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[Blue Star Calendar, September 9, 2010]
[Friday, Gregorian Calendar]
[Lunar Calendar: Gengyin Year, Seventh Month, Twenty-Fifth Day. Suitable for removing obstacles, raising beams, breaking ground, and travel. Avoid burial.]
Today was a good day to go out and hunt gods.
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Since he happened to be free, Qin Siyang naturally wouldn't miss the chance.
As soon as they heard Qin Siyang was leaving the safe zone, Hu Chan and the other three all agreed immediately.
Even when Qin Siyang said they would split the fuel costs, the three people other than Hu Chan accepted without hesitation.
Compared to the gains from hunting gods, this amount of Sequence potion consumption could be treated as a necessary investment.
When Hu Chan learned he didn't have to share the fuel costs, he immediately raised his chin toward Chu Baxing.
At last, he had managed to score one back against Chu Baxing.
Qin Siyang brought Chu Baxing, Hu Chan, Gu Yunpeng, and Zhao Sifang out of the safe zone once again.
When Fu Wanli heard that the big brothers were going outside the safe zone to hunt gods, he originally begged Qin Siyang to let him come along and see it for himself.
But when he heard that the hunting location was fifty kilometers outside the safe zone, he immediately declared that staying alive was more important. He would first train in the God Arena and accompany the big brothers on future trips instead.
Inside the drill cabin, Zhao Sifang was somewhat puzzled.
"Hasn't Fu Wanli always wanted to improve? Why isn't he willing to leave the safe zone with us?"
Gu Yunpeng replied, "Don't forget, Fu Wanli is only Sequence Level 4. At his level, even killing the weakest medium-sized gods is difficult. Ten kilometers outside the safe zone is already his limit. Asking him to go fifty kilometers out, isn't that basically asking him to die?"
"But I hadn't been this far out before either, and I still came because I feel very safe following Brother Qin..."
"Then your feeling is wrong."
Hu Chan shook his head. Seeming to recall something terrible, he shivered.
"Your Brother Qin is wild. Once you're outside the safe zone, try not to listen to him."
Then he asked Qin Siyang, "Fu Wanli has a pretty good understanding of his own abilities since he didn't come. If he followed us out today, he'd be in the ground tomorrow. Boss Qin, don't you think so?"
Qin Siyang ignored Hu Chan's teasing because Hu Chan wasn't making things up.
Even now, the experience with the Nightmare Lantern Tree still gave him chills whenever he remembered it.
Qin Siyang analyzed the situation objectively.
"Fu Wanli not coming is the normal reaction. If he heard we were leaving the safe zone and insisted on following us regardless of his own strength, I'd have to wonder whether he was a spy trying to gather information on us."
Chu Baxing questioned him, "With that brain of his, he could be a spy?"
Qin Siyang replied with a question, "Were Qin Yu and Liu Yuelan particularly smart?"
"..."
"Brother Qin makes a good point."
"Let's stop talking about him. He didn't come anyway."
Qin Siyang changed the subject, "I'll explain today's hunting rules. Small god nests belong to Hu Chan. Medium-sized gods with three stars or above belong to me. The rest are for the three of you to split."
"Okay."
After everyone agreed, Qin Siyang parked the drill cabin more than fifty kilometers away from the safe zone.
Hu Chan went out to search for gods and soon returned with information.
"There aren't any large groups of small gods nearby, only a few isolated ones. It's hard to find lone small gods here. I'm guessing they're probably medium-sized gods."
"Alright, point out the location and we'll take a look."
"Twelve o'clock direction, three kilometers."
"Sit tight. Let's go."
———
The group arrived at the destination.
After stopping, they saw a Swordback Cat.
Qin Siyang curled his lip.
"A one-star medium-sized god. Not interested. Whoever wants it can go kill it."
Seeing that nobody else intended to hunt it, Zhao Sifang said, "I think a one-star medium-sized god is perfect for me. Besides, Swordback Cats are rare. Nobody has submitted one on the school's mission board, so I can complete a mission while I'm at it. Brother Qin, let me do it."
"Alright. Stay where you are after you kill it. I'll come pick you up later."
Qin Siyang marked Zhao Sifang's location, then took the others toward the next coordinate where a god had been spotted.
This time it was a Ghost-Faced Heron circling at low altitude.
Gu Yunpeng volunteered, "President Qin, I'll take the Ghost-Face Heron. Our paper about what happens inside a Ghost-Faced Heron's stomach is almost ready for publication. I can gather some more data while I'm at it."
After speaking, he got out of the drill cabin.
Hu Chan looked at Qin Siyang curiously, "A paper? Boss Qin, what does that mean?"
Only then did Qin Siyang remember.
A long time ago, when he rescued Gu Yunpeng and Zhao Sifang from inside a Ghost-Faced Heron, he had told them about the Lizardfish living in its stomach. At the time, Gu Yunpeng had said that the research could definitely become a paper.
Unexpectedly, Qin Siyang, the person directly involved, had completely forgotten about it, while Gu Yunpeng had actually finished preparing the paper.
It looked like Gu Yunpeng had conducted the entire study by himself to avoid leaking the matter to anyone else. Since it was probably his first time writing a paper, he likely ran into many obstacles while figuring things out on his own and spent a lot of effort on it, which was why it was only being published now.
Qin Siyang felt a little emotional.
Although Gu Yunpeng looked like a pretty face with little substance, he could at least be considered an honorable man who did what he said he would do.
After that, Qin Siyang encountered two two-star medium-sized gods in a row.
Like the Swordback Cat earlier, these two medium-sized gods were relatively rare, and nobody had submitted them to the mission board in the school hall yet.
Chu Baxing and Hu Chan felt that since they had nothing else to do, they might as well complete some school point missions.
After Hu Chan pointed out the locations of the last two gods, he also left the drill cabin.
Qin Siyang drove onward alone to the next coordinate.
It was the very common medium-sized god Vegetable-Feather Frog. On the mission board, it was listed as one star and had already been submitted by students long ago.
Qin Siyang kicked the Vegetable-Feather Frog to death and tossed it into his storage box.
Very dissatisfied, he thought, "Wasn't today supposed to be suitable for travel? Why doesn't it seem to be going very smoothly?"
Still trusting the Lunar Calendar, Qin Siyang headed toward the location of the last god that Hu Chan had discovered.
The god was hiding inside a huge underground cave.
Only after drilling into it with the drill cabin could Qin Siyang clearly see what it was.
Although the cave was dark, the drill cabin's headlight was extremely bright and illuminated the entire cavern.
A massive head appeared before Qin Siyang.
At the same time, a sharp smell of decay made him want to vomit.
He quickly pinched his nose, put on his armor, and stepped out of the drill cabin.
Looking at the god before him, a memory long buried in dust suddenly resurfaced.
After thinking for a moment, he smiled, "Today really is suitable for hunting gods. If nothing unexpected happens, I should be able to finish the mission in one go and still have plenty left over."
At the thought of that, the smile on Qin Siyang's face grew even wider.
He waved at the god across from him in a friendly manner.
"Nice to see you, Nightmare Octopus."