“There’s a phrase from your Outer World that I really like,” Shadow said slowly, gazing at the dancing flames beside the campfire, “People don’t live a whole life, or for several years, months, or days, but for a few precious moments. That phrase is so beautiful. When I read the books from the Outer World that Si Nianhua and the others brought me, I even felt a bit moved.”

Shadow continued: “Rather than living a mediocre and wasted life, I feel that my life has been very brilliant. I have a loved one, and I’ve stood on mountain peaks, seeing different landscapes… So Xiao Chen, don’t feel sad for me. Just consider me a beautiful landscape on your journey through life.”

Qing Chen complained, “Next time I return, I’ll challenge the Trials of Life and Death, and have someone bring the news of my death to you. Let’s see if you can remain so calm. It’s easy for you to say; you’re not the one leaving. I wish I could be so relaxed.”

Shadow: “Alright, alright, I won’t say anything more.”

Qing Chen said, “From now on, don’t use your abilities anymore. I’ll find the rare plants myself; you don’t need to.”

Shadow: “Okay, okay, I won’t go robbing anymore.”

This conversation between the two brothers was extremely strange.

Neither of them feared death, but they feared the sadness of losing a loved one even more.

Qing Chen genuinely didn’t want Shadow to waste his life searching for rare plants.

By this time, Qing Chen had finished grilling the Dragon Fish. He held the fish with a wooden stick, perfectly grilling the flesh until it was crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

The fish had been marinated in ginger juice and chopped green onions for two hours, completely removing any fishy smell. Qing Chen then sprinkled some salt on top, preserving the fish’s original freshness.

It made Sun Chuci and Tuanzi cry with longing.

Today was the last Dragon Fish for Yang Yang and Xiao Mengqian; after eating it, they would complete their transformation.

Qing Chen called out, “Mengqian, come and eat the fish.”

Xiao Mengqian shouted back, “The tent is almost finished, Boss, I’ll be right there!”

Just now, while securing the tent with rivets, he accidentally hit his finger.

But he just blew on it and continued working.

He didn’t know when it started, but certain beliefs had become his obsessions.

He didn’t know how to walk that path, but he was unwilling to give up.

Yang Yang complained, “Are you really going to make him do all the work? Look at the wound on his hand, you can barely see the fingerprints. He’s still a child.”

Qing Chen shook his head and said, “It’s his own choice; I won’t interfere.”

Yang Yang sighed. Actually, she inwardly supported Qing Chen because she knew what he had been through. To embark on such a perilous path, one must have the firmest will.

Qing Chen opened his compressed biscuits and carefully ate them, not leaving a single crumb.

Shadow watched this scene, knowing this was a habit Qing Chen had developed since leaving A0 Base.

At this moment, Zhang Mengqian came and sat down, carefully eating all the fish meat, cleaning every bone. His eating style was identical to Qing Chen’s; even their postures while eating by the campfire were almost the same.

Shadow watched for a while, then chuckled. Zhang Mengqian had a few of Qing Chen’s Shadow.

When Yang Yang and Zhang Mengqian finished their last Dragon Fish, their bodies emitted a rumbling sound like thunder. The warm current flowing through their bodies stimulated their bones to undergo transformation, as if waves of electricity were constantly flowing.

Zhang Mengqian closed his mechanical eyes. His suddenly heightened hearing allowed him to perceive every subtle change in the world.

The crawling sound of spring insects emerging from the soil as they moved across dead branches and decaying leaves, creating a textured rustling sound. The tender new branches sprouting from the tree trunk, their sound slow and soft. A gust of wind blew from the horizon, outlining the world in his mind.

There were no colors, but it was even more vivid.

The change brought about by the Dragon Fish was extraordinary, filling Zhang Mengqian with joy.

At this moment, he heard the sound of an engine, approaching from afar.

“Boss, someone’s coming,” Zhang Mengqian opened his eyes, pointing to the east.

Everyone looked towards the east. Soon, dozens of Off-road Vehicles appeared on the distant horizon, their flashing headlights casting huge beams of light.

The vehicles also vibrated with harsh, explosive music, and the people inside swayed along with the rhythm.

After some thought, Shadow said, “The Qing Family and Li Clan’s Spring Hunt has begun.”

Last time, Qing Chen encountered the Autumn Hunt in Forbidden Zone 00, and this time, he encountered the Spring Hunt.

All of this brought back memories of his time traveling with his master.

But this time was different.

Qing Chen calmly said, “Zard, puncture the tires of these vehicles. Don’t let them continue south, or even approach.”

“Okay,” Zard chuckled, transforming into a cloud of sand and flowing into the ground.

The next moment, the ground rippled like water.

A small sapling shot out from the ground at incredible speed towards the vehicle convoy.

