Chapter 124: Professional Competition, Hong Jishi's Expectations

Jiang Chen prepared himself, intending to enter the Outpost Dungeon again. He would soon gather everything Hong Shen needed.

This time, Lin Caier had grown smarter. She had prepared food in her pocket in advance, so even if she couldn't use her storage space, she would still have enough food supply.

Jiang Chen was genuinely curious about how such a small person could stuff so much food inside.

Jiang Chen's skeletons performed with great loyalty.

The Skeleton Warriors stood at the front as meat shields, drawing the monsters' attacks, while the Skeleton Mages stood at the rear releasing skills and spells.

Lin Caier, like a lark, chattered on and on, sharing everything she had seen, heard, experienced, and all sorts of interesting anecdotes.

Jiang Chen listened very attentively. No matter what Lin Caier said, he would listen.

After their recent intimate contact, the relationship between the two seemed to have undergone a subtle change, becoming closer.

Entering the Hell Difficulty instance for the third time, Jiang Chen was already very skilled, able to advance almost effortlessly.

The instance's clearing speed thus accelerated as well.

Even with Hell Difficulty, having gained experience from the previous run, Jiang Chen found fighting monsters this time very easy.

He didn't need to expend much mental effort thinking up strategies to deal with enemies.

Meanwhile.

In the Abyss, the eye burning with flame appeared once again. Its presence caused the entire Abyss ground to tremble, rumbling loudly.

It was filled with rage, wanting to find out what had happened in the Alien Battlefield—why so many Abyssal Demon Dogs had been instantly killed, and even the Dog Demon had unfortunately died.

However, it seemed that an invisible force in the Alien Battlefield prevented its prying; it couldn't see clearly what had happened.

Everything.

"What's going on? How can this be so strange? I can't inspect it?"

After a while, it closed its eyes again, acting as if nothing had happened.

Silence once again returned to the Abyss, and darkness once again shrouded the land.

Not long after it disappeared, Human Professionals appeared in the Abyss.

"Was that the Flame Demon King just now?"

"It should be. It seems it's its turn to be on duty at the Abyss Entrance recently."

"This guy is extremely warlike. It's definitely going to cause trouble for us humans. I hope everyone in the Alien Battlefield stays safe."

"Why worry about that? It's not the first time it's been on duty in all these years. Nothing major will go wrong."

"I've already sent word about what happened before. The higher-ups will handle it; we don't need to bother ourselves."

These Professionals chatted for a bit, then quickly dispersed.

None of them were below level 40; they were all High-level Professionals.

They usually operated along the border between the Alien Battlefield and the Abyss Entrance.

In earlier years, they had learned quite a bit about many incidents between the Abyss and the Human Race.

Now, having gathered such intelligence, they needed to relay this information back so the higher-ups could understand and formulate corresponding countermeasures.

Although there might be differences and conflicts in peacetime, the Human Race could always unite when confronting the Abyss.

It was this unity that allowed the Human Race to survive on the Alien Battlefield.

The Human Race, when facing foreign races, was always a single whole...

At Shenlong University, Hong Jishi and Li Xueru sat together.

For the vast majority of the year, Li Xueru stayed at Shenlong University, hardly ever leaving the place. Others didn't know what he was doing.

What.

Li Xueru had been resting with his eyes closed for a long time, not speaking for almost half a day.

Hong Jishi didn't disturb him and kept watch by his side.

Suddenly, Li Xueru's eyelids twitched. Hong Jishi immediately asked, "How is it?"

Li Xueru opened his eyes: "Pour a cup of tea."

Hong Jishi promptly poured tea for him, his attitude very polite, even putting on a flattering smile: "Hurry up and tell me, how is it?"

Li Xueru drank his tea and said calmly, "I contacted the Hall of Heroic Souls and the Demon-Slaying Tower and got news of Jiang Chen. He's fine, and he's even killed quite a few Abyssal Demon Dogs. He's now a Five-Star Private."

Hong Jishi was astonished: "So fast? It's only been two days, and he's already a Five-Star Private?"

