Late at night, the mysterious combat team once again entered Forbidden Zone 10, having already been inside for nearly four hours.
The commander glanced at the simple map in his hand. They were very close to Dragon Fish Lake.
He gave a tactical hand signal.
The seventy soldiers in the forest immediately slowed down and quickly split into ten tactical squads, weaving forward in the dark shadows.
Each squad was 21 meters apart, a distance that allowed them to avoid being wiped out together in a fire strike while still maintaining good coverage for each team.
If one team was attacked, the others could quickly provide support.
The soldiers were dressed in black, blending into the darkness, with even their faces smeared with black and dark green camouflage.
They had no identifying marks on them. If anyone was captured, there would be no evidence of their origin.
This was a squad dedicated to killing.
Strangely, the soldier didn't even notice anything was wrong. The yellow earth was extremely soft, as light as nothing.
It wasn't until the yellow earth wrapped around his neck that the end of the yellow earth python suddenly split apart, turning into a hand that tightly clamped the soldier's throat.
Suddenly, the ground silently caved in, and the soldier disappeared from the surface, forever sleeping in the soil of Forbidden Zone 10.
As each combat squad moved forward, the soldiers in the rear placed their hands on the shoulders of the soldiers in front of them.
Normally, if a comrade in the rear was attacked, the moment the hand left the shoulder of the person in front, it would be noticed.
But the person controlling the yellow earth was also very clever. The moment he pulled the soldier into the ground, a handful of yellow earth transformed into a hand, replacing the soldier's hand and continuing to rest on the shoulder of the person in front.
The person in front didn't notice anything unusual.
Then, the invisible and intangible yellow earth repeated the same trick, once again entangling the second to last soldier and pulling him into the ground.
In this kind of forest special operations environment, this silent killing method was as elusive as a ghost.
You couldn't even know where the enemy was.
However, the number one assassin under the Head of the Qingshi Clan, hidden underground, didn't continue killing after taking out the second soldier.
Before the soldiers in front noticed anything was amiss,
sand and soil rapidly coalesced on the ground. In a brief moment, the sand and soil formed a human shape, even equipped with the gear of the soldier who had just died.
This kind of efficiency in jungle assassination warfare was terrifying.
It was at this moment that the commander suddenly raised his right arm, and all the squads stopped abruptly. This assassin, not paying attention to the hand signals, accidentally bumped into the back of the soldier in front.
Amidst the confused sounds, everyone silently turned to look at him...
Then, everyone realized that their squad was missing someone!
The squad leader gave a tactical hand signal: Where's the comrade behind us?
The rules of the Forbidden Zone were strange. The best way to reduce casualties was to not speak.
The assassin thought for a moment and said, "I don't..."
The squad leader frowned: "Use hand signals."
The Qingshi Clan's top assassin, Zard, was silent for two seconds: ㄟ(▔, ▔)ㄏ
The squad leader: "???”
The next second, all the soldiers suddenly turned around and pulled the trigger on Zard.
The previously tranquil Forbidden Forest was suddenly shattered by gunfire!
Zard sighed: "Why are you all so humorless!"
Instantly, countless bullets rained down on Zard, but he turned into a cloud of sand and scattered on the ground, seeping into the soil below.
The rain-like bullets poured onto him, but only embedded themselves in the sandy body.
As his body turned to dust, hundreds of bullets clattered to the ground.
In that instant, the commander's pupils suddenly contracted. He knew who had come.
Although this Qing Family assassin's reputation was hidden, he had recently done many sensational things!
At this moment, one soldier after another sank into the sand. The commander immediately said: "Climb the trees!"
Although climbing trees looked embarrassing, it was unrealistic for the opponent to sink dozens of towering trees in a short period of time.
In combat, as long as the method is effective, it's the best method.
Sure enough, once the soldiers climbed onto the tree trunks, the killing method of using quicksand to swallow soldiers at any time and place could no longer be used.
The Forbidden Zone temporarily regained some peace.
The commander nimbly climbed to the treetops to think of a countermeasure, but he didn't seem to have any way.
In fact, the best way for the Federation to deal with this kind of earth-based Awakened One who could burrow into the ground was to call in indiscriminate bombing.
They only needed to use penetration missiles that strike underground bunkers to plow the ground, vitrifying the sand with high temperatures, to kill those earth-based Awakened Ones underground. After all, earth-based Awakened Ones need to breathe and can't burrow too deep.
However, this commander didn't have the ability to cover the area with indiscriminate firepower, and they were hiding in the trees. Even if they called for reinforcements, they would have to be covered by the firepower along with this assassin.
The commander bit his teeth and connected to the rear airship channel. He was going to be a suicide squad and die together with Zard.
However, just as the communication was connected, the commander suddenly looked up and saw a figure sitting in the higher treetops, smiling and looking at him.
Before he could report the situation to the airship command, an embroidery needle pierced through his neck and trachea.
This time, the equipment carried by the decapitation squad was coated with carbon, precisely to guard against Qing Ye also being here.
After all, it was very likely that Qing Chen would have Qing Ye, who controlled metal, by his side.
However, Qing Ye never intended to control their firearms. His ultimate killing method was the Forbidden Artifact ACE-053, Grandma's Sewing Kit.
This Forbidden Artifact was quite interesting. The sewing kit contained three endless strings and three embroidery needles.
