Chapter Eighty-Two: The Great Opportunity of the Blaze

Half an hour later, the ground ahead rose abruptly, and Zhou Xiaozhou and her younger brother, Zhou Xiaolin, moved forward with careful slowness.

“Once we get over this rise, we should be able to see that hyena pack... There’s basically no one left here now. We have to be careful. If the serrated hyenas spot us, it won’t be fun at all...”

As she spoke, Zhou Xiaozhou filmed the surrounding terrain through her lens, deliberately trying to build an air of tension.

Zhou Xiaolin kept a vigilant eye on their surroundings, making sure there were no serrated hyenas nearby, and the two of them continued onward. Very soon, they crossed the rise.

The moment they did, the land ahead dropped away sharply, and the entire vista suddenly opened wide.

At a glance, they saw it: the enormous hyena pack six or seven kilometers away.

“It’s the hyena pack! Wow, so many! There have to be at least ten thousand of them! Did you all see that? Did you see it?”

Zhou Xiaozhou instantly grew excited, her voice full of astonishment.

Many people had heard of this hyena pack, but very few had ever truly seen it.

Her eyes shone. She felt this trip had already been worth it; just seeing this pack made the journey worthwhile.

There were grander scenes on Station Q, and many that were far more spectacular than ten thousand serrated hyenas... but this was the first time she herself had ever filmed such a massive spectacle, so of course she was thrilled.

Besides, the Thousand Ghost Wasteland still had very strong popularity among those at bronze rank, though many chose to stay on the outskirts for safety’s sake, and few ever ventured deep inside.

“Hitting over ten thousand views will definitely not be a problem!”

Zhou Xiaozhou thought excitedly, a trace of satisfaction rising in her heart.

She was not greedy; it would be enough if she could simply surpass her own previous record.

But very soon, she came back to herself and remembered the purpose of this trip.

“Still, from what we can see now, the serrated hyena pack doesn’t seem to have changed much... So what caused the sudden sharp drop in the number of serrated hyenas on the outskirts?”

Her voice held a note of doubt as she moved the camera around, searching in all directions.

And just then...

“Sis, sis, look, look! Over there, over there!”

Zhou Xiaolin’s hushed cry rang out, as if he had seen something impossible...

Zhou Xiaozhou froze, then instinctively followed the direction he pointed.

In the next instant, her eyes flew wide open, and astonishment flooded her face...

...

By now, Fang Mu had been staying in the Thousand Ghost Wasteland for nearly a month.

To be honest... he felt his progress over that month had been tremendous.

So tremendous that it had utterly surpassed his expectations.

At first, he had been flustered even facing a single serrated hyena, and had even been wounded. But later, he was able to face two at once, then three...

One had to know that every additional foe in a simultaneous battle multiplied the pressure severalfold.

An attack that you could avoid with a single backstep before might, when surrounded by two or even three enemies, turn your backstep from an evasion into a suicide move.

There is an old saying: two fists cannot beat four hands, and even fierce tigers fear packs of wolves.

A duel and a brawl are two entirely different things.

Much less when fighting serrated hyenas, creatures of war whose speed and strength were both terrifying beyond measure.

This was a true battle to the death; one careless moment, and life and death were irrevocably severed.

For this entire month, every day Fang Mu had spent immersed in such ferocious combat, every second fully focused, adrenaline surging wildly... because every second truly was a dance with death, leaving no room for even the slightest distraction.

His progress had been immense.

And yet...

He still had not advanced.

Adrenaline surged wildly; his gene primal energy boiled...

But Fang Mu could feel that he was still missing that final, decisive step.

Just that tiny bit, as though a mere touch would let him break through...

It seemed so effortless.

And yet, precisely because of that infinitesimal gap, he remained deadlocked, unable to advance no matter what...

Still, Fang Mu was not anxious. He had a feeling that if he kept at it, it would not be long before he broke through.

Today, Fang Mu drew the attention of four serrated hyenas at once and fought them.

He had already grown accustomed to battling four serrated hyenas simultaneously.

But as the fight dragged on, Fang Mu felt his gene primal energy begin to boil in a state he had never experienced before.

It was an unprecedented sensation, far stronger than the first time it had ever surged.

This caused Fang Mu’s eyes to light up at once, as if struck by sudden inspiration.

Could he be about to break through?

So this battle continued for a very long time. The four serrated hyenas kept lunging to kill, while Fang Mu, with adrenaline raging through him, twisted and darted among them, feeling the ceaseless tide of life-and-death danger as his mind entered a state of unprecedented lucidity.

But after more than ten minutes, he still felt he was only a hair’s breadth away...

Fang Mu realized it.

The pressure was still not enough.

He needed even greater pressure.

So, amid the battle, he gritted his teeth and made a mad decision...

His gaze fell upon a serrated hyena several hundred meters away.

Then, at the very moment his body leapt aside in evasion, he suddenly raised the pistol in his hand...

In an instant, he outlined the elements of the shot in his mind. The next second, he squeezed the trigger.

Bang!!!

The gunshot rang out. One second later, the distant serrated hyena shuddered slightly all over, then its eyes suddenly turned blood-red as it looked toward Fang Mu several hundred meters away.

In the next instant, it surged forward on all fours, charging straight at him.

Five!

Five serrated hyenas attacking together!

This was the first time Fang Mu had tried facing five at once. His mental focus condensed to an unprecedented degree, his adrenaline surged violently, and the boiling energy within him became even more ferocious.

It was coming.

His eyes shone to the utmost.

Almost instinctively, his mind began mapping out the attack routes and speeds of each serrated hyena, and every step he took was precise to the extreme, like a supreme dancer performing upon a wire...

Waiting for the final breakthrough!

...

...

When Zhou Xiaozhou’s eyes fell on the direction Zhou Xiaolin pointed to, she saw...

At a place far from the hyena pack, a fierce battle was unfolding.

If it were merely an ordinary fight, it would hardly be worth mentioning. But the key was that the combatant... was only one person...

A lone figure shrouded in black from head to toe.

And around him, no fewer than four serrated hyenas were frenziedly trying to tear him apart!

One man, fighting four serrated hyenas alone?

A silver-rank powerhouse?

Or a gold-rank evolver?

Zhou Xiaozhou and Zhou Xiaolin almost instinctively made their guesses.

But before they could even recover, a faint gunshot suddenly drifted over from that direction...

It sent a shiver through both of them, and in the next moment, they both stared wide-eyed.

“A gun? A pistol? He is... a gun duelist?!”

The instant that realization surfaced in her mind, Zhou Xiaozhou’s whole body trembled as if struck by electricity.

And when she saw the fifth serrated hyena charge toward that figure from afar, Zhou Xiaozhou came to her senses.

“Fil, film it!!! Film it!!! Don’t miss even a second!!!”

Her face flushed red with excitement as she shrieked.

She realized that an opportunity... one that might make her explosively famous... had appeared!