Death Train: SSS-level talent right from the start!

"Should we continue cutting down trees, or should we prune them? Half of the people still haven't received the tree god's blessing, and time is running out."

Su Jin sheathed his longsword and looked at Chen Ye with a questioning gaze.

"Keep cutting. It's not completely dark yet, it's too early to stop now. Half of the people haven't received the blessing yet, and once the blood mist rises tonight, nothing will be possible."

Lei Xing and Li Tianran were the only two members of his team to receive the Tree God's Blessing; the other three members had not yet received it.

Wang Ze pushed up his black-rimmed glasses and looked at the slowly thickening blood mist around him: "Let's observe first and see what happens after dark."

"What's there to be afraid of? Eleven people have already received the Tree God's blessing. Even if the blood mist is thicker at night, one person at a time won't affect the tree-cutting. Besides, with so many people gathered together, what's there to be afraid of?"

The speaker was a long-haired girl standing next to Han Wei.

Han Wei said sternly, "Wu Min, listen to Chen Ye."

Wu Min abruptly turned her head to look at Han Wei, her voice rising several decibels: "Han Wei, what are you doing? I haven't received the Tree God's blessing yet. Tomorrow is the last day of the trial, do you want me to die?"

Han Wei's lips moved slightly, as if he wanted to say something, but Wu Min's words stopped him.

He turned his gaze to Chen Ye, his tone tentative: "Why don't we each do our own thing?"

The six level 11 passengers in the group are now led by Han Wei, and besides Han Wei, there is another person who has also received the blessing of the Tree God.

Wu Min was Han Wei's girlfriend, and Han Wei didn't want his girlfriend to die like that.

Moreover, two of the six of them had received the blessing of the Tree God, and the Blood Mist could completely protect the remaining four from being corrupted by the Blood Mist.

Chen Ye nodded slightly: "Okay, you are free to do whatever you want, but I don't recommend that you go too far. Just stay nearby."

Now that the lower-class passengers are all dead, the train merger is basically an unstoppable fact. Whether Han Wei and the other six live or die will not change anything, so there is no need for him to forcibly stop them.

Han Wei nodded, turned around and waved to the people behind him: "Let's go, let's continue around here."

Wu Min was the first to follow, walking quickly, and the other four followed.

Soon, the dull thud of a broken tree falling to the ground and the rustling of leaves came from that direction, clearly audible through a sparse thicket of bushes.

Qin Zhaoyang squatted down beside Chen Ye, looking in the direction Han Wei and his group had left: "Brother Ye, let's go chop some trees too. It's not completely dark yet, we can still cut down a few more."

He had not received the blessing of the tree god, and he was inevitably a little anxious.

"There's no rush. It's getting dark soon. Let Han Wei and the others start cutting and see how things go after the blood mist rises at night. If nothing goes wrong with Han Wei and the others, then we can continue."

After Chen Ye finished speaking, he sat down on a broken tree branch.

Zhao Hai also sat down, right next to Chen Ye, the metallic sheen on his fists completely gone.

He didn't take off his tiger-finger fist; it was still on his hand, ready to go into battle at any moment.

Wen Ning sat down on the other side of Chen Ye, her gaze fixed on the direction Han Wei's team had left.

Qin Zhaoyang opened his mouth, wanting to say something, but after glancing at Chen Ye and Zhao Hai's state and then at the darkening forest in the distance, he swallowed his words.

Jiang Ning glanced at Chen Ye, a tiny smile curving her lips. Chen Ye's actions were no different from his habit of using people as guinea pigs.

Chen Ye's approach of sending Han Wei and his group ahead as scouts while he waited behind to see the outcome was even more cunning than Han Wei's. Han Wei had volunteered to leave, and Chen Ye didn't stop him; in fact, he deliberately told Han Wei and his group not to go too far.

He withdrew his gaze, tilted his head slightly, and said nothing.

Night was falling at an unstoppable pace, and the blood mist in the forest was visibly thickening.

The sounds of Han Wei and his men chopping down trees were still coming from the woods on the right, muffled thuds and rustling leaves, the intervals gradually lengthening and the frequency slowing down, but it still hadn't stopped.

Lei Xing gathered some branches and started a campfire.

The group rested around the campfire.

The blood mist was thicker at night than the night before, and the leaf mark on the forehead of the blessed person once again glowed with a pale green light.

Qin Zhaoyang and Zhou Yating were practically pressed against Chen Ye.

The sound of trees being chopped off on Han Wei's side continued intermittently for about half an hour.

Then, the voice changed.

It was no longer the dull thud of a tree trunk breaking.

It was a short, sharp scream, followed by a second, then a third, mixed with some kind of low, dense roar.

Almost simultaneously, everyone around the campfire stood up.

Chen Ye turned his gaze toward the direction from which the sound came, but the thick crimson mist obscured his vision.

Zhao Hai sprang up from the broken tree, his arms now covered in a silvery-white metallic sheen from his fists.

Black mist was gathering between Wen Ning's fingers as Qin Zhaoyang raised his Swiftwind Crossbow.

"Something's happened over there." Su Jin's longsword was already drawn. She turned to Chen Ye and asked, "Should we go rescue them?"

Chen Ye did not answer.

He was listening.

The roars were approaching from afar, and the ground was trembling slightly.

Li Tianran shook his head: "We can't save them. In this situation, we can't fight with our bare hands. Those who haven't received the blessing can't leave our side, otherwise they will be corroded by the blood mist. We can only fight positional battles ourselves, so how can we save others?"

"Li Tianran is right, we can't save them, and besides, there's no movement from over there anymore."

As soon as Chen Ye finished speaking, the first dark figure darted out from the darkness.

It was a tree spirit, entirely black, with its limbs lying on the ground, its dark red markings shining brightly in the blood mist.

Its body was still stained with dark red blood, it was unclear whether it was its own or that of Han Wei and the others.

The moment the tree demon lunged at the crowd, the tip of the Demon-Slaying Halberd pierced its skull.

The gun ripped through the air with a sharp whistling sound, piercing the tree spirit's mouth and exiting from the back of its head, spraying dark red blood in a mist of blood.

With a flick of his wrist, Chen Ye sent the tree demon's corpse flying, which landed on the ground at the edge of the camp with a dull thud.

The procession began to close, with those who were not blessed placed in the innermost circle and those who were blessed standing in the outer circle.

Eleven pale green halos slowly lit up in the blood mist.

The lights merged together, forming a thin but effective barrier around the circular array, pushing away the surging blood mist and leaving a clear area about five meters square inside the array.

Qin Zhaoyang, Zhou Yating, and others who did not receive the blessing of the tree god were protected in the very center.

"Stand still and keep your formation." Chen Ye turned around and looked at the group behind him. "Gu Qinghuan, Hai Ge, and I will break away from the formation to kill as many monsters as possible. The rest of you, stay in formation. Your Tree God's Blessing is enough to protect everyone."

Su Jin nodded emphatically: "Understood."

She knew that Chen Ye and Gu Qinghuan were much stronger than the others. Although Zhao Hai's level was lower, his skills were quite powerful, and he could kill elite monsters with just one punch.

These three people really cannot be tied down.

She, Wen Ning, and Jiang Ning can all attack from a distance, and Wang Ze can control the support throughout the entire field, so maintaining the formation won't restrict them too much.

The only ones who felt a little uncomfortable were Lei Xing and Li Tianran, but neither of them objected.

"They're here."

Gu Qinghuan's voice came from Chen Ye's left.