Snowflake sniffed the aroma of meat and approached with excited "siwu siwu" sounds.
"Tsk tsk tsk~"
Han Ning smiled and tossed it a few small cubes of beef. The little creature wagged its tail happily as it ate.
After the meal, Han Ning leaned back on the sofa, watching Snowflake playfully gnawing on a small piece of compressed biscuit at his feet, lost in thought.
"Snowflake is growing quickly and has decent combat abilities. Taking it along tomorrow would definitely be helpful, but..."
He glanced at the relentless rain outside the window, his brow furrowing slightly.
"Zhou Wan is too observant. I told them I dissected a juvenile. It wouldn't be wise to expose Snowflake to them directly."
"Can't take the risk."
He finally made up his mind.
"For the next few hunts, I won't bring Snowflake along. Let it stay home and eat more. Wait until it grows bigger and stronger, or... until I get closer to the others."
Truth be told, he had only met those people once or twice. He had no idea what they were thinking or what their personalities were like.
Revealing his trump card recklessly would be unwise.
...
The next morning.
The rain had lightened slightly, though the sky remained gloomy.
The five-member team carefully navigated through the flooded greenery between apartment buildings.
"Left front corner—spotted a lone Crocodile Lizard, medium-sized, appears to be feeding on some corpse remains."
Zhou Wan stood at a second-floor window of an apartment building, relaying the information to her teammates via the security guard's walkie-talkie.
"Standard procedure."
Liu Feng issued the command.
"Han Ning, restrain it. Chen Yan takes the front. Minghu flanks. Zhou Wan and I will provide ranged support."
The four stood in the murky water at the base of the building, locking onto their target based on Zhou Wan's intel.
It was a nearly two-meter-long Crocodile Lizard, its pale gray Scales smeared with filth and blood, tearing into a human corpse.
Han Ning exchanged glances with his teammates as they stealthily closed in to within twenty meters of the creature.
At this distance, the feeding lizard suddenly sensed something and jerked its head up, its cold, emotionless gaze locking onto the four humans.
"Roooar!!"
Instead of fear, it let out an excited growl, abandoning its meal and charging straight at them.
Han Ning focused, and ten Vines studded with sharp wooden thorns shot out instantly.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The Vines coiled precisely around the lizard's limbs, neck, and tail, pinning it in place.
"Roar! Roar!"
The Crocodile Lizard thrashed furiously, but the Intermediate Vine Manipulation was far tougher than before—it couldn't break free immediately.
If it could restrain a three-meter Giant Alligator Lizard briefly, this sub-two-meter "little" one stood no chance.
"Ha!"
Chen Yan roared like a human tank, his skin taking on a stone-like gray sheen as he charged forward.
He swung the heavy fire axe down hard at the lizard's relatively vulnerable neck joint.
Thunk!
The blade sank deep between the Scales, spraying dark blood.
Almost simultaneously, Lu Minghu's figure appeared like a ghost at the lizard's flank, his chainsaw roaring to life with a piercing whine.
.
He aimed for the wound created by Chen Yan's slash, and the rapidly spinning saw teeth plunged in without hesitation.
Schlick.
Amid the grating sound of cutting, flesh and blood splattered everywhere.
Then, a silver-white spike and a black compound arrow shot from two different directions, precisely embedding themselves into the Crocodile Lizard's eyes.
"Roooar!!"
The Crocodile Lizard let out a pained howl before gradually falling silent.
A pure blue energy mass drifted out from the lizard's corpse, quickly splitting apart.
The largest portion, about the size of a marble, flowed into Han Ning's chest.
Two slightly smaller portions flew toward Chen Yan and Lu Minghu, while the smallest one drifted toward Liu Feng and Zhou Wan in the distance.
[Vine Manipulation Proficiency +5. Current: 102/200]
[Druid Growth Progress +14. Current: 85/300]
A familiar warmth spread through Han Ning's body, restoring some of his stamina, Spiritual Power, and mental energy.
Han Ning keenly noticed that a small portion of the warmth flowing into him was also transmitted through some mysterious connection to Snowflake at home.
[Swamp Crocodile Lizard Growth Progress +5. Current: 10/100]
This meant that by hunting monsters here, Snowflake could also receive a slight nourishment of energy.
Just as Han Ning was enjoying the surge of energy within him, he suddenly sensed an unusual tension in the air.
Chen Yan beside him was unusually silent.
Han Ning glanced sideways.
Chen Yan shook the filth off his axe, his gaze meeting Han Ning's. His Adam's apple bobbed almost imperceptibly.
He opened his mouth, then finally spoke:
"Why do you always get the largest share of energy? You only restrained the lizard—you didn't deal any significant damage to it."
His earlier axe strikes had nearly split half the lizard's neck, costing him tremendous effort.
Yet the energy mass he received was noticeably smaller than what Han Ning got after just a few casual vine wraps.
"What are you trying to say?" Han Ning met Chen Yan's gaze without flinching.
This guy had been obstructing him since yesterday when he tried to take Snowflake, and now he was dissatisfied with the energy distribution.
Han Ning certainly wasn't going to give him a pleasant response.
"Nothing. Just feels a little unfair." Chen Yan snorted coldly.
Lu Minghu turned off his chainsaw, silently wiping the blood and flesh from the blade without a word.
At that moment, Liu Feng and Zhou Wan approached. The former patted Chen Yan's shoulder encouragingly. "Good job, Old Chen. Our teamwork's getting smoother."
He seemed oblivious to the earlier exchange, but noticing the tension, he frowned slightly.
"What's going on with you two?"
"Old Chen thinks he contributed the most and that Han Ning got too much energy," Lu Minghu explained.
Hearing this, Liu Feng glanced subtly at Han Ning and Chen Yan before chuckling.
"Han Ning's strong. Without his vines, we wouldn't have hunted the monster so easily. It's fair that he gets the most."
Chen Yan's tone was laced with discontent:
"I admit his vines played a big role, but our abilities haven't even been fully utilized yet..."
"We still don't know exactly how this energy is distributed. Since Minghu and I killed the lizard, it means we dealt the most damage."
"But most of the energy went to Han Ning. That means... he must know some method we don't, something that lets him control the energy."
"Either he's far stronger than us, using us as tools to share risks while absorbing more energy for himself."
"So what do you want to do?" Han Ning narrowed his eyes.
He hadn't expected someone to be dissatisfied with this situation.
If they wanted more, they just needed to kill more monsters.
Without him, could the team hunt so easily?
Chen Yan said coldly, "What I mean is, next time when we're about to kill a Crocodile Lizard, you should stand farther away and see what happens."
"On what grounds?" Han Ning laughed angrily at the other's words.
"You can't take the lion's share every time while we play second fiddle and only get scraps, can you?" Chen Yan immediately retorted.
"But—"
Han Ning was about to speak when Liu Feng quickly intervened.
He stepped between the two men and mediated:
"Alright, alright. Though we get less individually, the team's overall hunting efficiency is higher. It balances out in the end—this is mutually beneficial cooperation."