38: Chapter 38 Lin Qinghan

After leaving the supply station, the scenery of the wilderness suddenly turned dim.

The closer they got to the "Mist Forest", the more twisted the surrounding vegetation became. The soil on the ground took on an eerie purple-black hue, and even the temperature in the air dropped for no apparent reason.

Lin Qinghan walked at the very front of the team.

She wore a pure white, custom-made high-dimensional combat suit, holding a longsword wrapped in layers of white cloth, her steps steady.

Suddenly, she stopped walking.

"What is it, Captain?" Lei Yu, who was following behind, immediately stepped forward to ask.

Lin Qinghan did not speak, only quietly gazing at the ruins ahead.

The ground began to tremble slightly.

"Rustle, rustle, rustle—"

The sound of dense running footsteps came from all directions, as if a gale was passing through the withered forest ahead.

"Alert! There is a beast horde!" The S-Grade main tank in the team roared and immediately slammed a heavy alloy shield in front of himself.

A few seconds later, a dense swarm of red lights surged from the corner of the ruins ahead.

They were over a hundred pairs of greedy and hungry eyes.

"It's Blood-Eyed Hyenas!" The agile-type team member responsible for reconnaissance quickly called out the name of the exotic beasts. "There are over one hundred of them! A mix of Tier 1 and Tier 2! It's a medium-sized beast horde!"

Blood-Eyed Hyenas are one of the most notorious pack-hunting exotic beasts in the wilderness area. Individually, they are not strong, but they are extremely bloodthirsty and tireless. Once targeted by them, even a well-equipped mercenary group of dozens would have their spiritual energy exhausted in the endless onslaught, eventually becoming food.

"To think we'd encounter a beast horde. For a mere D-Rank ruin, this is quite rare." Lei Yu sneered, blinding lightning already dancing in his palms. "Captain, you all rest; let me clear out this trash!"

"Step back."

Lin Qinghan's cold voice interrupted Lei Yu.

Lei Yu was stunned; he sheepishly withdrew the lightning and stepped aside.

Over a hundred Blood-Eyed Hyenas had already charged to within fifty meters of the squad. The few hyenas in the lead kicked off their hind legs, baring fangs dripping with foul-smelling drool, and leaped into the air, lunging directly at Lin Qinghan at the front.

Facing this overwhelming storm of gore, Lin Qinghan did not even lift the hand holding her sword.

She merely looked indifferently at the exotic beasts leaping in mid-air, and then, the toe of her military boot tapped lightly on the ground.

"Click."

A sound, extremely slight, like the cracking of ice.

SSS-Grade Talent, [Extreme Cold Ice Domain].

There were no complicated hand seals or energy accumulation, nor were there any dazzling light effects.

The moment her toe touched the ground, a visible white ripple of Absolute Zero, with her landing point as the center, roared outwards in all directions!

The speed of this ripple was incredibly fast, instantly sweeping over the hyenas in the lead, and then spreading to every corner within a hundred-meter radius.

Time seemed to have been forcibly frozen in that moment.

"Plop."

The few Blood-Eyed Hyenas in the lead, still maintaining the lunging posture with mouths open and fangs bared, instantly lost all signs of life in mid-air. From head to toe, they were covered in a layer of thick, crystal-clear ice, and they crashed straight onto the ground.

It wasn't just them.

As far as the eye could see, within a hundred-meter radius, hundreds of rampaging Blood-Eyed Hyenas were all frozen at the very moment the ripple swept past.

Some had their front paws just lifted; others were colliding with one another.

In just one second.

The originally noisy and murderous ruins had turned into a silent plaza of ice sculptures. Sunlight shone down through the clouds, illuminating these hundred-plus lifelike ice sculptures, refracting brilliant yet deadly light.

The water vapor in the air was completely condensed, turning into tiny ice crystals that fell with a rustling sound.

One tap, instantly wiping out over a hundred exotic beasts.

This is the suffocating, absolute strength of a top Prodigy from the Great Xia!

"Crack."

Lei Yu walked forward and casually flicked the head of one of the hyena ice sculptures.

The ice sculpture's head was like fragile glass, shattering directly into a pile of ice shards. The blood and internal organs inside the hyena had long since been frozen into powder by Absolute Zero.

"Captain's Ice Law is truly becoming more and more pure."

Lei Yu withdrew his hand and, sparing no praise, began to flatter her lavishly: "Dealing with these trash exotic beasts in the D-Rank Wilderness Area, Captain, this is truly using a sledgehammer to crack a nut. I think the exotic beasts around Jiangnan City don't even have the qualifications to make you draw your sword."

"Indeed," another A-Grade team member chimed in. "Coming to hunt in such a backwater place is a complete waste of our time. The exotic beasts here are too weak, and the hunters are even weaker."

