Mutant Beasts? The Internal Intrigue!

With Heiyu clearing the way and level-3 long-range superfunction possessors barraging the zombies, the highway from Lingjiang to the provincial capital was soon unblocked. Around 7 o'clock before dark, the trucks did manage to make it to the beltway. A group of people were sent to clear an uninhabited village for the expedition to rest for the night. Having consumed too much of their energy, those level-3 superfunction possessors were burned out. They fell asleep right after finishing off their field rations. Level-2 superfunction possessors were on the watch at night in shifts as they didn't really do anything in the afternoon.

"What?"

Superfunction possessors had robust bodies than common people, generally, a 2 or 3-hour sleep would be enough. And if they had to, they would stay awake for days without sleeping. Xing Feng saw Yun Che walk out of the room with the knackered Heiyu in his arms, he followed him after a quick word with Yu Wenqing. The look on Yun Che's face was somehow odd to Xing Feng.

"The village feels strange. I can see blue dots on the air panel."

Standing in the middle of the village, Yun Che stared into the deeper and darker part of the village under the moon. Regarding the colors on the air panel, it had been confirmed that red meant zombie, orange meant zombie animal, green meant superfunction possessor, brown meant mutant plant, purple meant human. But what about blue? Mutant beast? "If they are…" Yun Che took another look at the dense blue dots on the air panel. "Then why haven't they attacked us?"

"There are a lot of them?"

Yun Che wouldn't wear a terrible look on the face if there was only one or two. Xing Feng tensed up as well. The village was at the foot of a mountain, if they were indeed mutant beasts, they must be large animals. Even before the mutation, large animals were fiercer than humans. What if their levels were high? They would take a heavy toll on the troops.

"Yes, at least 2 dozens. And this is the number in my perceptual range. There may be more."

Yun Che nodded. He was capable of detecting creatures within a radius of 300 meters and it couldn't even cover the whole village, much less the mountain over there where tons of wild animals resided.

"Are they moving?"

If there were indeed so many of them, Mo Wenyang must be informed at once.

"No, they stay put. Not moving forward, not moving back."

This was what confused Yun Chen. Mutant beasts weren't like zombie animals, in some sense, they, too, were superfunction possessors. For instance, monkeys, a kind of intellectual primate, would gain extra wit after the mutation. Why would they stay put if they knew there were humans in the village?

"Duh! Because I'm here, they are too afraid to move!"

Heiyu, our sleepy god beast, chimed in. It did seem to be a plausible explanation but…

"You aren't a creature of this world, are you? Would they be afraid of you?"

This was new. But if it was the case, then they had nothing to worry about. What's more…

"It has nothing to do with 'Whether I'm a creature of this world or not', we're beasts! I'm a god beast, their fear for me is in their blood. Do you know why those animals in Space don't have the balls to hog the crops you grow or steal the supplies you keep? That's because I've left my scent around your turf. They would stay the hell away as soon as they sniff it."

He was right, they were all animals at the end of the day. Remember? Heiyu wasn't even a creature in Space at first, and yet, he still became the boss of Space.

"So they won't attack us as long as you're here, right?"

Yun Che couldn't be bothered to know how he left his scent because this was Heiyu, and Heiyu would always do things in a nasty fashion. Yun Che decided to focus on the real problem that they were facing at the moment.

"Smartass, get me back in Space for recovery! There's no spiritual energy out here whatsoever! I think I'll still be this tired next morning, so you handle the mutant beasts on your own."

If Heiyu was able to roll his eyes, he would done it. All his master did was exploit him, the master showed no humanity or mercy after everything he just did this afternoon.

"Hey, come on, bro. How about you sleep in the day time?"

They would enter the urban area tomorrow morning, so it was probably fine without Heiyu during the day time. But tonight, he was needed, or else there were bound to be casualties.

"You're unbelievable! I've never met a master like you! No way, I'm going back to Space."

The unbelievable called others unbelievable? Funny. But there was nothing Yun Che could do about him. He took a few steps forward and got ready to send him back to Space in a dark corner. "How long do you need?"

"A couple of hours will do. Remember to get me out when I'm ready."

"Got it."

Xing Feng shook his head as the man and the beast talked in a dark corner. When Yun Che came back, they went back to their room and woke Ye Xingchen up, Jiang Shang followed as well. The four of them went to the house that the three major generals stayed in.

"What?!"

Mo Wenyang and the other two major generals opened up their eyes as soon as they heard there might be mutant beasts in the village. Their plan was to get some proper rest tonight and enter the provincial capital tomorrow morning with full spirits. Stumbling into the mutant beasts really had screwed up the plan.

"The number isn't small. At least 2 dozens out there. Should be a kind of social animal."

Ignoring the shocked look on their faces, Yun Che composedly sat in a chair. He lit up a cigarette for himself, Xing Feng, too, grabbed one of the cigarettes that Yun Che had thrown on the table and lit it up for himself. Ye Xingchen wasn't a smoker because he used to an actor and actors were supposed to maintain a beautiful voice. Jiang Shang had always been a good boy who never smoked, though he was really tough in battles.

"Damn!"

Mo Wenyang spat out a curse, he then regained his composure and said in a low voice, "Gather 100 superfunction possessors, we'll venture deeper into the village."

There were mutant beasts out there, they couldn't pretend they didn't exist even though the beasts weren't doing anything at the moment. If the beasts scattered and infiltrated the village, they would be tough to deal with one-on-one.

