This assassin is upright

Chapter 469 The Other Side of the Forest

In the desert, a small excavation team of only six people is carefully exploring the surroundings.

"Everyone be careful," the leader said in a deep voice. "There have been multiple reports of mutated beasts and polluted beasts fleeing in the vicinity."

"And the opposite direction they fled was not far ahead."

"On the map, this is an empty space with nothing in it."

"But such an unusual occurrence is by no means accidental."

"Perhaps, a brand new ruin that no one has ever discovered before is waiting for us to dig it out!" The man shouted, and the other five members of the team immediately showed eager and excited expressions.

A brand new ruin—how many treasures could be inside?

If they acted quickly enough, they could have taken all the good stuff before other excavation teams found it and sold it on the black market…

Perhaps it won't be long before they are all transformed!

"Captain, something is approaching from ahead." A tall, thin man with his face covered, only one eye showing, spoke in a deep voice.

His eye was very special; the pupil was shaped like half a flower.

This is the special ability of this evolved being; in addition to being able to see some unusual trajectories, it can also see things much further away.

The team was able to discover the anomaly in the area thanks to him.

"It's probably a new monster heading this way." The squad leader didn't take it seriously. "There aren't any powerful monsters around here, so it's not a big problem."

“No…” The one-eyed man’s tone suddenly became serious.

"That looks like a person."

people? !

The expressions on the faces of everyone in the team simultaneously turned serious.

In this desert, seeing mutated or polluted beasts is nothing unusual.

But if you see someone... well, you'd better think it over carefully.

"Someone discovered the new ruins before us?" another team member blurted out, his expression slightly annoyed. "What bad luck."

"Don't rush, let's take a look first." The captain said in a deep voice, then looked at the one-eyed man, "How many of them are approaching?"

“There’s only one person,” the one-eyed man said in a deep voice.

"Maybe they're here to scout ahead?" A thin, short-haired woman in the team suddenly spoke up. She was a scout in the excavation team, so she guessed that the other person might be someone similar to herself.

"If that's the case, then..." the captain made a throat-slitting gesture, "Take advantage of the enemy being alone and eliminate them!"

"Playing this big?" The rest of the team were taken aback.

Taking them out directly would mean making a blood feud with the opposing team!

"How long has it been since we had any business?" The captain licked his lips, a hint of madness in his eyes. "In this godforsaken place, it's rare to find a new ruin."

"No one can stop us from taking it!"

Upon hearing this, the others said nothing more. After exchanging glances, they tacitly concealed themselves on the spot, completely erasing any trace of their presence.

A moment later, a figure quickly approached from a distance, his gaze sweeping rapidly around him, his eyes flickering slightly before he made a puzzled gesture.

"Strange, I clearly felt some movement here just now."

He muttered to himself, then shook his head.

"Perhaps I'm seeing things, or..."

Before he could finish speaking, the instant he turned around, six figures burst out of the sand one after another, their attacks poised to strike him.

"Tsk." Yu Zhun clicked his tongue lightly, his expression showing no surprise whatsoever.

After all, his extraordinary sense of smell had already told him everything about this place.

Yu Zhun drew two daggers, and sparks quietly rose from his hands.

A moment later, only five corpses lying in pools of blood and the pale-faced excavation team leader sitting on the ground remained on the spot.

“Why bother?” Yu Zhun shook his head. “I just wanted to ask for directions, and you actually wanted to kill me when you saw me.”

“You…” The captain glanced at Yu Zhun fearfully.

He instantly dispatched all six of them, including himself, a third-tier evolved being.

This guy is definitely a monster!

What directions do you need?

"I want to ask how to get to District 37." Yu Zhun squatted down and looked at the other person. "Tell me the directions, and I might spare your life."

“District 37…” The captain paused for a moment, then his expression became quite interesting.

"You want to go to District 37 from here?!"

"Yes, what's wrong?" Yu Zhun frowned slightly.

He sensed something was wrong from the other party's answer and reaction.

“District 37…it’s over there.” The captain paused for a moment, then pointed to the distance, where a lush forest could be vaguely seen at the edge of the desert.

"Just go through the forest."

forest…

Yu Zhun suddenly thought of something, and his expression changed immediately.

He had heard before that the reason why District 37 developed its own order unique to the excavation team and was not ruled by other forces was because there was a District 62 nearby that was a natural ecological reserve before the cataclysm.

