Chapter 42: Meeting Yao Jun Again

A roar of ultimate fury echoed from beneath the cliff, followed by a massive bolt of thunder that plummeted from the sky. Within the pillar of lightning, Wang Feng floated upward with his hair standing on end, dragging an unconscious Sang Shi in one hand, his eyes burning red with blood.

Wang Feng was drenched in blood—not just that of the monsters, but much of it his own. He had thrown himself into the fray with complete disregard for his life. Several deep, bleeding gasps clawed open by a Predator marked his back, yet even so, he was a fraction too late.

Gazing down into the bottomless abyss, Wang Feng instantly ground his teeth into shards, consumed by a towering rage. Why had a fiend suddenly appeared here? Had Ling Fengyan failed to detect it during his reconnaissance? And how could he have been so careless as to let himself be ambushed by a fiend! Then there was Ye Yang—he had actually jumped down! The idiot… the utter idiot had thrown his life away just for Chen Yun.

Though he had told the boy to protect his comrades, this was certainly not the outcome Wang Feng wanted!

"You're a dead man!" Wang Feng roared furiously, glaring at the young man.

"A dead man?" The young man laughed aloud, as if he had just heard the greatest joke in the world. He looked at Wang Feng with arrogant disdain and said, "I've lost count of how many hunters have said those exact words to me. A dead man? Ha!"

"Take a good look. I am Number Ninety-One. Judging by your appearance, you've got some strength. Don't you understand?"

"So what?" Wang Feng said coldly.

"You don't get it?" The young man sneered. "A Fiend-Eater ranked Number Ninety-One, among the top one hundred fiends in the entire world. Still don't get it?"

"So what?" Wang Feng laughed in extreme anger. "Are you new here? You don't recognize me? You mere piece of trash ranked Number Ninety-One! How dare you not recognize Thunder Emperor Wang Feng?"

With another earth-shaking boom, a second bolt of lightning crashed down, superimposing itself onto Wang Feng. He took a heavy step forward, the very cliffside trembling beneath the impact of the thunderbolt.

"Number Ninety-One Fiend-Eater, is it? Have you finished talking? Good! Then you can go die!" Wang Feng said grimly, his expression twisted and terrifying. He was being driven mad by rage.

The cliff was immensely high. Ye Yang had lost consciousness halfway down after slamming into a protruding boulder that nearly shattered his spine, yet his arms remained locked in a death grip around Chen Yun.

Wisps of freezing fog drifted through the air. Chen Yun had regained consciousness and was instantly terrified out of her wits. Looking at Ye Yang, she felt a wave of emotion so overwhelming it almost made her weep—he had actually jumped down a bottomless abyss for her sake?

Amidst the dense, freezing mist, their descent gradually slowed. Fortunately, Chen Yun had woken up; otherwise, they would have been utterly pulverized. Even so, Ye Yang had taken a devastating impact. The moment he hit the ground, he vomited a massive mouthful of blood, cratering the earth beneath him. If he hadn't learned how to harness fiend power, survival would have been utterly impossible.

"Ye... Ye Yang, are you alright?" Chen Yun panicked, not knowing what to do. The girl had also taken a heavy fall, but she paid it no mind.

Gauze? Hemostatic agents? Serum? Emergency medical devices were pulled one by one from her storage space, but they were entirely useless. Ye Yang was covered in blood, and the girl had no idea how to treat him; any healing ointment she applied was immediately washed away by the torrent of blood.

"Roar..." A low growl echoed, and Chen Yun nearly passed out from fright. Raising her head, she burst into tears at the sight. A few mutant creatures were gazing down at them from a nearby ledge, accompanied by a Predator.

Frost mist rapidly condensed before her, and she gripped her submachine gun, but Chen Yun knew it was utterly useless. She couldn't beat these monsters; she wouldn't stand a chance even without her injuries. A single Predator alone could tear her to pieces.

Accompanied by the eerie, cackling laughter of the Predator, several figures charged wildly toward them. No matter how fiercely the girl's submachine gun spat tongues of flame, their speed never wavered, closing the distance in the blink of an eye.

"I'm sorry... Ye Yang, I'm so sorry..." The girl wept bitterly. It was all her fault. If she hadn't begged Ye Yang to bring her along, or if she had chosen a stronger companion, the outcome would never have been like this.

