Strength Improvement and Crisis [Seeking Collection, Seeking Follow-up]

Days passed, and in the blink of an eye, three months had gone by. It was already September 3rd, 2056.

Every day, Ren Ze spent his time in intense battles.

Aside from Luo Feng calling Ren Ze after becoming a warrior a month ago, when the two briefly chatted and expressed their hopes for the future, Ren Ze also shared some of his experiences and precautions regarding the Wilderness Zone.

To outsiders, these three months of life seemed monotonous and dull.

But to Ren Ze, his progress had been enormous.

First were his basic physical attributes. Although he had not precisely tested his punching strength, Ren Ze felt that he had likely reached the threshold of a beginner War General.

Although the effects of the Genetic Energy Cultivation Method were no longer as exaggerated as they had been on the first day, under the guidance of the Yijin Jing, he seemed to have no bottleneck at all and grew stronger every day.

His force exertion had also improved greatly.

It took nearly a full month before Ren Ze's control over his body caught up with his explosive growth in strength.

Then, after another two months, he finally gained a preliminary grasp of the third layer of the Nine-Layered Thunder Blade!

2.8 times force exertion!

"It's time to leave... But with my current strength, before I go, I can try measuring myself against that intermediate War General-level monster from back then."

If Ren Ze wanted to continue improving, the monsters throughout County 0211 could no longer pose any threat to him. They were completely unable to keep up with his current level of strength.

Ren Ze soon arrived at that very place.

A few minutes later.

Corpses littered the ground. The bodies of more than two hundred soldier-level boar monsters stretched from the roadside along the long street all the way to the supermarket plaza hundreds of meters away.

The supermarket plaza was likewise covered in over a hundred monster corpses, their foul-smelling blood gathering into little streams.

Ren Ze was currently dismantling and collecting materials from two beginner War General-level and one intermediate War General-level boar monster corpses.

With a sudden exertion of force, his blade sliced into flesh and cut out lengths of translucent beast sinew, along with several key pieces of scale armor.

"This boar hide is really tough. Even a full-strength slash from me isn't fatal..."

At the very end, Ren Ze could not resist using his inner strength. Over the past three months, he had nearly forgotten that he even possessed such power. Although it did not add much compared to his current pure physical strength, it was like the last straw that broke the camel's back, successfully inflicting fatal damage on this intermediate War General-level boar leader.

"According to the information on the Limit Forum, materials from a beginner War General-level monster generally sell for 5 million to 15 million Huaxia Currency."

"Materials from an intermediate War General-level monster can sell for 10 million to 100 million Huaxia Currency."

"Materials from an advanced War General-level monster can be worth anywhere from 50 million to six or seven hundred million Huaxia Currency."

Squelch!

Ren Ze folded and tied up the dismantled boar hide with beast sinew before putting it into his backpack. He sighed with emotion. "This stuff is really valuable!"

"Even grinding monsters and bosses in online games doesn't drop gold like this..."

Ren Ze clicked his tongue in amazement as he pulled out the last valuable beast sinew.

"Can't waste it."

Although Ren Ze had little interest in soldier-level monster materials, he still collected those from War General-level monsters while he was at it. Selling them to the martial arts hall to earn some contribution points would be good too.

After returning to the military district camp, dealing with the spoils in his backpack, and replenishing his water and food supplies, Ren Ze felt somewhat lost for a moment.

Logically speaking, he had been out for three months and should return to rest and recuperate. But what was the point of going back?

Luo Feng was the only one who could share a common language with him regarding cultivation, and he should be out with the Fire Hammer Squad by now, right?

Now that he was alone, there was no point in going back.

If he did not work hard to become stronger, he would struggle to take even a single step in this crisis-ridden world in the future.

Even if he hid on Earth, even if Luo Feng treated him exceptionally well, Luo Feng had his own path to walk. Powerful as he was, even Luo Feng would have no choice but to compromise for the greater good in the future.

He would preserve Earth through humiliation and compromise, while in that era, most Earthlings would live in constant fear, afraid that the aliens above the sea would come looking for trouble.

Not to mention that this timeline was still far from that point—even in the next few years, the crises brought to Earth by the Golden Horned Beast and the Nuo Mountain Family made it impossible for Ren Ze to lie back and enjoy life with a clear conscience.

He did not seek to save the world himself, but at the very least, when danger came, he wanted the strength to protect himself rather than being doomed just because of a stray shockwave from a battle or because some enemy happened to be in a bad mood.

With that in mind, Ren Ze decided to continue venturing through the Wilderness Zone and tempering himself.

He raised his wristwatch and checked the map.

"City 023."

City 023, formerly SZ City, included not only the urban district but also waters such as Tai Lake and Yangcheng Lake nearby.

Tai Lake in particular covered an area of more than 2,400 square kilometers.

Such a vast body of water naturally gave rise to enormous numbers of monsters, while its ecosystem also nurtured a large number of high-level monsters within City 023.

It could be said that City 023 contained more powerful monsters than ordinary urban areas.

"That's the one."

Inside a high-rise building.

Ren Ze lightly split the door lock with a single slash and entered the spacious room. It had once been a hotel, but after several decades, the furniture and beds inside were covered in dust.

City 023 truly lived up to its reputation. In just the short time since entering the outskirts, Ren Ze had already discovered at least ten War General-level monsters.

