Twin Dragons

Chen Chong quickly glanced back and, sure enough, saw Liu Xun standing not far behind him.

Kong Qingsong clearly knew who would be the best person to run toward.

Just then, the ground beneath everyone's feet trembled.

Chen Chong looked ahead and suddenly felt a chill of dread.

Black soil behind Kong Qingsong began to churn in great waves, as if some enormous creature were racing after him underground!

Boom!

Kong Qingsong was suddenly launched high into the air, carried up more than ten meters by a wave of earth. He screamed and flailed his arms. The next moment, a red shadow burst out of the ground and caught him in midair, swallowing him into its mouth.

Once it stopped in midair, everyone got a clear look at the monster.

It looked like an earthworm, only magnified who knew how many times.

Its body was thicker than a barrel, with rings of red muscle knotted together, contracting and bulging. It had no other features on its head, only a huge mouth lined with sharp teeth. Its mouth was clamped tight around Kong Qingsong's upper body, leaving only his two short legs twitching outside.

"Shit, what a beast!"

Liu Xun waved his hand, and the squad instantly formed up for battle. Then he barked an order:

"Open fire!"

Rat-a-tat-tat-tat—

The squad unleashed a fierce barrage. Bullets trailing fiery tails struck the Earth Dragon's massive body, setting off a series of explosions.

Chen Chong had already dropped his equipment and run to hide in a ditch at the edge of the battlefield. Now he poked his head out and watched the fight.

The squad's automatic rifles didn't look very advanced, more like old-fashioned weapons from his previous life. One of the men's guns had already jammed.

The ammunition, however, seemed to be specially made explosive rounds. They tore into the Earth Dragon's flesh, making its body contract again and again.

Chen Chong glanced back.

The parked vehicles weren't far away. He could see them from here, and it would take less than a minute to reach them at a full sprint.

But he looked back at the battlefield again.

The entire security squad was pouring fire into the Earth Dragon. Only one person wasn't: Liu Xun.

He stood in the middle of the spread-out formation, holding his rifle but not moving. His other hand rested on the Alloy Combat Blade at his waist. His expression was stern, yet his posture relaxed. His hawk-like gaze swept across the entire battlefield, and he had clearly noticed the three fighters hiding in the distance.

Chen Chong slowly relaxed his muscles. It wasn't time yet.

After taking a full round of fire, the Earth Dragon's massive body twitched for a moment, then began to contract slowly, as though trying to retreat underground.

"Cease fire!"

Liu Xun's roar drowned out the deafening gunfire.

The security squad stopped shooting at once. Liu Xun planted a foot in the black soil, kicking up a deep crater, and shot toward the Earth Dragon like a cannonball!

He drew the Alloy Combat Blade and slashed at the Earth Dragon's body near the ground, sending a swath of silver blade light flashing through the air. The Earth Dragon couldn't roar, but its body writhed and convulsed, showing the immense damage it had suffered.

Chen Chong's eyes narrowed slightly.

Liu Xun was fast and powerful. The massive Earth Dragon thrashed and smashed its body against the ground, but it couldn't touch him. Chen Chong could barely even keep track of his blade.

Thoughts flashed through his mind. He glanced again toward the parked vehicles.

But in the instant he looked away, the ground trembled, and the battle was already over.

Too fast.

Chen Chong watched the battlefield fall silent and said nothing.

Liu Xun had split the Earth Dragon open down the middle. Then his blade flashed again and again, cutting its nearly twenty-meter-long body into numerous sections and killing the Exotic Beast for good.

"You three, come over and help cut it up."

He glanced at Chen Chong and the other two, who had spread out, and gave the order.

The three of them had no choice but to go over, take the issued daggers, and start cutting the meat up to pack into large sacks.

Fresh Earth Dragon Meat stank terribly. Its red blood quickly turned black when exposed to the air, and it was difficult to wash off. It was also somewhat corrosive.

The security squad naturally didn't do this kind of work. They watched from the side, reloaded, and checked their weapons.

Two men dragged out Kong Qingsong's motionless body and casually tossed it aside. They might come back to retrieve it if they had time on the way back, but probably not. The Hunting Grounds were a natural graveyard.

