Chapter 86: Water Dragon Beast Core

On the pale yellow beach, the wreckage of several thrown explosives lay scattered at random. The sea of fire had burned itself out, leaving only a few tiny embers still licking at a blackened mass and giving off a foul, nauseating stench.

The smoke slowly thinned, and sunlight poured down in bright clarity.

There was not a soul in sight.

Only a gigantic red creature, about thirteen meters long, with fine scales, serpentlike yet not quite a serpent, and equipped with two legs, lay sprawled on the sand. A vast wound, half a meter long, had been slashed across its neck, and blood poured out in torrents, staining the sand crimson. To the naked eye, the edges of that wound were smooth and clean, without the slightest wrinkle. It was clear the mysterious expert had used an extraordinarily sharp weapon.

Fei Yang and the others hurried closer to inspect it, only to discover that the neck wound was not the fatal one at all. The lethal injury was at the heart.

A round hole about thirty centimeters wide gaped there, blood gushing from it, the inside black as pitch.

Fei Yang instinctively took out a flashlight and shone it inside. After a careful look, he said in shock, "Its heart has been torn out."

"What, what..." the adventurers murmured in a daze, unable to believe it.

"What are we going to do with such a huge body?" Wen Hui reacted quickly. Whoever had killed the water monster did not matter; since Fei Yang's group was here now, the credit would be theirs.

Completing an A-rank quest would bring an unimaginably rich reward.

And more than that, a monster of this size was full of treasure from head to toe.

"Stop standing around. In a moment someone else will come to share the spoils. Let's deal with it quickly, then drive off."

Fei Yang directed his team in an orderly fashion, and within two minutes the colossal carcass had been stripped clean, everything that could be taken was taken. Then they all sprinted back to the vehicles and drove away at top speed.

Wen Hui sat in the middle car, keeping an eye on the person he suspected: Yi Ran.

Yet he still looked exactly as before, curled up in the back seat and fast asleep, drool glistening at the corner of his mouth, as though he had not been awakened by the water monster's cries at all.

"Hey, wake..." Fei Li reached out to rouse Li Xin, but Wen Hui stopped him.

"Let him sleep."

Less than five minutes after the convoy had departed, the first group of adventurers who had come to watch the battle had already rushed onto the beach, staring at this bloody and horrifying scene in stunned silence.

The huge water monster looked as though it had been devoured by countless carnivores. Only a massive pale skeleton remained, along with a great deal of flesh scattered over the ground.

"Fei Yang's adventuring team is incredibly powerful."

No one knew who murmured it, but the words quickly reached every adventurer's ears.

No one knew how the water monster had died. They had all been desperately fleeing just now, so they instinctively believed it was Fei Yang's group's doing.

...

At six thirty in the morning, the convoy crossed the Red Forest Line. Their next stop was Magic Camel Mountain.

From Fei Yang to the team members, all of them were buried in thought, silent and grave. Who was that mysterious powerhouse? They had suspected Li Xin, after all; he was a master who had single-handedly resolved a quasi-S-rank mission. Although the water monster mission was only A-rank, if nothing unexpected had happened, it would have been upgraded to S-rank after Fei Yang's group admitted defeat.

Since Yi Ran could complete a quasi-S-rank mission, an S-rank water monster hardly seemed beyond him.

But from the moment Wen Hui saw the shadow to the moment the water monster died and they ran over, no more than half a minute had passed. Half a minute, enough to sprint three hundred meters there and back, leaving no time at all for Yi Ran to make a move.

And even if it had truly been him, how could the two sides have failed to cross paths while running?

With all the evidence layered together, the conclusion was clear: Yi Ran was not that mysterious expert.

"Hey, wake up. We've reached the Magic Camel Mountain area." Fei Li smiled as he called Li Xin awake.

Li Xin rubbed his sleepy eyes and looked out the window. Several thousand meters away, the military camp base stood clearly in view.

"Thank you." Li Xin said with a smile, then opened the door and jumped down.

"Oh, by the way, did you finish your mission? I was sleeping like a log and saw nothing. What a pity."

