Ling Cage: I am a spiritual master, devouring source matter to become a god.

Charles raised his hand to stop him, "Alright. Jingyuan is right. When we go down to the ground, the mission should come first. Even if you are inspectors, you should listen to the deputy captain."

"Yes."

On the surface, Charles gave Jingyuan plenty of face. As for what happens after they get to the ground, that's up to them to decide.

Jingyuan looked at the three people behind Charles. They were wearing powered light armor. Although the power could not compare with heavy physical strength, it was enough to give them abilities far beyond those of ordinary people.

Wearing this gear and going into the field, is it just for supervision?

Jingyuan noticed the male citizen named Lorif, who was tall, about the same size as the big dog Sharif.

The two stood behind Charles like a wall.

Lorife's physique is rare in lighthouses.

The tall man I saw at the hunter selection last time should also be him.

He was chosen as one of the hunters but didn't come; it turns out he sided with Charles.

Jingyuan and the other hunters stepped onto the elevator platform.

As the platform slowly descended, they arrived in the desert below.

The team brought three armored vehicles. Jing Yuan, Kun Jie, and Gao Ge rode in the lead vehicle to lead the way, while the members of the Light and Shadow Society rode in the rear vehicle.

Jing Yuan leaned closer to the driver's seat and asked Gao Ge, "Brother Gao Ge, what do those people from the Light and Shadow Society do? Do you know?"

Gao Ge glanced at Jing Yuan and laughed, "Everyone's saying you're Charles's man, and he didn't even tell you that?"

Gao Ge spoke in a joking tone, and Jing Yuan didn't mind, so he jokingly said in return, "Obviously, I haven't gained his trust yet."

“Haha!” Gao Ge laughed and explained, “You can think of these people as Charles’s private hunters.”

"Private hunters?"

“The resources we hunters collect on the ground are all sent to the Lighthouse Resource Vault for unified distribution. But our leader is not satisfied with this distribution of resources, so he organized a private search team to go down to the ground to collect resources for him under the guise of the Light and Shadow Society’s oversight.”

"Is this okay?"

"In principle, it's not allowed. But who can argue with the fact that he's the leader of the Light and Shadow Society! In the name of the Lord of Light and Shadow, he is the one who makes the rules."

Kun Jie added from the side, "Only we older hunters know about this. At first, everyone thought that since all the collected supplies would be taken to the lighthouse anyway, we turned a blind eye to their behavior. But later they went too far. After Mark became the captain, he stopped letting the members of the Light and Shadow Society come down with us."

"So that's it!"

Given this history, Jingyuan could easily guess that Charles sent these three men down to find something.

What could it be?

In the desert, three armored vehicles were moving rapidly, and soon they arrived at their destination.

From the driver's seat, Kun Jie said, "Jing Yuan, we've reached our destination. Get ready."

"Roger that!"

The armored vehicle arrived at a building ruin located in the desert.

Before the disaster, this was a food production and processing plant.

If the equipment here is still preserved, you should be able to find some old equipment and parts.

The convoy drove through the ruins while scanning the surrounding buildings with instruments.

After the disaster, many factories were destroyed, and many were buried in the sand. Only by scanning with instruments could the location of the factories be determined.

The convoy stopped, and Gao Ge took out a tablet computer and pulled up the most recent scan information.

"Based on the drone reconnaissance and on-site scanning, there are three hollow spaces beneath this area. In my opinion, we should split up and search separately; this will be the most efficient way."

"I think it's feasible."

Seeing that Kunjie had agreed, Jingyuan naturally did not refuse, but he still said, "We can split up, but if we encounter the Devouring Beast, we must not act rashly. Notify me to come and deal with it."

Kun Jie and Gao Ge were both aware of Jing Yuan's combat strength and agreed with it.

While the three were discussing their plan of action, Fan En, one of the trio from the Light and Shadow Society, was looking for something with the instrument in his hand.

He then walked over to Jing Yuan, completely ignoring the three of them discussing the matter, and said directly to Jing Yuan, "Vice Captain Jing Yuan, I need you to come with me to collect supplies in this direction."

Jing Yuan was taken aback, and Gao Ge and Kun Jie also looked at Fan En and the other two.

"I made it very clear before I came down to earth that you must not interfere with our mission! Where you want to go can wait until we find the repair equipment. Of course, if you are not afraid of the Devouring Beasts, you can go there yourself."

