26: Chapter 26

26

En route, he suddenly sensed something unusual—there was no one tailing him today.

Had Xu Jing finally given up her investigation of him, or was she secretly brewing another plan? A flicker of unease crossed his mind, and he dialed Xiao Yufen's number, briefly instructing her to contact him immediately if anything unexpected happened.

**

"You've finally arrived."

When Jiang Haojie reached the designated meeting spot, Qin Qinglan was already waiting there.

He spread his hands casually. "Let's get this straight first: I'm only here to listen. If it's too dangerous, I'm not getting involved."

Qin Qinglan glanced at him. "Don't worry, it's not exactly 'dangerous.' It's just that there are too many low-tier magical beasts surrounding it, and our five-person squad can't clear them all out."

"Five Third-Order Awakened can't handle it?"

Jiang Haojie was somewhat surprised.

Such a lineup was not to be underestimated; if they still couldn't break through, it meant the magical beasts there were not only staggering in number but also far stronger than estimated.

"Among us, only I specialize in area-of-effect attacks. The others either focus on single-target combat or are in support roles, lacking the ability to clear the field."

Qin Qinglan explained, "That's why the situation is tricky."

Jiang Haojie remained silent, weighing the pros and cons in his mind.

He did need resources, but that certainly didn't mean he was willing to bet his life on it—the current proposal clearly hadn't reached the point where it was worth the risk.

Seeing his silence, Qin Qinglan spoke again. "How about this: to show our sincerity, we can help you complete your current task first. What did you take on?"

Jiang Haojie thought for a moment before saying, "Collect fifty intact Snow Fox pelts; the requirement is that the fur must be completely undamaged."

If they really could accomplish this, he wouldn't mind going with them.

Hearing this, Qin Qinglan's expression became somewhat subtle. "Fifty undamaged Snow Fox pelts... You wouldn't happen to have taken the task Mengli posted, would you?"

"Mengli? I don't know her. But the contents of the task I took are indeed as I described."

Qin Qinglan pressed her fingers against her temples, a hint of helplessness in her tone. "You've got some nerve. This task has been pending for a long time. The requester, Shen Mengli, is a friend of mine. She's a fashion designer and needs these pelts to make a gown."

"We've known for a long time how troublesome this task is—Snow Foxes are hard to find to begin with, and more fatally, it's nearly impossible to kill them without damaging the fur. That's why no one has been willing to take it."

She paused, a look of amusement appearing in her eyes. "Yesterday she told me the task had been taken, and I even laughed at the person who took it, thinking they were a fool who didn't know the weight of things... I didn't expect it to be you."

"Since I've taken it, I have to find a way to complete it."

Jiang Haojie simply shrugged.

"Coincidentally,"

Qin Qinglan changed the subject, "there are Snow Fox packs frequenting our target area this time. Your task and our operation might be solved together."

Snow Foxes were often seen near the heavily wounded fifth-order magical beast the woman in the qin-style dress had mentioned earlier.

"Want to come and take a look with me?"

"Sure."

After a brief consideration, Jiang Haojie decided to go with her.

He wasn't exactly counting on them to help; it was just that he hadn't seen a single sign of a Snow Fox since he started searching, and heaven knew how much longer he'd have to look. Rather than fumbling blindly, he might as well try this existing lead.

The two set off immediately.

...

"What's with Qin Qinglan this time? She's late again."

In a certain part of the Fallen Zone, four figures were gathered together.

A woman dressed in a primrose-yellow gown spoke up. "Qinglan said she was going to find another helper and asked us to wait a moment."

"A helper?"

A chubby young man raised an eyebrow at the news. "From which side? Are they also from your Four Great Academies?"

The five of them were already the top tier among the third-year students of the Five Great Academies. Anyone Qin Qinglan specifically invited would surely not be inferior to them in strength.

The woman in the yellow gown and the other two all shook their heads.

They didn't know exactly who Qin Qinglan had invited either.

"What are you chatting about?"

Qin Qinglan's voice arrived just then.

Everyone looked up and saw her leading a man whose face was covered by a mask.

When their gazes fell on Jiang Haojie, a hint of surprise flashed through their eyes—not questioning his strength, but because his attire was truly a bit special.

That mask was clearly no ordinary item, but wearing it so directly always gave off an indescribable sense of strangeness.

