Translated by Xephiz

Edited by RED

Dongting Lake was located close to the Yangtze Plain, which was in the north of Hunan Province.

The Dongting Lake was not a famous tourist spot, as this particular giant lake covering a surface area of over forty thousand square kilometers was also one of the three most dangerous lakes in the country!

Due to its massive size, there were many ecosystems within it, which meant there were countless demon beasts calling it home!

On top of that, the infamous Giant Reptile Beast Horde that had overrun Jinlin City treated Dongting Lake as their base camp.

After taking a flight to Kangning City, the closest city to Jinlin City, the seventeen students from the Pearl Institute and Imperial College had no choice but to continue their journey on foot. Along the way, Qingqing the genius told everyone the situation of Jinlin City, and mentioned the pack.

Mo Fan, on the other hand, was totally clueless about this world, so he could not help but interrupt when Qingqing mentioned the horde.

"Even though most demon beasts live in solidarity, there are quite a few exceptions, too. For example, the most common demon beasts in the southern province that prefer to stay in packs are the Demon Wolves. The Black Vatican might be the culprit behind Bo City's disaster, but they were actually using the Demon Wolves Horde to do the dirty work for them. Most of them came from from the Demon Wolves Horde that resides in the Nanshan Mountain Range. With that in mind, the Demon Wolves Horde is nothing compared to the Giant Reptile Beast Horde of Dongting Lake!" Qingqing explained gravely.

Mu Nujiao glanced at Mo Fan when Qingqing mentioned Bo City. She took over when Qingqing was not actually answering Mo Fan's doubts. "Basically, we categorize the demon beasts based on their scale. For example, if the number of grown-up beasts in a group reaches fifty or above, it would be described as a nest. When the number of nests of the same species exceeds fifty, it would become a pack. If there are more than ten packs, it would become a horde."

"Wait, hang on a second, let me do some calculation." Mo Fan extended his fingers as he murmured, "Fifty beasts become a nest, fifty nests become a horde, which means a horde would have at least twenty-five hundred of them?"

"That's right, a horde means there are at least twenty-five hundred beasts in the group, not including the younglings, those in the growing stage, or the aged… basically excluding those that can't fight."

Mo Fan recalled the calamity of Bo City. Not counting the Three-eyed Magic Wolves, the number of One-eyed Magic Wolves alone easily exceeded twenty-five hundred, not including those that were battling against the military outside of the safe zone!

There were at least ten thousand One-eyed Magic Wolves for sure, equivalent to a large horde!

"A beast horde usually has twenty-five hundred to ten thousand beasts, with one to three Commander-level creatures as their leaders. A force like that is definitely enough to trigger a Blood Alert. Jinlin City was on Blood Alert in the past. Luckily, most of the people were evacuated in time. Otherwise, it would have been a lot worse," Qingqing said.

"Hehe, Qingqing, it's unnecessary to give such a clear explanation. Our friend Mo Fan has personally experienced a Blood Alert before, so he would understand what a beast horde would look like… am I right, Mo Fan?" Luo Song interjected with a smirk.

However, before Mo Fan could say anything, an icy gaze immediately locked onto Luo Song, causing him to shiver. He immediately turned around and saw Mu Ningxue, the ice goddess of their Imperial College, staring at him.

"Don't you dare use Bo City as a joke!" Mu Ningxue stated in a chilling voice.

Mu Ningxue had already returned to school when the calamity took place. She did not experience it first hand, but many people from her Mu Clan were killed. The entire Mu Clan suffered greatly from the disaster.

Luo Song had no idea that Mu Ningxue was also from Bo City. He immediately pulled his neck in and shut up.

Mo Fan was relatively amiable, thus he did not really care what the others were saying to him. His mind was still occupied with the thought of how terrifying a beast horde would be if a pack was already so destructive!

Imagine a horde consisting of ten armies of the One-eyed Magic Wolves that attacked Bo City. How terrifying would the Giant Reptile Beast Horde at the Dongting Lake be?

If Jinlin City had not evacuated early, it would have been a worse calamity than Bo City!

"A horde is just a small number of the beasts in this world. If the beasts were to unite to fight against us humans, I'm pretty sure it would be the end for humanity," Zhao Mingyue added.

"Ok, we get it. It's really annoying that we still need to listen to your brainwashing talk when we are on a mission! Let's focus on how to arrive at Jilin City safely. We are getting further away from the safe zone. This trip is not going to be peaceful," Liao Mingxuan said impatiently.

Liao Mingxuan was right. They were around twenty-five kilometers away from the safe zone. The military still had patrols keeping an eye on things at this distance, but that would no longer be the case if they were to venture deeper into the wilds!

"We should follow this abandoned railway." Song Xian was holding a map, and pointed at the rails that were fully overgrown with moss.

The rails had rusted with unnatural speed, and were fully covered with weeds and moss. They led straight into the woods in the distance, surrounded by thorns and wild bushes. It was quite difficult to see the railbed if they were not paying attention.

The railway was once part of the safe zone. Since Jinlin City had been overrun, the part that led to the city was no longer used, so it was normal for it to end up in such a state.

Either way, the railway was clearly the obvious path to guide them in the right direction. They would surely arrive at Jinlin City by following it.

"Let's make this straight, I have always been the leader of the team. Since the school has asked us to complete the mission together, it doesn't make sense if we don't appoint a leader for the seventeen of us. I'm more than happy to take the role, and feel free to give me any suggestion. I'll decide the path we take, what to do when we encounter a beast, and when we should rest..." Lu Zhenghe immediately expressed his intention to be the leader.

Xu Dalong, Liao Mingxuan, Zhao Mingyue and the rest of the students from the Imperial College did not seem to be bothered by his words.

"It's not possible for us all to listen to you all the time. We'll be following Song Xia's order instead. You two will discuss how we shall work together," Zheng Bingxiao said.

"Sure, we can do that," Lu Zhenghe said.

They had come up with a basic plan, which was to follow the railway. The students taking part in the training were the elites among elites from both schools, thus their courage and strength totally outmatched the students who were in the military drills back in high school. With that behind them, they should be able to accomplish their mission with ease!