Before long, the group arrived at the armed fortress in the Fulong Mountain Range.
The local commander received them warmly, giving each of them a stack of golden-tier disposable consumables as operational funds for the mission.
Including the items obtained from here and those exchanged at the academy.
The disposable consumables Lin Ran had accumulated, gold-tier and above, had already surpassed the 5,000 mark.
If he were to unleash those offensive items, the entire armed fortress might be riddled with holes.
This stock was even greater than that of many scions from influential families.
After all, others were often limited by their storage space and couldn't carry so much.
But Lin Ran...
He had the Soul Ring with a million cubic meters of storage space, not to mention the Divine Might Space, which was nearly infinite in size.
However, opening and closing the Divine Might Space consumed a lot of mana and had casting delays, so Lin Ran stored such readily accessible items in his Soul Ring.
"It's time to begin!"
"We can't really use vehicles here, so we'll have to proceed on foot."
"I'll take the lead, with Xiao Wu, Xiao Liu, and Xiao Qi positioned to our left, right, and rear respectively."
"Xiao Ran and Qing Yan, you two will stay in the middle to protect our technicians."
Zhao Wudi stated.
Xiao Wu, Xiao Liu, and Xiao Qi, whom he mentioned, were the three fourth-tier awakened combat personnel.
Lin Ran and Luo Qingyan were happy to take it easy with his arrangement.
After all, they had no shortage of long-range attack methods, and being in the center would allow them to pick up plenty of hunting opportunities along the way.
The nine quickly formed their formation and began their journey into the Fulong Mountain Range.
It was worth noting that to ensure the three technicians responsible for setting up the equipment could keep up with the main group, they were provided with mechanized transport.
These vehicles had eight mechanical legs, allowing them to traverse various terrains smoothly and with considerable speed.
Coupled with their other mechanical equipment, it was estimated that their combat effectiveness could be elevated to that of second-tier awakened individuals.
Although Lin Ran did not know the exact price of these items, military-grade equipment was unlikely to be cheap.
Similar to the Black Dragon Abyss, there were no ferocious beasts at the entrance of the Fulong Mountain Range. The group smoothly headed towards their first location.
Lin Ran had not visited this place during his previous weekend excursions.
He preferred locations like the Black Dragon Abyss and Yunmeng Marsh, where there was a chance to find rare minerals and plants.
The Fulong Mountain Range was notoriously poor, essentially containing only ferocious beasts, with the possibility of encountering high-tier ones in various areas, making it quite undesirable.
The terrain of this mountain range was not very steep, generally showing a steady upward trend.
Furthermore, the mountainsides were covered with various trees, even more densely than the vegetation in the Rotten Forest.
This allowed the nine to move by jumping from tree to tree like ninjas, which was quite exhilarating.
However, the ferocious beasts in the Fulong Mountain Range were truly not dense at all!
Lin Ran mused.
In the Black Dragon Abyss, one would encounter several ferocious beasts, or even large groups, almost every few steps.
But in the Fulong Mountain Range, after running for a long time, one could barely spot one or two, and they were instantly killed by the group, highlighting a sense of emptiness.
As they ventured deeper, the numbers slightly increased.
This might be because the higher-tier ferocious beasts preferred to descend the mountain to hunt their own kind, and the beasts were not segregated by level.
With such smooth progress, the group reached their first point in less than an hour, without any surprises or dangers.
Zhao Wudi, Xiao Wu, Xiao Liu, Xiao Qi, Lin Ran, and Luo Qingyan formed a large circle nearly a hundred meters in diameter, raising a protective light barrier to shield the three technicians while they set up.
Each of them was responsible for a specific area, maintaining vigilance and defense.
Although no ferocious beasts approached at all...
Lin Ran finally couldn't help himself and, during this brief lull, glanced at Zhao Wudi nearby.
"Captain Zhao, are the ferocious beasts usually this scarce in the Fulong Mountain Range?"
Zhao Wudi's expression had been heavy since entering the Fulong Mountain Range for reasons unknown.
He shook his head and said,
"No... there are many more than today..."
"The situation today is truly a bit abnormal."
"I really don't know if it's because of our good luck or if something unknown has happened."
Lin Ran activated his Eternal Mangekyo Sharingan and scanned the surroundings. He didn't detect any strange energy signatures and could only reluctantly accept the current situation.
It had to be said that the efficiency of these technicians was not high. It took a full half hour to complete the first point.
Seeing that the technicians had finished their work, Zhao Wudi nodded.
"We'll stop here for today..."
"It's almost late night now, and it's too risky to continue traveling."
"We'll rest on the treetops here and continue tomorrow morning."
"If tomorrow is also this smooth, we won't even need two days to return victoriously."
Seeing that the others had no objections, Lin Ran and Luo Qingyan leaped onto the treetops and chose a reasonably suitable spot.
Luo Qingyan giggled and patted her thigh, whispering in a voice only they could hear,
"Come, lie on big sis's lap, and big sis will sing you to sleep!"
Gazing at her long, slender, and perfectly toned legs, Lin Ran didn't hesitate for a second and sprawled comfortably onto them.
Not only that, but he also took a deep, contented breath, displaying an expression of extreme enjoyment.
This, in turn, made Luo Qingyan blush. She gritted her teeth and said,
"You rascal, you're truly not holding back!"
"You just lie down when I tell you to... you're such a pervert!"
Lin Ran chuckled,
"Actually, I'm being quite reserved."
"Originally, seeing these legs so tempting, I wanted to lick them a couple of times..."
"It's just that there are quite a few people around, so I felt a little embarrassed."
Luo Qingyan's pretty face turned even redder. She huffed and puffed,
"You shameless guy actually feels embarrassed... how utterly shameless..."
"Ah!"
Luo Qingyan did not expect that before she finished speaking, Lin Ran would actually lick her fair leg.
He even made a slurping sound.
Her face flushed with shyness, and due to nervousness and excitement, she almost pushed Lin Ran off the treetop.
"What are you doing! There are so many people here!"
Lin Ran grinned,
"Did you forget I have illusions?"
"I've already enveloped our area with them."
"From their perspective, we're just resting normally."
"So, even if I were to 'handle' you now, they wouldn't react in the slightest..."