Chapter 163: The Trials of Xyl (Part-28)

Not far from Lin Fang, Nianxi kept watch with tense shoulders and sharp eyes.

When the undead beast finally halted on Lin Fang’s unspoken command and dipped its head, she hopped down lightly and went straight to work.

One by one, she knelt beside the ruined Babirusa bodies, pried open rib cages with quick, practiced movements, and slipped the glowing spirit cores into her pouch.

Blood soaked her boots and streaked her gloves, but her hands never shook.

When she finished, she wiped her palm against her robe, looked up at the pale sky, and then climbed back up the side of the undead monster.

“Fang-ge… Fang-ge,” she called softly, shaking his shoulder.

Lin Fang stirred with a low grunt and rolled onto his back, squinting against the morning light that filtered through the canopy.

*Ugh*

He stretched slowly, joints popping as if he were rising from a real bed instead of a mountain of bones.

*Ding!

The holographic screen was still floating beside him, crowded with notifications and numbers.

He blinked at it in confusion for a moment, then let out a lazy yawn and swiped it aside with the back of his hand. “Already morning?” he muttered, voice rough with sleep.

Nianxi nodded, brushing dirt from her sleeves. “Less than three hours until the trial ends. If we don’t head to the safe zone now, we won’t make submission in time.”

Lin Fang pushed himself upright and sat on the edge of the skull, legs dangling over the empty eye socket of the undead anaconda. He looked at her for a second, then gave a brief nod. “Right. I forgot about that.” His lips curved faintly. “You still need your badge.”

She blinked, caught off guard for a moment, then nodded hard. “Yeah. I do.”

At his silent command, the giant undead beast shifted direction and began sliding forward again, this time angling toward the distant safe zone.

As the forest rolled past beneath them, Lin Fang summoned his character interface with a thought.

The numbers rose into view, sharp and clean.

Net worth: 2.2 million coins.

He stared at it for a moment, then let out a low breath that almost sounded like a laugh. “2.2 million… not credits but coins…”

Thirty hours of near-constant carnage, and he had pulled in more than 750,000 coins without even lifting his blade most of the time.

The anaconda had done the killing, the system had done the counting, and he had simply guided the flow like a silent conductor.

His gaze drifted toward Nianxi, who sat near the edge of the monster’s head with her pouch resting in her lap.

Earlier, without a word asked, she had handed him every single spirit core she had collected during the night. No hesitation. No excuses. Not one hidden aside.

At the time, he had only nodded and taken them, but the gesture lingered with him now more than the numbers ever could. In this wilderness filled with betrayal, bargains, and blood, simple honesty felt rarer than any mythical drop.

“Kid, get some rest,” he said quietly after a moment. “You’re done for now.”

She hesitated, then slowly leaned back against a ridge of bone and closed her eyes, exhaustion finally catching up to her. The undead anaconda continued its silent march toward the safe zone, carrying them both through the waking forest as the final countdown began.

When the safe zone was within 5 kilometers away, Lin Fang dismissed the Undead Ananconda as it was too big and instead carried Nianxi on his back and flew.

And soon, Lin Fang gently descended from the sky and set his feet on solid ground just outside the safe zone.

He loosened his grip so Nianxi could slide down his back, her boots touching the earth with a soft crunch.

Beyond the security barrier, the safe zone was already alive with movement.

Dawn light spilled over rows of tents, steel watchtowers, and long prefab buildings that served as cafeterias, infirmaries, and supply depots.

The smell of hot food drifted through the air, mixing with the sharper scent of metal and disinfectant.

Soldiers moved in neat lines between posts, while exhausted hunters sat at outdoor tables with steaming cups in their hands, some laughing softly, some staring into space after a long, brutal night.

Lin Fang and Nianxi passed through the checkpoint without delay.

A pair of soldiers scanned their IDs, glanced at their condition, and waved them in.

The sudden feeling of safety hit harder than any monster attack.

The tension in Lin Fang’s shoulders loosened on its own, and even Nianxi’s steps lightened as they walked deeper inside.

At the reporting desk near the center of the zone, a long line of hunters had already formed, each clutching dimensional bags heavy with heads and cores. Lin Fang tilted his head toward it. “Go submit,” he told her calmly. “I’ll be right behind you.”

Nianxi nodded, hesitating only for a second before weaving into the line.

As she walked, she glanced back once, curiosity bright in her tired eyes, then turned forward again. Lin Fang watched her disappear into the crowd before turning toward the familiar voice that had called out to him.

“Brother Lin… Lin Fang!”

He turned to see Wang Jie waving enthusiastically, Anne standing beside him with the two direwolf pups at her feet.

Both wolves recognized Lin Fang instantly. They bounded forward with soft yelps, tails whipping the air as they jumped against his legs.

Lin Fang laughed quietly and crouched down, rubbing their ears and the tops of their heads. Their warm breath fogged against his hands as they leaned into him, completely unbothered by the chaos of the safe zone around them.

“You two made it,” Lin Fang said, glancing up at Wang Jie and Anne.

Wang Jie’s grin was wide and relaxed in a way it hadn’t been back in the wilderness. He reached into his pocket and proudly pulled out a slim silver card, holding it up between two fingers. “Submitted already. Look at this. Silver class.”

Anne reached into her own pouch and held up a dull bronze card with a shy smile. “Bronze for me. It’s enough to graduate,” she said softly.

Lin Fang nodded in approval. “Well done.”

Wang Jie scratched the back of his head, still smiling. “Honestly, it felt unreal. We just kept finding bodies in the forest. Whole packs taken down, heads left behind like they were trash. All we had to do was collect. If not for that expert… we wouldn’t even qualify.”

Anne then narrowed her eyes in suspicion, staring at him, “That person wasn’t you, right? It kinda fits your MO, leaving the dead bodies and collecting the spirit cores…”

Lin Fang met both his and Anne’s gazes without dodging them. His tone stayed calm. “Some of them might be. Not all, though. I mostly hunt only for cores, meat, and herbs. Points don’t mean much to me.”

Anne let out a slow breath she didn’t realize she was holding. “That explains it…”

Lin Fang nodded, but his attention drifted.

His eyes lost focus on the busy safe zone and slid into the distance as something sharp struck his thoughts, remembering something from his own words.

Damn it… I really forgot about the mines. The words rang in his head with clear frustration. So many days in the wilderness, so many danger zones crossed, and not once did he seriously search for mana ore veins. All that potential wealth, just… gone.

Alpha’s voice answered him immediately. “Coins were your priority, Kiddo. And you achieved that goal faster than expected. If your attention was scattered, you would not be standing here with so many coins…”

Lin Fang closed his eyes for a brief second and exhaled through his nose. “That’s true, though,” he admitted inwardly. “But I could have sent a monster companion to search for a mine.”

“Nah, some hunter might kill them, taking it for a wild monster,” As Alpha argued, Lin Fang didn’t counter again. He stayed silent.

Alpha’s tone shifted slightly, lower, more restrained as it added an afterthought. “However, I do not like that creature benefiting from your success.”

Lin Fang didn’t respond right away. He watched a stretcher pass by with an injured hunter groaning softly, military medics walking briskly on both sides. The reality of everything he’d gained and lost pressed down on him at the same time.

“Fighting between you two won’t fix anything,” he said at last. “You know I had to split my mana core and cut my usable reserves in half just to stop that mess. Whether you like it or not, you have to work together as colleagues.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep