Chapter Twenty-Seven: Overwhelming Equipment

“Lin Lei... Lin Lei, wake up! What’s wrong with you?”

As soon as Lin Lei exited the system space, he heard Yang Xueli calling his name.

“Stop, stop! My dear aunt, please, don’t shake me anymore! If you keep shaking, I’m going to fall apart!” Even though Yang Xueli was only an agility-type evolver, her strength was far beyond what Lin Lei’s ordinary body could withstand.

“You’re finally awake! Just now you suddenly went blank, like you were in a daze. I called you and you didn’t respond at all—you scared me to death!” Yang Xueli said, her eyes red.

“Uh…” Seeing how close this silly girl was to tears, Lin Lei decided not to take offense at being called an idiot.

“You know, I have a dimensional space. Entering it requires a lot of focus, so I can’t sense what’s happening outside,” Lin Lei explained.

Actually, retrieving items from the system space required just a bit of mental effort, but this time he had to communicate with the system, so it took longer.

“So that’s it. Anyway, as long as you’re okay,” Yang Xueli said.

“Of course I’m fine. It just took me a little extra time to prepare your equipment,” Lin Lei replied, taking out the Lone Ranger exoskeleton armor.

However, just as he produced the exoskeleton, before he had a chance to show off, he was suddenly met with a chill. Even the temperature around them seemed to drop.

“Explain! Why are you carrying a set of women’s armor? Whose is it?” Yang Xueli demanded coldly.

So that was the problem—a set of women’s exoskeleton armor, and the style matched Lin Lei’s own. They were a couple’s set...

“System, my thanks to your entire ancestral line!” Lin Lei cursed inwardly.

He had indeed requested a female model, but he hadn’t expected to get a matching couple’s set.

“If I said this was custom-made for you, would you believe me?” Lin Lei ventured cautiously.

For once, he wasn’t lying.

“Do you think I’d believe that?” Yang Xueli shot back.

Unaware of the existence of the system, she naturally thought Lin Lei was making things up.

“Alright, I’ll be honest. This is actually my spare suit. Since the rules only allow one set per person, I paid someone to pretend to be my girlfriend so I could get another. No one’s worn this one yet. In fact, during my last battle, my flight module and infrared radar were damaged, and I took the replacement parts from this spare suit,” he continued, making up a story since the truth would never be believed.

Luckily, he hadn’t redeemed a fully equipped suit, or his lie would have been much harder to sustain.

“Is that really true?” Yang Xueli asked, half-convinced.

“If you think wearing matching armor is uncomfortable, don’t wear it. I’ll see if I can find any other suitable equipment,” Lin Lei offered, retreating to advance.

“No way! Since it’s for me, why should you take it back?” Sure enough, the mention of matching armor immediately shifted Yang Xueli’s focus.

It turned out that when a woman asks a question, she doesn’t want you to answer seriously, but to say what she wants to hear.

Not long after Yang Xueli donned the Lone Ranger exoskeleton, the system alert sounded—wolves were approaching.

“We’re about to fight. Are you ready? Can you handle it?” Lin Lei asked.

“No problem. With this, I’m confident I can crush a level-three mutant wolf!” Yang Xueli declared with confidence.

This time, the entire wolf pack had turned out: around two hundred level-one mutant wolves, a hundred and ten level-two, and five level-three—a total of nearly three hundred and twenty mutant wolves.

“This time, it’s definitely the wolf king!” Lin Lei spotted a snow-white mutant wolf in midair.

This one was more than twice the size of the one they’d killed before—about as big as a seven-seater van.

It was accompanied by four guards, all apparently level-three mutant wolves based on their size.

More than three hundred mutant wolves charged at Yang Xueli—a truly spectacular sight.

But it was all for naught. Once equipped with the Lone Ranger suit, Yang Xueli activated the energy booster and instantly accelerated to 220 kilometers per hour, launching a countercharge straight at the wolves.

A dark shadow cut through the pack as flashes of white light began to erupt all around; the number of wolves rapidly dwindled.

At last, the wolf king lost its composure. With a roar to its guards, the four massive wolves began to sprint, preparing to join the battle.

“Clearly you haven’t learned your lesson. I want to see just how tough your heads really are, level-three mutant wolves. Let’s see if my caseless rounds work on you!” Lin Lei seized the opportunity and fired at the wolf king.

Having already killed a fake wolf king, Lin Lei had a score to settle. He’d been lying in wait all this time just for this shot.

Bang!

With the target standing still, there was little challenge. The bullet struck the wolf king in the eye.

A plaintive howl rang out—the wolf king wasn’t dead, but it was gravely wounded, one eye now blind.

The wolves grew agitated, but instead of fleeing, they went mad, swarming in from all directions and hurling themselves at Yang Xueli with reckless abandon.

Their aim wasn’t to kill with a single blow, but to shrink Yang Xueli’s space to maneuver, attacking like zombies but with more strategy, ensuring that no matter where she tried to break through, the pressure was equally intense.

No matter how skilled or well-equipped Yang Xueli was, this sudden, suicidal tactic caught her off guard, leaving her momentarily flustered.

“I’ll cover your back—just charge in one direction and break through their formation. Don’t give them a chance to surround you again!” Lin Lei shouted.

To support Yang Xueli, he had to give up pursuit of the wolf king.

He no longer conserved ammo or aimed for precision—he switched to full-auto, mowing down anything that came close to Yang Xueli’s back until the white light flashed.

Gunfire thundered, and in just three minutes, Lin Lei had emptied twelve magazines.

After three minutes of slaughter, barely any mutant wolves remained. Of the four level-three guards, Yang Xueli took out two; another was shredded by Lin Lei’s full magazine and, after a brief struggle, vanished in a flash of white.

The last guard fled for its life, with Yang Xueli in hot pursuit; it wouldn’t last much longer.

As for the wolf king, it vanished once the pack went berserk—probably already hiding back in its den.

About half an hour later, the two finished off the remaining mutant wolves. All four level-three guards were dead, and the few stragglers weren’t worth chasing. Lin Lei decided to let them go.

The main reason was that Wild Wolf Ridge was so vast, they had no idea which direction to search. It was better to pick a direction and move on, leaving their success to luck.

Taking a moment to tally the results, Lin Lei couldn’t help but grin. Yang Chunxi had netted him another hundred contribution points.

Between the two battles, Lin Lei alone had earned 168 contribution points just from mutant wolves. After recycling, he still had 68 points worth of mutant wolves left, plus another 7 points from other mutant beasts.

Adding the zombies that Yang Chunxi’s team had gathered—though not enough for recycling yet—Lin Lei’s total assets now reached 690 contribution points.