Give me back my adorable Fujiken Rikishi!

Chapter 110 Give me back my adorable Fujiken Rikishi!

"Brother Chen!"

Yun Chuxiu and Ye Zhen helped He Qing, whose face was still somewhat pale but whose breathing had stabilized considerably, and quickly walked over.

Yun Chuxiu smiled brightly and spoke first: "Brother Chen, we are so grateful that you arrived in time. If it weren't for you, the three of us would probably be dead here today."

As he spoke, he gently nudged Ye Zhen, who was standing silently beside him with her lips pursed, with his elbow.

Ye Zhen's body stiffened slightly when Yun Chuxiu touched him.

He slowly raised his head, his dark eyes meeting Lin Chen's calm gaze.

Ye Zhen's thin lips were pressed tightly together, and her fingers unconsciously clenched tightly at her sides.

He opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but it was as if something was blocking his throat, and in the end he only managed to let out a barely audible breath.

Time seemed to freeze for a few seconds.

The night wind swept through the messy woods, rustling the branches and leaves, and also blowing the stray hairs on Ye Zhen's forehead.

Finally, Ye Zhen seemed to have used all his strength, his voice slightly hoarse, as he said, word by word, "Lin Chen—no, Brother Chen."

"Thank you."

Upon hearing this, Lin Chen raised an eyebrow slightly.

Who trained Young Master Ye, who always considered himself a rival, into this state?

He Qing steadied himself, glanced at Lin Chen with a complex expression, suppressed the shock he felt at the freshman's strength, and solemnly said, "Lin Chen, thank you for saving us. I'm from the same school as you, but I'm already a junior."

"It was just a small favor."

Lin Chen nodded slightly, his tone calm, but his gaze swept past them, sweeping across the still dark forest around them: "This is not the place to talk. We need to leave as soon as possible and return to the camp."

The three of them had no objections and quickly retrieved their injured pets, heading towards yesterday's camp.

During the journey, Yun Chuxiu finally couldn't suppress her doubts and asked He Qing in a low voice, "Sister Qing, my sister said you were interning outside, so why are you here?"

Upon hearing this, He Qing took a deep breath, his gaze quickly sweeping across the dark forest, and his voice slowly rang out: "I am indeed doing an internship, and that giant forest ape was part of my internship work, or rather, it was a target that we need to investigate and deal with."

"What?" Yun Chuxiu was stunned for a moment, and her steps even paused slightly.

Lin Chen's expression remained unchanged, but a thought stirred within him.

Were you colleagues?

At this critical moment, He Qing didn't keep them in suspense and chose to continue speaking. She spoke slowly, making sure that every word was clear to them: "These pet beasts, corrupted by darkness, irrational, and left with only killing, have a unified name—the Dark Species."

"Dark Seed—"

Yun Chuxiu repeated in a low voice, then suddenly realized, "No wonder, I always felt that it was completely different from ordinary wild pets that had gone berserk. That cold and chaotic aura made people very uncomfortable."

"Um."

He Qing nodded, his expression growing even more grave: "They are not only stronger and more insane, but they also spread like a virus. By the time you discover one Dark Species, countless others are already lurking in the shadows."

After a brief pause, she continued, "A month ago, I and several colleagues were assigned by our superiors to come to this area to collect relevant information."

As she said this, a hint of lingering fear flashed in her eyes: "Everything was still under control, but this evening, the situation suddenly took a sharp turn for the worse."

"During a routine patrol mission, we encountered a far greater number of Darkfolk than expected. In the chaos, my colleagues and I were separated, and I could only fight back while retreating. That's when I met you—more details about the mission and some preliminary clues we uncovered are confidential, so I can't go into too much detail."

Upon hearing this, Yun Chuxiu's expression suddenly turned serious.

He gazed at the pitch-black night sky that seemed to devour all light, and felt as if countless scarlet eyes were truly hidden behind the shadowy trees.

He murmured, "So, this forest is hiding many more of those terrifying dark creatures like the ones we just saw?"

"Yes."

He Qing nodded firmly, his tone grave: "Judging from the scale and intensity of today's outbreak, this area has probably become a huge and dangerous vortex."

"No wonder Teacher Chen Shi suddenly summoned us back in an emergency—" Yun Chuxiu now fully understood the seriousness of the situation.

He Qing looked at the three of them with earnest eyes: "That's why I need your help. Take me to see your team leader. I must tell him about the situation here immediately and seek his help. I also need to contact my colleagues and get the information out as soon as possible."

