Volume 2 Setting Out on the Journey Chapter 32 Double-Headed Black and White Python

Almost all the star beasts hunted by the Hurricane Squad over the past half-month or so were killed by Wang Jue, with the other members rarely making a move.

According to the typical squad distribution system where "the more you contribute, the more you get," Wang Jue would deserve at least two-thirds of the earnings, while the remaining one-third would be split among Shen Feng and the other three.

However, Wang Jue's squad did not follow the contribution-based distribution of other teams; instead, they split everything equally among all members!

As a result, from the star beast materials hunted in just these past fifteen days alone, each of them could earn hundreds of millions!

In the past, they could only struggle in the middle depths of the Foggy Forest, painstakingly hunting stray tier-three star beasts.

None of them could even earn one hundred million a year individually.

Now, in just fifteen days, they had far surpassed that countless times over.

With greater profits came greater danger!

During these past half-months, Wang Jue and his team had also encountered the danger of a flying star beast attack, forcing them to temporarily find a building to hide in, not daring to make a single sound until the avian star beast departed and they could return to their original residence.

"Actually, our speed of making money isn't considered fast at all."

Shen Feng chuckled wryly, saying, "You haven't seen those squads composed entirely of Orange Star Realm members. They don't even deign to look at tier-three star beasts, specializing instead in hunting tier-four ones. It's completely normal for them to make tens of billions a year."

"Those of us whose strength isn't enough can only scrape by here in the outskirts. Most of the credit for hunting so many tier-three star beasts these past few days goes to Wang Jue. The rest of us are basically just idling along, either dissecting the materials or carrying them back."

"If it weren't for the fact that the surrounding tier-three star beasts have almost been wiped out by us, I wish every day could be like this—making money without having to take risks."

As his voice fell,

"Hahaha..."

Su Yu, Jiang Yunyan, and Jiang Yunxin could not help but laugh.

"Captain, don't put it that way."

Wang Jue touched his nose with a trace of embarrassment. "It's precisely because I had your help keeping watch that my speed in hunting star beasts could increase."

This was the honest truth. A single person could not possibly look out for all sorts of danger from all directions at the same time. With Su Yu and the others helping to keep watch, clearing away potential hazards, and Shen Feng—the squad's top expert—assisting from the side, Wang Jue was able to achieve such high efficiency in hunting star beasts.

"Oh..."

While Wang Jue and the others were chatting idly, Jiang Yunyan, who was holding the "Thunder" rifle and scanning the area below out of boredom through the scope to see if any star beasts were around, suddenly lowered her voice and said, "Goodness me, Captain, it looks like a big fellow has come to our residential zone!"

"What?"

Shen Feng and the other three grabbed the night-vision goggles beside them and looked over almost simultaneously.

In the distance, a residential building had its corners covered entirely in moss and vines.

However, weaving through that moss and vine growth right now was a massive python, roughly the thickness of a human waist and over fifty meters long!

This python was pitch black all over, patterned with nearly parallel white stripes. The closer it got to the head, the thicker those white stripes became!

At the very front of the gigantic python, its head split into two distinct triangular snake heads, with slight bulges on their crowns.

"Could this actually be the most troublesome of all snake-type star beasts—the Black-and-White Giant Python?"

When Shen Feng caught sight of the big fellow, he immediately blurted out a curse, "What the hell? It's a mutated double-headed black-and-white python, too? And it's about to grow horns—it looks not far from transforming into a flood dragon!"

"Hiss..."

Wang Jue also drew in a sharp breath.

A mutated double-headed black-and-white python that was on the verge of becoming a flood dragon?

Once a snake transformed into a flood dragon, it would become a tier-four star beast.

Even among tier-three star beasts, a Black-and-White Giant Python like this was considered extremely difficult to mess with.

Let alone one that was about to grow horns and was a mutated double-headed variant; that made it even harder to deal with!

Even though this big fellow was still tier-three for now, ordinary tier-four star beasts were no match for it.

