Lin Feng was the first to spot Lu Pengju. His clothes were tattered, and there was a large hole in his pants, revealing a good portion of his pale buttocks. His appearance was so comical he could have rivaled Mr. Bean. Lin Feng couldn't help but burst into laughter.

"Damn, Mr. Lu, why are you dressed so sexily?" Lin Feng teased. "Look at your pants. Truly retro! Hey, why do they look a bit like a child's open-crotch pants to me? HAHAHA…"

"You—you're still laughing? You have no sense of loyalty!"

With tears welling in his eyes, Lu Pengju lightly punched Lin Feng's chest and said, "You don't know what dangers Mr. Yan and I encountered on this journey… WAHHH, I almost died."

"You almost died? No way! What happened?"

Hearing Lu Pengju say that, Lin Feng's expression turned grave. Looking at Lu Pengju's state and the way he spoke, Lin Feng knew the guy probably wasn't lying.

Elite Squad 1 was resting in a temporary lounge. Ye Lin, seeing Lu Pengju's state, felt a little shy and turned her back to Lin Feng and the others, unsure what to say. Yan Su, noticing this, quickly placed a backpack on the seated Lu Pengju, helping to make him look less exposed.

"You guys don't know," Lu Pengju began. "Not long after Mr. Yan and I were separated from you, we ran into a ferocious tiger. Ai, that tiger was extremely vicious. I couldn't beat it, and I couldn't outrun it. I was almost eaten by it… Luckily, we had Mr. Yan. At that moment, he practically transformed into Wu Song! With a few consecutive punches, he knocked that tiger to the ground. So powerful!"

Lu Pengju said this, casting an admiring gaze at Yan Su.

Yan Su gave a faint smile and said nothing, remaining as low-key as ever.

"Then what? Why didn't you skin the tiger? You might have been able to sell it for some money, HAHA. Even if you couldn't sell it, wrapping its hide around yourself wouldn't make you look as ridiculous as you do now," Lin Feng chuckled.

"Well, at first, when I saw the tiger wasn't dead, I wanted to go up and stab it a couple more times. But Mr. Yan stopped me. Mr. Yan said this tiger is a rare species, a nationally protected animal, and we shouldn't harm it. So, we just injured the tiger lightly and then left," Lu Pengju said with a pout, looking quite adorable.

"Then what? A single tiger managed to get you into this state with your butt showing?" Lin Feng asked.

"Of course not. Later, we climbed a mountain and killed several venomous snakes. HEHE, I killed one… Then, when it was almost dark, we found an airdropped package on the mountainside. We took the banner, ate dinner, and then slept on the mountaintop for the night…"

"Can you stop rambling like a primary school student writing a diary? Get to the point!"

"Um, the point is, this morning when Mr. Yan and I were coming down the mountain, we encountered a small stream. While crossing the stream, I stepped on a rock, slipped, and fell into the water…"

Lin Feng rolled his eyes. "I said get to the point, didn't I? Falling into water isn't the point… I think you really are suited to be a storyteller. Damn it, you can drag out a tiny incident for a whole day! You're a real windbag!"

"I fell into the water… and then, in the water, there was… there was a crocodile," Lu Pengju said with a woeful face, clearly still shaken by the memory.

"HAHAHA, a crocodile!?" Hearing this, Lin Feng actually started laughing. "Did it bite your butt? HEHE, I bet it did."

Lin Feng raised his voice. Nearby, Ye Lin turned to look at him and shook her head. This guy has no sympathy at all! Someone falls in the water and gets bitten by a crocodile, and he can still laugh? What a creep!

"You're still laughing… WAHHH… I'm so unlucky!" Lu Pengju said, covering his face. "Mr. Yan saw the crocodile first. He yelled for me to climb up quickly, that there was a crocodile behind me. I was terrified and scrambled to climb up, but the rocks in the water were too slippery. Plus, I was panicking, so I just couldn't get up no matter how I tried. Then, the crocodile snapped its jaws…"

"Did it bite your flesh? I don't see your ass torn to shreds," Lin Feng asked, suppressing his laughter.

"I thought I'd been bitten for sure. But it turned out the crocodile only bit my pants. I struggled with all my might, and then, it was Mr. Yan again; he bent down and pulled me up… That crocodile just wouldn't let go. In the end, during the struggle, my pants got ripped apart…"

Lu Pengju recounted his tragic history, but to Lin Feng, it sounded more like a joke. He nodded repeatedly, "Impressive, Mr. Lu! To survive such a disaster means good fortune will follow. You're definitely going to prosper in the future."

「By noon, almost everyone had arrived.」

In this mission, some hadn't obtained a banner, and some were injured. But overall, there were no major incidents. Moreover, Elite Squad 1, which Lin Feng was part of, had undoubtedly become number one.

Instructor Zhang Chu took a headcount but found that Su Xuebing and Huang Yixiang still hadn't reached the assembly point.

They are both highly skilled; how could they not be here yet? Logically speaking, having been special forces soldiers, wilderness survival shouldn't be very difficult for them. This kind of thing shouldn't happen, Zhang Chu wondered.

Ye Lin, who was behind him, gently tugged Lin Feng's clothes and whispered, "Lin Feng, Huang Yixiang and Su Xuebing… they wouldn't be in trouble, would they?"

Lin Feng pursed his lips and chuckled, "They were both born in the year of the dog. People say cats have nine lives; I reckon dogs are just as tenacious. How could anything happen to them?"

Lin Feng also knew that even if Huang Yixiang was injured, he'd recover within an hour or so. As long as his Inner Strength recovered by twenty or thirty percent, carrying Su Xuebing back wouldn't be an issue, especially since Su Xuebing was only unconscious and not injured.

Just as everyone was discussing and guessing whether Huang Yixiang and Su Xuebing had met with some accident, on a small path outside the assembly point, Huang Yixiang and Su Xuebing appeared, supporting each other and walking slowly back.

They looked incredibly wretched.

"See? Speak of those curs, and here they come," Lin Feng whispered to Ye Lin.

"They seem to be injured. Medic, quickly go and see!" Seeing Huang Yixiang and Su Xuebing walking so feebly, Zhang Chu hurriedly ordered the medic to help them back.

"They're not in critical danger. Su Xuebing is a bit weak, and Huang Yixiang seems to have suffered a relatively serious injury, but they should be fine after some rest and care," the medic reported after examining them.

"You two are considered veterans. What happened? How did you end up being the last ones back this time?" Zhang Chu asked, looking at Huang Yixiang and Su Xuebing standing before him.

Huang Yixiang's eyes darted away from Zhang Chu and landed on Lin Feng, who was standing not far behind. He instantly gritted his teeth in anger.

"It's nothing, just a small accident," Huang Yixiang said after a moment's hesitation, telling a lie. "Su Xuebing and I were ambushed by a lion and got slightly injured. Fortunately, we managed to deal with the lion."

He looked at Lin Feng again, his eyes filled with killing intent, as if to say: Lin Feng, this isn't over! Next time, I'll make you pay tenfold!

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