She was utterly helpless before a Level 4 fiend, incapable of even resisting a Level 3. She was simply too weak.

A dark shadow leaped out from behind the girl with blinding speed. It looked like a person? The shadow laughed aloud, charging headlong to meet the approaching Predator.

Chen Yun was stunned. Who was it? Wang Feng? Sang Shi? No, that couldn't be right—she had never seen this person before. That mop of unkempt hair, that filthy face, those stained clothes...

***

A hand plunged swiftly into the chest of the Predator. Accompanied by a piercing shriek, the creature was ripped directly in two. Chen Yun was completely dumbfounded. Was this a human? A hunter? Why was he so strong? Had she and Ye Yang been saved?

The man was terrifyingly strong! He killed the Predator with a single blow, and then, completely ignoring the menacing postures of the remaining mutants, he hurriedly dug his hand into the chest of the dead Predator and bit straight into its heart.

Crunch, crunch...

"..." Chen Yun rolled her eyes back and fainted on the spot from sheer terror. This was the most horrific thing she had ever witnessed. Was this a nightmare? If so, when would she wake up?

"Ring, ring, ring..."

"Dammit! Pick up the phone already!" On the cliffside, Wang Feng roared furiously, but the call went unanswered.

"Keep calling, damn it!" Wang Feng barked. Sang Shi nodded repeatedly, not daring to utter a single word of rebuttal, having already been scared out of his wits.

He had once thought his teacher was exceptionally strong, being one of the Five Tigers. Although incomparable to Wang Feng... Sang Shi had assumed Ling Fengyan's claims of not being worthy of the title were merely modesty, and that the gap between the two shouldn't be that vast.

That was until he witnessed Wang Feng's ability to instantly slaughter those Predators, and even up here on the cliff face...

That had been a Level 4 fiend, a guy ranked Number Ninety-One! What did Number Ninety-One mean? The school had taught them long ago. Ye Yang didn't know because he hadn't finished reading the materials, but Sang Shi knew crystal clear.

It was a ranking among fiends, from Number One to Number Ninety-Nine—a total of ninety-nine apex fiends, the strongest ninety-nine fiends in the entire world. All of these creatures bore numbers tattooed on their bodies, and their strength far surpassed that of the hunters.

Ling Fengyan had once warned them never to harbor thoughts of challenging any fiend with a number on its chest. These beings were absolutely not something Sang Shi and Gao Ting could handle, and even Ling Fengyan himself couldn't defeat them. Combined, the three of them in a team might still not stand a chance.

Number Ninety-One might not sound like a terrifying number, but considering it was culled from over a thousand fiends, one could easily imagine the sheer extent of its power. Yet, a creature like that had...

Sang Shi had regained consciousness halfway through the battle and was immediately paralyzed with terror. That fiend had put up zero resistance against Wang Feng. Number Ninety-One! It had been beaten like a dog—and Wang Feng hadn't even used a weapon!

Beaten like a dog, fleeing like a dog. The fiend had tried to drop a few parting threats, but Wang Feng silenced it instantly with a bolt of lightning.

If Wang Feng hadn't been worried about Ye Yang and Chen Yun down below, that fiend would certainly be dead by now. On that point, Sang Shi firmly believed that even if the creature had wings, it would never have escaped.

"So terrifying. I must never provoke him..." Sang Shi thought, trembling with dread.

"Ring, ring, ring..."

Chen Yun stared blankly at the phone, not daring to move an inch. The girl was even more terrified than Sang Shi; she didn't even know if the person standing before her was human. This guy... actually ate monsters, actually ate Level 3 Predators.

"See who it is," the man said casually. Only then did Chen Yun dare to pick up the phone, though she still didn't dare to answer it. She just stammered, "It's... it's our intern teacher."

"What's his name?" the man asked, tilting his head. "Let's see if I know him."

"His name is Wang Feng..."

"Damn it! Don't you dare answer! Who gives a crap about him!" the man cursed bitterly. Chen Yun began to cry. Was this guy an enemy? What on earth was she supposed to do?

"You... are you Yao Jun?" Ye Yang blurted out the moment he regained consciousness, staring in astonishment. He had run into Yao Jun again! Should he call this good luck or bad luck? Though he wasn't dead, he really didn't want to see this guy.

