“Ahhh!!!”
A shrill cry immediately sounded!
The silver-white lightning did not halt. It quickly leaped toward the neck of another squad member. Its fangs instantly clamped down and left quickly, leaving only two bloody spots behind!
“A snake! It’s a mutated snake!!” Zheng Guodong roared as he quickly adjusted the short blade in his hand!
However, the silver-white lightning was faster. It sprinted through the fallen leaves like a wandering dragon and the short blade merely touched the tip of its tail as it nailed itself to the ground!
The two squad members who had been bitten yelled vulgarities at the silver snake. With a machine gun each in their possessions, they fired the bullets!
Yet, those bullets did not hit the incredibly fast silver snake at all and were all wasted.
It seemed like the silver-white venomous snake was going to escape. Instead, it suddenly rushed back and quickly circled the squad members. After biting a few of their bags, it once again turned toward the panda, escaping!
“You d*mn snake, you better not f*cking run! Catch it!”
“Chop it into pieces!”
“Chase it!!”
Seeing their companions bitten, the rest of the squad felt provoked by this silver-white snake with a strange emerald trace on both sides of its eyes. They took up their weapons one after another and roared!
Anger drove them to blindly chase it!
“Wait! That panda seems odd. Don’t chase it! It…”
Before Zheng Guodong’s words settled, the initially cute-looking panda suddenly got up as the last few members of the squad passed it. Its broad upper limbs extended at its sides, and sharp claws instantly pierced through two squad member’s hearts!
Before the two could even cry out, huge amounts of blood mixed with their internal organs flowed out from around their heart areas. Their bodies collapsed onto the soil like wet mud dropping to the ground.
“Ahhh!!!” The squad members were frightened out of their wits as they witnessed the sudden change in attitude and the extremely cruel method of death their friends had been subject to!
“Don’t disperse! Don’t disperse!!” Zheng Guodong roared. However, the squad members gradually dispersed further into the mist as the terrifying giant panda chased them. They could no longer hear him.
They had forgotten that they still had someone who possessed a powerful destructive transcendent ability.
“Burning flames!!” Zheng Guodong bellowed and a ball of fierce flames erupted on the panda who was roaring and chasing after the squad members!
The panda hurriedly broke into a roll to avoid the attack. It then laid on the ground again and rushed into the fog like a tank!
“D*mn!!” Zheng Guodong shrieked and hurriedly went to check on the two squad members who had been bitten by the snake and were crouching on the ground. However, he discovered that their bodies had, unbeknownst to him, already stiffened. Their eyes were wide, and they had bled out to death!
“F*ck! It was a venomous snake! D*mn it!!”
In addition to the two squad members whose hearts had been torn out, four members of his squad had already died in such a short time!
Not long ago, Zheng Guodong had thought of letting these squad members have a taste of suffering and letting them deal with the mutated animals in this spiritual realm by themselves. He would then wait until everyone was in the middle of a hard fight before showing up.
Besides achieving the purpose of training the team, it would also allow the transcendents who were unaware of the immensity of heaven and earth to understand that this spiritual realm was not all fun and games. (TN: To be unaware of the immensity of heaven and earth is a Chinese saying that means to have an exaggerated opinion of one’s abilities.)
However, he honestly did not expect reality to be crueler and more serious than he had predicted.
The two mutated creatures just now were definitely not Grade-E!
They could have used a decoy tactic. Firstly, the silver snake used guerilla warfare on the two people. After that, though there was a chance to continue attacking, it feigned a lack of love for war and pretended to escape to the harmless-looking giant panda.
The real goal of the silver snake was to lure the squad members to the panda!
The panda was not vegetarian. It had even waited for the last few squad members to pass by before making a violent shot. At the same time, it had created extreme panic and fear in the squad members in front!
Was it their goal to force every squad member to escape in all directions toward the zone in the valley with the densest spiritual aura?!
Spiritual intelligence. Those two mutated creatures possessed spiritual intelligence and judging from a tactic like that, their spiritual intelligence was not of a simple form!
Could simple spiritual intelligence develop a tactic like that?
It was not the standard of spiritual intelligence possessed by a Grade-E. Could it be that they were of… Grade-D?
As one of the many transcendents in the Tang Kingdom, Zheng Guodong was considered excellent.
Not only did he possess fire elemental control, but he could also easily control the spiritual aura in his body.
Even so, he was only at the standard of peak Grade-D.
It was all the same as a Grade-D. Humans were often at a disadvantage when faced with mutated creatures in the spiritual realm, which experienced life and death situations every day as they struggled to climb the ranks and evolve.
If humans so much as lost their focus, they would certainly fall into a desperate situation, just like the one he was currently experiencing now.
At the start, Zheng Guodong had also been deceived by the silver snake. Seeing that his squad members were okay, he thought that it was not venomous, so he did not pay much attention. However, after the panda had ripped out the hearts of two squad members, he realized the severity of the matter. By then, it was too late.
The squad members who had died after the poisonous attack had dealt a heavy blow to Zheng Guodong’s psychological welfare!
“D*mn it, what the f*ck am I doing?”
Zheng Guodong rushed into the fog. He felt perplexed as various unknown sounds filled his ears from unknown directions.
His ambiguous premonition had turned into a reality. The spiritual aura density indicator that was said to have an error rate of less than ten percent really could not be relied on!
Self-blame, rage, frustration, anxiety as well as the guilt and worry for those squad members overcame him as he ran about in this spiritual realm!
“Only one person would be okay. Finding only one person would be good enough!”
Zheng Guodong repeatedly muttered those words. He heard the endless cries of his squad members in the valley, cries that were already very far away. He felt as though he could no longer bear it.
At this time, his spiritual aura had already completely engulfed his whole body. If he got injured or died, the remaining eleven squad members would not be able to get out of this valley!
He was not sure whether it was because God had not abandoned him, but as he listened to the voices of his squad members, Zheng Guodong finally found eight missing squad members amidst the fog.
As for the remaining three, no matter how much he tried, he could not find them.
He was afraid that they might have already lost their way in the thick fog. If they were lucky, they might find themselves at the edge of the valley, but if they were not…
Zheng Guodong did not dare to finish the thought.
Even if he managed to get out of the valley, seven squad members had been lost and he might receive an extremely serious punishment.
“C-Captain, we…” The eight squad members now wore expressions of despair, and their previous high spirits almost seemed like a joke.
Almost all of them had lost their huge backpacks. Their faces and bodies were covered in mud and everyone looked completely disheveled.
A few of them suffered injuries on their faces and bodies from fighting mutated creatures that they had encountered.
“We will retreat!” Zheng Guodong commanded as he gritted his teeth. Although he did not feel satisfied, at this stage, they no longer had any confidence to continue with the mission.
Not to mention, if they went to look for the remaining three people who had run off, the remaining eight might also get lost and be left behind here.
If they did not retreat, he may not be able to protect these remaining eight people.
Zheng Guodong felt like a massive rock was pressed against his heart as he asked the squad to carry the four bodies.