Meihe

Is this... a copy of a saber-toothed tiger? Its body was pale purple, and both its build and face were very similar to a tiger's, though two long, sharp fangs protruded from its mouth.

The skeleton gripped its broadsword tightly, ready at any moment to strike at this intruder. The intruder, however, seemed to harbor some fear of the skeleton and dared not attack rashly. The two stood in a standoff. Clearly, the skeleton was the type of thing that lacked the capacity for thought; unwilling to wait any longer, it raised its broadsword and slashed toward the purple tiger.

This sudden assault by the skeleton actually posed a certain threat to the purple tiger. The purple tiger retreated rapidly, then spat a type of yellow liquid from its mouth.

Unfortunately, the skeleton was not afraid of poison. The toxic substance spat by the purple tiger could not cause the skeleton any harm. The skeleton paid no attention at all to the parts hit by the poison; it just swayed as it continued to charge toward the purple tiger with its broadsword. Seeing that its sure-kill move had absolutely no effect on the enemy, the purple tiger let out two low growls and turned to flee.

The skeleton had intended to give chase, but its mission was merely to defend the vicinity, so it slowly walked back. Once the skeleton stood in its original position, Heming carefully observed the venom the monster had spat out. The venom was also purple, clinging to the skeleton's bones, and seemed to have no corrosive properties; it was likely just plain poison...

Heming entered the tent, preparing to begin his rest. He was very tired today...

About three hours later, Heming woke up. He glanced at Rie; she would likely sleep for another two hours or so. There was no helping it; after seeing the purple tiger, he was basically unwilling to go out exploring alone. Of course, it wasn't that Heming was afraid, but rather that he was worried about Rie, so he had no choice but to practice the Pitch Black Heart Method for a while.

At the same time, in Qiming's office...

"The world's major organizations have already passed a joint resolution. We all agree that in three months, we must eradicate those annoying Shalu Aliens. On Earth, they haven't just destroyed the environment; through new investigations, we've found they are even capturing living humans to perform the cloning we have always forbidden. Recently, they have even dared to attempt to capture some weak ability users." The first to speak was Kuo Ming, who was currently sitting on Qiming's desk.

"So, those junior apprentices from the World Magic Association were captured by them? It wasn't the Dark Temple?" The person questioning Kuo Ming was Ming Jian, who was sitting in Qiming's executive chair.

"That's right. You should know about that violent magical fluctuation from two days ago, right? That was the work of those old fogies from the World Magic Association. They blasted a Shalu Alien base into fragments because they discovered their precious students had already been dismembered by the Shalu Aliens. Well, the television reported it as a large-scale weapons test by a certain country," Kuo Ming replied to Ming Jian's question.

"Then how many people should we send over in three months?" This was Yaming's voice...

"Well, as for us, just sending me and Ming Jian will suffice. After all, the Shalu Aliens aren't exactly difficult characters to deal with, and Ming Jian and I are best suited for rapid-extermination combat modes. That way, we will certainly complete the mission the fastest, and when the time comes, this best prize will definitely be ours," was Kuo Ming's reply.

"Oh, if you two go, there won't be any problems. Now, let me talk about my latest discovery in Ao City. After several discussions between us and the Ao City representatives, we finally decided to let us build our branch office in a mountainous area on the outskirts. What do you say we should do?" Yaming said to Ming Jian.

"Ah, they're putting us in the suburbs? Damn it. Qiming, you go over there today, summon that Dela, and wait until nightfall to wipe out one-tenth of Ao City. Well, Ao City is a commercial hub now; at night, there are only civilians in a few areas. Just be careful when the time comes, and try your best to avoid the civilians. Even if some people get killed, there's no helping it. We are currently in the best period for development; if we get restricted, it won't be any fun," Ming Jian only spoke so openly...

Qiming nodded and replied, "Yes."

Yaming seemed to have the intention of stopping Ming Jian, but after glancing at Kuo Ming opposite her, she gave up. Recently, the Pitch Black organization had been restricted by the government in several places. If they continued to let these small governments act this way, they wouldn't be able to complete their development plans, which would be bad for everyone. Although every organization had agreed not to participate directly in commercial wars, who hadn't engaged in underhanded tactics?

"This is for the best. Use this incident to give the governments of those other small countries a warning. If they don't cooperate, it doesn't matter if we wipe them out. Anyway, the governments of these small countries can be replaced at any time," Kuo Ming hinted to Yaming.

In the end, until the meeting concluded, Yaming did not speak up to stop Ming Jian.

Rie had woken up. What Heming hadn't expected was that Rie had woken up exactly four hours after Heming finished practicing the Pitch Black Heart Method. It turned out that even after being modified, Rie was still quite the sleeper.

First, Heming recounted what had happened the previous night to Rie. After listening, Rie seemed particularly frightened; she probably wouldn't sleep for so long in the future.

The two packed up the super tent and began to head toward the central region.

It is worth mentioning that while packing the tent, they discovered a strange creature inside the skeleton's skull that had made the skull its new home. The creature looked somewhat like a bat, but it had no ears. Its pale green skin was devoid of any fuzz, and its eyes were located on tentacles atop its head, which would stretch out from time to time. It was very cute.

Unfortunately, due to the warning from the previous night's incident, Heming and Rie dared not get close to this little thing, and since they didn't intend to drive it away, they just let it stay inside the skull.

They didn't walk for long today, because Heming's goal for the day was to find something like a river or a lake. Logically thinking, many creatures would inhabit places with water.

