Cruel Wilderness! (Seeking Rewards, Seeking Collections)

At the south gate of River City, Lin Mo and the others lined up, taking out their martial artist credentials one by one for verification before leaving the city.

"Lin Mo, 18 years old?"

When the guard saw Lin Mo's information, he froze, then stared at the photo from every angle, his face full of shock.

In River City, aside from the college entrance exam period, he'd never seen an 18-year-old certified as a martial artist and allowed to leave the city.

This left Lin Mo feeling extremely awkward for a moment.

The thing was, if one person was curious and took a look, that was fine—but he'd dragged several other guards over to gawk too?

Was he a monkey in a zoo?

"Hey, big brother, is there something wrong with my credentials?"

Unable to bear the staring any longer, Lin Mo couldn't help asking.

"Ah? No, no problem, heh, here you go, this is your credential."

The guard gave an awkward smile and handed Lin Mo's credential back.

After putting it away, Lin Mo ran out.

"Hehe, got surrounded and stared at, didn't you? I told you so."

Outside the gate, Wang Ling grinned and nudged Zhang Junjie with her elbow.

"Perfectly normal. Young brother Lin Mo is a rare find—18 years old and already certified as a martial artist. Maybe elsewhere it's different, but in our River City, he's probably the only one."

Zhang Junjie said with a chuckle.

The reason he'd chosen Lin Mo for the team actually had a bit of ulterior motive.

If he got chummy with a genius like this, maybe the kid could look out for him down the road.

"Hehe, little brother Lin Mo, come here quick."

Wang Ling, carefree as ever, waved at Lin Mo.

"Hmph, what's so great about that?"

Seeing this, Guo Hong curled his lip in disdain.

If it weren't for a rare illness he'd suffered before, which made him miss the college entrance exam, he wouldn't be in this position now.

Two years—at 20 years old, he'd relied entirely on his own perseverance to keep breaking through, reaching the level of 200 units of Qi and Blood.

To be fair, he could be considered a minor genius himself.

But after missing the exam, the faces of his relatives, friends, and former classmates had gradually twisted something inside him.

He was especially hostile toward so-called geniuses.

"Little Hong."

His sister Guo Li shot him a look, signaling him to keep quiet.

She knew her brother's temper, and she also understood that someone like Lin Mo would go far in the future.

She didn't want her brother to pick a fight with such a talent.

"I know."

The moment he looked at his sister, Guo Hong's expression softened a little.

Back then, only his sister had stayed by his side when he was gravely ill, going everywhere to beg for treatment. Without her, he'd probably have met the King of Hell already.

Because of that, his sister, who was the same age, had also missed the college entrance exam.

Guo Hong had never forgotten that debt.

It was also the biggest reason he wanted to grow stronger.

He wanted to give his sister a good life.

The group got their gear together and headed toward their destination.

Once outside the city, Lin Mo tilted his head back, took a deep breath, and his face was full of enjoyment.

"I didn't expect the air outside the city to be this good."

Lin Mo was a little surprised.

Ever since he was a child, everyone he knew—including what was taught in school—had talked about how dangerous it was outside the city, how terrifying the Mutant Beasts were.

In their minds, the wilderness was a living hell.

But now that he was out of the city, what he saw was a scene full of vibrant life everywhere.

A green prairie, a blue sky, and even the clouds seemed much bigger than the ones he saw inside the city.

"Get in the car!"

Zhang Junjie called out to everyone, and the six of them climbed into a large modified off-road vehicle.

The outside of the off-road vehicle was reinforced with special metal guardrails.

Once they were on the road, Lin Mo noticed that there was a checkpoint every ten kilometers or so.

Until a hundred kilometers out, the checkpoints finally disappeared.

The scenery before them shifted instantly, as if they had entered a primeval forest.

Towering trees scraped the sky, dense and thick, forming a horizontal wall of greenery that stretched endlessly out of sight.

However, at the edge of the woods, quite a few people could be seen gathered in clusters, setting up stalls.

"There are people setting up stalls here?" Lin Mo asked in surprise.

"Hehe, little brother, first time out, huh?" Wang Ling sidled up to him, grinning. "Let me tell you, a lot of the people setting up stalls here aren't exactly good-natured."

"Wang Ling's right. Out in the wild, without the rules of the Base City keeping things in check, it gets pretty chaotic," Zhang Junjie added.

"You mean..."

Their words instantly made Lin Mo realize something.

"That's right. Killing people and stealing their goods is the fastest way to make money." Even Qin Bufan, who rarely spoke, chimed in with a rare remark.

This caught Lin Mo off guard.

Before his transmigration, reading those xuanhuan and high-martial novels, he was no stranger to the trope of murder and robbery.

But now, actually being in such an environment himself, the feeling was still somewhat different.

"What? Already scared? The wild isn't as safe as the Base City—it's no game of house," Guo Hong suddenly spat coldly, seeing Lin Mo's startled expression.

But under his sister's warning glare, he didn't say anything more.

"Heh, actually, Guo Hong's right. This place isn't like the Base City. Here, there are no rules, no laws—in fact, there's no bottom line at all! Of course, most of these people won't act recklessly unless they discover something extremely valuable. So, if—and I mean if—someone in our team gets lucky and finds something particularly precious, and we run into them, don't resist. Just hand it over. Staying alive is what matters! Lin Mo, especially you—this is your first time out, and at your age, you're probably still a senior in high school. I'm sure the teachers at your school told you that martial artists must fight, right?" Zhang Junjie looked at Lin Mo and spoke slowly.

Hearing this, Lin Mo paused, then nodded.

"Heh, that's not wrong. Martial artists do have to fight—for resources, for opportunities, for everything. But the prerequisite is that your opponent gives you a chance to fight. If you run into someone you clearly can't match, knowing when to back down is the right move. First, you have to keep your life! If you lose your life, you lose everything, understand?" Zhang Junjie stared at Lin Mo, his face serious for the first time.

Lin Mo was a genius, no doubt, but he was still just a student. Zhang Junjie worried he might be a hothead who'd stubbornly fight to the death, and that would end badly.

"I understand." Lin Mo naturally caught the meaning behind Zhang Junjie's words and nodded.

"Haha, of course, out here in the outer C-zone, finding some priceless treasure is almost impossible. Those people probably have no interest in us anyway." Seeing Lin Mo nod, Zhang Junjie immediately laughed it off.

"The car can't go any further ahead. We'll get out and walk," Zhang Junjie said as he pulled the vehicle into an open space outside the woods.

The clearing was already packed with dozens of off-road vehicles, clearly belonging to other teams.

The group got out, checked their gear, and headed into the dense forest.

"We'll go this way." After entering the forest, Zhang Junjie glanced at the GPS map, picked a direction, and said, "This time, our main hunting target is the Level One Exotic Beast, the Mandala Beast, in the C-zone. Lin Mo, you'll hang back and don't charge to the front."

"Got it." Lin Mo nodded obediently.

This was his first time participating in an exotic beast hunt. His heart raced with excitement, mixed with a thrill and a bit of nervousness.

After all, this was his first real practical combat!

Twisting and turning through the woods, half an hour later, Zhang Junjie's voice rang out again.

"To the left is our destination!"

Lin Mo looked over. It was a relatively open stretch of grassland.

There, several enormous purple Mutant Beasts were slowly ambling about, and atop each of their heads grew a dazzlingly colorful flower.

"So these are the Mandala Beasts?"