I started with a portal, then turned around and handed it over to the nation.

boom!

The QBU-10 anti-material sniper rifle spews fire from its muzzle.

The hood of the Mengshi vehicle vibrated loudly from the immense recoil. A specially designed armor-piercing explosive round pierced the gaps in the shattered scales on the Black Dragon King's chest.

"roar!"

The Black Dragon King cried out in pain. The bullet exploded in the muscle layer of its chest cavity. Although it hadn't pierced its heart, the excruciating pain caused its dive to halt. Its wings twitched instinctively, its balance was broken, and its speed plummeted.

"Now!"

At an altitude of 10,000 meters, Zhang Xiao slammed the throttle valve. The J-20 fighter jet's vector nozzle emitted blue Mach rings, entering a supersonic dive and locking onto the Black Dragon King at the six o'clock position.

The radar lock-on box turned red, and a piercing beeping sound rang out.

"Falcon 01 locked on."

Zhang Xiao pressed the red launch button on the joystick.

The fuselage bomb bay opened. A PL-10 short-range air-to-air missile roared out.

The distance is less than two kilometers.

The Black Dragon King sensed the threat behind him and tried to deploy a shield, but his internal injuries caused his magical energy to stagnate.

The missile's infrared seeker locked onto the wound in the abdomen that was spraying dragon blood.

puff.

The missile pierced the Black Dragon King's abdomen through the taut wound. The delayed fuse activated.

boom!

The fireball exploded inside his body. His spine was instantly shattered by the shockwave.

"Awooo—!"

Screams echoed across the northern wilderness.

The Black Dragon King's body stiffened, losing control. Black blood mixed with fragments of internal organs spilled out. Its dragon wings drooped limply, and its massive body tumbled violently, spiraling downwards.

"Hit!"

On the ground-based air defense position, the battalion commander threw down his binoculars and roared.

The giant black shadow zoomed in rapidly.

Boom!

The earth trembled violently. The Black Dragon King crashed onto the gravel beach less than two hundred meters from the air defense position. The shockwave, carrying debris and dust, swept across the surrounding area. Several Mengshi assault vehicles on the outer perimeter were thrown sideways by the blast.

Smoke and dust filled the air. In the deep pit, the Black Dragon King's mangled body was still twitching.

"Don't stop!"

Lin Mo pushed open the car door and jumped out. He grabbed his sniper rifle, which was scorching hot, pulled the bolt, loaded a new round, and yelled into his headset, "All units, free fire to finish off the enemy! Ha Mei, Chen Chen, Yao Yao, charge!"

"Awoo!"

Hamei charged out first, her four paws digging deep furrows in the frozen earth before disappearing into the dust. Chenchen and Yaoyao followed closely behind.

Lin Mo strode towards the deep pit. The monster wasn't truly dead until he saw the system notification.

In the center of the deep pit.

The Black Dragon King was still alive. Its massive head rested on the rubble, its golden vertical pupils losing their light, and black blood gushing from its mouth. Seeing the charging humans and battle pets, it tried to raise its claws, but its broken spine rendered it unable to move.

"roar……"

Noisy!

Three thick ice spikes emerged from his lower jaw, piercing through his chin and pinning the dragon head to the ground.

Ha-mei has arrived.

Immediately afterwards, Chenchen and Yaoyao jumped onto the dragon's head, their sharp claws slicing through the Black Dragon King's eyelids and nasal cavity.

"Get out of the way!"

Lin Mo rushed to the edge, knelt on one knee, and raised his gun. The crosshairs were aimed at Black Dragon King's left eye.

boom!

The bullet pierced the eyeball and entered the brain, blowing off a large chunk of the skull.

The Black Dragon King's body tensed abruptly, then went limp. He exhaled his last breath, scattering the dust in front of him.

It stopped moving.

Lin Mo maintained his gun-holding posture, staring at the corpse.

A pale blue light frame popped up in the field of vision.

Target: Black Dragon King (Mutated High-Level Life Form)

The task progress numbers jumped and then stopped at 5088.

Golden characters appeared.

Main Quest: Kill 1000 Wyverns (Completed)

Task evaluation and settlement in progress...

The cursor blinked, and a huge golden "S" character came into view.

Whew. Lin Mo let out a long breath and plopped down on the pile of rubble.

"We won..."

Someone shouted first. Cheers erupted from the Adari defense line and the artillery positions.

"We won! The Dragon King is dead!"

"The Air Force is awesome!"

The soldiers threw off their hats and hugged.

