The First Order

Many people at the campsite were woken up and got out of their tents to find out what was happening.

Cheng Yu looked at Ren Xiaosu, who was on watch duty. As Ren Xiaosu was closest to the source of the commotion, he bluntly asked him, “Did you see anything just now? Was it someone from our campsite?”

“No, everyone in our group was at the campsite. It sounded like footsteps to me, but it was very light. If there were really someone approaching, it would have to be a child,” Ren Xiaosu answered.

The assistant next to Cheng Yu got goosebumps all over his body. “It’s the middle of the night in the wilderness. Where would a child like that possibly come from?”

“I’m just making an analogy.” Ren Xiaosu looked around at everyone and realized they were all frowning and looking a little worried. He suddenly said, “Since you all look so nervous, why don’t I put on a show—”

“No thanks, good night.” Cheng Yu turned around and went back to his tent. Rather than being overly suspicious out here and listening to Ren Xiaosu’s performance, he might as well go back to sleep!

Ren Xiaosu smacked his lips regretfully. This time, he was not doing this because the palace had issued a quest to him but out of his own enthusiasm.

After all, if he wanted to complete his penalties perfectly over these seven days, he would have to face them with a brand new attitude. Instead of accepting it passively, he might as well take the initiative to do them with enthusiasm. It would all be for the sake of a new skill!

The Great Hoodwinker also woke up and went over to Ren Xiaosu at this moment. “Are you sure that it was the sound of footsteps just now?”

Earlier, the Great Hoodwinker had bravely gone out for a stroll in the wilderness. However, he did not notice any footprints. This was indeed very strange. No matter how light the intruder’s footsteps were, there should at least be some traces of footprints left behind, right?

“I’m sure. It was approaching in a rhythmic pattern.” Ren Xiaosu said, “You previously mentioned that the zone of mutation taking place in the Sacred Mountains has been constantly expanding. Who knows, we might be closing in on that zone now. And it should be quite normal if something were to come running out of there. Anyways, just be careful.”

“Alright, why don’t you get some sleep then?” The Great Hoodwinker said, “It’s my turn to keep watch.”

“Mhm, shout for me anytime if something happens.”

Everyone seemed to stop going out to relieve themselves in case they met with any accidents. A few of them even decided to hold it in until daybreak.

Although they were all experts who had killed people before, they still felt a tinge of fear when faced with a strange existence like the Sacred Mountains.

The Great Hoodwinker was sitting next to the campfire and thinking about something as he looked out for any signs of trouble. But by daybreak, he detected nothing unusual.

Then the Great Hoodwinker saw Ren Xiaosu sneak out of the tent quietly. Just as he was about to greet Ren Xiaosu, he saw Ren Xiaosu raise his index finger to his mouth. “Shh!”

The Great Hoodwinker perked up. He was unsure of what this was about.

The sky was still quite gloomy at this time. The Great Hoodwinker watched as Ren Xiaosu quietly took out a pistol and loaded a magazine. Was he going to make a move on someone?

Thinking of this, the Great Hoodwinker’s muscles tensed as he prepared to support Ren Xiaosu at a moment’s notice.

He did not care why Ren Xiaosu would suddenly make a move now. In any case, he would just follow along and take on whoever Ren Xiaosu wanted to fight. There need not be any reason for it.

A moment later, Ren Xiaosu suddenly fired three shots into the sky and shouted, “Wake up! It’s dawn!”

The Great Hoodwinker was speechless. ‘Wait a minute, Future Commander, is this how you usually wake people up?‘

What was he even thinking?!

To say nothing of the Great Hoodwinker, even Cheng Yu, who was jolted awake by Ren Xiaosu, was dumbfounded. He looked at Ren Xiaosu’s smiling face and wondered if he was crazy!

Meanwhile, Ren Xiaosu asked the palace in his mind, “What’s the completion level for the quest to wake everyone up?”

“Successfully awakened 17 people. Completion level: Perfect.”

Ren Xiaosu asked again, “Can you tell me what that new skill is for?”

“Unauthorized to answer,” the palace answered emotionlessly.

“Can’t you just give me a general idea of what the skill’s about?” Ren Xiaosu said unhappily.

However, the palace ignored him.

At this moment, Cheng Yu asked with a dark expression, “What the hell are you doing? It’s only 6 AM.”

Ren Xiaosu bowed. “Sorry, I misread the time.”

Cheng Yu suddenly felt a little muzzled and couldn’t come up with a response.

Ren Xiaosu bowed again. “It won’t happen again.”

After that, he went back to his tent to sleep.

But while he could fall back asleep, the others could not.

Even Yang Xiaojin came out of her tent grumpily. However, she did not blame Ren Xiaosu as she could guess that he was probably performing some penalty for giving her the black sniper rifle.

Ren Xiaosu did not tell her the specifics, but the timing of Ren Xiaosu going crazy came right after she accepted the black sniper rifle from him. Therefore, she understood this to be the price he had to pay for her accepting the black sniper rifle.

Cheng Yu felt a little helpless. What did he do to deserve such karma? The Anjing House had arranged for him to lead another team into the Sacred Mountains, but he purposely chose this team as they were the last group to enter the Sacred Mountains.

However, the outcome was not what he wanted at all.

At 8 AM, Ren Xiaosu came out of the tent looking very well-rested. The moment he stepped out, everyone looked at him.

Ren Xiaosu smiled and said, “Y’all look a little haggard.”

Cheng Yu thought to himself, ‘Aren’t you stating the obvious? Everyone was woken up by that strange commotion in the middle of the night. But before we all could fall back asleep, we got scared awake again by your gunshots! As if we can fucking not look haggard!‘

He ignored Ren Xiaosu and turned around to ask the Great Hoodwinker, “Where do we proceed from here?”

The Great Hoodwinker answered, “We’ll head northeast. After we cross that mountain up ahead, we’ll reach the boundary of Mt. Wuzhai.”

“Why did you come out here by yourself back then?” Cheng Yu suddenly asked.

“Because everyone says that the things found in the Sacred Mountains are worth a lot of money. If you can find any exotic flowers or plants, you can sell them for a high price,” the Great Hoodwinker replied. “There’s people in the black market who’re collectors of such exotic flowers and plants, and they’re willing to pay a high price for them.”

Only then did Cheng Yu stop pursuing the matter. The people who collected exotic flowers and plants in the black market were all spies of consortiums. Why would normal people be interested in those things anyway? Only the consortiums were looking for such things to use in their research.

Cheng Yu took a look at his cell phone and said to the others, “Let’s set off. Everyone, be on high alert. Our team’s the only one that’s taking the Mt. Wuzhai and Mt. Shenchi route. If anything happens, we won’t even be able to call for reinforcements.”

With that, Cheng Yu got up and set off towards the northeast. From time to time, he would even hear Ren Xiaosu singing out loud behind him.

Initially, no one cared about Ren Xiaosu when he started singing. However, his singing was too catchy as they were all nursery rhymes everyone was familiar with. This caused the others in the group to involuntarily start humming along as they walked.

Looking at Mt. Wuzhai in the distance, Cheng Yu felt a little melancholic. It was clearly a very tense atmosphere, and there was also an unknown creature that ventured near their campsite during the night, so why did it feel like they were here on a spring trip while being entertained with song and dance?

Just what did he really come here for…