After the enormous flesh-winged giant lizard had eaten its fill, it flapped its wings and flew away, leaving behind only a large pile of chaotic wreckage.
Only after the Lizard Skull Giant Demon had completely departed did the group, who had been hiding in the nearby bushes, dare to show themselves.
"Lin Chen, thank you. If it weren't for you today, I'm afraid all of us would have died here. Zhao Manyan owes you a favor. If you ever need anything in the future, just say the word, and I, your brother, will not hesitate!" Zhao Manyan said, patting his chest.
Although Zhao Manyan was usually quite unreliable, he unexpectedly had a grateful heart at a crucial moment.
Upon hearing this, everyone expressed their gratitude to Lin Chen. Whether it was genuine emotion or just for show, Lin Chen didn't care. At that moment, he had simply recalled the original plot. If he hadn't, Lin Chen would probably have had to go through some trouble himself. For Lin Chen, it was merely a convenient act.
Lin Chen waved his hand and said with a carefree smile, "Everyone, don't be so polite. We're all part of the same team!"
Lin Chen was smiling outwardly, but his heart was bleeding inwardly. Both the Pseudo-Terror Demon's body and its soul essence were worth a fortune. If he hadn't wanted to conceal his strength, he would have made a huge profit long ago.
"What kind of cursed place is Jinlin City? Didn't they say the demons here wouldn't be very strong? I thought the Pseudo-Terror Demon was already strong, but now a Commander-level demon has appeared. Is this terrifying place really somewhere we can explore?" Zhao Manyan exclaimed.
"We can't go on like this. It's too dangerous here. I'm going back!" Peng Liang said in terror. Let alone the Lizard Skull Giant Demon, even that Pseudo-Terror Demon would probably take their lives.
Luo Song snorted coldly and said, "Who was it that said we should enter this building? We almost lost all our lives!"
Liao Mingxuan immediately glanced at Mo Fan and said fiercely, "It was Mo Fan, it was Mo Fan who suggested setting up camp in the municipal building! Mo Fan, what do you mean by this? Do you want to kill us all?"
Mo Fan, as the protagonist, truly lives up to his reputation of having a taunt aura. Someone has already pointed the finger at him so quickly.
"Alright, what's there to argue about? Blaming this and that at the slightest setback? You'd be better off thinking about where to sleep tonight!" Before Mo Fan could reply, Lin Chen spoke first.
As soon as Lin Chen finished speaking, the few troublemakers chose to shut their mouths. Not to mention that Lin Chen had saved them earlier, Lin Chen's strength alone was enough to make them back down.
After spending time together, everyone also discovered that Lin Chen was not difficult to get along with, but the prerequisite was not to provoke him.
Mo Fan looked at Lin Chen and nodded slightly, expressing his gratitude.
"This time should be an exception. For plant-based demons like the Pseudo-Terror Demon, as long as we are careful, we shouldn't encounter them again. Even if we're unlucky enough to encounter the Lizard Skull Giant Demon again, our task is only to survey, and we don't need to fight a Commander-level demon. So, as long as we are careful from now on, we can complete the survey mission assigned by the Academy!"
Just then, Lu Zhenghe's words broke the tense atmosphere. It must be said that, in normal times, Lu Zhenghe still possessed a certain level of leadership ability.
"That's right, our luck can't be that bad. We should complete as many of the tasks assigned by the Academy as possible, so we can report back properly. We can't give up because of this setback!" Song Xia echoed Lu Zhenghe's words.
At this moment, everyone's mood had returned to calm, no longer as nervous and fearful as before.
Perhaps Lu Zhenghe and Song Xia's words had an effect, as everyone discussed it and still decided to complete the survey mission.
Due to Lin Chen's appearance, a certain butterfly effect occurred. This time, no one was injured, and Mo Fan did not leave the team. It seemed everything was developing in a good direction...
Soon, they found a suitable place to set up camp, which was a relatively well-preserved church.
The church's construction had taken into account the passage of time. The stone material was one that plants found difficult to grow and spread on, so the entire church was still very intact. When sealed, it had much less dust than other places, and could be lived in after a simple cleanup.
After a brief adjustment in the church, everyone continued to complete the survey mission.
For surveying, it's certainly not about squatting at a certain location and counting the surrounding demons one by one. All that needs to be done is to place a device that can emit a special sound wave frequency at the collection point, guard it quietly for about three hours, and the feedback sound waves will automatically record the distribution of surrounding demons.
This survey task is both simple and difficult. Its biggest challenge is that the sound waves spread by the survey device are not completely stable.
In addition, some special demons can detect the sound waves emitted by the device, so it's difficult to ensure that the survey device remains safe and sound after being activated for three hours.
Once detected by demons, it is highly likely to attract many companions.
At that time, the survey personnel will be besieged, and a large number of minor demons will become a headache, with magic energy possibly being depleted at any moment.
Attracting minor demons is still fortunate; at least there's a chance to struggle.
If major demons are attracted, it's likely there won't even be a chance to resist, and they'll die there directly.
With their previous experience, everyone became exceptionally cautious this time.
However, they encountered many demons after only surveying one collection point.
Such as One-Eyed Magic Wolf, Three-Eyed Magic Wolf, Giant-Eyed Stink Rat, Swamp Washer, Giant Crocodile Demon, and other numerous Slave-level demons, with a few War General Level demons mixed in.
Even with everyone's intense firepower, injuries were still unavoidable.
This desolate city was far more terrifying than everyone had imagined.
Due to Song Xia being too aggressive, she was ultimately scratched by a Three-Eyed Magic Wolf. Fortunately, they successfully collected the survey point data.
After a series of battles, everyone's magic energy was running low, and they could only reluctantly choose to return.
The journey back was much smoother. Most of the demons had been cleared earlier, but occasionally there were still a few stragglers. Everyone did not let their guard down, and fortunately, they returned to the church without incident.
As soon as they entered the church, some people began to complain about the difficulty of the mission. They had only surveyed one collection point, and already there were injured personnel.
The complaints quickly resonated with others, and everyone began to discuss.
Once someone is injured in the wilderness, if a healing-type mage cannot heal them immediately, it means that the injured person needs protection from other companions.
The group from Mingzhu Academy and Imperial Capital Academy consisted of seventeen people, including a healing-type mage, Bai Tingting.
The actual effective combat strength of this team was only sixteen people.
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