16: Farewell to Zhanhu

"After all, he's Brother Qiang's brother. Should I be more blunt with him?"

Flying Tiger was thinking just that when he saw the Little Yellow Chicken in the distance fly into the spider swarm on purpose.

The leader released a large mass of fire clouds, while the four behind it, in pairs, released red clouds that stacked together.

Three "patches" of red clouds in the sky covered half the valley.

Red fire rain fell, covering at least dozens of spiders.

"Holy crap!"

Flying Tiger cursed and quickly called the other four Tigers over to defend together.

Red Demon Spiders were manic and bloodthirsty; even just disturbing them would lead to a relentless pursuit.

Now that dozens of them had been damaged at once, they were bound to charge over in a frenzy.

They couldn't do anything to the pets flying high in the sky, but they wouldn't show any mercy to the owner behind the pets.

The other four Tigers cursed inwardly about "brainless second-generation rich kids causing trouble" and rushed back to defend.

Even for them, facing dozens of spiders at once was somewhat taxing.

Protecting a burden made it even harder.

As the fire rain fell, countless bright red numbers rose from the spiders' heads, so dense that the numbers couldn't be seen clearly.

The burning damage from the Little Yellow Chicken's talent drove the spiders even more insane; their eyes turned blood-red as they charged toward Xu Le.

With a single leap covering over a meter, the sight of dozens of flaming spiders jumping was incredibly shocking.

Some spiders on the periphery of the fire rain were scorched by the flames carried by their "companions," instantly going mad and becoming the vanguard of the charge.

More and more spiders were affected, swarming like a growing snowball.

In less than two seconds, the number had already surpassed triple digits.

The five felt their scalps tingle but decided to grit their teeth and fulfill Brother Qiang's entrustment, and they certainly couldn't tarnish the reputation of the Great Wall Guard Army's Zhan Hu Squad.

With a thought from Xu Le, the five Clones staying behind immediately cast "Meteor Fire Rain," their five fire clouds sealing the valley entrance tight.

Flying Tiger and the others watched in shock as the charging, screeching spider army collapsed one after another.

Each one could only last for three seconds.

Nearly a hundred spiders fell just like that in the fire rain.

One spider, close to the valley entrance and lucky enough to avoid the fire rain, suddenly leaped with a "Face-Hugging Ambush" at high speed.

Flying Tiger reacted swiftly, blasting a spatial Spell from his hand as he began to lecture.

"Brother Xu, your pets are Heaven-Defying. But your own protection, gah..."

Halfway through, he realized a snake's tail had whipped the spider back into the flames.

"What about my protection?" Xu Le blinked.

Flying Tiger: "..."

Another spider rushed through the flames.

Flying Tiger was overjoyed.

The Little Black Snake's skill couldn't possibly cool down that fast, right?

Then he saw the Little Black Snake reveal its eight-meter-long true form, swallowing the bucket-sized spider whole.

Flying Tiger: Good thing I held back.

Ice Tiger poked Flying Tiger.

Flying Tiger was displeased and asked angrily, "What?"

Ice Tiger leaned into Flying Tiger's ear and whispered, but was pushed away: "Just say it. A man should be bold; what's with this hesitation?"

Ice Tiger hesitated.

Flying Tiger glared at him: "Are you a man or not?"

"Crap, you're forcing me!"

Ice Tiger cursed inwardly and said in a muffled voice, "Didn't we take the merit points to help Brother Xu level up?"

Flying Tiger's face turned red, and he glared fiercely at Ice Tiger: You bastard, you're usually so smart; saying this now is just slapping our own faces, isn't it?

He coughed to hide his embarrassment before saying, "Brother Xu, since you're safe and sound, I'll go over there and help you level up."

"Thanks for the trouble!" Xu Le smiled.

Flying Tiger waved his hand and led the others deeper into the valley.

Almost all the nearby spiders had been lured into the fire rain, so they could only hunt the distant ones.

"Captain, we have to give it our all!"

"If that kid levels up faster on his own than our whole squad combined, our Zhan Hu Squad will lose face big time if word gets out," Wise Tiger suddenly spoke up.

The four were silent for three seconds before cursing, "Damn, you're right."

Then they sprinted off like the wind.

Xu Le grinned; his leveling speed was about to get even faster.

The Little Yellow Chicken circled in the air, luring mobs from the dense spider swarms, then focused fire with the Clones, burning the swarms of spiders into experience.

[Experience +68,505]

[Experience +67,560]

...Xu Le's experience shot up rapidly.

Feeling themselves getting stronger rapidly, the Little Yellow Chicken and Little Black Snake also conveyed intense excitement through the Mind Link.

Time passed minute by minute.

As Flying Tiger watched the second hand point to twelve, tears of excitement almost rolled down.

"Oh Heavens, oh Earth, this grueling mission is finally over!"

The other four Tigers also felt a sense of relief mixed with exhaustion.

It was so damn exhausting!

Flying Tiger saw Xu Le and immediately put on a smile: "Brother, how was it? Satisfied?"

Xu Le glanced at his Rank and beamed with joy.

29 (5,862/2,000,000)

Just one more level, and he'd reach level 30 and get his fourth pet.

"This is awesome!"

"If I get the chance, I'll definitely come back for another experience."

Hearing this, the five's legs went weak, and they almost fell, but they immediately forced a smile.

Flying Tiger immediately put his arm around Xu Le's shoulder: "Brother, you're generous! When will you come again?"

?

Xu Le was surprised; when he said he wanted to come again, he clearly sensed fear from the five of them.

Why did they suddenly switch to excitement?

Could he have sensed it wrong?

He answered honestly, "I don't have any merit points right now. I'll come back once I've gathered enough."

Gather?

The five looked at each other, none of them believing him.

A full 8,000 merit points was definitely not something an ordinary person could gather; it must have come from the Family behind him.

"Then if you have the chance in the future, you must come find us. The Zhan Hu Squad is at your service anytime."

Xu Le: "..."

After one day, I've finally been upgraded to "sir."

Chatting as they walked, Xu Le finally learned the reason for their eagerness—the merit points required to buy the same type of Experience Card would double.

In other words, to enjoy a "5x Experience Card" next time, it would cost 16,000 merit points.

It was said that this was set to prevent resources from being monopolized and to avoid training talents who were just empty shells with high Ranks and talents but no substance.

Strength is forged through countless bloody battles.

Seeing Xu Le somewhat deterred by the price, Flying Tiger wondered if he wasn't a second-generation rich kid after all, but he quickly dismissed the thought.

Could anyone other than a second-generation rich kid get such awesome pets?

He immediately started promoting a dungeon.

"Actually, our squad also has access to the [Calamity of the Mad Spiders] dungeon."

"It's been cleared 16,000 times so far. One run through the dungeon can easily net ten million experience points."

"If you're lucky, there might even be skill books and equipment drops."

Xu Le was tempted: "How much?"

Flying Tiger waved his hand: "No money, just 6,000 merit points. Interested?"

Xu Le: "Farewell!"