Chen Yining did not say anything harsh like 'the forests beyond the city is too dangerous, why would you come here?'—the university students had naturally come to hunt and capture stronger summoned beasts.

Why else would they be here?

For a stroll? For sightseeing?

Everyone here was an adult. They must therefore take responsibility over their own choices.

Moreover, Chen Yining was not their papa or mama—he had no reason to indulge them.

"I've left X-markers on the way in. You could follow those and return to the city," Chen Yining said.

That was all the charity he would afford them. He did save them just now, and he now sent them in the right direction home.

Even Chen Yining thought that he was being kind.

Nonetheless, one of the girls was on the verge of tears, and murmured softly, "Can't you come with us?"

"Yes, please come with us. Would we dare to go if you're not with us? This forest is so dangerous!"

Chen Yining was rendered speechless.

Why would you come if you knew it was dangerous?

Holding back a wisecrack, Chen Yining flashed a faint smile. "I'm sorry, I still have matters to see to."

"Hey, you can't do that. Why won't you help us out to the end?"

"You've already saved us. Can't you escort us back? Or maybe we could follow you—we promise we won't disturb you."

"Mingli wouldn't have died if you had helped earlier," a hoarse voice suddenly spoke then.

The other students' face fell.

"What are you saying, Wang Hao?!"

"What does He Mingli dying have to do with him?"

Apparently, the students were not exactly foolish—they knew that they could plead and guilt trip Chen Yining, but they definitely could not be at odds with him.

Leaving aside his powerful summoned beast, they were definitely not going to win against him if he turned on them.

Most importantly, what if he was reluctant to return to the city with them if he got annoyed?

Be that as it may, Wang Hao was glaring at Chen Yining. It had been three years since he fell head over heels for He Mingli, and everyone else knew that.

He also knew that the others mocked him for that in secret, though he did not understand why he was scorned for having feelings.

In fact, those feelings never changed even if He Mingli had two boyfriends in those three years.

Even up til then, he still remembered the girl with long, silky hair sitting beside the window on orientation day at university.

The long petal skirt that accentuated her figure.

He fell for her in that very instant.

Mustering his courage, he asked if he could sit beside her.

She smiled at him, and he decided that she must have had a good opinion of him—why else would she have smiled at him?

He was convinced all along that liking a person needed no reason.

While he was a plain and ordinary male student before the city transmigrated, he realized that he was different from the others after.

His grandfather was a hunter, and would instruct him in various things so that his knowledge would not be lost.

It was a pity that he was simply not interested in that back then.

In fact, he would not have bothered if his grandfather was not old and alone.

Back in the present, he was asserting angrily, "You just stood by and watched. Your heart must be black and filled with maggots."

Chen Yining was mystified. "What does her death have to do with me? I did save your group, didn't I?"

Shaking his head, he turned to leave.

All those books must have gotten to the kid's head.

By the next second, however, the others were crying out.

"Watch out!"

Chen Yining could feel a monumental force from his back, and stumbled two steps forward.

He turned to find that his Summoner's Grimoire had pulled Green Skin automatically to his side, and the tome itself was floating beside him.

It was only then that he realized he had been attacked. He certainly did not expect to be blindsided since the Summoner's Grimoire protect their respective summoners.

Glowering, he locked his gaze upon the halfling behind him.

Meanwhile, the other students were crying out.

"How could you do that, Wang Hao? He saved us!"

"You're an ingrate, Wang Hao!"

They were certainly shocked by Wang Hao's behavior.

You must have gone mad! Don't drag us down with you even if you're suicidal!

They promptly made it clear that they had nothing to do with Wang Hao at all.

At the same time, Wang Hao could not help feeling regret after he set his summoned beast on Chen Yining.

He just remembered that he could not kill Chen Yining with the Summoner's Grimoire around, unless all of Chen Yining's summoned beasts were killed off.

Indeed, he had a rush of blood to the brain just then and lost all rationality.

He then looked at Chen Yining in panic, his body shuddering uncontrollably.

His mind had regained sanity as the red mist cleared.

Chen Yining was looking at him impassively in return.

He then reached behind himself and drew out a handgun.

The other students all gasped in shock at Chen Yining.

He actually had a gun!

At the same time, Chen Yining had brought his gun level between Wang Hao's brows.

"You were trying to kill me," Chen Yining said.

Even if he was lacking in marksmanship, it would not be a problem for him to hit Wang Hao in the head from there.

Wang Hao paled, but soon calmed down when he remembered that he was immune to harm before all his summoned beasts were killed.

"It… it was just a prank," he stammered.

Chen Yining simply glanced at the other goblins, which had ran afar now, and saw that he is completion rate of Quest Three was 9/20.

He grinned. "This is, too."

Then, he pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The gunshot echoed into the distance.

The bullet struck the barrier cast by the Summoner's Grimoire outside Wang Hao's body, knocking it violently as sparks flew.

Wang Hao fell on his bottom and it took a long time for him to regain his senses.

Beside his feet was a bullet with lingering heat embedded in a soil, leaving a deep mark in the ground.

When Wang Hao finally looked up, that man had already left, and there was no one around him.

Humiliated, he dug the bullet out of the soil. His expression was almost maniacal, a fearsome wild look just like a demon's.

"Just you wait… Someday, I will repay this humiliation tenfold… no, a thousandfold!"

Wang Hao clenched his teeth to the point that his lip bled.

He remembered Chen Yining's face.

Meanwhile, the other students had long since fled.

There was no telling how many magical beasts would be drawn to the scene after the echoing gunshot.

They were not going to get away if they didn't leave right then.

Wang Hao was about to leave as well and called forth his summon beasts, when he realized that one of them had been killed unbeknownst to him…

The image of its final moments remained on its page in the Summoner's Grimoire: its neck had been snapped and it was dangling from a tree.

He inhaled deeply. It did not matter since he had two other summoned beasts.

Be that as it may, a nearby bush was rustling wildly right after he walked over a hundred meters.

The motion made it obvious that it was a behemoth.

Wang Hao turned to find a dark-red behemoth dashing out of the forest. It had many golden markings over it as if it had an unusual cape draped over itself.

Its scarlet beak was as bright as blood and it was pecking toward him!

Panicking, Wang Hao summoned the two remaining goblins to defend himself.

The dark red behemoth kicked out in response, and the goblin in the front was disemboweled before fading into a white light, leaving an image of its death in its page within the Summoner's Grimoire.

Soon, the dark red behemoth kicked out again, and the remaining goblin was kicked over eight meters away, its innards all torn apart as it slammed into a tree and died.

Wang Hao screamed in terror.

"No—"

Then, the blood-curdling cries ended abruptly.

***

The red-caped fowl bathed in piping-hot blood as it trampled over the corpse, and raised its ice-cold gaze to study its surroundings.

Some of the animals and magical beasts that were lurking nearby scattered.

The red mantle fowl snorted at that and left in irritation…