Not more than ten minutes after Zhang Ye left riding on Hanxue, Zhang Yujie and the rest of the Ding Feng Corporation's party finally arrived at the grasslands.
However, seeing the area before them had obvious signs of activities of a huge crowd of creatures, yet the grasslands was empty, the expressions on their faces were simply a sight to behold.
"Someone got ahead of us. We came too late!" For the first time, Zhang Yujie's suave smile was missing from his handsome face, and he was gloomy.
"Zhang-shao, there should be a large herd of elephorses here not long ago, and seemed to have run in this direction. Should we give chase?" A warrior looked toward Zhang Yujie from the side, looking regretful, yet carried a hint of eagerness on his face.
"No, let's go back." Zhang Yujie turned his mount around instead, riding back in the direction he had come from.
Leaving the fact that the grasslands ahead was too far away from the safe zone, there were too many uncertain risks involved in pursuing them. Why would the elephorses around here previously migrate away? That added another layer of fog to Zhang Yujie's mind.
There must be something behind the anomaly. For safety reasons, he decided not to give chase.
He felt regretful, however, knowing that there was a large herd of Elephorses here, and yet all he did so far was all for naught.
...
A strong wind whistled, inflicting pain on any surface it touched.
The Red Nightmare Horse was like a scarlet bolt of lightning, whizzing through the vast grasslands at maximum speed, just like a supercar, but without the rumblings of the engine.
The oncoming wind kept blowing at his mouth and nose. Zhang Ye almost felt like he was suffocating, struggling to open his eyes.
He could only hug on to Hanxue's neck tightly, his body leaning forward, to let Hanxue take some of the air pressure off him. It was only then that it got a little better for him.
"This speed is freaking nearing two hundred kph, isn't it?"
After leaving earlier, in order to test how fast could Hanxue run, Zhang Ye told him to let loose and start running. And now, he discovered, to his misery, that this feeling was so amazing and yet terrible.
Other than the whistling of the wind, he almost couldn't hear anything else.
Although the experience of riding under such circumstances wasn't very good, Zhang Ye felt incredibly excited.
Just this alone, other than flying-type beasts, it was almost impossible for other ordinary exotic beasts to catch up to Hanxue. That also meant that his safety would be greatly helped from now on.
Moreover, Hanxue still had the Lightning Charge skill. With a flash during crucial moments, he could be two hundred meters away. Using it to avoid long range attacks or sneak attacks from enemies would simply prove be awesome when needed.
The only regret was that Lightning Charge has a cooldown time of half an hour; a pretty considerable flaw.
But even if it had a flaw, it was still a skill, and an attribute that only beasts at Commander quality or higher could have.
Unlike beasts who were below Commander quality, even if you wished for a useless skill, that dream would never be realized.
As such, Zhang Ye's lucky was really not bad.
The Commander-quality subdued beast, Hanxue, has a skill. His luck was as good as heaven-defying. One had to know that being Commander-quality was only the prerequisite of having a skill. Not all Commander-quality exotic beasts would have them.
Running at high speed, Zhang Ye suddenly felt that Hanxue seemed to have knocked into something. He hurriedly ordered it to slow down, to prevent hurting its legs.
After all, Hanxue's defensive capabilities were rather weak. Although it was still much better than ordinary animals, its safety wasn't guaranteed when running at high speed.
Haven't you heard of a bird causing an air accident, or a high speed jet being able to cut steel?
When speed reached a certain limit, even a speck of dust could contain extreme destructive force.
When Hanxue finally came to a stop, Zhang Ye hurriedly jumped off and checked on its limbs carefully. Even though this fellow didn't seem to look unwell in the least, Zhang Ye didn't dare to be careless.
Zhang Ye finished checking Hanxue's front limbs, and didn't discover any problems.
However, when his gaze fell onto Hanxue's left rear leg, his heart immediately tightened. An eye-catching blood stain entered his sight.
"He really was hurt!"
Zhang Ye hurriedly stooped down his body and went closer to take a better look. His anxiety was simply indescribable.
'Did Hanxue accidentally knock onto a rock or some other obstruction when it passed through the grasses earlier?.
'But other than looking a little fatigued, this fellow doesn't seem any out of the ordinary…'
When he got closer and took a better look, Zhang Ye discovered that the blood was only a stain on Hanxue's rear leg. This big fellow wasn't injured at all.
