Chapter 34 Revenge Mechanism

Hearing this, everyone had no objection, only reminding Zhou Jing not to go too far. No one worried that he would run into trouble acting alone.

Zhou Jing left the group and traveled through the forest for a while, stopping in a seemingly deserted area. He scanned his surroundings and said, "Come out."

As soon as he spoke, a figure quietly emerged from behind a tree. It was Ross, walking without a sound.

Zhou Jing went up and pressed his shoulder, reading the follower's experience log. He quickly received a large amount of information.

Over the past three months, Ross had finally developed some combat skills, mastering the techniques of several weapons such as daggers and short knives, and had also learned the craft of blacksmithing.

Although all were at the beginner level, coupled with his enhanced physique, they could be put to use and counted as some combat power.

However, Zhou Jing had never told anyone about Ross's异血 (Yi Xue, strange blood) enhancement. He usually didn't reveal it, and in the eyes of others, Ross was still the same transparent figure.

Because Ross's enhancement direction was good at stealth, acting silently in the forest, Zhou Jing had Ross operate around the periphery of the subjugation team, secretly searching for targets without the others knowing. Now, he had found something.

The images of the follower's observations showed that Ross had discovered a band of Di Gu Ren (Earth Bone People) raiders roaming the forest, but they hadn't noticed him, so he quietly retreated and returned to report.

Zhou Jing looked at Ross, somewhat speechless.

"You found their raiding party, why didn't you follow them to find the location of their lair You came back to report now, by the time we find it, their raiding party will have already left, right?"

Ross:

"... Okay, my bad, I didn't explain it clearly to you."

Zhou Jing rubbed his forehead.

Although he had some combat power, this follower was still as stupid as ever. He couldn't handle slightly more complex orders, let alone adapt to changes. He was just rigid.

Zhou Jing shook his head and gave a new instruction:

"Go back to where you found the Earth Bone People and lie in wait. Try not to be seen, and wait for me to find you."

With the location in his mind, Ross was well-suited to be a waypoint marker. It was because of this ability that he felt Ross could be used as a scout or guide, bringing him along to subjugate the Earth Bone People.

Hearing this, Ross turned and left without saying a word, quickly disappearing into the forest.

Zhou Jing wandered around the area before returning to the team.

"Did you find anything?" Balon looked over.

"Not yet," Zhou Jing shook his head.

The others didn't mind, and after searching the vicinity, they continued on their way.

Although Zhou Jing didn't say it directly, he secretly led the way, repeatedly suggesting that the team change their direction of travel, heading secretly towards Ross's location.

The others had no objection to Zhou Jing's proposal. Anyway, there were no clues, so it didn't matter which way they went.

Before long, they arrived near Ross's location and finally found traces left by the Earth Bone People raiding party in the forest. Everyone was delighted.

Before them was a chaotic mess of footprints, indicating a considerable number of people, extending deep into the forest.

Balon squatted down and pinched a bit of the soil on a footprint with his fingers, pleasantly surprised.

"The footprints are still relatively fresh, it seems the Earth Bone People raiding party passed through here not long ago."

Weiss perked up. "What do you say, do we follow behind, or do we grab a few alive to lead the way?"

Balon pondered for a moment, then turned to look at Zhou Jing. "What do you think?"

"Go straight in and grab someone."

Zhou Jing didn't hesitate.

There were a lot of them, and they didn't have Ross's enhancements. Following behind would make it easier to be discovered.

Besides, his projection time was limited. He should save what he could.

Hearing this, Balon had no objection. He waved his hand and led the team along the footprints.

...

The team ran forward, the footprints left by the Earth Bone People growing fresher.

Soon, the figures of the Earth Bone People vaguely appeared in the forest ahead, about several dozen people.

The Earth Bone People raiders also heard the movement behind them, gave an emergency whistle, and looked back. As soon as they saw the subjugation team, they chattered and shouted, drawing their bows and shooting without a word.

A rain of arrows flew toward them!

"Kill!"

Enemies meeting were especially filled with hatred. Balon roared and raised his battle-axe in front of him, charging out like a raging bull.

Arrows struck the axe-head with clanging sounds, scattering in all directions.

Zhou Jing kicked off with both legs and charged out like a leopard, quickly drawing the twin blades from his waist. His eyes moved quickly, locking onto the arrows that posed a threat, skillfully deflecting them all in mid-air. Not a single arrow hit him.

