The Task Squad Sets Out

I look forward to the day we make contact again!

Donghuang Tianshu, Eastern Xia."

Chen Mo carefully folded the letter and gently set it aside.

From now on, this would be the treasure that protected his home.

Next, he opened the inventory list.

In Chen Mo's estimation, the ideal outcome was for Bloodline Sacrifice to send him a gun, giving him a fighting chance against intermediate- and advanced-level apprentices.

Before this, though, he had no way of knowing whether the altar could connect to Eastern Xia, how it would connect, or who would see his letter. So he hadn't dared make any specific requests, merely describing the environment of the world he was in and the trouble he faced.

As it turned out, the Eastern Xia Central Authority had been far more thorough than he was.

The altar's transmissions were subject to many restrictions. For a beginner apprentice like Chen Mo, even after using a mental power pill, the total weight of supplies that could be sent was still only around fifteen kilograms.

Fortunately, the altar had a thoughtful feature: whenever the objects detected by the summoning beacon exceeded the weight limit, it would promptly flash red.

That had allowed Xia State to send this batch of supplies right up to the weight limit.

The list was divided into four sections.

The first section was weapons, weighing a total of 9.6 kilograms, nearly two-thirds of all the supplies.

One QBZ-95-1 automatic rifle, with two standard magazines and sixty rounds, plus ninety loose rounds.

One QSZ-92G pistol, with one standard magazine and fifteen rounds, plus thirty loose rounds.

The rifle's two magazines ensured that once he emptied one, he could immediately swap in the spare. The loose rounds were for reloading when it was safe, reducing the weight of carrying multiple magazines.

Every detail had been covered.

Beside the firearms were two miniature adhesive remote-controlled bombs and four grenades: two thermite grenades, one egg-shaped Type 59 offensive grenade, and one Type 82-2 all-plastic, handleless steel-ball defensive grenade.

Their performance, use, storage, and precautions were all clearly spelled out in the instructions.

Chen Mo gently ran his hand over the weapons' cold metal casings as though caressing a lover's waist, utterly entranced.

After reluctantly stroking them for quite a while, Chen Mo continued unpacking.

The second section was a protective and first-aid module, weighing 2.02 kilograms.

It included a Type 19 stab-resistant vest with front and rear inserts.

A tactical first-aid kit contained two epinephrine injection pens, three quick-disinfecting hemostatic dressings, a vacuum-sealed tourniquet, a blister pack of sustained-release anti-infection medication, and a wound stapler.

Chen Mo picked up the wound stapler curiously and found that it was a specially shaped stapler.

It could staple a wound shut in a second, though the scar might not look very nice.

The third section was a survival accessory module, weighing 1.82 kilograms.

Six aerospace-grade high-energy compressed biscuits and ten packets of instant electrolyte powder.

A collapsible soft water bag, fitted with a detachable tube filter on one side and twenty military-grade water purification tablets clipped to the outside of the other.

With this water bag, he could filter drinkable fresh water even from the Dead Sea.

Next came a pair of Kevlar cut-resistant gloves.

A Beidou tactical watch with a digital compass.

A QTS-11 individual integrated combat eyepiece with night vision.

A lightweight solar-panel fast-charging power supply.

A magnesium-alloy fire starter.

A carbon-fiber wire saw.

An emergency whistle.

And a single-sided reflective rescue sheet that had served as the package's outer wrapping.

Chen Mo felt as though he had opened a super golden treasure chest, with +1s and +2s for all sorts of blue, orange, and dark gold equipment constantly popping up above his head.

How should he put it? It felt like having a cheat at his back, invincible under heaven.

It wasn't over yet. There was one last section: the emergency support module.

Twenty pure gold wafers, each weighing five grams.

Another letter and a miniature handheld player.

The letter and the video on the player had exactly the same content, conveying the same message through writing, speech, and gestures.

A message meant for strangers.

"Greetings, honored guest from afar!"

"Comrade Chen Mo, the bearer of this letter, is an important member of our Eastern Xia State. Should he encounter danger in your vicinity, we earnestly ask that you provide him with assistance and support."

"If you can provide the necessary help, we in Eastern Xia would be deeply grateful and willing to pay any type of compensation within reasonable bounds."

"Please protect our citizen. He knows how to contact us, and if you convey your requests through him, we will do our utmost to meet them."

"Once again, please accept our sincere thanks!"

A blank space had been left at the bottom of the letter.

