Stronger with More Jobs-Chapter 460 - 236: The Gathering Storm!!

Fang Qingyu looked at the response, his brow furrowing even more tightly.

This explanation seemed reasonable, yet it failed to completely dispel the doubts in his heart.

Especially the phrase "in the cage"...

His fingers twitched slightly, ready to ask further questions.

The "the other party is typing..." prompt flashed again on the screen.

This time, the typing persisted for a longer time.

It seemed the old man on the other side was also caught in some sort of contemplation.

Finally, a new message popped up, carrying a hint of clear surprise and doubt:

[No, kid! What tier of Life Ghost did you take down?!]

Fang Qingyu slowly typed a few words:

[Tier Two Peak.]

Sent.

Then, he stared at the screen, waiting.

The tent was silent, except for the occasional suppressed gasps of pain from Chu Kuanglan on the nearby camp bed and Lu Jiuyuan’s steady yet weak breathing.

Time seemed to stretch.

A few seconds felt as long as minutes.

The "the other party is typing..." prompt disappeared from the screen.

More than a dozen seconds passed.

Just when Fang Qingyu thought the signal was cut off.

Buzz!

The phone vibrated again.

On the screen, what popped up wasn’t text.

But an extremely striking, absurdly impactful animated emoji.

An avatar of a crow brother wearing a chain, big sunglasses, and slicked-back hair, raising a hand with a bright smile.

Accompanied by oversized, eye-catching text effects:

[Well done, kid!]

Fang Qingyu: "..."

He stared at this crow brother emoji in a daze for a full three seconds.

An utterly absurd, can’t-help-but-laugh feeling instantly dispelled the heaviness and doubts in his heart.

What’s with the old man’s reaction?

Was he stunned by my achievement, expressing it in this speechless way?

Fang Qingyu looked at the crow brother who kept waving, his mouth twitching uncontrollably.

This old geezer...

"Qingzi."

A soft, calm voice suddenly sounded in his ear, with a hint of seriousness that was hard to detect.

Fang Qingyu snapped back to reality, turning his head.

He saw Jiang Wei standing next to his camp bed at some point.

The girl’s face was still pale, but she seemed much more spirited, her clear Eyes of Melting Gold unblinkingly fixed on him, holding half a lollipop.

"What’s up?"

Fang Qingyu put away his phone and asked in a deep voice.

Jiang Wei rarely initiated conversations with him, especially at times like this.

Jiang Wei stepped a little closer, almost pressing against his ear, whispering seriously in a tone only they could hear:

"Just now in the Force Field, something was off."

Fang Qingyu’s heart tightened: "What was off?"

Jiang Wei’s Eyes of Melting Gold constricted slightly, as if recalling a detail. Her expression was unreadable, but her tone carried a slight heaviness:

"Before that Vajra Buddha appeared, at the start of the fifth wave of the Life Ghost tide..."

She paused, seeming to organize her words, then clearly added:

"A Life Ghost reached out with just one hand to attack Zhang Tiezhu. It was a very brief moment, probably only two seconds, before it withdrew. The spatial fluctuation was subtle, but... strong."

"Strong?" Fang Qingyu’s brows instantly knit together.

A Life Ghost deemed "strong" by Jiang Wei...

"Mm." Jiang Wei nodded firmly, a glint of coldness flashing in her pupil, "The fluctuation of that hand should be at Tier Two Middle Realm."

Fang Qingyu’s breath caught instantly.

Tier Two Middle Realm?!

His mind raced like lightning through all the scenes from the mountaintop battle just now.

The Vajra Buddha was Tier Two Peak, the undisputed overlord.

But apart from it, throughout the five waves of Life Ghost tides, including the sixth wave’s world-shattering frenzy, the strongest Life Ghost they encountered was only at the Second Tier Initial Realm!

So even with as many as five overwhelming waves of Life Ghost tides.

Fang Qingyu and the others were exhausted but managed to hold them off.

Logically, the Vajra Buddha, being the highest combat power of this area’s ghost festival tide.

It was the commander, the BOSS.

Once the BOSS appeared, the Life Ghost troops would definitely charge in as well.

This was the pattern of the Life Ghost tides.

But now, Jiang Wei was clearly telling him that before the Vajra Buddha appeared, there had already been a Tier Two Middle Realm Life Ghost!?

But when the Vajra Buddha appeared and during the sixth wave of the Life Ghost tide...

The Life Ghost Jiang Wei mentioned never showed up.

What did this signify?

Fang Qingyu’s heart felt gripped by an icy hand.

Two possibilities fiercely collided in his mind:

The first possibility, that Tier Two Middle Realm Life Ghost was a special character like an "assassin" or "overseer" under the Vajra Buddha.

After being discovered and wounded by Jiang Wei.

Intimidated by the subsequent battlefield’s intense escalation, it eventually chose to hide or retreat.

If that were the case, it probably wouldn’t come over again and was temporarily not a concern.

For the time being, Black Pine Ridge would likely have a relatively calm respite period.

But the second possibility...

Made a chill shoot down Fang Qingyu’s spine instantly!

That Tier Two Middle Realm Life Ghost wasn’t a subordinate of the Vajra Buddha.

And the Vajra Buddha wasn’t the true BOSS either.

If that were true...

Fang Qingyu’s gaze instantly became as sharp as a knife, sweeping towards the outside of the tent.

Outside, the night was deep, the mountain wind wailing.

In the direction of the distant mountaintop, the faintly glowing Force Field Barrier, in the darkness, was like a silent full stop.

And beyond that full stop, in the depths of the lifeless scorched earth, in the shadows of countless spatial rifts not yet fully closed...

Was there an entity lurking with eyes colder, more cunning, and more dangerous than the Vajra Buddha?