Chapter 357: Chapter 357: Inexplicably Becoming Rivals in Love
Yang Xiao and Lan Xin, among others, approached the Genetic Store. From a distance, Zhang Hai and Zhang Jian noticed them both and thought to themselves, "Damn, Yang Xiao’s charm isn’t small, huh? He’s gotten so close with Lan Xin so quickly? I’ve been showing her kindness for so long, yet Lan Xin’s always been like a block of ice, never showing any signs of thawing."
After the incidents of Yang Xiao saving Zhi Ruo yesterday and defeating the killer bees today to help everyone out of trouble, Zhang Hai and others couldn’t help but see him in a new light, even with a bit of awe.
Initially, they thought Yang Xiao was not from the Martial Arts Circle and looked down on him. However, Yang Xiao’s later performance harshly slapped their faces, making their once proud hearts feel defeated.
After waking up, Zhang Jian, having heard the account from Zhang Hai, hated Yang Xiao for using him as bait to attract the killer bees, but was helpless about it.
Zhang Hai then gave the 25,000 Crystal Coins gifted by Yang Xiao to Zhang Jian, which left Zhang Jian with complex feelings, finding it hard to feel grateful or to hate Yang Xiao.
The young members of the Wudang Sect had complicated love-hate feelings towards Yang Xiao, admiring his abilities while at the same time being jealous of the attention he drew from Zhi Ruo and Lan Xin.
These were, after all, passionate and vigorous youngsters, with hormones running high. Even in this post-apocalyptic world, humans’ most basic desires and impulses remained undiminished, especially when facing women like Lan Xin and Zhi Ruo.
Monk Ben Yin and others from the Shaolin Temple, although they had briefly broken their vows against killing and eating meat, had not yet broken their vow of celibacy.
Where there are people, there is Jianghu!
In this desert, gathered together were several Ancient Martial Cultivation Sects capable of stirring up storms in Jianghu, and the shadowy battles between them were inevitable.
When Yang Xiao approached, Monk Ben Yin, Zhang Hai, Zhi Ruo, and others went up to greet him.
Zhi Ruo’s beautiful eyes glanced at Yang Xiao and then swept over Lan Xin beside him, and she said with a smile,
"How about that, did you two arrange to go hunting together?"
Lan Xin simply smiled faintly, without answering.
Yang Xiao replied,
"No, we just happened to run into each other."
"By the way, Young Master Yang, we hunted more than a dozen Monsters today, but because the location was too far, we could only bring back five for you."
Zhi Ruo said, pointing to a few huge Mutant Monsters nearby on the ground. She was still very grateful to Yang Xiao for saving her the day before.
"Thank you very much, Miss Zhi Ruo."
"Don’t mention it, I haven’t properly thanked you for saving me yesterday. If you’re available, you can join us for hunting tomorrow. All the Monster carcasses will be yours."
Zhi Ruo said with a smile, extending the invitation.
Beside her, Lan Xin felt inexplicably annoyed but showed no sign of it. She would not vie for a man publicly.
But her junior sister, Xiao Lan, quickly spoke up with a smile,
"Sorry, Sister Zhi Ruo, Young Master Yang has already arranged with our Sister Lan Xin to go hunting together tomorrow. We’ve also had a good harvest today. The two of them even teamed up to kill a powerful super Mutant Boar..."
Xiao Lan wished she could describe the scene of Yang Xiao and Lan Xin riding together earlier.
At this critical moment, Junior Sister Xiao Lan showed a strong tendency to stand by her leader.
Yang Xiao was startled, since when had he agreed to go hunting with them tomorrow?
However, if he were to outright refuse, it would embarrass Lan Xin and the sisters of the Shenming Mountain Sect, possibly ending future friendships, so he simply smiled faintly, as if to accept by default.
Monk Ben Yin came over and said,
"Brother Yang Xiao, we also brought back 6 Monsters. We left them over there. The place was too far and scattered, so we could only bring these to you."
Yang Xiao expressed his thanks.
Zhang Hai and Zhang Jian said:
"Brother Yang, we were unlucky today and only brought back four monster bodies for you."
Emei Sect brought back five monsters, Shaolin Temple six, and Wudang four. Combined with the six that Yang Xiao obtained from Lan Xin, they suddenly had twenty-one High-Level Enhanced Gene monsters.
Suppressing the surprise in his heart, Yang Xiao lightly smiled and said:
"Thanks to everyone, it looks like the people of Nanmu City will have meat to eat and won’t go hungry."
"Hey, what’s all this fuss about? Who’s this guy? A newcomer?"
A rough voice came through.
The originally jovial Monk Ben Yin and others immediately restrained their smiles, and the atmosphere suddenly became a lot colder.
Yang Xiao looked up and saw Xie Lei from Kongtong Sect approaching with seven youths, each carrying a heavy longsword on their back.
Monk Ben Yin introduced:
"Brother Yang, let me introduce you, this is Xie Lei from Kongtong Sect... Brother Xie, this is Yang Xiao from Nanmu City."
Yang Xiao nodded at Xie Lei and said:
"Brother Xie,"
"Ah, so it’s Brother Yang from Nanmu City. Considering Brother Yang has ventured deep into the desert to hunt monsters, your Genetic Evolution Level must be very high, probably already at the High-Level Enhanced Gene, right?"
Xie Lei and others had also encountered High-Level Enhanced Gene individuals venturing deep into the desert to hunt, but most of them could barely get by playing around. Compared to monsters with High-Level Enhanced Genes, human strength is still much weaker, especially when surrounded by a group of them; it’s often a situation of misfortune outnumbering luck.
Unless a team has three or four people with at least High-Level Enhanced Genes, they generally wouldn’t venture deep into the desert and would prefer to hunt in the intermediate zones of the desert instead.
Yang Xiao’s ability to come here depended firstly on the immense power of his Soul Skill and secondly on the Flame Horse, which allowed him to dodge the encirclement and attacks of high-level monsters with ease. Without these two conditions, if he was just like others with a simple breakthrough of the Primary Level Enhanced Gene, he would not dare to venture deep into the desert.
Even so, hunting here alone was extremely dangerous for Yang Xiao. If it weren’t for Monk Ben Yin agreeing to form a team with him, he wouldn’t have come here on his own.
Yang Xiao modestly said:
"I’ve only just broken through the Primary Level Enhanced Gene; I’m still far from the high level. My ability to come here is entirely because Brother Ben Yin was willing to bring me along for fun."
Hearing this, Xie Lei said with a touch of sarcasm:
"I see, then you better be careful. If you get killed by a monster, it won’t be worth it. It’s safer to go back to the intermediate zones of the desert."
After saying this, Xie Lei looked towards Lan Xin and said:
"Sister Lan Xin, how about we go hunting together tomorrow? With my protection, there won’t be any issues."
"It’s unnecessary, we’ve already arranged to go hunting with Young Master Yang tomorrow."
Lan Xin said, and then she gave a slight smile to Yang Xiao.
Yang Xiao thought to himself, when did I inadvertently become someone’s romantic rival?
He wanted to refuse, but seeing Lan Xin’s smile and gaze, how could he bear to refuse? He could only nod in agreement.
Xie Lei chuckled and said:
"Sister Lan Xin, I’ve invited you to team up more than a dozen times, and you haven’t agreed to it once. How come you’ve agreed to team up with Young Master Yang just like that? It’s not fair!"
"What’s there to talk about fairness in such matters? Who I team up with is completely based on my own mood, and nobody can force me."