When Chen Bugu returned to the campfire, Yan Kuan and Bai Ting were chatting idly.
Seeing Chen Bugu emerge from the woods, Bai Ting glanced at him, then asked expressionlessly.
"Finished peeing?"
Chen Bugu didn't know when Bai Ting had woken up; he was supposed to be on the next shift.
"Yeah, finished peeing."
Chen Bugu sat down beside the two of them.
"Was it comfortable?"
Bai Ting continued to ask.
"It was alright, pretty comfortable."
Chen Bugu smiled.
"You go to sleep, I'll take over for you early. Remember to wake up ten minutes beforehand."
Bai Ting yawned and stretched.
Chen Bugu nodded upon hearing this, not being pretentious, and lay down to sleep directly.
A silvery light flashed in Yan Kuan's eyes, and Earth Element activated, pushing a small earth wave from nearby, bringing with it a few dry branches.
He picked up the dry wood and threw it into the fire, glanced at Bai Ting, then shook his head.
"Oh, I really hate you guys who speak in riddles."
Bai Ting pouted, then smiled again.
...
The next morning, the sky was dim, and light penetrated the layers of dense forest, scattering onto the ground.
At this time, the Initial Forest was quite humid, and everyone's campfires had already extinguished.
Fortunately, a corner of the dark forest was unveiled by the light, and people no longer feared it.
However, visibility was still very low, so low that even with Chen Bugu's eyesight, he could only barely make out the locations of Liao City and Guanzhou's two groups, where only two people were still on alert as night watch.
At this moment, on Chen Bugu's side, everyone except Wang Bin, who was still sound asleep, had woken up.
Lin Xiaoxiao kicked Wang Bin, and he reluctantly got up.
He vaguely remembered Bai Ting calling him ten minutes ago, but he was too sleepy, so he turned over and continued to sleep.
Although Wang Bin was awake, his eyes were drooping, still heavy with sleep.
He listened to Chen Bugu tell stories, about the 'strategy' of "raising pigs," about the Goblin's lustful habits, about abandoning teammates to serve as bait, about a certain ability to transmit sound directly into one's ear, about a middle school student whose sister was murdered, and finally about Ding Wenli and Xue Ke...
As Wang Bin listened, he didn't know when, but he woke up, he was completely awake.
His eyes widened, staring fixedly at Chen Bugu, wanting to see what else he would say that would make his chest feel heavy.
Wang Bin clearly hadn't used Ignite, but he felt as if his chest had been Ignited, burning him with a surge of anger.
Lin Xiaoxiao and Lin Lin were both silent.
But Chen Bugu could see Lin Xiaoxiao clenching her fists, her whole body trembling uncontrollably; he could feel the suppressed anger of this girl.
"Xiao Xiao, calm down."
"How can you tell me to calm down? Why don't we just kill them!"
Although she tried her best to control her volume, everyone could hear the barely suppressed anger in Lin Xiaoxiao's tone.
"First, in a direct conflict, the other side also has two Black Iron Four Stars. You've seen Xue Ke's Kuang Hua (狂化), and Ding Wenli's ability and equipment. I'm confident I won't die, but I'm not confident you all won't die."
"Second, we haven't confirmed whether what Han Badou said is true or not. Even if the possibility is high, we have to wait, wait for Ding Wenli to expose himself."
"Third, if they want to use us as muscle, why can't we use them as muscle?"
Chen Bugu stared into Lin Xiaoxiao's eyes, speaking word by word.
Lin Xiaoxiao naturally knew that what Chen Bugu said was correct. If Ding Wenli was a Four Star, his flying daggers, even if they couldn't kill Chen Bugu, might kill them, unless someone could deal with those flying daggers.
Knowing she couldn't argue with Chen Bugu, she simply turned her head and stopped talking.
"Do you know what their two abilities are?"
Bai Ting asked the question he was most concerned about.
"I know."
"Ding Wenli, Black Iron Four Star, magic-type ability 【Metal Control】, able to manipulate metal at will. Those three Cold Steel Flying Daggers are white equipment, with a bleeding effect; current skills are unknown."
"Xue Ke, Black Iron Four Star, enhancement-type ability (transformation-type) 【Blood Rage Bear】, as his star level increases, he can gradually transform his entire body into a monster called a Blood Rage Bear. His skill is a rage-type state ability, and what's certain is that its duration is longer than a Goblin Berserker's 'Bloodlust,' meaning at least over a minute."
After Chen Bugu finished speaking, Bai Ting nodded, indicating he understood.
"For the next actions, we will still primarily cooperate with them, but I hope everyone hides their strength, all dropping one star. We will fight the Goblin tribe, and we will also kill those scumbags."
Chen Bugu tapped his finger on the ground, his expression cold, his tone serious.
This was the first time everyone had seen Chen Bugu with such a cold expression, but thinking of the actions of Ding Wenli and the others, they all understood and then nodded in agreement.
...
Another half an hour passed, and the sky was already bright. Chen Bugu saw Ding Wenli and the others starting to get up and pack, preparing to depart.
"Everyone, we don't have enough food. We must go replenish some food today."
After getting the cured duck, only one night later, he said there wasn't enough food. Was this to make it harder for everyone to refuse the upcoming request?
Chen Bugu sneered inwardly, but outwardly he cooperated.
"No problem. We're really sorry for eating your cured duck last night. We'll definitely help today."
Ding Wenli's smile widened after hearing this.
"We've already discovered the monster gathering place, it's about five kilometers north of us. As long as we take that gathering place, everyone can have a full meal tonight and get a good night's sleep."
"That's great! We'll definitely cooperate fully."
Ding Wenli exchanged a few more pleasantries, then returned to Xue Ke's side, and the group slowly advanced towards the Goblin tribe.
Half an hour later, the group encountered another Goblin squad.
Perhaps due to approaching the Goblin tribe, or perhaps because of the frequent disappearances of small teams recently, in any case, the Goblins seemed to have specifically strengthened their vigilance.
This Goblin squad in front of them not only had ten ordinary Goblins, three Goblin Berserkers, but even five Goblin archers.
Han Badou still gave an early warning.
Ding Wenli still used his flying dagger to blind one Goblin Berserker's eye, and Old Liu also shot an arrow early, but he shot "off target," not hitting the Goblin Berserker's vital point, only hitting its arm.
Xue Ke and Ding Wenli each still engaged one Goblin Berserker.
As for the last Goblin Berserker, it charged directly towards Chen Bugu's group.
Chen Bugu could see Ding Wenli's Cold Steel Flying Daggers circling around himself, but he didn't initiate an attack, forming a standoff with the Goblin Berserker opposite him.
He knew this was because Ding Wenli was observing their group.
Facing the charging Goblin Berserker, Chen Bugu looked at Bai Ting, then at Lin Xiaoxiao, and they nodded to each other.
The meaning was, the performance has begun~