"That’s strange. According to the data, wasn’t this wiped-out Exotic Beast Group composed of nearly three hundred Mutant Beasts? How come there are only two hundred and twenty-three corpses? That’s a lot missing."
A logistics staff member couldn’t help but voice his confusion after counting the number of Mutant Beast corpses.
Just then, a colleague of his happened to pass by. Hearing him muttering to himself, the colleague smiled and said, "Maybe some of the Mutant Beasts escaped! Or maybe they were blown to smithereens by the battle’s fallout, scattered all over the place, and couldn’t be pieced back together."
"That’s possible." The logistics staff member counting the Mutant Beast corpses was convinced by his colleague’s explanation.
He nodded, then turned to leave, preparing to report the data he had just recorded.
The one responsible for the logistics staff’s feeling that the number of Mutant Beast corpses didn’t add up was, at this very moment, far from the battlefield. He was heading deep into the wilderness from another direction, urgently searching for prey.
RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE...
Lin Li ran swiftly through the dense undergrowth, forcing his way through the tightly packed wild grass.
As he sprinted, he extended his Perception to scan the surroundings, searching for any creature emitting Spiritual Energy Waves.
What was that saying again? The more desperately you try to do something and finish it quickly, the less likely things are to go your way.
After leaving the Mysterious Small Island, Lin Li had gone all out in his search for prey he could hunt.
But after running for over twenty minutes, he hadn’t encountered a single ordinary small animal, let alone a Mutant Beast.
’What is going on? I’ve been searching for almost half an hour and haven’t even run into a single living creature?!’
Thinking it over, the reason for this situation was fairly obvious.
News that the Exotic Beast Group—formed from beasts that had mutated under the influence of the blood-red full moon—was advancing on a human city had already spread throughout the wilderness.
Upon receiving this news, the leaders of some of the Mutant Beast factions deep in the wilderness knew that the humans would not stand idly by. They would move to annihilate that Exotic Beast Group, making a great war inevitable.
Once the war broke out, the vast area near the human city’s safe zone would become a dangerous battlefield.
To prevent their dim-witted, foolish subordinates from blundering into the combat zone and dying for nothing, the leaders of the Mutant Beast factions deep in the wilderness had issued orders. They told their underlings to stop loitering around the edges of the human cities and to retreat deeper into the wilderness to lie low for a while.
It was precisely because of these retreat orders from the leaders of the Mutant Beast factions deep in the wilderness that Lin Li had run at full speed for half an hour without finding a single target to hunt.
As for why he hadn’t seen any ordinary small animals, it was entirely because the thunderous explosions from the series of bombardments by the attack helicopter squadron had terrified them.
This had caused them to flee and hide, trembling in the shadows, too scared to come out. It would take some time for things to return to normal.
’Don’t be anxious. Haste makes waste. There’s still over an hour left! I’ll definitely find some prey.’
After searching for more than half an hour without finding a single target, Lin Li realized he was getting too impatient.
So, he immediately took a moment to compose himself, letting his overly anxious feelings subside a little.
Another ten-plus minutes passed. Lin Li, still running straight into the depths of the wilderness, was now more than thirty kilometers away from the safe zone.
At this distance, it was safe to say he was quite far from the earlier battlefield.
Lin Li ran past a large, leafy tree, and a few ordinary birds flew out from its branches.
Watching the ordinary birds fly away, he thought to himself, ’Alright, I’m starting to see small animals again. I should run into a Mutant Beast soon.’
Just as Lin Li predicted, only a few minutes after seeing the birds, he was targeted by a Leopard Beast that was lying in ambush in the dense grass, hunting.
"Hm?"
While searching for prey, Lin Li passed a patch of dense grass. His extended Perception detected something in the grass targeting him. He immediately became alert, a sense of delight rising in his heart.
RUSTLE RUSTLE RUSTLE...
The Leopard Beast had been lying in ambush for a long time, and its prey had finally appeared. Once the target entered its attack range, it instantly mobilized the Spiritual Energy in its body to enhance its attack power. Then, it shot out from the grass, pouncing fiercely at the prey just a short distance away.
The prey before it walked upright on two legs. It had delicate skin and tender flesh. This was not one of the small animals it usually ate, but a delectable human from the cities outside the wilderness—a very difficult catch.
The Leopard Beast had never tasted a human before. It had only heard from its companions who had that the tender-fleshed humans were incredibly delicious.
Now that it had been lucky enough to encounter one, it was determined to take it down and savor the taste.
"Second Rank Initial Stage!" Lin Li perceived the Spiritual Energy Wave emanating from the Leopard Beast as it charged aggressively out of the grass. There was no sign of panic on his face, only pleasant surprise. "Excellent..."
The Leopard Beast, its teeth and claws glowing with a faint golden Spiritual Light, attacked with incredible speed. But the human it regarded as prey reacted even faster.