Chapter 35 : Chapter 35
Chapter 35: The Mark of a Fiend General! The Mantis’s Arm Blades Evolve!
A string of notifications rang out one after another.
But for the moment, Ye Ze did not bother looking at them. Instead, he focused intently on one particular spot on the Nightshade Jackal’s corpse.
And there, he discovered an unexpected problem:
【Soul-Control Mark — from the Fiend General, Soul-Siphoning Fiend, used to remotely control the target’s actions.】
A Soul-Control Mark from a Fiend was hidden beneath the fur at the back of the Nightshade Jackal’s neck, completely invisible to the naked eye.
“So the Fiends were the ones behind this...”
Though startled, Ye Ze immediately instructed the mantis, “Check the surroundings. See if there are any more enemies.”
A red glint flashed through the mantis’s compound eyes, and it replied with certainty, “There are none, Master.”
After saying that, it stood obediently at Ye Ze’s side, waiting for its evolution...
Ye Ze nodded.
No wonder a single Nightshade Jackal had been able to control so many Level 30 beasts. There had been someone else controlling things from behind the scenes!
Even the Nightshade Jackal itself had been under control.
It had merely been used as a smokescreen by a Fiend General-level being.
Thinking back to what Qin Cheng, the captain of the Guard Unit, had said earlier, the recent unrest in the wastelands around Qingfeng City was probably inseparable from the Fiends.
If it had been anyone else, they likely would have treated the Nightshade Jackal as the mastermind.
Who would have expected that behind the culprit was yet another culprit?
“So even the Fiends have started using schemes?”
The Demon Suppression Army had always done everything possible to keep the Fiends contained within the Abyss...
They were likely trying to use plots and indirect methods to break through humanity’s defenses.
Still, there was little point dwelling on that now. Improving his strength was what mattered most.
Otherwise, by the time he really came face to face with a Fiend General-level enemy, it would already be too late to realize the danger.
Ye Ze first stored away the two pieces of equipment dropped by the Nightshade Jackal: the Nightshade Dagger and the Nightshade Soft Armor.
Both were Rare four-star Level 30 equipment. He had no use for them, so he would take them back and feed them to Panda.
After that, he looked at the mantis’s evolution panel:
【Hunter — the following body parts can be evolved:】
【Arm Blades】【Carapace】【Compound Eyes】【Wings】
According to the talent description, every time one body part evolved, it would receive a corresponding boost in ability.
For now, however, none of the exact enhancement effects could be seen.
Since that was the case, he might as well choose freely.
After thinking for a moment, Ye Ze asked for the mantis’s opinion. “Which part do you want to evolve first?”
At those words, the mantis excitedly raised both its Arm Blades high. Its meaning could not have been clearer.
As a Hunter, the part of its body that mattered most to it was naturally the one most closely tied to offense.
Ye Ze nodded. “All right, then we’ll evolve the Arm Blades!”
With a thought from him, a flash of violet light swept over the mantis.
Its pair of Arm Blades were wrapped within it, and in the blink of an eye, they bloomed with an even stranger radiance than before.
At a glance, the blades had grown a little longer, and the dark crystalline energy rippling over their surface had become even stronger.
【Ding! Evolution successful. Current level: Arm Blades +1!】
【Arm Blades +1: Strength +20, Damage Multiplier +20%, Critical Hit Rate +20%, Defense Penetration +20%, skill ‘Void Slash’ level +1!】
Ye Ze was overjoyed. “The boost is actually this huge!”
The increase brought by a single evolution was even greater than what a Rare-grade weapon of the same level would provide!
After evolving its Arm Blades, the mantis’s Strength rose to 195, four points higher than Panda’s.
And the Legendary-grade skill Void Slash rose from Level 6 to Level 7.
Its damage went from Strength × 1200% to Strength × 1400%!
The overall improvement was enormous!
And this was only evolution level 1...
Once he entered the massive group dungeon, there would definitely be no shortage of “powerful enemies” inside!
