3: Chapter 3 This kid is a bit strange!

"Keep an eye on the rookie."

Lame Old Six dragged his axe and stepped forward slowly, while Silent Jar and Thin Monkey huddled closer to Su Ming.

"Kid, stay sharp."

It was light. It was quiet. Without a single sound of footsteps, a black shadow stepped gracefully out of the darkness.

A Mutant, a Mutated Cat Spirit!

Its fur had almost completely fallen out, with only a few sparse tufts stuck to its skin. Beneath its grayish-blue skin, several patches of flesh were curled back, torn and healed, with the scars glowing a dark red.

A pair of dark, vertical pupils rotated—stuttering, sluggish—until one of them suddenly fixed its gaze directly on Su Ming and the others.

"Hiss!" A shrill, piercing shriek exploded, sharp and grating.

The Mutated Cat Spirit closed in rapidly with a few leaps.

"Fall back!" Lame Old Six shouted.

Mutated Cat Spirits were agile, troublesome, and hard to deal with, especially with a greenhorn in the team. He needed to be given time to slowly adapt.

Silent Jar and Thin Monkey were breathing heavily, their hands gripping their weapons tightly.

Su Ming was slightly stunned. Fall back? He couldn't fall back; what if it ran away?

A Mutated Cat Spirit, no matter how you put it, was just a mutated beast; it didn't count as a true exotic beast.

The prey had delivered itself to their doorstep; there was no reason to retreat.

Su Ming moved. Like a gust of wind, he swept through the gap between the two men, the cold gleam of his spear tip scraping their faces painfully.

Lame Old Six's footsteps faltered. He saw a lean figure, moving with the spear, lunging straight at the Mutated Cat Spirit.

"Kid, what are you..." "Pfft!"

As the Mutated Cat Spirit lunged, a flash of cold light streaked by. The spear tip pierced precisely into its abdomen, and the remaining force of the spear pinned its body hard into the ground.

"Bang!" A crater exploded in the ground!

Su Ming twisted his wrist. The spear sliced horizontally. "Rip!"

The Mutated Cat Spirit was sliced open from abdomen to brow into the shape of the character 'person', and its still-twitching internal organs spilled all over the ground. Blood splattered everywhere!

[Killed Mutated Cat Spirit, refinement points + 0.5]

The second half of Lame Old Six's sentence got stuck in his throat; he chewed on it for a long time but couldn't spit it out.

Silent Jar and Thin Monkey froze in place. "Clang!" Thin Monkey's weapon slipped from his hand and hit the ground, the sound echoing through the alley.

The three of them finally came to their senses. Lame Old Six swallowed hard. This kid was a bit eerie!

"Coincidence, it must be a coincidence. Just a newborn calf not fearing the tiger. Kid, don't act on your own; you can't imagine the savagery of Mutated Beasts."

"Shh." Su Ming made a gesture for silence.

From the shadows, balls of black shadow squeezed out. One. Two. Three!

Three Mutated Cat Spirits with eerie forms walked elegantly toward Su Ming and the others.

"Retreat, retreat quickly!" Lame Old Six's expression changed.

He could fight one. He could barely manage two. But if three Mutated Cat Spirits appeared at once, once a battle started, their squad would likely suffer casualties.

Human lives for beasts. It wasn't worth it!

It had been hellish lately; Mutants were appearing more and more frequently.

Silent Jar and Thin Monkey were about to turn and run back.

Su Ming pulled out his spear. He flicked his wrist. The blood on the spear tip flew off, splashing onto the ground like tiny little flowers of blood.

Three heads? 1.5 refinement points. What a great deal!

Su Ming's lips curled slightly, revealing a very faint arc. He had really come to the right place.

He had been risking his life to Cultivate at The Fourth Martial Arts High School for two and a half years—wasn't it all for this moment!

Su Ming kicked off with both legs. He took the initiative, raising his spear and charging toward the Mutated Cat Spirits. They were too slow.

