Swallowing the Stars: The Wind Sword Master.

Chapter 41 Meeting the Enemy

City No. 003, Huangpu River section.

At this moment, a new tributary joined the river.

Streams of deep red, dark red, bright red, and purplish-red intertwined, with viscous blood flowing slowly, resembling both a red spider web and countless pulsating blood vessels, and at the nodes emerged enormous monsters, each three or four meters long.

Huge footprints painted the ground red, some resembling five-pointed stars, others tridents, and still others plum blossoms, indicating a fierce battle had taken place here.

Swish!

A white figure walked from the riverbank toward the inland. His movements were graceful and light, each step covering a distance of more than ten meters.

Ning Ze's white combat uniform remained pristine, and even his white combat boots were spotless.

In less than ten seconds, he arrived in front of a three-story building and called out in a slightly teasing voice, "Uncle Zuo, time to get to work."

"Get to work!"

"I'm willing to work!"

Zuo Xingyuan rushed out, followed by Ma Yu and his group. They all had one thing in common: each of them was carrying two full martial arts backpacks.

For two and a half days, they collected a great deal of material.

"Kid, you're a bit slow this time!" Xu Liang joked.

Ning Ze frowned slightly and replied, "There are quite a few monsters this time. I think we should find another place later."

"Is it in the river?" Zuo Xingyuan asked.

Ning Ze nodded and replied, "Yes, there are a lot more monsters this time. I feel that monsters are gathering in the Huangpu River. We'd better change our location, otherwise it will be very dangerous for everyone if we encounter a monster tide."

Zuo Xingyuan nodded somewhat helplessly, thinking to himself, "We are in danger, but encountering you is a monster's danger."

However, considering the possibility of lords appearing among the beast tides in the ocean, he quickly said, "Let's go, let's process the materials first, and then find another place to continue hunting."

Ning Ze led everyone back to the battlefield, where a fishy and foul smell hit them.

When Zuo Xingyuan and the others saw the scene of corpses strewn across the field and blood flowing like a river, even though it wasn't the first time they had seen it, they still felt a chill run down their spines.

"Come on, come on, don't just stand there, let's start processing the materials. We'll discuss where to go next later."

"Work has started! Work has started!"

"Find the money! Find the money!"

Yang Chao and the others, their enthusiasm undiminished, began to deal with the monster. No matter how pungent or smelly it was, they enjoyed it nonetheless.

"Kid, how many Beast General-level monsters are there this time?" Xu Liang asked Ning Ze while dealing with a monster's corpse.

"Well... I didn't count them exactly, but there are quite a few monsters in this river, probably around 20 beast general-level monsters?"

Ning Ze didn't know how many he had killed, mainly because he didn't keep track. He just rushed out and started killing indiscriminately, clearing out an area completely. Once the monsters were gone, he would come back to call Zuo Xingyuan and the others.

Yang Chao exclaimed, "Tsk, this City 003 truly lives up to its name as a demon's lair. There are definitely a lot of monsters here. If these beast generals were placed around a county town, they would surely have hundreds or even thousands of subordinates. But here, they are the subordinates. Now we need to kill 200 beast general-level monsters, right?"

Zuo Xingyuan replied, "There are only 15 high-grade ones, 50 mid-grade ones, and 162 low-grade ones, totaling 227, worth over 80 billion! Adding the Death Demon Jackal we encountered on the first day, the total value exceeds 140 billion."

After dealing with one monster, Xu Liang picked and chose among the surrounding beasts, finally stopping in front of a low-level beast general. They didn't even want the materials from F-level monsters; they only put the materials from low-level warriors in their bags, otherwise it would take up too much space.

"Ning, you're really something. 14 billion in two days. A printing press can only print 12 bills per second, so it can only print 100 million a day. You're worth 70 banknote counting machines."

Ning Ze was both amused and exasperated by this analogy.

Just as he was about to speak, Yang Chao exclaimed in alarm, "Oh no! Someone's setting us up!"

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately turned to look.

Zuo Xingyuan frowned and asked, "What happened?"

"I found this in the martial artist's backpack." Yang Chao, with an especially grim expression, took out a silver needle that was slightly thicker and shorter than a needle. It was a tracking device. It looked like a needle, but when magnified, its surface was actually barbs. Once it was shot into the monster's body, it could stay inside indefinitely.

"A tracker!"

Zuo Xingyuan hissed, his eyes blazing with fury.

"Damn it! Who were these insidious bastards who did this?" Xu Liang was getting agitated.

