Chapter 303: A Satisfying Feast

Naturally, those figures who appeared from the forest were the team leaders of the special forces troops who had found all sorts of excuses to head over.

Ye Tianlang's expression of feigned surprise looked particularly comical. As a principled man, it was particularly strange to see him acting in this fashion, but he wasn't alone. The other team leaders all quickly appeared in succession.

"Xia Na, what a surprise to see all of you here!" Su Nan forced herself to start an awkward conversation. It was hardly a surprise—they had all known beforehand that Xia Na would be bringing Zhang Lie into the forest to hunt.

As one of Su Nan's good friends, however, Xia Na didn't expose her. She smiled graciously. "Right, we've been helping Deputy Leader Zhang hunt some gene fragments."

"Is that so? How's the progress? Do you need some help?" Su Nan asked, her face flushing red from embarrassment as she marched swiftly toward Xia Na.

"It's been quite successful so far, but I think we're missing some mutated-grade lifeforms," she suggested delicately, glancing at the skewers of meat arrayed by the campfire.

Zhou Ming frowned. "Haven't we just started hunting? What's the rush?"

He shot one of his subordinates a glance, and they hurriedly prepared to continue the hunt. Before they could do so, Ye Tianlang, who was standing beside Su Nan, announced, "There's no need, Deputy Leader Zhou, just prepare to cook some more!"

Even Zhang Lie, who was about to stop them, was surprised by Ye Tianlang's words.

Zhou Ming frowned. "Why not?"

"Because the rest of us have already hunted one of just about every species of mutated-grade lifeform in a hundred kilometers of the forest!" Ye Tianlang gestured forward with his right arm, and the special forces troops of Teams 4, 5, 6, 8, and 9 rushed out from the forest, each carrying one or two mutated-grade lifeforms, no two of which were alike.

In the end, about a hundred dying mutated-grade lifeforms were laid down in front of Zhang Lie, some of which he hadn't encountered even in his past life.

It looked as though he had really underestimated the impact of his fight with the various team leaders.

A hundred mutated-grade lifeforms—in practice, no matter how high his mutated gene capacity, just twenty such lifeforms would have been sufficient, but these team leaders had hunted down every species they were aware of in the hundred kilometers of forest all around!

Zhang Lie didn't know whether to laugh or to cry. He had intended not to obtain any more mutated gene fragments at the moment, but by this point, it would be far too harsh to reject them outright.

"Deputy Leader Zhang, just kill them all and I'll handle the rest. We'd like to apologize again for our actions before the start of the fight, so please treat this as an apology from all of us here."

Ye Tianlang was well aware that Zhang Lie's arrival in Qi could be the biggest opportunity they would have in the second realm.

"Thank you for this gesture, Team Leader Zhang—and all the rest of you. Of course I won't be offended by what happened in the past." Zhang Lie smiled and snapped his fingers again, killing all the lifeforms gathered before him.

"Shall we have a big feast for everyone, then? I hope someone's brought wine," Zhang Lie suggested casually, making everyone feel as though he had already forgotten the fight from earlier in the day.

Indeed, the outcome of the fight had been a big shock to them, but to him, it might not mean anything much.

"Wine? All forms of alcohol are forbidden on a mission, Deputy Leader Zhang!" Ye Tianlang responded automatically, causing Zhang Lie to frown.

"Surely this doesn't count as a mission? ?Even if it does, as the deputy troop leader, I'll make an exception for this occasion."

"Ah, no, of course not—this is certainly a special case!" He turned behind him. "Old Hong, you keep a few vintages with you at all times, don't you? Why don't you share them with all of us?"

A bearded hunter stepped forward. "Team Leader Ye, my alcohol—"

"Come, now, I'll refund you tomorrow for everything that was consumed today!"

Old Hong was known to be an alcoholic, and he couldn't bear the thought of giving up his most prized alcohol. That said, before he could fully voice his objection, Ye Tianlang stopped him short.

From his perspective, getting a chance to talk with Zhang Lie was far more valuable than a few jars of alcohol. Hong knew that as well, but he still hesitated briefly before he quickly brought out a dozen jars of alcohol from his storage.

"Deputy Leader Zhang, this is a special brew from my hometown. I wouldn't be willing to share this with just any guest, but for you... please, have a taste!"

Zhang Lie nodded. "Of course! Well, then, let's get started—we have meat and alcohol ready for everyone!"

The mood quickly turned festive. The team leaders sat down by the campfire as their subordinates began preparing the meat, and all sorts of delicacies were quickly delivered to them.

At the same time, Zhang Lie's gene fragment count rapidly began to increase. Not half an hour later, when Zhang Lie next pulled up his status window, the change was obvious.

Zhang Lie: a peak-grade lifeform

Framework: Foundation, Lv. MAX, Ninecarp Transformation, Fifth Form: Qilin

Techniques: Rippling Walk (pinnacle), Three-Wave Crescendo (pinnacle), Calm Waters (advanced), Fists of the Silent Sea (pinnacle), The Boundless Blade (pinnacle), Eclipse (advanced), One Punch (novice), Ninesoul Dragonblade (novice)

.

Genes: Basic, 160; Mutated, 150; Superior, 0; Peak, 0; Disaster, 0

Soulshards: White Grub (superior), Galewolf (mutated), Blood Ant (superior), Potbellied Toad (mutated), Venombane Scorpion (superior), Eternalspring Cocoon (superior), Forest Wolfman (superior), Flamewing (superior), Runic Salamander (superior), Moonlight Wyrm (peak)

In just one day, he had capped out his basic and mutated gene fragments again—and all he had to do in the meantime was eat and drink!