"Wait."

Right before Mo Wenyang's deputies stepped out of the room, the major generals of Wang and Wei Army both called them to stop. Everybody's attention was drawn to them. Major General Qian of Wang Army gazed at Yun Che with his sharp eyes and asked, "Your pet can deal with the mutant beasts, right?"

"Major General Qian, is it?"

After blowing the smoke into Major General Qian's face, the placidity on Yun Che's face vanished. "Do you think my pet's a machine? He cleared the goddamn highway this afternoon on his own! Even if he was a machine, he would need to be refueled and unplugged for a break, wouldn't he? I can't believe I just heard the shit from a major general in the army! You know what? How about you order your men to clear the beltway tomorrow morning? Won't they ever get tired?"

"Is this bastard trying to boss me around?" Did the major general think Yun Che would ever take any order from him? If Yun Che was pissed, he had hundreds of ways to keep him here and end his career.

No one expected Yun Che's outburst of anger. Major General Qian, the one who got roared at, was livid. Apparently, he, too, was mad but he couldn't find the right words to talk Yun Che back. Major General Zeng of Wei Army, who made the sound with him, however, shrunk back. Mo Wenyang took a scornful glance at them. "Qian, Zeng, we need to be appreciative. Heiyu is just a mutant beast no matter how strong he is. Look, if it wasn't for him, we would still be trudging on the highway in Lingjiang."

"Do they take others for fools? Do they honestly believe they wouldn't be seen through?" Their wishful thinking was, let the mutant beasts kill Yun Che's mighty pet because Heiyu had really messed up their plan of keeping the march slow out here. "Do they think there would be no casualty tonight without Heiyu? Are the lives of soldiers or superfunction possessors worth nothing?"

"Sorry. It was inconsiderate of me."

Yun Che's infuriation and bluntness caught everyone off guard. Major General Qian had no choice but to hold in his anger.

"Inconsiderate? Do you think you're smart or I'm stupid? Go outside and have a look, which level-3 superfunction possessor that fought this afternoon isn't tried? And think about how much Heiyu did? Even soldiers know they must recharge their energy for the next battle while you, a major general, is that inconsiderate to overlook such a basic point? I think you should just quit and let someone else do your job."

Yun Che stubbed out the cigarette, walked up to Major General Qian, and taunted him right in the face. The harmony had been broken anyway, Yun Che wouldn't mind making it uglier.

"You… Captain Yun, I admit it was a reckless thing for me to say but you can give me a break, can't you?"

The outraged major general clenched his fists and scowled at Yun Che. "I didn't speak out my true intention. What can you do about me, huh? You're just a captain of a superfunction squad." He thought to himself.

"I'm a nice guy, for the most part, but if someone dares to provoke me or tries to scheme against my people or my stuff, I'll become narrow-minded and vengeful. And any dissuasion would be pointless. Inconsiderate, you said, huh? Well, I'll take your word for it then, Major General Qian. But I do hope you won't be like this again, otherwise, I'd be inconsiderate as well. I'm not sure if you can handle the mess I make by then."

When straightening up Major General Qian's collar for him, Yun Che said in a kind tone of voice. He sounded calm and harmless but you didn't need to be very smart to tell that Yun Che was actually threatening the man. Obviously, no one in this room was stupid, they were all aware of what was lying beneath Yun Che's gentle tone.

"Are you threatening me?"

Major General Qian menacingly narrowed his eyes at Yun Che who was 5 inches shorter than him.

"Am I? You're too sensitive, Major General Qian."

Yun Che shrugged, turned around and went back to Xing Feng. Major General Qian's mean, blazing eyes gazed at Yun Che until they met Xing Feng's sharp eyes. Major General Qian cringed and looked away. Yun Che leaned effeminately on Xing Feng as if nothing happened. Ye Xingchen sitting behind them looked down and his lips curved into a sneer. He knew Yun Che well. Major General Qian's impending doom was ahead of him but the man wasn't aware at all, the idiot might still be plotting against Yun Che right now.

"I have given my order, haven't I? Do you want to be the mutant beasts' dinner?"

Mo Wenyang caught the right timing and broke the silence. Then his deputies, the other two major generals and their men all left. Before Major General Qian stepped out of the room, he took another look at Yun Che. The look conveyed an explicit message.

"Want to kill me?"

Yun Che slightly raised his eyebrows, the tension thawed out as a smile appeared on his face. He stood up, stretched himself, covered his people with a thin layer of air membrane. "I don't believe in 'revenge is a dish best served cold' unless I must. It tastes the best when it's hot, don't you think, Major General Mo?

The man who tried to get Heiyu killed and had grown a murderous intent against Yun Che was a great threat. The quest was arduous, so a threat should be taken care of sooner rather than later.

"You do live up to the nickname, home-guarding beast."

Mo Wenyang froze for a moment and muttered. He then raised his volume. "Alright, I know what to do. We'll check the mutant beasts together later."

In the doomsday, it would be easy-peasy to quietly murder someone even if the target was an important major general.

"Hehe, thanks."

Since Mo Wenyang, the commander of the company, would be there, Major General Qian would have to be there as well. And once he was there, Yun Che could make sure he never came back again. Yun Che was in a good mood as if Qian was already a dead person. Xing Feng never said a word the whole time because he knew Yun Che could get it sorted by himself. Plus, Xing Feng enjoyed watching his boy playing the opponent around.