After the cataclysm, that area had become a paradise for mutated and polluted beasts, and for humans, it was an absolute death zone.

and so…

"That forest, is that Area 62?"

"Not bad." The excavation team leader nodded, then quickly added, "But you promised you'd spare..."

"Pfft-"

Before the other person could finish speaking, Yu Zhun had already stabbed him through the heart.

"I'm in a bad mood, I'm not letting this go."

He drew his dagger, sheathed it, and walked calmly toward the forest.

District 62…

As far as he knew, this was an area far exceeding District 37, with virtually no possibility of detouring around it; otherwise, other forces would not have been unable to take over District 37.

In other words, he had to cross the forest filled with unknown beasts to return to District 37 and reunite with the rest of the Black Hawk team who were still in District 37.

"That strange fish really took me quite a distance," Yu Zhun murmured to himself as he walked further and further away.

Long after he left, several mutated beasts crept closer, then swarmed forward and devoured the six corpses on the ground.

Just as humans use mutated beasts to create gene-enhancing drugs that promote evolution, the corpses of evolved beings are also a great source of nourishment for mutated beasts.

Soon, not a single crumb remained on the field, as if nothing had ever happened.
-
In the area where the forest meets the desert, Yu Zhun walked slowly alone. Around him, he could occasionally see clumps of shrubs and sparse grass on the ground.

Compared to the desolate landscape before, the scenery here is much more pleasing to the eye.

But Yu Zhun knew very well that beneath this pleasing scenery lurked immense danger. The moment he entered the meadow, he sensed five or six gazes watching him, and the air was thick with the auras of more than twenty different beings. A broken, upright wooden stake appeared before Yu Zhun's eyes.

That was the only man-made object in the area. On the ground beneath the stake lay a moss-covered wooden sign, with the words "District 62" faintly visible on it.

After passing through the wooden stakes, he had fully entered the territory of District 62.

With a hand resting quietly on the dagger at his waist, Yu Zhun walked forward calmly.

"The rustling—"

A slight sound appeared, followed by Yu Zhun feeling a gust of wind rapidly approaching from the back of his head, causing the hairs on his body to stand on end.

"die--"

With a low shout, Yu Zhun swiftly turned around, his dagger precisely cleaving a dark figure in two. As dark red blood splattered everywhere, he finally saw the figure that had attacked him.

It was a mutated beast the size of a fist, somewhat similar in appearance to a sugar gloke, and most likely mutated from a sugar gloke. Its wide-open mouth was full of dark yellow fangs, but at this moment its entire head had been split in two.

Liquid dripping from the fangs splashed onto the grass, causing the green grass to wither and die at a visible speed.

It is highly poisonous.

After glancing at the mutated beast, whose strength was roughly equivalent to a second-tier beast, Yu Zhun gave a slightly warning look to the other corners where beasts were hiding.

He then clearly felt that the number of prying eyes around him had decreased sharply.

Clearly, the power Yu Zhun unleashed made these beasts living on the edge of District 62 feel threatened with death, and also made them, whose intelligence was not much weaker than that of humans, want to retreat and abandon their idea of ​​ambushing Yu Zhun.

"They're quite sensible."

With a hint of disappointment, Yu Zhun muttered something under his breath, squatted down, dug out a small piece of crystal from the mutated beast's corpse, casually tossed it into his mouth, and chewed it like a candy.

After swallowing the bead left by the strange fish in the magma, Yu Zhun felt that his body had undergone some unknown change, which enhanced his digestive and absorption abilities to an inhuman level.

The mutated beast cores that ordinary evolvers would need to process and purify before they could be used were something he could consume directly.

Without lingering any longer, Yu Zhun turned and headed deeper into the forest.

After Yu Zhun left, a beast that looked somewhat like a cat crept closer, seemingly trying to dig something out of the mutated beast's corpse.

But soon it let out a resentful growl, glanced resentfully in Yu Zhun's direction, and then quickly disappeared from the spot.

One kilometer... five kilometers... ten kilometers...

Yu Zhun was getting further and further away from the broken wooden sign that stood at the boundary. The sparse grass and bushes under his feet were no longer there, but instead there were all kinds of trees of different shapes that he could not name.

Along the way, Yu Zhun, this unfamiliar intruder, was inevitably spied on by the beasts in the forest. However, perhaps the lingering scent of blood on his body made the other beasts vaguely sense the danger, and these restless creatures ultimately did not make a move against Yu Zhun.

