“Li Song! I’ve been waiting here for you for a long time.”
Looking at this unfamiliar man in front of him, Li Song’s face revealed some doubt, his head full of question marks.
Li Song asked, “You are…?”
“Oh, I almost forgot to introduce myself. I’m Chen Cheng, the leader of the pioneer corps.”
Chen Cheng’s face was full of smiles, “I know you, so I specially came here to get to know you.”
Li Song: “…”
It was rare to see such a frank person.
However, after hearing this person’s words, Li Song knew that he should be from Zhao Chengfeng’s faction. At the very least, they should be familiar with each other. Otherwise, he would not understand him.
“Hello, I’m Li Song.”
Bull Two stood at the side and supported its motorcycle as it watched Li Song and Chen Cheng who were in a conversation.
“Do you remember Liu Zhiyou?”
“Now that he’s in prison, he basically has no chance of coming out.”
Chen Cheng was very frank. This kind of frankness was even a little outrageous, “When you took away that precious monster, Liu Zhiyou had sent someone to follow you. Naturally, I don’t need to explain the purpose.”
“Later, I helped you resolve a portion of your problems, including his nephew.”
“You probably won’t encounter such a problem in the future.”
There was no change on Chen Cheng’s face. He simply said something that ordinary people would find hard to say. He was direct and did not feel embarrassed at all.
Li Song was a little surprised. Of course, he had not forgotten about Liu Zhiyou and Cheng Tang. Initially, he wanted to find an opportunity to deal with them, but he did not expect that they would be dealt with by this person before him.
After some thought, Li Song thanked him. Actually, there was nothing else he could say at this time, so he answered, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome!” Chen Cheng laughed heartily: “You are on our side after all, I can’t let you suffer any losses!”
Li Song smiled, “Okay.”
Chen Cheng’s face was full of smiles as he said, “Then I’ll send you out.”
As he spoke, he led Li Song out. As they walked, he said, “We have already gone out several times. It is very dangerous. Even if we are fully armed, we will encounter some trouble every time we go out. We have lost many brothers during this period of time.”
“You’re the first to go out alone. We can’t compare to you in terms of strength, but you still have to be careful.”
“This is the north of the city. After we go out, we will reach a mountain range with many earth attribute monsters. Monsters like Rock Tossing Lizards are very common here.”
“Based on the information we have now, the whole of Shanghai should be located on a plateau and mountain range. It’s very large and we have yet to explore the environment outside the mountain range.”
“The monsters in the vicinity of the city are not of particularly high levels. Currently, most of the monsters we have explored are around Level 20 or so. Those with higher levels will be further away.”
“Also, you have to pay attention to the sky. The monsters in the sky are of a much higher level and are harder to deal with…”
With a few words, Chen Cheng simply told Li Song all the information about the nearby area.
Li Song listened carefully. This information was very important to him. Although he had a simple map, he did not know much about it. Hearing it from Chen Cheng, who often went out to explore, Li Song felt that it was more trustworthy.
After passing through the newly built city wall, there was still a construction team working hard. All kinds of steel and rocks were pieced together. This was not something that could be done in a short period of time.
The good thing was that basically everyone had completed the beast pact, and their physique had improved by several times, so their progress was greatly sped up. There were also some Tamed Beasts who were helping under the command of others, and there were the most human shaped Tamed Beasts like Strength Beasts and Long-Armed Beasts.
Moving slightly further, a distortion appeared in the space in front of them, as though it was separated from the surface of the water. Beyond it was a large open area. The ground had a stone-like surface that exuded an ancient aura. Looking further into the distance, there were continuous mountain ranges that were incomparably majestic. The forest also seemed to be attached to it like an ancient tree, tall and strange. There were creatures moving about on it, giving off the feeling that the world had changed.
The unadorned nature naturally had a pure wildness waiting to be conquered.
A transparent protective layer covered the entire Shanghai area. This place was already at the border.
Beyond the border was another world, a world that was completely disconnected from the real world.
Every few hundred meters, there was a soldier standing guard. He did not move at all, and the Tamed Beast beside him was like a statue.
“Shocking, right?” Chen Cheng smiled and said, “You can only feel the beauty of nature after leaving this place.”
“In my opinion, without these monsters from the outside world, our arrival here might not be a bad thing.”
With that, his expression turned serious. He reached out and shook Li Song’s hand, “Take care. I hope to see you again.”
Li Song smiled confidently, “Of course.”
“Right.” At this moment, Chen Cheng opened his mouth again and said, “Don’t pay too much attention to the things on the forum. There will always be such people in every era.”
“What?” Li Song was a little puzzled. He did not really look at the forum and did not know what had happened. He turned around and called for Bull Two behind him, “Bull Two, let’s go!”
“Moo!”
Bull Two agreed and reluctantly put the Raptor 1000 down. Li Song kept it in the warehouse.
Chen Cheng’s eyes flickered slightly, but he did not open his mouth to speak.
