323: Explosive! Worth hundreds of millions!

At the same time, deep within the Withered Forest.

Bang bang bang bang bang!

The remaining dozen or so members of the Mutant Team didn't have time to carefully observe what was happening in the Withered Forest a hundred meters behind them.

At this moment, they were still fully focused on the arduous battle with the heavily wounded Giant Ape.

Although the injured male Giant Ape had been struck in a vital shoulder-neck area by Black Reef's blade, causing blood to gush, its incredibly tenacious life force meant it hadn't completely lost its fighting capability.

And when these people received Black Reef's order and tried to bypass it to pick the spiritual golden pattern fruits.

The injured Giant Ape suddenly erupted, continuously throwing rocks and broken wood at the Mutant Team members, blocking them and causing a stalemate.

"Damn beast!"

Harassed and intercepted by this Giant Ape that didn't know its place, the Mutant Team members felt a sense of urgency and were furious.

After all, no one knew how long their captain, Black Reef, could divert the other Giant Ape. If they couldn't pick the fruits and leave quickly, none of them might make it out today!

Thump! Thump! Thump!

However, their fears came true. The muffled thumping sound from afar suddenly approached, startling the Mutant Team members.

They turned around abruptly and saw the female Giant Ape, which Black Reef had led away not long ago, had returned and was charging wildly in their direction!

Where is Captain Black Reef?!

At this instant, looking at the charging beast but not seeing Black Reef's figure, the remaining dozen or so members of the Mutant Team were scared out of their wits and, without thinking, scattered to flee!

Hmm?

At the same time, behind the Giant Ape, Shen Bei, using his powerful eyesight, saw that the Mutant Team members, without even a chance to collect the spiritual fruits, were fleeing for their lives. He chuckled, his Dantian True Qi rapidly erupting, his leg muscles suddenly swelling violently, and with a single push, the earth's surface and stones beneath him exploded.

Martial Skill: Seven Stars Steps!

He shot forward like a cannonball, accelerating sharply, instantly closing the distance with the charging female Giant Ape, and landed a punch squarely on its back!

Boom!

Amidst exploding air, cracking bones, and an exceptionally shrill roar, blood gushed from all seven orifices of the female Giant Ape. It tumbled to the ground like a giant rolling gourd, rolling dozens of meters before crashing directly into the already heavily wounded Giant Ape, becoming a tangled mess!

"Roar! Roar!"

With this, both Giant Apes were heavily wounded, their foul-smelling blood spraying everywhere, staining their fur completely red.

As they rolled, the two behemoths felt the world spin, roaring and struggling weakly on the dusty ground, desperately trying to stand up.

The roaring was incessant. The Mutant Team members, who hadn't noticed someone chasing the female Giant Ape earlier, saw Shen Bei, a human brimming with Killing Intent like a Tyrannosaurus, charge out and send the Giant Ape, which they couldn't resist at all, flying with a single punch. Their minds instantly went blank!

Who is this?!

How could a human Martial Artist appear?!

Is this even a person or a monster?!

The Vicious Beast Giant Ape, which they had surrounded and attacked for half a day without bringing down, this human was going to fight two?

Since when did these human Martial Skill Stealing Scholars become so fierce?

It's an outrage!

However, Shen Bei naturally had no time to concern himself with the thoughts of these Mutant small fry.

At this moment, taking advantage of the two beasts rolling together, roaring and struggling miserably, Shen Bei's powerful body charged forward, violently compressing the air, and directly arrived in front of the female Giant Ape's mountain-like body. His muscles like steel, tendons rippling, he unleashed two successive punches, carrying an overwhelming force, towards their vital heads!

Bang! Bang!

The next instant, under everyone's astonished gaze, the two evil beasts' heads, the size of doors, exploded instantly!

Disgusting red and white matter splattered in all directions!

It was precisely the 'One Star, Double Strike' of Shen Bei's Seven Stars Fist, using pure, brutal, unmatched iron fists and strength to directly smash the heads of these two evil beasts, which were even harder than rock.

Thud.

The earth's surface shook with a rumble as the two mountain-like Giant Apes collapsed to the ground, utterly silent.

Witnessing this scene, the Mutant Team members' legs trembled. They couldn't spare a thought for the newcomer's identity, nor where their captain Black Reef had gone, and immediately fled for their lives into the Withered Forest!

"Not bad, you've got a bit of my style."

Behind them in the Withered Forest, Zhuang Bifan arrived late with Fang Nanxi. Seeing the two mountain-like motionless corpses at Shen Bei's feet, he immediately spoke with a somewhat teasing and envious tone.

After killing the two evil beasts with his bare fists, Shen Bei's face was still splattered with blood and brain matter. He turned to look at the late-arriving Zhuang Bifan, curling his lip in disdain, and said,

"Coming to pick up the ready-made goods, eh?"

Zhuang Bifan naturally wouldn't admit it: "I was afraid you'd get lost."

Shen Bei had no love for such a flimsy excuse and waved his hand: "How about... you go catch the scattered Mutants and bring them back?"

"Don't you understand the saying, 'Don't chase a cornered foe'?" Zhuang Bifan retorted.

Shen Bei raised his chin: "That saying only applies when both sides have suffered heavy casualties. Don't you agree, Young Miss Fang?"

Fang Nanxi, having been rapidly transported by Zhuang Bifan, swayed and retched a few times.

