149 End of the Safe Boundary (1/2)

The team was hit a wave of uneasiness. Elena and Garry approached Nina after the other and expressed their concerns. Jeremiah was a man of few words, but his soft gaze accounts enough. Only the team leader was concerned with gaining more Yin Cores.

Having learnt her lesson, Nina relaxed expression was replaced with stern vigilance, reacting to the slightest of sounds. The others followed suit and advanced with guarded stance. Getting injured by an undead ghoul was no laughing matter.

”The undead ghouls carry lethal corpse poison in their claws and teeth, with no cure.” Walking ahead, Elias informed them, before heartlessly stating, ”If you get afflicted. I'm sorry but you are as good as dead and will be left behind.”

When the team heard this, pressure suffused the surrounding as coldness filled their hearts. They gripped their weapons with heightened vigilance. No one want to be left alone in this forest. Unless they have heaven-defying luck, chances of survival were close to nil.

Only Leon remained unperturbed. Corpse poison was nothing to him. Furthermore, people could just remove the afflicted part of their flesh decisively to avoid the corpse poison from rotting the rest of their body.

The ventured deeper into the forest with a heavy mood.

750 yards… 775 yards… 800 yards. Leon nonchalantly glanced at the markings on the trees that indicated their distance as they went.

Along the way, they encountered 1 Level-2 Undead Ghouls and 2 Level-3 Undead Ghouls, gaining another 2 Grade-3 and 1 Grade-2 Yin Cores for the team.

”Hahaha, this is really not bad. 4 Grade-3 and 1 Grade-2 Yin Cores in an hour worth of hunt. That's 140,000 Craws.”

Elias laughed heartily. The team also wore smiles on their faces. 140,000 Craws was not a small sum of money. Even Leon was taken aback by the rich payouts for these Yin Cores.

Grade-1 Yin Cores were worth 10,000 Craws and successive grade higher was an increment of 10,000 Craws. Thus, a Grade-6 Yin Core would be worth 60,000 Craws. But considering the strongest Awakener in Blackwillow Town were 5th step Awakeners, a Level-6 Undead Ghoul would wipe everyone out.

”We've already encountered 5 undead ghouls, yet not a single mutated ghoul.”

Elena wondered why they haven't encountered any thus far. The value of a fresh mutate ghoul body was even more exaggerated. the fresh blood vitality of a Level-1 Mutated Ghoul was worth a whopping 100,000 Craws.

”Mutated ghouls are much rarer than undead ghouls. Mutated ghouls require much more stringent conditions to be created.”

Elias continued to answer all questions asked like a walking encyclopedia.

”Team leader, since you are so experienced and knowledgeable of the forest, how come you don't have your own specialized team?”

”Oh… sorry, team leader. That was insensitive of me.” Elena immediately apologized. Perhaps, she poked at his sore spot. ”It's getting a bit isn't it? Hehehe…” She tried to change the subject.

They were after all in one of the Human Domain's few Perilous Lands. Experienced and knowledgeable as someone may be, they cannot predict the future. Elena figured the team leader used to have a team, but they suffered a mishap and got wiped out.

Strangely after venturing another 100 yards deeper and reaching the 900-yard mark, they did not encounter another ghoul along the way.

”This is strange. Did our luck already run out? Why isn't there anymore ghouls?” Nina commented. It was eerily quiet.

AHHHHH~!

Suddenly, a scream came from not too far ahead, causing the team to pause their steps in alert. ”It seems one of the other teams that went ahead of us had encountered trouble. We will go in a different direction.”

The team leader's statement took everyone by surprise. ”We aren't going to help them?” Nina asked doubtfully. Wasn't that too cold?

”No.” Elias said sternly. ”The number one thing you should all be careful of in the forest is not ghouls but humans! You can help them, but they may not feel grateful. In fact, they may even try to kill you, if you have treasures on you.”

There were also other problems. Such a loud sound would naturally attract attentions. If they head to the source and find themselves outnumbered by ghouls, things could get dangerous. It was best to avoid the problem. Not helping others, was helping themselves.

”How is that possible? We are all humans. We should be helping each other.”

Elias shook his head and said, ”There's no limits to human greed. This is the Extreme Misty Forest. No law governs this place. As long people can get away with it, all kinds of wickedness can be conducted here. I've seen it too many times. Teams hunting other teams for their treasures, even team mates killings each other to claim sole possession of the spoils. You all should throw away your kindness. Being kind to others here, is to be cruel to yourself.”

Everyone began to look at the team leader in a new light. Whatever doubts they had regarding the team leader's intentions for recruiting was washed away.

”Team leader, you picked us because you knew we would be easy prey for others, right? You were looking after us, right?”