“That’s enough, Alex. Calm down. Save your energy for the mutated beasts. Ignore the idiots.” Lu Chen ruffled his head and muttered, trying to say a few comforting words to the two women.

The three continued discussing the small conflicts between the two groups that had slowly started to pile up.

As more and more civilians from the military base began to train and hunt zombies and mutated beasts, these conflicts would only worsen.

“I am not leaving this place, Lu Chen. What the hell?” 

“We are working day and night to clear all the dangerous beasts and these people will not only call us names but also reap the rewards?”

“You know how this place was before right. Those goblins, insects, what all have we gone through to get to this point, and now they want us to hand over everything just like that?”

“That guy dared to call me a leech. I am leeching off of their hard work apparently. Fucking losers. We should have just let everyone die.”

Lu Chen chuckled. “You keep changing your words!” Seeing that he was making fun of her, Alex sulked and turned away.

“Hmm… This is indeed a bit bothersome. If they keep bothering us every day like this, it’s not like we can stay calm all the time and ignore them.” Lu Chen added in a serious tone.

“Since the group they have over there is considerably big, the General is having trouble controlling his own men.”

Alex scoffed. “No. I am pretty sure that idiot is purposely doing this.” 

“Either he was just fucking around with us when we met with him and agreed on the conditions or he is fucking around with us now that most of the city and the neighboring cities are already cleared of monsters.”

“Hmmm…” Lu Chen couldn’t refute her words.

“They are just doing all of this because that asshole General wants complete control of this city. I am sure of it.” Alex paced back and forth, pounding her fist on her palm.

“That time they agreed to us because they were afraid of that made up beast story we told them. Maybe now they are no longer scared and want everyone living in the city to fall in line.”

“You just wait and watch. That General is going to give us an ultimatum, either we fall in line or we leave the city.”

“Fuck no. I am not leaving here. We all worked so hard. Made this place finally somewhat safe to live in and now they are trying to chase us out!”

Lu Chen did not say anything to refute her words. What Alex was worried about was indeed not wrong. They had to do something sooner or later otherwise the situation was only going to become worse.

While these two silently continued thinking about this ticking time bomb, Qin Hua snarled and dropped another bomb.

The huge body of the water drake thudded loudly on the ground, making all three human beings turn around and look at her in shock.

Lu Chen silently looked at the wolf with questioning eyes while Alex who had been shouting nonstop up until now became completely speechless. “Fuck! Is that a dragon or dinosaur?”

The three of them had only seen variations of common earth wild animals with extra horns and heads or with bigger bodies and a more grotesque appearance, but this beast in front of them was different.

Just like the goblins, this was something that clearly shouldn’t belong in their world and yet it was here in front of their eyes.

The two women were hesitant to approach it but Lu Chen bent down and started running his hands over the blue scales and the thick flesh.

And unlike them, he was concerned about something else.

“When you disappeared… you were fighting this?” He looked up and asked Qin Hua with a sad look. His eyes also scanned her figure for any visible injuries.

For a single wolf to overpower and kill such a strong beast, just how much should she have suffered?

Qin Hua nodded and quickly put the drake’s body away. Lu Chen knew that they had a lot to discuss so he sent both Alex and Xu Meilin out. “You guys should go eat something. We can talk later.” 

Alex and Xu Meilin were still looking at the spot where the dragon’s body had been and the few drops of blood that had spilled. They silently left not saying anything else as if their tongues were tied.

Only Coco, Qin Hua, and Lu Chen remained in the room and Qin Hua started scribbling on the ground. “We need to move.”

“Huh?” Lu Chen raised his eyebrows and looked at the wolf. “You mean we need to leave this city? Why?”

[Hmmm…] Qin Hua licked her mouth, not knowing how to explain to him the presence of spatial rifts. She thought about it for a while and gave a vague answer.

“We need to keep moving and search for stronger beasts like the drake and other things. Otherwise, we will become weak.”

Lu Chen carefully read her scribbling and nodded, silently agreeing with her. Especially after seeing the mana zombies become stronger and stronger, he could understand one thing.

They were evolving but everything around them was also evolving. 

And if they were not careful enough, then the other things might evolve faster and stronger than them and leave them behind in the dust.

So even though they might be leaving the safety of the city that they had helped secure, staying here might only bring more harm than good.

“But little white… ah… Qin Hua where did you find this drake?”

The wolf smiled bitterly and then scribbled on the floor. “I will explain later.” 

She had already decided to take everyone along with her for the next spatial rift, so sooner or later, they would be able to find out about everything in person.

“Ok then. I will begin the preparations to move.” Lu Chen nodded. He turned to look at the mana vein in this cave room which was almost fully depleted now.

Qin Hua also looked at it and shook her head helplessly. 

These mana ores were the reason they had stayed back here in the first place, but the glutton sleeping piggy of their group had single-handedly absorbed everything.

Even though Su Yan’s unconscious body was placed farther away from these ores, the man was still greedily absorbing them, albeit at a slower rate.

The big chunk of ore which had been like the unshakeable trunk of a huge tree was now only a small twig. 

Growl! Qin Hua touched it and felt the familiar burst of energy. She couldn’t help but doubt if she could simply take it out now.

She did not hesitate and used her sharp paws to strike at the leftover piece of ore, which was barely a stick protruding from the ground.

Clang. Clang. Clang.

The mana ore was still as strong as ever so she started digging the earth around. 

This revealed the full ore and then she used her body weight and full physical strength to lean against it and uproot the damned thing.

Thud!

After a few minutes, the wolf fell on the side hugging the small ore in her arms. She quickly tossed it into her inventory.

[Finally! Now that guy can’t steal this away from me! Woof!] 

Lu Chen looked at her actions in a daze and then cleared his throat awkwardly. 

“Then I will leave the other mana ores also in your hands. I will round up the others. We should be able to leave tomorrow.” He smiled and then left the room.

Qin Hua growled and then dashed around the labyrinth of underground tunnels to harvest all the mana ores one by one. Her one and only faithful follower also ran behind her, albeit doing nothing.

Lu Chen meanwhile informed everyone about their upcoming plans. Though most people readily nodded agreeing to do whatever was told, some had their reservations and looked hesitant.

To these people, Lu Chen reminded them that they always had the option to join the military base, but they quickly shook their heads in refusal.

They knew very well that they were indebted to each other for the rest of their lives and they hadn’t forgotten it. 

So no matter what happened, they were only going to stick around with this group whether the road ahead was easy or difficult. 

The world had permanently changed and they were not naive enough to search for their previous lives again. All they could rely on was their own strength.

Looking at some of the gloomy faces, Lu Chen wanted to say a few words to comfort them but in the end, he did not. The future was always unpredictable and he didn’t want to lie. 

As everyone was preparing to leave, suddenly a few shouts echoed outside. The group immediately became alert and all of them rushed out to find what was happening.

But as soon as they stepped outside, they saw something utterly unbelievable! The ground above them was burning!