Hearing Shen Bei's question, she didn't hesitate too long. After weighing her options, she replied with an extremely firm tone: "We definitely need to catch one back. I have something to ask."

Shen Bei let out a questioning "Hmm?": "Ask what?"

"Catch one first, then we'll talk." Fang Nanxi wasn't sure if she had misheard, so she didn't want to speak too definitively until she verified it.

Shen Bei and Zhuang Bifan exchanged glances.

For Shen Bei, capturing Mutant prisoners was merely to complete the bounty mission, hand the Mutants over to the country, and activate the daily settlement panel.

The country continuously acquired live Mutants.

On one hand, they were made into Puppets at the Martial Arts University for practical combat training and real attribute testing.

On the other hand, Mutant prisoners could be exchanged in places like Wala Mountain for humans who had also been captured by Mutants.

Mutants also had relatives and social networks, so such exchanges were not uncommon.

"Fan, then you make the trip." Shen Bei said.

"Alright!"

Zhuang Bifan, who had been in a state of merely 'making soy sauce' (doing nothing important) from beginning to end, dared not delay. He responded and chased after the Mutant Team members who hadn't fled far into the Withered Forest.

It wasn't that Zhuang Bifan had to obey Shen Bei's command, but rather Fang Nanxi's unexpected behavior.

One must know that Fang Nanxi was involved with Fang Han, and the Heaven-Defying wondrous item in Fang Han's possession.

Zhuang Bifan didn't hesitate; compared to finding a good deal, the "wondrous item" was far more important.

In the Withered Forest, curses echoed incessantly. Shen Bei raised his head, his gaze sharp as he scanned back and forth, and immediately spotted the vines growing along the cliff face of the mountain, a few tens of meters beyond the Withered Forest, and the golden pattern fruits faintly shimmering among the branches and leaves.

"It's there!"

Shen Bei was immediately overjoyed. He wiped the blood from his face, darted forward, and in a flash, shot out of the Withered Forest, arriving at the base of the rock wall, in front of the patch of vines growing along the mountain.

"It's definitely it."

First, he glanced at the piles of white bones beneath the vines, and the few corpses that had been bled to water them. Then Shen Bei reached out and picked a fruit, examining it carefully, and found it was identical to the bounty description.

"So many white bones, and these corpses... Could it be that this patch of vines was cultivated by those two big fellows, killing other life forms and watering them with some special method?"

After the initial joy, a thought flashed through Shen Bei's mind.

However, he had no intention of delving into the cause of this spiritual plant's formation. He immediately used both hands to pluck the fruits from the vines one by one, counting them as he stuffed them directly into a bag.

With Shen Bei's hands moving like the wind, in just a few minutes, the red-skinned golden pattern fruits on the vines were completely picked clean. And as he counted, a total of over one hundred and twenty golden pattern fruits ended up in his own pocket!

There were simply too many, some couldn't fit. In the end, Fang Nanxi had to open her backpack, and they took a portion of them all away.

Shen Bei, having picked all the fruits, was immediately satisfied.

Now he could heavily activate a wave of the daily settlement panel.

"Ooh, ooh..."

However, at this moment, Shen Bei's ear twitched. He tilted his head and noticed the extremely faint, tender beast cries subtly emanating from the dark Giant Ape's nest about thirty meters to his left, as if something else existed within the nest.

Hmm?

Shen Bei's eyebrows rose, and he immediately stepped over.

With great skill comes great daring. Arriving at the huge nest entrance, ignoring the foul stench, Shen Bei walked right in.

The nest wasn't very deep. After only two steps, Shen Bei immediately discovered, at the very back of the nest, a Red-Eyed Vicious Beast ape cub, the size of a calf, its eyes not yet open, crying incessantly in the den, as if waiting for its mother's return, wailing to be fed.

These were the offspring of the two Red-Eyed Giant Apes outside.

"Alas..."

Seeing the cub wailing to be fed, Shen Bei felt a pang of pity and sighed softly:

"How pitiful. A family should always be complete and together."

Bang!

Before his words had even finished, Shen Bei's large hand reached out and slammed down violently, smashing the calf-sized Vicious Beast ape cub's brain, killing it with a single palm while it was still ignorant and unaware.

Shen Bei, of course, had no thoughts of adopting a cub and raising it as a pet fighter.

He believed in strength belonging to oneself and had no time to expend energy on raising and training pets.

After slapping the Giant Ape cub to death, Shen Bei searched the nest and found, besides a large pile of white bones and fur in the corner, a small golden ring.

The ring was ordinary, with simple decorative patterns that didn't convey any particular aesthetic concept.

Gold, whether on the earth's surface or in the underground caves, was a universal currency.

It glittered, truly a joyful sight.

"This is money too."

Shen Bei bent down to pick it up.

The next moment.

Shen Bei only felt a trace of his True Qi being drawn away the instant his finger touched the ring.

Shen Bei's eyes widened, thinking someone was behind him using the Absorbing Skill to draw his True Qi.

But there was no one behind him.

As Shen Bei was utterly perplexed, his vision suddenly went dark.

Or rather, it wasn't that darkness descended.

Instead, his vision switched to a different scene.

As his vision cleared.

Shen Bei saw a space of about five cubic meters appear on his retina!

"This is..."

Shen Bei instantly realized something.

He couldn't help but gasp.

His entire body trembled slightly: "Hiss!! I actually picked up a Storage Ring!"