Li Hu lay on the ground, struggling for quite some time without managing to get up.
The tall, skinny teammate who had been sucking up to him hurried over and helped Li Hu up, saying:
"Captain, are you all right?"
Li Hu waved a hand and struggled to his feet, his face somewhat pale.
Only after taking another moment to recover did he manage to force out a smile and say to Jiang Lan:
"That's a special talent for you. Impressive! I'll admit defeat today."
With that, he waved his hand, turned, and left.
"Come on. Let's keep searching."
The members of Second Squad exchanged looks, but quickly followed Li Hu.
Shen Qingqiu walked over to Jiang Lan and looked him up and down.
"Are you all right?"
Jiang Lan shook his head. "I'm fine."
Shen Qingqiu frowned. "Don't be so impulsive next time. Li Hu... he's rather petty."
Jiang Lan didn't particularly care.
Petty or not, could he stop my punch?
Against absolute strength, schemes and tricks were nothing but cheap ploys.
"Don't worry, Auntie. I know what I'm doing."
Shen Qingqiu looked at Jiang Lan, a hint of mixed emotions entering her eyes.
She was finding her nephew harder and harder to figure out.
Just then, Zhao Gang came over and laughed heartily.
"Brother, that punch really hit the spot! Li Hu's always been at odds with us. That felt great!"
Chen Feng came over too.
"Exactly! Li Hu's in the Meridian Opening realm, and you sent him flying with one punch. His teammates will probably laugh him to death back at base."
Li Ming stood behind them, his expression dark, without saying a word.
Shen Qingqiu checked the time.
"All right, it's about time. Get ready to pull out."
Everyone nodded.
The squad headed toward the Rally Point.
Before long, all three squads had gathered at the Rally Point.
The three captains briefly discussed the day's haul.
Li Hu looked at Shen Qingqiu with a smile, as if nothing had happened earlier.
"Captain Shen, you had a good haul today, didn't you?"
"Not bad," Shen Qingqiu said coolly.
Li Hu said, "Good to hear. We killed a few Ferocious Beasts too, so we did fairly well."
Although he didn't mention their earlier spar again, Jiang Lan knew someone like him would never let it go.
Still, he didn't care.
He would deal with whatever came his way.
After counting heads and confirming that no one had been killed or injured, everyone boarded the vehicles and returned to the base city.
The vehicles sped along, returning to the City Guard compound in less than an hour.
Next came the routine tallying of their spoils.
Jiang Lan should have handed his haul over too, but since he had only just awakened and had previously been an unofficial member, the whole squad agreed to let him keep his spoils this time.
That suited Jiang Lan perfectly.
After all, he had already used up those two bottles of blood essence.
If he had to turn them in, he really would have had nothing to hand over.
Once everything was finished, they agreed to take two days off, then went their separate ways.
Shen Qingqiu led Jiang Lan toward the parking area.
After getting into the SUV, Shen Qingqiu pressed the accelerator, and the engine roared.
They had driven some distance when Shen Qingqiu suddenly spoke.
"Lan, I know you've grown up and have your own ideas now, but you really were a little too impulsive today."
Jiang Lan gave a somewhat awkward smile.
"I'll be more careful next time."
Shen Qingqiu continued, "Li Hu might be all smiles on the surface, but he's petty and holds grudges. You made him lose face today. He'll definitely resent you for it."
Jiang Lan said, "It's all right, Auntie. I understand. I also know you're looking out for me, but sometimes... one punch now saves you from a hundred later."
Shen Qingqiu fell silent for a moment, then sighed.
"You really have grown up."
Jiang Lan grinned.
"I wasn't little to begin with."
At his words, the tips of Shen Qingqiu's ears reddened slightly. She glanced at Jiang Lan out of the corner of her eye, only to find his expression perfectly normal.
Was I overthinking it?
She took a breath to compose herself before rolling her eyes at Jiang Lan.
"Enough of your wisecracks."
The two chatted on and off for a while, and the vehicle returned to the underground garage.
Once they got home, Jiang Lan went to shower first, as usual.
Although he hadn't been injured today, he had still gotten quite a lot of Ferocious Beast blood on himself.
After his shower, Jiang Lan noticed that his physique seemed to have improved again.
His muscles had smoother definition, making him look even more powerful.
If I debuted as a celebrity, I'd have women swooning in droves.
He put on a bathrobe and stepped out, feeling thoroughly refreshed.
After his latest upgrade, even his recovery speed had improved considerably.
"Auntie, I'm done. Your turn."
Shen Qingqiu, who had already changed into her nightwear, glanced at Jiang Lan before striding toward the bathroom on her long, fair legs.
That simple movement got Little Jiang Lan excited all over again.
With such a gorgeous woman beside him, completely unguarded around him, it was no wonder.
If Jiang Lan hadn't possessed extraordinary self-control, he would never have been able to handle it.
He silently glanced at the closed bathroom door, took a deep breath to calm his little buddy down, and returned to his room.
Lying on the bed, he brought up the system panel.
[Host: Jiang Lan] [Realm: None (martial artist talent not awakened)] [Indestructible Diamond Body: Level 3] [Defense: 60] [Vitality: 845] [Strength: 18.5 (ordinary human average: 10)] [Spirit: 10.8 (ordinary human average: 10)] [Agility: 9 (ordinary human average: 10)] [Constitution: 29.5 (ordinary human average: 10)] [Upgrade requirement: Tier 1 vicious beast blood essence ×4]
Aside from the gains granted by upgrading his skill, his physical attributes seemed to have improved a little as well.
The increase was small, but it was definitely there.
Could training improve my physical attributes too, aside from adding points?
At that thought, Jiang Lan shook his head.
Has getting a system made me stupid?
Of course training could improve physical attributes.
Not everyone had a cheat.
His gaze settled on the final field.
Four bottles of Tier 1 vicious beast blood essence.
He had gotten lucky and slipped through this time.
Next time, however, he would have to hand over his own spoils too, before they were distributed among everyone.
Although the distribution was based on contributions, he certainly wouldn't be able to keep everything like he had this time.
Besides, he wouldn't be able to increase his strength right away.
Frowning, Jiang Lan decided to stop thinking about it for now.
He would take things one step at a time.
In any case, ironback wolves no longer posed any real challenge to him.
Killing an ironback wolf wasn't much harder than killing a chicken.
If it came to it, he could find an opportunity to go into the Wilderness Zone alone and kill as many as he wanted.
After thinking for a while, he opened the short-video app again.
The very first video caught Jiang Lan's attention.
"The Extreme Martial Artist Academy is now accepting applications! All students with martial artist talents are welcome to apply!"
"In addition to regular classes, the Extreme Martial Artist Academy also offers special classes and Rocket Class. With outstanding teaching staff, we provide the corresponding resources as soon as you enroll!" Click to view