4: Contaminated site

"It can fly too? And even create Clones?"

"Of course, it's a Phoenix."

Li Yang slapped his forehead hard. Along the way, the Little Yellow Chicken had been insta-killing Goblins with Fireballs and Fire Rain. He knew it was fierce, but because of its appearance, he always felt it was just a little chick.

Hearing this, a flash of disdain crossed the Little Yellow Chicken's eyes. It flapped its wings and deliberately flew over Li Yang's head, joining the charge.

"Ah—"

"It flew right over my head."

"A Phoenix is an auspicious sign; I'm definitely going to be lucky! Hahaha..."

Li Yang hugged his heavy shield, grinning foolishly with excitement.

Four clusters of Fire Rain enveloped the entire Goblin camp. The Little Yellow Chicken added an extra cluster of Fire Rain specifically over the heads of the Goblin Chieftain and his subordinates.

As the boundless Fire Rain fell, the Goblins relied on their numerical advantage, and the survivors barely managed to endure the first wave.

Before they could scream in excitement, they were struck by a new wave of Fire Rain, turning completely into charred corpses.

[EXP +8]

[EXP +8]

[EXP +12]

...Densely packed experience notifications popped up, so many that it was impossible to see how many there were.

Just as Li Yang was about to shout, a white light flashed over his body.

He leveled up!

Before his excitement could peak, another white light flashed over him.

He leveled up again!

This feels great!

So good, so good!

In less than ten seconds, he had gained two levels. On the field, only the Chieftain remained among the Goblins.

"Human, you are seeking death!"

The Chieftain brandished his spiked club, roaring in anger. Unfortunately, his injuries didn't allow him any other options. The moment he stepped forward, he crashed to the ground, and another burst of experience flew out.

[Experience Points +300]

[Ding! Congratulations to the player for successfully clearing the Abyss-difficulty Goblin Camp.]

[Clear time: 9 minutes 36 seconds. You have surpassed 99% of challengers. Comprehensive evaluation: SSS.]

[Congratulations to the player for obtaining the corresponding clearance reward: 10,000 Credits. It has been deposited into your account; please check.]

Li Yang: "Holy crap, the rewards for Abyss difficulty are so garbage. Not even a piece of equipment or a skill book dropped."

Xu Le had expected this: "This dungeon is a novice dungeon. It's been cleared countless times. Even the experience has decayed this much. It'll probably collapse completely in a few more years."

Li Yang was still indignant: "I thought we were the fastest. Some big shot must have thrown away their dignity to come and farm the record just to show off."

Xu Le suggested: "When you go out, check the clear records, then target the top ten and start flaming them."

Li Yang curled his lip: "Brother Le, you're trying to get me killed."

After joking around for a bit, Xu Le proposed: "The dungeons in the city have been farmed hundreds of thousands of times; there's no future in dungeon diving here. How about we go to the contaminated land for a few rounds?"

Li Yang was quite tempted, but looking at his Rank 7 status, he hesitated slightly: "The books say that B-Rank professionals can barely survive on the edge of the contaminated land at Rank 30."

Xu Le looked at the Little Yellow Chicken. The Little Yellow Chicken held its head high, puffed out its chest, and squinted at Li Yang.

Li Yang: "..."

He was being looked down upon after all.

Only then did he realize.

The Little Yellow Chicken was an SSS-rank Professional. Each Rank increased its total attributes by 100 points, so Rank 7 meant 700 points.

Whereas he only gained 18 attribute points per Rank. Even at Rank 30, he would only have gained 540 total attribute points.

And that wasn't even counting its terrifying skills.

A man is not even as good as a chicken!

The two left the dungeon, and the outside was already crowded with people.

When Xiang Ying saw Xu Le come out without even a wrinkle in his clothes, she guessed the two had just been idling inside for ten minutes.

Her face immediately darkened: 'What a creep. I thought I could keep a sliver of a beautiful memory, but I never expected... a dog can't change its habit of eating—well, I'm well-bred, I won't say foul words.'

She turned around directly, without greeting anyone, and left quietly without even running the dungeon.

