Yang Jie hadn’t explicitly stated what their specific assessment would be, only telling them that someone would come to pick them up when the time came.
He had really mastered this dual test of mind and body.
However, the good thing was that there was no one else around. He could let loose and not worry about anything.
Judging from the scene when he first woke from unconsciousness, both Long Tianyu and Yang Jie knew about his undercover work. That wasn’t surprising, given their unusual statuses.
But Su Mo had always been curious about what exactly happened that day. Why did he lose consciousness after pretending to be knocked out by Shen Nanshu?
Perhaps it had something to do with the Yin fire inside him.
But strangely enough, since that day, he clearly felt his mental power had increased significantly. He could even faintly sense the existence of his mental sea.
One must know, this was a hallmark of a B-level superhuman, and he had only recently broken through to C-level.
There wasn’t much change in his physical body, but the conversion rate of the second energy sea inside him had sped up considerably. Nearly a quarter had already turned black, probably also related to the growth in mental power.
Yin fire was his greatest trump card and the biggest reason his strength far surpassed others of his rank.
As long as he had Yin fire, it wasn’t impossible for him to become a world-class powerhouse in the future.
“Croak!” A sharp screech from Da Sha pulled Su Mo’s thoughts back from his reverie to reality.
“Why are you so nervous? Is something approaching?” Su Mo clenched his fists, ready to fight at any moment.
Unable to use his knife, he could only rely on his fists as weapons.
In fact, his unarmed combat skills weren’t weak. With the two great techniques—Mountain-Sea Fist and Skull-Shattering Palm—and the Jade-Seeding Art enhancing his body, even without a knife, he wouldn’t be easily defeated.
“Croak.” Da Sha pointed a wing towards a dense part of the forest ahead. The faint sound of water could be heard from there, as if something was swimming.
Su Mo narrowed his eyes, leaped onto the trunk of a nearby tree, and clung to it tightly like a gecko without slipping.
Using the height advantage, he finally got a clear view of the situation.
It was a water snake.
But this snake was ridiculously large, even thicker than a grown man’s waist, and its length was estimated to be at least fifteen meters or more.
“My goodness!” Su Mo couldn’t help but exclaim. “First a giant bird, now a giant snake. This training trip is really opening my eyes.”
He waved at Da Sha. “Go check it out. See how strong it is?”
Da Sha widened its eyes. “Croak! (I’m not going! You’re sending me to my death!)”
Seeing its great reluctance, Su Mo taunted, “The mighty sovereign of the skies, who dares to collide with airplanes, is afraid to approach a mere reptile? Tch—”
Da Sha flapped its wings in protest, but Su Mo ignored it, pretending to move forward to investigate himself.
“Croak!” Da Sha’s fighting spirit was ignited. It flapped its wings and flew over. Su Mo put on a big show of moving but hadn’t actually budged from his spot.
He stared intently in the direction Da Sha flew, unaware that a pair of ferocious eyes were fixed on his back, a bloody scent emanating from its mouth.
The moment Da Sha approached the giant snake, its terrifying body swiftly reared up, its maw gaping wide as it lunged straight for Da Sha.
Only then did Su Mo see its full length—a full twenty meters!
The snake’s mouth seemed to have a built-in fan, creating a powerful suction that suddenly halted Da Sha’s ascending body, nearly swallowing it whole.
If Da Sha hadn’t been strong, fast, and prepared, it might have truly perished there.
Failing its first strike, the giant snake slithered its massive body away to another location, leaving a trail of silence in its wake.
Da Sha let out a long cry in the air, terrifying the smaller animals that were already too frightened of the snake to move.
It elegantly flew back to Su Mo’s side. It might have looked cooler if not for the balding patch on its head.
Seeing its proud and pleased expression, Su Mo couldn’t help but laugh. “You couldn’t even subdue a spicy stick (slang for snake), yet you have the nerve to be so showy? Anyone who didn’t know better would think you’re amazing.”
Da Sha didn’t react strongly this time. Instead, it glanced warily behind Su Mo, its gaze sharp as a knife.
The creature hiding in the shadows, sensing Da Sha’s threat, had no choice but to leave.
Su Mo then turned around and said leisurely, “Probably something like a monkey. It felt extremely cautious.”
Da Sha nodded very human-like beside him, as if saying: That’s right.
Su Mo thought for a moment. “Let’s go, quickly catch up to it. Otherwise, it will surely try to target us again.”
As he spoke, he grabbed Da Sha’s neck, flipped onto its back, and Da Sha skillfully flapped its wings, chasing in the direction the monkey had fled.
Da Sha’s body was huge and should have been hindered flying through this forest. Unexpectedly, it was agile, and its speed was hardly affected.
Su Mo, however, suffered. The whole ride was like a rollercoaster—head up one moment, head down the next—thrilling and intense. He had reason to suspect Da Sha was taking this opportunity for revenge.
But his physical constitution was tough; such high-difficulty maneuvers naturally couldn’t trouble him.
In less than half a minute, the duo caught up with the fleeing creature. Su Mo took a closer look. It was actually a muscular monkey over two meters tall.
If not for its identical features (aside from being more robust), Su Mo might have thought it was a gorilla.
Because… it was just too buff!
“It doesn’t look weak at all, yet it was scared off by just a look from you. Seems like it was pretending. Interesting.” Su Mo smiled, a new idea forming in his mind.
Upon hearing this, Da Sha protested vehemently. “Croak croak croak…”
Even though he couldn’t understand, Su Mo knew it was cursing, probably quite colorfully.
Su Mo paid it no mind. His gaze towards the muscular monkey grew brighter. “Brother Monkey, interested in being friends?”
Before the monkey over there could answer, Da Sha over here started squawking. “Croak croak croak! (Why is it ‘brother,’ while I’m just a slave?!)”
Its expression was a mix of grief, indignation, and disbelief.
The muscular monkey didn’t flee again or show any intent to attack. It stopped, cautiously sizing up Su Mo.
After a long moment, it suddenly spoke in human language—and in Chinese, no less. “It’s not impossible. But you must agree to one condition.”
Su Mo narrowed his eyes, his mind racing: It can speak human language? And it’s Chinese?
Connecting this with the fact that Da Sha could also understand his Chinese, Su Mo was almost certain that there must be humans living here long-term, speaking Chinese. The local animals had picked it up, and as their intelligence gradually developed, beasts that could speak Chinese appeared.
Suppressing his curiosity, Su Mo asked calmly, “Go ahead, what condition?”
He was very interested in this monkey because it seemed to hold a secret.
No one is uninterested in secrets.
But the monkey’s next words shocked Su Mo on the spot. “I want you to help me find my companion. It was captured by your humans for research!”