The containment condition was that the string had to be passed through the needle hole once a day. When threading the needle, the host's hands would shake uncontrollably like an old grandma's hands.
It was especially difficult to thread.
Qing Ye had to spend at least ten minutes every day completing the threading containment condition.
Sometimes, when Qing Qu saw him threading the needle, he would jokingly call him Grandma Qing.
This Forbidden Artifact ACE-053 was not originally used for killing. Its function was to make sewn clothes, shoes, and hats particularly durable, almost as useless as the Weather Forecast Pocket Watch in Li Dongze's hands.
This Forbidden Artifact was originally in the hands of an old shoemaker.
Because the explosive power of Metahumans was extremely strong, everyone wore out their shoes very quickly during combat.
And this old shoemaker's shop was in the upper third district of City 10, specializing in making shoes for Metahumans using the Forbidden Artifact ACE-053 "Grandma's Sewing Kit'.
Later, the old shoemaker passed away, and Shadow obtained this item and gave it to Qing Ye.
From then on, Qing Ye's trump card for controlling metal became three indestructible embroidery needles, and the killings were extremely stealthy.
At this moment, the commander fell to the ground. Qing Ye jumped down from the treetops, crushed the other party's communication system, and smiled at the commander: "Two A-Class experts came to wipe you out. You didn't die unjustly."
However, at this moment, the ground beneath his feet suddenly turned into quicksand.
Qing Ye roared: "Damn it, you got the wrong person!"
Someone in the dark quickly said: "Ah, sorry, sorry!"
"What's the rush? These people are just appetizers. The main course hasn't arrived yet. We'll be busy in a while. Why are you stealing my credit?" Qing Ye said, laughing and crying. How did the family head take a liking to such a player? He pulled his legs out of the sand and turned to harvest the battlefield.
Return Countdown 00:20:00
Only 20 minutes left.
Qing Chen and the others were not affected by the gunshots in the Forbidden Forest at all.
Ma Jingjing and the others sat by the lake, shivering, but as they looked around, none of the others seemed flustered.
Yi Wenbo calmed down: "They seem to know very well what's happening in the forest. It should be related to the two missing guides. The three guides and the four artificial spirits have known each other for a long time. Bringing us in is just a side effect."
Yi Wenbo continued: "But the strange thing is, they also seem to have known that a battle would happen in the forest. Who exactly are these people? Could someone want to kill them?"
However, Qing Chen and the others didn't react, so the four of them could only wait and see.
Qing Chen set up three small pots and was making boiled fish for Yang Yang and Zhang Mengqian.
In another small pot, Shadow was stewing mushrooms picked from the Forbidden Zone.
Qing Chen curiously looked at Shadow: "Are you really not eating fish? I'm not that stingy."
Shadow said with a smile: "You guys eat. I don't need it."
Ma Jingjing's group sat on the other side, watching them decline each other, and their saliva was almost drooling.
They really hadn't caught a single one!
It would have been fine if everyone hadn't caught anything, but the key was that others were having a bountiful harvest while they had nothing. This made them seem too miserable.
At this time, Xiao Yu pitifully asked: "You guys are eating meat, can't you at least give us some soup?"
Qing Chen thought about it, and after Yang Yang finished eating the Dragon Fish, he would take the pot to them.
Ma Jingjing looked into it expectantly, and immediately felt terrible. He said with heartache: "You guys ate it too clean! If you gave this pot of stuff to Tang Sanzang, he probably wouldn't even be breaking his vows!"
Qing Chen said with a smile: "Yes, yes, yes."
At this time, there was a rustling sound from the forest outside the lake shore.
Everyone looked back and saw Zard walking out with a small sapling on his head, grinning and saying: "It's all solved. I deserve the most credit. I killed more than fifty of the seventy assassins by myself."
"Awesome, awesome," Qing Chen praised: "...But what's with the sapling on your head?"
Zard smiled: "I just happened to see it on the way, so I picked one and planted it on my head. What do you think? Is my limited edition skin good-looking?"
Qing Chen: "...It's good-looking, but why are you so determined to plant trees on yourself?!"
Zard said: "I'm an earth-based Awakened One. If I don't have grass growing on me, I'll look very barren."
What kind of logic is that!?
Zard smiled: "Hehe, don't worry, it won't hurt me. There are no blood vessels in this body of mine. It'll die in a couple of days. By the way, now that I've made a contribution, can I make a request?"
Qing Chen was stunned for a moment. Why would he make a request to him?
"What request?" Qing Chen asked.
"Take a group photo and record a video together," Zard said with a smile: "Can I? You have to use your real appearance."
Qing Chen thought about it. His appearance had already been exposed, so recording a video wasn't a big deal, so he agreed and restored his true appearance.
Zard ran to his side excitedly, sat down, turned on his phone, took a selfie, and then said to Qing Chen: "Am I qualified to join Daybreak now?"
Qing Chen raised his eyebrows: "...Yes, yes, yes!"
At this time, Ma Jingjing and the others in the distance were stunned for a moment. The four of them widened their eyes and looked at each other in shock.
Ma Jingjing looked at Qing Chen again, and the quiet young man sitting by the campfire was none other than the renowned Master of Daybreak?
The countdown returns to zero.
The world falls into darkness.