Chapter 22: Conflict

In the ruins, Han Ning struggled to push away the debris pressing down on him. The searing pain from his left arm made his vision go dark.

Gritting his teeth, he used his still-functioning right hand to cast the Rejuvenation Technique. A faint green light enveloped the bone-deep wound, barely managing to staunch the bleeding.

He thought, "Thankfully... my body was protected by the Tree Skin Technique, or else that monster would have sliced my entire arm off..."

Han Ning recalled the giant lizard's terrifying strength; it was simply not something he could withstand right now.

Protected by the Tree Skin Technique and with the Rejuvenation Technique stopping the bleeding, he had only suffered some external injuries and could still fight. However, he didn't attack immediately. Leaning against a cold shelf, he panted heavily as his gaze swept across the battlefield.

Chen Yan and Lu Minghu were awkwardly dodging the giant lizard's attacks. Standing slightly further back, Liu Feng and Zhou Wan were desperately trying to help the two men buy some time.

Although it looked like a fierce battle, the reality was that the four of them were merely fleeing in panic without any room to fight back. This monster... they couldn't defeat it!

"We can't beat it! We can't beat it at all! I'll cover you guys! Minghu, grab Han Ning and retreat, hurry!"

In the center of the fray, Liu Feng had also realized their predicament. Looking at the blood-soaked Chen Yan, he quickly used his ability to move a large wooden plank, temporarily blocking the giant lizard's line of sight.

Seizing the opportunity under Liu Feng's cover, the two men at the front retreated from the front lines. As they passed by Han Ning, Chen Yan didn't even look back, sprinting straight toward the mall's entrance.

Lu Minghu hesitated for a second. Gritting his teeth, he half-dragged, half-pulled the heavily injured Han Ning out of the rubble. Liu Feng repeatedly used his Telekinesis, throwing all sorts of debris into their escape route to block the way, while Zhou Wan fired arrows to harass the giant lizard's eyes.

The five of them fought as they retreated. Thanks to the giant lizard's relatively slow speed, they managed to scramble out of the abandoned mall. Worried that the beast might charge after them, they didn't linger. Wading through the accumulated water, they swam all the way back toward their residential complex in one breath.

Back at the relatively safe apartment building stronghold, the atmosphere had dropped to a freezing point.

Han Ning let Zhou Wan bandage his wounds. Staring coldly at Chen Yan, he asked, "There was no debris under your feet at all. Why did you fall during such a critical moment?"

The monster's target hadn't been Chen Yan to begin with. Moreover, Chen Yan had been at the monster's side at the time, yet he had taken absolutely no action. It was worth noting that his original role had been to use his sturdy physique to draw the enemy's fire and protect his teammates.

Chen Yan didn't quite dare to meet Han Ning's gaze. Panting heavily, he defended himself, "That monster was too fierce! I... I was scared stiff! I didn't have time to help you..."

"Didn't have time? I'm afraid you never had any intention of helping at all, did you?"

"What do you mean?!" Chen Yan jumped up as if his tail had been stepped on. "Didn't we save you in the end?!"

"Saved me?" Han Ning's tone became unusually calm. "Was it you who saved me, you piece of shit? Didn't you tuck your tail and run away first like a spineless coward?"

Hearing Han Ning's blunt insult, Chen Yan's face instantly darkened. "Don't spit venom! Who could react in time in that situation? You think you're the only one who put in the effort? When I was tanking at the front..."

"I'm spitting venom? Say that one more time, I dare you."

Han Ning narrowed his eyes. Without waiting for Chen Yan to finish speaking, a thick, dark green vine suddenly shot out from his hand.

"Oh no!"

The expressions of the other three people present drastically changed upon seeing this scene.

Fluorescence flickered in Liu Feng's eyes as he reached his hand toward the vine. Lu Minghu leaped up, striking at the vine. Zhou Wan stood off to the side, watching coldly.