At this, Fei Yang rolled down the window and smiled. "Don't mention it. That water monster was truly formidable. We were beaten to a pulp as soon as we went in. Still, after all that effort, we finally brought it down."

"Really? Congratulations." Li Xin smiled, his gaze pure and untroubled.

Fei Yang sighed inwardly. Looking at him, he did not seem to be lying. It really wasn't him after all.

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

The convoy departed. Li Xin waved from afar, then set off toward the distant slopes of Magic Camel Mountain.

At some point, there was already another object in his hand: a red orb the size of an apple.

[Water Dragon Beast Core]: The Loch Monster is a rare aquatic species known as the Water Dragon Beast. The Water Dragon Beast is said to be a descendant of dragons, carrying mixed bloodlines of crocodile and water serpent. In adult Water Dragon Beasts, the core and heart are fused into one, a wondrous natural treasure that can be used in weapon forging. Once the weapon is successfully forged, it can summon a Water Dragon Beast to aid in battle.

"Haha, what a fine thing." Li Xin laughed heartily and put the beast core back into his backpack.

Killing the Water Dragon Beast had been a tremendous challenge for him. From the sprint to the kill took thirty-five seconds, and he had used nearly all of his strength.

The view shifted back to an hour earlier.

The moment he rushed into the smoke screen, Li Xin had without hesitation brought out the epic sniper rifle Heavenly Dragon. One bullet struck the Water Dragon Beast squarely between the eyes. Heavenly Dragon's sniper mode had a silencing function, and the beast had been roaring in rage all the while, so no one noticed a thing.

Once he had reached the Water Dragon Beast's side, he immediately unleashed a Cross Slash that struck the giant beast's heart with perfect accuracy.

A sweeping blow that crushed all before it.

Though it was a group attack, its power was tremendous, with a thirty percent damage bonus. Heaven and Earth Myriad Transformations turned into a Green Dragon Crescent Blade and sliced straight through the Water Dragon Beast's neck.

Then came a spin, a direct heart rip, and he was gone.

The whole thing had been clean and decisive. Li Xin had not given the Water Dragon Beast the slightest chance to counterattack. With its mutated target lock fixed on Fei Yang's adventuring team, he had gained an opening as well.

"Sigh... what a pity." Li Xin suddenly let out a long sigh, sounding somewhat disappointed.

"That Water Dragon Beast was full of treasure. If I had had enough time, I would have stripped it apart completely and stuffed everything into the warehouse."

"Still, the haul was good. A Water Dragon Beast actually dropped six hundred and sixty thousand gold coins, along with several pieces of silver equipment and one golden weapon. They should fetch a nice price."

While cursing under his breath, he had already reached the foot of Magic Camel Mountain.

"Stop. Who goes there, daring to intrude on the headquarters of the Black Lion Legion?" came the stern shout of a guarding soldier, and only then did Li Xin awaken as from a dream.

Click, costume change.

Li Xin was now clad in a gray military uniform, with matching collar tabs and insignia altered to the mark of a company commander.

The soldier's expression changed, and he snapped to attention in a military salute.

"Captain Company Commander, please present your identification."

After verifying his identity, Li Xin strode into the camp. Behind him, the sentries and NPC soldiers had already gathered together.

"Hey, do you know who that was just now?" the soldier who had questioned Li Xin earlier said mysteriously.

"Who? Tell us quickly." Everyone hurried to ask. Judging by the way Paul acted, that man must have had a remarkable background.

"Pah, just a company commander. How impressive could he be?" the duty squad leader also walked over, smiling with contempt.

"A company commander?" Paul shook his head with a bitter smile. That Squad Leader Wang always relied on his identity as the headquarters guard squad leader to look down on comrades from other units, treating people with utter contempt.

"Squad Leader Wang, that wasn't an ordinary company commander. He is the one the headquarters has been waiting for all this time, the one about to be specially promoted to commander of the Death Soldiers Corps. His name is Yi Ran."

"What? It's him?" The soldiers cried out in alarm and turned to look after him, unable to believe that this mild and easygoing young man was the elite of the dreaded Death Soldiers Corps.