Once it broke through to tier-four, it would become an absolute overlord among tier-four star beasts—a double-headed flood dragon!

By then, forget about Orange Star Realm powerhouses; even Yellow Star Realm experts would turn around and flee without a second word upon seeing it!

"Damn it, if only it were any other kind of snake."

Su Yu couldn't help muttering a low curse. "Snake-type star beasts are among the hardest to deal with out of most star beasts, let alone the fact that this thing possesses venom that ranks near the top among all venomous serpents of its kind. For people of our strength level, as long as we get grazed by it, death is not far off."

"A double-headed black-and-white python on the verge of becoming a flood dragon is definitely an overlord among tier-three star beasts, and its strength is probably greater than many tier-four star beasts!"

Shen Feng's expression turned serious as he said in a low voice, "The important thing is that, as a mutated double-headed black-and-white python, its venom is undoubtedly several times stronger than that of a normal black-and-white giant python!"

"Furthermore, it has two venom sacs, and the price of each venom sac is about five times that of an unmutated black-and-white giant python of the same level. You could even say that the materials from some tier-four star beasts aren't as valuable as those two venom sacs!"

"That means this mutated double-headed black-and-white python is worth the equivalent of ten black-and-white giant pythons of the same level. A regular black-and-white giant python that's about to transform into a flood dragon generally has a market price of around 300 million, while a double-headed one should be able to fetch 1.5 billion. However, because mutated star beasts are extremely rare, this price might be driven up even higher, though by how much, I can't say for sure."

At this point, Shen Feng couldn't help sighing with emotion, "The value of this single double-headed black-and-white python almost matches nearly half of everything we've harvested over the past half-month."

Shen Feng stating this figure made everyone else's hearts beat faster.

The star beasts they hunted in an entire day weren't as valuable as this single double-headed black-and-white python!

One had to know that Wang Jue and the five of them had fought desperately for over half a month, and the total number of tier-two and tier-three star beasts they had slaughtered barely exceeded four hundred.

One could easily imagine that the more powerful the star beast killed, the higher the money-making efficiency!

"Also, a double-headed black-and-white python is even more dangerous than a regular black-and-white giant python. If you get bitten by a normal one, there is still hope for treatment. But the moment you get bitten by a double-headed one—or rather, the moment you are poisoned—you are guaranteed to die. Moreover, it has two heads and can attack enemies simultaneously."

Hearing the increasingly heavy breathing of the others, Shen Feng first glanced at them before finally fixing his gaze on Wang Jue. "Are we going to take this job or not?"

Su Yu and the other three fell silent upon hearing this, turning their gazes to Wang Jue as well, waiting for his answer.

The price of a mutated double-headed black-and-white python was exorbitant!

At the same time, it was exceptionally dangerous!

When it came to experience in hunting star beasts, no one in the team surpassed Wang Jue.

Everything required Wang Jue to make the final decision!

"Fortune favors the bold, cowardice starves the cautious!"

Wang Jue gritted his teeth. "I'll do it! Captain, what about you?"

His footwork had already reached the half-step realm of mastery. Coupled with the assistance of his psychic power, his dodging ability wasn't as simple as one plus one equals two; it was greater than three, four, or even five.

Wang Jue with psychic assistance was truly at his peak strength!

Back when they were at the exit of the Foggy Forest, the "courier-delivering tycoon" had mentioned "Divine Sense Masters" right before he died. Later, Wang Jue had searched the internal adventurer network extensively and found no information regarding that aspect.

If he hadn't been certain, definitive, and absolute that he indeed possessed psychic power, he would have suspected he was developing a split personality.

"I..."

Shen Feng hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth. "Martial artists walk the line between life and death to begin with. Wang Jue, if I run into trouble during the hunt, you've got to help me out."

"Rest assured, Captain. Later on, I'll attack first while you defend and counterattack. Once it starts chasing me, you switch to the offensive," Wang Jue said in a low voice. "The moment the situation looks even slightly wrong, Captain, you run first without worrying about me. With my speed, this beast won't necessarily be able to catch up to me."

