"What the hell do you know? Do you even understand the situation weâre in right now?"
Saliva flew from Wen Yuâs mouth as he raged.
"Youâre such an idiot! I really donât understand how youâve survived this long!
"Canât you see what weâre dealing with? Theyâre all damn Third-level Demon Fiends!
"Third-level! Every single one of them is Third-level! Just like this one!"
Wen Yu pointed at the professionistâs corpse on the ground.
"He couldnât even take one hit! He couldnât even buy us time! Besides wasting our food and water, heâd waste our healing potions, and even worse, heâd waste your energyâthe precious energy of a powerful combatant like yourself! What use was he alive?
"How many days have we been traveling? Tell me, how many days?"
Williamâs face turned ashen. He gritted his teeth and spat out, "One day!"
"And how many days do we *need* to travel? Ten days! Thatâs ten whole days!
"On the first day, how many people died? How many healing potions did we use up? How many Demon Fiends did we kill? Tell me! Tell me!"
William remained completely silent this time.
"You tell me, how am I supposed to save him? What reason could I possibly have to save him?"
Wen Yu dropped his hands and shouted at the silent crowd nearby, "Iâm making it clear to all of you right now! From this moment on, apart from a select few, the rest of you will not receive treatment if youâre injuredâunless you perform exceptionally well and prove your worth to me!
"If youâre injured, especially with wounds that impair your mobility, you will die. If you fall behind, you will die. If you shrink back in battle, you will also die. If you want to live, then fight for your damn lives!
"Keep moving!"
Wen Yu ordered loudly, and the team continued onward, the oppressive atmosphere weighing heavily on them!
...
"Perhaps you shouldnât have put it that way."
The only person who dared to say such things to Wen Yu at this point was Jiang Wentao.
"Hmm."
Wen Yu nodded in acknowledgment, then explained, "I know itâs harsh and might upset some of them. But if I donât say it, the problem wonât get solved. Are we really going to waste a healing potion on him?
"Truthfully, Iâm not a very clever person; I prefer a more simple and direct approach. You can see it tooâright now, apart from a few individuals, the rest are just dead weight."
After Wen Yu finished, he fell silent.
Jiang Wentao patted Wen Yu on the shoulder and said, "Donât worry. Those with real strength will stand by you. As for those without strength or value..."
As Jiang Wentao spoke, a glint of ruthlessness flashed in his eyes.
"They absolutely wouldnât dare to cause any trouble. However, given the current situation, youâre still the publicly acknowledged leader. Itâs ultimately not good for you to be the one saying these things. So in the future, leave matters like this to me!"
Wen Yu looked at Jiang Wentao in surprise, then slowly nodded.
Jiang Wentao was intelligent, capable, and possessed excellent organizational skills. Most importantly, he had an outstanding strategic mind.
It was no exaggeration to say that if Wen Yu werenât the strongest, Jiang Wentao might be even better suited to lead this team!
...
Following a routine most suitable for their journey, they rested at sunrise and traveled at sunset.
In the blink of an eye, three days had passed.
Through the swirling yellow sand, a large dog slowly padded forward.
On its back was Princess Consort Feina, holding the Fourth Prince.
Over these three days, Cyclopsâs injury, treated within the Soul Realm space, had completely healed.
Behind Cyclops, a line of scar-covered professionists trudged along like walking corpses.
During these three days, guided by Ba Songâs ability, they hadnât encountered any major dangers.
Of course, "major dangers" here referred to those that could threaten powerful experts like Wen Yu.
The reduction in their numbers was evident: after several waves of Demon Fiend attacks, the count of professionists had plummeted to fewer than twenty.
However, this wasnât entirely a bad thing.
Firstly, their food and water supplies were now secure, enough to sustain them for over ten days.
Secondly, with many of the weaker individuals eliminated, those remaining were all elites with strong combat capabilities. Although everyone bore injuries, their overall combat strength was actually greater than before.
Sometimes, more people just meant a larger target, which wasnât necessarily advantageous!
Seeing the sun climb higher and the temperature begin to rise with unnatural speed, Wen Yu shouted loudly, "Stop!"
At Wen Yuâs command, the entire team slowly halted.
"Ba Song! Ba Song!"
"Brother Wen Yu, Iâm here."
Ba Song, who was nearby, hurried over.
Although Ba Song wasnât very strong, his ability was indispensable. Therefore, even though heâd been slightly injured during these three days, Wen Yu didnât mind giving him an intermediate healing potion.
"Find us a safe place to camp."
Ba Song acknowledged with a slight nod and immediately activated his Danger Prediction ability.
"This way."
Following Ba Songâs gesture, the entire team began moving toward the northeast.
...
The campsite Ba Song selected was in an area of jumbled stones.
"Brother Wen Yu, what do you think? This place is pretty good, right?" Ba Song asked with a fawning smile.
"Hmm."
Wen Yu nodded, quite satisfied with the chosen location.
The pile of stones offered shelter from wind and sun. The numerous obstructions within were also sufficient to block the line of sight of distant Demon Fiends, providing a modicum of concealment.
They set up camp directly under a strange, umbrella-shaped rock. Wen Yu then found Jiang Wentao to take stock of their supplies.
"We have enough food and drinking water. We donât have many healing potions left; there are only six intermediate healing potions remaining. We havenât used many advanced healing potions, so there are still six of those. However, Monkey is running low on ammunition, and thatâs the troublesome part."
Jiang Wentao reported to Wen Yu, causing him to frown.
Against Third-level Demon Fiends, the firearms Monkey wielded, while not overwhelmingly powerful, provided crucial suppressive fire and served to harass and slow them down. Under Monkeyâs superb skill, his submachine gun seemed to possess an almost inherent slowing effect. But ammunition would inevitably run out!
"Sigh, only three days have passed, and weâre already in this situation!"
Wen Yu rubbed his forehead forcefully. The grim circumstances made him somewhat agitated.
"And..."
Jiang Wentao hesitated. Seeing Wen Yuâs annoyed expression, he thought it over carefully but still decided to voice his thoughts.
"Also, thereâs something slightly off about this place."
"What is it?"
Wen Yu was taken aback by Jiang Wentaoâs words.
Under the current circumstances, Wen Yu placed great importance on Jiang Wentaoâs input.