He continued to reinforce the ice wall, and with the black Tang knife in his hand, he forcefully thrust it into the Flame Rhino's belly. At the same time, Chu Tian hurriedly used his own ice abilities, extending them along the black Tang knife into the Flame Rhino's body.
Inside the Flame Rhino's body, there were several sounds like tearing fabric, as icicles burst open within the creature's body, turning its insides into a mess.
This C-level savage beast, the Flame Rhino, let out a final despairing roar before collapsing on the ground. Blood, red from its eyes, mouth, and ears, began to flow.
The flames on its horn and tail gradually extinguished.
In the end, the Flame Rhino, with a look of unwillingness, fell to the ground with a resounding thud. It convulsed a few times before becoming still.
At this moment, Chu Tian's body suddenly slumped to the ground due to depleted spiritual energy. He felt completely drained and unable to move.
However, in his mind, the system's notification sounded:
[Detected decomposable materials. Would you like to decompose?]
[Ding - Killing a C-level savage beast has earned you 80 talent points, bringing your current total to 1800 points.]
Since he hadn't actively decomposed the beast's body, the system's message didn't include any attribute improvement.
Chu Tian looked at Liu Wei, who was approaching him. In response to his puzzled expression, Liu Wei took a glass bottle from his pocket and poured out a pale red pill emitting a faint spiritual energy.
"This is a spiritual energy potion for recovery. Although it's only E-grade, it can help you regain some spiritual energy."
Chu Tian accepted the pill with some effort and hesitated whether to take it or not. Liu Wei continued, "Go ahead and take it. Consider it my thanks for saving my life. I was too arrogant earlier, and I apologize."
After gazing into Liu Wei's eyes for a while and not detecting any ulterior motives, Chu Tian placed the pill into his mouth.
The pill instantly dissolved upon contact with his mouth, turning into a warm flow that spread throughout his body. His almost depleted spiritual energy began to recover rapidly, and he silently replenished the energy he had lost.
This allowed Chu Tian to regain some self-defense capability.
"Thank you. But I'm curious, you could have killed me and taken the C-level savage beast all for yourself. You might have found some valuable items on me. Why didn't you attack?" Chu Tian asked.
Liu Wei licked his lips and replied, "Although I like to take advantage of situations, I wouldn't backstab someone who saved my life. At least, I couldn't live with that on my conscience."
"Alright, I'll say thank you as well. Thanks for sparing my life," Chu Tian said, then struggled to get up and returned the Tang knife to Liu Wei.
"You should rest for now. I'll help you dismantle the body of this Flame Rhino." Chu Tian found a large rock to lean against and watched as Liu Wei skillfully removed the heavily armored exterior of the Flame Rhino.
The Rhino's horn was carefully extracted by Liu Wei using a clever method, and finally, he used a knife to cut off its tail.
Liu Wei neatly arranged these three items in front of Chu Tian, then began to separate the bones of the Flame Rhino.
The bones of this savage beast were exceptionally sturdy and suitable for crafting weapons. Their strength was no less than that of an Iron Bone Black Snake.
By the time the Flame Rhino had been completely dismantled, the sky had already grown dark.
"You can keep these. Whether you take them to the black market or somewhere else, you'll get a good price for them," Liu Wei said, then turned to collect firewood not far away.
Once the bonfire was lit, Liu Wei skewered the meat he had cut from the Flame Rhino on a tree branch and began roasting it over the fire.
Chu Tian looked at the Rhino hide and other items in front of him, and then he collected the Rhino horn and hide. He also tossed the Rhino head, which was abandoned nearby, into the system's space.
Having completed these tasks, Chu Tian pushed the rhino tail and bones over to Liu Wei and said, "You can use these to complete your mission. As an auxiliary talent warrior, you've been through a lot too."
"Thank you." Liu Wei was not sentimental and directly stored the rhino bones and tail in his rudimentary space bag.
After they had eaten their fill and rested for over an hour, Liu Wei set up a tent and arranged a perimeter around it for security. Only then did he bring Chu Tian inside the tent.
The night passed without incident, and Chu Tian, after a night of recuperation, finally restored his spiritual energy.
On the second morning, as Chu Tian regained his spiritual energy, he saw Liu Wei sitting on a flat patch of grass not far away, his Tang knife resting beside him as he prepared to pack up the tent and leave.
"Thank you, you're actually a good person," Chu Tian said with a faint smile.
Liu Wei smiled and introduced himself, "I'm Liu Wei, from the Third Mercenary Base."
"I'm Chu Tian, also affiliated with the Third Mercenary Base." Although Chu Tian had known Liu Wei's name for a while, he pretended not to know, just as they had exchanged names before.
Liu Wei then took out a fresh piece of rhino meat and began cooking it over the campfire. He continued, "You look like you're new to the Third Base, and with your combat ability, you must be a mercenary who transferred from a fallen Fifth Human Base, right?"
"Fallen? What do you mean by 'fallen'?" Chu Tian was puzzled.
It seemed that Liu Wei mistook him for a mercenary from somewhere else.
"It looks like you're not from the Fifth Mercenary Base," Liu Wei said with a slightly embarrassed smile.
However, Chu Tian became interested and asked, "Why don't you tell me what happened specifically?"
"I don't know the specifics, but I heard that the Fifth Human Base encountered a beast tide last month, with over 30,000 various savage beasts," Liu Wei explained. "Afterward, the defense of the Fifth Base completely collapsed, and the retreat route was ambushed by savage beasts. Over 2,000 ordinary mercenaries, more than 500 talent warriors, and nearly 100,000 civilians were left with only about 500 survivors in the end."
"This is the second time the humans have encountered a beast tide after completely retracting their defenses."
"Wasn't there any prior warning or unusual information?" Chu Tian was puzzled, as according to the Federation's defense mechanisms, there should have been early warnings for such clear anomalies.
"No, I heard that this time, there were infiltrators among the savage beasts who could disguise themselves as humans, but it's just hearsay," Liu Wei replied. He then took out his communicator from his space bag and opened a document about the beast tide for Chu Tian to read.