Chapter 1 Beasts

Wild beasts prowled near Green Valley Town, constantly plaguing the settlement. Before Han Xiao's arrival, Bashas had used meager supplies to entice players to hunt them, which led him to discover something strange. Each time the drifters went hunting, they returned with their prey intact, without a single casualty. Later, he noticed a startling fact: these drifters seemed to possess the ability to revive, not truly dying.

This discovery shocked Bashas. He wouldn't be surprised if one person had the ability to revive, but a group of people was unbelievable. Could abilities be contagious? Like the werebears in myths, whose saliva carried contaminating genes, turning ordinary people into their own kind with a bite?

Through observation, Bashas found that they were easily satisfied with small favors, and his mind began to race.

"If I can win over these strange drifters to become my subordinates, with their ability to revive, no enemy can defeat me, and I won't have to fear the Black Pine people anymore."

Although the drifters all possessed the ability to revive, their individual combat strength was weak. Bashas had inquired about their origins, but the answers he received were meaningless babble, no one could give a coherent explanation. Bashas was conflicted about this, but it didn't matter much; he only wanted to use the drifters as cannon fodder, so their origins weren't important. He decided not to delve into it for now and prepared to buy them over on a large scale.

However, before he could act, Black Phantom arrived and was immediately popular with the drifters, causing Bashas to become wary.

Did Black Phantom come specifically for these drifters? Did he also know about their special abilities?

Black Phantom was not someone to be trifled with, so Bashas decided to wait and see. But an accident occurred: the beast packs living nearby attacked the town.

Beast packs swarmed from the forest, covering the mountains and plains, and the ground rumbled.

Led by Grey Nightmare Wolves, with fur ashen-black as a whole, the size of wild oxen, there were also thick Purple Scale Pythons, a dozen meters long, weaving through the wolf packs.

Beast tides were common in the wild, a disaster every settlement had to face. Bashas didn't hesitate to order the town to be sealed off, instructing the soldiers to operate machine guns on the walls, resisting the beast packs from a high position. The players, left camping outside the town, became a buffer zone, and Bashas was glad to have these drifters as cannon fodder.

Adult Grey Nightmare Wolves were around level twenty, charging into the crowd, tearing and killing, able to kill a player with two or three bites.

[You have triggered the emergency mission [Defend Green Valley Town]!]

Not only the players, but even Grand Technician Han received the emergency mission, the reward being a newbie standard of only a few thousand experience points. Han Xiao watched the players fighting the beast packs with great interest.

Bashas noticed that Han Xiao had somehow climbed onto the wall and was watching the battlefield below with a calm demeanor. Bashas felt a chill in his heart. For Black Phantom to quietly climb the wall under the gaze of so many people meant that he could easily approach him. As expected of a Dark Net meritorious assassin, his actions were silent, and he appeared and disappeared unpredictably.

The players defended Green Valley Town, fighting back with all their might. The scene was bloody, but fortunately, they had the support of the town's machine guns. The light and sound of gunfire never ceased, otherwise, players of this level would have been routed at the first touch. Han Xiao paid attention to the players' performance. At this time, Green Valley Town only had players of two main classes: Esper and Mechanic.

He saw many Espers, enhancing their physical qualities with super strength, endurance, or speed, rapid self-healing, and specialized elemental manipulation, such as gathering rocks to form armor. All sorts of strange abilities, though all low-level applications and lacking endurance, still managed to injure some Grey Nightmare Wolves. Only the Esper players performed slightly better.

The beast packs and players fought each other, the battlefield was chaotic, and some players recorded the battle of the beast tide and posted it on the forums.

Han Xiao narrowed his eyes, got up, and jumped off the wall, deciding to quickly resolve the battle.

Activating the electromagnetic skates, his feet felt like he was stepping on a slippery patch of ice. Han Xiao suddenly leaped into the battlefield, darting through like a black bolt of lightning, heading straight for a smaller Grey Nightmare Wolf. This wolf was very old, its fur sparse; it was the leader of the wolf pack. Han Xiao had spotted it while observing the battlefield.

