28: Chapter 28 Zhao Fansheng, Die!

Zhao Fansheng squeezed out a smile that looked worse than crying, his voice trembling.

"Careless?"

"Carelessly kicking the grappling hook loose, carelessly making noise, carelessly leaving Yi Xiaoyu and me at the cliff to wait for death—were those the 'careless' things you did?"

Lin Mo interrupted him, his voice as flat as if he were stating today's weather.

With every "careless" mentioned, Zhao Fansheng's face paled further.

Wu Feng's expression instantly darkened like water.

He had previously suspected Zhao Fansheng had done it on purpose. Now, hearing Lin Mo point it out directly and seeing Zhao Fansheng's extreme guilt, his suspicions were completely confirmed.

"Zhao Fansheng! What else do you have to say?"

Wu Feng questioned him with a cold face.

"I... I really didn't do it on purpose!"

Zhao Fansheng suddenly fell to his knees, tears and snot streaming down his face.

"Captain! Captain! You have to believe me, I was just so scared at the time!"

"My hand slipped, yes! My hand really slipped! I... Lin Mo and I are classmates, how could I intentionally harm him!"

"Lin Mo, Lin Mo, believe me! We're classmates in the same class!"

As he wailed, he crawled toward Lin Mo on all fours, seemingly wanting to grab Lin Mo's leg to beg for mercy.

But Lin Mo raised his leg and delivered a kick, sending Zhao Fansheng flying several meters away.

With this kick, Lin Mo didn't hold back at all.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

Zhao Fansheng curled up in pain, blood leaking from the corner of his mouth.

After a long while, he struggled to crawl back up.

Lin Mo's kick had shattered Zhao Fansheng's last shred of hope.

He slumped on the ground, the color completely drained from his face, his lips trembling. Suddenly, as if grasping at a life-saving straw, he shouted:

"It's Wang Yan! It was the class teacher Wang Yan who instructed me! He forced me to find an opportunity on the front lines to get rid of you! I was forced, Lin Mo! It was all his idea!"

He blurted out the truth incoherently, completely absolving himself and pushing all the blame onto Wang Yan, who was far away at the school.

What he didn't know was that his ugly display of being willing to betray anything to survive made Wu Feng and the others show expressions of contempt.

Wu Feng and the two veterans had even colder gazes.

On the battlefield, they hated people who stabbed their own in the back the most.

A beast's fangs are visible, but the schemes of such a person can take your life when you are least guarded.

After hearing this, Lin Mo's face remained expressionless.

He looked at the cliff beneath his feet, then toward the distant Black Needle Forest, and finally turned his gaze back to Zhao Fansheng.

"The feng shui here is quite good."

Lin Mo suddenly spoke, his voice very light, yet it made Zhao Fansheng's whole body stiffen.

"Backed by the cliff, facing the jungle, with a wide view—it's quite quiet."

He paused, as if evaluating a scenic spot.

"The spot you picked is really not bad!"

"Being buried here would be quite nice."

The pleading on Zhao Fansheng's face froze completely, turning into a distorted fear and madness.

He understood that Lin Mo had no intention of letting him go; nothing he said would work anymore!

"No—!!!"

The instinct to survive overwhelmed his fear. A murderous glint flashed in Zhao Fansheng's eyes as his kneeling body suddenly sprang up!

His right hand had already quietly reached for the military dagger at his lower back. Now, he lunged with all his might, aiming straight for Lin Mo's heart!

The blue entry, Black Rock Armament, granted him powerful defense while also making his strength significantly greater than a typical Awakener, making this thrust fast and vicious, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound!

"You're looking for death!"

Wu Feng shouted, wanting to step in to stop it, but it was already too late.

Lin Mo just stood calmly in place, not even drawing his blade, allowing Zhao Fansheng to lunge at him with the dagger.

He simply shifted his body slightly.

The movement looked casual, like avoiding a falling leaf.

Zhao Fansheng's full-force thrust brushed past his clothes, hitting nothing but air.

The massive momentum caused Zhao Fansheng to rush forward. He stumbled a step, still wanting to turn and strike again.

But in the next second, he felt a chill on his neck.

Lin Mo had appeared beside him at some unknown point, drawing the chipped C-rank combat blade from his waist and lightly slicing it across the side of his neck.

