Chapter 65: 8,000 Ability Points! A Lavish Panel!

One month later, Pingan County.

A four-person squad of ability-users walked along the broken city road.

Compared to other ability-user squads moving through the wilderness, this squad seemed far more at ease.

Each of them carried their weapons on their backs, not a trace of tension.

"Captain, what's going on with this Pingan County?

We've been wandering around for a whole day—how come we haven't run into a single fierce beast?"

One of the squad members couldn't help but complain out loud.

They had arrived at Pingan County last night, and upon arrival they had noticed something was off.

The entire Pingan County was unreasonably quiet.

But nighttime visibility was poor, and quite a few fierce beasts roosted at night, so they didn't look into it further.

Then, unexpectedly, when they got up the next day and prepared to officially hunt fierce beasts—

They discovered that the entire Pingan County was like a dead city, terrifyingly silent!

And so it came to pass that from morning to afternoon, they hadn't so much as encountered a single fierce beast!

If it had been like before, they would have already started hunting long ago!

"You ask me, who am I supposed to ask?"

The captain was a burly bald man, and at this point clearly on the verge of losing his temper, he shot back irritably.

"There are at least five or six hundred fierce beasts in Pingan County.

Such a massive beast group—even if they migrated, they couldn't have migrated this cleanly."

One squad member frowned.

Pingan County was a place their squad often came to.

Yet they hadn't expected that after just one month away, such a huge change had taken place here.

"We'll search for two more hours. If we really don't find any fierce beasts, we'll get ready to move somewhere else."

The bald man, as captain, said in a low voice.

They were extremely familiar with Pingan County's various terrains and the distribution of fierce beasts.

If they switched to a different place, they'd have to spend quite a bit of effort getting familiar with it again.

Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to give up on this place.

"Roar—"

Just then, a lower-tier second-rank Armblade Tiger darted out from a nearby abandoned small building, appearing in everyone's line of sight.

"It's an Armblade Tiger!"

For their squad, whose members were all second-rank or above, a single lower-tier second-rank Armblade Tiger was originally nothing to worry about.

But now, having not seen a single fierce beast the entire day—

Each and every one of them stared at this Armblade Tiger with green light in their eyes, like starving ghosts reborn.

It wasn't easy!

Finally, they'd encountered their first fierce beast!

The bald burly man also showed a pleased expression and waved his big hand:

"Everyone, charge together! Kill it!"

For the day's first prey, everyone was especially eager.

Especially a middle-aged man carrying a greatsword—in just a few steps he had chased close to the Armblade Tiger, and just as he was about to sprint forward—

Boom!!

A sound like a sonic boom rang out from a tall building in the distance!

Immediately after, a thick blue-purple thunder lance, like a cruise missile, flew over rapidly from the horizon!

"What is that?!"

Before the group could even react—

With a thunderous crash, this thunder lance struck the Armblade Tiger right ahead of them dead-on!

Crackle-crackle—

The ground trembled, accompanied by the singing sound of arcing electricity.

A blue-purple thunder mushroom cloud carrying a terrifying aura rose up on the spot!

The entire Armblade Tiger, under this powerful thunder force, was directly obliterated into dregs!

"Holy shit!"

The burly man closest to the Armblade Tiger was so startled his hand trembled, and his long blade dropped straight to the ground.

If he had taken just one step faster just now, what would have been reduced to dregs wouldn't have been only the Armblade Tiger!

The remaining squad members were all startled too. One of them, trembling, asked the squad's strongest member, the bald burly man:

"C-Captain, what was that just now? Some new laser weapon?"

Fierce beasts had thick, tough hides; ordinary bullets and missiles could hardly break through their defenses.

Only laser weapons could have this kind of killing power.

"No, laser weapons would be faster. This looks like some kind of lightning-system combat technique."

The bald man swept a glance toward the tall building in the distance, then, his expression turning Solemn, quickly ordered:

"Let's go. This Pingan County must have been occupied by some powerful expert.

That strike just now was probably a warning to us."

"No wonder we couldn't find any fierce beasts—they must have all been killed by that lightning-system expert!"

"Sss, the power of that Lei Mao just now was terrifying—my legs are still trembling."

"Let's go fast! If we're too slow and anger that expert, we're in trouble!"

"......"

The group quickly adjusted their direction and hurried toward the exit from Ping'an County.

Afraid that moving too slowly might draw another Lei Mao from that expert...

"Ding! Killed one second-rank lower-tier Arm-Knife Tiger. Gained 19 Ability Points."

On the rooftop of a tall building in Ping'an County.

A tall young man slowly retracted his right hand, still lingering with blue-purple Lei Ting.

This man was Xu Jingming, who had stayed in Ping'an County for over a month.

Compared to when he first entered the county a month ago—clean and neat—he now looked disheveled.

His black battle suit was splattered with dark red bloodstains; some areas were torn, and his battle boots were caked in dust.

Of all his gear, only the Dark Cloud Wind Spear slung behind him remained relatively clean, still showing its original dark gold.

His short hair had grown into medium length, and his chin bore a noticeable stubble.

Yet this did not diminish his looks—it added a touch of ruggedness.

Especially his piercing, clear-eyed gaze, sharply divided between black and white.

It gave off a sense of having endured countless trials, yet still returning as a youthful, pure soul.

Such an appearance held a fatal allure for some middle-aged housewives.