To deal with the beast packs, Han Xiao didn't plan to use a sniper rifle, which lacked area-of-effect damage. He also had limited ammunition, so he wanted to save as much as possible. He could try out his level fifty skills, and even though he was a Mechanic, he could crush these level twenty beasts with his physical abilities alone.

Beast tides were a common disaster on Aquamarine Star. If it were a vast, endless beast tide, he wouldn't be so presumptuous; being trapped in a beast pack alone was dangerous, subject to frequent attacks every moment.

The beast tide Green Valley Town encountered was small in scale, only a thousand or so wolves and snakes. Han Xiao had confidence and dared to show off his skills.

Several more robust Grey Nightmare Wolves surrounded the wolf king, acting as its personal guards. The old Grey Nightmare Wolf King roared at Han Xiao, and these guards immediately pounced.

Huge claws slammed toward him. Han Xiao covered himself in magnetic-controlled armor, raising his arms to meet the attacks head-on. Loud bangs echoed, and a ring of dust kicked up under his feet, as he withstood the blows from the Grey Nightmare Wolf claws, four or five times his size.

His strength reached sixty-nine points, far higher than that of a level twenty Grey Nightmare Wolf. His fingers gripped the Grey Nightmare Wolf's claws, digging into its flesh, and he forcefully threw the Grey Nightmare Wolf behind him. The ground was smashed into a small pit by the huge wolf body, and the wolf emitted a painful whimper.

The players who saw this scene felt a jolt in their hearts. It was like a dwarf performing an over-the-shoulder throw on a normal person, a very visually impactful scene.

Han Xiao experienced the power of his physical fitness, and his heart was filled with joy. His fists slammed heavily into the bodies of the Grey Nightmare Wolves, making thumping sounds. His strength penetrated their internal organs, each blow was a complete power crush. The approaching Grey Nightmare Wolves were sent flying, staggering to their feet before being knocked down again, with hideous purplish-blue bruises left on the hit areas.

The surrounding wolf pack swarmed over to protect the wolf king. Han Xiao's vision was filled with Grey Nightmare Wolves, impenetrable, with claws and teeth attacking from all directions, three hundred and sixty degrees without dead ends. Sparks flew as the scale-like magnetic-controlled extension armor was scratched, but it couldn't be breached. Han Xiao endured the force from all sides, making it difficult to move.

"It's not easy to carve a path of blood in the beast pack after all." Han Xiao's eyes flashed, and he directly activated the repulsor field drive. A strong thrust erupted from him as the center, sending all the surrounding wolves flying, knocking over more distant Grey Nightmare Wolves, who rolled to the ground together.

A clear path opened in front of him. Han Xiao hooked his toes, and the skates shot towards the wolf king at maximum power. The rapid wind brushed past his ears, and the distance disappeared in an instant. He casually blocked the wolf king's desperate bite, twisted the wolf's head with both hands, and slammed his knee into the wolf king's abdomen, pinning it to the ground. His left hand pressed down on the wolf's head, and his right hand clenched into a fist, pounding down, making dull thuds. The wolf's head rapidly deformed under the force of his powerful fists, and blood splattered.

He could feel the sense of power produced when his muscles, tendons, and bones stretched with each punch, accumulating a strong force like a drawn bowstring, giving him a sense of fulfillment of being able to control it with ease.

The wolf's vital point was in its abdomen, but Han Xiao just liked hitting the head.

After a few punches, the wolf king was barely breathing, not far from death. The wolf pack howled miserably, abandoning their original enemies and pouncing on him desperately, burying Han Xiao. A large group of wolves pressed down on him, like a small mountain. Han Xiao was pressed to the ground, with many wolves on top of him.

The stench and mustiness of the Grey Nightmare Wolves clearly entered his nose, and Han Xiao frowned, almost choking on the smell. His keen senses faithfully analyzed the components of the odor.

"Wolf musk, sweat, dirt, dried feces, and...ugh!"