The skeleton walked in the very front to clear the path, while Rie chose to walk beside Heming. Now, Rie felt that even with a magic shield, being behind wasn't very safe, and she seemed to feel more... when walking with Heming.

The lake was eventually found, but unfortunately, it wasn't what Heming had imagined. The scene here made one feel uncomfortable: green lake water, with huge bubbles occasionally rising from beneath the surface. It was estimated that there was one or several giant creatures underwater. Although Heming's curiosity was very strong, he gave up the idea of going into the water because of Rie.

Rie seemed to see through Heming's thoughts and casually picked up a small stone and threw it in. "Splash." Heming looked at the bold Rie and didn't know what to say.

Sure enough, the water surface began to shake, and a massive machine monster emerged from beneath the water.

"A machine?" Heming was only slightly surprised; he hadn't expected the machine monsters to have already started making moves. The machine on the monster's head began to fire wildly. Heming could dodge bullets at this speed, and Rie also called the skeleton inside her magic shield.

"Use poison mist and poison rain. This thing might have a special defensive shield; I can't get close to it!" Heming made his judgment quickly.

Rie first summoned the poison mist, then summoned the poison rain. Regardless of whether the poison mist could penetrate into the machine's interior, the poison rain would certainly be able to break through the special defensive shield and cause damage to the machine monster's external weapons.

After a brief pause, the machine monster acted again, but this time it wasn't a machine gun, but the Fire Thunder Cannon beneath its chest. Unfortunately, using the Fire Thunder Cannon required time to gather energy. By this time, Heming had already opened a hole in the back of the machine monster and randomly pulled out a large pile of wires...

This pause was likely to be a long one. Heming signaled for Rie to be careful, and he began to dismantle the machine monster's head by himself. Heming's idea was that the armor on top was thinner. He was completely correct; the top cover of the machine monster was pried open by Heming in an instant. Heming gestured, and then he climbed inside.

This was definitely something from aliens. Entering the cockpit in the top, although he didn't see any aliens, those strange controllers and display equipment had already betrayed these aliens who had attacked first.

There were no corpses in the cockpit, so Heming had to dismantle the hatch to proceed.

Rie kept her magic shield open, vigilantly watching the machine monster. She wasn't worried about what might happen to Heming now; rather, she was afraid of what she should do if she were suddenly attacked. She could still use a few ordinary spells, but if she were assaulted, her magic shield certainly wouldn't last long...

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh, whoosh." Dozens of flight pods shot out from the rear of the machine monster. Clearly, Heming, who was inside, hadn't noticed this yet.

Rie had no choice. She used her remaining magic to cast an intermediate spell, Bone Dart...

Hundreds of Bone Darts flew over. Although the flight pods were fast, they certainly couldn't compare to magical Bone Darts. Unfortunately, the magical Bone Darts were released a bit late, only hitting the last few flight pods, and only two of them were actually shot down.

Inside the machine monster, Heming had actually long since sensed that the aliens were preparing to flee, but a small wisp of energy was attracting him. Perhaps this was what he was looking for. He searched carefully inside the machine monster. Because the interior was complex and some areas were equipped with a Laser Guard System, Heming's search was slowed down significantly.

After about ten minutes, Heming finally found a rather grand door. The faint energy was emanating from within. After quickly taking care of four Laser Guards, Heming dismantled the door.

The door fell to the ground with a heavy echo. A giant Tyrannosaurus, even with the exact same color, was being kept inside the laser room. The energy was emanating from this Tyrannosaurus; it was likely the thing Heming was looking for.

He took out the Demon Sealing Bead, reached it through the gap in the laser room, and very easily captured the Tyrannosaurus.

Seeing that Heming hadn't come out for so long, Rie was inevitably a bit worried. Just as Rie was hesitating about whether to go in, Heming came out.

"I guess the mission is complete. I'll make a call back first," Heming said after jumping onto the shore.

Rie nodded, feeling relieved.

This time, the call was answered very quickly. "Hello? Is this Qiming? It's Heming. I was attacked by unidentified aliens in Meihe and dismantled their machine, but I didn't capture anyone. However, I found a Tyrannosaurus inside their machine. There is a faint energy fluctuation on the Tyrannosaurus, and I believe it is the mission target, so I went ahead and captured it," Heming said while stroking the Demon Sealing Bead.

"Hm? I'm not at the company right now. Just consider the mission complete. Throw the Biological Data Scout on the ground, and I'll arrange for people over there to take over. You return to the company first; I have things to do. Hanging up now." Qiming finished speaking quickly and hung up the phone.

Heming took out the Biological Data Scout, tossed it into a relatively hidden patch of grass, and said to Rie, "The mission is complete. We can head back to the company now; dismiss that skeleton!"

Rie nodded, then instructed the skeleton to sit down before dismissing it. If left undisturbed, this used frame should be able to house that little fellow inside for a while.

Rie had originally intended to tell Heming about the two Flight Pods she had shot down, but the moment she heard the mission was complete, it slipped her mind entirely.

Neither of them noticed that on the other side of the river, a strange creature seemed to be watching the two as they prepared to leave.

Due to the distance, the two had to spend one last night in Meihe. This time, there was no skeleton on watch, but rather a Scout Bat. Perhaps because she had exhausted so much mana, Rie fell asleep quickly. Heming, however, felt no drowsiness yet; he was analyzing everything that had happened today. It was his hobby—he loved to analyze the events he had experienced.