The movement was as gentle as brushing away dust.

"Squelch—"

The blade sliced through flesh, bringing forth a spray of blood.

Zhao Fansheng's movements froze, and the dagger fell to the ground with a clang.

His eyes widened, his pupils still holding the last remnants of madness and disbelief. He seemed to want to turn and look at Lin Mo, but blood was spurting frantically from his neck.

He opened his mouth, making a "he-he" wheezing sound, and then his whole body went limp, collapsing like a pile of mud.

Dead.

Clean and efficient.

[Ding~ Killed a Rank 1 Level 5 Awakener, slaughter value +4.]

Lin Mo looked at the dirty blood staining the blade, took a cloth from his pocket, and gently wiped it away.

Then he looked at Wu Feng:

"Captain, violating military regulations by privately executing a comrade—how to handle this is up to you."

Everyone's gaze focused on Wu Feng.

The air was deathly silent.

Wu Feng looked at Zhao Fansheng's corpse on the ground, then at Lin Mo, the muscles on his face twitching a few times.

Behind him, Lao Yu and Old Hei had complex looks in their eyes, but there was no hostility, only deep wariness...

...and a trace of subtle approval.

After a long time, Wu Feng took a deep breath and spoke slowly:

"Zhao Fansheng, driven by a greedy pursuit of merit, accidentally triggered a spiderweb in the Black Needle Forest, leading to the sacrifice of Sun Yueming. Then, while climbing the cliff, he lost his grip on the rope due to fear, alerting the Rock Armor Beast pack, and finally... unfortunately died under the assault of the Rock Armor Beasts."

"Did everyone hear that clearly?"

He asked this final question very slowly, emphasizing every word, his voice echoing clearly over the cliff.

The boy named Zhang Hao was the first to react, nodding vigorously.

"Heard clearly! Zhao Fansheng... he was just too careless."

After the other boy realized what was happening, he also hurriedly agreed: "Yes, it was the Rock Armor Beasts that killed him!"

The two veterans exchanged a glance and nodded silently.

Yi Xiaoyu just gave a soft 'mm' and then kicked Zhao Fansheng's corpse off the cliff...

Wu Feng walked up to Lin Mo and said in a low voice:

"Let me see your blade!"

"My blade?"

Lin Mo was somewhat surprised.

He looked down at the combat blade at his waist, then back at Wu Feng, confirming that the other man really wanted to see his blade.

Wu Feng reached out: "Let me see it."

"Here!"

Although he didn't know why Wu Feng made this request, Lin Mo still took the combat blade from his waist and handed it to Wu Feng along with the scabbard.

Wu Feng took it and then drew the combat blade with a 'shing'.

"Hiss—"

The two veterans behind him let out a sharp intake of breath.

The blade of Lin Mo's C-rank standard-issue combat knife was covered in fine cracks, extending from the tip to three inches in front of the handguard—at least seventeen or eighteen of them.

The edge was even more pathetic; not only was it severely chipped, but there were also over a dozen notches of various sizes. The blade itself showed an irregular curvature, a permanent deformation from bearing stress far beyond its limits.

This C-rank standard-issue combat blade was completely ruined.

"You kid... what were you hacking at in that cave?"

Wu Feng asked subconsciously.

"A Rock-Armored Earth Dragon."

Lin Mo replied calmly.

"However, due to some special reasons, it only had the strength of the early third stage, but its bone density must have reached the threshold of the fourth stage. It was very hard!"

"Rock-Armored Earth Dragon!" The two veterans' eyes widened like copper bells.

Wu Feng looked up and stared at Lin Mo for a full five seconds.

"A C-rank combat blade..."

"...could cut through fourth-stage strength bone? How many times did you strike?"

Lin Mo thought for a moment. "Over a hundred strikes, I didn't count carefully."

Wu Feng fell silent.

He handed the chipped combat blade back to Lin Mo, then reached back and gripped the hilt of the combat blade on his own back.

It was a very uniquely shaped combat blade.

The scabbard was not standard-issue either, its surface covered in fine dragon-scale patterns.

The handguard was in the shape of cloud patterns, with a deep green gemstone embedded in the center. The hilt was wrapped in dark brown sharkskin, heavily worn.

Wu Feng held the blade with both hands and presented it to Lin Mo.

"Use this one."

...