Digimon: I really didn't want to be the Digimon Emperor!

After successfully killing five savage beasts, only corpses surrounded by data streams remained on the battlefield.

Wenrou cautiously approached with the digital collector. A flash of blue light appeared, and the savage beast's corpse gradually turned into data and was sucked into the collector.

All that remained on the ground were a few rough wooden sticks, tattered animal hides, and five round digital cores that gleamed faintly.

"The material of these wooden sticks is quite unique." A boy picked up the wild beast's weapon and gently tapped the tree trunk, which produced a crisp, metallic sound. "They're very hard; they'd be very valuable if used to make beads."

"Don't just focus on collecting junk," Cheng Yuan reminded him with a smile. "The digital cores are the key; the outpost is buying them for 20,000 each."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately sprang into action, hurriedly collecting the spoils. Wenrou carefully put the five digital cores into her backpack, while the savage beast's wooden stick was tied to the pangolin's back.

The spoils brought smiles to everyone's faces, and the tense atmosphere from before vanished.

"That was easy!" A boy wearing glasses pushed up his glasses. "Let's keep going and try to complete as many tasks as possible."

"Exactly! This is way easier than training!" another girl chimed in, her eyes sparkling. "At this rate, we can earn a month's worth of training fees today!"

Cheng Yuan did not respond immediately, but silently put the stone digital egg entrusted to him by the mischievous monkey beast into his backpack.

He noticed that although the students were in high spirits, the Digimon had already used up more than half of their energy.

The battle just now seemed easy, but it was actually because they had adopted a perfect ambush tactic.

"Don't get too excited, everyone." Cheng Yuan cleared his throat. "Our teamwork still has a lot of room for improvement. That barrage of skills just now wasted too much energy. What if we encounter even more savage beasts?"

These words were like a bucket of cold water poured over everyone's heads. Indeed, if the situation hadn't been brought under control from the start, leaving the savage beasts powerless to fight back, the battle would never have gone so smoothly.

"Woof!" The little beast suddenly pricked up its ears and barked into the depths of the jungle.

"Woof!"

Reminded by the little dog beast, Cheng Yuan remembered that there was a smashed monkey beast in the grass in the distance, and he figured he could take it down again.

The Digicore of the Monkeymon is more valuable than that of the Wildmanmon because the Monkeymon's activity area is farther away from the outpost, and the Monkeymon is more agile and harder to catch.

So Cheng Yuan led everyone toward the mischievous monkey beast.

When the group arrived at the spot where the mischievous monkey had fallen, the sight before them silenced everyone.

This Digimon was covered in wounds, with most of its green fur burned off and its body exposed data and flesh everywhere.

"Huh?" It's not dead yet.

No halo symbolizing the dissipation of data formed around the mischievous monkey.

"It...is to protect future generations..." Wenrou's voice choked with emotion.

"We can't just stand by and watch it die, can we?" A girl crouched down, gently touching the wound of the Mischievous Monkeymon, but then quickly withdrew her hand as if she'd been electrocuted. "But it's too badly injured, and we don't have any healing Digimon here..."

Cheng Yuan looked around, his brow furrowed. Splitting up to find rescue was too dangerous, but continuing forward with the severely injured monkey beast was also impractical. Finally, he had a flash of inspiration: "How about this, we'll secure it to the pangolin's back. If it can hold out until we get back to the outpost, we'll rescue it; if not... then we'll collect data."

This compromise, though cruel, was indeed the most practical option at the moment. The group hastily made a makeshift stretcher out of vines and carefully secured the mischievous monkey beast to the pangolin's broad back.

After regrouping, they continued their journey along the valley. Sunlight filtered through the dense canopy, casting dappled shadows, and the babbling of the river mingled with birdsong. If it weren't for the ever-present threat of encountering wild beasts, the scenery would have been truly delightful.

"There's something going on the riverbank at two o'clock," Cheng Yuan said in a low voice, signaling everyone to take cover.

The little dog beast had already scouted ahead and could see two wild beasts sitting around a campfire. Chunks of meat from an unknown creature were roasting over the fire, and the grease dripping into the fire made a sizzling sound.

"Are they having a picnic?"

