Li Rui was sprinting along the mountain path.
He had already entered the outer area of the mist, knowing that this mist had nothing to do with the Rain Summoner from the organization and was summoned by creatures from the Secret Realm, full of malice and killing intent.
He wore the administrator's jacket; all other whiteboard equipment was non-permanent and couldn't be used in reality.
After sprinting through the mist for a while, a sudden warning arose in his heart. Li Rui stomped his right foot on the ground to halt his momentum and rolled to the side.
Boom!
Thick branches descended from the sky, dispersing the mist, and smashed a large pit into the ground.
Li Rui looked up and saw a massive, unknown tree seemingly come to life, resembling the ancient trees of war in games, a giant shadow in the mist.
Facing such a monster, he couldn't afford to hesitate; Wang Huai's life and death were unknown, and even a second of delay could be fatal.
He flickered and activated the skill taught by Chongxuzi, the Shenxiao Thunderbolt Heart Scripture.
In an instant, arcs of electricity began to coil around his body.
Sizzle!
Under the boost of the skill, Li Rui transformed into a fleeting shadow, sweeping toward the gigantic figure.
The tree demon's branches whipped toward him but couldn't match the physique empowered by the Shenxiao Thunderbolt Heart Scripture.
Boom——
Li Rui jumped from the ground, dodging all attacks, and in the next moment, he was at the top of the ancient tree, seeing a dead-looking human face.
Meanwhile, the skill was ready, and the blood vessels and veins in his right hand began to glow.
But at this moment, an abrupt change occurred, and the Secret Realm system suddenly sent a prompt.
[Fusion successful, gained temporary skill: Thunderbolt Palm.]
[Thunderbolt Palm lv2 (temporary)]
[Rarity: Legendary.]
[Attack category: Fists and palms.]
[Effect: Initial hybrid attack, physical attacks gain bonuses from physique and spirit attributes, critical hits on face, thunder attribute attacks benefit from spirit, part of Five Thunders Skill's Divine Thunder, suppresses evil spirits.]
Li Rui was astonished; Big Bidoo could actually fuse with the Shenxiao Thunderbolt Heart Scripture, creating a new skill!
He hadn't known about this, as the skill description never mentioned it.
Crackle!
In the urgency of the moment, Li Rui disregarded everything else and directed all the thunder towards his hand, delivering a full-force palm strike at the ancient tree's face.
Boom!!!
The thunder enveloped Big Bidoo's shock effect, along with its own critical attack. In a deafening roar, the upper part of the tree demon was completely blasted away.
The level 10 monster was killed instantly in a single encounter, while Li Rui was only level 6, due to high attributes, but undoubtedly also due to the fusion skill Thunderbolt Palm.
Having killed the tree demon, he didn't even glance at what it had dropped and continued forward without hesitation.
Wang Huai most likely entered here, and the monsters appearing were akin to natural disasters for ordinary people, leaving them defenseless.
Li Rui's heart was heavy as he sprinted forward. He soon encountered two more tree demons, and after instantly killing them, his energy bar was depleted. The Shenxiao Thunderbolt Heart Scripture was indeed powerful, but its consumption was substantial.
However, it was no trouble; his inventory contained plenty of Spirit Recovery Potions, which he consumed without reserve.
After another burst of speed running, Li Rui finally saw two figures ahead, recognizable by their uniforms, one of them being Wang Huai.
But his mood didn't lighten, as the two figures were suspended in the air, with a split tree branch locking their necks and hanging them above.
Truth be told, Li Rui felt rare fear, afraid that the two had already turned into cold corpses.
Wang Huai's care over the years remained etched in his memory, never forgotten for a moment. To him, Wang Huai was almost like a half-foster father. If he had died just like that, Li Rui couldn't accept it and didn't know how to face Du Yuying and Wang Jia.
He charged forward, broke the branches, and laid them on the ground, observing their darkened faces and the branch choking their necks that prevented breathing.
Li Rui forced himself to remain calm, first breaking the life-locking branches, then reaching out to check; discovering both still had heartbeats finally allowed him to breathe a sigh of relief.
Good thing he came in time.
He looked at Wang Huai's tight-knit brows and blue-purple skin, imagining how terrified and tormented they had been before falling unconscious.
Li Rui took a deep breath and stood up, sensing some dangerous aura behind him.
"Brother, come play with us, hide and seek!"
Li Rui turned expressionlessly.
Sizzle.
The anger in his heart and the thunder on his body surged simultaneously; he couldn't tell which one made his blood boil.
...
Liu Shanshan was already level 28; her profession was Ranger, possessing a skill called Pace Like the Wind, allowing her to move at extreme speed through the mountains and forests. She nearly skimmed over the tree crowns in the forest to arrive at area 17.
At this moment, special police had sealed the area; at the edge of the mountain region, the commander was reporting the situation.
"Officer, there are only two people at checkpoint 17: one borrowed police officer from Huangliang City's Locust Tree Police Station, Wang Huai, and the other a village accountant, Li Lu. Both are missing, with only some watermelon rinds left at the entrance to the mountains."
Liu Shanshan nodded: "You stay; I'll go in to find them."
"Officer, there's something else."
"What?"
"Next to those watermelon rinds, we found a third person's footprints."
Liu Shanshan started, though she didn't show it.
Her thoughts raced, seeking a reasonable explanation.
"Could it be an illegal Secret Realm agent...."
She suddenly considered the worst outcome, considering if someone with the ability to enter the Secret Realm but not bound by the Superpower Division had kidnapped the two checkpoint people, making the situation extremely complicated.
However, she thought this was unlikely, as all Secret Realm agents within major nations were largely under government oversight, globally, illegal agents mainly operated within disorderly small countries.
In Dragon Country, there were occasional malicious incidents, but they seldom occurred in overlapping real-world locations due to abundant police force and numerous official Secret Realm agents.
Still, she prudently reported the situation to Baili Association before heading into the mist alone.
From her inventory, she retrieved a wrist arrow and a dagger.
Besides these visible weapons, more hidden weapons lay on her person. She specialized in non-frontline combat, yet in a level 10 real-world overlap, most monsters posed no threat to her.
Nevertheless, Liu Shanshan cautiously moved forward within the mist; normal people without a sense of killing intent would advance this way.
Soon, she reached the first battleground spot, where the tree demon was blown apart, its broken body parts scattered everywhere.
A ranger adept at environmental observation, Liu Shanshan immediately perceived that this tree demon possessed by a Great Root Spirit was instantaneously killed.
"At least level ten."
She was confident in her judgment.
"Just don't know the profession, can't tell."
Many spellcasting professions could unleash lightning strikes; she couldn't conclude temporarily.
The sole relief she felt was that since the powerful mysterious individual also battled with tree demons, it suggested the individual might not be malevolent, although it was only a possibility.
More cautiously, Liu Shanshan explored forward, soon finding more battlefield signs—all indicating instant kill.
Her evaluation of the mysterious individual improved further.
Walking a few steps more, she found two people on the ground, unconscious but breathing steadily—the scattered branches and strangulation marks around their necks told enough.
Liu Shanshan had guessed the basic situation; however, the one saving people and slaying so many real-world monsters remained unknown.
Continuing down the trail, she reached a more surprising sight.
A large number of monsters lay dead in the forest, not a single one surviving, creating a road paved with corpses.
Not much further, she saw a tall figure amid the thinning mist.
"Freeze, I am a Superpower Division Secret Realm agent. Please identify yourself."
Concerning safety, despite believing the other person seemed good, she still raised the wrist arrow.