Chapter 20: Annoyed

Smelling the aroma of meat, Snow Cake bounded over, crying out, "HISS, WHIMPER."

"TCH, TCH, TCH~"

Han Ning smiled and tossed it a few small, diced pieces of beef. The little guy ate with its tail wagging furiously.

After eating and drinking its fill, Snow Cake played with a small piece of compressed biscuit by his feet. Han Ning leaned back on the sofa, watching it, and fell into deep thought.

He looked out the window at the still-pouring rain, his brows slightly furrowed as he thought, "Snow Cake's growth rate is very fast, and its combat effectiveness is quite good. Bringing it along tomorrow will definitely be a help, but... Zhou Wan is too observant. I told them before that I dissected the cub, so it wouldn't be good to directly expose Snow Cake to them.

"I can't take the risk."

He finally made up his mind. "For the first few days of hunting, I won't take Snow Cake out. I'll let it eat more at home. Once it grows a bit more and becomes stronger, or... when my relationship with the others gets closer, I'll reconsider."

Speaking of which, he had only met those people once or twice. He had no idea what his teammates were thinking or what their personalities were like. Rashly exposing his trump card would be truly unwise.

The next morning.

The rain was slightly lighter today, though the sky remained overcast. The five-person team carefully navigated through the flooded green belts of the apartment buildings.

"At the corner to the front left, I've spotted a lone Crocodile Lizard. It's medium-sized and seems to be gnawing on some sort of corpse," Zhou Wan transmitted to the other teammates through a residential security walkie-talkie from a second-floor window of an apartment building.

"The usual," Liu Feng issued the command. "Han Ning, control it. Chen Yan, take the front. Minghu, flank it from the side. Zhou Wan and I will attack from a distance."

Standing in the sewage below the building, the four men locked onto the target based on the information Zhou Wan had provided. It was a Crocodile Lizard nearly two meters long, its grayish-white scales covered in foul blood. It had its head buried, tearing at a human corpse.

Han Ning gave his teammates a meaningful glance, and the group quietly approached until they were twenty meters away from the Crocodile Lizard. Upon entering this range, the feeding Crocodile Lizard sharply sensed something. It abruptly raised its head, its cold, merciless gaze locking onto Han Ning and the other three.

"ROAR!!"

It showed no fear. Instead, it let out an excited low growl, abandoned the prey beneath it, and charged directly at the humans.

With a mere thought from Han Ning, ten vines covered in sharp Wooden Thorns instantly shot out.

SWISH, SWISH, SWISH!

The vines precisely entangled the Crocodile Lizard's limbs, neck, and long tail, pinning it in place.

"ROAR! ROAR!"

The Crocodile Lizard let out angry, hissing roars, struggling madly. The toughness of the Intermediate Vine Technique far exceeded what it had been before, and the Crocodile Lizard was unexpectedly unable to break free. It could bind a three-meter Giant Crocodile Lizard for a moment, let alone this "little" guy that wasn't even two meters long.

"HA!"

Chen Yan bellowed, charging forward like a human tank, his skin shimmering with a rock-like, grayish-white luster. He raised his heavy fire axe and hacked fiercely at the relatively fragile side joint of the Crocodile Lizard's neck.

SQUELCH!

The axe blade embedded deeply into the gaps of its Scale Armor, and foul blood splattered.

Almost simultaneously, Lu Minghu's figure appeared like a phantom behind and to the side of the Crocodile Lizard. The Oil Saw in his hands emitted an ear-piercing BUZZ. Aiming for the wound caused by Chen Yan's chop, the high-speed rotating saw teeth cut in without hesitation.

RIP.

Amidst the teeth-grinding sound of cutting, blood and flesh flew in all directions. Following that, a silver-white long nail and a black Compound Bow arrow shot over from two different directions, sinking precisely into the Crocodile Lizard's eyes.

"HOWL!!"

The Crocodile Lizard wailed in pain and gradually grew completely silent.

