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

Zhao Hai's battle unfolded on the right side of the formation.

His fists were completely metallic, with a silvery-gray sheen spreading from his fingertips to his entire forearm.

The first worm lunged at him from the front, its large, round mouth wide open, its sharp teeth swirling in circles.

Zhao Hai slammed his iron fist into the burrowing worm, the fist, with three times the force, blasting upwards and hitting the worm's lower jaw squarely.

"boom--!"

A muffled thud echoed through the empty street.

The worm's head was smashed in half, and it lay on the ground twitching a few times before going still, killed by a single punch.

Although he didn't have Chen Ye's five times physical enhancement, his metallized arms still provided considerable defensive capabilities, though not as comprehensive.

Wang Shuo's battle unfolded on the left side of the team.

As the first worm pounced from the left, Wang Shuo gripped the axe handle with both hands and cleaved the axe diagonally from the upper right to the lower left.

The axe blade cut into the worm's head, slicing through its translucent, milky-white skin and embedding itself into the skull.

Milky white liquid gushed from the wound, splashing onto Wang Shuo's hand.

The moment the liquid touched my skin, a burning sensation came from the back of my hand.

"Damn! This stuff's blood is corrosive too!"

Wang Shuo cursed, his grip still tight. He gritted his teeth, exerted force with both arms, pulled the axe blade out of the skull, and then chopped down with another blow.

This time, the axe blade struck the worm's neck.

The incision was deeper than before, and the milky white liquid splattered even more violently.

The worm's body convulsed violently, then went limp.

Wang Shuo pulled the axe from the worm's corpse, shook off the liquid on the blade, and glanced down at the back of his hand.

The skin on the back of my hand was red, like it had been burned, but it wasn't serious.

He breathed a sigh of relief and turned to face the second worm.

Li Zheng was reaping kills from the left rear of the team.

He moved around constantly, wielding a short knife, using his movement to avoid the worms' frontal attacks, and then cutting in from the side or rear.

When the first worm pounced on his right, he didn't take it head-on. Instead, he stepped to the left, turning his body to the side so that the worm's attack grazed past him.

Then he swung his short knife upwards, the blade cutting into the worm's abdomen, from head to tail, creating a gash more than a meter long.

A milky white liquid gushed from the wound, the worm's body twitched a few times, and then it became still.

Both Zhou Yating and Qin Zhaoyang can attack from a distance, and they are positioned in the middle of the team.

Qin Zhaoyang's Explosive Arrow consumes 10 points of strength each time. Instead of firing three arrows in a row, he fired one arrow at a time. With his talent of hitting the bullseye every time, he could accurately hit the throat of the burrowing worm and then explode.

Zhou Yating stood beside Qin Zhaoyang. Her Ice Arrow spell only consumed 5 points of stamina, and her stamina was currently full. She also had a considerable number of stamina potions. To gain more points, she relentlessly unleashed her attacks, each Ice Arrow dealing effective damage.

The battle lasted for about half an hour.

When the last worm emerged from underground and was blasted apart by Chen Ye's punch, he had already killed 32 burrowing worms and gained 640 points.

He withdrew his fist and flicked his wrist.

The surroundings became quiet.

No new burrowing worms emerged from underground.

Those worms that were still moving, still twitching, and not yet completely dead also stopped struggling one by one in those last few seconds.

The ground was littered with dead insects, and the air was filled with a pungent odor.

Wang Shuo planted the axe on the ground and wiped the sweat from his forehead: "That was great! It was really satisfying to chop these bugs. I killed 12 of them and got 240 points. At this rate of gaining points, I can easily get a thousand or two thousand points in 48 hours."

"It's a pity it didn't fall; we dried up at least a hundred insects."

Li Zheng scanned the battlefield but found no dropped items.

"Don't be too greedy. It's good enough to get this many points. The drop rate of items from these ordinary monsters is already extremely low. You still need to find elite monsters."

After Zhao Hai finished speaking, he looked at Chen Ye.

Qin Zhaoyang put away the Swiftwind Crossbow and looked around at the worm corpses scattered on the ground: "We don't know where elite monsters are either. Should we ask in the group chat?"

"You're dreaming," Li Zheng said, rubbing his short sword on the sole of his shoe. "There are quite a few teams on the train capable of killing elite monsters; we might even have to fight over them."

Qin Zhaoyang curled his lip: "That's true. Everyone on the train has their own agenda these days, so asking is pointless."

Chen Ye's gaze swept over the buildings covered in vines on both sides of the street: "Let's go inside and look. If those houses are BOSS rooms, there should be elite monsters inside."

That makes sense.

Zhao Hai nodded slightly.

The six people chose a three-story building on the right side of the street.

The door was half-open, the dark wooden door was deformed by the vines, the door frame was crooked, and the door panel was covered with cracks.

Chen Ye reached out and pushed, and the door creaked open slowly.

Behind the door was complete darkness.

That darkness was not the thick, almost tangible darkness found in the houses of the Ghost City; it was simply darkness created by a lack of light.

Zhao Hai took out a flashlight from his storage space, and a beam of white light shot forward, cutting a straight path of light in the darkness.

The beam of the flashlight swept across the foyer.

The ground was paved with dark red tiles, most of which were broken, and dark green moss was growing in the cracks.

Several picture frames hung on the wall, their images no longer legible; half of the glass was broken, and the rest was covered in a thick layer of dust.

"There's no one here, and no bugs either."

Zhao Hai scanned the lobby with his flashlight, and after confirming there was no danger, he was the first to step inside.

Six people filed in, their footsteps echoing through the empty house and reflecting off the walls.

"There's a hole here."

Zhao Hai's flashlight beam swept across the ground and stopped in the center of the house's hall.

An irregular hole, about 1.5 meters in diameter, was created by the collapse of the ground. Its edges were jagged, as if it had been forcibly broken open from below by something.

Gravel and wood chips were scattered around the cave entrance. When a flashlight shone inside, the cave walls could be seen to be a mixture of soil and gravel.

Zhao Hai squatted at the edge of the cave entrance, shining his flashlight down. He could see some luminous plants embedded in the cave wall, emitting a faint blue-green fluorescent light.

"Shall we go in?"

Zhao Hai turned his head to look at Chen Ye.

"The situation down below is unclear; it wouldn't be safe to go down rashly."

Zhou Yating's voice came from the back of the group.

"Let's go! With our team's strength, where can't we go in this one-and-a-half-star difficulty trial? You saw how strong those bugs were just now, one punch, one slash, one kill. Even if there are elite monsters down there, can they beat us?"

Wang Shuo's tone carried a nonchalant ease, clearly indicating that the battle just now had greatly boosted his confidence.

Zhao Hai didn't reply, his gaze remaining fixed on Chen Ye.