Chapter 31: Elite

While Chen Mo was battling the Ice Emperor King Flower.

Tansangnira Command.

A bearded Black elder sat upright at the desk, handling mountain‑high piles of documents; his eyes were blood‑shot and he wore deep fatigue.

Knock knock!

The sound of a door being knocked rang out.

"Come in,"

A young soldier in uniform entered and saluted.

The badge on his shoulder indicated he was a colonel.

"Colonel Kalam, what is it?"

Seeing the young colonel, the elder's tired face broke into a faint smile.

"General, I report the hunting squad's results to you."

"Of the 28 hunting squads that set out a week ago, 15 have returned. They have captured a total of 49 extraordinary beings, but unfortunately only our Leopard Squad found a single Divine Medicine plant."

He said this while opening the iron box he was carrying; inside was a fist‑sized, deep‑blue fruit exuding a chilling aura.

"This is a Snow Dragon Fruit. We discovered two of them, and with the warriors' unanimous consent we wish to give you one. Its effect is mild; if you take it, you are highly likely to awaken the extraordinary."

Colonel Kalam spoke.

"I appreciate your goodwill,"

The general laughed, shook his head, and pushed the box back: "You should take the fruit back. I'm already old; even if I awaken the extraordinary, it won't be of any use! How could you let an old man go slashing at those ferocious beasts?"

"But…"

Kalam tried to persuade further, but the general cut him off:

"Eating this fruit would be a waste! The Great Snow Mountain Secret Realm won't fully appear for about another month; when it does, the East Summer side will send reinforcements. We can't manage without a proper awakened team."

The general's tone left no room for doubt.

Since the Great Snow Mountain Secret Realm hasn't fully emerged yet, it naturally hasn't attracted other powers' attention.

But once it fully arrives, the situation will change.

Then, to vie for resources, the various factions will engage in a fierce contest.

Without high‑level awakened beings, Tansangnira will find it hard to get a share.

"Understood, General."

Kalam's eyes glistened slightly, and he saluted the elder again.

"As I said before, the extraordinary beings you capture are for you to handle. Tame them if you can; if not, kill them outright, and treat the Leopard Squad's warriors to a good meal."

The big‑bearded general continued.

The flesh and blood of extraordinary beings not only raise the chance of awakening but also help awakened ones grow quickly.

"Yes!"

After a while, the big‑bearded general asked again: "What about the other 13 hunting squads?"

"All are missing; most personnel have perished. Eleven squads sent distress signals before losing contact; they all encountered powerful extraordinary beings."

Kalam replied gravely: "Hunting Squads No. 2 and No. 4 gave no signal before disappearing, so there is still some hope of survival."

"I wish to send the Leopard Squad to investigate their last known area; please grant approval!"

Though rescue hopes are slim, Kalam still wants to try.

Moreover, those two zones may harbor powerful extraordinary beings, which is precisely their objective.

"Go ahead!"

The general nodded and added:

"But prioritize your own safety; if danger arises, withdraw immediately."

"General, rest assured! We will complete the mission!"

Colonel Kalam saluted.

As the army's first batch of awakened ones, he has absolute confidence in himself.

Since the resurgence of spiritual energy, the extraordinary beings slain by their squad number over twenty, including two medium‑level ones!

"By the way, the army has recently added ten new awakened individuals who have completed basic training. You can take them on this mission to toughen up," the general added.

After the spiritual energy revival, the awakening probability for animals and plants far exceeds that of humans.

But given humanity's massive population, there will always be a few with rare talent who awaken spontaneously.

And the Tansangnira military has never ceased cultivating and seeking awakened ones.

Leopard Squad, for example, is a unit composed entirely of awakened members—a true elite of elites.

——————————

【Fat Homebody Happy Lion】 Self‑discipline Challenge, Day 11.

Chen Mo led the lion pride on its first migration.

Because the extraordinary beings in the nearby area had been hunted down by the pride, finding prey now requires traveling a great distance.

They migrated around the Great Snow Mountain, and after a day's continuous trek established a new lion pride territory.

As for the two seeds, they naturally moved together with the surrounding soil.

The next morning.

After waking, Chen Mo vaguely heard lion roars in the distance.

Diligent lioness Aisha had already begun the day's roaring self‑discipline.

Fearing to disturb her younger brother, she chose to train at the edge of the pride's territory.

Beside her, the little black panther Luna also practiced roaring together.

The little black leopard looked completely serious; it yearned to become stronger, feeling that practicing together with Aisha was surely no problem.

But its roar was soft and babyish.

If one insists on saying it has lethal power, then it definitely can kill people by making them swoon from cuteness.

Aisha wanted to persuade the little black leopard to stop training, but they couldn't understand each other.

But after practicing for a while, it realized that having a beast accompany it during training seemed not bad either.

"Perhaps later, when more beast transformations can be shared, we could form a roaring army."

Listening to Lion Sister's roar, Chen Mo secretly thought to himself.

After guzzling twenty bottles of otaku happiness water, he brought the white rat and prepared to go out again to search for divine medicine.

After tasting the sweetness of the ice-shaved fruit, he now prefers to look for divine medicine or hunt mid-tier supernatural creatures.

——————————

Meanwhile.

Area near the Great Snow Mountain.

In the vast wind and snow, a convoy sped across the grassland blanketed in white snow.

It was the cheetah squad led by Kalam.

Two days had passed since he accepted the mission; they first went to the area where the No. 4 hunting squad lost contact.

Soon after, they discovered the wreckage of the No. 4 hunting squad's vehicle near an ice lake.

Quickly, they encountered the culprit that wiped out the No. 4 squad—a giant crocodile nearly ten meters long!

The crocodile's back was covered in sharp ice spikes, resembling an ice dragon from legend.

This is a mid-tier supernatural creature.

The ice-armored crocodile can dart swiftly through the ice lake, and its scale armor is hard for bullets to penetrate.

However, it was still no match for the cheetah squad; three awakened wielders of ice-seal ability stepped in, temporarily restraining the ice-armored crocodile, after which all soldiers and the heavy machine guns mounted on the armored vehicles opened fire.

Although the ice-armored crocodile's scale armor could deflect bullets, it could not withstand such intense firepower.

Not to mention the unprotected spots like the eyes and mouth, which were shot straight through.

After successfully hunting the mutant ice-armored crocodile, the hunting squad had crocodile meat for lunch.

Then, after loading the remaining crocodile meat onto the vehicle, they hurried nonstop to Area 2, where another squad had lost contact.

(End of chapter)