Renyu hauled the silver wolf king off the battlefield like an unruly puppy. Three reckless wild wolves launched surprise attacks from different angles—one aimed for his legs, another went for his throat, and the last tried to wrap itself around his arm.

  The gray wolf targeting his leg met its end first. Its neck twisted at an unnatural angle upon contact, sending its body flying three meters sideways. It slammed into a tree trunk with a dull thud, like a sack of grain hitting the ground. The second wolf crept along the tree trunk, attempting to wrap itself around Renyu's free arm. As it snarled and lunged, the last shred of pity for small creatures vanished from Renyu's eyes. Two fingers pierced the wolf's eyes like steel spikes, followed by a slap that sent it flying.

  The third wolf proved the most cunning. It approached silently from behind, its forepaws already on Renyu's shoulders, fangs mere inches from his throat. At that critical moment, Renyu crouched suddenly, slamming the silver wolf in his hand into the mud. The attacker's forepaws lost their support, throwing its entire body off balance. Renyu's blood-stained hand seized one of its hind legs like lightning, flinging it upward like a sack. The immense centrifugal force tore the wolf's leg clean off, sending the blood-spattered stump arcing through the air.

  Leg-swing, eye-gouging, ear-slapping, crouching, leg-shedding—the sequence unfolded in a single, seamless 0.1-second burst. One ambush wolf was dead, two crippled. The adage that "a wounded beast is the most dangerous" only holds for prey cornered into desperation. When predators face such an overwhelming counterattack, the remaining pack immediately scattered like birds with their tails tucked between their legs.

  Throughout the history of Evolution Battlefield, officers have indeed perished in heavy cavalry charges and fallen victim to dum-dum bullets. However, cases of being mauled to death by beasts or killed in direct combat by ordinary individuals wielding cold steel are exceedingly rare.

  As the game progresses, increasing attribute points becomes increasingly difficult, as it approaches the physiological limits of carbon-based life—the weight-bearing capacity of bones, the elasticity limits of muscles, cellular energy efficiency, and blood oxygen-carrying capacity. To break through these barriers, one must seek new evolutionary paths. After all, the carbon-based life form's physical shell has inherent limitations: slender arms cannot rival the strength of steel bearings, and attempting to punch through armor plate with bare fists will only result in crushing fractures. When facing solid defenses, the wise choice is to wield a sledgehammer, not to rely on brute strength alone.

  Other carbon-based lifeforms in this plane faced the same constraints. Beasts comparable to Renyu in weight were merely fodder to be crushed beneath him. Organized, coordinated attacks could still pose a threat—but the wolf pack had lost all will to fight the moment their leader fell. Right now, they were likely scrambling back to their den, vying for new leadership and territorial claims.

  The sight of Renyu emerging from the thicket, carrying the silver-white wolf king by the scruff, left the vigilant mercenaries of the caravan in the distance utterly dumbfounded. At this juncture, magical beasts were as rare as endangered species on Earth—if ordinary beasts were street thugs wielding restricted knives, then magical beasts were desperados brandishing submachine guns. The sudden appearance of a magical beast in this forest was nothing short of a catastrophe for the caravan. While such creatures could indeed hold their own against regular troops, they were exceptionally cunning and rarely engaged armies head-on. Successfully hunting them down typically required spellcasters working alongside elite knight squads. But capturing one alive like this? Unheard of.

  Yun Chenhe examined Renyu's "trophy" with keen interest. "Is this the legendary magical creature?" he inquired curiously, watching the silver wolf now as docile as a house dog. He couldn't resist reaching out to pet it. Suddenly, the beast revealed its vicious nature, snapping its head back to bite. Yun Chenhe reacted with lightning speed, flipping his palm to seize the wolf's jaw firmly. No matter how it struggled, it couldn't budge an inch. This move fully showcased Yun Chenhe's prowess—having traversed ten quest worlds (including the beginner quest), he had already entered the seventh exchange phase. His strength had increased by 1 point, agility by 3 points, and intelligence by 2 points, following a development path prioritizing agility with intelligence as a secondary focus. In this plane, he had more than enough strength to handle ordinary magical beasts.

  "Why don't you try taming it first?" Renyu suggested.

  Yun Chenhe shook his head. "You go ask that caravan behind us for directions."

  "I'm not good at socializing," Renyu frowned.

  Yun Chenhe smiled meaningfully. "Sometimes the groundwork for socializing has already been laid. If you go ask now, it'll be especially effective." Renyu pondered briefly before turning toward the caravan.

