66: Enter the wilderness

After finishing dinner and resting for a few more hours, the time had arrived at night.

The weather in October was still scorching, so Qiao Yu chose to set out at night.

Traveling to County-level City No. 0201 again would take another 2 days; moving alone would be much faster, but it was still time-consuming and laborious.

Qiao Yu remembered that the Martial Artist supply base had off-road vehicles for rent and sale, with both off-road cars and motorcycles readily available.

Cars were too conspicuous in the Wilderness Area, and there were many obstacles on the highway, so a motorcycle was more convenient.

In the end, Qiao Yu chose a pure electric off-road motorcycle with a range of about 300 kilometers. Unfortunately, it was just an ordinary off-road motorcycle and could not really withstand the impact of monsters.

Qiao Yu rode the off-road motorcycle as quietly as possible on the highway leading to County-level City No. 0201, still wearing the full set of Grade 6 equipment from before, with some smaller items placed in the box on the back seat.

County City No. 0201 did not have Lord Level monsters, so there was no need for very good equipment; the Grade 6 equipment was perfectly sufficient to use.

"The speed is seventy miles, the mood is free and easy, hoping the destination is the Aegean Sea, running with all my might, the dream is on the other shore."

Qiao Yu was moving at a speed of forty kilometers per hour. Midway, just as he wanted to release the spores within a radius of 100 meters, they were quickly left behind by the off-road motorcycle.

Helplessly, Qiao Yu had to retract the spores back into his body.

"It's a pity that spores are suitable for use in enclosed spaces, and I have no way to control the spores over ultra-long distances."

The further the spores and the flesh and blood mycelium were from Qiao Yu, the fewer functions Qiao Yu could control.

Moreover, with the current improvement in his Realm and Rank, Qiao Yu also discovered the drawbacks of the fungal swarm.

After all, the fungal swarm was just a group of fungi, not living organisms. It could still win at a microscopic level against some unprepared Beast Soldier-level Monsters, and it could also achieve functions like making the Tiger Tooth Squad self-destruct.

However, if the enemy's level reached the Warlord Level or Beast General Level, relying solely on the fungal swarm to kill enemies was very limited.

As the Rank of Martial Artists and monsters increased, their own genes were also constantly optimizing.

One had heard of ordinary people getting sick or low-level Martial Artists occasionally getting sick, but when had one ever heard news of a Warlord-level Martial Artist getting sick due to a viral invasion or bacterial infection?

"If I don't rely on the fungal swarm to kill monsters, then I can only rely on my own strength to kill monsters."

After leaving the base for more than ten miles, Qiao Yu sensed the Soul connection within County City No. 0201; the fungal nest was still dormant and had not continued to expand outward.

On the contrary, the constant use of the flesh and blood mycelium during this period had caused the quantity of the fungal swarm to decline, and now there was only a little over 2,000 cubic meters of the fungal swarm remaining.

'System, didn't you say before that I could activate the faction function? Go ahead and activate it so I can see what it's about.'

【Ding! Activating the faction function requires consuming 1,000 cubic meters of the fungal swarm. Do you want to activate it?】

'Yes!'

Qiao Yu confirmed internally.

【Ding! Faction function has been activated.】

【Current Fungal Squad member count: (0 / 10)】

【The host can directly enslave monsters through the fungal swarm parasitic function, while simultaneously parsing related genes into the gene bank.】

【The host can subsequently generate corresponding fungal organisms directly in the fungal nest via the gene bank.】

While waiting for the System to activate the faction function, Qiao Yu had already driven about twenty or thirty miles.

Monsters' roars had already started to be heard from time to time on the highway and in the surrounding fields.

Qiao Yu swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and his spirit inevitably became a little tense.

Although he was now a Warlord-level Martial Artist, his practical combat experience was still too weak.

Before, it had always been gang crime—no, that's not right, gang cooperation—or was it team cooperation?

Now it was his first time truly venturing into the Wilderness Area alone; it would be a lie to say he wasn't nervous.

Fortunately, he hadn't encountered any monster attacks.

After driving for about two hours, Qiao Yu followed the memory of when he traveled with the Fire Hammer Squad and took the exit ramp off the highway.

The Fire Hammer Squad had previously rested in a deserted rural farmhouse in this vicinity.

"Creak—"

On the downhill road, the motorcycle's speed gradually increased, and a slight braking sound rang out. The specially treated brake pads minimized the braking sound to the extreme, just to prevent attracting the attention of monsters in the wild.

Relying on his Warlord Level vision, Qiao Yu dodged several potholes and hidden pits. Fortunately, the motorcycle didn't get stuck; otherwise, it would have been a waste of time to get it out.

After some tossing and turning, Qiao Yu finally arrived at a position several hundred meters outside this rural farmhouse.

When he came with the Fire Hammer Squad before, there were only a few Beast Soldier-level Monsters here, at most Intermediate Beast Soldier, which were still quite easy to deal with.

Qiao Yu took out his binoculars and looked toward the farmhouse.

In the Wilderness Area, it is very taboo to apply the previous situation of a building to the current situation; simply put, one cannot use the sword of the previous dynasty to behead the officials of the current dynasty.

Every exploration requires caution, re-exploring to avoid meeting with unexpected mishaps.

'There are monsters!'

Qiao Yu narrowed his eyes, staring intently at the residential area of the farmhouse.

Several pairs of greenish eyes lit up in the dark night.

Through the night vision mode, Qiao Yu saw clearly that it was a pack of Tiger Mastiffs.

'I didn't expect this farmhouse to have been occupied by Lion Mastiffs. Judging by the number, there are at least twenty of them.'

Although Tiger Mastiffs are not gregarious monsters, occasionally when the breeding season arrives, they will gather in groups of two or three to ride the silver train.

Through the night vision mode at that unbearable doggy feast, Qiao Yu didn't know for a moment whether he should continue to go forward to kill the monsters; it was also quite disgusting to watch.

After thinking for a moment, Qiao Yu still intended to take action. Although he felt a bit disgusted inside, this was an excellent hunting opportunity.

When the Tiger Mastiffs' butts are stuck together, that is the best moment to hunt.

It's just that due to genetic evolution, the time for the Tiger Mastiffs has also significantly increased.

Perhaps it's because the reproductive probability has become lower.

'Tsk, it really is unbearable to watch.'

Qiao Yu took down the binoculars. Why did he just see a scene of four or five Tiger Mastiffs stacked together wriggling? He had never heard that Tiger Mastiffs could reproduce with the same sex.

Seeing that the time was about right, Qiao Yu temporarily parked the off-road motorcycle in place.

The vicinity had already been observed. For the time being, there was only this group of Tiger Mastiffs driving the silver chariot here, so there was no need to worry too much about his butt being ambushed by monsters.

He slowly walked forward, and when he was about one hundred meters away from the farmhouse residential area, Qiao Yu sneakily released the spores forward.

One by one, the spores drifted with the wind toward the location of the Tiger Mastiffs.

And that group of Tiger Mastiffs, who were wriggling in a stack, gradually stopped, twitched their noses, and discovered a bloody smell in the air.

Before Qiao Yu could let the spores self-destruct, the System sent a notification.

【Detected parasitable organism—Beast Soldier Level Tiger Mastiff. Do you want to perform parasitism?】