Chapter 955: Chapter 955

Lan Xingyue looked up at the sky and said, "It's dark. Let's camp here for the night."

After a day of rushing around and going through so many events, everyone was indeed a bit exhausted.

"Yu Qiu, you and Yue'er will take night-watch duty together." Lan Xingyue instructed the two of them.

"Alright!" The two nodded, then headed toward the east and west respectively.

The night in the secret realm was eerily quiet, and Lin Chen seized the time to meditate and cultivate.

Calculating the days left until the World Youth Martial Arts Tournament, it was already very close. Lin Chen knew that the opposition would surely come prepared this time, with every match bound to be a fierce battle.

Yue'er sat on a treetop, her gaze fixed forward.

Suddenly, she felt a sound behind her.

"Yu Qiu, is that you?" Yue'er turned to look, but there was no one behind her.

Yue'er looked around in confusion but confirmed there was indeed no one.

"Could it be my eyes playing tricks?" Just as Yue'er turned back, she suddenly felt a chill on her neck.

A colorful snake had somehow fallen onto her neck without her realizing it.

To her shock, there wasn't just one snake around her—there were snakes everywhere.

"Damn it!" Yue'er was about to blow her whistle as an alarm when she suddenly felt a sharp pain in her neck and her entire body went limp.

Almost simultaneously, not far from Yue'er, a group of armed individuals sneaked through the jungle.

Meditating, Lin Chen abruptly opened his eyes, his awareness spreading rapidly across the surrounding forest.

"Damn it, how did they sneak in? Why didn't Yue'er and Mu Yuqiu raise the alarm?" Lin Chen's expression darkened sharply and he hastily blew the alarm whistle.

Lan Xingyue and the others woke up instantly from their slumber, just as gunfire began erupting all around them.

"Bang bang bang!" Gunshots echoed everywhere. If Lin Chen hadn't sounded the alarm in time, the entire group would likely have been wiped out.

Everyone quickly sought cover, fighting back while retreating.

Clearly, the armed group intended to finish them off in one strike, relentlessly pursuing them.

In the jungle, Lin Chen and the others dodged and weaved through the vegetation, counterattacking as they made their escape.

However, Lin Chen's gaze suddenly sharpened as he looked ahead. "It's over. We've been cornered in a dead end."

In their panic, they had unknowingly retreated toward a cliffside.

The enemies were drawing closer from behind, and the dense barrage of bullets made it impossible for the four to lift their heads.

Suddenly, a figure staggered toward the campsite and collapsed to the ground.

"It's Mu Yuqiu!" Lan Xingyue exclaimed in shock.

Fifty meters behind her, the armed attackers were hot on her trail.

"Cover me!" Lin Chen bit his lip and dashed out from the bushes where he had been hiding.

The armed attackers spotted Lin Chen immediately, and the gunfire intensified.

Lin Chen moved like a phantom, alternating between high and low positions, swiftly reaching Mu Yuqiu's side in a few strides.

Without hesitation, Lin Chen lifted the bloodied Mu Yuqiu and rushed back to the cover of the bushes.

Bullets rained down on Lin Chen like a torrential storm.

Lan Xingyue swore under her breath, "It's over. Lin Chen is done for."

To everyone's surprise, even though the bullets hit Lin Chen's back, he remained completely unharmed.

"How is this possible!" Lan Xingyue froze in disbelief.

Though their bulletproof vests provided protection, such a dense onslaught of bullets would have overwhelmed any vest.

After several acrobatic rolls, Lin Chen finally made it back to the jungle.

The bulletproof vest on his back had been torn to shreds, revealing a silver suit of armor underneath.

That armor was none other than the spiritual artifact salvaged from what had once seemed like a worthless raincoat—this time, it had undoubtedly saved Lin Chen's life.

"Damn, these guys are ruthless. If I didn't have this armor, I'd be swiss cheese by now," Lin Chen muttered, rubbing his numb and aching back.

Turning his attention to Mu Yuqiu's injuries, he noticed her left shoulder had taken a bullet, and she had lost so much blood she was unconscious.

Lin Chen quickly transferred a stream of Life Energy into Mu Yuqiu's body.

The gruesome wound on her shoulder began to heal rapidly, and the embedded bullet was pushed out by a surge of Spiritual Energy.

Mu Yuqiu let out a muffled groan and slowly regained consciousness.

"You've lost a lot of blood. Rest for a moment," Lin Chen said as he picked up his gun to resume fighting back.

The enemies were drawing progressively closer, armed with heavy weapons that kept suppressing Lin Chen's group, leaving them nearly pinned down.

Despite her injuries, Mu Yuqiu picked up a sniper rifle and started firing.

"Didn't I tell you to rest?" Lin Chen barked at Mu Yuqiu.

"I'm fine; I can still keep going," Mu Yuqiu gritted her teeth in determination.

Shadows darted through the jungle as the group gradually found themselves fully surrounded.

From a distance, Ge Lei's mocking voice rang out: "Chinese fighters, let's see how you escape from me this time."

He lobbed a few grenades at them as he spoke.

"Take cover!" Lan Xingyue cried out in alarm, urgently warning everyone to dodge.

However, the grenades didn't explode in mid-air. Instead, they released a cloud of yellow smoke.

"It's tear gas!" Everyone hurriedly covered their noses and mouths.

Lin Chen quickly handed out a few pills to the group. "Quick, hold these in your mouths."

As the tear gas spread, the armed attackers prepared to launch their assault.

But just as they started charging, gunshots rang out, and seven or eight of them fell to the ground while the others hurriedly retreated into the jungle.

"Tear gas doesn't affect them?!" Ge Lei's expression darkened.

Not far away, perched in a tree, Burton watched the battle unfold with a cold grin tugging at his lips.

"These fools—such a large group struggling against just four people. Guess I'll have to step in myself."

Burton snorted coldly and pulled out a flute, beginning to play.

At the sound of the flute, the mercenaries' faces immediately fell, and Ge Lei's expression grew even gloomier.

"That bastard Burton is trying to steal our credit!"

"What should we do?" a mercenary next to him asked, his face showing unease.

"What else can we do? Retreat if you don't want to die! You want to wait here for death?" Ge Lei shouted angrily.

The mercenaries fled the battlefield in a panic.

Watching the mercenaries retreat, Lin Chen and the others were completely baffled.

"Why did those guys retreat?" Wang Zixuan asked, her face filled with confusion.

Just then, they heard a faint rustling sound, and Lin Chen suddenly realized something.

As Lin Chen finished his sentence, countless venomous snakes emerged from the ground, underbrush, and tree branches.

They slithered rapidly toward the group, tongues flicking and bodies wriggling, their colorful patterns hinting at deadly toxins.

Lin Chen and the others fired their guns frantically at the oncoming snakes, but there were too many, and the ones crawling out from underground were particularly hard to guard against.

"Xiao Shuai, do you have any ideas?" Lin Chen asked, his gaze sharpening.

"Such low-grade snake flutes dare to flaunt their arts before me? Master, let me teach you something far more powerful."