  Watching Renyu depart, Yun Chenhe lowered his gaze to the silver wolf in his grasp, a dangerous smile curling his lips. One hand still pinched the wolf's jaws while the other suddenly ripped out the sharpest claw from its paw—the barbed nail pulled clean from its root, the base still clinging to bloody flesh. The silver wolf let out a piercing howl of agony through its nostrils. When it looked at Yun Chenhe again, its eyes were filled with demonic terror. This torture, specifically targeting areas dense with nerve endings, was one of the essential skills required for Combat Evolution Officers.

  Renyu charged toward the caravan like an arrow released from its string, his agile form leaving a blur in the forest. Masai forced himself to stay calm, barking a command to the restless mercenaries behind him: "Freeze!" But at that critical moment, one young mercenary, unable to withstand the pressure, became so tense that his crossbow loosened. An arrow flew crookedly toward Renyu.

  The arrow clearly missed its mark, yet Renyu caught it mid-air with pinpoint accuracy while still galloping, halting just outside the caravan's perimeter. His expression remained serene, devoid of anger or malice—such an unintentional error scarcely warranted punishment. This perfectly timed pause demonstrated both his prowess and goodwill.

  Seeing Renyu halt, Masé breathed a sigh of relief. He shot a fierce glare at the clumsy archer before lowering his weapon and stepping forward to bow. "My lord, please forgive our rudeness." Beads of sweat formed on his forehead as he adopted a posture of humility bordering on servility.

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  "Are you familiar with the paths through this forest?" Renyu cut straight to the point.

  Renyu asked, "Are you familiar with the paths through this forest?"

  Relieved that Renyu hadn't mentioned the arrows, Marce quickly explained, "This is a trade route frequently used by our Round Barrel Guild. We conduct business with both the Iron Arm Count and the Kingfisher Count families..."

  "Take us to Blue River Province. Send a few men ahead to guide us," Renyu cut him off decisively.

  Maise's heart sank—the man showed no reaction to the two earl families. He forced a smile. "Guiding you is no problem, but... our small caravan knows nothing about you, sir. After we guide you, will you spare us?"

  Hearing Marce's plea, Renyu instantly guessed their intentions. He abruptly demanded, "Are you colluding with bandits?"

  Maise's face turned a vivid shade of panic—such a question could only come from either a righteous knight who abhorred evil (but why wouldn't a knight wear his family crest?), or... a bandit himself.

  "We plan to take refuge in the Five-Colored Valley mountains. Does your caravan conduct business there?" Renyu pressed bluntly.

  Maise gave a wry smile. "My lord jests. With your prowess, any lord would welcome you as honored guests. Five-Colors Valley borders the empire's granary and is garrisoned by elite provincial legions. If you face hardship, I could introduce you to the Iron Arm Count..."

  "Not necessary," Renyu waved him off. "Just show me the way. I'll ensure your safety."

  Seeing his resolve, Marce relented. "Cross this forest to Bingluo Dock, then follow the Blue River downstream for three hundred li to reach Wusec Valley. But my lord, traveling so conspicuously..."

  "Take me to the riverbank," Renyu interrupted again.

  Masse's face darkened. "If crossing the river here were feasible, a trade route would have existed long ago. But that place is swarming with crocodiles..."

  "Lead the way." Renyu's tone brooked no argument.

  "As you command." Maise bowed once more. "The riverbank lies but fifty li from here. It is my honor to serve you, sir."

  The fifty-kilometer journey passed in unusual tranquility, free from venomous snakes or fierce beasts, and without the imagined hardships and dangers. The predator that once ruled this territory now wore a specially forged steel muzzle. Its limbs were bound by steel rings Renyu had shaped by hand, tethered like a stray dog in the center of the camp. These rings bore no keyholes—Renyu had molded the metal directly to his will. Escape was impossible unless it severed its own claws.

  As night fell, Renyu's troops skillfully lit a campfire. Through the Evolution Battlefield, a bowl of cornmeal could be exchanged for just one or two grams of purple gold. Paired with the wild game hunted during the day, a simple yet satisfying dinner was prepared.

  In the camp's center, the silver wolf was bound in a spread-eagle position on a custom-made frame, its head fixed by metal braces to maintain a single posture. Renyu mercilessly pounded the back of its skull, as if tapping a jammed ketchup bottle. After seven or eight heavy blows, the Silver Wolf weakly opened its mouth—this was already the thirteenth forced expulsion of that mysterious blue wind blade tonight.