Lame Old Six's eyes nearly popped out of his head, and his only good leg shook with rage. "You big idiot, what kind of fit are you throwing!" "Come back!"

Thin Monkey was stunned. Was this kid possessed? Just charging in with his spear!

Killing one was luck; it was because the kid had good fate, because his ancestral grave was smoking with good fortune, because his ancestors were working hard from below. And yet, this kid was getting carried away?

Seeing three Mutated Cat Spirits, not only did he not run, he charged in with his spear. Had his brain been kicked by a donkey!

"Hiss!" The three Mutated Cat Spirits bared their fangs simultaneously, their few remaining hairs standing on end—that was the ferocity of being provoked.

They all lunged at Su Ming at once!

Su Ming did not retreat. He swept his spear close to his body, knocking all three Mutated Cat Spirits into the air simultaneously, then suddenly turned the spear tip and thrust it at one of them. Piercing the throat!

"Pfft!" The spear tip pierced through, and the Mutated Cat Spirit hung on the shaft, struggling in its death throes.

The spear swept again. While tossing the first one away, he changed moves! An upward thrust! The movement was crisp and clean. Piercing the brow!

"Crack!" The sound of bone cracking was clearly audible; the spear was firmly embedded in the skull of another Mutated Cat Spirit, and another twitching corpse hung from the shaft.

At this moment, the last Mutated Cat Spirit was right in front of him. A rotten, fishy stench rushed toward him, and its sharp claws were raised high, heading straight for Su Ming's throat!

"Kid, fall back!" Lame Old Six lunged over.

Silent Jar and Thin Monkey couldn't bear to watch and squeezed their eyes shut.

At the critical moment, Su Ming reversed his grip on the spear, and the tail of the spear swept upward close to his chest. Dragon Tail Whip!

"Bang!" A dull thud echoed. The tail of the spear slammed hard into the Mutated Cat Spirit's abdomen, and the sharp claws grazed Su Ming's ear, taking away a few stray hairs.

Su Ming twisted his body and leaned back. The spear followed. Piercing the abdomen! "Pfft!" Striking later but arriving first. The spear tip pierced through its body, exploding a cloud of blood mist in mid-air.

Silence. Deathly silence.

Lame Old Six froze in place, his lame leg supporting most of his weight without him even realizing it.

Thin Monkey's face was blank, his mouth hanging open and unable to close.

"Oh, my mother!" Someone exclaimed, and the three of them finally came to their senses.

Silent Jar's face turned bright red, his lips trembling for a long time, and after much effort, he managed to spit out one word. "Badass!"

Thin Monkey felt completely unsettled. How could a scrawny seventeen or eighteen-year-old boy be so fierce?

He hadn't teased him little before; wouldn't this little... little brother hold a grudge? He regretted it. Damn it, he shouldn't have had such a loose mouth.

Lame Old Six didn't make a sound. He stared intently at the lean, slender figure in front of him. The spear in his hand pointed diagonally toward the ground.

Three dying Mutated Cat Spirits lay sprawled at his feet, their blood spreading out on the ground, forming a horrifying pool of crimson.

Su Ming gave his spear a shake. "Clang!" The spear tip struck three times. "Pfft!" "Pfft!" "Pfft!" The three Mutated Cat Spirits completely lost their lives.

[Killed Mutated Cat Spirit, refinement points + 0.5] [Killed Mutated Cat Spirit, refinement points + 0.5] [Killed Mutated Cat Spirit, refinement points + 0.5]

Four Mutated Cat Spirits equaled one Bone-Eating Insect. Not enough. Still far from enough.

Su Ming looked up, gazing at the old residential complex in the distance. Dark windows, broken glass—every floor seemed to have rustling movements.

Behind him, Lame Old Six and the other two looked at each other. "What is he going to do?" "He wouldn't... want to go in, right?"