A pure blue Energy Light Group drifted out from the Crocodile Lizard's corpse and rapidly split apart. The largest stream, about the size of a marble, sank into Han Ning's chest. Two slightly smaller streams flew toward Chen Yan and Lu Minghu, while the smallest stream drifted toward Liu Feng and Zhou Wan in the distance.

[Vine Technique Skill Level +5, Current: 102/200]

[Druid Growth Progress +14, Current: 85/300]

The familiar warm current dissolved within Han Ning's body, slightly restoring his stamina, Spiritual Power, and Spirit. He keenly noticed that a small portion of the warm current that entered his body was transmitted to Snow Cake back at home through some mysterious connection.

[Swamp Crocodile Lizard Growth Progress +5, Current: 10/100]

This meant that while he was here hunting monsters, Snow Cake could also receive a slight nourishment of Energy.

Just as Han Ning was enjoying the wash of Energy within his body, he suddenly sensed a strange shift in the surrounding atmosphere. Next to him, Chen Yan was unusually silent.

Han Ning turned his head to look. Chen Yan flicked the foul blood off his axe. His gaze happened to meet Han Ning's eyes, and his Adam's apple bobbed imperceptibly. He opened his mouth and ultimately spoke.

"Why is it that you always get the most Energy? You obviously only controlled the Crocodile Lizard and didn't deal any significant damage to it."

Those few axe strikes of his had nearly cleaved open half of the Crocodile Lizard's neck, consuming a massive amount of his strength. Yet, the Energy Light Group he received was visibly smaller than what Han Ning got from just casually tangling it up.

"What are you trying to say?" Han Ning looked straight at Chen Yan without the slightest fear.

This guy had been obstructing him since yesterday when he wanted to take Snow Cake away, and now he was expressing dissatisfaction over the Energy distribution. Naturally, Han Ning wasn't going to give him a friendly reaction.

"Nothing, I just feel like it's a bit unfair," Chen Yan coldly snorted.

Lu Minghu turned off his Oil Saw and silently wiped the blood and flesh off the blade without making a peep.

At this moment, Liu Feng and Zhou Wan walked over. The former patted Chen Yan's shoulder and encouraged, "Old Chen, beautifully done. Our teamwork is getting better and better."

He didn't seem to have heard the exchange between the two. Noticing the abnormal atmosphere, he frowned slightly. "What's wrong with you guys?"

"Old Chen feels like he put in the most effort, yet Han Ning got too much Energy," Lu Minghu explained.

Hearing this, Liu Feng calmly glanced at Han Ning and Chen Yan. He chuckled and said, "Han Ning is strong. Without his vines, how could we hunt monsters so easily? It's perfectly reasonable for him to get the most."

Chen Yan's tone carried dissatisfaction as he continued, "I admit, his vines did play a huge role, but none of our abilities were fully displayed...

"We still aren't clear on how exactly this Energy is distributed. Since Minghu and I killed the Crocodile Lizard, it means the two of us dealt the most damage to it.

"However, the majority of the Energy was transmitted into Han Ning's body. This means... he either possesses some method we don't know about to control the Energy.

"Or it's possible his strength far exceeds ours, and he's just using us as tools to share the risk while he absorbs more Energy."

"So what do you want?" Han Ning narrowed his eyes. He hadn't expected someone to be upset over this kind of situation. If he got a smaller share, couldn't he just kill a few more monsters? Without him, could the team kill monsters this easily?

Chen Yan said coldly, "What I mean is, next time we're about to kill a Crocodile Lizard, try standing a bit further away."

"On what grounds?" Han Ning was so angered by the other party's words that he laughed.

"You can't take the biggest share every time while we act as your assistants and only get a few scraps, right?" Chen Yan immediately retorted.

"Then..."

Han Ning wanted to say more but was quickly stopped by Liu Feng. He stood between the two of them and mediated, "Alright, alright. Although we get less, the hunting efficiency of the whole team is high. In the grand scheme of things, it doesn't make much of a difference. This is a mutually beneficial cooperation."