"Let me introduce you,"

Qin Qinglan reached out and pointed toward the woman in the yellow gown. "This is Huang Ling, third year at Qingshan Academy."

Then she turned to the chubby youth. "Zhu Tianmao, third year at Nanyu Academy. This is Dan Bei, third year at Yongye Academy; Wang Qingmu, third year at Zhanwu Academy."

"They are all my companions for this operation."

After introducing her four teammates, she brought Jiang Haojie forward.

"This is X, the outside help I've invited. Don't underestimate him; his skills are quite impressive."

Zhu Tianmao, Huang Ling, and the other two sized up Jiang Haojie with inquisitive looks.

Anyone Qin Qinglan called "impressive"

was certainly no ordinary character.

"Brother,"

Zhu Tianmao couldn't help but ask, "I wonder what kind of ability you've awakened?"

"Just an unremarkable ability, it can't compare to yours."

Jiang Haojie simply smiled.

He had originally thought Qin Qinglan's teammates all came from Beichen Academy, but it turned out there was one person from each of the Five Great Academies. Using his Eye of Insight to observe them secretly just now, he saw that all four had SSS-rank talents, and their abilities each had their own merits.

But in terms of the strength of the ability itself, Qin Qinglan was still the best.

Qin Qinglan glanced at Jiang Haojie, a hint of surprise flashing in her eyes.

She had thought he would explain frankly, but she didn't expect him to brush it off so lightly. However, since he had expressed himself this way, she didn't need to say more.

"Alright,"

she clapped her hands. "Everyone is here, let's get ready to head out."

Naturally, no one had any objections.

Just as the team was about to set off, Qin Qinglan suddenly remembered something and paused.

"By the way, X has taken a task to hunt Snow Foxes. If you see any Snow Foxes later, don't attack; just leave them for him to handle."

"Whoa, someone actually took that task. Brother X, you're really going for it."

Wang Qingmu looked at Jiang Haojie with a face full of surprise.

Not just him, but Zhu Tianmao and Huang Ling also cast startled glances his way.

Jiang Haojie just gave a light shrug without saying much.

When he originally took the task, it was just a random choice; how could he have known there were so many complications behind it? Had he known earlier, perhaps he wouldn't have chosen it.

"Let's go, it's time to set off."

Qin Qinglan said, taking the lead.

The others followed closely behind, while Jiang Haojie was specifically called by her to walk by her side.

He had originally wanted to walk at the end of the team, but Qin Qinglan insisted he stay beside her, so Jiang Haojie had no choice but to comply.

Dan Bei stared at the backs of the two walking side by side, his expression gradually darkening, unable to hide a faint hostility as he looked at Jiang Haojie.

Although Jiang Haojie noticed that gaze, he didn't take it to heart.

After proceeding for a while, Qin Qinglan lowered her voice to warn, "Be careful, we've already entered the range where that fifth-order magical beast is recovering."

Jiang Haojie didn't feel anything unusual himself, but he clearly felt the several people around him instantly tense up.

He felt a bit helpless: five Third-Order Awakened, and they hadn't even seen a shadow of the magical beast yet—why were they so nervous? But this reaction also alerted him—if they were this guarded, there were likely dangers ahead.

"Wait, we can't go any further. This path won't work."

Jiang Haojie's heart suddenly jolted as a groundless sense of crisis flashed through him. He immediately reached out to stop Qin Qinglan.

His abrupt warning startled everyone, but after carefully sensing their surroundings, they didn't find anything abnormal.

The expressions of several people immediately turned sour.

Their previous failure had already made them jumpy, and this inexplicable warning only added to their irritability.

"It should be fine here, right? This is the path we took before."

Qin Qinglan wasn't like the others; she had seen Jiang Haojie's strength with her own eyes and was still willing to trust his judgment in her heart.

"Qin Qinglan, don't listen to him. What problem could there be here? It's clearly just someone being cowardly and not daring to go deeper."

Before Jiang Haojie could explain, Dan Bei had already cut in, his voice full of sarcasm. "X, if you're scared, you're more than welcome to stay here."

"Dan Bei."

Qin Qinglan shot him a displeased glance.

Huang Ling also chimed in at this point. "Qinglan, I think Dan Bei is right. We don't have much time left; we can't delay any longer."

"If X is really uneasy, he can stay here and keep watch for us."

Her words weren't without merit.