"Old Yang, when was this thing installed? Can you believe it?" Ma Yu asked with a gloomy expression.

Yang Chao hesitated for a moment, "I'm sure it wasn't there last time. I checked it again after I got home."

Suddenly, his eyes lit up, and he burst out cursing, "These bastards put it in while I wasn't home. I went to the underground alliance to buy ammunition two days before we set off, and I took my wife and kids with me."

"I told you to move to the Martial Arts Community a long time ago. You insisted on living in those fancy rich people's neighborhoods. And the security there is terrible," Xu Liang muttered.

Yang Chao looked guilty. "I shouldn't have listened to that woman. It's good that I'm closer to her family, but it almost caused a disaster."

Ning Ze's face was also extremely grim; this was exactly what the martial arts team feared most.

Martial artists are not afraid of the ferocity of monsters, but they are afraid of people who are not human and use human technology and methods to deal with them. It is truly impossible to defend against them.

"Everyone, don't panic. They probably don't know my strength. If they were planning to attack us this time, they would have already followed us. Let's finish processing the monster materials first, then find a place to wait!"

Ning Ze was very glad that he came here this time. He wanted to return the favor. His uncles had helped him adapt to the wilderness area before, and now that he had grown up, he was also helping everyone make money.

If he hadn't come along, and the enemy had assessed their strength and launched a surprise attack, the entire combat squad would have been wiped out without any surprises. His father would have been heartbroken and furious, and he would have been devastated.

Zhang Chen analyzed rationally: "After Xiao Ze killed the monsters, the corpses were left there. After that, there was a monster riot. They were chasing us quite hard, so they probably haven't caught up with us yet. We can set up an ambush."

"Since they're the enemy, let's take this opportunity to eliminate them!" Ning Ze said coldly, his expression turning thoughtful. "I just wonder who the enemy is this time?"

"Hurry up and process the monster materials. Let's get out of here. They dared to trick us, damn it."

The War Squad was no longer relaxed and cheerful. They silently processed the monster materials and then quickly left.

the other side.

Zhai Yanke has been leading the Wang family's assassins into the wilderness for two days now.

Walking downstream along the Huangpu River, the atmosphere was eerily quiet.

Zhai Yanke felt a chill run down his spine, and his face turned deathly pale.

They had encountered this situation many times before. The first time, they gritted their teeth and continued on, only to encounter a monster rampage not long afterward.

Fortunately, the Wang family's assassins were all high-level warriors. They managed to escape the horde of beasts, but they also strayed from their course while being chased by the monsters. When they caught up again, they found themselves in this peaceful and quiet place. Soon, the monsters here would erupt into a riot.

"How about we wait here for a bit before moving on?"

Zhai Yanke offered his suggestion, glancing questioningly at the six assassins.

Once inside the wilderness, he, as the guide, had no status whatsoever. If he hadn't gritted his teeth and kept up, he would have been afraid that these people would have stolen the tracking device and abandoned him in the wilderness!

Hong Quan remained silent. The young master of the Wang family had assigned them a task, and they had no choice but to complete it. Going home would only implicate their families.

The assassin who had entered the villa earlier was somewhat silent. They had been working for the Wang family, and for the safety of their families, they could only complete their missions more diligently. They were always focused on completing their missions and were not afraid of a little danger, but they were worried that Wang Xing'an would not be able to wait.

"Since it's this pattern again, let's wait. If we can't catch up this time, then next time we'll have to break through the beast tide to catch them!"

Ma Jian's calm voice carried a firm tone. From the day he went from resisting to submitting to the Wang family, he was just a useful tool. As long as he was useful, he had value.

"it is good."

The surrounding assassins responded with a single word in silence. They were wary of each other, including some of the Wang family's true assassins, those who were completely loyal to the Wang family. They rarely communicated with each other.

Zhai Yanke was terrified by the atmosphere; at that moment, he was somewhat afraid.

Even if Ning Ze retaliates, he doesn't want to die. If he were to actually charge into the beast tide, he would be certain to die as a mid-level warrior. But he dares not object now, as the eerie atmosphere makes him feel the taste of death.

"roar!"

"hold head high!"

A short while later.

The roars of countless monsters echoed from afar. Ma Jian frowned, feeling extremely annoyed. "It's happening again! What's going on in City 003? What happened here? What's attracting so many monsters? Has anyone here been here before? Has something changed?"

The crowd looked at each other, none of them answering him. Clearly, none of them had ever been here before, nor had they ever faced such a bizarre monster rampage.

