"Can we help you with something?

" Lu Chen asked the group of guards who had waltzed in.

They all had indifferent looks on their faces and were dressed in clean and crisp military attire with huge guns held tightly in their hands.

Lu Chen clicked his tongue looking at the weapons. He doubted just how long these will be useful considering the tremendous growth rate of the mutated beings around them.

The guard standing at the front ignored Lu Chen's polite greeting and bluntly replied.

"Nothing that concerns you. We are here just to do a regular inspection.

"

"Huh? Regular inspection of what?

" Lu Chen's lips curled upwards. His eyes coldly gazed at the group of people wondering if these would be the first of many to fall.

However, the soldier didn't look like he was signing his death warrant today.

He was still rude but at least they did not press the issue further.

"We are only inspecting the forests around. Not your base.

" He clarified, thus avoiding further confrontation.

"Alright then.

" Lu Chen and Guan Ye walked back to their original positions still keeping an eye on the group of people.

"Shouldn't they be looking in other places? Are they not convinced with our explanation?

" Guan Ye asked.

"Who knows?

" Lu Chen could only shrug in response. They had come to their doorstep today, so how long was it going to take until they knocked on the doors?

"Let's just focus on becoming stronger. I am sure they will have their hands full by the end of the day.

" He thought back to the stronger evolved mana zombie and wondered how of those were around them.

Meanwhile… a short distance away from them, Alex lunged forward towards a group of three zombies. All three were bigger in size compared to her and had strong physical defenses.

"These are just like the ones Lu Chen fought.

"

"GAHHH!

" She grunted and pummeled the mindless creatures with the rod in her hands. Luo Zu and Xu Meilin were slow compared to her and only joined in after Alex started fighting.

Weirdly, they were more afraid of being hit by her rod instead of being mauled by the zombies.

"Tch. Tch. You guys!

" Alex grimaced and lured two zombies away leaving the third one for them. Both Xu Meilin and Luo Zu then quickly began stabbing it from all directions.

The zombie tried to claw at them but since it was outnumbered, it went down fast. In the end, it only managed to scratch them a couple of times before it dropped dead.

Alex as well finished one of the two zombies and was now fighting with the second one.

While this was going on, a small group of rats shrieked loudly and ran over to them, which the rest of the group readily took care of.

After all, it was not like they had any shortage of monsters to fight with. The more they cleared the more showed up!

After clearing everything, each person ended up having at least one mana core to themselves and quickly absorbed it to recover their condition.

Everyone swallowed seeing the corpses of mutated rats and the hideous zombies lying around. They had come quite far and were now no longer weak or helpless. Their coordination also improved everything they fought together.

There were only a few more hours until it was time to turn back, so after finishing absorbing the cores, the group once again moved.

A bunch of overgrown beetles greeted them next and this time there was plenty for everyone.

Green colored bicycle sized bugs stared at them with their big black beady eyes. Their wings flickered and they immediately rushed towards the group of juicy meaty prey.

"Ahhh! Sis! Should we run away? Ahhhh!

" Luo Zu first got stung by something and he cried out in pain. The others also started haphazardly waving the weapons around.

Before the situation could become ever more chaotic, Alex shouted loudly, her voice ringing loud and clear amidst the commotion.

"DON'T RUSH. DON'T PANIC.

"

She did not use her fire magic with the zombies but this time she didn't hold back and sent out several bursts of flames aimed at multiple insects.

ZAP! ZAP! ZAP! ZAP!

Though the attack didn't injure the touch exoskeleton of the beetle, it hurt their wings and their speed reduced making it easier for everyone to deal with them.

No one including Xu Meilin was terrified of the horrendous looking insects as they had long since gotten used to the weird mutations which made everything look worse than they actually were.

After Alex's help, things became much smoother and everyone attacked back with a clear head. The hard exoskeleton of the beetle was tough to break but it was easier to injure them from the side.

Coincidentally, Luo Zu was the first to notice this and he shouted out loud this information. Everyone quickly began attacking in this manner and the fight became a lot easier the next instant.

Luo Zu was in fact the first one to kill an insect. So he turned around to show his accomplishment proudly. Just as he thought, the others were still busy and struggling.

"He He. I am coming to help you guys.

" He grinned and walked over to the man standing near him to help him finish off the beetle.

However, as his gaze fell on Alex who was also standing nearby, the pride and smugness on his face vanished and his jaw dropped on the grassy ground.

The woman had clearly not heard his important tip about the insect's weakness, as she was currently standing on a beetle and jamming her rod into the poor thing brutally.

What exoskeleton? What toughness?

She did not care about any of those and banged her weapon right through the dark green shell of the insect and very soon thick yellow blood squirted out.

"And that's three!

" Alex wiped the sweat and the yellow blood off her face. She then lifted her gaze and looked at Luo Zu.

"What are you looking at? Pay attention to your enemy.

"

Ah… Luo Zu shivered and quickly daggered the insect in front of him.

"You are lucky I am the one fighting you, you stupid beetle..

" He shivered again at the thought of her monstrous strength.