Li Xueru said, "The Flame Demon King is on duty at the Abyss Entrance and sent many Abyssal Demon Dogs into the Alien Battlefield to cause trouble. They happened to run into that kid Jiang Chen."

"Also, he killed an Abyssal Dog Demon."

Hong Jishi took a deep breath: "Good heavens, he even killed an Abyssal Dog Demon."

Although the Dog Demon was the weakest Abyss Demon, it could at least fly and had many Demon Dogs under its command.

For other Professionals, it was indeed not easy to deal with.

But it just so happened to run into Jiang Chen.

It just so happened to descend underground and land right in front of Jiang Chen.

Under the Slow Curse, it lost its chance to escape and was directly hacked to death by the Skeleton Warriors.

After learning that Jiang Chen was safe, Hong Jishi also relaxed and began talking about other things.

"How are the preparations for this year's Professional Competition going?"

Li Xueru said, "It's almost ready. I estimate the news will be released tomorrow or the day after."

Hong Jishi had been looking forward to it for a long time: "This competition should be very interesting. I'm a bit excited."

Excited.

The "interesting" he referred to naturally meant Jiang Chen.

"I didn't expect them to be together."

Li Xueru suddenly spoke, a look of amusement in his eyes.

Hong Jishi hurriedly asked, "What did you see again?"

"I saw Lin Laotou's nemesis…"

"How amusing—I'm sure Lin Laotou will be furious to death."

After hearing Li Xueru's words, Hong Jishi slapped his thigh and laughed heartily.

"Unbelievable, unbelievable—who would have expected this? I really want to see Lin Laotou blowing his beard, glaring helplessly."

Within the Hell Outpost instance.

"Kill Outpost Guardian, Experience +523687."

"Obtained Gold Tier Weapon: Hell Outpost Longsword."

"Obtained Gold Tier Armor: Hell Outpost Leather Armor."

"Obtained Gold Tier Accessory: Hell Outpost Ring."

"Obtained Dragon Race Crystal Core ×2."

"Hell Outpost Longsword (one piece of the Outpost Set): Gold Tier Weapon, All Attributes +500, Knight skill amplification 50%, usable above Level 30."

"Hell Outpost Leather Armor (one piece of the Outpost Set): Gold Tier Armor, All Attributes +300, Assassin skill cost reduction 20%, usable above Level 30."

"Hell Outpost Ring (one piece of the Outpost Set): Gold Tier Accessory, All Attributes +100, Fatigue recovery speed increase 30%, usable above Level 30."

"Dragon Race Crystal Core: an extremely Rare material, usable for crafting various items."

Jiang Chen gave the leather armor and ring to Lin Caier.

Ring attributes cannot stack; this ring is the same as the one you obtained, one is enough.

The leather armor is especially for Assassin, Archer and other classes, Jiang Chen doesn't need it.

A faint glow flickered on his body.

After clearing this instance, his level rose to Level 24.

Seeing Jiang Chen level up, Lin Caier was even happier than he was, her smile blooming brilliantly like a flower.

"You leveled up again?"

"This leveling speed is too fast—since the Job Change started, less than a month has passed, and you're already Level 24."

"Other students are probably only Level 16 now; you've far surpassed them."

Lin Caier sighed repeatedly; at this pace, in another month Jiang Chen will probably exceed Level 30.

Jiang Chen smiled faintly, "Isn't faster better?"

While speaking, he equipped himself with a layer of Bone Armor and also equipped one on Lin Caier.

Lin Caier laughed, "Being this cautious—are you afraid of being attacked again outside?"

Jiang Chen said, "It's happened twice already."

He has entered the instance twice, and both times suffered sudden attacks.

He isn't scared; with Damage Transfer, even weak defense can't be broken in one hit.

But Lin Caier is different—if suddenly attacked, she could really get into trouble.

Two consecutive mishaps—still, caution is best.

Caution steers the ship for ten thousand years; this is also what elder sister Jiang Ruo often taught Jiang Chen at home.