"This is important."

"No problem, Sister Qing, we've got it covered!" Yun Chuxiu patted her chest and assured her.

The four of them had an unexpectedly smooth journey home.

Although they encountered a few scattered attacks from Dark-type creatures along the way, these Dark-type creatures posed no threat whatsoever to the Flame Spine Tyrannosaurus's overwhelming strength.

[Slay a Tier 1 Dark Race...]

[Flame Ridge Tyrannosaurus Strength Level: Tier 3, Stage 2 (12/96)]

In just a few hours, the Flame Spine Tyrannosaurus Rex had broken through to the third tier, second stage, and its strength had increased slightly.

Lin Chen thought to himself, "It still has to be a Dark Seed with rich experience."

But one thing made Lin Chen feel uneasy.

The Flame Spine Tyrannosaurus has a habit: whenever it defeats an opponent, it will glare at it and grin savagely.

Although this reaction was impolite, Lin Chen saw that his unconscious opponent did not protest, so he simply went with the Flame Spine Tyrannosaurus.

This can be considered a special celebration method of the Flameridge Tyrannosaurus.

But Lin Chen suddenly noticed that whenever the Flameback Tyrannosaurus Rex won, the Vine Fist Warrior who was silently watching would always imitate the Flameback Tyrannosaurus Rex's reaction, either by glaring at it or by curving its lips, which, combined with its appearance, was indescribably eerie.

He went to great lengths to abduct the Vine Fist Warrior, not so that it would learn such rubbish!

In the dead of night, when the sound of a babbling brook came from afar and the faint glow of a campfire shone through the woods, the four of them breathed a sigh of relief.

We've arrived at the campsite.

The atmosphere at the campsite was completely different from the excitement of setting off in the morning.

The campfire was still burning, but the firelight illuminated the tired, even somewhat disheveled, young faces.

A dozen or so students have already returned safely, gathering in small groups, talking quietly, their eyes filled with unease.

Several Dark Race corpses were scattered on the ground around the camp, indicating that things were not peaceful here either.

When Lin Chen and his group of four appeared at the edge of the camp, they immediately attracted attention.

"Brother Chen, you're finally back!"

When Zhou Ming, who was staying at the camp, saw Lin Chen appear, he felt as if he had seen his pillar of support and squeezed out from the crowd.

He visibly relaxed upon seeing Lin Chen, then moved closer and whispered, "Brother Chen, you encountered them too, right? Those ghostly things have reappeared, just like last time in the Broken Mountain Range!"

Seeing Zhou Ming's still shaken expression, Lin Chen nodded: "Yeah, I ran into him."

"I knew it!"

Upon receiving confirmation, Zhou Ming exclaimed excitedly, "Brother Chen, it seems my premonition yesterday was right! We really have encountered another unexpected situation since we came in!"

Lin Chen glanced at him sideways and said irritably, "You really are a jinx."

"Cough cough."

Zhou Ming was taken aback, then gave an awkward laugh and scratched his head: "Coincidence, it's all a coincidence—"

Then, he noticed the Vine Fist Warrior behind Lin Chen and exclaimed in surprise, "Brother Chen, is that a Vine Fist Warrior? How did you manage to bring back such a—uh, unique—pet beast?"

At this moment, Fujiken Rikishi seemed to sense many eyes focused on him. His already lowered head drooped even lower, and his tall body seemed to tremble slightly.

Lin Chen smiled slightly: "Yes, it has great potential. I plan to raise it as my third pet beast."

Zhou Ming suddenly realized, and the Vine Fist Warrior looked up in surprise, staring intently at Lin Chen's back.

Zhang Xiaoxiao and Su Qingyuan also came over.

The two appeared to be in good spirits and were clearly not injured in the accident.

Su Qingyuan first glanced at the Vine Fist Warrior behind Lin Chen, then looked back at Lin Chen and said, "Lin Chen, I obtained some cultivation resources today, and I think you should need them."

Lin Chen was immediately taken aback.

Is Su Qingyuan out in the wild buying supplies again?

He was about to politely decline when Su Qingyuan, seemingly anticipating his words, spoke first: "We're teammates. You can exchange credits or other resources with me."

Upon hearing this, Lin Chen nodded: "Okay."

Although everyone else said that Su Qingyuan was very aloof, she not only rarely interacted with other classmates, but also did not participate in any group activities, and even attended classes very few times.

If it weren't for her strong abilities, many classmates would have almost forgotten that she existed in the class.