Everyone had an inventory space, but it was just a small space, not even a cubic meter large, yet Li Song could put such a big bike inside…
Li Song did not plan to hide anything in this aspect. It was just a system warehouse. If he did not say it, no one knew what the actual size was. His real trump cards would always be his Tamed Beasts. No one would ever think that Bull Two and Zerg Five were actually Mythical-ranked creatures!
After passing through the protective layer, he turned around and saw the city that had dense buildings resembling a forest.
“Growl…”
The Tamed Beast Space opened, and the Rock Tossing Lizard, which was nearly 20 meters long, crawled out. It habitually let out a roar, but when it saw Bull Two’s gaze, its voice became awkward, and half of its voice was swallowed into its throat.
The injuries on its body had yet to fully recover. Fortunately, a few beast cores of its own kind could heal its injuries. Otherwise, it would still be in a severely injured state.
“Lower your head.”
Li Song instructed. The Rock Tossing Lizard quickly lowered its head to the ground. Li Song and Bull Two leaped lightly and landed on its head.
The Rock Tossing Lizard’s head was huge, almost five meters long. It was not round like a human’s head, but flat and triangular. It was comfortable to sit on. At least, it was much more comfortable than sitting on its back which had the largest undulations.
The Rock Tossing Lizard was used to it. There were too many of its kind that were born to be mounts, so it could easily learn how to be one.
Turning around to look at the envious Chen Cheng, Li Song smiled and patted the Rock Tossing Lizard’s head.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Its massive body advanced into the distance with heavy steps.
Bull Two curled its lips.
Damn.
I should have killed you back then!
Mount, what kind of useless mount is this?
Tauren should ride motorcycles!
At this moment, Li Song had nothing else to do. He opened the system forum and frowned when he saw the first message.
[Number one in the world? Powerful expert or a coward? Who is behind this? Who are the ones bleeding in the battlefield?]
He looked at the name of the person who posted this, he was called Zhang Cheng. Li Song still had some impression of his name. It seemed like he was operating a marketing account before the calamity. After he came here, he was very lucky. The Howling Sound Beast could be considered a Tamed Beast with great potential and strength. When it was powerful, it could let out a roar and emit sound waves that could even shatter steel.
A long string of words followed.
“Due to some unknown reasons, I might have infringed someone’s interests. Similarly, I’ve posted things on my own media accounts such as [Little Zhang Reporting News], [Entertainment Explosive Society], [Zhongxia Music], [Zhang San’s Diary]. But without any exception, they were all banned due to righteous-sounding reasons.”
“I have no choice but to post it on the system forum in hopes of evoking the truth in the hearts of the masses.”
“Number one in the world, forgive my bluntness, but in my opinion, you are a joke!”
“Not to mention that this person has been hiding his identity all this time. All the information that has been circulating previously suggests that this person is actually a lucky person who summoned a beast with great potential. Therefore, he has been hidden in Shanghai and the government is secretly distributing experience points to him.”
“Then let me ask you, who exactly spread this news?”
“What if this person is actually from the ‘secret department’?”
“Or could it be that the mastermind is manipulating everything while the people bleeding in the battlefield are being ignored?”
“Even if that’s not the case, why is this person, who has consumed a lot of our experience points, able to enjoy it secretly with a clear conscience?”
“Yesterday, an Elite Rock Tossing Lizard descended. According to incomplete statistics, nearly a hundred people died because of it, resulting in countless losses. Then, I want to ask, what was this ‘number one person in the world’ doing?”
“…”
Li Song finished reading it with a frown. This author had always been one of the proponents of conspiracy theories. After the system forum appeared, he immediately lost all self-control and posted a lot, accumulating a large number of fans in a short period of time.
The author tried to stand on the side of most people. He used shocking statistics, exaggerated headlines, and provocative comments. Many of the words seemed to be questions, but in fact, they were from a conspiracy theory angle, making people involuntarily believe his words.
Many people were pointing fingers at the so-called “mastermind” as if such a person really existed.
In fact, it even gave one the feeling of ‘so that’s how it was’.
“He really made it up purely based on his stubborn theory!”
Li Song was there at that time. How could he not know the actual situation?
Were there a hundred people?
In total, there were not even five deaths! These so-called media writers, none of them were good people!
However, he had to admit that this person was truly a talent.
It had only been a few days since the calamity, but he had already started to make money. Using his own strength as an advantage, he already had a large number of fans in a short period of time.
Once everything was settled, the amount of money and experience points earned from this large number of readers would not be a small sum.
It was a pity that he was too bold. His brain must have suffered from a serious fever in the past.
Did he really think that the system forum was a lawless place?
Li Song looked at the comments below.
Wang Jinming: “You’re absolutely right!”
Liu He said, “After the calamity, there was still a group of people who were high up in the air, trying to toy with everyone in their palms. And at this time, we needed your voice even more!”
Zhang Fangyu: “Realization dawned on me. I knew that there were fewer and fewer rumors about being the world’s number one in this period of time! It turns out that all of them have been banned.”