A note there instructed Chen Mo to translate the Xia State text above into the local language when he had time, so the locals could understand it.

Below that were the national emblem and the crimson national seal.

Without a doubt, this was a safety net Eastern Xia had left Chen Mo.

Chen Mo slowly bent down and pressed the national emblem firmly against his forehead.

Before this, Chen Mo had thought of many approaches.

But he had found no way out.

He had tried to distance himself from that little tea girl, or show goodwill to the advanced apprentice opposite him and beg for mercy.

He had worked hard to seek help from the instructor's assistant and taken the risk of contacting a higher-ranking underworld lord.

He had even considered the fabled option of making a sacrifice to an evil god.

The awkward part was that even if he were willing to sacrifice his conscience and soul to an evil god, he couldn't find a way to do it.

The only formal student willing to give him a few pointers had told him that evil gods weren't in the business of picking up trash.

At his level, any useful evil god wouldn't pay him any attention, and the ones who did were probably swindlers.

With nowhere left to turn, Chen Mo could only stake everything on seeking help from his own motherland.

Fortunately, he had succeeded.

I only wanted a weapon, but she gave me a whole world.

Chen Mo suddenly felt an irrepressible sting in his eyes.

He hurriedly moved the letter aside and bit his lip. In the faint light of the pitch-black cellar, tears slid silently down his cheeks.

Chapter 5: The Task Squad Sets Out

Archmage Black Crow's birthday was still months away, but that didn't stop the students from starting early on their gifts.

Depending on the length of their journeys, different teams set out one after another for the Dark Forest.

Chen Mo's team had also assembled and was heading for the Demon Tree Jungle on its assigned mission.

The five of them walked a road leading to an unknown fate.

The captain was the young master of the Zircon family. Despite being classmates and potential romantic rivals for so long, Chen Mo didn't even know the captain's name. He only knew that the young man liked to pin his family's gleaming crest to his chest, and everyone called him Mage Zircon or Young Master Zircon.

In his heart, Chen Mo called him Little Goldie.

As captain and leader of the team, the young master naturally walked in the very center.

Really, he was still just a big boy, with delicate features, flowing blond hair, and a youthful immaturity he had yet to shed.

So immature that his eyes couldn't hide anything.

The look he cast Aili on his right held undisguised, burning desire; when his gaze swept over Chen Mo on his left, it turned to naked contempt and disgust.

The three on the left, center, and right were all mage apprentices, the people in charge of this mission.

The three mage apprentices formed the core of the team, with their respective summons following silently behind them.

Chen Mo and Aili each had a skeleton spearman that was neither new nor old. Little Goldie was far more lavish, with a sluggish ordinary zombie and an iron bucket zombie wearing a rusted helmet and walking with heavy steps.

There were also two support personnel at the front and rear of the group.

Walking at the very front was a scout nicknamed "Little Eleven." His name was unknown, but that was what everyone called him.

He knew the roads, was skilled at scouting, and was friendly-a thoroughly competent mage's attendant.

Just as they were about to set out, he passed Chen Mo and quickly murmured three words: "Be careful!"

Just as everyone said, he was a good person.

Bringing up the rear was a gloomy-faced middle-aged man, Young Master Zircon's regular attendant and a genuine ranked warrior.

His name, as usual, was unknown.

In Black Crow Castle, the mage apprentices did nothing but cultivate, cultivate, and cultivate. Aside from their own instructors and a few acquaintances, their social circles were pitifully small.

He had heard that a ranked warrior could fight several dozen skeleton spearmen, so Chen Mo decided to call the middle-aged attendant Duo Gu.

The atmosphere along the way was rather stifling, even a little suffocating.

Apart from Little Goldie's occasional attempts to chat with the girl, everyone remained silent the whole way, traveling without a word.

That lasted until they reached Breeze Path.

It was a winding woodland trail that threaded between tall tree trunks, low shrubs, ground-hugging weeds, and piles of rotting leaves. Clearly, few people usually traveled it; if not for the scattered marks carved into the tree trunks, one wouldn't even be able to tell there was a "path" underfoot.

The team would make camp here for the last time.

Inside and outside Breeze Path were two entirely different worlds.

From Black Raven Castle to Breeze Path, a journey of a full two days, there were no particularly powerful beings in the area.

As the castle's mages put it, the great Venerable Black Crow had cleared the surrounding territory and created a pure land in the mortal world.