Chapter 328: New Team Member

Ten minutes later, five nightmare apostles lay battered and bruised on the ground, groaning in pain.

Yang Dongqing gripped the Mithril Token, a chilling smile creeping across his face. "First place is mine."

He was covered in injuries—slashes, heavy bruising, and scorch marks—yet he toyed with the Mithril Token as if he couldn't feel the pain at all.

In mere moments, his wounds completely healed.

The five nightmare apostles stared at him in sheer terror. To them, Yang Dongqing was an unkillable monster. They had initially held the upper hand, landing the first strikes and heavily wounding him, but the longer the fight dragged on, the more they realized something was very wrong.

Yang Dongqing healed at a terrifying rate. Their attacks gradually lost any effect on him until, by the end, he simply ignored their blows and thrashed them all into the dirt.

"One of you has detection abilities, right? Get up and lead the way. If you help me be the first to leave the Dungeon, I might just spare your lives!"

...

...

At the Dungeon exit.

Su Mu and the others waited quietly. Lin Lingling raised her slender wrist and checked her Little Bear Watch, pouting in dissatisfaction. "They're so slow. Why are the nightmare apostles taking so long this time? I could have cleared it twice by now."

"It's to be expected. Too many elites showed up last time, so this second batch of nightmare apostles is severely lacking in quality." Su Qing crossed her arms, looking like an absolute authority on the matter.

"Captain, if you ask me, we should just stick with our current group. There's no point in picking new members. Plucking a relatively tall person out of a group of short ones is meaningless."

Su Mu stared at the Dungeon entrance with amusement. "I already have someone in mind."

The rest of the team grew curious. They hadn't expected anyone here to actually catch their captain's eye.

Lin Nanxing leaned in, practically buzzing with curiosity. "Who is it, Captain?"

"He's already out."

The group turned toward the Dungeon entrance just as a grim-faced man strode out. It was Yang Dongqing.

Yang Dongqing swept his gaze over the crowd. His eyes paused briefly on Su Mu before moving on, but when they landed on Sikong Zhen seated in the position of honor, his pupils violently contracted.

It's him!

Sikong Zhen, the man hailed as the Empire's number one God of War, who had successfully escaped the clutches of the Seven Deadly Sins!

Yang Dongqing's body tensed involuntarily. He knew of this Gold-tier powerhouse who had once visited Star City. Sikong Zhen's ferocious battle record—especially surviving his escape from the Seven Deadly Sins—had made his name legendary. Even within the Revolutionary Army, Yang Dongqing often heard people discussing him.

Yang Dongqing knew perfectly well that he couldn't show a single flaw in front of such a peerless powerhouse. If his ties to the Revolutionary Army were exposed, his death was guaranteed.

Forcing himself to remain calm, he walked over slowly and handed his Mithril Token to the examiner.

The examiner verified the token and then directed Yang Dongqing to wait off to the side.

Sikong Zhen didn't spare him a single glance the entire time, allowing Yang Dongqing to quietly breathe a sigh of relief.

Just then, Su Mu's voice rang out. "Examiner, I've made my choice. I'll have this Mr. Yang join my team."

Yang Dongqing froze. He hadn't expected Su Mu to choose him at all. After a moment of shock, a surge of anger gripped him. "I object! I placed first! I have the right to form my own team!"

He was convinced Su Mu had only picked him because he'd taken the top spot and proven his formidable strength.

"Objection denied. I am a Count." Su Mu's single sentence shut Yang Dongqing down completely.

"Since Count Su favors you, you will join his team," Sikong Zhen, who had been entirely silent up until now, said slowly.

He knew the Royal Family placed great importance on Su Mu, so granting him a few special privileges was perfectly fine.

Following Sikong Zhen's decree, Yang Dongqing instantly clamped his mouth shut. He didn't dare draw any more attention from this Gold-tier powerhouse, so he resignedly walked over to Su Mu's side in silence.

"Hmph. You actually dare to object? Catching the captain's eye is a blessing you should be grateful for," Lin Nanxing sneered.

Yang Dongqing shot him an icy glare, exuding an aura that warned everyone to keep their distance.

"Hey, giving me the cold shoulder? I'll teach you a lesson!" Lin Nanxing reached for his bow. He was no longer the same man he used to be. It wasn't that his base strength had increased, but rather that Su Mu had equipped him with numerous Totem Stones.

His abilities weren't weak by any means; they just lacked lethal stopping power—a flaw the Totem Stones perfectly compensated for.

Su Mu knew the Totem Stones would unleash their maximum potential in Lin Nanxing's hands, so he had given him a portion of the Totem Stones looted from the Blood Moon Empire. Furthermore, to bolster the squad's combat power, the Chiyan Imperial Family had generously provided a massive stockpile of Totem Stones, including several Gold Totem Stones.

After all, their squad had thoroughly proven their worth. The Royal Family naturally wasn't going to skimp on resources.

The current Lin Nanxing was essentially a walking arsenal, complete with an auto-aim hack.

"Oh, calm down. We're all teammates here, so let's not ruin the harmony. Here, have some candy, and you can be good friends." Lin Lingling, sporting vividly dyed multicolored hair, pulled out two pieces of candy and handed one to each of them.

Yang Dongqing accepted the candy without a shift in expression. He coldly appraised his new teammates: a reckless youth armed with a bow and a Mithril Arrow—a toy that couldn't even scratch his defenses.

An eccentric girl with an alternative punk look, and a seemingly innocent good girl. Both looked as fragile as a stiff breeze, completely lacking the bearing of true nightmare apostles.

Only the silent, robotic-looking man standing at the rear of the group seemed to possess any real strength.

Time slowly trickled by. Before long, more nightmare apostles emerged from the Dungeon, rounding out the top ten.

The irritated Sikong Zhen didn't even bother giving a speech. He simply distributed the rewards and left.

Su Mu led his squad away as well. He hadn't bothered to recruit a full team of ten because it was entirely unnecessary. Their next stop was the Abyss, the legendary prison of the sealed evil gods. In the face of a God, even Gold-tier Transcendents were nothing but cannon fodder.

Yang Dongqing didn't leave with them right away; he still had to complete the final procedure—signing the Contract Scroll.

...

...

Within the General Law Enforcement Bureau Underground Training Base, the Empire's former number one God of War, Dongfang Yuan, produced the Contract Scrolls and began briefing this new batch of nightmare apostles on their mission.

Having already signed his contract, Yang Dongqing grew increasingly horrified as he listened.

The objective of this expedition was to search for the legendary First Red King! Anyone who managed to retrieve the First Red King's remains or relics would be elevated to the rank of a noble.

Something's wrong! There's definitely something wrong here!

Having survived the grueling crucible of the Revolutionary Army, he was no longer a naive greenhorn. His sharp instincts immediately picked up on the suspicious nature of the mission.

Why would the Royal Family go to such enormous lengths, expending staggering amounts of manpower and resources, just to search the Nightmare World for the First Red King's remains?

Out of filial piety? Heh. He knew exactly what kind of scum the nobles were. During his time in the Revolutionary Army, he had heard far too many horror stories of nobles brutally oppressing the commoners. If a noble genuinely possessed filial piety, then even female pigs could climb trees.

The only thing capable of driving the Royal Family to make a move this massive was sheer profit!