A hint of panic finally surfaced on Chen Yan's face as he hurriedly dodged to the side. Under Liu Feng and Lu Minghu's interference, the vine's trajectory shifted slightly, but it still slammed into Chen Yan with undiminished momentum.

SQUELCH!

The tip of the dark green vine pierced directly into Chen Yan's left shoulder. Drops of blood trickled down from the vine's thorns.

His face twisted in pain, Chen Yan grabbed the vine and pulled it out bit by bit with all his might. Meanwhile, the other three blocked Han Ning's path, preventing him from launching another attack.

"That's enough, Han Ning. For my sake, spare his life," Liu Feng said, looking straight into Han Ning's eyes with a pleading look.

Han Ning snorted coldly and scattered the vine.

After two seconds of silence, Liu Feng continued, "Old Chen, apologize to Han Ning. You were indeed in the wrong earlier."

"Who the fuck does he think he is? If we hadn't crossed over to this place, I could have casually called a few of my boys to beat this guy to death." Clutching his bleeding shoulder as if he had just heard a joke, Chen Yan's gloomy face was full of defiance. "I'll put it bluntly. From now on, it's either him or me. Brother Feng, make your choice!"

"You!" Liu Feng's expression twisted. He looked at Han Ning, then at Chen Yan, and was about to speak.

However, at this moment, Han Ning suddenly spoke up.

"There's no need for you to make a choice. I'm leaving the team.

"We walk different paths, so there's no point in working together. Leveling up? Heh... you guys go level up by yourselves."

He had seen Liu Feng's hesitation. It was clearly that idiot Chen Yan who had pulled a dirty trick, yet Liu Feng actually hesitated. Without looking back, Han Ning turned and left.

Liu Feng didn't stop him, simply watching Han Ning walk away. Only when Han Ning's back completely disappeared from the room did Liu Feng frown and say, "Han Ning is boiling with rage right now. I'll personally go over and apologize to him a bit later.

"His combat strength is very high. Without him in our team, our hunting efficiency will be greatly reduced."

Chen Yan sneered. "Why the hell would you go look for him? Without him, our hunting efficiency might drop, but we'll be able to absorb more Energy.

"Besides, our strength has improved quite a bit over the past few days. Hunting some smaller Crocodile Lizards shouldn't be a problem."

CLICK.

The cold security door locked shut behind him, completely isolating the faint arguments in the corridor and the sound of the torrential rain outside. Inside Room 803, only the monotonous sound of raindrops tapping against the glass remained, along with the RUSTLE of snow cake's scales rubbing against the floor as it crawled.

"Hiss?"

Seemingly sensing its master's depressed mood, snow cake slithered over to Han Ning's feet and gently rubbed its cold head against his calf.

Han Ning walked over to the sofa and sat down.

He thought, "Liu Feng and Chen Yan clearly knew each other before crossing over. With an idiot like Chen Yan's personality, staying with them will lead to disaster sooner or later.

"Chen Yan..."

He closed his eyes and took a deep breath, suppressing the surging anger within him. If it hadn't been for the Tree Skin Technique, he would have been severely injured, if not dead. This matter wasn't over!

If the other two hadn't stopped him earlier, and if he hadn't given Liu Feng some face, he would have killed Chen Yan right then and there. He wasn't confident in his ability to take on four Awakened all at once. Anger couldn't solve the problem. Han Ning gradually calmed down.

Without a team, he could only hunt alone. The efficiency definitely wouldn't be as high as before, but it wasn't entirely a bad thing. He still had snow cake.

Han Ning's gaze fell upon the little guy at his feet. After days of frantic feeding and Energy nourishment, snow cake's size had quietly grown to nearly a meter long, and its grayish-white scales had become even thicker and harder. Most importantly, through their Soul Contract, snow cake was absolutely loyal to him.

"Even without them, I can survive on my own," he thought. "And... I won't necessarily be worse off!"