When the time came, how satisfying would it be to keep evolving like this?
Ye Ze found himself looking forward even more to Qingfeng City’s group dungeon!
At the side, the mantis was extremely satisfied as it admired its newly evolved Arm Blades.
But then it suddenly sensed something. Its figure flashed and instantly slipped into the Void.
Ye Ze was just about to draw a Trait when he heard someone approaching from behind.
“Already killed the leader of the beast tide?”
The voice was rough and oddly familiar.
Ye Ze turned around and saw a burly man about 1.9 meters tall, with dark brown curly hair, casually dressed in a short-sleeved shirt.
He was instantly startled. “City Lord Wan?”
“Hah! Ye Ze, my boy!”
The newcomer was none other than Wan Feipeng, the City Lord of Linyuan City, a sixth-rank Hunter.
With his level of strength, handling a beast tide of this scale was sheer overkill.
“I happened to be bored out of my mind, so when I saw the attack alert, I came over to take a look...”
Wan Feipeng spoke casually as he walked over to Ye Ze.
Ye Ze believed him, because Wan Feipeng had only become City Lord mainly because his strength was overwhelming. His daily administrative work was usually handled by his assistant.
Ye Ze briefly explained the situation with the leader of the beast tide.
Wan Feipeng casually glanced at the Nightshade Jackal’s corpse and snorted dismissively.
“I thought it was something serious. It’s only an intelligent magical beast!”
“It must have had a death wish, daring to attack a train...”
Incidents of intelligent magical beasts launching attacks were not uncommon in the wilderness, so Wan Feipeng did not take it seriously at all.
“No, City Lord.”
Seeing that reaction, Ye Ze directly pointed out the hidden Soul-Control Mark to him. “A Fiend is controlling it!”
He had no idea what that Fiend General, the Soul-Siphoning Fiend, was plotting.
But that did not matter. Reporting it was the right move!
Rather than keeping a secret to himself, it was far better to hand it over openly to people capable of dealing with it and let them have the headache.
Pit his wits against Fiends? Ye Ze could not be bothered wasting time on that!
He would rather pour all his time into leveling up and getting stronger. Once his strength was high enough, he could simply crush everything head-on. Who cared what schemes they had then?
The moment Wan Feipeng saw what Ye Ze was pointing at, his expression turned serious.
“A Fiend General-level mark?”
“Those damned Fiends just can’t stay quietly in the Abyss, can they?”
Once he realized this was the work of a Fiend General-level existence, even Wan Feipeng had no choice but to take it seriously.
If mishandled, a single Fiend General could wipe out an entire small or medium-sized human city!
“Wait...”
As Wan Feipeng thought it over, he suddenly realized something and abruptly turned to Ye Ze.
“You killed this Level 30 Nightshade Jackal and those Night Wolves all by yourself?”
“And you were the one who found this mark too?”
There was no way for Ye Ze to hide his strength at this point, so he simply nodded and admitted it.
As for discovering the mark, he shamelessly pushed the credit onto his “mentor, Liu Boyan of the Investigation Division.” Mm... perfectly reasonable.
To his surprise, Wan Feipeng’s eyes lit up at once, as though he had just discovered some priceless treasure!
“Damn, Linyuan City has finally produced a real genius!”
With that same familiar thug-like opening move, he threw an arm around Ye Ze’s shoulders again.
At this moment, it was almost as if even the matter of the Fiend General no longer mattered.
Not even first-rank yet, and he had already solo-killed three Level 30 magical beasts, all of them Elite-grade or higher!
Wasn’t that even better than the geniuses from the wealthy Central China Region?
“My boy, you absolutely have to promise me one thing...”
Wan Feipeng was overjoyed, but then he hesitated. “No, still not enough.”
He looked at the corpses on the ground, then grinned with a wild, unrestrained smile.
“Ye Ze, for what you did today, I’ll approve Military Merit for you!”
“And if, after the group dungeon, you can get a little stronger still...”
“Then I’ll take you somewhere good!”
Ye Ze: ???