Seeing that Liu Wei was about to be decapitated by the Giant Praying Mantis, Chu Tian immediately activated the talent suppression skill. He realized that this was an excellent skill to disguise his talent level. He quickly suppressed his aura to the E-level and launched a frozen ball at the mantis's head.
This momentary daze allowed Chu Tian to grab the hand of the talented warrior with the Tang knife and swiftly run towards a nearby building. While running, he created an ice wall to block the path of the Giant Praying Mantis.
Just as the ferocious beast was about to catch up to Chu Tian and the man with the Tang knife, they managed to enter the building safely.
The Giant Praying Mantis, due to its massive size, attempted to slash the walls of the building with its six scythe-like claws in frustration but soon realized it couldn't pose a threat to the two escaping individuals. With an angry roar, it turned and left.
Liu Wei took a deep breath and, after confirming that the Giant Praying Mantis had truly left, cast a hostile gaze toward Chu Tian.
"Are you meddling in my business? You actually scared away my prey. Do you know how much time I spent finding a C-grade beast like that? What are you going to do to compensate me?" Liu Wei's eyes glittered with greed. "Now, hand over your valuable items and money, and I won't hold you accountable for ruining my mission. Otherwise, I'll make sure a newcomer like you can't survive in the mercenary base."
Chu Tian felt a surge of anger hearing Liu Wei's shameless words. He regretted saving this person. His initially friendly expression turned cold.
"I'm sorry, I don't have any money, and I won't give you my life either," Chu Tian said before turning and leaving.
Expecting Liu Wei to follow and cause trouble, Chu Tian was surprised when the man didn't chase after him.
Leaving the building, Chu Tian decided to focus on completing the mission assigned by the system – to kill a D-level creature. He walked through three streets and arrived at a desolate square overgrown with weeds.
In the center of the square stood a statue of an eagle spreading its wings. The statue was covered in moss, and Chu Tian surveyed the area but found no signs of any beasts. However, in the distance, he noticed a weathered signboard indicating the presence of a dilapidated zoo across the road.
Seeing the zoo sign, Chu Tian knew there would likely be many beasts left behind in the zoo.
As he entered the zoo, he was greeted by signs pointing to various areas of the zoo. Unfortunately, most of these signs were rusted and unreadable.
"Reptile House. There should be D-grade beasts here," Chu Tian managed to decipher one sign, and he headed towards the nearest Reptile House.
The Reptile House was quite spacious, and Chu Tian felt like he had entered a haunted house. He had to stay vigilant as he knew that, while he was a C-grade talent warrior, same-grade beasts, especially awakened ones, often had stronger combat capabilities than human talent warriors of the same grade.
Inside the Reptile House, there were various snakes and lizards, but their highest grade was E-level. Chu Tian proceeded to kill and decompose these creatures, stashing their materials in his spatial bag. These materials could fetch a good price on the black market.
The system's voice kept ringing in Chu Tian's ears:
[Ding - Decomposition successful. Slight increase in strength/speed acquired.]
[Ding - Obtained materials, automatically stored in the spatial bag.]
[Ding - Host's physical qualities have reached the requirements for advancement. Advanced task unlocked: Slay a D-level beast, current progress (0/1).]
Despite the continuous notifications, Chu Tian couldn't help but remain on high alert. The real challenge was still ahead – finding and defeating a D-level beast.
However, at this point, the system seemed unable to detect any of Chu Tian's current numerical values. He wasn't sure if it was due to insufficient permissions or if the system was an unfinished prototype. He often heard the system mention slight increases in his strength and speed, but there were no details or data to confirm how much improvement had actually occurred. As a result, Chu Tian was uncertain about his current abilities.
The constant notifications about the talents of the beasts around him didn't faze Chu Tian. He focused on his task, drawing his longbow and using his ice-conjuring ability to kill the beasts. Afterwards, he would decompose them.
At this stage, the abilities granted by the system seemed rather trivial to Chu Tian, and he wasn't particularly interested in them. He saw the low-level beasts coming towards him as a way to gain experience points, like grinding in a game.
After clearing the reptile house and collecting a significant number of materials, Chu Tian proceeded deeper into the zoo.
Before long, he found himself in a large area with a dilapidated artificial water pool surrounded by rusted iron fences. Above, a glass dome once covered the area, but it had shattered into shards long ago.
Chu Tian surveyed the area but couldn't find anything special about the water pool. Yet, he had an uneasy feeling that this place was dangerous.
Just as he was about to continue deeper into the area, the murky green water in the pool suddenly splashed up as if a hand grenade had been tossed into it. A terrifying roar followed, and a massive figure leaped out of the water.
Chu Tian's eyes widened as he saw a giant crocodile emerge from the pool. This crocodile was over three meters long, covered in black scales, and had a wide mouth capable of swallowing Chu Tian whole.
"Ironclad Crocodile, a D-grade beast. I finally found you," Chu Tian muttered as he extended his hand. Gray light converged in his hand, forming a longbow. He placed an arrow on the bowstring and released it, sending an ice-conjured arrow flying toward the ironclad crocodile.
With a crisp sound, the ice arrow collided with the crocodile's ironclad body, shattering upon impact. However, the ice fragments immediately reformed. It seemed that the ironclad crocodile sensed the danger as it rapidly approached, using its powerful limbs to crawl towards Chu Tian.
The ice had not completely frozen the beast; it had only formed a thick layer on the crocodile's tail.
Feeling the attack, the ironclad crocodile became infuriated. It vigorously flung its strong limbs forward, opened its massive mouth, and let out a terrifying roar.
Chu Tian felt a foul wind carrying a pungent odor. Quickly, he created an ice wall before him to defend against the incoming attack. The ironclad crocodile slammed into the ice wall with immense force, causing it to shatter into pieces.