Among them was a high-level War General Shadow Cat, accompanied by only a small number of soldier-level monsters and one beginner War General-level subordinate.

After resting briefly in the room and adjusting himself to peak condition, Ren Ze gripped his battle saber and slowly made his way toward the location where he had spotted the Shadow Cat earlier.

Before long, Ren Ze saw more than a dozen Shadow Cats gathered on a stretch of playground.

He drew his blade and charged.

"Meow!"

The Shadow Cats immediately erupted into chaos. Several soldier-level ones lunged at Ren Ze first.

Splat...

With just one slash, the battle saber carved a fierce arc through the air, and the vital points of four soldier-level Shadow Cats were nearly cut open at the same time.

At almost the same instant, the high-level War General Shadow Cat had already pounced before Ren Ze. Its claw raked toward him, tearing the air with a piercing shriek!

Now this was a worthy opponent!

The surrounding environment flashed through Ren Ze's mind from his earlier impressions. With a slight turn of his feet, he evaded the Shadow Cat's lethal swipe.

Perfect-level movement technique!

At the same time, Nine-Layered Thunder Blade generated three bursts of force that traveled through his legs, waist, hips, and arms before merging into a single slash.

Whoosh!

Since the monster was called a Shadow Cat, it naturally excelled in agility.

The Shadow Cat, which had seemingly had nowhere to exert force in midair, suddenly arched its back. It avoided the vital point at its neck, took the strike with its side and back, and used the momentum of being sent flying to dissipate the force of the blow.

After several consecutive exchanges, both sides moved with extreme speed. Invisible shockwaves surged through the air, making the nearby ground tremble!

After three months of training and slaughter, Ren Ze was confident that his base force, combined with the 2.8-times boost of the third layer of Nine-Layered Thunder Blade, was already close to the threshold of a high-level War General.

Although both his strength and speed were still inferior to the high-level War General Shadow Cat's, Ren Ze pushed his movement technique and saber technique to their limits.

Moreover, many War God-level experts had yet to master a perfect-level movement technique.

The Shadow Cat attacked frantically, but no matter what move it used, Ren Ze evaded it by the narrowest of margins. Then, flashes of saber light repeatedly found opportunities to slip past the Shadow Cat's defenses and strike its weak points.

As time passed and more shallow wounds accumulated, the Shadow Cat's defeat became inevitable.

"Boss! This is bad! Someone got to the prey we've been watching for days before us!"

On the rooftop of a distant high-rise, a man holding binoculars had just noticed the situation when he hurried downstairs to report to the captain, who was resting.

"What? How many people are there? Can you tell which squad they're from?"

After all, high-level War General monsters with few underlings were highly favored by martial artist squads.

Compared to pack-dwelling high-level War General monsters, such monsters were easier to hunt, more profitable, and less risky.

Their squad had tracked this prey and familiarized themselves with its movements. They had only been waiting for it to fall into the trap they had prepared in advance.

"Just one person!"

"One person? Could it be some War God?"

The captain looked unwilling. If it really was a War God-level expert, then they could only consider themselves unlucky. Several days of effort would have gone to waste.

"Probably not... His strength doesn't even seem to be greater than yours, Captain. You'll know once you come up and take a look!"

"Come on, everyone go take a look. Hmph, if there's a chance, the Whale Glory Squad's prey isn't so easily stolen!"

Everyone in the room quickly packed up and followed their captain upstairs to inspect the situation.

"Hmph, just a mid-level War General brat relying on his movement technique, and he dares steal our prey. Ah Kai, what do you think? Are you confident?"

After observing for a while, the captain felt they had every chance to play the mantis stalking the cicada, with the oriole behind. He turned to the squad's sniper, Ah Kai, and asked.

"I'm confident. The moment he completely defeats the Shadow Cat, when his mind relaxes, there's a ninety percent chance he won't be able to dodge this shot. Even if something unexpected happens, are there so many of us afraid of one person?"

Apparently, this was not the first time the Whale Glory Squad had done something like this. The entire squad showed no hesitation toward attacking fellow martial artists, an act that was clearly illegal.

As the Shadow Cat lost too much blood from its accumulating wounds, its movements gradually slowed. In the end, Ren Ze seized the opportunity and drove his saber through its eye, killing it on the spot.

"Phew..."

Ren Ze's chest heaved violently. He looked as though he had just been pulled from the water, every muscle aching, while his mind felt faintly exhausted from the intense focus required to execute his saber technique and movement technique.

In just a few minutes of brutal fighting, they had exchanged blows several times every second. Every exchange had been like dancing on the edge of a blade.

Before he could even process the gains from this battle, Ren Ze suddenly felt an incredibly intense sense of danger descend upon him.

As if possessed, he shifted his footwork. A scorching sensation brushed past his ear, followed by the sound of a gunshot!

The bullet passed by Ren Ze's ear by a hair's breadth!

He could even feel the hair beside his ear being singed!

"Sniper!"

Yet the sense of danger had not faded, and the nearest cover was more than a hundred meters away!

At that moment, Ren Ze did not dare gamble on whether he could dodge before the next shot arrived. His consciousness instantly sank into the Star Map in his mind, and without hesitation, he chose to enter the second faintly glowing star!