Hundreds of meters away, beneath the walls of the Adari defensive line, Raymond stared at the mountain-like dragon corpse, his sword falling to the ground. He knelt on the blood-stained frozen earth, his forehead slamming heavily against the earth.

"Thank God..."

"We won. The Dragon King is dead."

Shouts could be heard from afar.

The cavalrymen on the Adari defense line threw their hats into the air, and some knelt on the ground wiping away tears.

The recoil from those shots was strong; half of Lin Mo's body was numb, and his shoulder was still numb.

"Advisor Lin!"

Gu Yuan slung the assault rifle over his shoulder and ran over to help him.

Gu Yuan asked if everyone was alright, saying that the moment just now was too dangerous, as the monster's corpse was less than fifty meters away from them.

Lin Mo waved his hand and pushed Gu Yuan away.

He handed the scorching hot QBU-10 sniper rifle to the soldier next to him.

"I'm fine, I just have a bit of tinnitus."

Lin Mo pointed to a large, sheltered rock in the distance and said, "Let's go over there and calm down. Don't let anyone bother us; my head is buzzing."

Seeing Lin Mo's pale face, Gu Yuan nodded and said okay, they and Raymond's people would handle the cleanup of the battlefield.

Lin Mo tightened his tactical coat and turned to walk towards the boulder.

Lin Mo walked around the boulder and found a secluded corner to sit on the frozen ground.

He leaned against the cold stone and exhaled a puff of white air.

Lin Mo raised his hand and lightly tapped the air.

hum.

The pale blue system light screen unfolded.

Lin Mo's fingers trembled slightly with excitement. According to the pattern, this upgrade would likely result in a larger backdoor or new features.

"upgrade."

Lin Mo muttered something under his breath and tapped the flashing button with his finger.

He squinted.

In the past, system upgrades were accompanied by golden light or a loud noise.

This time not.

The light screen flickered.

The originally azure blue interface turned dark.

A line of red text popped up and appeared horizontally in the center of the screen.

Warning: Host performance rating of "Excellent" detected. System logic reorganization in progress.

Lin Mo was stunned.

He sat up straight and stared at the red lettering.

Lin Mo tapped rapidly on the screen, trying to close the warning box.

no response.

The red text flashed three times before fading away.

Immediately afterwards, a new pop-up window appeared.

This is an explanation.

The font looks ordinary; it doesn't have that cold, impersonal task format.

Given the host's good performance during the survival and expansion phase, the portal system enters a silent upgrade mode.

Note 1: During the upgrade, the existing functions of the portal will remain normal.

Note 2: During the upgrade, the system will no longer issue any mandatory main or side quests.

Lin Mo made a dry sound in his throat.

He stared at the words "No more tasks will be issued" for a minute.

The wind tousled her hair.

"No more... issuing missions?"

Lin Mo reached out and touched the taskbar at the bottom of the screen.

There used to be a blood-red countdown hanging there.

The next task will refresh as soon as it is completed.

That was the pressure that was forcing him, forcing the country to keep moving forward.

That spot is now empty.

The area that used to display the task list has turned gray.

The message only had two words: Pending.

Lin Mo leaned back against the rock and raised his head.

Above us was the hazy gray sky of the North, with the white contrails left by several J-20 fighter jets.

With my shoulder muscles relaxed, the chronic soreness in my spine seemed to lessen considerably.

"That's all..."

Lin Mo took out a pack of cigarettes.

He coughed and laughed at the same time.

My eyes feel hot.

From being chased by goblins for the first time, to leading the national team through the swamp, and then to slaying dragons in the North.

Every breath I take smells of blood, and the countdown in my head never stops, even when I'm trying to sleep.

There's no need to work so hard anymore.

There's really no need to work so hard anymore.

Lin Mo turned off the system panel and walked out from behind the boulder.

In the distance, searchlight beams crisscrossed the pebble beach.

The soldiers are busy.

The construction vehicle roared over, and the crane arm grabbed the dragon corpse.

Raymond directed the cavalry to roll up the stripped dragon skin and load it onto the wagons.

Ha-mei was perched on the head of a flying dragon, with dragon meat in her mouth, her mouth full of oil.

Chenchen and Yaoyao squatted on the roof of the Mengshi vehicle, licking the blood off each other's paws.

Lin Mo stood in the wind, watching the group of people.

A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

Long Fei's voice came through the headset, sounding a bit anxious.

"Lin Mo? Where are you? I can't find your signal on the radar."

Lin Mo pressed down on the headset.

"Dragon, I'm behind the rock. Getting ready to head back to the airport camp with Tiger!"

"Okay! Be careful on the road!"