Zhou Ming: “Has no one ever thought about why the first ranker would be in our Shanghai area? We’re not a military zone, so it doesn’t make sense for us to gain more experience than other cities…”
Li Qingyuan said, “The world is in chaos again. Fighting strength can’t save our countrymen. I hope to see more of such voices and awaken everyone who is still asleep!”
The more Li Song looked at it, the more bored he became.
He was not going to hide it anymore. He could see all kinds of speculations and defamation on the system forum every day. Even if he did not care, he would feel frustrated.
There were too many people in this world who thought that they had grasped the truth and arrogantly made comments to gain benefits, as well as a group of idiots who believed in them.
Although he could not see the forums of other cities, he thought that there would be a lot of such comments.
There were confident fools and idiots everywhere.
“System.”
“Release the hidden information.”
Looking at the occasional flying monsters in the sky and the distant mountain range, Li Song had a heroic expression.
Since there was nothing to worry about, there was no point in hiding anymore.
Don’t you all want to know who I am?
Fine, I’ll let you all know!
“Today, I will let my name resound throughout the human world!”
Initially, he hid his name to protect himself.
After all, he had committed a murder. Just as Zhao Chengfeng had said, his crime was not flawless. If he exposed himself to too many people before he could protect himself, many things would become troublesome.
Now that he had nothing to worry about, hiding the information became meaningless. There were not many benefits, but there were still a lot of things to worry about.
Besides, right now, he had no way of contacting his little sister and brother in his hometown. If he was at the top of the rankings, everyone in the world could see it.
At the very least, even if their lives were terrible, they should still see a trace of hope in the darkness.
They were his last remaining family members in the world, and also the people he cared about the most. After his parents died, many of his relatives used the excuse of “taking care” of the three siblings, but their intentions were to take the compensation and property. The elder brother who had his leg amputated on the bed directly blew up and cursed at them. In the end, that little bit of relationship also disappeared.
The situation was absurd, and the weakness of a person’s feelings was not something outsiders could understand.
They did not contact each other normally, let alone now. Li Song did not even consider them family.
Li Song thought about it. In order to ensure that the exploitation process would be smoother in the future, he had an idea.
A post was made.
[I heard you guys are looking for me?]
[I’m Li Song.]
After sending it, he no longer cared about these matters.
The people in the city would naturally handle it well.
On the other side, Li Song walked towards the distant mountain range. There were many Rock Tossing Lizards, Rock Armor Beasts, Rock Shell Tortoise, and other monsters gathered there. They were not too strong and were very suitable for his current level.
He looked up at the sky.
The Thunder Falcons must have left this place temporarily, which was why he was able to leave the protection area. Otherwise, he would not be able to provoke these Overlord-rank monsters.
Zerg Five was also summoned, but it did not ride on the Rock Tossing Lizard’s head. Its body was already quite big, and the effect of the Titan Spider’s genes was still obvious.
At this moment, it was walking with eight extremely thick mechanical legs. Black smoke was constantly emitting from its head. This was a sign that it was in high spirits.
Bull Two was still alright. The genes in Zerg Five’s body had their own desire to live in a vast area. The city was still a little too small, and it would probably be difficult to live in the city after it grew up.
On the other side, as Li Song revealed his information, there was a storm on the system forum.
[The number one person in the world has revealed his hidden information!]
[Alright, I’ll lay my cards on the table. Actually, I’m the world’s number one ranker.]
[Who is Li Song?]
[The second in the world is now Level 9, how did Li Song reach Level 11? Does this mean that Shanghai is doing something?]
For a moment, everyone was discussing “Li Song”.
Previously, when the information was hidden, everyone only felt that it was mysterious. Many conspiracy theories were even born from it. Now that it was exposed without any warning, it stimulated the desire of mankind to explore.
Under the post, [Number one in the world? Powerful expert or a coward? Who is behind this? Who are the ones bleeding in the battlefield?], there were many comments in the comments section.
Few comments were positive.
Everyone had their reasoning and deduction.
The information revealed did not mean anything.
Many people, including the people in the Night Suppression Division, posted directly and were not very convincing.
There were even more comments under Li Song’s post.
Zhang Peng: “I’m Zhang Peng.”
Li Qiang: “I’m Li Qiang.”
Liu Chengfeng: “Who cares who you are? How ridiculous!”
Fang Jianming: “It feels good to be protected all the time, right? Do you still tremble when you see the Rock Tossing Lizards?”
Zhang Qian: “Number one in the world, too bad he’s a parasite.”
Li Xin: “A Tauren is just an ordinary Tauren. Are you an illegitimate child of some official?”
…
…
It was not until Liu Zhengyu posted something that everyone knew that “Liu Zhengyu” was actually the person in charge of Shanghai. His post represented the will of the authorities.
Everyone knew that the officials had stepped in.
[Notification regarding the recent comments on Mr. Li Song.]
Not long after, another post appeared.
[Report on Zhang Cheng and others, the people spreading false rumors and inciting public outrage.]
The entire forum was in an uproar.