Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 69: Chapter 63: Eliminating a Public Menace

With a simple stomp of her foot, Tang Mo gripped her blade and charged forward again.

To her surprise, the Basic-level Mutant Beasts of today were a world apart from the animals of the past.

They actually possessed the ability to think. After realizing that its attempt to strike Tang Mo’s artery had failed, the wolf she had kicked aside changed its strategy.

The wolf that had been kicked didn’t seem seriously injured. It retreated a few steps, then broke into a run, accelerating to use its immense momentum to ram the formidable human before it.

The wolf was much larger than Tang Mo in both size and weight. Although she quickly discerned its intent, its speed was overwhelming. Tang Mo only managed to move half her body out of the way, and the wolf slammed squarely into her other shoulder.

Seeing that it had knocked the human to the ground, the wolf didn’t hesitate. It continued its charge, pouncing on Tang Mo and trying to sink its teeth into her.

It was a life-or-death struggle, a fact that both Tang Mo and the wolf understood perfectly.

Her Wind Breaker had already been knocked from her hand, falling to the ground. It was too late to retrieve it.

In a split second, Tang Mo seized the wolf’s lower jaw with one hand, forcing its mouth open and preventing it from lunging forward to tear out her throat.

With her other hand, Tang Mo summoned her Poisoned Dagger from her Space. She put all her strength into plunging it into the wolf’s abdomen, then twisted her wrist relentlessly.

The wolf’s eyes flew wide, filled with utter defiance.

Its jaws strained in a final struggle, but it couldn’t break free from Tang Mo’s grip.

Blood gushed from its abdomen. Finally, its eyes slowly closed, and its body went limp on top of Tang Mo.

Once she felt the wolf stop breathing, Tang Mo pulled the dagger from its abdomen. Just to be safe, she slit its throat a few more times.

Having used the last of her strength, Tang Mo finally allowed herself to collapse onto the ground, unable to move.

After resting for a while, Tang Mo regained enough strength to push the wolf off of her. She then dug through the heads of the two wolves and found a single Crystal Core.

She wasn’t sure what other valuable parts a wolf’s body might have. Guided by the principle of ”waste not, want not,” she tossed both carcasses into a large barrel in her Space, filling the spot where the snake meat she’d finished had once been.

Covered in blood, Tang Mo dragged her exhausted body home. She paid no mind to her discomfort, instead mentally replaying the recent battle.

One against two. Before coming to Taoyuan Village, she had struggled to deal with even a single, lone mutant beast. Now, she could face two at once.

She knew she hadn’t used her full strength in this fight. The head-on confrontation had been a way to test her practical combat skills.

If she had used stealth attacks or traps, or if she had simply pulled out a gun at the critical moment and fired it up under the wolf’s jaw, she could have won even more easily.

Tang Mo had been in Taoyuan Village for half a month, and her strength had increased by at least a third. She was very satisfied with this result.

After all, most Hunters nowadays went out on missions in teams, hunting mutant beasts near their bases.

Only the exceptionally powerful could hunt alone, and even then, they had to choose lone, weaker prey.

To put it bluntly, with her current strength, Tang Mo could pretty much do as she pleased in a very small base.

Of course, in a central Alliance hub like S Base, Tang Mo was nothing more than a small fry.

Back in her room, the first thing Tang Mo did was strip off her wolf-blood-soaked clothes. Then, she took out a large bucket and gave herself a thorough wash with the water she had collected from the village that day.

She then used the bathwater to wash her clothes, hanging them to dry by her door before finally, and comfortably, lying down on her bed and drifting off to sleep.

Wolves are persistent creatures. One failed scouting attempt would only be followed by a relentless stream of others, all until the Black Wolf fully awakened.

Tiegen was at home recuperating, no longer able to go out and clear away the nearby mutant beasts.

The village chief and the others had been worried that with Tiegen out of commission, mutant beasts would start wandering near the village. They kept the gates bolted shut every day, anxiously observing the situation outside.

However, the event they feared never came to pass. Everything remained peaceful.

The villagers might have felt at peace, but Tang Mo was completely worn out.

Every day, she went out to hunt the mutant beasts that wandered out from the surrounding forests. She never ventured into the forests themselves—there were far too many beasts inside for her to handle.

At night, she would hop the fence to kill a couple of wolves lurking nearby. Once, three of them came, and Tang Mo eliminated them all.

Tang Mo had a strong feeling that the Black Wolf wasn’t particularly intelligent. ’The pack only has twenty-odd wolves. If it keeps sending them to their deaths like this every day, it’ll be a general with no army soon enough.’

Her Space was full and couldn’t hold any more wolf carcasses. Worried the smell of blood would attract unwanted attention, she had no choice but to bury them.

Fighting and digging pits every day... ’This is rough,’ Tang Mo thought to herself.

Of course, she wasn’t doing all this to surpass Tiegen and become the new MVP. She wasn’t that noble.

It was simply that combat was the fastest way to improve. Plus, maintaining the peace and quiet of Taoyuan Village would allow her to stay in this spiritual power haven a little longer.

She understood they had a symbiotic relationship; if the village fell, she’d be next.

’Still, I suppose I’m doing a public service, an unsung hero,’ Tang Mo silently gave herself a mental thumbs-up.

But these peaceful days didn’t last long. On a bright and beautiful morning, the Wolf King finally awoke.

That day happened to be the second day after Tiegen’s full recovery. He went out with some of the village elders to work nearby.

Of course, they had different tasks. Tiegen was chopping wood to continue repairing the fence, while the elders were gathering edible plants and fruits.

Perhaps because of the recent peace and the exceptionally fine weather, Taoyuan Village’s main gate wasn’t bolted shut as usual. Instead, it stood wide open, as if to embrace the beautiful scenery.

As Tang Mo walked out the gate, she wondered, ’With the gate this wide open, have Shen Xiaodong and the others let down their guard, or have they given up completely?’

Tang Mo went much farther afield than Tiegen and his group. She always lingered at the edges of the various forests, picking off any poor, unfortunate stragglers.

Today, however, Tang Mo felt something was very wrong with the forest. The seemingly calm air was thick with a restless energy.

With her high Spiritual Attribute value, she was naturally sensitive and had great faith in her sixth sense. She extended her spiritual power into the forest, checking for any abnormalities.

What she saw gave her a huge shock.