As someone in sequence 001, I also want to give up today.

The whispers from the crowd still drifted outwards.

"What level is this thing exactly?"

A young woman carrying a long sword squatted beside the corpse and poked the severed section with the scabbard.

"With skin this thick and tough, it's probably only A-grade?"

"Grade A?"

The middle-aged man next to him scoffed.

"Let me tell you, I study alien beasts. Without exaggeration, this thing's defense can definitely withstand a full-force attack from an A-rank, and it's incredibly resilient. Even if all of us B-ranks were tied together, we wouldn't be enough for one slap from it."

"Who did this?"

The girl stood up and circled the corpse twice.

"The head was cleanly severed, the blade not even curled; how fast must that have been..."

"A quick knife?"

A young man wearing glasses in the crowd chimed in, adjusting his glasses.

"I doubt it. The Cyclops' neck is thicker than your waist, and his bones are as hard as iron. Ordinary swords would only chip and break at the blade. To me, it's more like some kind of cutting ability—one swift, clean cut."

He paused, lowered his voice, and said with a hint of boasting, "Do you know Polyphemus, the Cyclops in Greek mythology? Odysseus gouged out his eyes with a stick and tricked him by saying his name was 'Nobody.' So he shouted 'Nobody will kill me!' and all the giants on the island thought nothing was wrong, and no one came to his rescue. Myths aside, the principle is this—for creatures like Cyclops, their eyes are their only weakness. But look at this one; it's the neck that's broken, not the eye."

Another gasp rippled through the crowd.

Lingdang lay beside Li Yu's legs, listening intently to everything, her big eyes darting around.

She asked softly, "Auntie, is he right? The Cyclops's eye is his Achilles' heel?"

Li Yu didn't answer that question, only saying lightly, "I guess so."

She has no idea what fate or vital point is.

If you can cut it, then cut it; if you can't, then call for help. Who cares about anything else?

The bell blinked.

Li Yu didn't say anything more.

She had no intention of joining in the fun.

The crowd was still chattering and guessing who the culprit was, ranging from "a reclusive master" to "an S-class official passing by and doing a good deed for the people," and the guesses became more and more outrageous.

Li Yu turned around and waved to the bell.

"They're gone."

"Auntie?" Lingdang tugged at her sleeve. "Who did this?"

Li Yu continued walking, her tone flat: "Your father."

Bell stumbled and nearly fell to the ground: "Old Deng?!"

She quickly covered her mouth, glanced around to make sure no one had heard, and then whispered, "Old Deng was here? Why didn't he take us with him! He killed the Cyclops, and didn't even bother to collect his head; is it just sitting here on display?!"

Li Yu didn't respond to that.

She had no idea where Li Xian was or what he was doing.

The secret realm was too vast, and the fog blocked spiritual power, making it impossible to perceive.

"Let him kill his as he pleases, we'll just wander around," Li Yu said. "Let's go find the sheep."

Upon hearing "find the sheep," Lingdang's attention was immediately drawn, and she skipped and hopped forward, exclaiming, "Let's go! I want to pick the fattest one!"

She darted forward two steps, then abruptly stopped.

The ground beneath my feet was shaking.

Dust rose from the edge of the valley.

The excitement on Lingdang's face froze for a moment, and her ears perked up alertly under her hair.

Li Yu's expression remained relaxed, as if she wasn't surprised at all.

Boom— Boom— Boom—

The soles of Lingdang's feet were numb.

She looked up and saw a gray-brown figure emerging from behind the rocky slope.

One, two, three... too many to count.

The crowd erupted.

"Holy crap! Cyclops! A whole bunch of them!"

"How come there are so many! That corpse from earlier—have they come seeking revenge?!"

"Scatter! Everyone scatter! Go find the S-class rescue team! They're nearby!"

The middle-aged man's voice cracked.

The crowd quickly dispersed to both sides.

The young man with glasses nearly crushed the frames in his hand, his voice trembling: "No... there must be more than a dozen, right? All adults? We B-grades can't even outrun them!"

Lingdang stood behind Li Yu, her little face tense, but her legs stubbornly refused to move.

She saw the Cyclopes approaching step by step.

The leading giant passed by the headless corpse, stopped, bent down, picked up the head from the ground, looked at it in front of his eye, and then casually threw it away.

It didn't get angry or wail; it just stepped over it, as if it were stepping over a stumbling block.

Li Yu saw it clearly, which further confirmed her initial judgment.

revenge?

This word was created by humans to comfort themselves.

In the world of wild animals, there is no revenge, only hunger, territory being taken, and food being stolen.

Only when all three conditions are met will they come in droves.

"Auntie..." Lingdang's throat tightened.

Li Yu stared at the massive, grayish-brown shadow looming over them, without even lifting her eyelids, and uttered only three words:

"That's a bit much."

She paused, then added, her tone carrying a hint of nonchalant disdain:

"But it's nothing."

Before Li Yu's words could drift far in the wind, the leading cyclops had already moved.

It picked up a piece of gravel the size of a millstone, swung its arm, and hurled it at the crowd.

The stone, accompanied by a sharp whistling sound, traced an arc in the air before heading straight for the middle-aged man's face.

The middle-aged man's face was deathly pale, but his legs felt like they were made of lead as he watched helplessly as the dark shadow grew larger and larger.

The stone stopped.

It hovered in mid-air, less than a palm's width from the tip of his nose.

It felt like I'd crashed into an invisible wall.

The pebbles shattered into dust in mid-air, and the grayish-white powder fell all over his head and face.

The middle-aged man stood frozen in place, his eyes unable to move.

The crowd was deathly silent.

The Cyclops stopped, a hint of confusion flashing in his single eye.

It didn't see what happened.

Li Yu took a step forward.

This small step seemed unremarkable to everyone.

But her aura changed in an instant.

The previous leisurely feeling of "taking the kids for a stroll in the valley" has completely faded away, replaced by something indescribable that sends chills down my spine.

She did not draw her sword.

He simply raised his hand and lightly traced a line with his fingertips across the massive, grayish-brown shadow.

Just like that, a single stroke.

It was as if a hole had been torn open in the air.

Countless transparent threads burst open from her fingertips.

At first, it was so fine that it was almost invisible, but in the blink of an eye, it wove into a vast, all-encompassing net.

Each thread carried an extreme chill as it spun, gathered, and twisted in the valley.

storm.

A storm formed by a cutting force field.

Countless threads spun at high speed, stirring up gravel, dust, and air currents, creating a grayish-white vortex on the western side of the valley.

The cyclops were caught in it; one second they were roaring and swinging their fists, and the next they were entangled in the threads, their arms were strangled, their necks were twisted, and their flesh was ripped open.

The rough, iron-like stone-textured skin became as brittle as paper in the face of the cutting force field.

A flash of silver light appeared, followed by a deep, bone-revealing gash.

A cloud of blood rose up.

The grayish-white vortex was quickly stained dark red.

From within came the Cyclops's short, angry howls, one after another, then fading away.

The crowd stood outside the storm, collectively silent.

The young man with glasses had his mouth agape, the frames of his glasses were tilted to one side, and his chin was almost falling to the ground.

The middle-aged man wiped the stone dust from his face, his voice trembling: "Grade A... a bunch of Grade A..."

No one responded to him.

Because everyone saw that Li Yu didn't even draw his sword.

She only raised her hand once, just once.