Lei Yu scoffed and kicked away the ice shards at his feet: "Exactly! Did you hear what they were saying at the supply station just now? Those poor, bottom-tier mercenaries were bragging with such seriousness, saying something about a rogue wearing a demon mask who, without using spiritual energy, relied solely on his Physical Body and fists to kill a pack of Iron-Armored Wolves, and could even tear apart a Gale Giant Eagle with his bare hands!"

"I heard it; it's laughable." The agile-type team member shrugged.

"Such low-grade lies could only fool fools." Lei Yu looked disdainful. "Probably some mercenary team that's about to go under, fabricating gimmicks to get famous so they can take on missions. No spiritual energy? Does he think he's a reincarnated deity?"

At this point, Lei Yu remembered the figure he had brushed past at the supply station.

"Just like that rogue in the black robe at the entrance of the supply station who didn't even dare to yield the way when he bumped into us. Playing god, and there wasn't even a trace of spiritual energy fluctuation on him. In a place like this, besides us from the Kyoto Military Academy, what kind of experts could there be?"

Lei Yu's tone was full of the disdain and superiority that a Kyoto Prodigy has towards bottom-tier rogues.

"Have you said enough?"

A cold voice abruptly cut off Lei Yu's chattering.

Lin Qinghan turned around.

There was not a trace of smugness on that beautiful face after killing the beast horde, nor did she show any ripples of emotion due to her teammates' flattery. What remained was only an indifference that kept people at a distance.

The smile on Lei Yu's face froze, and he shut his mouth sullenly.

Lin Qinghan looked at these arrogant teammates, her eyes darkening slightly.

She extended her left hand, which was wearing a tactical glove, and pressed on the micro-terminal on her wrist.

"Hum—"

A blue holographic projection beam shot out, forming an extremely detailed 3D topographic map among the five people. In the center of the map, there was a large area highlighted in red.

"Put away your ridiculous pride."

"We specifically gave up the A-Grade Secret Realm around Kyoto this time and traveled all the way to this low-level ruin in Jiangnan City, not to go sightseeing."

She extended her fair finger and pointed at the flashing red dot in the core area of the map.

"The military's detection satellite captured an abnormal high-dimensional energy reaction here. Intelligence indicates that a deeply mutated 'Iron-Armored Steel-Bristled Beast' has appeared here."

"Iron-Armored Steel-Bristled Beast?" The main tank frowned. "Captain, although that Tier 2 exotic beast has thick skin, it would only take a little effort for us; is it worth such a grand mobilization?"

"If it were just an ordinary Tier 2, I certainly wouldn't be interested."

Lin Qinghan looked at the group and revealed the true target of the hunt: "This exotic beast is suspected to have devoured some extremely rare pure-yang attribute abyss artifact in the Mist Forest."

"Its strength has far exceeded the scope of Tier 2. Not only has its defense mutated, but even the blood in its body has transformed into lava blood containing extreme-yang abyss energy."

At this point, Lin Qinghan paused.

"The reason I need it is because of my Physique."

Everyone's expression turned solemn.

Lin Qinghan's SSS-Grade Extreme Cold Physique is the talent she takes pride in, but it is also a Sword of Damocles hanging over her head.

"My Ice Law has improved too quickly; my Physical Body is almost unable to withstand the backlash of this Absolute Zero." Lin Qinghan's tone remained calm, as if she were talking about someone else's affairs. "If I cannot find a pure-yang object to neutralize the cold energy in my body before next month's college entrance exam ranking competition, my Meridians will be completely frozen, and I will become a cripple."

"The heart blood of this Mutated Wild Boar is the only medicinal ingredient I have to break through my Bottleneck and suppress the backlash."

Lin Qinghan put away the holographic map and her gaze swept over the four people, including Lei Yu.

"Therefore, put away that mindset of underestimating the enemy that you developed in Kyoto. This is the wilderness."

She turned her head and looked towards the forest area ahead, which had been completely shrouded by dense, dark-red poisonous miasma.

That is the core area of the D-Rank ruin—the Mist Forest.

"The mist ahead not only contains potent poison, but it can also block all electronic radar. The strength of that mutated beast might be even more terrifying than we estimated."

Lin Qinghan gripped the hilt of her sword and was the first to walk towards the edge of the mist.

"I will warn you one last time. In this place, any arrogance will become a death warrant. If anyone dies inside because of underestimating the enemy..."

"I will absolutely not collect your corpse."

Lei Yu and the other team members looked at each other, all putting away their previous playful expressions.

Although they still held some contempt for this ruin in their hearts, facing the Captain's stern warning, they dared not say anything more, quickly organizing their equipment and following closely behind Lin Qinghan as they stepped into the dark-red mist that swallowed all light.

However.

Neither the proud Lei Yu nor the calm Lin Qinghan realized at this moment.

Just as they had stepped into the Mist Forest.

At a high point in the ruins a few kilometers behind them.

A figure wearing a black cloak and a Shura mask was standing on the edge of a rooftop. The pair of scarlet Two-Tomoe Sharingan beneath the mask had already locked onto their retreating figures.