Liu Xun and the deputy squad leader spoke quietly nearby. Chen Chong could just make out what they were saying.

"We've only just come in, and there's already a beast like that."

"Yeah, and it's really active. Doesn't seem to be hibernating at all."

"That's strange. Tell the men to be careful. We can head back after we catch one or two more."

"Got it. But if they're all this active, those fighters..."

"Doesn't matter. There are three of them."

Their voices were quiet, but Chen Chong had just acquired the Second Form, and his cultivation had reached its limit. His hearing was exceptionally sharp.

He lowered his eyelids and put more force into cutting the meat.

Soon, the three of them had finished dividing up the Earth Dragon Meat and packed it into several large woven sacks. After placing the sacks on the medic's tactical pushcart, Chen Chong found his detector. He exchanged a glance with Pei Li and Peng Wei, picked it up, and silently continued on.

Liu Xun was powerful enough to deal with an Earth Dragon with ease, yet he had still chosen to use the three of them as bait.

Perhaps it was for the sake of command. Perhaps he was wary of the Skull Gang; after all, this squad wasn't particularly well equipped. Whatever the reason, it was clear that, in his eyes, Chen Chong and the others were expendable—people he could sacrifice or abandon at any time, just like Kong Qingsong.

As he walked, Chen Chong quietly sucked on a Nutrient Paste. He had already eaten along the way, but he needed to store up more energy.

After walking several hundred meters, the Hunting Grounds, covered in black soil, looked the same in every direction. Chen Chong stepped onto a low, rounded slope and suddenly stopped.

Beep, beep, beep—

A shrill alarm sounded behind him, and Chen Chong's whole body tensed instantly.

Before he could react, the ground beneath him gave a violent shudder, hurling him straight into the air!

This Earth Dragon was much faster than the last one—and it had been right under his feet!

Chen Chong was still airborne when a massive shadow surged after him.

"Chen Chong!"

Peng Wei and Pei Li both cried out, but they were too far away to help.

Liu Xun stood farther back. His body tensed, then slowly relaxed as he shook his head to himself.

Clearly, he thought Chen Chong was already done for. With nothing to push off from in midair and the Earth Dragon closing in after a surprise attack, there was only one possible ending: being swallowed.

He raised a hand to signal the squad to open fire, but then his hand suddenly paused.

Chen Chong was in midair, looking down at the gaping mouth just inches away. He could already smell its nauseating stench.

Time seemed to slow.

Chen Chong took a deep breath, lifted and twisted his waist, and spun around, driving one foot hard into one of the Earth Dragon's sharp teeth!

Crack! The tooth snapped, and Chen Chong used the force to launch himself more than ten meters away like a cannonball. He flipped in midair and landed on his feet.

The security squad stared blankly at Chen Chong's agile movements. None of them had expected him to pull that off in midair and escape.

Liu Xun raised his eyebrows, thinking, Combat Technique? He's that Proficient?

But Chen Chong didn't give them time to applaud. The moment his feet hit the ground, he sprinted straight toward Liu Xun. Behind him, the Earth Dragon missed its attack, twisted its massive body, and surged after him. Each contraction and extension plowed a ten-meter trench through the soil!

"Shit!"

Liu Xun's brows shot up. He had no time to curse; he drew his Alloy Combat Blade and charged to meet it.

Chen Chong felt a little relieved. At least Liu Xun hadn't ordered the squad to open fire.

Of course, it was more likely that Liu Xun knew gunfire could only weaken an Earth Dragon, not stop it, so he had no choice but to intercept it himself. If the Earth Dragon charged into the squad's formation, it would be a disaster.

As he passed Liu Xun, a fierce gust swept by him from behind. Chen Chong gained a deeper understanding of the word "realm."

With Liu Xun there to hold off the Exotic Beast that had set its sights on him, he would be safe.

At least, that was what Chen Chong had thought.

But then something felt wrong.

The ground continued to tremble, but the source of the vibration didn't seem to be behind him... His eyes narrowed. A raging wave of soil was rolling wildly ahead, knocking over several security squad members before bursting out of the earth right in front of him!

As a massive shadow engulfed him, its gaping mouth lunging down at him, Chen Chong's pupils contracted sharply.

"Shit! There are two!"