The calm current swept over the gravel beneath the highway as the four of them collapsed onto the riverbank to rest. Their silver-gray uniforms were soaked through, water droplets clinging to the team badges reading “Ghost-Hunting Team” on their chests. The gray wolf alpha cradled his AK, checking for water in the mechanism while scanning his teammates’ health bars—all showing varying degrees of depletion.
“Top off your health,” He Suowei said, spreading out bullets to dry in the sun and casually tossing three recovery syringes to his teammates.
“We ran into a tough one. That lion alpha’s got skill. Look at the way he drove—definitely trained. No idea which unit he’s from; maybe we’ll run into him again someday.”
“Who cares about the alpha? Don’t you notice that merman omega’s aim was insane? One shot and our rear wheel was gone… And he’s so gorgeous, first time I’ve seen him, and that body—so damn hot.” Gu Wulu wrung out his uniform and wiped his still-dripping hair, checking his reflection in the water to fix his hairstyle. “Was my fall into the water cool enough? Did I leave a good impression…? Hey, who fired at him just now? Did you know you made him lose health! Ugh… I wanna team up with them—I wanna protect that omega.”
“You definitely left an impression,” He Wenxiao said, pulling off his socks to wring them by the river and grinning at him. “I heard him say one last thing—‘pathetic’.”
Gu Wulu still felt pretty confident. “At least I got a ‘pathetic.’ He didn’t even glance at you guys.”
He Wenxiao continued wringing the sock on his foot. “Don’t flatter yourself. That ‘pathetic’ was clearly aimed at the team leader.”
Nearby, another wolf alpha who looked strikingly like He Wenxiao crouched by a small fire, using a lighter bought from the street to ignite some gathered twigs for drying their wet clothes, looking up with a laugh to agree with his twin: “I also think he was cursing the team leader.”
He Suowei tossed over a ruined waterlogged bullet, sending the three alphas scrambling. “Stop competing over useless stuff, all of you—break your legs if you keep it up.”
Unlike the A team, the Ghost-Hunting Team was an all-alpha unit, differing slightly from the Four-Spirit lineup of the previous Feng Xiaoxiao Xi team. Among them were three North American gray wolf alphas, with the lively husky Gu Wulu mixed in.
Their captain got irritated. The He brothers busied themselves helping He Suowei wring out his clothes and pants, giving him a comfortable spot to dry himself.
He Suowei picked up a gun and dried it at a distance, somewhat irritated, checking if it was still usable. While they hadn’t fully gauged the Random Hit Team’s strength, it was clear this squad wasn’t ordinary. Seeing how the lion alpha and merman omega protected the rabbit in the car, it was likely a “three protect one” setup. On top of that, they’d cooperated with an omega team—clearly not easy prey. Avoiding them for now was the smarter choice.
“Bro, how many stars can we get right now?” Gu Wulu counted on his fingers. “I killed twenty-one, but even if I survive, I’ll only get five stars. Why’s my luck so bad? Everyone else has three one-star missions, we only get one three-star mission each.”
From He Wenxiao’s taskbook, the general location of Subject 1513 was the Research Institute. At present, only the younger He brother had completed his mission, obtaining a vial of AC hallucinogen.
Gu Wulu’s taskbook contained a single line of terse instructions: “Inject the aelerant hallucinogen into the nuchal gland of Subject 1513.”
He Suowei’s taskbook was even more straightforward: “Eliminate Subject 1513.”
“By the way, what the hell is Subject 1513 anyway?” Gu Wulu wondered, resting his chin on his hand.
“That lion alpha said ‘see you at the Research Institute.’ He must know something,” He Suowei muttered, flicking at a damp cigar that wouldn’t light after several attempts, before tossing it into the water with a small splash. “Different teams teaming up isn’t penalized. We just don’t have enough intel yet.”
He Suowei paused to think. If the Random Hit Team’s mission also involved eliminating Subject 1513, then perhaps alternative strategies needed consideration.