His current physique and swordsmanship were enough to cooperate with his battle intuition to block all the arrows.

Clang, clang, clang—

The dancing blade-light was like a barrier, impenetrable to the rain of arrows.

He charged forward, rapidly closing the distance. The frightened expressions of the Earth Bone People grew larger in his vision.

Dragging his twin blades, Zhou Jing plunged into the Earth Bone People.

Swish, swish, swish—

Blade-light scattered, like a whirlwind.

Instantly, a storm of severed limbs and broken arms was stirred up!

Zhou Jing moved quickly, weaving through the crowd like a phantom. The Earth Bone People's hasty attacks posed no threat to him. In his eyes, they were as slow as snails.

The twin blades were precise and cold, barely needing to block. He directly struck before the Earth Bone People, cutting open their necks, arms, or waists the moment they adopted an attack posture.

Swish, swish, swish—

Wherever the blade-light passed, the Earth Bone People fell like grass.

Occasionally, weapons clashed. Zhou Jing's twin blades, filled with immense power, directly shattered the Earth Bone People's weapons.

Three months had passed, and the hunter workshop had finally finished making the equipment. The twin blades Zhou Jing was using now were made by specially processing the claws of the裂爪熊 (Lie Zhao Xiong, Claw-Rending Bear) and fusing them with metal, making them more durable than ordinary standard weapons, not to mention the Earth Bone People's crudely made equipment.

The bear-skin armor with a fur collar inherited the characteristics of the Claw-Rending Bear. Ordinary chops and thrusts were difficult to penetrate, providing superior defensive performance.

Zhou Jing stirred up a storm in the Earth Bone People, killing to his heart's content, disrupting their formation.

He casually cut off the throat of one of the Earth Bone People with a blade. At that moment, the panel suddenly flashed.

[“Willwood” (Star Realm Apostle Number 001) the instigator of death has been caught and killed]

[Revenge completed]

[The evaluation of this Star Realm Apostle's life has been slightly improved]

[Can inherit one of "Willwood"'s abilities for free... Testing results, there are currently no uninherited abilities]

[Achievement {Avenged} triggered!]

[Milestone {Avenger} progress: 1/5]

"Huh?" Zhou Jing was slightly stunned.

This item could not be found in the "Avenged" achievement list. It seemed to be a hidden achievement, which he triggered for the first time.

In that case, the Earth Bone Man he had just conveniently killed was the direct murderer who killed "Willwood."

It seems that there are special rewards for avenging the previous Star Realm Apostle...

Whoosh!

At that moment, a bone spear pierced toward him.

Zhou Jing quickly regained his senses. His left blade flicked and cut off the enemy's arm holding the spear, then his right blade thrust forward, piercing into the enemy's eye socket and straight through the back of his head.

Using this enemy's body as a weapon, he swung it forcefully to the side, smashing down an Earth Bone Man who had approached, scattering the lifted skull and a mix of red and white brains on the ground.

Zhou Jing steadied himself, not continuing to be distracted by checking the panel, concentrating on solving the enemies in front of him. At this time, Balon and the others had also charged in together.

With just Zhou Jing alone, the Earth Bone People raiding party couldn't stop them. Now that Balon, Weiss, and the others had joined the battlefield, they instantly crushed this Earth Bone People raiding party.

Ten soldiers from White Plains City formed a simple battle formation, advancing and retreating in an orderly manner. Although they weren't as overwhelming as the three alien beast hunters, they were also steady and methodical, killing all the approaching Earth Bone People like a meat grinder.

In just a few minutes, the battle was over, and dozens of Earth Bone People raiders lay on the ground.

Only a few Earth Bone People remained intact, tied together by the others, their faces full of fear, chattering and shouting.

Balon looked at the corpses all over the ground, feeling as if he had vented some anger. He turned to Griff and said, "Go interrogate these survivors, and have them take us to the lair."

Griff nodded in agreement. Although they didn't speak the same language, they had dealt with the Earth Bone People before, and sign language was enough to communicate. Besides, speaking with a knife would ensure the Earth Bone People understood the meaning.

The hunters of Frostwood Village would not be soft-hearted towards the Earth Bone People. How else could they face their dead companions?

