On the dragon's head, Qin Shou raised his hand and glanced at the communicator.
[Yu Shusheng: I've requested reinforcements from the Federation Main City. The Beast Tide will be repelled within a week at most.]
Seeing this message, Qin Shou felt a slight sense of relief.
Good, as long as the Beast Tide can be dealt with; otherwise, he'd truly have to risk his life to return to the city.
If West City couldn't hold off the Beast Tide, everyone would die!
Including his parents!
Thinking about this, he looked at the few people behind him and asked, "Did you all receive the message?
If we can hold on for one week, we'll be able to return to the city safely."
Lin Xiaomei and the others nodded; the message had been sent to communicators of all personnel outside the city.
A week—let's hope we can endure until then!
At this moment, beneath the greedy snake, there was also a crowd of monsters frantically running.
The Skeleton Giant Lizard left nothing alive in its path and naturally wouldn't spare these monsters either.
Because of this, the fleeing monsters just buried their heads and escaped, wasting no time fighting each other.
In the sky above, numerous flying monsters distanced themselves from the Skeleton Giant Lizard group.
The territories of these flying monsters were lower in altitude, making their nests easily destroyed by the Skeleton Giant Lizards.
Flying monsters get tired, too—they also need places to rest.
Helplessly, they could only flee.
Soon, Qin Shou also spotted a large group of Winged Dragons escaping.
It was clear that their territory had just been taken over by the Skeleton Giant Lizards.
"Awooo…"
A deep wolf howl suddenly sounded. Qin Shou instinctively looked down to see a massive silver wolf leading a wolf pack at a gallop.
The Killing Wolf group!
"Well, well, an old familiar wolf!"
Qin Shou's face curved into a smile. Even a Horror-level monster, under the overwhelming threat of the endless Skeleton Giant Lizards, had no choice but to escape with its tail tucked.
Gradually, as time passed, he finally saw humans hunting outside the city for the first time during this outing.
On one end of a beast group, a Beast Ability Master with flaming wings on his back was flying low, constantly keeping an eye out for aerial monsters.
On the ground beneath him, a Beast Tamer rode a Red Hare Beast at a speed no slower than most flying monsters.
Ahead of Qin Shou, a giant bird carried several cultivators, but its speed was average, quickly surpassed by Qin Shou's Dragon Beast.
"Roar!"
As the greedy snake brushed past the giant bird, the people on the bird's back stared at Qin Shou and the others on the greedy snake's back with amazement.
"It's a Dragon Beast!"
"A Beast Tamer able to cultivate a Dragon Beast, and so young—truly enviable!"
"Indeed, this Dragon Beast can fly so fast even without wings. How on earth was it cultivated…"
As they debated, the greedy snake had already surged ahead by thousands of meters.
…
The stinking swamp.
"Boom!!"
A giant crocodile over ten meters long crashed into the swampy mud, the horrifying wound on its forehead gushing blood like a fountain, dyeing a section of the swamp red.
"Whimper…"
The Rotating Blade on Storm Red's right arm slowly came to a halt. Fang Bao leaped out of the cockpit, opened his wristwatch space, and stored the crocodile's corpse inside.
"Haha, this swamp is smelly, sure, but there are no particularly strong monsters here. It's truly a perfect grinding spot."
Fang Bao clapped his hands, calculating his monster kills.
"Hmm… Four monsters at Danger Level 8 in total, roughly one million Federation Coins—enough for the mecha maintenance fees for the next two months."
Fang Bao let out a satisfied smile.
Not only do kids from poor families have to grow up early, but rich kids don't have it easy either.
Think of me, Fang Bao—gifted by nature, a generational talent—and yet I personally go out hunting monsters to earn money for mecha maintenance fees. I'm working so hard!
What second-generation rich kid can compare to me, Fang Bao?
Haha, I'm amazing!
Just as he was thinking this, a horde of panic-stricken monsters suddenly rushed into the swamp, startling him.
"What's going on?"
In his daze, more and more monsters flooded into the swamp, scaring him into scrambling back into the cockpit and activating the mecha to take off.
"Boom!"
Energy jets underneath Storm Red fired, launching it high into the sky.
"Beep beep… A large number of monsters detected ahead. Possible Beast Tide—urgent retreat recommended!"
As the warning sounded, Fang Bao let out a shriek and instantly steered the mecha backward.
The Beast Tide was no joke—if this mecha broke down too, he'd really be left with only one, two, three, four…
He'd truly be left with only five Storm Reds!
Inside the cockpit, Fang Bao paid extra attention to his surroundings, afraid that a monster or enemy mecha would suddenly ambush him.
"Roar!"
Suddenly, a Dragon Beast off in the distance caught his attention.
Zooming in, he could see several people riding on the Dragon Beast's back.
"Huh, aren't those two the Beast Tamers from earlier?"
Fang Bao spotted Hong Cong and Ye Ning, smiled, and laughed.
What luck—running into these unlucky folks again.
…
Meanwhile, on the dragon's head, Qin Shou glanced at the airborne Storm Red and smirked slightly.
What luck—running into this fool again.
Still, this guy is truly rich. Is this his third mecha now?
At that moment, Hong Cong also noticed the mecha and pointed at the nearby Storm Red, his eyes filled with rage.
"Look over there—it's Storm Red 9527!"
Lin Xiaomei frowned as she noticed Storm Red, saying, "Don't cause trouble right now."
"But…"
"But what? Your Beast Tamer is near its limit. How would you avenge yourself?" Long Xia sneered.
"I…"
Hong Cong deflated, saying, "Fine, I'll yield."
Right at that moment, Storm Red roared closer to the greedy snake, and a mocking voice came from its cockpit.
"Hey, bro, your Dragon Beast looks pretty good!"
Qin Shou smiled inexplicably and replied, "It's alright. I'm also quite pleased with your Storm Red."
In the cockpit, Fang Bao heard this and looked stunned.
Who talks like this? This is my Storm Red—what are you pleased about?!
Thinking this, he pouted. Storm Red fired up all its engines, accelerating rapidly and eventually leaving the greedy snake far behind.
See? Your Dragon Beast isn't faster than my mecha…
On the greedy snake's back, Hong Cong stared at Storm Red's retreating figure, gnashing his teeth.
…
Night fell.
At last, Qin Shou and the others dismounted from the greedy snake. From a distance, they could see the moonlit city ruins, now blanketed by layers of green vegetation.
Rather than calling it a city, describing it as a forest seemed more accurate.
Looking back, they saw the Beast Tide split into two, with the monsters opting to go around the city ruins, seemingly apprehensive.
"Strange—could it be that those monsters smelled the aura of a Nightmare-level being and dared not approach the city ruins?" Long Xia wondered aloud.
Lin Xiaomei hesitated before replying, "That's probably it!"
Qin Shou stroked his chin. "If that's the case, does that mean there aren't other monsters in the ruins apart from that Nightmare-level one?"
Lin Xiaomei shook her head. "Not necessarily. While few people venture into the ruins, it's said there are plenty of monsters within."
"'Said'? Fifty-six point nine random facts?" Long Xia asked.
Lin Xiaomei nodded. "Exactly. My guess is that the monsters in the ruins are likely under the Nightmare-level monster's command, which is why they aren't deterred by its powerful aura.
As for the external monsters, they haven't received permission and naturally wouldn't dare step foot here."
As soon as she finished speaking, distant flashes of light flickered from the forested ruins, followed by several booming noises echoing across.
Qin Shou chuckled. "Alright, since someone's drawing fire for us, let's pick a different direction to enter the city ruins."