Edited by Aelryinth

“Let’s go. This should be it for today.” Zhao Wu finally showed a relaxed smile when he saw the young men and women turning back in the direction of the camp. He waved at Qian Chunhe and the others at his side and followed behind the group of students, returning leisurely.

Truthfully speaking, as experienced high-tier beastmasters, they were well aware the nights in the beast world were much more dangerous than the days. If those youths didn’t know their limits and continued moving forward, they’d have gone up to them as guards from the military to persuade them to return.

To ensure none of the students let their excitement get to their heads and continued going deeper into the beast world, the patrolling staff would remind the students at a certain time. The school had warned the students about this before, too.

As such, even if they really appeared in front of Huang Tielan, Zhao Wu and the others weren’t too worried their Young Miss would recognize them. Although she probably had seen them before, it was probably impossible for her to clearly remember their faces. After all, they weren’t the only high-tier beastmasters who had appeared in front of the Huang family’s important figures as guards; there were many more others!

It could be said that out of the entire battalion, Huang Tielan was only familiar with Liu Gang’s three man squad due to their special circumstances. She really didn’t have much of an impression of the others.

——

Three human silhouettes appeared on top of a hill several kilometers away from Huang Tielan’s group without anyone realizing.

Those three were the men in charge of the Freemasons’ Bei Du branch.

The man with a wide forehead watched for a long time, a dark light in his eyes, then said, “Our target is confirmed. How are the preparations going? Are they at their positions?”

His tone was dry and firm, without any emotions. His two subordinates couldn’t tell what he was thinking, and usually acted respectfully, not daring to go against him in the slightest.

At the branch president’s questions, the two expert mid-tier beastmasters both lowered their heads slightly. The man on the left bowed and said, “Reporting to branch president! All teams are in position, awaiting your command. We can launch the swiftest and fiercest assault on those demons’ dogs at your command; we’ll surely take down our target before the guards can react.”

While answering, the beastmaster were getting excited inside. -Us Freemasons are really a conscientious organization. We are ready to sacrifice ourselves, all in order to kill these demon spies that have infiltrated our human world. In the future, our names will surely be inscribed on a monument!-

He had no idea his mind had long been influenced. He was no longer a normal person, and it wasn’t only him. All the important figures of the Freemasons in every branch had been brainwashed by the branch presidents using the demonic method He Luotu had taught them. All they had left were only fanatical followers and blind worship for the Freemasons.

Let alone lying to the members of the Freemasons with the excuse of killing the demons’ spies, many would volunteer themselves without hesitation even if they were directly ordered to become suicide bombers!

The wide forehead man nodded slowly once more and said softly, “Very good. You two go prepare yourselves. After the other teams move out, we’ll make our moves immediately to take out the most important target on this mission in the shortest time possible and complete the task the President gave us. We’ll offer everything we have to ensure humanity’s safety.”

While speaking, a fluctuation in emotion was visible for the first time in the eyes of the man with a wide forehead.

It was a type of morbid frenzy, the kind of firm resolution that disregarded his own safety. From the moment he received this mission, he had completely put his life outside of consideration. Everything was worth it as long as he completed the mission the President gave him!

His two subordinates were fanatical and answered excitedly in low voices, “Yes, Branch President. This subordinate will surely give his all! We won’t rest until we bring down our target!”

The wide forehead man shifted his gaze toward Zhao Wu’s group, who was in another direction. He whispered, “If my senses are right, those people are certainly experts among high-tier beastmasters. They’re obviously deceived by the demonic spies as well, and have become their lackeys. Killing our target this time isn’t as easy as we have imagined. I’ll do my best to hold them back; you two go bring down our target at the fastest speed!

“As long as we can kill our main target, our mission is considered to be accomplished. Understand?”

“Rest assured, branch president. This subordinate understands!” the two answered respectfully.

The wide forehead man only cast a quick glance at Zhao Wu’s squad before shifting his gaze away. Expert high-tier beastmasters were able to sense the gazes of others to a certain extent.

If they were stared at with ill intentions for long, they’d definitely notice it. At that time, Zhao Wu’s squad might discover the anomaly and raise their wariness, leaving the Freemasons unable to complete their mission.

——

It was getting later and later. Most of the students started turning back to the camp. At the same time, the guards from both the military and the university had relaxed to a certain extent.

In the bushes of this vast area, groups of beastmasters moved quickly between concealed areas and approached their targets.