Zhou Jing didn't participate in the interrogation, but instead wiped his long blade to the side, shaking his head in secret.

He used to think that the Earth Bone People were quite troublesome, but now it was effortless to deal with them. He might even be able to clear them solo. It was completely one-sided.

Although crushing the weak was quite enjoyable, Zhou Jing didn't feel any excitement in his heart.

Although he was gradually getting used to killing, he didn't have much interest in it. What he liked was still a back-and-forth battle, a tense and exciting fight with strong enemies, which would make him excited.

"Crushing the weak isn't interesting... Looks like I have a bit of the狂战士 (Kuang Zhan Shi, Berserker) gene."

Zhou Jing clicked his tongue and opened the panel to carefully ponder the things he had triggered earlier.

After tinkering for a while, he confirmed that there was a "Revenge Mechanism" in the Star Realm Apostle.

When a Star Realm Apostle died due to human intervention, and he used a subsequent Star Realm Apostle to avenge them by killing the murderer, this mechanism would be triggered, and he would receive a special reward.

First, he could improve the current Star Realm Apostle's life settlement evaluation, including both death settlement and pass settlement.

Second, he could obtain a new "free inheritance slot" like a death settlement, obtaining a certain ability of the dead Star Realm Apostle.

Because "Willwood"'s abilities had all been inherited by the current "Jason Wood," this time it had no effect.

The third was triggering a special achievement. {Avenged} was a repeatable achievement, which could be triggered each time he avenged a certain Star Realm Apostle.

The reward was uncertain, and the amount of the reward would vary depending on the strength of the dead Star Realm Apostle and the strength of the murderer.

And this time the triggered {Avenged} only gave 500 Star Realm Points, which was not much, probably because "Willwood" had no extraordinary power, and the enemy was just an ordinary Earth Bone Man.

In addition, each time he completed {Avenged}, he would accumulate the progress of the milestone {Avenger}. Once he completed it five times, this milestone would be triggered.

Zhou Jing also triggered a milestone for the first time. This thing was a special type of achievement, which required repeated completion of related behaviors to be truly triggered. The rewards were generally richer than ordinary achievements.

"In that case, if every Star Realm Apostle dies unexpectedly, then this achievement can be triggered quickly..."

Zhou Jing pondered for a while, then shook his head and laughed.

He thought about it, but he had no intention of deliberately seeking death. He felt that the time cost was not worthwhile.

He was not being modest. He always felt that he would have many chances to die in the future.

"No need to force it, just accumulate it slowly."

Zhou Jing shook his head.

At this time, the interrogation of the Earth Bone People was over. They killed two more survivors, finally causing the remaining Earth Bone People who feared death to learn to cooperate.

"Let's go." Balon called out to Zhou Jing.

Hearing this, Zhou Jing put away his long blade and followed.

...

Following the Earth Bone People who were leading the way, the group carefully crept forward.

They would not completely trust the enemy, and kept an eye out, lest they be led into some kind of trap.

They continued until the red glow filled the sky before the subjugation team finally arrived at the entrance of the Earth Bone People's lair.

This was a cave hidden behind vines, which was very deceptive. If you didn't look carefully, it would be easy to overlook.

The others hid in the forest not far away, concealing their figures, and peered at the cave from afar.

They had already searched the surrounding area and silently eliminated several Earth Bone People outposts near the entrance of the lair.

Balon pulled back, stroking his beard and pondering, "We don't know how many people or traps there are in the Earth Bone People's lair. If we rush in rashly, we might encounter danger."

"Makes sense," Weiss nodded, "Then you lead the way."

Everyone silently turned to look at him.

"What are you looking at I'm just here to help. You wouldn't want me to be the first one to rush in, would you?"

On the other side, Griff thought for a moment and suggested, "Why don't we set a fire and force the Earth Bone People out?"

"That's a good idea," Balon nodded.

Soon, they prepared a large pile of firewood and began to set the cave on fire.

Zhou Jing had no objection, and did not intend to preach to the others about protecting the environment and preventing wildfires.

Flames lit up in the cave, and there was a burst of commotion inside.

Soon, a mass of Earth Bone People surged out, roughly no less than a hundred people, tall, short, fat, and thin, all armed with weapons.

The others hiding around were about to make a move.

"Roar!"

At that moment, a roar of an alien beast suddenly came from the cave.