Chapter 241: Fight!
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Lin Huang was speechless when he saw the photo of the man Yang Ling sent. He was the partner of the female hunter who was staying in the hotel room next to Lin Huang. The same tall man that he had bumped into in the elevator. Lin Huang was staying in Room 28 and the female hunter was staying in Room 27 while the man who asked Brain Eater out was staying in Room 26.
"Does he know that Waist Length Hair is Brain Eater or is it a coincidence that he's having a one night stand with her?"
If it was the former the man would kill it immediately but it was the latter, not only would the man become Brain Eater's food but probably its host too. He was a gold level rank-3, who was more outstanding than Zheng Yihan in any way. Moreover, now that Brain Eater knew it was being hunted down, it would not let go of such an outstanding host that came its way. No matter what it was, Lin Huang could not let any of that happen.
Seeing that Lin Huang was silent, Yang Ling asked. "Did you recognize him? Who is that guy?" Clearly, he was unhappy that he got c*ckblocked.
"He's a hunter who lived next to me at the hotel, I've met him before in the elevator." Lin Huang explained.
"I'm not sure if it was a coincidence or he knew that she's Brain Eater."
"It's quite impossible that he knew as her accounts fresh, it had been less than half an hour since she'd created the account. I don't think anyone could've found her as fast as I could!" Yang Ling was confident in his ability.
"Moreover, I've hacked into the man's account, he's been asking other women out during these last couple of days."
Lin Huang was speechless. "I don't think you should violate his privacy…"
"It's he who c*ckblocked me! I've shown him mercy by not informing his fiancee!" Yang Ling was pissed.
Lin Huang was sure that Yang Ling researched the man.
"Alright, please focus on what's important here. Get the man's location and I'll follow him." Lin Huang reminded Yang Ling that he could have asked Brain Eater out but Yang Ling was talking too much and she got away. Yang Ling shared the location with Lin Huang while he proceeded to mumble to himself. The man was moving, he had left the hotel and was headed far away. Lin Huang left the hotel immediately and chased after him.
Lin Huang was worried that he'd be exposed so he didn't follow too close. He walked hundreds of meters away from him. 15 to 16 minutes later the signal on the map suddenly stopped. Lin Huang slowed down but soon the man's signal had disappeared.
"What happened?" Lin Huang asked while Yang Ling ran to the signal's location. When he arrived, the tall man had disappeared.
"The lady might have a signal isolator with her. Besides, the area we're currently in has no surveillance within a couple of kilometers… I have always heard people saying that monsters are smarter than humans but I didn't believe it, now I have to believe it. This Brain Eater is much scarier than I imagined." Yang Ling sounded disappointed.
"Then you have never encountered a Ghastly Clown then…" Lin Huang thought to himself.
"Since they're meeting here it's definitely not to chat with each other. Go and check to see if there're any underground hotels around." Lin Huang said.
"There's one 300 meters on your left and another one just 400 meters on your right. I have marked them both on the map for you although there are more than 600 rooms in total. Do you plan to look one by one?" Yang Ling was doubtful.
"There's nothing else I can do, I'll have to search the rooms one by one."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Huang walked to an empty alley and transformed himself into the Spectre. He then dived underground and headed to the underground hotel on his left. When he arrived, he hid within the walls and started looking one by one. 20 minutes later he'd managed to look at more than 300 rooms but they were nowhere to be seen. Lin Huang headed to the other underground hotel just up on the right.
After searching half of the hotel, Lin Huang found his target. It was no good he was too late. Lin Huang didn't see Zheng Yihan but you could smell her perfume scent in the room. The tall man was adjusting his clothes in front of the mirror. Clearly, Brain Eater had completed the change of host and must have kept Zheng Yihan's body in its storage space. Lin Huang headed to the room entrance and transformed back to himself. He summoned Bai and took out the modified GoldEagle11.
He kicked open the room door and started shooting at the man. As the door crashed open Brain Eater knew that it was exposed. It then tried to get away towards the back door of the room. Before he could escape, Bai had transformed his Blood Spirit wing into a curtain to block the backdoor while the other wing transformed into a whip, tying the man's left arm. As the man's movement was restricted, Lin Huang seized the opportunity and used the intermediate gun-fighting technique Tidal Wave and opened fire at the man. Silver bullets flew out of the gun like a silver tidal wave devouring the man.
As the shots were fired people in the hotel started screaming. Some of the people in the rooms nearby thought they were being attacked and left through the back door, naked. Although the man's movement was restricted, he managed to avoid all the bullets coming his way. Some of the bullets hit his body but they were blocked by his gold-level armor. After attempts at trying to break away from Bai, he activated the gold-level battle sword on his finger and slashed at Bai's Blood Spirit whip. There was golden sparkle that flashed out from the collision.
Now that he was sure that he could not break away from Bai, the man chopped off his arm. Blood was all over the floor. Staring deadly at Lin Huang and Bai, the man plunged towards the window and escaped. Lin Huang did not expect him to come up with such sudden decision to get rid of his arm. As Lin Huang got to the window, the man ran into the crowd. After recalling Bai, Lin Huang hopped out of the broken window, summoned his Viridian Wolf and chased after the man…
Chapter 242: Killing The Brain Eater
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was past 11 at night with very few people out on the streets as there was not much of a nightlife in Luoxi City. Lin Huang's Viridian Wolf's chase was smooth; it had managed to catch up with the man in a nick of time. Seeing that it was an area without surveillance like Yang Ling said earlier, Lin Huang summoned Bai again.
"Beat him up but don't kill him." Lin Huang instructed.