But Lin Chen didn't think so.

Su Qingyuan is clearly a helpful and generous classmate.

Without Su Qingyuan finding and sharing these breeding resources, the growth rate of the Flame Spine Tyrannosaurus and the Radiant Moon Cat would have been slightly slower.

In the center of the camp, Han Jiayue, who was whispering with two third-year students, noticed He Qing's arrival.

She looked surprised and immediately walked over with two third-year students.

"He Qing? What are you doing here?"

Han Jiayue asked in confusion, her gaze quickly sweeping over He Qing's somewhat disheveled clothes and pale face, her brows furrowing slightly.

He Qing saw Han Jiayue and gave a wry smile: "It's a long story."

Then, she looked around and asked, "Hasn't Teacher Chen returned yet?"

Han Jiayue shook her head, her tone grave: "Not yet."

"Several students were in danger, and Teacher Chen went to rescue them personally."

She stared intently at He Qing, a hint of doubt flashing in her eyes, and pressed, "He Qing, do you know what's going on? What are these strange monsters that suddenly appeared?"

He Qing did not answer immediately.

She glanced at the students around her, who were listening intently and watching her expectantly, then looked at Han Jiayue, shook her head, and said wearily, "We'll talk about this when Teacher Chen returns. The matter is complicated and involves some confidential information, so I need to report directly to Teacher Chen."

"I'll rest for a bit first."

After saying that, she stopped talking, found a rock, sat down, closed her eyes, and began to regulate her breathing.

Seeing this, Han Jiayue's doubts deepened, but the situation made it inconvenient to ask any more questions. She could only suppress her questions and continue to strengthen the camp's security.

He Qing's silence and the uneasy atmosphere permeating the camp made the already tense atmosphere even more oppressive.

For a moment, the campsite fell into an eerie silence, with only the crackling of the campfire, the babbling of the stream, and the whistling of the night wind through the forest.

Every student remained silent, some sitting, some standing, their eyes warily fixed on the dark forest outside the camp that seemed to swallow up all light.

Time ticked by in the suffocating wait, during which three more students returned safely.

Then, a sound of flapping wings, growing louder as it approached, suddenly broke the stillness of the night sky.

The sound wasn't particularly loud, but it sounded especially jarring on such a quiet night.

Almost everyone in the camp looked up at the same time, gazing in the direction from which the sound came.

Lin Chen raised his eyes. With his current strength, he could see everything even in the pitch-black night. Therefore, his gaze went straight past the layers of branches and locked onto the sky.

Against the backdrop of the dim sky, outlined by the campfire and the pale moonlight, dozens of slender and agile figures were swarming toward the camp from all directions in a chaotic yet swift manner.

They have light gray skin, wings as thin as cicada wings, and slender, long limbs—

It's the morning breeze spirit!

But at this moment, these morning breeze sprites, which should have been agile and elegant, were shrouded in a faint black shadow.

Those eyes, which were originally as clear as a spring in the forest, were now a terrifying crimson, filled with the same madness and violence as those of the dark creatures before them.

Their flight paths were chaotic and rapid; the flapping of their wings no longer stirred up a cool breeze, but a dark wind. Even the chirping they uttered was no longer clear and melodious, but a hoarse and shrill shriek!

Dark Race!

The morning breeze elves they encountered during the day have all become dark creatures!

In just a moment, these Morning Wind Elves flew over the camp, their fierce and rapid flapping wings creating a continuous sound, and their pairs of scarlet eyes coldly locked onto the group and their pets.

An uproar ensued.

"How did these morning breeze sprites become like this too?"

"What exactly happened here?"

"Has a virus invaded?"

"What should we do now?"

Many students encountered the Dark Species on their way back or at the camp, and were quite apprehensive about these eerie monsters.

They had never seen an opponent like this before, one that felt no pain, no fatigue, and only launched attack after attack with relentless ferocity.

Lin Chen and his companions remained calm. Zhou Ming looked up and even had the leisure to offer his comment: "Hmm, just like last time, these guys are still strange. But how exactly do they spread their infection?"

Lin Chen was also very curious about this.

He had witnessed the entire process of the Dark Race killing ordinary pets and infecting them.

But how did the original Darkseeds come about?

Where did they come from?

Why did it spread so rapidly, like a virus?

Zhou Ming then asked, "And besides, if pets can be infected, what about us humans?"

"Will we end up like that?"

Lin Chen suddenly looked up.

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