Inside the vehicles, amidst the deafening music, the driver of the lead vehicle suddenly lowered the volume, puzzled, “Did you see a small sapling moving rapidly on the ground? There’s a red fruit growing on it.”

A young man in the passenger seat, who had been enjoying himself, looked towards the road ahead.

“What the hell?!” he exclaimed in astonishment.

A closer look revealed that it wasn’t the convoy rapidly approaching a sapling; it was the sapling rapidly approaching them!

Moreover, next to the sapling, the earth on the wilderness was moving eerily.

“Stop, stop, something’s wrong!” someone shouted.

But it was too late.

Before the Spring Hunt convoy got within 100 meters, vehicle after vehicle suffered a tire blowout while driving at high speed.

If Zard hadn’t used the earth to bind the tires of these Off-road Vehicles, they would have all inevitably overturned.

Streams of earth rose from the ground, firmly locking all the vehicle hubs to the ground.

Shadow looked at Qing Chen happily, “Last time, you even traveled with the Autumn Hunt Team for a while. Why not go together this time? More people make it more lively. I wanted to see what kind of people the Qing Family and Li Clan members are now.”

Qing Chen shook his head, “There’s nothing to see. Those who participate in the Autumn Hunt and Spring Hunt are mostly wastrels; there’s no need to get to know them. I’ve shown my Face[-] at the entry and exit gates of City 10, so any team that inexplicably approaches is suspicious. Of course, even if it’s really the Spring Hunt team, I’ll leave them here for their own good. It’ll save them from going south to die. This battle is not something they can participate in; even a glimpse could cost them their lives.”

He then used a bucket of water brought by Zard to extinguish the campfire and ordered everyone to hide behind the tree trunks.

There were no fools in this group, so no one questioned Qing Chen; they all obediently hid.

Except for Shadow.

He hid behind a tree, smiling and asking Qing Chen, “Do we need to be so cautious? It’s just a bunch of kids.”

Qing Chen looked at him impassively, “Only if I’m cautious enough can I avoid situations where you have to use your abilities and risk your life. Please, as long as I don’t die, don’t use your abilities.”

Shadow was stunned.

It seemed that since he was again afflicted by his abilities tonight, this kid Qing Chen suddenly changed his attitude and started to control him, preventing him from grabbing things and from intervening in crises.

But the ultimate goal was still to prevent him from using his abilities and draining his life.

When had Shadow ever been controlled?

Even the stern Head of the Qingshi Clan let him do as he pleased.

In the past, when the leaders of various factions within the Qing Family complained to the Clan Head about Shadow’s overbearing arrogance, wayward actions, and disregard for rules,

the Clan Head rarely said anything to Shadow.

At a Qing Family internal Shadow meeting, Shadow once said to the leaders of various Qing Family factions with a smile: “Those who can control me haven’t been born yet.”

At that time, Shadow was sharp and his actions were unpredictable.

Just like this robbery of Chen Yu and Li Bingxi, who would have thought that he spread the news to scare away two Demi-Gods, just to target their vegetable garden?

Now, someone was suddenly controlling Shadow, and besides the slight discomfort, he felt a warmth.

Shadow muttered softly, “This is…!”

His mother died early, and his father was a man who shut himself up in a small dark room every day, never managing him.

No, that wasn’t true.

There was someone.

The woman named Ning Xiu had controlled him; Qing Chen was the second.

Thinking about this, Shadow suddenly laughed.

However, at this moment, dozens of people suddenly jumped out of the vehicles at the rear of the Spring Hunt convoy.

They rapidly advanced in tactical formations.

Half of the people in the vehicles looked on in horror. Their companions who had come to Spring Hunt, had suddenly become assassins?!

Not everyone in this convoy had ulterior motives.

At this time.

Two more people climbed onto the roofs of the vehicles. They lay down on the tops of the cars, setting up their sniper rifles with night vision equipment, aiming towards the forest.

One of them held his breath. He knew very well that there was a master sniper in the forest, and he also knew what he had to do at this distance using a sniper rifle: Don’t try to adjust your breathing, you must find the target in the shortest time, and then pull the trigger.

At that moment, he saw the opponent’s figure in his night vision scope.

But what he saw was Qing Chen holding an anti-materiel sniper rifle like a cannon and already pulling the trigger.

With a loud bang, a long bullet shot out of the sniper rifle’s muzzle, piercing the sniper’s rifle barrel like thunder.

The sniper had just pulled the trigger, and before he could fire a shot, he met Qing Chen’s bullet inside the barrel. Then the entire barrel exploded, blowing out the sniper’s eyes.

The other sniper on the roof of another vehicle was already overturned and tilted by Zard using earth.

This small sapling moving continuously on the ground was like a land shark, terrifying and destroying everything in its path.

Qing Chen fired shot after shot, quickly decimating the assault force in a matter of seconds.

