High Martial Arts: Slay enemies to become stronger, forge invincibility from billions of corpses.

After Shen Yuan finished speaking, her gaze fell on Song Chen, and she looked him up and down. A slight smile appeared on her lips: "Little brother, running so far by yourself, aren't your family worried?"

Song Chen said expressionlessly, "You don't need to worry about that."

Shen Yuan chuckled lightly, not continuing her teasing, but her beautiful peach blossom eyes kept lingering on him, as if she were looking at something interesting.

The fourth and fifth people came together.

The two men, both around twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old, were wearing similar dark blue combat suits with the same emblem embroidered on their chests.

"Liu Dong, a second-tier martial artist, with 48 Qi and Blood." The older one spoke first, with a square face and a serious expression.

"Liu west, a second-tier martial artist, with 46 Qi and Blood." The younger one followed up, looking six or seven parts like his brother, but with a hint of arrogance between his brows.

"From Tianjian Security?" Zhao Hu glanced at the insignia on their chests.

Liu Dong nodded: "Yes."

"My brother and I were previously on security missions in Dongyuan Base City. This time, we took on an escort mission to the border outpost. On our way back, we heard that there was a heavily injured Tier 3 alien beast here, so we came here on the way."

Zhao Hu scanned the room to make sure everyone had finished their introductions, then squatted down and took out a hand-drawn map from his backpack, spreading it on the ground.

"Alright, let's get down to business."

He drew a circle on the map with his finger: "The Azure Viper's lair is in the underground water pool of the former chemical plant in the eastern part of Linchuan."

"Three days ago, a five-person hunting team discovered it and attempted to attack it, but three of them were killed and the remaining two escaped with serious injuries."

"According to the information provided by the escapees, this viper python had previously fought with another third-tier beast, the Ironback Bear, for territory. Both sides were severely injured, and the python's abdomen was torn open, and its venom glands were damaged. It has not yet recovered."

Zhao Hu raised his head, his gaze sharpening: "But be careful... a severely injured peak third-tier fighter is still a peak third-tier fighter, and none of us can fight them alone."

Liu west curled his lip: "Brother Zhao, are you really that nervous about six of us fighting a half-dead snake?"

Zhao Hu wasn't angry; he just looked at him calmly and said, "Do you know how strong the Azure Scale Viper is in its prime? With a flick of its tail, it can exert a force of over eighty tons."

"Its venom can kill a second-tier martial artist in three seconds, and its movement speed in its underground lair is faster than our running speed on flat ground."

Liu west's smile froze for a moment.

Zhao Hu withdrew his gaze: "Therefore, I need everyone to understand their own position and to restrain me head-on. My defense is the highest, and my health is also the strongest."

"Zhou Yuan, you are responsible for spreading poison around the battlefield to restrict the viper's movement space, and use hidden weapons whenever you have the chance."

"Shen Yuan, your wind-based ability is mainly used to interfere with its perception, while also accelerating everyone else's speed."

"Liu Dong and Liu west, you brothers are responsible for flanking attacks, specifically targeting the wounds on its abdomen."

He issued each instruction cleanly and efficiently, clearly demonstrating his extensive experience in leading teams.

Then he looked at Song Chen.

"Song Chen...you have the lowest Qi and blood, and your experience is probably also the lowest...You are responsible for observing from the outside. If the viper tries to escape or change direction, you are responsible for intercepting and issuing warnings. You don't need to confront it head-on, just keep it occupied."

This arrangement sounds reasonable, putting the weakest people in the safest jobs.

But Song Chen understood another meaning.

Zhao Hu was unsure of his background, so he placed him on the periphery, where he could play a role without disrupting the rhythm of the core battle.

If he performs well on the periphery, then we can consider adjusting his role; if he performs poorly, at least he won't harm others.

This is the judgment of a seasoned hunter.

Song Chen had no objection and nodded: "Okay."

Zhao Hu withdrew his gaze with satisfaction and began to deploy the specific tactical details.

Shen Yuan, having somehow moved next to Song Chen, chuckled in a low voice, "Zhao Hu wants you to fight for the outer perimeter, aren't you going to try? The outer perimeter has the lowest loot distribution coefficient, you know."

Song Chen glanced at her sideways.

Up close, Shen Yuan's features became clearer; she had long eyelashes and light amber eyes, like those of some kind of feline.

"It doesn't matter."

Shen Yuan blinked, seemingly surprised by such a bland response.

She stared at Song Chen for two seconds, then suddenly leaned closer, her nostrils twitching slightly as if she were smelling something.

Her tone carried a hint of confusion: "Your blood and qi..."

"You're only 35, but I feel like there's something off about the psionic energy fluctuations around you?"

Song Chen's heart skipped a beat; this woman's perception was incredibly sharp.

Superhumans typically possess significantly higher mental strength than martial artists of the same level, and their sensitivity to psychic energy far surpasses that of ordinary people.

He was trying to suppress it, but she still caught a hint of something amiss.

"He probably just broke through recently, and his qi and blood are still unstable," Song Chen said without changing his expression.

Shen Yuan stared at him for several seconds, then suddenly smiled, a smile that carried a profound meaning of "I see through it but won't say it".

"Alright, little brother."

She reached out and patted him on the shoulder, her fingertips lingering on his shoulder for a moment, seemingly unintentionally. "Then I'll keep a close eye on you later, lest you die out there."

After saying that, she turned around and walked back to her seat, her steps as light as a breeze.

At this moment, Zhao Hu closed the map: "Did you all understand?"

Everyone responded enthusiastically.

"Set off."

Six figures leaped out of the ruins and advanced southeastward along the abandoned street.

Zhao Hu walked ahead, his pace neither fast nor slow, but each step was on relatively solid ground, avoiding soft gravel and puddles.

Song Chen didn't know why before, but after spending so much time in the wilderness, he understood.

The strange beasts like to ambush near water sources, and traveling by land is ten times safer than traveling by water.

Every few minutes, Zhou Yuan would look up at the sky to observe the direction of the psionic particles' flow.

Psionic particles form faint vortices in areas where high-level alien beasts gather. These vortices are invisible to the naked eye, but experienced martial artists can sense them.

The Liu brothers' marching method was the simplest: they stood back to back, taking turns on guard duty.

Liu Dong looked to the left front, and Liu west looked to the right front. The two of them were like a precise machine, leaving no blind spots.

Shen Yuan walked ahead of Song Chen; her wind-based superpower made her extremely sensitive to changes in the surrounding airflow.

Song Chen silently watched their actions, even memorizing the parts he didn't understand.

These experiences cannot be learned in martial arts schools, nor can they be learned from textbooks; he believes they will definitely be useful.

After walking carefully for about an hour, a forest of dead trees appeared ahead.

It was formed fifty years ago after the city's green belt mutated. The trees had long since died, but the trunks did not rot. Instead, they hardened into grayish-white fossilized wood, densely packed together, forming a natural barrier.

The highway cuts through a forest of dead trees, the road surface covered with fallen branches, and the tree trunks on both sides look like rows of gray-white skeletons, casting distorted shadows in the dim light of the psionic particles.

Zhao Hu stopped and frowned.

"What's wrong?" Liu Dong asked.

Zhao Hu stared at the withered forest for a long time: "This road... according to the map, it should be the fastest route, but I always feel that something is not right."