Locke chuckled softly and said, "Vice Captain Jingyuan, you know what you'll face if you don't cooperate with us!" He then stretched and looked at Penny beside him, laughing, "It's been a long time since I've been on a breeding mission at Dawn Hall!"

Jingyuan's face turned cold instantly, his gaze like a dagger piercing Locke's face.

Locke also sensed that something was wrong.

Snapped!

Jingyuan suddenly rushed in front of Locke and slapped him to the ground.

No one reacted.

When Van En and Loriev saw their companion being shot, they almost simultaneously raised their guns and pointed them at Jing Yuan.

Penny, Mo Dong, Chu Feng, and others standing nearby also raised their guns and pointed them at the three.

Locke drew his gun immediately, but before he could even disengage the safety, Jingyuan kicked him away.

Jingyuan took a step forward, grabbed Locke by the neck, and lifted him up like a dog.

Locke struggled, but Jingyuan's hand was like an iron clamp, gripping him tightly and impossible to budge.

Jing Yuan looked at Fan En and Lorife beside him and said coldly, "If you don't dare to shoot, then put down your guns. Do you think a gun can scare me?"

Van En and Lorif were both stunned. They really didn't dare to fire, but they didn't expect Jing Yuan to dare to do this.

Fan En was rather smooth-talking, and said to Jing Yuan, "Vice Captain Jing Yuan, we came here under orders from the leader. What do you mean by doing this?"

Jingyuan felt that Locke in his hand was about to die, so he threw it directly in front of Van En.

Jingyuan said, "I said you must not interfere with our mission! You can have your own mission, but you have to wait until we find the repair equipment."

Jing Yuan glanced at Mo Dong and said, "Take away their weapons!"

"you dare!"

Taking away weapons is something no one can agree to.

Jing Yuan smiled slightly and said, "Think it over carefully yourselves. Is it better to cooperate with us to complete the mission and then happily return to the Lighthouse to report back to the leader? Or is it better to stay here and feed the Devouring Beasts?"

"What? You want to kill us here?"

"Hmph!" Jing Yuan scoffed, "Cooperation benefits both, while conflict leads to mutual destruction. You don't even understand this basic principle; no wonder you're Charles's subordinate."

When Lorife saw Jingyuan mocking the head of the association, he was about to step forward, but was stopped by Fan En.

“Alright!” Van En lowered his gun and said, “We’ll do as you ask! But regardless of the mission’s success or failure, I will report everything truthfully to the Chief!”

"casual."

Chapter 55: Finding Supplies, Encountering the Devouring Beast

Under Jing Yuan's forceful suppression, the three members of the Light and Shadow Society finally behaved themselves.

Jingyuan collected their weapons, placed them in the group, and instructed Mo Dong to keep an eye on the three of them.

Kun Jie and Gao Ge were stunned when they saw this scene.

Gao Ge whispered, "This kid is decisive and ruthless; he's really not like a newcomer."

Kun Jie seemed to have noticed something. "It's not that he's ruthless, but that they've threatened Jing Yuan. If they use Fang Ning to threaten you, would you stand up to them?"

"Damn it!" Gao Ge looked at Jing Yuan, then at the three members of the Light and Shadow Society. Recalling what they had done in the past, he couldn't help but say, "They're still as despicable as ever!"

Kun Jie, however, showed a hint of worry, "I wonder how Jing Yuan will handle this."

After dealing with the three members of the Light and Shadow Society, Jing Yuan walked towards Kun Jie and Gao Ge as if nothing had happened.

"Where were we?"

"Let's split up!" Gao Ge reminded them.

Jing Yuan was silent for a moment, then said, "Let's act together!" After saying that, he turned around, "I'm afraid these three guys will cause trouble."

Subsequently, one of the team members operated a drone to conduct another exploration.

After analyzing the data brought back by the drone, Jingyuan chose to enter one of the ruins.

Beneath the ruins lies a vast space, approximately ten meters high.

Jingyuan and the others went down to the ground and quickly found a bunch of mechanical equipment underneath.

However, upon inspection, these devices were found to be damaged beyond repair and unusable, with no value even in repair.

The team could only continue moving forward.

Chu Feng, carrying the instruments, checked the equipment while clearing a path for the team.

drop!

Upon seeing the warning on the instrument, Chu Feng quickly said, "The air ahead is abnormal. Everyone, please put on your masks."

The team members behind quickly put on their masks.