The students who were targeted were from faculties that supported the beastmaster profession. Their strengths were on the lower end across the board. As long as they could get close to them, the elite teams that snuck in would be able to silence them quickly.

Alas, no one discovered the anomalies in those concealed areas. The danger was gradually approaching the young students!

—

Far away, Zhang Che suddenly frowned as he was playing chess with the elemental queen and stopped. Just moments before, the Purple Jade Condor suddenly sent him news saying that the beastmaster groups it saw below earlier were making strange movements, and were approaching the scattered Bei Du University freshmen groups. Three beastmasters who were hiding especially well were quickly closing in on Huang Tielan!

“Damn it, the evil cult!” Zhang Che thought of the possibility almost instantly. He Summoned the Darkfiend Abyssal Dragon out with a wave of his hand and quickly rode the wind, directly surpassing Mach 1 and rushed towards Huang Tielan’s location.

At that moment, killing intent surged inside Zhang Che. Those people from the evil cult actually dared target the students! Those three in particular even tried to target Huang Tielan; did they really think Zhang Che wouldn’t take revenge against them!?

At the same time, Zhang Che ordered the Purple Jade Condor from afar, telling it to descend and fly to where Huang Tielan was to protect her.

It was a legend-quality subdued beast, after all. Even if couldn’t win against the oncoming evil cult beastmasters, it could help Huang Tielan to escape at the crucial moment, delaying them until Zhang Che arrived.

As for the others, their fate depended on their luck. Of course it was ideal if Zhang Che could save them. He couldn’t help it otherwise.

However, given Zhao Wu’s squad’s rich experiences, when they saw the Purple Jade Condor descending, surely they’d react to the situation and notify the school and the military and take the appropriate defensive measures, right?

Zhang Che sighed inside. That was all he could hope for.

However, even if Zhao Wu’s squad realized the situation, it’d probably be too late to notify the others already. Hopefully the university and military staff were more cautious and realized the evil cult beastmasters’ ill intentions and try to protect more students.

——

Huang Tielan’s and Jiang Chao’s group were slowly returning the way they came from. A black silhouette suddenly dove down from the skies, drawing Zhao Wu’s squad’s attention first.

When they saw the silhouette clearly, their faces immediately changed.

“Not good! Zhao-shao must have discovered some danger! Quickly move forward and protect Young Miss!” Zhao Wu cried out loud, his eyes red. He Summoned out a mount first and directly rushed towards Huang Tielan, who was hundreds of meters away.

Qian Chunhe and the others also immediately grew anxious and followed closely behind. Even so, their reactions were just one beat too slow.

The three evil cult beastmasters had advanced to about two hundred meters away from Huang Tielan’s group, concealed in the woods. They also noticed the Purple Jade Condor diving down from the skies, and understood their tracks had been discovered.

“For humanity! Kill the demonic spies!” the wide forehead man shouted in a low voice, his eyes completely red. He directly Summoned out several subdued beasts and charged Zhao Wu’s squad.

There were three powerful high-tier legend-quality subdued beasts among the multitude of beasts Summoned. A heavy pressure spread out in all directions the moment they appeared, immediately stalling the subdued beasts Zhao Wu’s squad Summoned.

The wide forehead man’s subdued beasts actually wasn’t in a disadvantaged position at all despite going up one against four. Instead, he was steadily holding the advantage, forcing the subdued beasts on Zhao Wu’s side back. They could only withstand the attacks, but were unable to retaliate!

The two mid-tier beastmasters, on the other hand, charged towards Huang Tielan. They actually owned legend-quality subdued beasts as well. Although there were only four of them, and were only at mid-tier, it was something Huang Tielan’s party couldn’t hope to win against!

Facing the sudden change, everyone was astonished.

Huang Tielan shouted, “Everyone gather around me. Don’t separate from the group!”

She had already seen the Purple Jade Condor diving down from the sky and knew that Zhang Che had followed her into the beast world, immediately calming down.

-That guy… he’s actually worried about me and lied, saying he had some matters to take care of. It turns out he’s actually snuck inside here to protect me.-

For some unknown reasons, Huang Tielan wasn’t afraid at all, despite facing such a dangerous situation. On the contrary, she felt a little sweet inside, even revealing a faint smile at the corners of her lips.

Fortunately everyone else was scared out of their minds and hurried to gather around her. None of them noticed her strange expression. Otherwise, they’d probably freak out at the sight, thinking how this young miss could still smile when facing such strong enemies. She must have been scared silly…

The two mid-tier beastmasters’ legend-quality subdued beasts were very fast. They instantly pounced at Huang Tielan’s group, but two of them were held down by the Purple Jade Condor midway at the risk of its life.

