The white fox, mid-rant, suddenly stopped herself. What had she just said?
Lightning strike?
Oh right—wasn't the Dragon Emperor's ability fire? How did it become lightning?
Searching through her memories, the white fox nodded in sudden realization. When the Four Emperors first rose to fame, the power the Dragon Emperor had displayed was indeed lightning. It only became fire later on.
The official explanation for this was never released, but some speculated it had to do with the Flame Dragon Armor.
In other words, the Dragon Emperor did possess the power to control thunder—he had simply grown accustomed to using fire because of his transformation into the Flame Dragon Armor.
So his transformation into the Flame Dragon Armor was when the Dragon Emperor was at his strongest, and fire was his most proficient element. Yet her fragment at seventy percent power had been easily killed by the Dragon Emperor when he hadn't even transformed into the Flame Dragon Warrior and hadn't used fire?
And it seemed like it had only taken a single strike...
An expression of disbelief crossed the white fox's face, as if she were looking at a monster. She had thought her own strength was considerable. With soul fragments helping her cultivate, her rate of growth was no worse than anyone's. She had assumed that even the Four Emperors would only be able to match her at best. But the gap seemed to be just a tiny bit larger than she had imagined.
She felt a sense of urgency. But if you asked her to go cultivate right now, she absolutely wouldn't be willing.
Oh well. Strong is strong. It's not like I was planning to abandon my human identity anyway.
After saying this to herself, the white fox yawned, lazily sprawled on the ground, closed her eyes, and transferred her consciousness into her human body.
"Website open."
"Click on Armor Hero!"
"Snacks ready."
"Drinks prepared."
"Woo-hoo, let's go!"
By now, the Spirit Energy Bureau's rescue team had arrived. They examined Qingmu and Uncle Gou on the ground, as well as the three frozen ability users. Thanks to the pills Skyler had given them, Qingmu and Uncle Gou were fine—just unconscious.
The other three ability users had faint life signs, but at least they were still alive.
"So it's those five."
Liu Suifeng swept a glance over them and nodded.
"You know them?"
Skyler asked with some surprise. Did these five have some connection to the authorities?
"You could say we're acquainted."
"You spend most of your time cultivating, so there's a lot you don't know."
"Besides the Spirit Energy Bureau and the military, there's actually another faction among the civilians—one that's officially recognized."
"Mercenary groups. Or you could call them hunters."
"They like freedom. They don't like being constrained. They also dislike our official management system."
"On top of that, there really are quite a lot of mutant beasts. We can't possibly go out into the wilderness to hunt them on a large scale. So that's how this faction came to be."
"Mutant beast meat is very popular on the market. Eating it can speed up cultivation and improve your constitution. If the meat's attributes align with your own ability, it can even slightly enhance your innate talent—though that depends heavily on luck. I've never gotten that benefit myself."
"Prices vary based on the concentration of spiritual energy in the meat. Even the most ordinary cuts go for over a hundred yuan per jin. The expensive ones can reach tens of thousands. The market's there, so there's no worry about not being able to sell."
"The profits involved naturally attract countless people."
"And so these teams of ability users started appearing. As long as they register their information with the Spirit Energy Bureau and demonstrate basic hunting capabilities, they can obtain clearance to hunt in the wilderness."
"This particular squad isn't the best among those teams, but they're one of the more memorable ones."
"Because of their unique codenames."
At this point, Liu Suifeng's expression turned slightly strange.
"Take this one with the codename 'Qingmu.' Anyone who didn't know better would easily assume his ability is wood-element, or at least something related to healing. But his ability is actually the sharpest and hardest element—metal."
"Uncle Gou here wields a giant axe. We all assumed his ability was beast-type wolf. At the very least, it should've been an actual dog. Turns out it's a cat..."
"That girl there—her codename is Ruoshui. Water-element, right? Wrong. She has a support-type ability that conceals presence."
"Yinguang—fast, right? His beast-type ability is related to turtles. Strong defense. He's a tank."
"Yusheng. Their captain. Fire-type ability."
Liu Suifeng smacked his lips. Normally, when people chose codenames, they were at least somewhat related to their abilities. But this group... it wasn't that their names were completely unrelated, but they had absolutely nothing to do with their actual powers.
If someone went in with preconceptions, they could easily get blindsided.
Of course, this only applied when their opponents were human.
One shouldn't harbor thoughts of harming others, but one must always guard against being harmed.
In this era, the vast majority of humans targeted mutant beasts. But there would always be a small handful of people with something wrong in their heads, madly dragging others down.
He could understand why they did it.
After all, with 1.4 billion people, if there weren't a few screwed-up individuals, he might actually think he was living in paradise.
Skyler nodded after listening, then said to Liu Suifeng:
"I'll leave them to you. I need to keep practicing my abilities."
"Kill a bunch. We'll make hot pot tonight when you get back."
Liu Suifeng grinned as he spoke.
"Got it."
Skyler headed deeper into the wilderness. As he ventured further, he occasionally encountered other mercenary teams.
They wielded weapons—some even firearms and artillery—coordinating their attacks against the mutant beasts before them. After killing a beast, they would skillfully begin butchering its hide, bones, and flesh, separating everything into different portions for storage.
The heavier, less valuable organs were buried on the spot, though not before sprinkling some unknown yellow powder over them to prevent the scent from spreading.
Most teams would pack up and leave quickly after killing a single mutant beast. They weren't particularly strong—some were just ordinary people who had awakened abilities, relying on firearms and artillery rented from the Spirit Energy Bureau to kill their prey.
After eliminating one, the tension would drain from their bodies. Continuing on might actually lead them into danger.
Only a few, after finishing off their first target, would begin searching in other directions. These were almost always people confident in their own strength.
But regardless of which type they were, or what their reasons might be—as long as they were hunting mutant beasts, they were contributing to the nation and its people.
It was precisely because of their hunting that more people could be spared from the dangers these mutant creatures posed.
When they chose to become mercenaries or hunters, they must have considered this. Profit was only one factor for them—not enough on its own to make them face danger head-on and step into this place. More than anything, they probably wanted to do their part for China.
That was what Skyler thought to himself.
— End of Chapter —