"The terrain is too open..." Cheng Yuan carefully observed the surrounding environment. The riverbank was completely exposed, leaving no room for an ambush. "Charging head-on is too dangerous. Their fireballs are no joke."

After a brief discussion, they decided to repeat their previous tactic, using a decoy strategy—with the fastest puppy as bait. This time, the students learned from their mistake and instead of unleashing all their skills at once, they focused on teamwork and control.

The battle ended faster than expected. After the two savage beasts were lured into the ambush, the vines of the Flower Beast immediately wrapped around their ankles, followed by a precise strike to their knees from the Mineral Beast's flying stones. By the time the savage beasts fell to the ground, the Pangolin's Earthclaw was already pressed against their throats.

"Beautiful!" Cheng Yuan couldn't help but exclaim. "That's what teamwork is all about!"

And so, they ventured deeper into the jungle, using the same tactics to take down four more waves of savage beast squads. Their backpacks swelled with digital cores, and the smiles on the students' faces grew ever brighter. With a professional beast tamer providing support from behind, their courage swelled, and they gradually pressed deeper into the jungle.

However, when the little beast suddenly stopped and pricked up its ears warily, Cheng Yuan realized something was wrong. A burnt smell filled the air, mixed with some other pungent odor.

Pushing aside the last clump of bushes, the sight before them made everyone gasp in horror—

This was a forest clearing stained red with blood, littered with the corpses of Wildmanmon and Unrulymon. Some of the bodies were still emitting wisps of smoke, indicating that the battle had just ended. A rough estimate suggests that at least thirty Digimon had perished here.

"Is...is there a war going on?" Wenrou's voice trembled slightly.

Cheng Yuan crouched down to examine the nearest corpses. The wounds on the savage beasts were mostly from bullets, while the wounds on the stubborn monkey beasts were mostly from blunt force trauma.

The corpses of the two Digimon were intertwined, clearly indicating that they had been in a fierce battle.

"Digital data acquisition... is there still room?" A boy swallowed hard, his eyes gleaming. This was an astonishing fortune.

"Hurry up!" A tall boy impatiently drew his dagger. "Take out the digital core before the data dissipates!"

Cheng Yuan frowned, but still followed his classmates. Wen Rou's digital data collector hummed as it continuously absorbed the data energy scattered across the battlefield.

Several daring boys squatted down next to the corpse, used daggers to cut open the Digimon's chest, and groped for the Digicore.

"Found it!" A bespectacled boy excitedly held up a digital core that glowed green, still covered with some data residue. His movements became more and more skilled, and he quickly collected five or six.

Some of the bolder students even took a knife and stabbed the Digimon in the chest, directly removing the Digicore.

"Cheng Yuan, look at this!" Wen Rou suddenly exclaimed, her voice filled with panic.

Cheng Yuan looked in the direction she was pointing and could vaguely see several rough wooden cages behind the bushes at the edge of the battlefield. Dozens of trembling baby Digimon were huddled inside, including Baby 1 Blackballmon and Baby 2 Woofmon. Those who had read the strategy guides knew that these were Baby Digimon of Mischievous Monkeymon.

"This is... the infancy of a Mischievous Monkey?" Cheng Yuan gasped. According to the textbook, the Black Ball Beast evolves into the Woofymon, and then into the Mischievous Monkey. These cubs were clearly captured by the Wildman Beast.

"Oh my god, they're still so small..." Wenrou's voice trembled slightly. She crouched down, trying to get closer to the cage, and the Digimon inside immediately let out terrified squeaks.

A burly young man shrugged dismissively: "Why bother with them? We're not here to be conservationists." He brandished a dagger covered in data in his hand. "The important thing is to collect all the valuable digital cores."

"But they're cubs!" Wenrou's eyes reddened with anxiety. "And they look starving..."

Cheng Yuan carefully observed the structure of the cages. These wooden cages were crudely made, but exceptionally sturdy, with each wooden plank as thick as a wrist. The cage doors were firmly bound with vines, which were coated with some kind of pungent slime, probably to prevent the mischievous monkeys from coming to the rescue.

"Woof!" The little beast suddenly pricked up its ears alertly and turned towards the depths of the jungle. Cheng Yuan immediately understood and lowered his voice, saying, "There's movement! Everyone, take cover!"