Volume 2: Setting Out on a Journey - Chapter 44: Tail!

Zhengming, your training is top-notch, but I find your current combat effectiveness quite mediocre.

The man surnamed Jiang asked, "Tell me, how is your physical fitness right now?"

"My physical fitness should be at the peak of the Spirit-Implants Stage," Wen Zhengming answered honestly. "However, I can now handle most Level 3 Star Beasts!"

"Mediocre."

"Very mediocre!"

"Or to put it in one word: poor!" The man surnamed Jiang said with some dissatisfaction, "Human intelligence is far superior to that of Star Beasts. You must know that it takes a Level 5 Star Beast to match human intelligence!"

"A true expert can handle Star Beasts of the same rank, and some freakish martial artists can even leap across ranks to slay Star Beasts."

"To be honest, being able to handle Level 3 Star Beasts with the physical fitness of the peak Spirit-Implants Stage means your physical fitness is decent. Of course, that's mainly because your father and mother were willing to spend a huge fortune on you."

The man surnamed Jiang said earnestly, "In my view, given your talent and the support of your parents, stepping into the Green Star Stage within ten years is well within reach! Therefore, you must now earnestly absorb practical combat experience. Only then can you join the 'Genius Camp' and earn the respect of others, rather than being regarded as a rich young master who relies entirely on his elders."

"I understand." Wen Zhengming nodded through clenched teeth. "Thank you, Uncle Jiang. I will work hard not to disgrace my father!"

His father was a powerhouse, and his mother was also a powerhouse. Inheriting his parents' genes, Wen Zhengming possessed great talent even without ever entering the wilderness zone.

After casually passing a dozen or twenty years, his cultivation level would naturally break through to the Green Star Stage!

However, with his parents willing to spend a vast fortune and so on, it would not be a difficult task for Wen Zhengming to break through to the Green Star Stage in the future.

"Alright, Zhengming, since you guys are all right now, be off with you quickly." The man surnamed Jiang smiled. "Uncle Lin and I still need to prepare to deal with that Level 5 Star Beast, the Steel Tyrannosaurus. This operation is extremely dangerous, so you should hurry up and get far away right now, preferably running all the way to the highway outside the suburbs."

"The Steel Tyrannosaurus?" Wen Zhengming's eyes widened in horror.

"Hiss..."

Jiang Dawei, the old man surnamed Li, and the middle-aged man Luo Lei also sucked in a sharp breath.

"Holy crap!"

Hiding in the distance, Wang Jue was also greatly startled: "These two powerhouses are truly daring; that is a Level 5 Star Beast, the Steel Tyrannosaurus!"

A Level 5 Star Beast!

That was a creature whose intelligence was already comparable to that of humans.

Due to their innate traits, the physical fitness of Star Beasts was generally superior to that of humans of the same rank!

Therefore, when encountering a Level 5 Star Beast, even Green Star Stage powerhouses generally had to flee.

In other words, the cultivation levels of the two people before him were at least the Green Star Stage?

Or perhaps they were even super powerhouses of the Blue Star Stage?

"Hahaha."

The man surnamed Jiang chuckled. "No need to find it strange. It's mainly because that Steel Tyrannosaurus has just laid eggs, and its strength is greatly diminished—this is the prime opportunity!"

"Laid eggs?" Wen Zhengming and the others were extremely astonished.

The man surnamed Jiang said, "Alright, hurry up and leave. That Steel Tyrannosaurus is only about thirty kilometers away from here. Once we make a move, the massive horde of Star Beasts it controls is very likely to riot, and the surrounding area will be affected. Therefore, escaping from the suburbs to that highway is the safest option."

Level 5 Star Beasts were smart enough to control massive tribes of Star Beasts to block and exhaust invaders. Once surrounded by a beast horde, even they would face mortal danger, let down Wen Zhengming, who was merely in the Red Star Stage.

For his safety, the man surnamed Jiang certainly did not want this matter to affect Wen Zhengming. If anything unexpected happened to him, it would be hard to explain to his father.

"Understood."

Wen Zhengming nodded hurriedly. "Then this nephew wishes Uncle Lin and Uncle Jiang complete success."

"Let's move."

At Wen Zhengming's command, including the old man surnamed Li and the others, they fled swiftly without the slightest hesitation.

They dared not show the slightest slackness toward a powerhouse's reminder, and immediately rushed one by one toward the highway outside the suburbs.

"Mr. Lin and Mr. Jiang are truly formidable to actually be going after a Steel Tyrannosaurus!"

The old man surnamed Li could not help exclaiming in admiration. "Even if its strength is somewhat weakened after laying eggs, it is still a Level 5 Star Beast after all."

"Senior Li, could these two be 'Ghost Shadow' Jiang Feng and 'Tyrant Cudgel' Lin Chong?" Jiang Dawei hesitated for a moment before voicing the doubt in his heart.

"Correct."

Wen Zhengming smiled proudly. "Back when my parents were young, they used to be in the same squad as Uncle Jiang and Uncle Lin. That is a bond forged in life and death!"

This was what you called background!

Jiang Dawei could not help sighing inwardly.

With parents who were powerhouses of the Green Star Stage or even the Blue Star Stage, it was only natural that many of their parents' friends were powerhouses of a similar cultivation level!

"One day, I, too, will become a powerhouse of the Green Star Stage!"

Jiang Dawei could not help looking forward to it with yearning. "Now only I am left of the Blazing Flame Squad. When I turn back, I must find another powerful martial artist squad to join, and then slowly develop my own network of connections."

...

On the other side.

Wang Jue remained hidden, not daring to move a muscle.

The sound of conversation drifted in from outside, and upon hearing it, it clearly belonged to the man surnamed Jiang.