  "Seems it truly has none left." Yun Chenhe toyed with a slender steel needle, his smile so gentle it sent shivers down the silver wolf's spine. Under the threat of death, the wolf's bloodshot eyes snapped wide open, and the blue light in its mouth began flickering on and off like a faulty lightbulb. Finally, a mass of gaseous blue light laboriously coalesced into a translucent blade-like form, within which a curved, silvery-white sheet was faintly visible.

  The wind blade shot from the silver wolf's mouth toward a specially designed transparent glass tube. The tube shattered instantly, and the metal sheet concealed within the light cluster struck the metal plate at the tube's end with astonishing speed, producing a crisp clang.

  After reattaching the muzzle to the exhausted silver wolf, Yun Chenhe plopped down on the limp wolf's back and exclaimed excitedly, "I get it now!"

  Renyu nodded and added, "The so-called wind blade cutting isn't powered by airflow at all—that weak current couldn't even lift a piece of paper."

  "Exactly," Yun Chenhe explained excitedly. "Those metal shards are too thin for the naked eye to see. They start oxidizing the moment they touch air, shattering into micron-sized particles upon impact and transferring all their kinetic energy to the target. If they miss, they oxidize completely mid-flight and vanish. This isn't magic at all—it's a biological electromagnetic cannon!" He patted the wolf's head, half-admiringly, half-teasingly. "Little guy, you're quite the talent. Who knew you could pull off an electromagnetic cannon?"

  During this rigorous "experiment," the silver wolf was compelled to repeatedly cast its magical skill, allowing the two keenly perceptive Combat Evolution Officers to decipher its mechanics. The process unfolded in three distinct phases:

  First, a shimmering gaseous substance erupted from the wolf's mouth, emitting a faint blue glow like ionized gas. Renyu and Yun Chenhe attempted to place magnetic powder around the wolf's jaws to observe magnetic field lines, but this unexpectedly disrupted the spell's formation—the powder lines twisted and distorted, and the glowing gas dissipated.

  When the spell succeeded, they observed a slender silver blade gradually coalescing within the gas's center. Renyu interrupted this casting too, analyzing the silver wolf's saliva. They discovered an abnormally high concentration of magnesium chloride, which finally revealed the nature of that central blade. Interestingly, after casting, the wolf's mouth became strongly acidic. It seemed the gaseous substances reduced magnesium ions back to elemental magnesium, forming the aggressive "blade."

  The most destructive phase came at the end, when the blue-light-enveloped magnesium blades were expelled, and the magnetic field around the mouth reached a peak. Renyu calculated that the instantaneous acceleration propelled the blades to speeds so extreme that even his dynamic vision struggled to track them. Test results showed the blades could effortlessly cleave through timber as thick as an arm and even leave one-centimeter-deep gouges in carbon steel plates. This reminded them of nanoblade technology from pre-transmigration sci-fi works—except where nanoblades relied on material strength, this technique harnessed pure kinetic energy for lethality.

  Thus, the blue light blade itself wasn't terrifying; what was terrifying was the magnesium blade within.

  As the experiment deepened, Yun Chenhe and Renyu grew increasingly fascinated by the silver wolf's physiology. They could barely contain their urge to dissect it immediately—to examine the specialized organs producing luminous gas and search for the bioelectric conduction network potentially spanning its entire body.

  Masé stood nearby, his expression shifting from initial shock to sheer agony. As a seasoned merchant, he knew exactly what a live silver wolf could fetch at auction—at least 1,500 gold coins! If mages were present, the price could soar even higher. Yet now, this priceless magical beast lay dying at the hands of two madmen. He could almost hear the clink of gold coins slipping through his fingers.

  "We've gathered nearly all the experimental data," Renyu said, wiping the slime from his hands with a hint of reluctance. "Too bad we can't perform destructive sampling on some critical tissues..."

  Yun Chenhe nodded in understanding. "True, dissecting it now would be wasteful." He turned to his aide and ordered, "Prepare the skinning tools. This silver pelt will make a fine winter coat for the commander."

  "Wait!" Marce finally couldn't hold back and rushed over, beads of sweat glistening on his forehead in the campfire light. Rubbing his hands together, his face plastered with a merchant's characteristic fawning smile, he pleaded, "Gentlemen, might I... might I acquire this silver wolf? I'll pay a thousand Thorn Gold coins!"

  Yun Chenhe and Renyu exchanged a knowing glance. Truthfully, they'd anticipated this moment since the first time Maise had stolen a glance at the silver wolf, and they'd long since decided its final destination.