Chapter 39: The Bystanders Hiding in the Dense Bushes, Eager for Gossip

As the sun set, the crimson glow of the sunset dyed the azure sky with a brilliant layer of color.

"Whew..."

Panting heavily, Lin Li wiped the sweat from his forehead as he pulled the spiritual tool longsword out of the body of a Spotted Chicken exotic beast.

Ever since he had killed the first Spotted Chicken exotic beast, it was as if he had poked a hornet's nest; Spotted Chicken exotic beasts kept coming out one after another.

Consequently, he had been fighting Spotted Chicken exotic beasts all afternoon.

Up until now, he had hunted a total of nine Spotted Chicken exotic beasts. Including the Black Snake exotic beast he had hunted at the start of the day, Lin Li had hunted a total of ten exotic beasts today.

This far exceeded the goal he had initially set for himself of killing five exotic beasts this afternoon.

"Haha... my luck today is just too good! I hunted ten exotic beasts in just one afternoon. If I start moving from early morning tomorrow and stay busy all day, could I hunt twenty? If that's really the case, then I'll be able to see that small green fruit ripen very soon."

As Lin Li squatted down to collect the dead Spotted Chicken exotic beasts into his mysterious small island, he chuckled to himself, daydreaming that the next few days would be as smooth sailing as today.

…………

"Gulp, gulp, gulp..."

After a busy afternoon, a somewhat exhausted Lin Li took a bottle of mineral water that he had previously placed on the mysterious small island. He unscrewed the cap and downed nearly half the bottle in one go.

"Whew..."

After drinking the water, he let out a long breath, instantly feeling a sense of relief throughout his body.

"The sun is about to go down; I need to hurry home."

Lin Li pulled his phone from his pocket and opened the map application. The positioning showed that his current location was actually four or five kilometers away from the safe zone.

"Tsk... I got too carried away killing them just now and ended up running this far. I'll have to be more careful in the future so I don't accidentally wander too far. If I encounter a second-order exotic beast then, it'll be disastrous."

After confirming the general direction to return to the safe zone via the phone's GPS, Lin Li prepared to head back.

But just then, a massive roar echoed from the distance.

"Boom!"

Accompanying the roar was a pillar of fire shooting into the sky.

This pillar of fire was immense; even from a great distance, it could be seen clearly.

"What... what is going on?" Lin Li stared blankly at the spot where the pillar of fire had vanished in an instant, his mouth agape in shock.

It was impossible to estimate the exact diameter of the vanished pillar, but the height it reached into the sky was at least fifteen or sixteen meters.

Looking around, his eyes met nothing but wild, overgrown flora and trees; there wasn't a single trace of modern human infrastructure.

Lin Li had only seen such a soaring pillar of fire on news channels not long ago.

He remembered the news report saying that a natural gas pipeline had been damaged due to careless operation by construction workers. Subsequently, the leaking gas ignited, causing a pillar of fire to shoot into the sky.

But Lin Li was currently in the wilderness, where it was clearly never laid with natural gas pipelines. Furthermore, since the pillar of fire appeared and vanished immediately, it was even less likely to be related to a gas leak.

One must realize that once a natural gas pipeline leaks, the resulting pillar of fire is not easily extinguished.

Therefore, the pillar of fire that had suddenly appeared and vanished was most likely created by a practitioner using an ability, or perhaps by an exotic beast using an ability.

If it were the former, it was manageable; if it were the latter, staying here would be far too dangerous. He had to leave immediately.

Lin Li quickly analyzed the situation in his mind and decided to flee toward the safe zone at once.

Unfortunately, just as he was about to move, a violent sound of fighting suddenly erupted from behind him, accompanied by the ferocious roars of a beast.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

"Roar!"

Hearing the intense sounds of combat rapidly approaching his location, Lin Li abandoned his plan to flee. He spun around and ducked into a nearby thicket of dense grass.

This decision proved correct, because the very next second after Lin Li ducked into the grass, two figures appeared dozens of meters away from his hiding spot.

Given the terrifying speed of those two figures, it wouldn't take long for them to catch up to a running Lin Li.

Without knowing whether they were friend or foe, hiding was the best choice.

"Bang!"

The two figures exchanged a punch, and the resulting shockwave sent the surrounding vegetation rustling violently.

Both sides retreated six or seven meters. After stabilizing their footing, they breathed heavily, yet their gazes never left one another for a single moment.

Hiding in the grass, Lin Li's eyes widened as he watched the two figures confronting each other dozens of meters away.

One was a middle-aged man in his early forties, about 1.75 meters tall, with a square face, a buzz cut, and wearing camouflage clothing. His hands were clad in metallic, self-sensing gloves; from the faint golden spiritual light occasionally flashing from them, it was clear that these gloves were spiritual tools.

The other figure confronting the middle-aged man was an ape-like exotic beast nearly two meters tall. This ape beast was covered in white fur with powerful limbs. Its fangs protruded from its lips, and its pitch-black eyes were filled with killing intent as it stared at the man.

"What a terrifying exotic beast."

Hiding in the grass, Lin Li observed the white ape beast. Although he could not, like a second-order practitioner, use spiritual sense to perceive the intensity of the spiritual energy fluctuations to judge an opponent's strength, he could clearly feel the terrifying killing intent radiating from the white ape beast.

"Calm down, regulate your breathing. That white ape beast and the middle-aged man must be second-order practitioners. Practitioners of their level can perceive their surroundings through spiritual sense, especially being highly sensitive to creatures emitting spiritual energy fluctuations. I must not activate the spiritual energy in my body right now. If they sense the spiritual energy radiating from me, I'll have no choice but to hide in the mysterious small island immediately."

Lin Li struggled to relax his entire body, refusing to let nervous emotions take control of him.

"Roar..."

After a moment of confrontation, the white ape beast let out a roar at the middle-aged man.

"Heh... you're all bark and no bite. Don't think you can scare me off like that... I landed a strike near your heart. As long as I keep fighting you, your death is not far off."

Facing the roar of the white ape beast, the middle-aged man showed no fear; instead, he spoke to the creature with a chuckle.

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(End of Chapter)