Chapter 57 – Lin Haifeng's Suggestion

Volume 3: Rising Winds and Clouds

"When I say dangerous, I mean places even the military regions consider dangerous. At the very least, Kuangliu could never clear them out on his own."

Hearing Lin Haifeng's words, Wen Yu nodded and said, "That's more like it. This is exactly the kind of intelligence I need right now."

Lin Haifeng smiled at the faintly fervent look in Wen Yu's eyes.

"Then let me start by explaining the situation in these places."

With that, Lin Haifeng pointed directly at the Tibet Autonomous Region. A huge black dot had been marked there, dark and gleaming.

"There's a Divine Beast Species here. It's Level 4. According to the satellite images we've received, all of Lhasa has already been destroyed by this Divine Beast Species and the Mutant Beasts under its command."

"Its original form was probably some kind of canine, but after becoming a Divine Beast Species, it turned into a strange creature resembling a black qilin1."

"Last time, I sent Kuangliu and Vermilion Bird to try communicating with it, but it drove them back. It doesn't have the best temper."

"And it's truly hideous, so we named it the Ghost-Faced Qilin."

Wen Yu nodded.

After pondering for a while, he said, "Go on."

Wen Yu couldn't make a move against this Divine Beast Species.

It was too powerful and had too many subordinates, but the main reason was that a single Divine Beast Species could play an enormous role in resisting the Demon Race's invasion.

"Here."

Lin Haifeng pointed at another area near Guangxi.

"There's another Divine Beast Species here, called the White Tiger. And yes, this one is an actual white tiger."

"This White Tiger is extremely bloodthirsty. It operates alone and has no subordinates, but its combat strength is terrifying."

"There's another one here as well, a Nine-Tailed Fox…"

"And here…"

"Wait."

Wen Yu abruptly interrupted Lin Haifeng.

"Are all the black dots Divine Beast Species?"

When Lin Haifeng nodded in confirmation, Wen Yu sighed helplessly.

"Seven in total. These are all the Divine Beast Species currently known to exist within Huaxia, though I can't guarantee there aren't more."

Wen Yu studied the map carefully. The seven Divine Beast Species were scattered across different regions. Although parts of their territories bordered one another, the boundaries between them were clearly defined.

"Whew…"

Wen Yu let out a long breath.

"Let's forget about the Divine Beast Species. The price of killing creatures like that would be too high."

Based on Wen Yu's estimate of his own combat strength, he, One-Eye, and Faceless in One-Eye's form might be able to kill one Divine Beast Species if they fought to the death. Even with Xing added to the mix, their combined strength would be equivalent to two Divine Beast Species at the absolute most.

That level of combat power was nowhere near enough to guarantee a decisive victory against a Divine Beast Species.

Therefore, hunting them was unreasonable no matter how he looked at it.

…

Seeing Wen Yu's helpless expression, Lin Haifeng nodded and moved his finger to the red dots.

There were quite a few of them, all clustered around mountains and rivers.

Lin Haifeng explained, "These red dots mark large Mutant Beast Settlements. Complete food chains have already formed within them. To ordinary Class Holders, these places are forbidden zones. But for you, I don't think there's anything to fear, unless one of them contains a Divine Beast Species I haven't detected."

"Creatures classified as Divine Beast Species aren't that easy to come by!" Wen Yu said with certainty.

That much was undeniable. Across all of Huaxia, only seven creatures classified as Divine Beast Species had been observed so far. Even counting Xing and the Vermilion Bird, there were only nine in total!

That was an incredibly small number!

Lin Haifeng shrugged. Seeing Wen Yu studying the map intently, he took a small sip of tea before continuing.

"Actually, I didn't show you this so you could go kill them."

Wen Yu immediately looked up in confusion.

"You may have forgotten, but I told you long ago that our relationship is one of cooperation. What would we gain if you killed creatures classified as Mutant Creature?"

Lin Haifeng's words were blunt and pragmatic, but Wen Yu liked dealing with pragmatic people.

"Besides, at this stage, I don't want you hunting these creatures in large numbers. You should know that they'll eventually be fighting alongside us."

Wen Yu nodded.

That was true, but there was no way he would give up on Promotion because of it!

Increasing his own strength took precedence over everything else!

Lin Haifeng rolled up the map and slowly continued.

"I'm sure you've already memorized this map. Consider it an additional reward for your help this time. After all, we're only asking you to find a woman. It doesn't warrant this much effort from you. The deal itself isn't exactly fair."

"I have a suggestion you may want to hear. If you don't agree, you can always go hunt creatures classified as Mutant Beast afterward."

Wen Yu nodded.

Seeing his response, Lin Haifeng smiled and said slowly, "I think killing members of the Demon Race to achieve Promotion would be far better than hunting creatures classified as Mutant Beast. Don't you agree?"

…

"I agree, but the Demon Race hasn't appeared yet!"

Wen Yu rubbed his head as he spoke softly.

Strictly speaking, Wen Yu had only encountered the Demon Race on Earth once!

That had been in the Battlefield Between Two World.

He had encountered them several times at Treasure Land sites, though…

Wait!

At that thought, Wen Yu abruptly raised his head and looked at Lin Haifeng.

Lin Haifeng merely smiled and took another sip of tea.

"You have a Treasure Land containing large numbers of the Demon Race?"

Even Li Quan'an had managed to keep a Treasure Land hidden back then. Wen Yu would never believe that the Military didn't have any Treasure Land sites reserved for its own use.

Lin Haifeng nodded, then slowly explained, "We control many Treasure Land sites. They open and close all the time, and the Military has consistently kept around one hundred of them under its control."

"Most can only be used once and cease to exist after all the treasures inside have been claimed. A small number are challenge-type Treasure Land sites open to most people with Class Holder status."

"But some time ago, the Military discovered a Super Treasure Land! This Treasure Land is rather unusual. Would you like to take a look?"

Wen Yu nodded without hesitation.

There was no way he could pass up something like this.

Seeing Wen Yu's response, Lin Haifeng smiled and nodded.

"In that case, I'd say there's a very good chance our deal is already settled."