"Lucky… I was almost scared to death!"
The burden in his chest was lifted, and Zhang Ye finally felt relieved. Immediately afterwards, he couldn't help but wonder, -That blood stain, how exactly did it come about?-
Zhang Ye shifted his gaze in the direction he came from, then trotted back, focusing on whatever entered his vision. After walking less than a hundred meters out, he saw a badly mangled grey figure lying on the grass. It was shaped like a wild rabbit, but its size was as least two times bigger.
"This was the thing Hanxue stepped on earlier?"
Zhang Ye quickly walked closer. This rabbit-like creature's head was crushed into a mush of meat.
Even so, Zhang Ye's focus wasn't on that.
"Eh? What exotic beast is this? It actually left a corpse behind."
'According to the rules of the world on this side, other than fighting between exotic beasts, shouldn't there be no corpses left behind by the hunting of exotic beasts done bywarrior and mage?'
'Could it be that this rabbit-like creature wasn't an exotic beast, but an ordinary animal?'
Zhang Ye really wanted to check on this thing's attributes using his cheat, but there wasn't any reaction to it. Perhaps it was because this thing is already dead, and his cheat effects wouldn't be triggered.
Or, perhaps it was due to Hanxue not being his subdued beast, therefore its kill had left a corpse behind?
If that was truly the case, then that was undoubtedly a piece of good news.
Even so, he had no way of determining whether this thing was an animal or an exotic beast. As such, Zhang Ye was unable to wrap his mind around this matter in the end.
Unable to get a clear answer, Zhang Ye could only pick up this thing's corpse and continue forward in the end.
He could ignore this problem for now. The key thing was that he could eat some fresh meat tonight!
This was his first meal consisting of meat since he entered the beast world. Just thinking about it excited him!
"Here, here. We got some good stuff. Do you want some, Hanxue?" Zhang Ye lifted the rabbit-like creature's several kilograms-heavy corpse, waving it in front of Hanxue as he walked back to the Red Nightmare Horse's side.
Hanxue showed a disgusted expression, however. It took a few steps back, obviously not fond of the thing in Zhang Ye's hands.
Right, Hanxue was a herbivore. What did he mean by bringing a bloody corpse up to its face?
"Looks like we have a difference between us when it comes to food."
Zhang Ye shook his head, ignoring Hanxue's disgusted expression. Instead, he looked back at the spoils in his hand happily. It weighed over a dozen jin¹. Even after skinning it and removing its innards and bones, there should be about 3 to 4 kg left, enough for him for two or three meals.
Even so, here came the problem.
Lighters and the likes were useless in here. But he have Mera Mera no Mi so fire is not a problem.
"Forget it; I'll stop thinking about starting a fire for now, and go find a water source to clean this thing up first."
Shaking his head self-mockingly, Zhang Ye mounted onto Hanxue once more, scanning around him to look for the nearest source of water.
There would definitely be a stream somewhere in this vast grassland, no questions asked. Otherwise, what would the creatures living here drink? It was only a matter of time before he found it.
Zhang Ye shifted his gaze towards the horizon in a certain direction. That was one of the V-shaped outlines of the mountain range extending behind him.
That mountain range was so tall; there would probably be a mountain stream flowing along the ravines to the grasslands here. As long as he kept looking along the foot of the mountain range, he would surely find water. It was easier than searching in the endless grasslands.
Sure enough, before he even got close to the towering cliffs, Zhang Ye saw several waterfalls falling from an extremely high altitude, scattering into a curtain of mist.
It was pretty good this way. Even if he can't start a fire in the end, at least he could clean the carcass first.
...
Tian Lan City, the Ding Feng Corporation building…
Zhang Yujie was standing expressionlessly, like a lone pine tree. In front of him, an employee was bending his waist slightly, his head lowered, his forehead full of sweat.
"So, regarding that Sun Ye, you guys basically found nothing on him?" Without waiting for the employee to reply, Zhang Yujie waved his hand, gesturing for him to leave.
That employee immediately felt as if he was pardoned, and lowered his waist further, stepping backwards. Only when he reached the door did he turn around and leave. When he shut the door to this office, he let out a long sigh of relief. "Zhang-dashao¹ seems so amiable usually. I didn't expect him to have such a fearsome aura around him when he puts on a serious face. It seems like the Ding Feng Corporation has truly found a worthy successor!"
