18 Each With Their Own Purpose

"They're finally here."

Zheng Guodong's relief was palpable when he saw the motorcade slowly entering the Little Li Village.

After the rain had stopped for more than an hour, the remaining troops and the fire department finally caught up with them.

It was now just past five o'clock in the morning. There was a faint light in the east; it was the period when night transitioned to day. This was when mutated animals in "spiritual realms" were usually at their quietest.

Even if the remaining troops did not come, they were going to depart soon.

"Captain, do we still have to bring them along this time?" Liu Cheng, a squad member, glanced at the newly-arrived soldiers and pursed his lips.

"Of course not; they have other missions." Zheng Guodong's face was stern.

"What missions can they handle? Ordinary people can't do anything; even their cooking tastes terrible to me." A female squad member, Shen Sisi, snorted.

The other squad members also had similar expressions on their faces. They did not take the ordinary soldiers seriously at all.

As transcendents, they had a lot more power than ordinary people. Even the weakest one among them possessed combat effectiveness almost equal to the combined strength of ten ordinary people.

All of them could rush to the forefront when fighting mutated creatures, but ordinary people would not even be able to hurt the beasts with bullets.

All of them were young, proud and thought they could change the world with their talents.

Naturally, they looked down on ordinary people.

Zheng Guodong sighed and said gravely, "I know all of you think you're incredible. Yes, transcendents seem different from others, but let me tell you — anyone can get killed by mutated animals in the spiritual realm. And if we die in this ravine, these people's mission would be to retrieve our corpses to the best of their ability."

Stunned, all the squad members looked at each other and fell silent.

"If you think that you're so good at fighting, go and give it your all today. Our mission is extremely tough, and what's more, we have to search for the missing villager and four bounty hunters…"

"Captain, what's a bounty hunter? And didn't that old village chief just say that it was four travel buddies?" asked the sincere-looking Jia Lin. The others also had similar expressions of genuine confusion.

Zheng Guodong shook his head. These squad members had great power, but such little knowledge.

"No need to discuss this anymore; finding them is our highest priority now. Of course, we also have to complete the mission I've given earlier. Everyone, up!"

Zheng Guodong did not say much more to the fifteen transcendent members. Before dawn, they carried their humongous backpacks and started up the mountain, beginning at the previously determined spot.

However, after only walking for more than half an hour, the group was already encountering difficulties.

Ten meters in front of them were dozens of gigantic, one-meter-long centipedes blocking their way. They were all motionless and seemed to be resting.

If the group were to make a sound, they would probably wake up and attack.

"So we've entered an insect nest?" Zheng Guodong smiled wryly and shook his head. It seemed that this matter was much more serious than he had imagined previously.

His squad members behind him were not as relaxed as he was. Although every one of them was clasping various weapons, their faces were collectively pale.

"Cap, Captain, we…" Liu Cheng felt that he could no longer speak properly.

Zheng Guodong did not look back, but signaled to them to stay still.

The squad members stood by confused, until Zhang Guodong suddenly snapped his fingers and a fire instantly ignited on one of the giant centipedes!

…

As this all played out, nobody noticed that several other people had also taken advantage of the night-day transition and snuck into this valley.

This group was almost fully armed, wearing special clothes and even helmets. Besides a simple backpack, each of them also carried a gun on their back.

They were quick. Although the exit's terrain on the other side of the valley was more complex than the one in the Little Li Village, they took the risk and chose this path to avoid the soldiers.

"Stop! Old Wu!" A muscular man among the five suddenly shouted for the thin man walking in front to stop.

"What, Xu Liang? Was there a reaction?" The thin man Old Wu hurriedly stopped. The others also looked at Xu Liang in question.

"Yes, quite a big one. It seems that the more we move to the central region, the more reaction we get! We're on the right track!" Xu Liang looked at the black instrument in his hand. There was a fan-shaped dial on it, and the indicator kept moving in the direction of a higher value.

"Hmph, that time I said we should go find those four unlucky fellows, you guys said no. This is all thanks to me, isn't it?" A tall woman chewed gum with a smug look on her face.

"Please, Qian Min, if Old Wu had not insisted, your suggestion would only remain a suggestion. We haven't even found a spiritual rock, and you're already taking credit!" A short and plump woman named Qu Wei spat this out as she reached out and hooked her arm through Old Wu's. She was Old Wu's girlfriend.

Qian Min was about to snap back when Wang Ce, the quietest of the five, grabbed her immediately. "There's a situation!"

Wang Ce was in charge of detecting enemies in the five-member group. If he said that there was a situation, then there was definitely one.

The other four immediately stopped talking and drew the shotguns from their backs. Each of them was in charge of a direction, and they readied themselves for an attack anxiously.

Five minutes later, as the rustling sounds disappeared and their surroundings became still once again.

"Two rats; they escaped," Wang Ce said softly and used a dagger to leave a mark on a tree beside him.

They were bounty hunters who had entered spiritual realms several times and had already adapted themselves to this kind of dangerous environment filled with mutated creatures.

The shotguns they carried contained specially-made bullets, and their selection of daggers and tools were professional-grade.

Although they were not necessarily heavily armed, they were fully prepared for any kind of situation.

"Huh, a mouse? Those things are the most annoying out of everything else in spiritual realms!" Qian Min shuddered.

Last time, in another spiritual realm in the Shu Province, there were rats the size of puppies. There were so many that the group almost died on the spot.

"Be careful, or else we won't be alive to spend the money we've earned," Xu Liang said slowly.

"Those four idiots probably died here. Seriously, they barely know how to sing their ABCs, and they want to become bounty hunters? If the boss did not order us to bring them back, I wouldn't give a sh*t about whether they're alive or dead," Old Wu said with a snort.

"Yeah, did they think that spiritual rocks were easy to find? The price of those things has now skyrocketed in the black market, so everyone wants to be a bounty hunter. They must think they've already lived too long and would rather die!" Qu Wei agreed in rage.

"That's enough, let's stop talking about it. The boss just said that we have to bring them back, alive or not, or he can't give the outside world any explanation. Our primary mission is still to search for spiritual rocks, and of course, stay alive!" As Xu Liang spoke, he glanced at the time. "It's five-forty, almost dawn! Let's speed up!"