Chapter 5: Chapter 5

The sky suddenly darkened, and a light rain began to fall with a gentle patter.

Tu You said, “Ah Chu, do you feel like… something is following us?”

Sang Chu replied calmly, “Yeah, it started back when we were on the road.”

The girl and the rabbit walked quietly.

Before the rain, you could faintly smell a strange scent in the air—if she hadn’t been on alert, she definitely wouldn’t have noticed it.

But now, with the drizzle and the muddy ground, even that faint scent had disappeared.

Still, she was sure—something was definitely following them.

“Ah—!”

With a sudden cry, Sang Chu stumbled and fell toward the ground.

At that moment, a creature that had been lurking behind them suddenly leapt out, its bloody maw wide open, revealing sharp fangs as it lunged for Sang Chu’s neck.

But in the next instant, Sang Chu, already prepared, reacted swiftly.

With a flick of her wrist, the blade in her hand slashed out. Kicking off the ground, she slid forward at high speed, her back nearly scraping the earth.

The monster let out a furious roar.

All around them, more of the same creatures emerged from hiding.

It was a pack of hunting beasts!

They were normal in size, but their fangs and tails were unusually fierce.

Sang Chu poured all her energy into her body, making herself as light as a leaf, gliding quickly along the ground, weaving through the monsters’ encirclement.

“Ah—!”

Suddenly, her blade was bitten in half by one of the beasts!

Wide-eyed, Sang Chu stared at the monster crawling rapidly toward her.

In a panic, she rummaged through her storage box and pulled out a bamboo stick from the big frog she’d killed earlier, throwing it at the beast.

But it didn’t care at all—opening its huge mouth, it crunched the bamboo in one bite, even chewing it up.

Sang Chu asked, “Youyou, how many of these things are there?”

Tu You checked the light screen. “There are only two, but their gold value is over eighty each!”

“Ah Chu, there are only two of them, but their gold value is high. We can take them down!”

“Looks more like they’re going to take me down!!!”

She couldn’t help but complain. None of her weapons, not even the bamboo, seemed to work.

Sang Chu forced herself to focus, feeling the flow of energy around her, making herself the center of that flow, and constructing a shield.

A beast’s tail slammed down, aiming for her.

“Bang—!”

The tail collided with the shield she’d formed from the surrounding energy, barely holding off the blow.

But the next moment, another beast roared, its tail lashing out wildly.

Taking advantage of the chaos, a lurking beast suddenly whipped its tail, shattering the shield, and lunged at Sang Chu with its gaping jaws.

Sang Chu hurled her energy blade desperately.

But there were too many beasts. Gliding along the ground at high speed was already draining her energy, and now she had to keep forming energy blades.

She could only focus most of her remaining power on dodging.

“Boom—!”

A huge impact—

Was it her body that exploded?

No, it was that invisible wall!

Sang Chu saw the wall slowly cracking, and then she sent out another furious energy blade.

Her energy was running out. Her body, pressed to the ground, suddenly collapsed, splashing up mud.

The beasts closed in.

Five, four, three, two, one...

They were about to pounce on her.

Sang Chu gripped the mud tightly, silently counting the seconds in her mind.

Now!

“Earth Sink!”

“Stone Shield!”

“Pierce!”

With a string of shouts, Sang Chu unleashed all the earth-type abilities she and Lu Min had researched together.

One beast was instantly impaled by a stone spike jutting from the ground, blood gushing everywhere.

Sang Chu hid in the dense earth, gasping for breath.

Tu You, uncomfortable in the pitch darkness, tugged at Sang Chu’s sleeve. “Ah Chu, can I go out now?”

Sang Chu reached up to feel the rough earthen wall above her. “Not sure if those spikes worked.”

“I’ll go take a look. Let me out!”

Knowing the rabbit disliked the dark, Sang Chu nodded. “Be careful.”

She opened a small gap for Tu You to slip out. Soon, she heard the rabbit’s excited voice, “It’s okay, Ah Chu, it’s okay! They’re all dead!”

All dead?

Sang Chu was drenched in cold sweat. She’d just made a desperate move, not even sure if it would work, or if she’d really awakened earth powers—it was just a faint feeling.

“Retreat!”

The stone shield above slowly opened. Sang Chu gasped for air, and sure enough, the area was littered with beast corpses, all impaled by stone spikes.

Luckily, she’d held back a trump card. Otherwise, she’d really be done for now.

“Youyou, put away the beast corpses for me. I can’t even move a finger right now!”

Lying on the ground, Sang Chu couldn’t even lift a finger. Tu You hurriedly hopped over, opened the storage box, and packed away all the beast corpses.

“I’m going to get some recovery medicine for you to rest, okay?”

“Yeah, get me something to restore my strength, then I’ll go back to that bamboo grove.”

“Okay!”

Tu You used the light screen to take out the recovery potion. After drinking it, Sang Chu finally managed to stand up.

Back at the base, she used her own jade badge to open the door and finally lay down to rest.

“Youyou, how many beast corpses do we have now?”

“Let me see~”

Tu You squatted on a stool, holding the storage box, and checked the inventory.

“One mutant frog, fifteen hunting beasts, three blue-tailed snakes, one gold snake, five rats, a bunch of giant mosquitoes and bees, and… hold on, let me do the math…”

It directly connected to Sang Chu’s account and opened the trading mall. Soon, the numbers popped up.

Staring at the screen, Tu You’s eyes widened. “Wow, we have over thirteen hundred gold coins already!”

“Ah Chu, you’re amazing! You can buy me now!”

Seeing the rabbit so excited, Sang Chu couldn’t help but laugh. “How much do I owe you?”

Tu You replied, “No more debt! Once you buy me, you can spend the rest however you want. You’ll still have plenty left!”

“All that stuff, and it’s not even a hundred gold?”

“There’s a discount! In the trading mall, everything is half price compared to outside. Otherwise, why would there be so many people doing this? You’ve seen how dangerous the wild is—everyone here risks their lives, so they get a break.”

Tu You stared at the items in the storage box, almost drooling.

Sang Chu asked, “So how do I buy you?”

“Your mental strength is still too weak, and we haven’t formed a contract, so you can’t use the trading mall directly. After you sell all these mutant beasts, just transfer the money to me.”

“Alright. I’ll sleep first, and once I recover, I’ll go catch more beasts.”

“You have to! With money, you can finally get some proper rest!”

Sang Chu nodded. She wanted to catch as many beasts as possible—there were only a little more than ten days left, and she couldn’t waste any time."