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

The atmosphere in the room was subtle.

Zhao Hu sat by the window, tending to the wound on his leg while glancing in Song Chen's direction from time to time.

His gaze lingered on Song Chen's backpack several times, each time for no more than two seconds, before quickly shifting away.

Zhou Yuan sat next to Zhao Hu, his movements were quiet, but his eyes kept moving, from Song Chen's backpack to Zhao Hu's face, then to the Liu brothers, and finally back to Song Chen's backpack.

The Liu brothers, Dong and west, sat in another corner of the room.

Shen Yuan sat by the door, leaning against the door frame, toying with the silver dagger in her hand.

The silence lasted for about ten minutes.

Then Zhou Yuan spoke.

"Song Chen".

Song Chen opened her eyes and looked at him: "What's wrong?"

Zhou Yuan forced a smile. "That blue stone... is the one you said might be an S-grade treasure, right?"

Song Chen didn't answer, she just looked at him.

Zhou Yuan's smile froze for a moment, but he continued, "We owe our survival to you, we all acknowledge that, but that stone was something we all found together, and you were the only one carrying it..."

He didn't finish his sentence, but the meaning was already quite clear.

Song Chen looked at Zhou Yuan expressionlessly, then he stood up.

His movements were neither fast nor slow, but the moment he stood up, the atmosphere in the entire room suddenly froze.

He didn't speak, but simply placed his right hand on the hilt of the Thunderclap Blade on his back.

But this single action caused Zhou Yuan's voice to catch in his throat.

The silver hilt gleamed coldly in the dim light of the psionic particles. Song Chen's fingers gripped the top of the guard, his knuckles slightly white.

He didn't release any killing intent, nor did he use any of his vital energy, but everyone remembered the carnage that this knife had committed in the deadwood forest less than an hour earlier.

Zhou Yuan's expression changed. He opened his mouth, as if to say something, but it was as if something was stuck in his throat, and he couldn't utter a single word.

Song Chen's gaze swept over everyone in the room.

Zhao Hu lowered his head and stopped looking at his backpack. Liu Dong shifted his gaze to the floor, and Liu west simply closed his eyes.

"I killed the snake, I cleared out the snake swarm, and I took a risk to get my hands on this thing."

"I've taken the snake's core and the blue crystal. The rest of the snake skin, bones, venom glands, fangs, and those hundreds of cores on the ground are all yours."

His gaze fell on Zhou Yuan.

"You have at least twenty second-tier crystal cores in your possession. Adding the share of the snake skin and bones, you should have made a fortune of tens of millions on this trip."

Zhou Yuan's lips twitched.

Song Chen then looked at the others: "You guys have also gained quite a bit, haven't you? Don't forget, I was the one who put in the most effort this time."

"I'll take what I'm entitled to, and you take what you're entitled to. Anyone who thinks it's unfair can say so now."

The room was so quiet that you could hear the faint sound of psionic particles drifting past the windowpane.

Zhou Yuan finally spoke up: "I didn't mean that, I was just... asking casually."

Song Chen didn't reply. He sat back down in the corner, leaned against the wall, and closed his eyes to recover his strength.

The atmosphere in the room eased somewhat, but the subtle tension remained.

Time passed by, second by second.

About an hour later, everyone's strength had recovered.

Zhao Hu stood up and slung his backpack over his shoulder.

"I'm heading southwest to Cloudtop Base City. What about you?"

Zhou Yuan also stood up: "I'm heading north, back to our previous stronghold."

Liu Dong helped Liu west to his feet: "We'll head north too, back to the southeast base city to report back."

Zhao Hu nodded and looked at Song Chen: "And you?"

"Continue eastward."

Zhao Hu paused for a moment, then waved to him: "Be careful on the road."

Song Chen nodded: "You be careful too."

Zhao Hu turned and walked out of the room, and Zhou Yuan was the second to leave.

Liu Dong helped Liu west to the door. Liu west suddenly stopped, turned around and looked at Song Chen. His lips trembled a few times, and finally he managed to utter two words: "Thank you."

Song Chen glanced at him and nodded.

Liu west breathed a sigh of relief and turned to follow her brother out.

The two brothers' figures gradually disappeared into the distance in the dim light of the psionic particles.

Only Song Chen and Shen Yuan remained in the room.

Shen Yuan remained seated by the door, showing no intention of leaving.

Song Chen ignored her and began to organize his backpack, repacking his water bottle and dry rations, and checking the scabbard and straps of the Thunderclap Blade.

Shen Yuan looked at him for a while, then suddenly stood up, walked to Song Chen, squatted down, and looked him in the eye: "They've all left, so it's just us here."

"Um."

Aren't you going to ask me why I'm not leaving?

"I don't want to ask."

Shen Yuan smiled.

Her voice was very low: "Little brother, you're good in every way, except you're too cold."

Song Chen didn't respond and continued organizing her backpack.

Shen Yuan suddenly reached out and pressed down on his hand, which was tidying up his backpack.

Her hands were cold, her fingertips were slender, but her pressure was not light.

"The wilderness is so dangerous, are you sure you don't need a companion?"

Song Chen looked up at her.

Up close, Shen Yuan's features became even clearer.

She had long eyelashes, a straight nose, slightly pursed lips, and leaned slightly forward. The collar of her combat suit was slightly open, revealing a section of her fair collarbone.

Her intentions were obvious.

Song Chen looked at her expressionlessly: "Your superpower is wind-based."

Shen Yuan blinked, not expecting him to say that: "Yes."

"Wind-type ability users have high mental strength and strong perception."

"When you were in the Deadwood Forest, you sensed the snake's strength immediately, so you knew its true power from the beginning."

Shen Yuan's smile froze for a moment.

"You run very fast too; when you escaped from the deadwood forest, your speed was second only to mine."

Shen Yuan withdrew her fingers from his hand and sat up straight.

"So, you knew everything from the beginning, but you just didn't say anything."

Shen Yuan was silent for two seconds, then she laughed: "Aren't you the same? You have supernatural eyesight, so you know more than I do. We're the same kind of people."

As she spoke, she leaned lightly against him: "So, how about we go together?"

Song Chen dodged away without leaving a trace: "Never mind, I'm afraid of dying."

Shen Yuan glanced at him: "What an oblivious guy, forget it."

With that, she turned and walked down the stairs, disappearing into the night.

Song Chen stood at the doorway, looking at the empty stairwell, and remained silent for a few seconds.

Then he turned around, went back into the room, took the blue crystal out of his backpack, and looked at it one last time.

The blue light on the surface of the crystal has completely faded and turned grayish-blue.

But the written symbols remained clear, flowing slowly in the dim light, like a message waiting to be deciphered.

He carefully put the crystal away, left the room, and embarked on the road south.

The psionic particles in the sky floated slowly in the night breeze, like countless tiny stars illuminating the wilderness ahead.

It is 1,300 kilometers away from Tianhai University.