Hunting

The convoy traveled along the bumpy road for about an hour before a stretch of ruins finally appeared ahead.

"We're here." He Yanbing stood up. "Stone Lake Town."

"So this is Stone Lake Town..."

Ji Zhixing looked through the window and saw a dilapidated town come into view.

Crumbling walls and broken masonry lay amid rampant weeds.

Many houses had collapsed, leaving only their frames standing. Some walls still bore traces of fire, charred pitch-black.

Here and there, rusted vehicles sat crookedly by the roadside, their windows long since shattered.

The convoy slowly came to a halt in an open area at the town's entrance.

"Get off!" a teacher shouted.

More than a hundred and fifty students filed off the buses and assembled in the clearing.

The thirty-odd teams took their assigned positions.

He Yanbing walked to the front of Senior Class 5's formation. Her gaze swept over them as she said gravely, "Remember, hunting Gene Beasts is no game. Most of the Gene Beasts in this town are low-tier, but you could still encounter danger."

"Follow your senior team leader's instructions. Don't act on your own, and don't recklessly rush ahead in pursuit of glory."

"Yes!" everyone answered.

The teachers from the other classes were also giving their students final reminders.

Before long, the teams began entering Stone Lake Town.

The teams whose members had fused with second-order genes were especially bold, each more daring than the last as they headed straight into the depths of town.

The teachers stayed behind to guard the school buses.

Chen Ye swept his gaze over the teams. As their overall captain, he was responsible for coordinating everyone and handling emergencies, so he did not have to lead a team himself.

"Well?" Zhao Qing looked at Ji Zhixing and the other four with a smile. "Are you all ready?"

"Ready!" the five answered.

"Good. Let's go," Zhao Qing said. "Remember, once we enter town, don't panic if you encounter a Gene Beast. Do what we discussed earlier. Unless you're in danger, I'll try not to step in."

"All right."

Ji Zhixing and the others nodded.

Just as they were about to leave, a voice came from beside them.

"Ji Zhixing, Zhang Haocheng, want to see who can kill more Gene Beasts?"

They turned to find Zhou Yuan, who had fused with Blade-Armed Mantis genes.

Four classmates stood with him, all members of his team.

"You're on!" Zhang Haocheng immediately accepted. "The losers buy everyone a drink when we get back."

"Drinks? That's nothing. The losers treat us to barbecue!" Zhou Yuan said with a grin.

"Sure!" Zhang Haocheng chuckled. "Just don't start mourning your wallet afterward."

They were classmates, and the two often bantered like this.

Watching from the side, Zhao Qing smiled. "All right, enough talk. We'll see what you're really made of soon."

She nodded to Zhou Yuan's team leader, whom she clearly knew.

The other leader nodded back, then set off with Zhou Yuan's team.

"Let's go too," Ji Zhixing said. "We'll stick to the plan and look around the outskirts first. No rush to go deeper."

Everyone agreed.

Their team had all fused with first-order genes, so their overall strength was limited. They did not dare charge around recklessly like the teams with second-order genes.

Zhao Qing followed behind them without saying much, quietly observing.

Zhou Yuan's team did the same on the other side.

They simply kept some distance between the two teams.

The outskirts of town were filled with ruined houses and thick weeds.

The five walked cautiously, scanning their surroundings.

Suddenly, Ji Zhixing stopped short.

A dark shape flashed past several dozen meters ahead.

"Something's there!" Liu Qifan had seen it too and lowered his voice.

Everyone immediately stopped, holding their breath and focusing.

The dark shape poked its head out from behind a broken wall. It was a dog.

A black dog half as tall as a person, with coarse fur and long, slender legs.

"It's a black-coated slender hound," Zhao Qing said softly from behind them. "A fairly common Gene Beast in Stone Lake Town. Judging by its size, it should be about as strong as a newly advanced first-order Gene Cultivator."

"Grr..." The black-coated slender hound spotted them and let out a low, threatening growl, but its body kept inching backward.

Clearly, their numbers made it afraid to attack.

"It's going to run!" Liu Qifan said urgently.

Sure enough, the black-coated slender hound gave a low growl, turned, and fled.

"Don't let it get away!" Ji Zhixing blurted out. "Go! Surround it!"

"Right!" Everyone sprang into action.

Luo Yongguang raised his shield and charged forward in great strides.

Ji Zhixing and Zhang Haocheng split off to the left and right.

Liu Qifan was the fastest. His legs drove hard against the ground as he instantly activated Wolf Sprint, racing after the black-coated slender hound like a dark streak.

Xie Jia followed behind Luo Yongguang. She was the slowest, having fused with the paralyzing vine gene. With only a sword in hand, she was not suited to head-on combat.

"Grr!"

The black-coated slender hound growled deep in its throat. It was fast, but Liu Qifan was faster.

Before long, Liu Qifan caught up and darted in front of it.

"Stop!" Liu Qifan roared, slashing down with his long saber.

The black-coated slender hound hurriedly stopped and twisted around, trying to flee in another direction.

But by then, Ji Zhixing and Zhang Haocheng had already moved into position to flank it.

After learning the basic staff technique, Ji Zhixing's staff work had not only become fierce and precise; he could also harness most of his body's strength while sprinting, making him faster.

He could not match Liu Qifan, but he was no slower than Zhang Haocheng.

Gripping the Army-Breaking Staff, he leaped up and brought it crashing down!

Shatter Space Form!

The staff whistled through the air, heading straight for the black-coated slender hound's skull.

Zhang Haocheng's spear thrust in from the other side.

The black-coated slender hound barely dodged, but Ji Zhixing's staff still struck its back. It let out an agonized shriek, its body buckling.

Immediately afterward, Zhang Haocheng's spear pierced its hind leg.

"Yelp!"

The black-coated slender hound tried to struggle, but Luo Yongguang had already charged up and slammed his large shield into its body.

Surrounded and attacked by the group, the black-coated slender hound soon gave out, collapsing to the ground in convulsions.

"Is it dead already?" Liu Qifan walked over.

"Probably not quite yet," Ji Zhixing said, bringing his staff down once more to finish it off.

After that blow, the black-coated slender hound stopped moving completely.

"We've already killed a Gene Beast?" Liu Qifan, who had not managed to land a single slash, was left wanting more.

"What else did you expect?" Zhang Haocheng rolled his eyes. "Five of us ganged up on one of it. Did you think it could turn the world upside down?"

"Not bad. Your teamwork was decent." Zhao Qing walked over, examined the black-coated slender hound's corpse, and nodded. "Staying this calm on your first Gene Beast hunt is already very good."

She glanced at the corpse on the ground and continued, "As you know, after a Gene Beast dies, you need to put it into a gene furnace within a few minutes. Wait too long, and the results get worse until you can't refine anything from it. Who wants to try?"

The five exchanged looks.

Refining a Gene Beast was like trying your luck with a mystery box. Everyone wanted a turn.

This black-coated slender hound was not particularly strong.

But if it yielded a piece of gene equipment or a Gene Potion, they could still make a small profit.