42: Chapter 42 A Chance Encounter, Are You Trying to Steal Me?

"Awoo."

[Boss, it's right here, listen.]

Having reached the vicinity of the water source, Dahei couldn't wait to claim credit from Qin Ding, quickly exiting the forest and stopping by the stream.

Walking to the riverside, Qin Ding's gaze was quickly drawn to a newly popped up Life Records, the target being a small, light blue sphere half-floating on the water's surface.

[Spirit Beast: Water Slime]

[Aptitude: Inferior]

[Element: Water]

[Level: 1 (Low-tier)]

[Ability: Water Jet]

[Bloodline: Slime (100%)]

[Evolution Path Slime Class: Must reach Level 11]

[Aptitude Improvement: ...]

[Introduction: An elemental creature born between heaven and earth; although it possesses elemental power innately, it is extremely weak and holds no value for cultivation.]

The Water Slime also sensed Qin Ding's gaze, its body visibly shivering as if frightened, before it immediately sank to the bottom of the stream.

Seeing this kind of elemental lifeform for the first time, Qin Ding couldn't help but take a few extra looks. The next second, a pitch-black dog filled Qin Ding's vision.

Dahei had also discovered the Water Slime Qin Ding was watching, and it quickly entered the river, swallowed the Water Slime in one bite, and clamped down hard.

*Squish.*

Dahei's eyes showed confusion. After chewing a bit more, it opened its mouth, and a stream of water flowed out.

"Awoo?"

[What's the situation? Didn't I eat it? How come it's gone?]

"Water Slimes are elemental lifeforms; they turn into a pool of water upon death. Therefore, the presence of Water Slimes in a river is considered a symbol of cleanliness."

Bai Muxue, who had explained just in time, crouched down and gently poked the White Fox. "It's time for you to go down and bathe, go on."

In the stream, Dahei rolled its eyes, lowered its head, and the entire wolf sank straight toward the bottom. Seeing this, Qin Ding raised an eyebrow, not quite understanding what Dahei's purpose was.

The White Fox, having just entered the water, hesitated when it saw Dahei's actions. After a few seconds of indecision, its curiosity got the better of it, and it planned to follow and dive to see what was going on.

On the bank, Wan Kang, having just unloaded two snakeskin bags from the Pink Pig, patted the Pink Pig's head with a relaxed expression.

"Go down and take a bath."

"Oink oink."

With a sprint, the heavy-set Pink Pig exploded into the stream like a cannonball, sending up a massive splash. However, unlike Dahei and the White Fox, the Pink Pig simply floated comfortably on the cool water surface.

Bai Muxue looked at Wan Kang, who was sitting under a tree cooling off and waiting for the Pink Pig, then quietly walked over to Qin Ding and tugged at his sleeve.

"What's wrong?"

"Qin Ding, tell me, now that it's the Class Competition, if we run into people from other classes, will we end up fighting?"

People from other classes?

Qin Ding fell into thought, as this question was indeed worth pondering. As the saying goes, you can control yourself, but you cannot control others. Looking at what happened last night...

The Fire-Treading Tiger still had a student's corpse hanging from it, which showed that the others were not exactly kind-hearted either. If they encountered them, even if they didn't want to fight, it didn't mean the other party wouldn't.

Suddenly, Qin Ding looked up at Bai Muxue, his tone casual. "We'll see when the time comes. If they don't provoke us, we shouldn't be the ones to start a fight."

"But if they initiate, then we'll just have to make an example of them."

Not hearing the answer she didn't want, a clear, faint smile appeared on Bai Muxue's face, beautiful enough to make one's heart tremble.

To be honest, she was a little afraid that Qin Ding would become addicted to solving problems by killing. Because once that mindset took hold, sooner or later, animal instincts would crush humanity, and in the end, despite being human, his way of thinking would be no different from a beast.

Seeing Qin Ding staring blankly, Bai Muxue didn't mind and spoke up to bring him back to his senses.

"They said three days, but tomorrow is the last day. We have to be off the mountain by dusk to complete the tally, if all three of us are to be in the top three."

"With just these few beast heads, it might not be enough."

Hearing this, Qin Ding nodded in agreement and looked at the stream in front of him.

"It's indeed not enough, so after Dahei and the others finish bathing, we can follow this stream and look around to see if we can encounter any Spirit Beasts. Spirit Beasts need to drink water too."

Nearby, Wan Kang, who was watching the Pink Pig enjoy its bath, hesitated for two seconds before decisively taking off his shoes and socks, walking to the bank, and dipping his feet in.

"Ooh... comfortable..."

He had wanted to call out to Qin Ding and Bai Muxue to see if they wanted to try it, but looking to the side, he consciously shut his mouth before the words could come out.

Forget it, the two of them really are acting like they're on a spring outing...

Meanwhile, two kilometers away.

The three remaining people from Class 3 were walking in this direction. Among the three, the one with a rag wrapped around his shoulder was clearly the leader.

"Zhou Xiang, there are only three of us, won't it be too dangerous? I heard the five from Class 2 are participating in the Class Competition together, which is safer and more efficient. Should we go find Li Dong and the other two?"

When Chen Rui looked at Zhou Xiang, his voice trembled slightly, as if he were afraid of something. The other person nodded in complete agreement upon hearing Chen Rui's words.

"Yeah, Zhou Xiang, the three of us are still too dangerous, especially after last night..."

The third person hadn't finished speaking when Zhou Xiang, walking in front, turned back and gave a look that scared the rest of his words back down his throat.

"Didn't Zhu Ping deserve to die? Relying on his Beast Taming level being one or two ranks higher than ours, he forced us to be his scouts. As soon as we encountered two Mountain Boars, he ran without looking back and sold us out. He deserved to be killed."

Speaking of this, Zhou Xiang paused, turned his head to look at the two, his tone carrying a hint of disdain.

"You want to find Li Dong and the others? That's a joke. If Li Dong had any ability, he wouldn't have been driven to Class 3 by Qin Ding. Not to mention that Qin Ding's side also has three people; it's unclear who will come out on top between Li Dong and Qin Ding's group."

Chen Rui and Cao Yun exchanged a glance, not daring to speak. It was just that last night, Zhou Xiang had held a machete to the throat of Zhu Ping's Emerald Mantis and killed Zhu Ping. That scene was too shocking; they hadn't recovered from it even now.

Seeing that the two no longer had the intention of finding Li Dong, Zhou Xiang sneered.

He had heard a thing or two about what kind of person Qin Ding was. He always acted alone and had no acquaintances other than Bai Muxue. How could such a person offend anyone? Anyone who wasn't stupid would know it was Li Dong's problem.

The facts proved he had guessed correctly, because Li Dong could hang out with those Zhou brothers. This was also the reason why he had just stopped Cao Yun's idea.

Going to rendezvous with Li Dong and the others was practically no different from facing three Zhu Pings, perhaps even worse.

"Squeak."

Suddenly, the Earth Rat running in front to scout dashed back to Zhou Xiang's feet, squeaking about something.

"Hmm? You found people? And also found two snakeskin bags with a heavy smell of blood?"

Hearing this, Zhou Xiang instantly perked up. "No one's watching, right..."