Chapter 139: Conclusion: Joint Extermination

"Shen Rong," Someone called out, making him look back.

He was just about to relay the results of the group extermination when someone caught up behind him, calling his attention.

"Yes?"

Shen Rong didn't recognize who the person was but she looked oddly familiar. After a few seconds of thinking too much, Shen Rong dismissed that she was probably someone from a different shelter. He isn't entirely mistaken, however, since the lady was definitely from another shelter— specifically the Immovable Mountain Sect.

And how do I know that? Well, I know her since she's the daughter of the Sect Master of the Immovable Mountain Sect. She was also the one who was assigned to watch over our party as the tallies were counted.

Still, she grew up to be a fine young woman. She can't even be compared to that manipulative father of his. Seriously, that guy should be weaker than me. And now he's probably in the Transcendence Realm... I hate it.

"This is the tally of all the infected that Liu Zhi's party killed." She reported, handing him a piece of paper. "I was surprised when I saw them in combat. As expected of the top one hunting party of the Red Sea Shelter."

"You flatter us, miss—  " Shen Rong stopped short as his mouth gaped open. His jaws seemed to fall down on the floor the more he looked at the paper handed to him. "Is this... is this report accurate?"

"Yes, you can check the locations of the hordes to the southeast. They killed at least five formidable hordes and didn't even suffer a single scratch. And in that regard, that's the reason why I came to you, Shen Rong, Shelter Leader of the Red Sea Shelter."

"No need to be so formal." Shen Rong dismissed as he scratched his head.

Is this old man really losing his composure in front of this woman? How embarrassing. Even I don't go around looking like an idiot like that. That's some comedic expression he's wearing, all right.

"We would like to formally recruit your shelter member, Yong Rui. If you agreed to us, we will agree on allying ourselves with your shelter and we will also take care of all your cultivators with the resources we have. Not only that, but Yong Rui will also get the resources he deserves so he can reach greater heights with his power. As for the price, just name it and we will try to negotiate with you. That's what fathe— er, I mean, that's what our shelter leader wants to relay to you, Shelter Leader Shen Rong."

"So that's the reason why." Sighing, Shen Rong waved his hand as if he was giving in to the Immovable Mountain Shelter's request. The woman's eyes lit up a little bit but they then lost their color a split second after when Shen Rong continued speaking. "But I'm sorry to say this— Shen Rong isn't actually part of our shelter. He is just temporarily staying here. He's already connected to the Tang Shelter. Trust me, I also tried recruiting him over to our side but he cannot budge. Instead, he gave me precious and priceless gifts to thank me for allying ourselves with the Tang Shelter."

"I see. So that's how it is. Then, if you'll excuse me, Shelter Leader." The woman cupped her hands before leaving the platform where Shen Rong stood.

The woman went down the platform as Shen Rong turned around, wondering why the only daughter of the Immovable Mountain Shelter Leader approached him. It probably dawned on him that not a lot of cultivators nor bigshots know about my identity. Well, figures, I just started going with this identity when I woke up weeks ago.

"Do you think we got first place?" Liu Zhi muttered to Blade, thinking that I don't hear him. He glanced at me from time to time as he continued talking to Blade and Wu Yan. "I mean, we did kill a Stage-7, that's already more than what all the other parties could kill."

"That may be the case, but if another party managed to discover a huge horde with a lot of Stage-1's, then we'll still lose. The only thing that we could do is wait for the results and hope for the best. In my opinion, though, I think we handled ourselves pretty well."

"We may as well get to the top three, all thanks to Yong Rui. Of course." Wu Yan agreed.

As the sun fully came out of the horizon, displaying its glory on top of Shen Rong's head as he announced the winners, every party gathered around Shen Rong as he cleared his throat. From the looks of it, I don't think that we're the ones who won the match since he wasn't glancing at us. If I were to assume something... I guess it would be the Meili Sect who will get the reward.

With everyone gathered together, Shen Rong finally looked up and addressed everyone. "And that concludes the join extermination today. I would like to thank every party for participating in this extermination. Although I only have a few high-grade essences to give out to everyone in the top three, I would like to once again express my gratitude to everyone who cooperated. One zombie eliminated is one less zombie in the world." Shen Rong continued.

The once noisy atmosphere of the area instantaneously became quiet as Shen Rong held out a piece of paper in front of him. Even Liu Zhi's party was gulping along with everyone as they nervously and patiently waited for the results. At the very least, the joint extermination took at least three hours so anything can happen.

Nevertheless, our party managed to defeat five hordes and one of them was a formidable one. Still, since there are only four of us at our party, I won't be surprised if another party managed to snag first place from us.

I mean, there are parties with ten or so members. Like how is that fair? This is just my biased opinion, however. If I were in their position, I would be blaming our party for only having four members when we could recruit more.

"As announced before, the tallied points correspond to the quantity of the zombies hunted. Their Stages play a big role as well. That's why efficiency and strength are important in this contest. You can hunt a Stage-2 but another party could hunt ten Stage-1's by the time you're done."

'Just get to the main point already, I'm genuinely curious if we won or not.' I said to myself, impatiently tapping my foot on the ground while waiting.

"Without further ado, I will now announce the party who got third-place... With four thousand, one hundred twenty-six, points, Wu Jia's party from the Immovable Mountain Shelter wins third place!" Shen Rong excitedly announced as a man beside him nodded and presented a few Essences and Pills to Wu Jia— and yes, she was the lady who approached Shen Rong before the announcements started.

"Thank you, Red Sea Shelter Leader Shen Rong." With a slight bow and cupping of hands, Wu Jia expressed his thanks as she received the rewards.

"Four thousand points? Isn't that too many? How many zombies did they kill?"

"That's the Immovable Mountain Sect for you. When it comes to exterminating zombies, they are one of the best!"

"If they are really that good, then why are they third place?"

"Shut up, leader. Our party isn't even in the top three. You're making us lose face here."

"Yeah, and how many members do they have? Seven. We have ten members in our party and we only managed to get five hundred points."

"Bunch of good-for-nothings."

"Who are you to talk? Your party ranking is even lower than ours!"

Before we knew it, every party was murmuring under their breath as they tried to figure out who got more than four thousand points. In the process, they also started fighting and complaining amongst themselves as they realized the difference in strengths when it comes to being rabid human hunters. Have they no pride? Why would they stoop so low trying to put each other down when they're all at the bottom?

I don't get it.

"Now let's move on to the second place... actually, the Second Place and first place are really close. First place only won by a mere two hundred points." Shen Rong continued.

No way? If that's the case.. then which party i—

I stopped short as I saw Shi Meili's anxious face. So it was their party, huh. That explains it. No other party could go head to head with their party when it comes to rabid human exterminations. I mean, I saw it first-hand when they dealt with the Stage-Nine Imperial Rabid Human before. Their strength really is frightening— well, I didn't really see it. When I woke up it was already defeated or something like that.

"For second place, having the score of thirteen thousand five hundred and fifty-nine points... " Shen Rong said. "Second place goes to— "

"— Liu Zhi's Party!"