Even though there were only two left, it wasn’t something Huang Tielan’s group could handle.

On the other side, Zhao Wu’s squad, who was trying their best to hold off against the wide forehead man, saw the situation on Huang Tielan’s side and their eyes turned wide in anger.

Zhao Wu roared out loud, “If you dare to hurt a single hair on our Young Miss, we’ll definitely kill every last one of you!”

At the same time, Zhao Wu ignored the high-tier beastmaster’s powerful legend-quality subdued beast and gave up on his defense, ordering his subdued beast to rush to the other side.

Compared to his Young Miss, his own life wasn’t as important. They would do everything necessary to protect her; even sacrificing themselves!

Even so, someone else on the other side was even faster than Zhao Wu.

Seeing the two remaining legend-quality subdued beasts pouncing at them, Jiang Chao almost cheered out loud. -Damn! A chance to make them owe me has finally come!-

Although his own subdued beasts might not be able to fend off the two powerful subdued beasts, they could delay them for a short while at the very least, right?

He only needed to hold on until Huang Tielan’s security forces arrive, then he’d have become a winner in life. Putting all else aside, as long as he made ties with the Huang family and Zhang Che, the voice of opposition in his clan would no longer be able to stop him from becoming the next clan patriarch.

Of course, Jiang Chao knew it was very dangerous. The possibility of him dying here was very real if his subdued beasts couldn’t stop the attacking beasts.

As such, while Summoning his subdued beasts to defend the oncoming attack, he shouted at the other boys at his side, “Do everything you can! I assure you your future will be bright as long as we manage to defend against this wave of attack!”

Although the other boys didn’t have legend-quality subdued beasts like Jiang Chao did, they were mid-tier beastmasters, after all. Their families wealth was still passable, and they had a few gold and dark gold-quality subdued beasts.

Of course it was impossible to hold off the attackers completely with just that bit of strength, but it shouldn’t be a problem to delay them for just a tiny bit, right?

Hearing Jiang Chao’s shout, the frightened boys finally reacted to the situation and Summoned out their respective subdued beasts one after another, charging forward.

They had also realized that as long as they withstood this wave of attacks, the Huang family’s men would quickly arrive. At that time, not only would all of them be safe, they’d gain the gratitude of the Huang family for protecting Huang Tielan!

Everyone knew how huge of a matter this was, and thus didn’t care about the survival of their subdued beasts, letting the beasts stand in the way between them and the attackers in an almost suicidal manner.

A fierce battle began at the same time on both sides. Fresh blood and limbs flew everywhere. Some subdued beasts even turned into streaks of light when they were killed.

Huang Tielan’s friends were so scared that they were squatting on the ground and huddling in a group. The girls had never experienced such a terrifying situation before. It was already commendable of them not turning limp immediately from the fear.

As for Huang Tielan, she was watching the battle on both sides, gritting her teeth, thinking anxiously, -Zhang Xiaoche, why aren’t you here yet?-

If it was during normal times, Huang Tielan would surely be angry if she learned that Zhang Che was secretly following her. But right now, she was incredibly glad that he had followed them in here. Otherwise, the consequences would be unimaginable.

“Hurry! Kill our target at all cost!” the wide forehead man yelled in a low voice as he held down Zhao Wu’s squad of four, observing the situation on the other side with his peripheral vision.

He felt a hint of a bad premonition about the Purple Jade Condor who dove down from the skies. If they didn’t kill their target immediately, this mission would most likely fail.

He couldn’t help but feel frustrated at himself for not going to take care of his target personally. His two useless subordinates should have been able to delay these high-tier beastmasters for a short while.

Of course, he was unaware that it was actually the tiny bit of survival instinct left in him that pushed him into making that decision.

After all, if he didn’t stall Zhao Wu’s squad and had chosen to go kill Huang Tielan directly, he’d surely draw the fierce retaliation of Zhao Wu and the others. At that time, whether he could retreat safely would have been a problem.

It was different now. With him stopping Zhao Wu’s squad, he could control how the battle went. Once his subordinates completed their mission to kill the target, he didn’t need to care about them and could retreat by himself.

However, this decision he had made subconsciously meant the wide foreheaded man lost his only chance of killing Huang Tielan’s group.

It was already too late by the time he realized this…