Looking at the Fire Fox Squad leader's corpse, Shen Ping and Qin Shan stood in silence.
Although they had avenged their teammate Yu Tai's legs, they didn't feel much joy.
After all, Zheng Ji was an Advanced Warlord martial artist, and he could have killed more monsters in the Wilderness Area to protect the citizens of the Base City, but he ended up dying here because of his younger brother.
Martial artists possess strength beyond ordinary people, but if they cannot control their emotions and preferences well, they will ultimately suffer the consequences.
Before long, Zhou Qiang came down from the building roof in the distance.
He checked Zheng Ji's body and subconsciously looked at Shen Ping, realizing that such an injury definitely wasn't caused by the combat power of an Advanced Warlord.
"Qiang Zi, Zheng Ji was killed by the combined efforts of the three of us, understand?"
Zhou Qiang grinned, "Captain, I understand."
Qin Shan put his hands on Shen Ping and Zhou Qiang's shoulders, and the three of them looked at each other, all breaking into smiles.
Back in the Base City, Mu Yang, who had been waiting for news, breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his captain and the others completely unharmed.
"How did things go?"
Qin Shan casually said, "He's dead."
Mu Yang clenched his fist, said "Good," and then fell silent.
He didn't ask for specific details, but he figured that his captain and the others must have expended a lot of effort.
After resting for a night at the hotel, they gathered for lunch in a private room at the HR Alliance Mall the next day.
It was called a gathering, but it was actually a farewell party for the old team member, Yu Tai, who was retiring.
"Why are you all so glum?"
Yu Tai's injuries had stopped bleeding, and his pale face had regained some color.
He said with a laugh, "Retiring is a good thing for me.
From now on, I can be like Lao Shen, either do business or do odd jobs at the Dojo of Limits; I just can't go to the Wilderness Area anymore."
At this point, the smile on his face gradually disappeared, and he sighed, "Captain, Mu Yang, Qiang Zi, from now on, only the three of you will be left to support each other.
Don't be like me and Lao Shen.
If you get tired of it, just retire.
We've earned a lot of money over the years, enough for our future lives."
Zhou Qiang said, "When it's time to retire, I'll definitely retire.
However, Mu Yang and the captain can continue to fight, especially Mu Yang; he might even be able to establish an elite squad."
Mu Yang quickly shook his head and said, "Brother Qiang, don't tease me.
If it weren't for your guidance, how could I have grown so quickly?"
The few of them talked and drank.
After three rounds of drinks, Shen Ping asked, "Captain, what are your plans next?
An elite martial artist squad with only three people will be difficult to manage thoroughly in the Wilderness Area."
Qin Shan drank a glass of wine by himself, and seeing Mu Yang and Zhou Qiang looking at him, he slowly said, "The Raging Wind Squad should accept new members.
Let's wait until August.
We'll see if there are any suitable candidates then."
"Come, cheers."
The death rate of martial artist squads in the Wilderness Area is relatively high.
Only after a long period of mutual adjustment and tacit cooperation within the team will the chances of survival and hunting significantly increase.
Veteran elite teams like the Raging Wind Squad rarely lose members.
Now, with Shen Ping and Yu Tai successively withdrawing, they can only recruit new members.
They drank until past four in the afternoon.
Shen Ping and the others were all quite drunk and called their family members to pick them up.
When Li Yuewei picked up Shen Ping, she saw Yu Tai's legs.
Her heart tightened, and she quickly checked her husband for injuries.
Only when she saw he was unharmed did she feel relieved.
After returning to their Lishui District Villa and making hangover soup, she said earnestly, "Husband, let's not go to the Wilderness Area anymore, okay?"
Shen Ping shook his somewhat heavy head and frowned, "Wife, don't worry about this kind of thing.
Rest assured, I'll be fine."
Li Yuewei opened her mouth but didn't continue the topic.
She knew she couldn't persuade Shen Ping, and the company's development primarily relied on the God of War he had befriended in the Wilderness Area.
If this connection was severed, Pingwei Materials Company would be like duckweed floating on water.
After Shen Ping went to the bedroom to lie down, Li Yuewei sighed, "I alone can't tie down his restless heart."
…
In July, Hua Zhong Base City entered a scorching summer.
In this weather, the monsters in the Wilderness Area became restless.
Almost every three or four days, avian monsters would appear in the sky above the Base City.
And it was often during this season that most martial artists would go out hunting, because in another month or two, it would be the peak period for beast tides.
"Wife, I'm going to the Wilderness Area.
I'll be back in half a month at the shortest, or a month at the longest.
Please keep an eye on the company."
After changing into his combat uniform, Shen Ping fully armed himself and left.
His mother-in-law watched his retreating figure and couldn't help but say, "Daughter, why don't you try to persuade him?
We lack nothing at home, so why does he still go to the Wilderness Area?"
Li Yuewei didn't say anything, but she felt very helpless.
Inside the military supply base, Officer Huang of the Thunder Martial Hall tossed the key to Shen Ping and asked with a smile, "Lao Shen, are you planning to hunt intermediate beast generals or advanced beast generals this time?"
Shen Ping joked, "If it's an advanced beast general-level monster, can you handle it?"
Officer Huang's eyes widened, and he said meaningfully, "Don't say advanced; even a Lord-level I can handle."
"Haha, I don't have the ability to hunt Lord-level monsters."
Officer Huang didn't mind.
"Lao Shen, be careful when you go to the Wilderness Area.
Don't run into a rat tide."
Summer was indeed the peak season for rat tides, especially around the rainy season.
Large numbers of rat-type monsters would emerge from underground, and once they appeared, they would be overwhelming and extremely numerous.
Even a God of War would be at risk of falling.
As an invincible God of War, Shen Ping naturally wasn't afraid of rat tides.
By night, the temperature had dropped considerably.
He sped along the abandoned highway, the whooshing sound of the wind rushing past his ears, interspersed with the occasional roars of beasts from the roadside.
The night sky was dotted with stars, but the surroundings were overgrown with weeds.
If a martial artist didn't have some skill, they would truly be terrified in this environment.
This time, he was still heading to the Taihang Mountains, and even deeper into the mountains, as only that area would have many intermediate Lord-level monsters.
Three days later, he saw a Violent Ape Dragon.
This type of Lord-level monster was extremely agile and often gathered a large group of beast general-level monsters around it.
Even Advanced Gods of War would generally not provoke them.
Shen Ping observed it with binoculars and also gave up the idea of attacking, mainly because there were too many beast generals around.
If he rushed in, he would inevitably be blocked and delayed by these beast generals, making it very inefficient.
He continued searching for two more days before encountering another intermediate Lord-level monster.
Seeing that there weren't many beast generals around it, he immediately moved, charging to the edge of the monster at an extremely fast speed, using the bodies of other beast generals as springboards to quickly approach.
Ultimately, it took him over two hours to kill it.
"With this monster material, I can finalize the handover with the Zheng family.
At that time, the hotel profits, the Zheng Corporation's shares, and the Lishui District Villa will all be in my hands… If I hunt a few more advanced beast generals, the company's annual profit this year should exceed ten billion!"
Shen Ping's eyes held anticipation.
According to his previous estimation, a ten-billion-yuan profit would likely result in a significant reward.