed the canine monster's tail.

"A-Yun, there's still a lot you don't know. We'll tell you over the next few days, so don't rush."

"Thanks, Sister Li," Ji Yun said with a smile.

"What about me? What about me?" Perhaps because sturdy men were often cheerful, Zhang Yan was usually a bit scatterbrained.

"Alright, then thanks, Brother Yan, thanks, Brother Li, thanks, Captain."

Ji Yun pressed his palms together in a prayer-like gesture and even said to them, "Everyone, thank you very much."

"Hahaha," they all couldn't help but laugh heartily.

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