Twenty minutes later, the eting ended.
About half an hour passed, and the ti neared 9:00 a.m.
The 50 teachers and students heading to the processing center had already gathered outside the East Gate.
Everyone was fully geared up.
First-aid supplies, food, weapons, protective gear... they had everything they needed.
Han Ning and the other mbers with guns had also restocked their ammunition and grenades.
On this expedition, there were quite a few new female faces in the team.
Most girls didn’t enjoy combat, but there was no shortage of battle-loving won among them.
Lü Xiuning’s gaze swept over the crowd. In a resonant voice, he said, "Our main objective this ti is to clear out Soul Beasts. So... in a mont, we will split into three teams of 15 to 18 people each. Maintain a distance of 20 ters between teams and kill the wandering Soul Beasts hidden in the greenbelts on both sides of the asphalt road."
"There aren’t many Soul Beasts to the east, but we can’t rule out the possibility of exceptionally powerful ones. If you spot anything unusual, sound the alarm imdiately, and the others will converge on your position."
To ensure the mission went smoothly, Dean Wu and the others had sohow acquired several walkie-talkies.
They probably got them from the security office.
The walkie-talkies made communication between the teams much easier.
"Enough talk. Let’s move out!" Lü Xiuning waved his hand and was the first to walk out the gate.
...
As a vice-captain, Han Ning naturally had to lead one of the teams.
His second-in-command was Liu Zhiran, a boy with short, choppy hair and a baby face.
Though they hadn’t known each other well before, having been through yesterday’s battle, they could now be considered comrades who had faced life and death together.
The three teams split up, taking up left, center, and right positions.
"Alright everyone, our team is relatively stronger, so we’ll take the northernmost route. Please be sure to watch out for your safety."
The route Han Ning’s team took wasn’t a proper path, but a greenbelt composed of shrubs and landscaping.
Most university campuses were like this; between the network of roads, apart from buildings, were ornantal greenbelts, artificial rockeries, and lakes.
Soul Beasts loved to build their nests in these greenbelts, so they had to be on guard here.
The Silver Lotus Woods at the front were responsible for clearing the weeds and shrubs on the ground, carving out a relatively flat path and keeping the lines of sight as clear as possible.
The flowers and plants were beautiful, but safety ca first.
They had barely taken a few steps when they encountered several Demon Eye Frogs hiding in the grass, exhaling a white mist.
Without Han Ning needing to do anything, the others’ Silver Lotus Woods shot out Silver Thorns—WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH—and took care of the Demon Eye Frogs.
"When we encounter small numbers of Soul Beasts, try to let the less experienced mbers handle them. Let them get so practice."
Han Ning said to the group as he watched two female students gleefully stuff the Demon Eye Frog corpses into a sack.
"Got it, Captain."
"Ladies first! I’ll cover you!"
"The hell? Are you trying to be slick? I don’t need your protection."
"..."
Han Ning didn’t stop them as he listened to his classmates banter.
Everyone’s nerves had been stretched taut these past few days. A little trash talk was necessary to relieve the tension.
The journey was relatively smooth.
Before long, the group arrived at the intersection from yesterday.
There were three roads ahead.
The one on the far left led toward the Ninth Canteen.
The middle one was the road to the processing center.
They had gone down the right one yesterday.
Han Ning’s team was advancing in the area between the canteen and the processing center.
Whether it was a coincidence or not, the number of Soul Beasts they encountered increased significantly after passing the three-way intersection.
Every ten or so ters, a few Iron-toothed Snakes or the Monster Rats he had encountered before would be hiding in the grass.
Han Ning keenly sensed potential danger and signaled for everyone to get serious and focus.
As they moved forward, the number of Iron-toothed Snakes they encountered grew.
Just as the Ninth Canteen building ca into faint view on their left, a familiar hissing roar reached their ears.
It was a screeching hiss, like a pressure cooker releasing steam—the sound created by the overlapping cries of a massive number of Iron-toothed Snakes gathered together.
Mixed in with the rising and falling hisses were sporadic clangs of tal on tal, like the sound of clashing swords.
The faint, foul stench of snakes also drifted through the air.
"Stay alert! Watch your surroundings!" Han Ning clicked the safety off his rifle.
Seeing the serious expression on their captain’s face, the others tensed up.
Just then, the walkie-talkie on Han Ning’s hip crackled to life:
"Team 1, Team 2, this is Liu Yueming from Team 3. I have a situation about 80 ters ahead of my position. I need you to co over."
"Roger that." Han Ning picked up his walkie-talkie to reply, then raised his hand and gestured for his team to move right.
Liu Yueming’s team, Team 3, was about 50 ters away, near the greenbelt to the right of the asphalt road.
The closer they got to the right, the more distinct the sound of clashing tal beca.
When Han Ning and his team arrived, they saw Liu Yueming and the others hiding behind a low, ornantal stone wall, their faces grim as they stared ahead.
Han Ning followed their gaze.
About 80 ters away stood several rows of tal sculptures, erected to commorate a special event at the academy.
Each tal sculpture was slightly larger than a person, standing almost two ters tall.
Coiled tightly around a sculpture of a figure in a long robe was a large python, about seven ters in length.
This was the largest python, but a dozen or so smaller, though still large, snakes were coiled around the nearby statues.
The appearance of these large snakes, however, was very different from that of the huge python.
They were all doing the sa thing: with their gaping maws wide open, they relentlessly tore at the tal sculptures with their sharp fangs.
The clanging of tal on tal that Han Ning had heard was coming from here.
As their fangs struck the sculptures and sent shards of tal flying, their tongues would flick out, scoop up the pieces, and swallow them.
"Giant Iron-toothed Snakes... a Silver-Scaled Python... They’re eating tal!"
The mont he saw the snakes, Liu Zhiran, who was next to Han Ning, couldn’t help but exclaim in a low voice.
’Could it be... the Silver-Scaled Python is the evolved form of the Iron-toothed Snake? Seeing as they’re coexisting peacefully, they must be from the sa family.’
Han Ning frowned.
Unlike the Iron-toothed Snakes, whose forms didn’t obviously suggest a tal Attribute, the Silver-Scaled Python was covered in silver-white scales. Even in the dim light, they reflected a faint luster, looking as if they were forged from high-quality steel. They looked incredibly hard.
Lü Xiuning’s serious voice cut in, "Although they aren’t directly blocking our path, the mont we move forward, the nearby swarms of Iron-toothed Snakes will definitely spot us. That will inevitably draw the attack of these dozen or so large snakes."
"This Silver-Scaled Python isn’t the one we ran into at the Ninth Canteen. This one is smaller... My God, that ans there might be a powerful snake colony up ahead," Liu Yueming said, swallowing nervously.
"What should we do?" Hearing this, everyone simultaneously turned their gaze to Lü Xiuning, their commander.
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