Chapter 45: A Fledgling Team

There appeared to be something on Fang Yi's mind keeping him from declaring his intent to follow Zhang Lie even when the other hunters had done so.

Zhang Lie hadn't anticipated such a situation. He had been as sincere as he could, and it had won him the hearts of all gathered here, all but Fang Yi.

Fang Yi himself was reflecting over the events of the day. From his perspective, he kept feeling as though Zhang Lie was far too friendly than he had any right to be.

His and Sun Mengmeng's teams' strength was incomparable to Zhang Lie, but Zhang Lie had not only allowed them to participate in hunting a superior-grade lifeform, but also incited them to kill Li Hong's team with him.

Not only that, he had been willing to share some of his spoils with them. Perhaps it could have been explained if they had long since known each other, but they hadn't been anything but strangers before this fateful day!

"Captain, please don't blame me for being cautious, but I don't understand why you're doing all this. Isn't it the first time we've met each other?"

Zhang Lie finally understood what was going through his mind. After all, who else had any idea how much Zhang Lie owed to Fang Yi? If he were in Fang Yi's position, he would likely have thought the same way.

Zhang Lie turned to him and spoke seriously, "Don't worry about it. I do have a few reasons for favoring you, but everyone else was simply at the right place at the right time. I've been thinking of building up a team, and I need two helpers to do so. Since I encountered your two groups out in the sands, I decided to test you to see if you would be a suitable fit.

"I don't intend on forcing you to do anything at all. If you don't want to work with me, you're welcome to leave after we divide up the spoils. There aren't any eyewitnesses to the Li team's murder, and unless you incriminate yourself, you should be safe from any retaliation."

Whether or not Fang Yi stayed would be up to himself. If he were to leave, the only one who would lose out was him: Zhang Lie didn't much mind either way.

"You don't have to say anything else, Captain! I'm willing to follow you!" Fang Yi's eventual choice didn't disappoint Zhang Lie. And since he had made up his mind, he quickly pocketed two soulshards from the pile left on the table.

"Alright. Since all of you here have decided to work with me, let me make myself clear: as long as you're all loyal to me, I'll share whatever I have with you. Believe me: you'll all be grateful for the choice you made today!"

This was Zhang Lie's anticipated outcome, and he was naturally welcoming of the new additions to his team.

After Fang Yi finished selecting his soulshards, Zhang Lie kept the remainder, then took out the dreadtoad carcass from within his pouch.

"Are there any good cooks among you? Can you prepare this for consumption?"

Sun Mengmeng and Zhou Ying stepped forward. Cooking was a strength of theirs, and they were eager to demonstrate their abilities in front of their new captain.

As they dragged the carcass toward the kitchen, Zhang Lie reminded them from behind, "Be careful with its vocal pouches and tongue—those will fetch quite a few points!"

"Got it, Captain!"

Everyone was eagerly anticipating the superior gene fragments they would soon obtain.

"Captain, let me help too!" Sun Xiaowu was so impatient that he couldn't help running into the kitchen to help his sister.

Only Fang Yi, Li Feng, and Yang Ze were left in the room.

Zhang Lie knew quite a bit of Fang Yi, of course. He turned to Li Feng and Yang Ze, trying to learn more about them.

Yang Ze was from the Yang clan, whose stronghold was in the city of Sacred Fire on Mars. Though the Yang clan was reasonably prosperous, as a bastard, he was more or less unaffiliated with them.

The Yang clan had no power in the Blacksteel settlement, and it was almost as though Yang Ze had been sent into exile. According to him, it was unlikely that the clan would care at all even if he were to perish here.

Luckily, his mother had brought him up well, though he seemed to express a tendency toward depression and self-loathing.

Zhang Lie made a note of this, giving him a few words of encouragement and promising to help him develop into a hunter his clan would focus its attention on.

𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

Last was Li Feng from Sichuan, who was far more ordinary. He came from an average family, was hardworking and honest, and had entered the dimensional world at eighteen in accordance with the draft.

After a quick conversation, Yang Ze turned toward the television, whereas Li Feng went around inspecting the suite.

Even the cheapest room in the Blackgold Inn cost at least a thousand points per day—ten thousand dollars in real life!—and he had never entered such a luxurious place either on Earth or the dimensional world.

With everyone else distracted, only Zhang Lie and Fang Yi were left on the couch.

"Captain, can I ask you something?" Fang Yi turned to him curiously.

Zhang Lie nodded as he ordered a few side dishes to be sent to the suite.

"As far as I know, Li Hong has around twenty superior gene fragments, and you seem to have a comparable amount. And with regard to martial skill, while your techniques are impressive, your framework doesn't seem particularly high-quality. Why was the fight so one-sided?"

This was a question that he'd wondered since he witnessed the fight. From his perspective, Zhang Lie was Li Hong's equal in terms of both genes and techniques. However, Fang Yi had the impression that Zhang Lie hadn't even used his full strength in the lopsided fight against Li Hong.

He had dominated in terms of strength, speed, and energy. With one simple, shallow cut, he had grasped Li Hong's life in his hands.

Zhang Lie smiled. "I'm older than he is, of course. Older and more experienced, so naturally I would have the advantage. As to your question about how I'm so much stronger than Li Hong even though we have comparable stats... all I'll say about that for now is that I have limit fragments. I'll tell all of you about limit fragments eventually, so don't guess or ask me about them now. What happens beyond that will depend on each of your choices."

Zhang Lie's words made Fang Yi even more curious, but he obediently pressed his lips together and said nothing else.

Regular genes, mutated genes, superior genes, and then supposedly pinnacle genes, but what were these limit gene fragments that Zhang Lie had mentioned?

He was able to repress his curiosity, but Yang Ze, still fiddling with the television by his side, immediately scooted over when he heard the discussion.

"Captain, I heard your words too! What are these limit fragments? Are they beyond pinnacle grade?"