The crowd shared similar thoughts with Xiang Ying, all looking at the two with disdainful eyes: 'They didn't even know to hide in the dungeon for a bit longer. What idiots!'

Xu Le and Li Yang glanced at each other, didn't bother to explain, and left directly, heading towards the contaminated land... Three hundred years ago,

The Abyss descended upon Blue Star. Vast tracts of land were contaminated by Devilish Qi, and plants and animals either died or mutated into demonic creatures. It was a hell on earth.

Nowadays, only nine main cities remain. The government encourages capable humans to step out of the giant cities and wipe out the surrounding demonic creatures.

The moment Xu Le and Li Yang left the city gates and stepped into the wilderness, they felt it was completely different from inside the city. Even the air was laced with madness and destruction.

This was Devilish Qi!

Without the purification of a Formation, an ordinary person would turn into a demonic creature in three days at most.

There were many professionals outside the city, mostly between Rank 20 and 30. They didn't have the money for dungeons and didn't dare to go deep into the contaminated zones.

Xu Le summoned the Little Yellow Chicken. Stepping into the wilderness for the first time, it was quite excited, turning its head everywhere to look for demonic creatures.

Xu Le headed toward a less crowded area. After walking for a full half-hour, he finally saw a Demonic Deer.

Compared to the Goblins in the dungeon, the Demonic Deer's desire to attack was much stronger. Upon seeing the two, its eyes turned crimson, and with a roar, it charged directly at them.

The Little Yellow Chicken opened its beak and spat out a white Fireball.

-2800

A bright red number floated up from the Demonic Deer's head. Its movement suddenly stiffened, and a trace of fear appeared in its crimson eyes.

It possessed 30% magic resistance, yet more than half its health bar was gone in a single exchange. It couldn't win!

It turned around to flee.

A white Fireball reached it first, slamming into the Demonic Deer once more and killing it.

[Experience Points +480]

Xu Le was somewhat pleasantly surprised. A random demonic creature actually gave more experience than the Rank 8 boss, the Goblin Chieftain.

"Brother Le, this Demonic Deer's skin and antlers can be used as Materials."

"Do you know how to skin it?"

"Uh... no."

Li Yang was at a loss for words, feeling a bit disappointed.

demonic creatures in the wilderness were different from those in dungeons. dungeon creatures were formed of energy; after death, their corpses would quickly turn into white light and disappear.

demonic creatures in the wilderness, however, truly existed. If not processed, they would slowly rot and disappear over time.

If one hadn't mastered the relevant skills, the skinned hide would look terrible, not to mention it was labor-intensive, time-consuming, and of low value.

Unwilling to give up, Li Yang took his large blade, hacked off the deer antlers, and threw them into his backpack.

This thing didn't require much technical skill.

The two continued forward. After another five minutes, a rustling sound came, and a vine suddenly shot out from the woods.

Xu Le was the first to notice, but he didn't act. He simply used his intent through the contract to command the Little Yellow Chicken to intercept it.

Alerted to the direction, the Little Yellow Chicken spat out a large Fireball.

The agile vine was instantly reduced to ashes.

But the vine wasn't the main body. The Little Yellow Chicken chased after the direction from which the attack came.

Li Yang, fearing a trap, raised his heavy shield and looked around. A moment later, he heard another notification.

[Experience Points +1520]

Xu Le led Li Yang over. A massive vine plant had been burned to pieces, leaving behind a charred mess.

The surrounding trees were also scorched. Fortunately, the Little Yellow Chicken could absorb the flames; otherwise, they'd be 'rotting in jail' for starting a forest fire.

Xu Le realized the limitations of the Little Yellow Chicken and thought he needed to reach Rank 10 as soon as possible to contract a second contracted beast.

Sensing its master's thoughts, the Little Yellow Chicken suddenly became anxious. Its affection was about to be split in half, so it hurriedly acted even more obediently.

An hour later, a Demonic Tiger lay on the ground, its body charred black.

[Experience Points +1200]

White light once again floated over the two of them. They had reached Rank 8.

Beside the tiger's corpse, a skill book lay quietly.