***

"Hey, kiddo, it's only been a few days, and we're meeting again. What a coincidence," Yao Jun said, appearing quite cheerful as he picked his teeth. "By the way, I saved you, you know. You owe me another one."

"Uh... well, thanks a lot," Ye Yang said with an awkward smile, then asked, "What brought you out here?"

"Tch, if I hadn't happened to run into you, you'd have been digested by Predators long ago," Yao Jun said with disdain.

Cold sweat broke out across Ye Yang's forehead as he looked at the corpses of the monsters on the ground, and then... he decisively threw up. There were gaping holes in the chests of those monsters; needless to say, Yao Jun had just enjoyed another hearty meal.

"As for why I came here? Couldn't find anything to eat elsewhere, obviously. I only eat mutants and Predators—zombies are gross, absolutely disgusting," Yao Jun said leisurely. Chen Yun and Ye Yang wiped the sweat from their brows simultaneously. Did this guy actually know what 'disgusting' meant?

Yao Jun continued to chatter away: "I don't know what's gotten into this place lately; Predators and mutants have all gathered on this mountain. I figured a fiend must have shown up, so I just strolled along to check it out. Fiend innards are amazing for your health, you know!! What about you guys? How'd you fall down here?"

"Uh... we were knocked off the cliff by the exact fiend you wanted to eat," Ye Yang said, sweat pouring down like rain.

"Oh? It really is here? Up on the mountain?" Yao Jun's interest was instantly piqued, but after looking up, he shook his head. "Too high, can't climb up. Besides, that idiot Wang Feng is up there, so he's probably already taken care of it."

"Ring, ring, ring..."

The phone rang again—it was Ye Yang's mobile. Unlike Chen Yun, he wasn't quite as terrified of Yao Jun and pulled it straight out.

"Put it on speaker!" Yao Jun suddenly commanded. Ye Yang froze. Though he didn't know why, he still pressed the speakerphone button.

"You two idiots!! Why are you only answering now?!" Wang Feng's furious voice boomed from the device. Both of them instinctively covered their ears; the voice sounded as though it had been supercharged by lightning, nearly shattering the phone.

"Damn it! Idiot Wang Feng, you have the nerve to yell at others? You utter moron!" Yao Jun immediately lunged forward and launched into a tirade of abuse directed straight at the phone.

"..." Absolute silence reigned from the receiver. After a long while, Wang Feng asked in bewilderment, "Yao Jun?"

"Yo? You idiot still remember my voice? Not completely senile yet, huh! Damn it, you moron, you can't even handle being an intern teacher properly, letting your students nearly get themselves killed. If it weren't for me, you'd be crying your eyes out right now, you fool."

Ye Yang was completely dumbfounded, and Chen Yun wore a blank expression. Well, to be fair, after this battle they really despised Wang Feng, but they wouldn't dare curse him out like that. The man was the Thunder Emperor, yet Yao Jun chewed him out for a full ten minutes straight without pausing for breath.

"Idiot, you're no Thunder Emperor—you just like showing off. Go jump off a cliff," Yao Jun ranted further. "I'm taking the two kids with me, heading to the refugee camp on the west side. You can send someone to pick them up yourself, you moron."

With a snap, the call disconnected. Yao Jun snapped his fingers and said, "Let's move. Ignore that idiot, big brother's gonna take you both to see the world..."

"..." Ye Yang and Chen Yun exchanged glances, both wearing a bitter smile. Might as well go—neither of them wanted to be eaten by Yao Jun.

Up on the cliffside, Wang Feng stared up at the sky in gloomy frustration before letting out a long sigh. "Let's go. Head to the refugee camp first. If it's that guy... they should be fine. After all, he is one of the Five Tigers, and not a hack like your teacher."

"Call Lin Tian and your teacher, tell them to send me backup. I'm going to raze this mountain to the ground! Number Ninety-One Fiend-Eater? Damn it! I'll hunt him to the ends of the earth!" Wang Feng declared bitterly.

Sang Shi nodded repeatedly, not even daring to object when Wang Feng called his teacher a hack. He had never seen the Thunder Emperor fly into such a rage before; even with Ye Yang falling off the cliff, it shouldn't have provoked quite this extreme a reaction.