He held his breath, listening for sounds from the forest behind him, but there was nothing there; no one was attacking from behind.

He asked puzzledly, “Who would send these rabble to kill us?”

Shadow laughed, “These aren’t assassins, they’re cannon fodder.”

“What’s the point of cannon fodder?” Qing Chen asked, “They’re too weak to even consume our energy.”

“Because Chen Yu and Li Bingxi want to join forces with some factions in the Qing Family, they need these people to give a token of submission,” Shadow explained with a smile, “These are ordinary soldiers, and I can find out who’s behind them within a month based on their identities. Therefore, once these soldiers attack us, they’ll have no way out and must go all the way.”

Chen Yu and Li Bingxi were both smart; they wouldn’t believe the Qing Family’s words without proof. Unless those people had no way out.

Of course, given the personalities of these two, these tokens of submission are likely just a part of a plan.

They would wait for the most critical moment before making their move.

Shadow said, “The Qing Family has made a move, which is quite gratifying. They’ve been cowardly for so many years, forgetting the blood of their ancestors. The Qing Family from Qing Zhen’s ancestor’s day of climbing Ginkgo Mountain in the snow is the real Qing Family. Now, it’s just a decaying carcass wearing the Qing Family’s skin.”

Qing Chen muttered, “They’re all trying to kill you, yet you’re so happy.”

“They’re not trying to kill me, they’re trying to kill us,” Shadow happily explained, “Compared to my death, they’d rather see you die.”

“Why?” Qing Chen asked in confusion.

“Some people might have guessed your identity, so they’re worried that the Clan Head will continue to plan for you to inherit the Qing Family,” Shadow patiently explained, “There’s something I need to tell you. Outsiders only know that the Shadow Succession is dangerous, but they don’t know that the sons of the past Clan Heads who participated in the Shadow Succession never lived past 20, inevitably facing open and secret attacks. Those collateral branches are willing to participate in the Shadow Succession, and are absolutely unwilling to see the Qing Family become the sole property of one branch. Don’t underestimate the power of the Qing Family’s collateral branches. They have been living under my shadow for nearly ten years and have been planning for ten years. Xiao Chen, the people in the Qing Family are all wolf cubs, but some will grow into jackals, and some will grow into wolf kings.”

Qing Chen was stunned. So, after the Shadow Succession began, someone wanted to poison Shadow.

But they ended up killing Ning Xiu.

The Clan Head’s son who participates in the Shadow Succession will first become the target of everyone until they eliminate him, and then the real Shadow Succession will begin.

Originally, Shadow was supposed to die, and he would be attacked.

But he unexpectedly stepped into the realm of a Demi-God and had no more opponents.

So, the people of various factions could only reluctantly accept this, waiting for Shadow to die.

But now, when they learned that the Clan Head still had a young son, the collateral branches of the Qing Family went crazy. If they didn’t act now, they would never have a chance.

Qing Chen asked, “But why wouldn’t it be the Clan Head? For example, Ning Xiu’s death, and those in the Qing Family who wanted to kill you this time?”

Shadow suddenly said seriously, “Xiao Chen, I choose to believe him. Of course, you can choose to believe him like I do, or you can choose not to. It’s up to you. Beware of Qing Shi’s father and Qing Wen’s mother. They’re both crazy.”

Qing Chen fell silent.

According to reason, the person who allowed Shadow to find no clues, the Head of the Qingshi Clan is the most likely suspect.

In the world, the number of people capable of doing this is probably less than five.

But Shadow didn’t suspect the Clan Head?

No, Qing Chen knew he couldn’t do that. His biggest suspect was the Clan Head, and all investigations would start from the Clan Head’s surroundings.

He asked, “But why would they guess my identity?”

Shadow said with a smile, “I told them.”

Qing Chen: “…”

“How can you get a tiger cub without entering the tiger’s lair?” Shadow asked rhetorically, “If I don’t offer enough temptation, how will they take action? If they don’t act, how will Chen Yu and Li Bingxi come?”

Qing Chen stood in the forest and complained, “You should enter the tiger’s lair yourself! Why throw me in? Now not only the Chen Family, Shendai, and Koshima want to kill me, but even the Qing Family wants to kill me. What, am I a public enemy?”

Shadow said, “With so many people wanting to kill you, does it matter if there’s one more Qing Family?”

“You, the Qing Family’s Shadow, shouldn’t be acting cute with your accent after selling your younger brother. So, are you going to kill Demi-Gods?” Qing Chen was speechless for a while, then asked.

Shadow shook his head, “I could have done it during my prime, but not now. However, I have my plan.”

Zhang Mengqian and the others were hiding nearby. In such a tense atmosphere, the two brothers were chatting away.

Could you two show some respect for the cannon fodder?!

Shadow said, “Let’s continue south. Our journey to Forbidden Zone 00 may not be peaceful.”