"The attack range of my Lei Qiang, now at Advanced Proficiency, has surged to over a thousand meters—excellent, excellent."

A smile appeared on Xu Jingming's resolute face.

The Lei Mao just now was the result of his test after raising the A-rank battle skill Lei Mao to Advanced Proficiency.

The outcome was even better than he'd imagined.

"Come to think of it, the ferocious beasts in Ping'an County are growing fewer—it's time to move on to a new location."

Ping'an County had roughly five hundred second-rank ferocious beasts.

After a month of relentless slaughter, nearly all five hundred second-rank beasts had been turned into Ability Points!

8,000 Ability Points!

This was the total number of Ability Points Xu Jingming had roughly calculated.

Why "roughly"? Because as soon as he gained Ability Points, he immediately used them—he never saved them up!

And his current panel was nothing short of luxurious!

【Name】: Xu Jingming

【Rank】: Second-Rank Upper

【Ability】: Zixiao Doushen Shenlei (S)

【Physique】: 1310 Qi (++)

【Spirit】: 972 He (++)

【Skills】: Spear Technique (Master), Fist Technique (Intermediate), Lei Mao (Advanced), Linked Lianhuan Lei Qiang (Intermediate), Thunder Flash (Advanced), Thunder Prison (Intermediate), Lightning Wind Break (Advanced)

【Body Strengthening】: Lei Bu Mie Shen (Third Stage)

【Ability Points】: 112

His rank had leapt directly from First-Rank Upper to Second-Rank Upper!

The S-rank body-strengthening technique, Lei Bu Mie Shen, had risen to its Third Stage—he had successfully mastered Lei Jitai!

His Spear Technique had reached Master level—the very pinnacle most Ability Users could never attain in a lifetime!

All his other battle skills had been raised to at least Intermediate level!

"In one month, I reached Second-Rank Upper."

"Third Stage Lei Bu Mie Shen, and multiple A-rank battle skills at Intermediate Proficiency!"

"Who else but me could do this!"

At that moment, Xu Jingming brimmed with bold confidence, his clear eyes shining brilliantly.

Though the Deep Blue System played a role, his own efforts were equally indelible!

"Tonight I'll pack everything. Tomorrow, I'll return to the Supply Base, then push deeper into the Wilds!"

Xu Jingming withdrew his gaze, descended from the rooftop, and returned to his room inside the building.

It was a modest thirty-square-meter room—his temporary base in Ping'an County.

The room held only a desk and a bed.

Though simple, it was the only room among more than ten he'd checked that was still passable.

The furniture in all other rooms had long since collapsed beyond use—not even fit for sleeping.

In the corner of the room stood a massive black tactical backpack.

A normal tactical backpack could carry at most one or two hundred kilograms.

But this one had been stuffed by Xu Jingming with over four hundred kilograms!

It had swollen into a bloated, overstuffed version of itself.

"Good thing I bought the reinforced version—otherwise, this weight would've torn the backpack apart."

Xu Jingming walked to the corner, opened the tactical backpack, and inside lay cleaned Arm-Knives, Tiger Tendons, Cat Claws, and Rhinoceros Horns.

These were the most valuable parts of the ferocious beasts.

When he first entered Ping'an County,

Xu Jingming would meticulously collect every material from every ferocious beast he killed.

It didn't take long to discover that there were simply too many things—the tactical backpack couldn't hold them all!

So after that, he only collected the most valuable parts from the beasts' bodies.

But even so, he still brought back roughly over four hundred kilograms of beast materials.

As for exotic flowers and rare herbs, perhaps Xu Jingming didn't recognize many, or perhaps they only grew deep within the forest mountains.

In any case, during his time in Pingan County, he hadn't seen a single one.

"What should I eat tonight..."

Xu Jingming's gaze swept over the contents of the tactical backpack, and he finally picked out a thick tiger tendon.

duang~~

This tiger tendon was extremely springy; the moment Xu Jingming gave it a light lift, both ends couldn't stop wobbling up and down.

Skillfully threading the tiger tendon onto a bamboo pole, a flash of Lei Guang followed, and the pile of firewood in the room was ignited.

He set the bamboo pole over the fire, and before long, the entire tendon—still attached to some flesh and blood—was roasted by the flames until golden and glistening, its aroma filling the air.

Xu Jingming picked up the bamboo pole, took a bite of the tiger tendon, and nodded in satisfaction at the springy, soft texture and the burst of fragrance in his mouth.

Although he had brought enough fresh water and energy bars for over a month.

But energy bars had hardly any flavor at all—fine for filling the stomach, but eating them for too long was really hard to bear.

Therefore, later on, Xu Jingming basically stopped eating the energy bars and chose to grill things fresh instead.

The only pity was that he hadn't brought any seasonings—otherwise it could have tasted even better.

"Tomorrow when I get back to the supply base, I'll buy a pot and a set of seasonings to keep on hand.

When I want meat, I'll just pick a beast, kill it on the spot, and cook it fresh."

This made Xu Jingming think of some of the fishing enthusiasts from his previous life.

What they prized was nothing but freshness and authenticity!

Since there were barely any beasts left in Pingan County, and the few that remained were just a handful of small fry.

So after dinner, Xu Jingming didn't go out to hunt beasts again. He trained inside the room until eleven at night, then lay down on the bed and entered a light sleep state.

Early the next morning, he set off toward the supply base, carrying the man-tall tactical backpack on his back.