Chapter 598
Outside the Giant Beasts Forest, the main campsite.
It has been 1 day since the return of the elite expedition team…
A lot of the citizens didn’t think that much of their expedition effort.
The outskirt of the forest is a safe area. Even if the forest isn’t as safe as it was before, they can still somehow survive on the outskirts. As long as they don’t go into the inner regions they would be fine.
On the outskirts, the monsters are very weak. In the inner regions, there are at least peak tier 7 monsters, tier 8 monsters ruled the land. With their average level being around tier 7, led by a bunch of tier 8 leaders, their expedition efforts had little chance of most of them coming back alive in the first place.
Even Lei Wang himself predicted that the majority of the expedition team would not come back alive.
Actually, Lei Wang wanted to use more tier 8 individuals to investigate. But, the royals insisted on testing the younger generation with Sylph leading them. Indeed, it would have been easy to construct an expedition team made up of about 50 tier 8 individuals, however, any more than that then they would be severely lacking competent members to defend their factions and countries. A 50-member team of tier 8 individuals is still better than a team of tier 7 combatants.
Elite expedition team, that’s just a fancy name coined by the factions who want to show their loyalty by sending personnel without expecting any of them to come back. Seriously, they assumed that other than Sylph, Fei Fei, Bing Ling, and Bishi, all of them would die from internal conflicts or monster brawls.
Lei Wang’s original plan was to let them do as they please, using their trump cards to escape if things get dicey. Then, with his personal team of about 13 specially selected experts, they were supposed to be the true A-team.
Contrary to his expectation, not only did the elite team come back alive, they even successfully completed what they were sent out to do. The casualties were minimal with 0 deaths.
This is truly unfathomable to Lei Wang. He wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him.
After that, Lei Wang received oral reports from Fei Fei, Sylph, Bing Ling, and Bishi. They told him about everything that transpired during this expedition. Turns out Wu Yan was basically the reason why they returned alive at all.
Lei Wang is basically over the moon joyful right now, not only did Wu Yan complete his request to look out for Fei Fei, he got the whole expedition team back in one piece. This is way better than the grim alternative.
Of course, his mood was quickly spoiled by the news of the Beast king.
“I see, so there is a Beast King…”
With a grave expression, he drew lines in the table with his fingers without conscious thought. His heart felt very heavy. It negated the pleasure that should have accompanied the completion of the mission.
Lei Wang laughed and he slapped Fei Fei’s shoulder.
“Don’t worry too much about it. You guys did your job and a reward is in order!”
Fei Fei lowered her head and she bitterly chuckled.
“No, if Yan wasn’t around, the expedition team would have most likely been eliminated by the Beast king…”
Bing Ling and Bishi said nothing. They are feeling even worse than Fei Fei. At least she tried to fight the Beast King. They gave up without holding their ground…
Lei Wang guffawed.
“Indeed, he has done well this time around. It was wise of me to consult him and request his help. I heard about the miraculous gadgets at his disposal. Now I am not sure whether I should present my offerings at the risk of embarrassing myself with giving him items he would deem useless.”
Wu Yan would plead for him to rethink if he was here. Even if the item turns out to be useless, he can at least sell them to the System for a tidy sum of points. An item from a tier 9 individual should be of a sufficient quality after all.
“I believe all of you also gained a lot of experience, right?”
Lei Wang looked at the squad leaders.
“I can sense some of you grew quite a lot during this expedition trip. The next task for those that gained improvements in their cultivation would be to stabilize and assimilate the benefit properly.”
“Erm, about that, Fei Fei got the jump on you all…”
Lei Wang grinned widely.
“I think Lulu and your teacher would be very glad to hear all about it. They might even lose sleep because of how excited they are at hearing your advancement into tier 8.”
Fei Fei also smiled back after listening to Lei Wang’s praise. Her advancement into a higher tier is definitely a cause for celebration.
Sylph suddenly interrupted them.
“Master Lei Wang, about Master Yakumo Yukari…”
Lei Wang stored away his grin. He adopted a more serious look.
“Did Yakumo Yukari really defeat the Beast King?”
Fei Fei, Sylph, Bing Ling, and Bishi froze up. They all nodded their heads with honesty and due formality. They saw the scene themselves, how could they have been mistaken in the first place?
“Beating the Beast King with ease, huh…”
Lei Wang had a very respectful and admiring tone.
“Where did this master Yukari hail from? I wonder how did such a super-grade expert escape our intel network. Did you say he was summoned by Wu Yan with some kind of summoning magic? I have never heard of her name, even your description of her appearance failed to match with any of the five demigod humans I know…”
The squad leaders couldn’t give a proper response. They are still young and legendary figures like the five demigod humans are beyond their knowledge at the moment.
“Could it be…”
Lei Wang drummed his fingers on the table.
“That master Yukari is actually a human who just attained demigodhood?”
“No, that can’t be…”
Lei Wang denied his own hypothesis.
“That would be a frightening individual if that was the case, to defeat a monster demigod Beast King while being just as new as the latter. No, even so, we would have at least heard of a tier 9 individual if she was so close to the demigod tier. It’s like she appeared out of thin air!”
“Master Lei Wang…”
Bing Ling hesitated. He wasn’t sure if it was his place to say anything.
“That Yukari-sama appears to be someone very close with Wu Yan, their relationships appear to be very close almost intimate even…”
Lei Wang eyed Bing Ling and he nonchalantly dismissed him.
“So what if that’s the case?”
Bing Ling was stunned for a second.
Lei Wang sighed after looking at Bing Ling’s face.
“I know what you’re thinking about. It would be the fucking awesome to have a demigod supporting you from behind, you can basically do anything you want in this world…”
“But, have you ever considered the fact that demigods are standing at the top of this world? The true depths of their capabilities are beyond our present boundaries of knowledge”
Lei Wang looked at Bing Ling.
“If you’re thinking about somehow enticing that demigod then I would urge you to think carefully about your actions. Your family and clan isn’t the only thing on the line here, tread carefully and even then you should still exercise caution, that’s my only advice to you.”
Bing Ling’s expression froze up and he started looking very upset.
Lei Wang turned around. He waved his hand.
“I don’t know about you people but I can’t and won’t fight or even aim for Yukari-sama. The same goes for the young lad. If I were you, I would put a stop to whatever schemes I am designing right now…”
Bing Ling pursed his lips. He had a complex look as he exchanged a look with Bishi. They thought about it and they gave up.
This wasn’t their problem. They should just report it to the higher-ups in their own clans and let them worry about it.
In a corner unseen by the others, a ripple in space occurred.
Over at the campsite, a figure in purple held her parasol while grinning. She was watching the exchange from her weird portal like construction. The portal looked very sinister with eyes dotting the inside of the portal. In other words, a standard operating procedure for the spy known as Yakumo Yukari.
The corner of her lips lifted up into a smile. Fanning herself, she opened another portal filled with weird eyes. This was one of her abilities. The ability to open up gaps in space, simply named Gap.