What they didn't know was that what attracted the monsters wasn't anything strange, but rather the monster corpses. These monsters devoured each other to evolve, and even some herbivores could evolve to devour flesh and blood, becoming the most powerful monsters by standing at the top of the food chain.

"Did they just rush out of the monsters? Which way did they run?" Ma Jian had already decided that if they were still directly in front of them, then they would charge into the monster horde!

Zhai Yanke looked down, his eyes widening with surprise. "No! They went northwest!"

Ma Jian's mood eased slightly; he was finally about to see hope, and things seemed relatively calm over there.

"Let's go! We'll give chase!"

The group of eight ran swiftly through the wilderness, all feeling somewhat anxious.

Finally, they stopped in front of a building at an intersection. On the front of the building were two large characters made of steel frames: "Shopping Mall," but the upper part had disappeared.

"Is this the place? They stopped here?" Ma Jian asked, turning his head.

Zhai Yanke was panting heavily as he ran. Hearing the question, he nodded quickly. "Yes, this is it." He was exhausted. He had been running at at least 40 m/s for five minutes, which was close to his limit. Apart from him, everyone else was fine. They were obviously deliberately controlling their speed, otherwise they would have arrived even faster.

Ma Jian stood up and looked up. For some reason, he felt a sense of unease in his heart, as if a dark cloud was hanging over his head. The sky was still clear, but he felt a sense of oppression.

"Walk!"

At his command, everyone walked inside.

An old windowsill in a top-floor room.

The combat squad was lying in wait. Seeing the group of eight martial artists, Zuo Xingyuan was puzzled. "These guys… I don't recognize a single one of them. Only one looks somewhat familiar, but I can't quite place him. Do you know him?"

"I don't know him." Xu Liang shook his head. Their networks were almost entirely overlapping, and those who were close to each other were even part of the same group. They shouldn't be so unfamiliar with someone who dared to enter City 003 and catch up with them.

"I don't know it either," Yang Chao said, equally puzzled.

Zhang Chen said coldly, "I don't know any of them."

"I think...they must have come looking for me."

Ning Ze's expression was very strange; he hadn't expected to run into Zhai Yanke here.

He was worried about how to deal with this guy in the base city, but he ended up chasing him to the wilderness area, begging for death?

Ning Ze couldn't help but laugh after saying that.

Revenge is something that should be taken sooner rather than later. There's no need to dwell on past grudges; they caused him so much trouble and almost bankrupted his family. Fortunately, his family members weren't harmed, so there's still a sliver of room for maneuver.

Later, if Zhai Yanke knelt before him and sincerely repented, he would barely be able to let the man go and allow Zhai Yanke to live.

However, this man later set a trap for the Shu family, trying to steal his wife. The hatred of having one's wife stolen is irreconcilable, and there is no room for negotiation on this matter.

"They're here to see you?" Zuo Xingyuan looked somewhat surprised. "How did you offend these people? Those who can make a name for themselves in City 003 are not to be trifled with."

Ning Ze always went to the wilderness with them, so how could he offend someone so badly in the base city? Does he have to be hunted down? This doesn't seem like the kind of trouble Ning Ze would cause. He usually has a very good temper and wouldn't be so unwise.

"How did they offend us? That's a long story. Maybe it's my dad's fault?" Ning Ze replied casually, then turned and walked downstairs. "I'm going to greet the guests. I think those guys are not simple. Just to be safe, uncles, you should wait here and think about where we should hunt next."

Stepping out of the shop and into the circular shopping mall outside, there used to be a circular glass wall around the sinkhole, but over the years, even the cement has cracked and collapsed, and those glass railings have long since shattered.

Standing at the edge of the mall's corridor, there's a huge sinkhole leading straight to the first floor.

He took a step forward and lightly stepped on the edge of the next corridor, which suddenly slowed his descent.

Just then, Zhai Yanke and the others walked in, and they immediately spotted the white figure leaping down from the rooftop directly in front of them.

Dressed in white like snow, with her hair flowing in the wind, Ning Ze was like a snowflake dancing in the air. After swaying left and right for a moment, she paused briefly before falling again, finally landing gently on the ground floor.

Apart from Zhai Yanke, everyone else's pupils constricted immediately, and they became alert. Maintaining such an image in the wilderness was something that not everyone could do!

Ning Ze looked ahead and smiled faintly, saying softly, "You've come."

Zhai Yanke gave a cruel smile, his face contorted with rage, and said in a deep voice, "Yes, I'm here."

(End of this chapter)