Although that fifth-order magical beast was heavily injured, every moment they delayed was another chance for it to recover. And so far, they hadn't even seen its shadow.

"I agree with Huang Ling and Dan Bei."

Zhu Tianmao and the others also expressed their agreement one after another.

Qin Qinglan's brows knit slightly, a hint of hesitation crossing her expression—the way things were developing was completely different from what she had envisioned.

She had originally thought everyone would act side-by-side as usual, but she hadn't expected a disagreement to come so quickly.

They had cooperated many times and had never had a situation like this.

"You all go ahead first; I'll investigate a bit around here."

Jiang Haojie stepped back half a pace and gestured with his hand.

He had already given his warning; since no one would listen, then so be it.

Qin Qinglan looked at Jiang Haojie with apology in her eyes, but before she could speak, she was pulled away by Huang Ling.

After the figures of those few people had vanished into the distance, Jiang Haojie didn't continue forward. Instead, he turned and wandered nearby, his gaze sweeping across the snow-covered forest floor, trying to find traces of Snow Foxes.

Meanwhile, Qin Qinglan's group proceeded deeper along the original path.

The journey was unexpectedly smooth, with no sign of the danger Jiang Haojie had mentioned.

"See that? What danger? It was clearly just that kid being cowardly and shrinking back, yet he still calls himself 'X'—looks more like a ridiculous 'cross' to me."

Dan Bei curled his lip, his voice laced with sarcasm.

Wang Qingmu nodded in agreement. "I also thought that guy was strange. He must have been scared and wanted to run but was too embarrassed to say it, so he made up lies about danger."

Qin Qinglan remained silent, but the vigilance in her heart became increasingly clear.

It was too quiet, unnaturally quiet.

The last time they passed through here, they had encountered magical beast attacks, but now they couldn't even sense a trace of a magical beast's aura—this was definitely not normal.

"Roar—!"

Just as she was feeling uneasy, a beast's roar suddenly exploded.

In an instant, countless magical beasts emerged from the surroundings.

Beast-shaped, plant-shaped—a dense black mass of at least a hundred, with more than ten third-order magical beasts emitting fierce auras mixed among them.

"How can this be..."

Huang Ling's face turned pale.

The others' expressions also changed drastically.

Such a number of magical beasts was enough to completely overwhelm them.

Only at this moment did they suddenly realize—what Jiang Haojie said was true.

"Roar!"

The magical beasts roared in unison and lunged like a tide.

Qin Qinglan's form changed abruptly as the phantom of the Nine-Tailed Heavenly Fox emerged behind her, its snow-white long tails sweeping out like blades.

The others also displayed their respective abilities: light flickered from Huang Ling's fingertips as auxiliary spells fell upon her companions, boosting their speed and strength; Dan Bei shouted "Frost Descent," the temperature plummeted, and the ground froze with ice crystals, turning low-tier magical beasts into ice sculptures instantly; Wang Qingmu charged bare-handed into the pack of magical beasts, his fist wind shattering the bones of any beast below the second order; Zhu Tianmao covered his body in rock armor, transforming into a stone man to guard Huang Ling's side, blocking all incoming attacks.

However, the magical beasts seemed endless.

Dan Bei swung his staff to shatter an ice sculpture, gritting his teeth as he cursed, "Damn it, how many of these things are there!"

"We can't fight a long battle!"

Qin Qinglan's fox tail coiled around and threw off a lunging Shadow Wolf, her voice cold and clear. "Break through toward the depths—we must slay that fifth-order magical beast this time."

Before Qin Qinglan's voice had even faded, her figure was already like a wisp of light smoke, dashing toward the dark depths.

There were only two paths before everyone: retreat or advance.

At this point, turning back was impossible; the only way was forward, to completely finish off that heavily injured fifth-order magical beast.

Zhu Tianmao and Huang Ling looked at each other and followed closely behind without hesitation.

Their movements were like a signal; the magical beasts lurking around suddenly became restless, chasing them like shadows, their attacks abruptly becoming dense and ferocious.

In an instant, the group fell into a heavy encirclement, struggling to cope as danger loomed on all sides.

"Dan Bei, watch your flank!"

Zhu Tianmao had just parried a claw for Huang Ling when he glimpsed a gray shadow quietly approaching Dan Bei out of the corner of his eye—it was a cunning Long-armed Ape, silently raising its thick forelimbs.

The distance was too great; it was already too late for a rescue.