Chapter 71: !

Han Ya turned to face the members of a squad of the Black Tortoise Guard, took a deep breath,

"All present! Target: Black Scale Leopard herd! Move out!"

After everyone dismounted from the Black Tortoise's back, they immediately boarded an armored vehicle and drove toward the Black Scale Leopards.

On the watchtower.

The guard member who had just spotted the Black Scale Leopard whispered to Lin Yue:

"City Lord, Captain Han Ya and his team should be fine, right?"

Lin Yue shook his head,

"I don't know! But I believe in them!"

He also wasn't sure whether Han Ya and his team could manage to eliminate those ten or so Black Scale Leopards without injury, but he hoped they could do it!

Inside the armored vehicle.

"Give it your all! You also heard what the City Lord said, right?!"

Han Ya said in a cold tone to everyone:

"I don't want to see us fail the City Lord's mission because of one person's mistake!"

"Captain, you can relax! It's just ten Black Scale Leopards, no big deal!"

"Still no small matter! Liu Yuan, you're the weakest in our squad; don't hold us back later!"

"What the Vice Captain said is correct, Liu Yuan; don't hold us back!"

The member called Liu Yuan, his face flushed red, pointed at everyone,

"You guys...."

"Haha!"

The armored vehicle instantly filled with laughter.

"Alright, quiet down."

Han Ya's voice wasn't loud, yet it instantly restored quiet inside the cabin.

"Black Scale Leopards excel in speed; if they break our formation, the consequences would be unimaginable."

"Understood!"

Everyone responded in unison, the smiles on their faces fading, replaced by a solemn, killing intent.

The armored vehicle stopped behind a sand dune, engine shut off.

"The target is just behind the sand dune, currently feeding. Move out!"

At Han Ya's command, the vehicle doors slid open silently, and twelve Black Tortoise Guard members darted out like cheetahs, swiftly and orderly taking advantageous positions.

Han Ya gave a hand signal; a scout crept up silently, and moments later his voice came through everyone's tactical earpiece.

"Report, Captain: ten targets, currently feeding on a mutant antelope!"

"Everyone, pay attention!"

Han Ya's voice was as calm as ice,

"Free fire, open fire in three seconds! Prioritize eliminating the outer three!"

"Three!"

"Two!"

"One!"

"Fire!"

"Rat-tat-tat-tat!"

The assault rifle fitted with a silencer spat deadly tongues of flame, bullets pouring down like rain onto the leopard herd on the other side of the dune.

The Black Scale Leopards, heads down feasting, had no time to react; the three outermost were instantly shot full of holes, black scales flying everywhere.

"Howl!"

The remaining seven Black Scale Leopards let out a shrill roar, then turned into seven black bolts of lightning, lunging toward the direction of the gunfire!

"Suppress fire! Don't let them charge in!"

The Vice Captain roared, his machine gun spewing a violent fire dragon, instantly blasting the leopard lunging at the front into pieces mid-air!

However, the Black Scale Leopards' speed was truly too great; as they twisted and turned on the sand, several bullets missed.

"Liu Yuan! Your flank!"

The Vice Captain's urgent shout exploded in the earpiece.

The named Liu Yuan jolted, he whipped his head around just in time to see a black shadow swoop around the main fire net at an impossible angle, a foul-smelling gust hit his face, and those icy gleaming claws nearly touched his nose!

Liu Yuan's mind went blank.

But the muscle memory forged from a month of training saved him at this moment.

He didn't even have time to aim; his body instinctively jerked back while he pulled the trigger.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The three bullets nearly struck the leopard's lower jaw; the huge impact stalled its lunge, and it crashed heavily in front of Liu Yuan, twitching twice before going still.

Cold sweat instantly soaked Liu Yuan's back.

"Nice work! Concentrate fire, finish off the rest!"

Han Ya's voice came through; Liu Yuan snapped back to attention, took a deep breath, raised his gun, and rejoined the fight.

Having lost their numerical advantage and unable to close in, the remaining few Black Scale Leopards were quickly picked off one by one by the Black Tortoise Guard.

The battle ended in under five minutes.

"Tally the results, collect the Energy Crystals!"

Han Ya issued the order, then walked over to Liu Yuan and patted his shoulder.

"Good reaction, but don't zone out again next time."

Liu Yuan's face flushed red,

"Yes! Captain!"

Soon, ten Energy Crystals emitting a faint glow were collected.

"Captain, not bad luck—these ten Blackscale Leopards all have Energy Crystals inside!"

"Very good,"

Han Ya's lips curled slightly,

"Back to the city! The City Lord is still waiting for our good news!"

……

On the return journey, Lin Yue, following the map provided by Zhang Zhen Guo, began consciously commanding Black Tortoise to actively clear out Mutant Beast nests along the way.

When encountering few and weak Mutant Beasts, Lin Yue had the Black Tortoise Guards step forward to handle them.

But when facing numerous or powerful Mutant Beasts, one still has to rely on Black Tortoise.

Even so, the members of the Black Tortoise Guards were growing at an astonishing speed in these successive battles.

Meanwhile, the system's Energy Points were skyrocketing.

【Absorbing scattered energy, gained 1 Energy Point.】

【Detected a Grade 1 Energy Crystal, gained 10 Energy Points.】

【Absorbing scattered energy, gained 63 Energy Points.】

【Detected a Grade 2 Energy Crystal Core, gained 100 Energy Points.】

……

【Current total Energy Points: 9988/！】

Looking at the numbers on the system panel, Lin Yue's breathing grew slightly ragged.

Only twelve points left!

"Mr. Lin,"

Gui Ying's voice came through the communicator,

"Ten kilometers ahead is the outer perimeter of the Third Prison Refuge. Should we go straight there, or..."

"Let's go straight there."

Lin Yue just wanted to quickly hand over the salt to Zhang Zhen Guo.

But at that moment, an anomaly suddenly occurred.

"Roar——!!!"

A bellow filled with violence erupted without warning from a half-collapsed office building to the side!

Immediately after, a colossal beast over twenty meters long, covered in heavy bony armor, with a single horn on its head, resembling a prehistoric tyrannosaurus, burst from the wreckage and slammed into Black Tortoise's flank!

"Just in time."

"Black Tortoise, take care of it."

"Roar!"

Facing this charging behemoth, Black Tortoise lifted its forelimb and came down hard.

Boom——!!!

The smoke cleared.

That prehistoric-tyrannosaurus-like beast was now nothing but a puddle of flesh!

【Ding! Absorbing scattered energy, gained 53 Energy Points!】

【Ding! Detected a Grade 2 Energy Crystal, gained 100 Energy Points!】

【Ding! Energy Points have reached the required threshold, meeting promotion conditions!】

【Should the pet be promoted to Lv4 immediately?】

Finally, it's done!

Lin Yue's heart clenched violently.

PS: New book, please urge updates and collect!