"Both wolf kings have been dissected, right?"

"Let's go. Let's make thorough preparations. Our opponent this time is the Steel Tyrannosaurus! If it were any other Level 5 Star Beast—like the Magma Behemoth, White Jade Tiger, or Blazing Flame Lion—they would still be relatively easy to deal with!"

"However, the Steel Tyrannosaurus combines speed, defense, and power, and its physical structure has reached nearly freakish limits. Under normal circumstances, we truly wouldn't dare to provoke it. However, its egg-laying this time has caused it to be weakened, and at the same time, its strength is less than half of its prime. Without a doubt, this will be our best opportunity."

At this moment, the deep voice of the giant man surnamed Lin rang out: "All done, Brother Jiang."

"Good, let's set off!"

The next moment, a faint gust of wind arose, and then silence returned completely.

"Whew..."

Wang Jue peeked outside through a crack, and only after confirming that the two had walked far enough to be out of sight did his constantly taut nerves finally relax. "That Jiang Dawei is lucky this time. It seems I won't be able to kill him today."

Wang Jue knew very well that once Wen Zhengming and his group left the boundaries of this ruined city, his hunting operation would essentially be over.

"Forget it. That young man has too much backing; it's better not to take the risk! At worst, I'll just wait until I encounter Jiang Dawei again in the wilderness zone next time."

Wang Jue instantly made up his mind, though a trace of curiosity surfaced in his eyes.

He truly wanted to witness what kind of spectacle it would be for two powerhouses to hunt down a Level 5 Steel Tyrannosaurus whose strength was somewhat diminished after laying eggs.

Especially since it wasn't far away—just a little over thirty kilometers.

"No, I must go and see this battle no matter what."

Wang Jue's heart was itching intensely at this moment. If he missed such an unparalleled battle, he would truly be doing himself a disservice!

...

On the deserted ground where people had departed, massive monster corpses lay scattered, and a thick, pungent smell of blood permeated the air.

Because of the previous slaughter, other Star Beasts had not yet dared to approach.

This left the place in a state of brief silence.

At this moment, Wang Jue, who had been hiding in the corner of the first floor, pushed aside the wall and abruptly darted out from the widened gap.

Immediately afterward, under the control of his mental energy, the dagger lying in the grass flew back into Wang Jue's palm.

"Those two powerhouses will probably clash with the Steel Tyrannosaurus before long. I need to quickly find a good vantage point to watch the battle!"

Wang Jue glanced at the two colossal Gale Wolf corpses and shook his head with a sigh. "Sigh, those two powerhouses can truly be described as 'leaving not a single feather behind.' They actually dissected the wolf corpses so cleanly, taking away all the expensive materials. The remaining materials are probably worth even less than those of a Level 3 Star Beast."

Wang Jue had originally hoped to reap some benefits.

He never expected that not only did they eat the meat, but they drank the soup as well, leaving not a single drop for him.

Swish!

Wang Jue put away his lingering regret, his body transforming into a blurry figure as he rapidly sped away toward the north in the direction the two men had taken.

...

"Huh? Isn't the end of this direction the place the captain mentioned earlier that shouldn't be provoked?"

As he ran, Wang Jue scanned his surroundings incessantly while making a decision: "Could the overlord here be the Steel Tyrannosaurus? No, if this really is the territory of one of the suburban overlords, I mustn't get too close, nor can I stay too far away. It seems I must find a suitable and tall residential building!"

In this Star Beast city filled with reinforced concrete and steel, even Green Star Stage powerhouses did not dare to be overly arrogant.

Along the way, Wang Jue sometimes sprinted, sometimes stopped to scout, and sometimes evaded Star Beasts.

Overall, his speed remained very fast.

About two hours later.

Wang Jue finally found a suitable location lined with tall buildings.

The tallest buildings here stood at over thirty stories, numbering only four or five, while there were dozens or hundreds of buildings ranging from ten to over twenty stories.

Wang Jue dashed swiftly from the first floor all the way up to the thirty-sixth floor at the very top. Along the way, not a single Star Beast blocked his path, which actually saved him a lot of trouble.

"Click..."

Wang Jue arrived in front of a certain room door on the thirty-sixth floor, picked the door lock using his mental energy, and pushed the entire door open. "Not bad. Judging from the locked door, this place clearly hasn't been forcibly breached; perhaps no martial artists or Star Beasts have been here."

Then Wang Jue walked into the room and closed the door behind him.

Indeed, the items inside this room were arranged in an orderly fashion.

A glass display cabinet, sofa, rosewood dining table, ultra-large-screen liquid crystal television, and so on—everything was almost identical in style to his memories of the Earth era.

The only difference was that after the baptism of time, these objects had long since become mottled and dilapidated, and were practically scrap.

"Puff, puff."

Wang Jue found a relatively well-preserved air-conditioning quilt from one of the rooms, held it up, and shook it vigorously to clear away the dust before running straight to the balcony.

Looking at the intact glass pane in front of him, which was so obscured by dust that the outside world could not be clearly seen, Wang Jue wiped the glass on the balcony with the quilt, only to find that while the inside became clean, the outside remained untouched.

Having no other choice, he simply opened the glass window.

"Tsk tsk tsk... What a rare and magnificent view."

Wang Jue looked outward immediately: "Standing here, the lair of the Steel Tyrannosaurus ahead is practically in full view."

Casually tossing the useless quilt aside, Wang Jue leaned against the railing and gazed down into the distance toward a spot five kilometers away.

He saw that the area was shrouded in mist as usual, completely veiling the core Star Beast lair so that the interior could not be seen with the naked eye.

However, since it was daytime, under the illumination of the purple sunlight, visual visibility was much higher than usual.