The First Order

Cheng Yu’s voice calling out to White Mask rang through the white fog. Everyone held their breaths as they wondered if White Mask would agree to travel with them. If there were such a supernatural being in the group, it would definitely be safer for everyone.

No one doubted the strength of White Mask. After all, while everyone was busy saving themselves in battle just now, he went to the spiders’ nest to rescue more than a dozen of their teammates.

But how could Ren Xiaosu possibly let “Old Xu” stay in the team to protect this group of people? Old Xu’s most important role right now was to be a scout. An undying scout that traveled alone in the wilderness could help Ren Xiaosu avoid a lot of danger.

As time ticked by, Cheng Yu felt a little disappointed when White Mask did not show up even after a long time. “Although I don’t know who he is protecting, since we’re all on the same team, I hope we can still look out for one another in the future.”

An assistant next to Cheng Yu muttered, “When White Mask appeared just now, that young man who’s always jumping rope also went off somewhere. Could White Mask be here to protect him?”

“That’s impossible.” Cheng Yu shook his head. “Why would such a person be protected by an expert like White Mask? However, we can’t underestimate this young man either. I think he has a very close relationship with Luo Lan. When Luo Lan encountered danger, his first reaction was to stand behind him.”

“Then should we still persuade White Mask to join us?” the assistant asked.

“Forget it.” Cheng Yu sighed and said, “It’s not like we can force someone like that to do our bidding.”

But even though Cheng Yu had given up, it did not mean the others had as well. A middle-aged man looked at everyone in the group and said, “I know White Mask must have something to do with one of you here. Why don’t we do it this way instead? I’ll offer five million yuan for him to join the group. I won’t ask him to deliberately protect anyone either, but just travel together with us.”

This was an extremely strange request. Ren Xiaosu pondered it for a moment. The other party seemed to be spitefully offering five million yuan for White Mask to appear, but other than that, he had no other conditions.

Wouldn’t this money be given away for nothing then? Could the middle-aged man have an ulterior motive?

At the side, Wang Yun said with a smile, “Old boy, your offer is too petty. Would such an expert care for that five million yuan? If White Mask really shows himself for this five million yuan, I, Wang Yun, will walk doing a handstand for a day.”

Suddenly, the palace in Ren Xiaosu’s mind started speaking. His expression also became very weird after he heard what it said.

“Quest: Fulfill the wishes of your teammate.”

Ren Xiaosu pondered it. The palace did not explicitly say which of the teammates’ wishes to satisfy. Was it the middle-aged man’s wish to get Old Xu to join the team, or was it Wang Yun’s wish to do a handstand?

However, this quest seemed very easy to complete.

In the white fog, everyone heard the sound of approaching footsteps. They turned their heads to look in that direction and saw the silhouette of a figure become clearer as it got closer.

Wang Yun was surprised.

Old Xu walked up to the middle-aged man and stretched out his hand. The middle-aged man did not break his promise and took out a small box. “There’s a Wang Consortium bank card inside to access an anonymous account with exactly five million yuan in it.”

Old Xu nodded and looked towards Wang Yun calmly.

Wang Yun felt uncomfortable at that moment. Why did he get the feeling that the other party had suddenly appeared just so he could make him walk while doing a handstand?!

Actually, if the palace had announced the quest was completed after the middle-aged man paid up, Ren Xiaosu would not have needed to make Wang Yun do a handstand. But as it stood, the quest was still not completed.

With everyone’s attention on him, Wang Yun gritted his teeth and sneered. “Fine, you’re targeting me, right?!”

After that, he really got upside down and did a handstand. In fact, Wang Yun’s balance was not only good, but he also seemed to be able to walk upside down very naturally.

Cheng Yu looked at Old Xu in bewilderment before looking at Ren Xiaosu, who was standing not too far from him. He found White Mask’s style felt quite familiar.

At some point, Cheng Yu even felt a little scared. He was afraid the other party would suddenly start singing nursery rhymes together with Ren Xiaosu.

However, everyone felt a little more at ease now that Old Xu had joined the team. It was as though their group was boosted by someone really strong.

The main reason was that Old Xu’s reputation had been soaring recently. There were still too few supernatural beings who could take a T5 combatant head-on and win.

Ren Xiaosu quietly sized up Wang Yun. He realized Wang Yun’s expression was unusually ferocious like he was bearing a grudge.

But Ren Xiaosu did not care. It was Old Xu that made him do a handstand, so what did it have anything to do with him?

The relationships between the various teammates in the group were becoming clearer. Luo Lan and Ren Xiaosu were in the same group, and Wang Yun had four other companions hidden within the group. One of them might even be a supernatural being.

The remaining people were roughly divided into six groups. The largest group was made up of nine people, while the smallest group had three.

When they did not encounter any danger, these people would act as though they did not know each other. But earlier, they had subconsciously banded together to fight the spiders. This was an instinctive reaction when facing danger.

The wounded in the cocoons had been rescued. Although they could not move yet, there were already people volunteering to take care of them.

In a place like this, who would be so kind as to take care of someone not related to them? It would definitely have to be their friends who stepped forward to help.

While everyone was taking care of the wounded, Wang Yun quietly walked upside down into the white fog. Since the fog had not dispersed yet, no one would realize that someone had stepped away.

After leaving the group, Wang Yun somersaulted forward and landed firmly on his feet again. He sneered, “I, Wang Yun, will definitely get revenge for suffering such humiliation!”

As he quietly made his way back, he made two markings—a horizontal bar and a concentric circle—along the trail of hardtack crumbs he had left.

The first marking meant the danger ahead had been temporarily resolved, while the second marking was him requesting a replenishment of supplies.

Along the way, in order to leave a trail, he had scattered most of the dry rations he had brought with him. Wang Yun had calculated his provisions would last another day at most.

But this was where the advantage of having support troops behind him came in. He did not have to worry about his provisions like the others.

But come the following night, Wang Yun was sitting by the campfire and watching as the others ate their food while he had run out of rations.

Ren Xiaosu even asked him why he was not eating anything, but Wang Yun just smiled and said he was not hungry. He could not possibly tell him he had used up his rations to leave a trail, right?

For the entire day, Ren Xiaosu and the others remained onsite as they waited for their teammates who had been paralyzed by the spider venom to recover.

During this period, Wang Yun ventured into the white fog alone on more than one occasion. He took out a small bamboo whistle that he used to produce the sound of insects flapping their wings. However, he still did not see the reinforcements he had been waiting for.

Wang Yun felt that something had gone wrong somewhere, but he did not know what exactly happened.

Could his comrades have retreated because they thought it was too dangerous?

No, they were still very trusted comrades of his, having traveled extensively together for all their missions. Otherwise, he would not have entrusted his life to them either.

They must have been delayed by something. Who knew, they might just arrive by tomorrow!