"No problem," Shen Feng agreed without a second thought.

Wang Jue then turned his gaze to the other three and said, "The Captain and I will go down. You stay right here. Also, Sister Yan, use your sniper rifle to keep watch and prevent anyone from trying to opportunistically rob us at the end!"

"Don't worry, I'll keep my crosshairs locked on down below at all times," Jiang Yunyan smiled slightly. "The moment I notice anyone approaching, I'll fire a shot to warn you immediately, or notify you to withdraw before they even get close."

They basically stuck together all the time, and during their usual routines, they rarely used the communication function on their wristwatches.

If Jiang Yunyan hadn't brought it up just now, Wang Jue would have almost forgotten that their wristwatches had a communication feature allowing squad members to contact each other at any time!

"Mm."

Wang Jue nodded. "Let's go, Captain. Delays breed changes."

Su Yu and Jiang Yunxin simply had no way to intervene in a battle against a star beast of this caliber.

The only one capable of intervening, Jiang Yunyan, had to take charge of keeping watch to guard against any approaching threats.

...

Wang Jue and Shen Feng quickly arrived downstairs.

Relying on their memories, they followed a dilapidated stone path and advanced toward the location of the double-headed black-and-white python.

"Hiss..."

Before they even got close, the piercing hissing sound of the double-headed black-and-white python reached them from afar.

Wang Jue and Shen Feng exchanged a glance.

"Buzz..."

The wristwatch on Wang Jue's wrist suddenly vibrated slightly. Lowering his head, he saw a line of text appear on the screen: "Situation is off, three people suddenly appeared and are fiercely engaging the double-headed black-and-white snake. Be careful."

"Damn bad luck, I didn't expect someone else to beat us to it."

Shen Feng, who was beside him, received the same message and said with a helpless, low laugh, "Shall we go take a look?"

"Let's go," Wang Jue said decisively.

The two quickly approached the building where the double-headed black-and-white python was located.

Before long,

the two reached the corner of a residential building. Peering past the corner,

Wang Jue immediately saw three men battling the double-headed black-and-white python dozens of meters away.

These three men were covered in fur, and coupled with prominent physical traits that clearly did not belong to humans, it was enough to show that they were not human, but members of the Orc race!

The leading man was over three meters tall, sturdily built, with fur resembling that of a lion, and he wielded a staff taller than himself.

That single staff moved like a swimming dragon in his hands. Every time the two triangular heads of the double-headed black-and-white python hissed and lunged forward at high speed, that staff would smash down with lightning speed. Even if it missed the head, it would still beat the double-headed black-and-white python back.

An occasional "nodding" motion of the staff made the double-headed black-and-white python hiss in fury!

As for the other two, judging by their fur and appearance, one resembled a tiger and presumably belonged to the Tiger-orc tribe, while the other resembled a black bear and undoubtedly belonged to the Bear-orc tribe.

At this moment,

the tiger-orc held a giant heavy sword in both hands, while the bear-orc wielded a massive diamond-shaped shield that was big enough to almost completely cover his three-meter-plus height. The two of them stayed close together, coordinating in a joint siege with exquisite teamwork.

"All three of them are very strong, and their coordination is peerlessly tacit."

Shen Feng, watching from a distance, could not help murmuring in a low voice, "The leader wielding the staff belongs to the Lion-orc tribe among the Orcs. His cultivation is at the peak of the Ninth Tier of the Red Star Realm, but his actual combat power has almost reached the standard of the First Tier of the Orange Star Realm. The other two belong to the Tiger-orc and Bear-orc tribes respectively, and their cultivation is the same as mine—both at the Eighth Tier of the Red Star Realm."

Wang Jue nodded in agreement.

Since these people dared to go toe-to-toe with the double-headed black-and-white python, they definitely had confidence in their own strength.

One had to admit that these fellows were truly formidable!