Sensing all this, Yu Zhun couldn't help but raise his eyebrows.

"This District 62 doesn't seem as dangerous as I imagined?"

But that makes sense. Other forces can't get through this forest into District 37 because they have too many people. The strength of an individual is meaningless in the face of a group. But Yu Zhun travels alone, which is a different story.

Tier 4 is practically the current top-tier evolutionary level.

Unless he encounters a fourth-tier mutated beast, nothing can truly threaten him.

However, even in District 62, fourth-tier mutated beasts are probably extremely rare.

While pondering, Yu Zhun had already entered the secondary core area of ​​District 62. The surrounding trees were getting taller and taller, many of them reaching an astonishing height of over a hundred meters.

The shade of the trees almost completely blocked out the sky, making the woodland below appear dark and damp. At Yu Zhun's feet were slippery moss and various shade-loving fungi.

At one point, Yu Zhun, who was walking among them, suddenly felt his hair stand on end.

Without the slightest hesitation, he leaped and instantly darted onto the nearby tree.

Almost the instant he moved, a dark shadow passed through his afterimage.

In the blink of an eye, both sides stopped moving.

Yu Zhun also saw clearly who the attackers were this time.

It was a terrifying monster with leopard-like golden-black spots all over its body, but the size of an Asian elephant. Its aura was almost completely hidden, and even when it was right in front of him, Yu Zhun could hardly sense its presence.

Meeting the other person's pinpoint pupils, a chill crept in.

Fourth tier!

This leopard beast is definitely a fourth-tier mutated beast.

Not long ago, Yu Zhun said that fourth-tier mutated beasts were extremely rare in District 62, but unexpectedly, we encountered one here.

Such a coincidence?
Yu Zhun sniffed the air and vaguely sensed a familiar scent. He turned his head to look in another direction, where a small leopard, about the size of a house cat, was looking at him triumphantly.

Yu Zhun had sensed this aura when he first entered District 62.

A fleeting realization crossed his eyes.

Unexpectedly, I ran into a second-generation beastman just by wandering around the outskirts.

Without hesitation, Yu Zhun drew a pair of daggers. In a flash, his hands, gripping the daggers tightly, were already ablaze with intense heat.

Upon seeing the leaping flames, the leopard's pupils constricted sharply.

Its instinctive fear of fire caused it to pause for a moment.

Although he reacted immediately, this momentary lapse in concentration gave Yu Zhun the opportunity to pounce, instantly thrusting his dagger toward the leopard beast's eyes.

"Roar--"

A deafening roar erupted, shaking the forest. Instead of retreating, the leopard leaped high and pounced on Yu Zhun. Its claws, imbued with terrifying power, slashed at Yu Zhun's wrists, while its fangs-filled mouth viciously bit down on him.

"Ping—"

Yu Zhun swiftly changed his move in mid-air, his dagger dodging the opponent's slapping claws and slashing fiercely at the leopard beast's open mouth, sending him flying backward.

A deep, bone-revealing wound appeared on the leopard's cheek, and at the same time, its largest fang was instantly split in two.

Fire-based abilities combined with fifth-tier alloy—that's terrifying.

"Ow—"

The leopard let out a painful roar, its eyes flashing with a bloodthirsty glint. Its wounds healed at a visible speed, and its broken fangs grew back, sharper than before. A bloody mist rose around it.

"What the hell?"

Yu Zhun couldn't help but frown.

Like evolved beings, mutant beasts also possess special abilities.

If he wasn't mistaken, this leopard beast's ability should be related to concealment, since even with his powerful senses, he almost couldn't detect it.

But if that's the case, what abilities is the opponent displaying right now?
Yu Zhun could clearly sense that the leopard beast, which he had already injured, had not only recovered its aura to its peak, but had also increased in strength by nearly 20%.

Just as Yu Zhun was pondering, the leopard beast pounced on him fiercely, and blood mist quickly surged between its claws, covering its sharp claws with a blood-red light.

Yu Zhun had a feeling that, under the blessing of this unknown blood mist, even his dagger could not harm the opponent's claws in the slightest.

"Ping—"

With a sharp explosion, Yu Zhun's body flew backward rapidly.

Feeling the trembling of the dagger he gripped and the opponent's fully formed claws, his expression gradually became serious.

Sure enough.

(End of this chapter)