Chapter 177: Shen Zexi: Unable to Command Even a Bit (Revised)

But as the surroundings became increasingly desolate, Shen Zexi and the others had no time to continue investigating Ying Duo's mental issue.

After all, Ying Duo's mental problem is well known; compared to that, the Aberrant Species that could appear around them at any moment are more worthy of attention.

The wind on the wasteland kicked up dust; aside from their group, there was hardly any green to be seen nearby.

The Black Stone Mine Cave lay in a mountain range near Tianmian City; the range's outline was toweringly huge, like some dormant beast, appearing especially oppressive under the gray sky.

At that moment, Ying Duo, who had been silent and continually walking forward, suddenly paused.

Yang Yixie had been watching the computer screen closely and immediately noticed that the words "Auto Navigation..." above Ying Duo's head had suddenly disappeared.

He placed his hand back on the keyboard, gripped the mouse, and already scattered red dots appeared on the edge of the mini-map.

Auto Navigation had been interrupted, but he hadn't entered the storyline; that could only mean an encounter battle had been triggered.

Ying Duo's brief pause went unnoticed by the others, mainly because they really didn't have the leisure to pay attention to such details right now.

Perhaps because no one had passed through here for a while, an ominous aura permeated the surroundings, and everyone fell silent in unison.

"There's a situation."

Qi Hengyu immediately stopped his steps, raised his hand, and signaled those behind to halt.

A faint rubbing sound came from the rubble ahead to the side; Luo Jinyou instantly became alert, the ground beneath his feet glowing with a yellowish hue, sending out waves of energy.

The energy quickly spread outward; sure enough, from the rubble pile not far ahead came a chaotic howl, and immediately a group of Aberrant Species rushed out, surrounding them.

They were seven or eight Aberrant Species resembling hyenas, with several bone spurs suddenly protruding from their backs, corrosive saliva dripping from their mouths, and their greenish eyes flashing with greedy light.

Luo Jinyou's energy provoked them, and they all sprang out from their hiding places at once, forming a loose semi-encirclement that slowly closed in.

The largest one, presumably the hyena pack's leader, raised its head high and let out a loud roar.

Seeing this, Shen Zexi's expression darkened, but he still gave a brief introduction to the few of them.

"Bone-Corroding Hyenas, a social Aberrant Species; their weak points are the abdomen and joints. They must have noticed the number of prey increasing, so they started calling other beasts."

They couldn't afford to linger here too long, or they'd end up being completely surrounded by those hyenas.

"We must finish this quickly; we can't let them drag us out here!"

"Understood!"

Almost as soon as Shen Zexi's words fell, Qi Hengyu let out a low roar, clenched his fists, his knuckles cracking, a layer of substance-like energy coating his fists as he entered battle mode.

"Qi Hengyu takes the front, Luo Jinyou protects......"

"Bang——!"

Just as Shen Zexi was about to speak and assign tasks to everyone, Ying Duo had already moved.

While the others were just taking up their battle stances, Ying Duo swiftly drew his gun and fired a shot at the hyena leader that was howling to summon its companions.

The bullet didn't hit the hyena's head; the hyena sensed the danger and dodged in time, but the bullet still tore a vicious gash in its neck, spraying a beautiful arc of blood.

The intense pain made it emit a mournful whine and thoroughly enraged the entire hyena pack; Ying Duo paid no heed and fired another shot.

This shot struck the hyena's head directly.

"Congratulations on successfully killing the Bone-Corroding Hyena, gaining +5.3% experience."

"Level raised to Lv. 19!"

Seeing the system pop up with an experience notification after a long time, Yang Yixie's mood improved considerably.

He had only been a little shy of the experience needed to level up, and now he felt relieved.

Accompanied by Ying Duo's gunfire, this encounter battle was fully underway.

There was no time for Shen Zexi to slowly arrange troops from behind; a hyena poised to strike seized the moment, opening its blood-filled maw to bite toward Luo Jinyou.

Qi Hengyu noticed this, kicked the hyena away with a whip kick, and another hyena, seeing an opening, immediately lunged at him.

"Ying Duo, you damn......!"

The hyena failed to bite Qi Hengyu, but the bullet Ying Duo fired almost hit him by mistake.

Although that hyena had been close to Qi Hengyu, he could fully react, using a variation to take care of the Aberrant Species in one move.

Then came two gunshots from behind him, "bang bang," the bullets grazing his head and legs, precisely hitting the heads of those two hyenas.

Had the bullets been slightly higher, they would have struck him.

Yang Yixie didn't care about the dialogue box popping up from Qi Hengyu's head; anyway, he got the hyena's head, and the critical hit from the headshot also earned him a lot of experience, which he just had to share with the team.

He had roughly seen that these Bone-Corroding Hyenas were generally around levels 15 to 18; their small team could handle them easily, and these hyenas were just one living experience treasure after another.

What had Shen Zexi just said? Was that Aberrant Species still calling its kin to come over?

And this is a good thing?

"Don't panic!"

Shen Zexi spoke up in time, his voice instantly calming the people with varied emotions.

Although Ying Duo's reckless actions disrupted the deployment, they also broke the stalemate; in just a moment, the already few Aberrant Species were reduced to only four or five.

His gaze swept over the incapacitated Luo Jinyou; expecting Ying Duo to handle command was even less realistic.

"Luo Jinyou, use Earth Trap on the three hyenas to your front-right!"

Luo Jinyou immediately came to his senses and, following Shen Zexi's instructions instinctively, pressed his hands to the ground.

The ground beneath the poised hyenas instantly began to sink and soften, forming a modest mire trap.

"Qi Hengyu, take care of the one on the left!"

At the crucial moment, Qi Hengyu held nothing back, his energy-coated fist whistling through the air as he smashed it into the lunging hyena.

Chen Mo Zhi didn't need him to speak; he had already paralyzed the last hyena with Poison Paralysis, and as toxic mist swirled around the creature, Shen Zexi's fingertips crackled with yellow electricity.

Several thumb-thick Electric Snakes shot toward the hyena's location; upon contacting the poison mist, they instantly triggered a violent explosion, filling the air with a burnt smell.

Ying Duo wasn't idle either; a few gunshots took out the several Bone-Corroding Hyenas trapped by Luo Jinyou, and the experience jumped up a notch.