In the office, Zhang Yujie recalled his transaction with Zhang Ye previously. He couldn't help but reveal a slight bitter smile, shaking his head. Perhaps he shouldn't have acted so pretentiously, and thoroughly investigated that Sun Ye's identity earlier?
Thinking of his failed operation, and the ridiculing looks on his two good-for-nothing brothers, Zhang Yujie's mood took a dive.
He could faintly guess that Sun Ye must have had something to do with the sudden disappearance of the elephorse herd at the grasslands behind the mountain range, but the details of it really left him confused.
However, thinking of this, the depths of that Sun Ye's strength were really unfathomable.
Not only did he make the entire herd of elephorses leave, he even had the guts to go deeper into the grasslands. That was not something ordinary warrior could do easily.
"Forget it. The investigation ends here. It's better to make friends with that guy as best as we can in the future. It's way better to be friends than enemies with such a figure."
Zhang Yujie was thinking, since he already had a pleasant transaction with that Sun Ye, and they didn't have an acrimonious falling-out with each other for this matter, either, it would probably still greatly benefit himself and the Ding Feng Corporation if he made friends properly with him.
.....
Unlike how Zhang Yujie was so at ease, the few people who lost a White-Headed Falcon all had gloomy expressions on their faces when they returned in the end.
Especially the owner of the White-Headed Falcon, Old Lu. That was his most capable scout beast. He only got it through a stroke of luck back then, and it was a great assistant to him. Be it scouting for exotic beasts or hunting them, it had proved itself to be extremely useful.
Now that it lost its life on that grassland under such unknown circumstances, it truly left him bleeding in his heart, as if he had just lost his parents.
It could be said that they took a double loss on this impromptu operation that was born from greed. Without a pair of sharp eyes in the sky from today on, their profits would surely shrink by a large margin.
.....
The one responsible for all this, Zhang Ye, was currently squatting by the side of a converged stream of river under the foot of the mountain range, focused on cleaning the carcass of the unknown exotic beast in his hand.
The knife Huang Tielan had gifted him flew about up and down in his hand. First he cut off the smashed head, followed by skinning it and cutting it open from the chest, removing its innards. The series of actions was rather delightful.
Of course, it would be perfect if the skin and fur he threw away to the side weren't there.
"Tsk tsk, my technique still needs some polishing! Now, then, comes the noble problem that concerns the survival of humans; how to start a fire."
The ingredients were prepared.All he nned to do is to start a fire
"Making simple fire is easy i have a Mera Mera no Mi i'm literall a fire man."
Zhang Ye looked at the cliff not far away from him, as he strode over.
Walking to the face of the cliff, Zhang Ye looked for some firewood and chose a spot to place them. He looked at the stack of wood.'I need a simple fire if i got this wrong the whole forest will caught on fire'
In the next moment, Zhang Ye point his finger in fire wood and conjure some fire.
BOOOOOMMMM
A fire ball is made
"Gah, controlling Mera Mera no Mi is to hard ."
Zhang Ye fell silent for quite a while, looking blankly at the burn marks on the rock wall. He was too naive; this method didn't work at all.
'Ok let me try again'
Zhang Ye looked for some firewood and chose a spot to stack them,he point his finger in fire wood again and slowly conjure some fire.
Soon, a bunch of sparks flew down and landed on the grass he had placed on the ground. A wisp of green smoke immediately rose slowly, and quickly turned into a flame, illuminating Zhang Ye.
"Hahahahah now i have a fire i can start cooking"
Zhang Ye hurriedly used dried tree branches to layer on the burning grass from below like a cross and placed them under the pile of dried leaves and branches he had prepared beforehand. Soon, a vigorous bonfire was burning.
When the fat of that rabbit-like exotic beast racked above the fire was sizzling, its aroma wafted out, Zhang Ye really wanted to laugh out excitedly.
It wasn't easy, to finally have his first piping hot meal in the beast world!
However, before the roasted meat above the fire was fully cooked, Zhang Ye suddenly heard Hanxue neighing from the side, its voice filled with fear.
Zhang Ye hurriedly turned his head to look. In the bushes by the side, a group of brown-furred wolves had come up before he noticed them. Their green eyes were filled with their greedy desire for food.
Zhang Ye wasn't shocked, but pleasantly surprised by this.
'Good boys, did you know I was trying to collect more stamina pill so that i can start advance to Magician and you all came here to gift me some stamina pill piece!?'