Meanwhile, the Random Hit Team suddenly changed course. They had planned to enter the Research Institute directly but instead left the highway via a ramp, bumping along the uneven village roads into the mountains.
Bilansheng drove the remaining three small omegas back along their original route toward the residential area. The neighborhood was dense with houses, trees, and pedestrians—most teams avoided it, since harming civilians would cost points. This made the area ideal for safely hiding and resting. With nearly a quarter of the exam already elapsed, wandering around openly would be pointless.
Their BMW, stolen from the underground garage at the start of the exam, was smoking from the hood, its side windows shattered, and the body riddled with bullet holes—basically totaled.
At the eastern entrance of Sanwo Village, a Wuling Hongguang delivering vegetables was parked. Bai Chunian cut the ignition and unlocked it: “Switch vehicles.”
Du Mo obeyed immediately. After the recent car battle, he had a clearer sense of Bai Chunian’s strength—this alpha was even stronger than he’d imagined. So when Bai Chunian gave orders, Du Mo followed closely. Despite his carefree, reckless air, being near him gave an inexplicable sense of security.
Du Mo tried to edge closer, but suddenly a cold fish tail wrapped around his neck. Lampe sat atop the car, pulling the crow omega toward him with the tip of his tail. Lowering his lashes, his gaze swept over Du Mo with an unhidden, intense scrutiny.
Du Mo, facing an omega who didn’t look particularly friendly, grew cautious. He lifted his eyes tentatively, meeting Lampe’s for a brief moment before quickly looking away, beginning to understand the unspoken message. He asked softly, “Bro… I follow you?”
Lampe lowered his head, calmly taking a magazine from the belt pressed against his waist to reload his rifle, and gave a brief “hmph” in reply.
Lu Yan glanced at the shabby, filthy van, reluctant to get in. Being a second-generation military kid and also from a wealthy family, he’d never ridden in a car worth less than seven figures.
Bai Chunian patted the mud-splattered van door: “Wanna learn how to fight in a car? Don’t wanna learn?”
Lu Yan’s ears perked at that. He ran over and jumped into the driver’s seat. “I do… your driving’s pretty good.”
Bai Chunian let him drive the beat-up van, teaching him to lock the car sideways in a curve to stop, then ordered everyone out.
At the end of the road, the roar of sports car exhaust reached them. Lu Yan and Du Mo instinctively raised their guns, ready to shoot. Bai Chunian leaned against a tree lazily: “Pay attention to the differences in sports car sounds. That one’s a KTM—you won’t hit it with guns. Go move some rocks to jam its chassis.”
Sure enough, a team got stuck in the middle of the road and flipped over. Bai Chunian sent Lu Yan to finish them off and grabbed the delivered supplies before driving off.
“So loaded, this team—actually had a flamethrower.”
“This exam’s like that. If you’re shameless enough, you can grab any equipment you want,” Bai Chunian whistled, casually ambushing lone squads in the wild. With over a day left before the exam ended, most missions were nearly complete. Avoiding major supply points minimized casualties.
Another unlucky team charged toward them. Lu Yan gripped the wheel nervously. “They look the same—how do we hit them?”
“Volkswagen Passat. Thin armor,” Bai Chunian said from the passenger seat, unbothered. “Just ram them.”
Bilansheng hid safely with the three small omegas in the residential area, hearing over the radio the Random Hit Team’s continual kill reports. It seemed they were wiping out team after team in the wild, lost in the frenzy.
Bilansheng tapped his communicator. “Chunian…?”
Bai Chunian’s lazy hum came through the earpiece. “Hmm?”
Bilansheng hesitated. “Maybe… hold back a little? I don’t know how many teams are left in this round, but if you wipe them all out, getting first place… won’t that be too obvious?”
A few seconds of silence.
Bai Chunian: “Ah, I forgot.”