“So that’s why we had the mechanical birds drag us back early and left the truck for her. If we all end up dying here, at least the vehicle counts as thanks for saving our lives,” Shen Cheng said—his thoughts aligned with everyone else’s.
“That junk truck couldn’t even be sold,” San Ya rolled her eyes.
“Isn’t there also those low-radiation fruits in the car? If we can’t make it back, maybe that’ll be enough for her to complete the mission alone.”
Xiang Ge was approaching the giant lizard when she heard these words before she even reached her teammates.
Her first reaction wasn’t moved—it was shock.
She was astonished that these people, who had only known her for three days, could think in such an unbelievable way.
Is this really the wasteland apocalypse? How did these people even survive?
She couldn’t understand it.
Their purity of character made her, who woke up every day checking her backpack first, feel like a shameful person.
In her past life, Xiang Ge had always been a team leader—assigning tasks, warning of danger, saving teammates.
To her, these were the most ordinary things. No one had ever thanked her for them.
Everyone simply accepted it as a matter of course.
But these people treated everything she casually did as a life-saving grace.
Even though in her previous life, some people praised her kindness, compared to this group, she suddenly felt almost… dirty.
Did they even know that the reason the mutated giant beast went berserk was because she harvested the purification fruit?
She couldn’t understand it.
She stopped and hid nearby, watching them coordinate and launch their attack.
Ye Zheng and San Ya handled close combat, covering each other as they searched for the beast’s weak points.
San Wan supported from the rear with ranged firepower, her thin body shaking from the recoil, yet her eyes stayed steady and focused.
Shen Cheng deployed his mechanical birds, harassing the giant lizard from above and irritating it endlessly.
They were surprisingly well coordinated.
The giant lizard was heavily injured, but its rage from yesterday remained. When enemies met, hatred flared instantly.
Strangely, even though it had no eyes left, it was still furious.
The rampaging beast radiated terrifying energy.
It swung its tail violently, knocking down the mechanical birds.
Normal firearms couldn’t penetrate its defenses—the bullets only scratched the surface, increasing its rage without causing real damage.
Ye Zheng and San Ya fought in close combat, one using a long blade, the other a spear.
The spear stabbed into the soft flesh under the lizard’s forelimb—but in the next moment, the beast slammed into Ye Zheng and sent him flying.
Then it charged forward, extending its tongue toward San Wan, who was lying prone aiming her rifle.
“No!” San Ya’s eyes were about to split open.
Shen Cheng was closest. He threw himself forward, pushing San Wan aside.
The foul tongue struck instantly, coiling around Shen Cheng and dragging him toward its mouth.
“Team leader!” San Wan tried to run to him, but her weakened legs collapsed after just a few steps. She could only watch helplessly.
Just as Shen Cheng closed his eyes, ready to accept death—
A sudden change!
A clear, ringing cry echoed through the sky as a silver phoenix rose into the air.
It grabbed the giant lizard’s tongue with its claws and sliced through it with its wings, severing it into three segments.
The last section dropped Shen Cheng to the ground before loosening.
Thanks to the cushioning, he wasn’t badly injured. He scrambled up and dragged San Wan aside to safety.
San Ya also quickly regained composure, helping Ye Zheng retreat.
The blind giant lizard, unable to see the phoenix, only felt something ruin its prey. Enraged, it slammed the ground and thrashed its tail, uprooting fruit trees.
The phoenix circled above, looking down at the raging beast with disdain.
It flapped its wings, and countless silver blades shot out from its feathers—spiritual energy blades.
They pierced through the giant lizard’s thick armor, slicing it open.
The phoenix dove down, flipped the beast over with a wing strike, exposing its vulnerable abdomen, then shredded its belly with its claws.
Only when the beast exhaled its last breath did it finally fly away into the distance.
Behind the fruit trees, Xiang Ge sat weakly on the ground, her face pale.
She let Xiao Huang fly away to create the illusion of departure, while her mental power dispersed in the sky and then returned to her body.
Her spiritual strength was still too weak.
This giant lizard was only at about 60% strength, yet summoning Xiao Huang had drained more than half her mental energy.
With her current ability, she could barely handle one full-strength mutated giant beast alone—and that was her limit.
If her mental power was fully exhausted, she would fall unconscious.
In the wasteland, unconsciousness meant death.
But despite her pale face, she was in a good mood.
This giant beast alone had given her 20 purification points.
Adding the insects and smaller lizards over the past three days, she had earned 66 points total.
With her previous 34 points, she now had a full 100 purification points.
A three-digit fortune. She was now, quite literally, rich.
Very satisfied.
While she was reflecting and calculating her “wealth,” her four teammates had already regrouped, dragged away the giant lizard’s corpse, and entered its lair to retrieve the fruits.
By the time Xiang Ge recovered and arrived, all the fruits had already been brought out.