"Who's there?"
A low shout suddenly rang out, echoing through the ruins of this steel jungle. The speaker was the black-haired young man who had made Dai Mubai's skin crawl.
Dai Mubai's heart jolted.
He had been discovered!
He did not entertain the slightest hope of luck. The black-haired young man had looked in his direction before asking the question. He had already confirmed that Dai Mubai was watching from here!
Should he come out?
Or keep hiding?
The two thoughts collided in an instant, and Dai Mubai quickly made his decision.
He took a deep breath and slowly stepped out from behind the load-bearing wall, raising both hands high to show that he meant no harm.
In this completely unfamiliar world, provoking a powerful person's misunderstanding could have unbearable consequences. Dai Mubai had never forgotten his ultimate goal—surviving for a full year.
Any choice that did not aid his survival was not worth making.
"I'm a refugee!"
Dai Mubai shouted.
Yet just as his words fell—
Whoosh—
A faint yet piercing sound tore through the air, streaking past the base of his ear!
Every hair on Dai Mubai's body stood on end.
From the corner of his eye, he caught only a silver flash shooting out from a hidden corner behind his head. It traced a strange arc through the air before landing steadily in the black-haired young man's hand.
Only then did Dai Mubai finally see clearly that it was a metal throwing knife.
The black-haired young man put away the knife and lowered his voice to his teammates. "I scanned the area with my spiritual power. He's alone."
Dai Mubai was more than a hundred meters away from the hunting squad. Under normal circumstances, there was no way he could have heard such a quiet voice.
But he was currently in his White Tiger Possession state.
The White Tiger Martial Soul had not only enhanced his strength and defense, but also greatly sharpened his hearing. He heard Luo Feng's words perfectly clearly.
Cold sweat instantly soaked Dai Mubai's back.
Only then did he understand.
That throwing knife had been hovering silently behind his head all along!
If he had made even the slightest unnecessary movement, or failed to identify himself in time, that knife would have pierced straight through his skull without mercy.
At that moment, the teammates who had heard Luo Feng's notice relaxed as well. One of them even chuckled and teased, "It's really nice having a Spirit Master like you on the team. What a pity—I don't have the talent. Otherwise, I'd want to cultivate spiritual power too."
The black-haired young man smiled awkwardly and said nothing more.
Spirit Master...
A brand-new term appeared in Dai Mubai's mind and was deeply etched there.
Scanning the surroundings and controlling objects from afar—those were probably the abilities of a Spirit Master.
At the same time, he made up his mind. If possible, he had to obtain a cultivation method for becoming a Spirit Master. That kind of powerful battlefield control and unexpected killing ability was simply terrifying!
While he was wrestling with these thoughts, someone who appeared to be the captain of the five-man squad stepped forward. The man gave Dai Mubai a hostile once-over and barked harshly, his tone thoroughly unfriendly.
"You, stranger, get lost!"
"Our squad is full. We don't need newcomers. We didn't hunt this batch of spoils together, so you don't get a share. Stay away from us!"
Within the urban districts of a Base City, laws restrained people and prohibited Martial Artists from fighting each other.
But this was the Wilderness Zone, a lawless place where murder and robbery were as common as eating and drinking.
Any Martial Artist squad that encountered strangers in the wild would remain highly vigilant. Even squads familiar with one another had to maintain necessary caution, let alone toward a complete stranger.
Dai Mubai slowly lowered his hands, a trace of helplessness showing on his face.
"I'm not here to steal your spoils."
He tried to keep his tone calm. "I just want to ask for directions. Which way is the nearest urban district?"
The captain gave Dai Mubai another suspicious look from head to toe, clearly still on guard. "A refugee? Which Base City did you escape from?"
"I haven't heard of any Base City being overrun by monsters lately."
Dai Mubai was briefly stumped. As he anxiously considered how to respond, the captain impatiently waved a hand and pointed in one direction.
"I can't be bothered to care where you came from."
"Follow that abandoned highway south. The nearest place is Sixth Satellite City. Go register there. Don't wander around the wilderness."
"If you run into another hunting squad, you might not be so lucky."
Compared with others, they were relatively peaceful and generally would not kill people for treasure. But that was not necessarily true of other hunting squads.
Quite a few squads did not hunt monsters at all. Instead, they searched for squads that had already completed a hunt and robbed them for a living.
"Thank you."
Dai Mubai clasped his hands in salute. Without saying another unnecessary word, he cautiously backed away a few steps before turning and quickly heading in the direction the captain had indicated.
Douluo Continent.
The Sky Screen clearly broadcast the entire process of Dai Mubai's encounter with the Martial Artist squad.
Heaven Dou Empire, Shrek Academy.
Flender stood on the training ground and let out a long breath, reaching up to wipe the cold sweat from his forehead.
"It seems the wilderness in that other world is far from safe. Aside from monsters, even other people are sources of danger out there."
"Look at their eyes. They were ready to act at any moment. They seem deeply afraid of being killed and robbed."
Zhao Wuji slapped his thigh, his tone full of relief.
"Mubai truly is Mubai—both brave and clever. If it had been someone with a bad temper, they might have started fighting them just now. With just a few simple words, he directly learned where the Base City was without causing any trouble."
Flender agreed wholeheartedly.
Before Dai Mubai set off, Flender had been worried the entire time.
Dai Mubai was usually steady, but deep down, he carried the arrogance and conceit of the Star Luo Empire's royal family. Flender had truly feared that the moment Dai Mubai arrived in another world, he would start throwing his weight around like a prince and stirring up trouble.
Now, however, it seemed Dai Mubai understood his situation clearly and had not let pride cloud his judgment.
As long as he could enter a Base City safely and survive peacefully for a year, there was still great hope.
Within the crowd, Tang San stood silently in place.
A faint purple glow flickered in his eyes. He activated his Purple Demon Eye and stared intently at the Sky Screen, missing not a single tiny detail.
The scene of the black-haired young man summoning the throwing knife replayed over and over in Tang San's mind.
Without touching it with his hand, the metal throwing knife could fly back into his palm by itself? Was that a hidden weapon technique, or some strange power that controlled objects from afar?
Tang San calculated silently.
The danger of that other world far exceeded his imagination. He had to make plans in advance.
The Sky Screen's selections were random. Douluo Continent had hundreds of millions of people, so logically, the chance of being chosen was indeed very low.
But it was absolutely not zero!
After all, someone was bound to be selected every time!
As long as the probability was not zero, it could fall upon him at any time.
If he were selected one day, he had to have a complete survival strategy.
Tang San understood this with utmost clarity.
After all, inside his present body of only a few years old lived not merely the soul of a child, but the accumulated years of two lifetimes—several decades in all!
He would never leave his fate to luck.
Before you continue