When system cheat becomes rampant!

Ye Changfeng had inspected the bodies of the pioneers one by one, then instructed them to search other areas of the building for any forgotten corpses, preparing to take all the bodies back.

Throughout the process, everyone seemed to be silent. Sun Yushan and Fan Kai, upon learning that these pioneers were from several decades ago, became very quiet as well.

They had all chosen the career of a pioneer, perhaps this was also their eventual fate—perishing at the mouths of desolate beasts, parasitized by them.

This road was difficult.

Yet they all had their reasons for choosing this path.

"I know what you're thinking," Ye Changfeng said, "being a pioneer has never been an easy path. If you want to quit, no one will mock you."

Pioneering was not a long-term career. Everyone's purpose for choosing this path differed, but no matter the purpose, the situation for every pioneer in the outer wilds was almost always the same.

Every day, their spirits would be highly strained, constantly wary of desolate beasts suddenly leaping out around them, living under immense pressure, easily crumbling.

Therefore, many people tried it for a while, then retired from the service.

Anyone who had experienced the pressure of being a pioneer would not mock those who quit.

Those who had never been pioneers had even less right to mock. If one couldn't manage the task themselves, what right did they have to mock someone who had?

No matter the initial intention, they were all once striving for the future of humanity and all deserved respect.

"I will not quit," Sun Yushan murmured, "from the start, I chose this road. There's no reason to leave; my family members are all pioneers, driven by a sense of mission for the family."

She did not choose the profession of pioneer because of system tasks, but because of her family.

"Neither will I," smiled Fan Kai, "my grandfather was a guardian. He wanted me to temper myself in the outer wilds for a few years before working for him. My dad took the literary Dao, and it nearly killed my grandfather with anger. If I don't follow this path, my grandfather won't be happy."

"What about you, Xiang Beifei? Will you follow this path in the future?" Fan Kai asked.

Though the Martial Arts College trained martial artists in teams of pioneers, it didn't mean the students had to become pioneers for sure. The elite academy was more about preparing for sudden future events, so that if a wave of beasts emerged, everyone would know how to protect those around them.

"Whether I follow this path or not, learning to navigate the outer wilds is never a bad thing," Xiang Beifei said.

He didn't want his future to be too fixed.

The future was full of endless possibilities; finding what suited him best was the ideal. But once he became more powerful in the future, he would definitely do something.

For instance, he would visit the Frontier to look for those two people and fulfill some wishes.

That meant he must start as a pioneer.

Being a pioneer was just a beginning, but it would definitely not be his end.

Ye Changfeng glanced at Xiang Beifei.

He knew about the matters of Xiang Beifei's parents—people trained by Elder Luo—and he also knew Xiang Tianxing. But he always found Xiang Beifei enigmatic, feeling that the young man was full of mysteries.

But he understood, Xiang Beifei had his own choices as well.

—

They found two Wen Lins on the third floor, which actually ate the bait they offered and were subdued by them. The Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage didn't interfere, likely using them to lure them into the dilapidated building.

The wisdom of the Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage appeared not to be underestimated. It knew how to disguise and use bait to deceive pioneers in the outer wilds. During its confrontation with Xiang Beifei, the desolate beasts in the dilapidated building were not killed by it; all were alive and well.

Fan Kai and Sun Yushan needed Wen Lin's inner cores to accumulate enough practice points, whereas Xiang Beifei only needed to hand over the bodies to the school teachers. The three of them thus completed their mission.

They left the dilapidated building and headed toward the Pioneering Point in the City of the Old Days. The Pioneering Point had been damaged, obviously by the recent attack of the desolate beasts.

Ye Changfeng led them through a thorough examination of the entire City of the Old Days, and after confirming they found no trace of the Ghost Mustache of Remnant Visage, they prepared to return.

"I've marked this place; I will report it to the alliance. They will send pioneers here to investigate and rebuild the Pioneering Point; let's leave now," Ye Changfeng said.

"Okay."

Fan Kai took hold of everyone and led them to disappear from the spot.

About an hour after they left, a presence rushed over from a distance, quickly spreading over the City of the Old Days.

The dilapidated building where Xiang Beifei and the others had battled now seemed to have an eerie presence flowing within, and soon from the cracked walls, black tendrils emerged, rapidly coalescing into a figure cloaked in black.

It was an adult male.

This man's face bore bloody wounds, as if scratched by some sharp claws; the skin and flesh were peeled back, revealing white underneath. There was also a wound on his throat, deep enough to expose the bone, which was cracked and still bleeding. Strangely, as the blood flowed down, it seemed to disappear into the skin, as if being reabsorbed back into the body.

The man seemed to be searching for something, touching the damaged window on the third floor, which bore some signs of charring. He stretched out a hand, missing a finger, and touched the marks, but immediately recoiled as if burned.