97: Chapter 97 Are you even human?

"We're from the 108th Special Warfare Battalion!"

"Where are you all from?"

Battalion Commander Fan Zhijie shouted loudly.

"We're from the 178 Special Operations Battalion!"

Soon, the other party's people emerged in a large crowd; they were indeed soldiers from the 178 Special Operations Battalion.

"What's the situation? How did we end up meeting here?"

Fan Zhijie and his men were all completely bewildered.

"We're wondering the same thing."

The other party's battalion commander stepped forward. "It seems many of the caves in here are interconnected."

"My point is, did you guys really hunt down and clear out all the exotic beasts in your caves this quickly?"

Fan Zhijie asked.

"No!"

The other commander shook his head. "As soon as we entered the caves, we found that the exotic beasts were already dead, leaving behind nothing but piles of corpses. So, we made it here without any resistance."

"What?"

Hearing this, the soldiers of the 108th Special Warfare Battalion all stared with wide, shocked eyes.

"The exotic beasts on your side are all dead too? What on earth is going on?"

"We don't know either!"

The other battalion commander shrugged. "We can only judge from the wounds that the culprit likely used a great saber-type weapon and possesses a lightning-element Supernatural Ability."

*Hiss!*

Fan Zhijie and the others immediately sucked in a breath of cold air.

A great saber-type weapon and a lightning-element Supernatural Ability?

Isn't that Jiang Ling?

Did that fellow Jiang Ling kill all the exotic beasts on the 178th's side too?

"Do you know what's going on?"

The other battalion commander asked.

"This... we aren't entirely sure."

Fan Zhijie said with a frown.

"What do you mean 'not entirely sure'?"

The other man pressed.

"It's like this: our battalion recently received a New Recruit."

Fan Zhijie explained, "I suspect this New Recruit might be the one behind it."

"Last night, I put him on sentry duty, but he vanished mysteriously."

"We followed the trail through the caves and found nothing but exotic beast corpses."

"The weapon he uses happens to be a black iron great saber, and his Supernatural Ability is the SSS-grade World-Ending Divine Thunder."

"What? A New Recruit?"

Hearing this, the other battalion commander's mouth fell open.

"Old Fan, you're joking, right?"

"A New Recruit? You're saying he killed all these exotic beasts?"

"Even if several of us battalion commanders went out alone, we wouldn't have that kind of strength."

...

"I know it's preposterous, but other than this, I have no idea what's happening either."

Fan Zhijie spread his hands helplessly.

"Could it be some powerful Martial Artist who happened to come here for training or to look for Materials?"

The other battalion commander suggested.

"Unlikely."

Fan Zhijie shook his head. "This Secret Realm is controlled by the authorities; other experts can't get in."

"Then that's truly strange."

The other battalion commander frowned. "Let's continue searching ahead then and see what the situation is. Maybe we'll find the answer soon."

"Alright!"

Fan Zhijie nodded, and they immediately set off again, continuing to feel their way forward in search of Jiang Ling's whereabouts.

The path ahead was still littered with exotic beast corpses, and the numbers were only increasing.

However, they still saw no sign of Jiang Ling.

Soon, they encountered another Special Operations Battalion team.

"What's going on?"

"Why have the exotic beasts here all been killed?"

"Why were the ones on our side killed too?"

"Are you guys coming over to our side to steal our credit?"

The speaker was the battalion commander of the 104th Special Operations Battalion.

"We didn't kill these exotic beasts; they were all killed by a single person."

Fan Zhijie and the commander of the 178th Special Operations Battalion stepped forward to explain.

"What?"

The other man was instantly dumbfounded as well.

Who could this be, to actually possess such strength?

"If all the exotic beasts have been killed, then our competition is moot!"

"Let's go take a look together. No matter what, we have to figure out what's going on."

...

Thus, the three Special Operations Battalions set out together.

After walking for a while, they encountered yet another Special Operations Battalion team.

The situation there was the same: every single exotic beast had been slain.

They were increasingly astonished—who exactly was this formidable?

They continued on their way, searching for the perpetrator of all this.

Gradually, six of the seven Special Operations Battalions met up within this massive underground cavern.

Across all six battalions, not a single living exotic beast had been seen.

This was simply haunting!

Determined to find out the truth, they continued to scout forward.

After walking for over an hour, they finally heard the sounds of fighting ahead, and the ceiling of the cavern was thick with lightning and clouds.

Clearly, a lightning-element Supernatural Ability was erupting!

By the time they reached the scene, they found the battle had already ended.

On the spot stood a slender Martial Artist and a half-human, half-snake exotic beast.

"Jiang Ling!"

Fan Zhijie recognized the Martial Artist's face and immediately cried out in shock.

"Eh?"

"Battalion Commander, you're all here?"

Jiang Ling turned around and, seeing several Special Operations Battalions had arrived, immediately broke into a smile.

At this time, Medusa had wrapped herself in more scales, covering her exposed upper body to avoid indecency.

"Jiang Ling... this exotic beast beside you!"

Fan Zhijie didn't ask Jiang Ling about what had happened first, but instead stared at Medusa in astonishment.

Wasn't this Medusa an exotic beast?

Why hadn't Jiang Ling killed her?

"Oh, this is a pet I'm keeping!"

Jiang Ling grinned and said.

"What?"

"A pet you're keeping?"

Everyone's jaws dropped.

When did Jiang Ling start keeping such a beautiful snake-woman?

This was quite the stroke of luck with the ladies!

Many people couldn't help but show looks of envy, jealousy, and hatred!

"Jiang Ling, I told you to stand sentry. Why did you run off here?"

Soon, Fan Zhijie became indignant.

A soldier's duty is to obey orders!

Jiang Ling's failure to follow orders was a dereliction of duty!

"Oh, sorry, Battalion Commander!"

Jiang Ling gave an embarrassed smile. "While I was on sentry duty, I happened to see some exotic beasts, so I killed them."

"Then I thought I'd scout a bit further this way to understand the distribution of the exotic beasts—knowing oneself and the enemy is the only way to win a hundred battles."

"As a result, I just kept going further and further until I reached here."

"I originally intended to head back before the mission started, but there's no cycle of day and night here, so I lost track of time!"

...

Hearing Jiang Ling speak so casually, everyone was floored.

Brother, do you even hear what you're saying?

You just wanted to 'scout a bit' and ended up slaughtering your way all the way here?

What do you take this Secret Realm for?

Fan Zhijie's brow furrowed; Jiang Ling's actions were indeed a serious dereliction of duty, but now was not the time for punishment.

He turned and asked, "You're saying you killed every single one of these exotic beasts?"