218 Broken Teeth (2/2)

A fishy smell drifted over but was quickly carried away by the wind.

After the momentary silence, Bie Liao got some men to drag the beast over.

”This thing, it is a little frightening,” Bie Liao said as he inspected the corpse of the beast, which was close to a meter long.

The skin of the beast had luster to it similar to steel, but it was not real steel and it was unable to stop bullets. The bullets had torn straight through it.

Fang Zhao did not know much about the species in this place and had not known if a single bullet was enough to settle the danger. Thus, he had shot a few more times. Nowadays, he had sufficient ammo, and guaranteeing everyone's safety took priority.

Bie Liao had said it was frightening because this seemingly flat beast opened its mouth sideways. Inside, it was full of sharp teeth in a disc, and the whole thing looked like a sawmill blade and had an extremely strong cutting power.

”Its teeth seem similar to the helicoprion shark that were in ancient archaeology reports found back home. However, this one has a horizontal mouth opening and limb-like fins. It probably spends most of its time in the water, lying in ambush in bogs or the river bank to hunt unsuspecting prey,” one of the scientists said.

Once bitten by these sort of teeth, a whole chunk of flesh would be sliced off. If the beast was slightly larger, a person bitten by it might be sawed in half.

Although the attire they wore provided some protection, who knew what sort of injuries one would suffer should they get cut by these electric saw-like teeth.

Bie Liao was puzzled. ”It was so close to us. Why were we unable to discover it just now?”

They now had newly issued equipment. Goggles on their helmets displayed nearby life-forms. Generally speaking, even if it was hiding itself in the mud, it should still have been detected.

”It's probably due to the skin,” Fan Lin said rather excitably. ”Its skin is rather interesting. Bring it back to the base and let the crew study it. Perhaps equipment can be improved according to the principle behind it.”

Although this beast they had just encountered was very dangerous, a new discovery of course got the outpost team excited. If it was as Fan Lin said, their outpost had done a meritorious service.

”Its teeth are broken.” Bie Liao pointed at a portion of broken teeth in the beast's mouth. They had been hit by bullets.

Fang Zhao picked up a single broken tooth. It was flat and triangular. Around one-tenth the size of a human palm, it had a white porcelain sheen to it.

”Fang Zhao, what are you picking it up for? Spoils of war?” Bie Liao asked when he noticed that Fang Zhao did not toss the broken tooth aside.

”It's a suitable item to be auctioned.”

Bie Liao was curious. ”Are you going it submit it just like that?”

”No, I will engrave something on it.” Fang Zhao wiped away the bloodstains and placed the tooth into his pocket.

While Fang Zhao and Bie Liao were conversing, the three people assigned to Fang Zhao did not utter a single word. The three of them glanced at each other and could only hang their heads and give a bitter laugh.

How many times had it been?

It was commonly said that the third time was the charm, but they had already experienced this sort of situation three times today!

Ever since they had been assigned to Fang Zhao's side, over the past few days, similar situations had happened every day.

When they had first entered the woods and encountered a native beast attack for the first time, the three had only just shouted ”be careful” and had not yet drawn their guns when the beast had been disposed of by Fang Zhao.

The second time, they had not even managed to say anything before the situation had been settled.

The third time, it had been settled before they had even felt the danger.

Fourth time...

Fifth time...

All the way to the recent incident, time and time again, Fang Zhao had gotten rid of the danger before they had even been able to act.

From shock it had turned to curiosity before they had gotten used to it. Countless times in their hearts, they asked the same question: Who is the new soldier and who are the veterans? Who exactly is protecting whom?

Fang Zhou was not intentionally provoking them. This was not a matter of killstealing. A step slower and someone might get hurt or lose their lives. This was entirely an unconscious reaction and reflex shooting by Fang Zhao.

But the three of them did not know this and thought that Fang Zhao was just proving his strength to them.

In the days that followed, the three of them could feel sympathetic gazes from members of the outpost team.

What could they do?

They were also despairing!

The person they were supposed to protect was so much stronger than them. These few days, there had simply been no chances for them to do anything.

The three felt like they were pieces of trash.