Qin Hua felt a bolt of energy surge through her body and a few images appeared in her mind. She quickly calmed down and paid her full attention to the images.

It looked like a breathing technique, except instead of air, she would be circulating mana through her body, sending it to all the nooks and corners.

It wasn't really that difficult. She just had to visualize the process and it was apparently the same as willing it to happen.

Qin Hua calmed herself and did a few rounds of breathing. 

At first, nothing much was difficult but as she continued doing the same set of breathing exercises for the next hour, she could feel her body filling up with energy.

Every time she breathed in, she felt more energetic and every time she breathed out, she could feel the moving out again.

Holding on to this feeling, she kept doing the same thing repeatedly. In and out and in and out and ...

[Ahhhh! This is so boring!!! Woof!] Qin Hua leaped out of the couch, not wanting to spend any more time simply lying down.

[It is just breathing. So I can do it while I move, right?] 

She quietly walked over to Lu Chen who was now trying to stick the snake scales to the loincloth shirt that still had a lot of bloodstains. 

There was no point in washing it as they would have to head back out soon and it would once again only be ruined.

[Breath in. Breath out.] Qin Hua did a rotation of the mana circulation technique while simultaneously retrieving an industry-grade glue from her inventory space.

She tossed it to Lu Chen who smiled and nodded at her, rubbing the back of her neck lovingly. 

He seemed to be in deep thought, so Qin Hua did not disturb him and walked over to Luo Zu next, just to purposefully make him nervous.

After she was satisfied with the reaction, she wore a content smile and strolled around the huge mansion, doing her set of breathing exercises.

[Who lived here? Such a big house and not a single piece of jewelry inside! Woof!] 

It was clear that the residents had managed to clean out all the valuables, despite the hurry they had left the house in.

She walked around for a bit and then returned back to the living room with a big smile on her face.

The breathing exercise wasn't too bad!

It was a bit forced in the beginning and required a lot of concentration, but as she continued doing it, it started requiring less and less conscious effort.

She licked her lips contently and then summoned her clone out. It was time to go out and hunt again. 

Her mana core did not look like it was going to be ready any time soon and she did not get any new skills from the level-ups, but she did get a huge stat boost from all the mana cores she absorbed from the boas and the other smaller beasts.

Considering that they would be leaving the city soon, she wanted to head out and see if she could grind her stats some more.

[Woof! Woof!] She barked near Lu Chen and pointed with her head towards the door.

"You want to go out and hunt?" He instantly asked, once again amazing Qin Hua. No matter how badly signaled, this guy always understood her!

She nuzzled him with her head and then nodded, by bobbing her head up and down.

Lu Chen chuckled and looked around. Everyone else also seemed to be well-rested and well-fed. "Guys!" He clapped his hands loudly. "Shall we leave?"

Everyone nodded silently. They subconsciously clutched their daggers tighter. "Brother Chen, what about Su Yan?" Xu Meilin asked. 

She had the cat in her hands who was completely unscathed and had somehow survived the boa fight.

Qin Hua eyed the small tabby suspiciously before getting distracted by Lu Chen's words.

"That's why we have brother Zu here, isn't that right?" He gave him a glance and the man instantly nodded his head as if his life depended on it. 

"Yes. Yes. Of course. It is my duty to protect this brother."

Everyone walked out and decided to travel by foot to save the remaining fuel they had for their upcoming long-distance traveling.

Coincidentally or rather not so coincidentally, a group of zombies was headed their way and had almost reached the mansion.

Hmm... Lu Chen hummed silently.

"What you said seems to be the case." Guan Ye muttered.

"Yup. We can't run and hide anymore. They can sense us and will find us no matter where we are."

Qin Hua also understood what they were talking about. She had guessed it long before. The zombies and the other mutated beasts, everything was attracted by mana.

They search for mana sources and migrate towards them to hunt and kill and absorb the mana for themselves. Bigger mutated beasts kill smaller mutated beasts and smaller mutated beasts kill zombies. 

Everything and everyone was constantly evolving and soon there would only be the strong and powerful left. Just what sort of life would that even be?

It didn't take long for them to finish off the zombies. 

Lu Chen and Guan Ye supervised, allowing Alex and Xu Meilin to do the actual combat, while Luo Zu gingerly stood on the side, carrying Su Yan in his hand.

Qin Hua, on the other side, kept herself busy by sniffing around. 

She played the role of a hunting dog to perfection and quickly and efficiently sniffed out more prey to hunt, all the while continuing to practice her breathing techniques. 

Things continued in this manner for a few more minutes until there seemed to be a lot fewer zombies and beasts in the area.

They had in fact wandered all the way back to the zone where the stadium was located. 

Lu Chen did not want to have a confrontation with them and it was not because he was afraid of losing.

So he quickly reminded everyone. "Let's head back and head over to the next city." 

Everyone agreed and started moving but surprisingly, Qin Hua was rooted on the spot, staring at the stadium in the distance.