Standing on the back of the Viridian Wolf, Bai nodded while transforming one of his Blood Spirit wings to a spear, piercing through the middle of the man's chest from his back…
He stopped running. Bai lifted him up with his spear and while staring coldly at him Bai turned him around. The man was like a piece of meat hanging on a hook, he panicked as he looked at Lin Huang and Bai beneath him. The people around who saw started screaming and running away. They thought it was a vampire invading the foothold; some of them even called the Hunter Association for rescue. Lin Huang did not bother to explain as his target was to kill the Brain Eater.
The man lost his ability to fight as he was badly injured, Lin Huang then summoned his Demonic Dandelion Vine.
"Bloody, take the Brain Eater's Supreme Intelligence." Lin Huang instructed. The appearance of a Demonic Dandelion Vine scared the man even more. As a parasite itself, a double mutated Demonic Dandelion Vine would naturally be a threat to the Brain Eater.
The vine on Bloody bent like it was nodding. Suddenly, Bloody extended a couple of vines and lunged towards the man's brain. Just when the vines were reaching the man's head, a golden glow flashed in the air. Bloody's vines were broken and a person stood before the man, it was his female partner, a gold-level sword in her hand and equipped with gold-level armor staring deadly at Lin Huang.
"How dare you kill someone in this foothold?!"
Lin Huang gave a deathly stare back at her too. "His body has been taken over by a Brain Eater, he's not human anymore."
The lady was confused, she turned around and looked at the man behind her.
"Qin Wei, don't listen to him. I'm a gold level rank-3, how's it possible that the Brain Eater could take me over? Think about it, the victims before were not even a gold level rank-1. This guy is the one who has been taken over by the Brain Eater. I knew something was wrong with him so I followed him today and found out that he was killing again. I tried to stop him but it was too late the lady was dead."
"I wanted to kill him but he's an Imperial Censor, he has a powerful summoning beast. I couldn't fight him so I took the dead body with me and ran here. If you don't believe me, I can show you the dead body in my storage space!"
Qin Wei believed in him.
"How could he turn the whole situation around…" Lin Huang shook his head. He hadn't expected Brain Eater to be this intelligent and manage to point its fingers at him instead.
"The lady is called Zheng Yihan, she's your previous host. Since you killed her and changed into another body, it's natural that you can't leave the dead body aside." Lin Huang said.
"Before I agreed to get on board with this mission at the Hunter Info Network, a friend of mine had created an elixir that could identify parasites, I brought some with me."
"This elixir is transparent, it's similar to water. Nothing would happen if it touches people but if it touches a human with a parasite, the person's skin would turn yellow that looks like it was smeared with a yellow powder. I'm not sure about the theory behind this but I have seen the videos that he sent me. This elixir works on a human who has been taken over by a Brain Eater too." Lin Huang added.
He then took out a half bottle of mineral water from his storage space. He slowly opened the bottle cap and smiled at the both of them.
"Since you said I'm the Brain Eater, let's test it."
Lin Huang poured the water on his palm, nothing happened seconds later. He closed the bottle cap and tossed the bottle at Qin Wei.
She was stunned but she opened the bottle anyway and poured some water on her hand. Nothing happened as well.
"Why not you ask your partner if he's up for this test?" Lin Huang smirked while he looked at the man.
"Wu Hao, let's try this…" Qin Wei hesitated and walked towards the man with the bottle.
"You would rather believe in a person that you don't know than me?" The man attempted to distract her.
"Why bother talking to him…" Lin Huang walked to Qin Wei and took the bottle out of her hands and splashed the water on him.
"Noooo!" Wu Hao used his hands to block the water.
"Did you see that?" Lin Huang looked at Qin Wei.
Qin Wei looked at Wu Hao with a complicated expression.
Seeing that the both of them were looking at him, Wu Hao looked at his body to see if there were any changes however, everything was normal.
"You don't have to look around, it's just normal drinking water although your response had said everything." Lin Huang explained.
Qin Wei took a step closer.
"Could you let me kill this Brain Eater? I would like to use its body to commemorate Wu Hao."
"I'm sorry, you can take the body with you but I must kill him. I have been waiting for many days for its monster skill." Lin Huang did not plan to give in.
"Alright…" Qin Wei hesitated but she decided to give in. Since the Brain Eater was discovered by Lin Huang, she shouldn't steal his thunder.
"Bloody, take his Supreme Intelligence !" Lin Huang instructed again.
A couple of vines lunged again from Bloody and pierced through Wu Hao's head. Suddenly, black shadows were escaping from his head and attempted to run away.
" Reproductive Fission ?!" Lin Huang frowned.
Reproductive Fission was the second reproduction method of a Brain Eater. When facing fatal attacks, it would split its body into tens of pieces to reproduce separately. That was the main reason why the Brain Eater tribe had yet to become extinct. As long as one of them managed to find a host, their genes would live on.
Without waiting for Lin Huang and Qin Wei's reaction, Bloody plunged its vines again and transformed them into spears, killing all of the divisions. Soon, Bloody recalled all its vines and transformed back into a card placing itself into Lin Huang's body. Since Qin Wei was around, Lin Huang didn't look at the card immediately.
"Bai put down the body."
After placing Wu Hao's body on the ground, Bai removed his Blood Spirit wing from his chest. Lin Huang then recalled Bai.
"You can have the body, I'm done here. I shall make a move."
"Wait, I will go back to the hotel with you. Wu Hao is dead, I need to submit a report to the organization. I'll need some information from you, I hope you can cooperate." Qin Wei stopped Lin Huang.
Lin Huang thought and agreed to Qin Wei's request. "Sure, I'll try my best. I apologized for not being able to reveal some parts of my doing." Qin Wei kept the body and the both of them returned to the hotel…
Chapter 243: Extracting A New Skill
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
On the way back to the hotel, Qin Wei started asking Lin Huang about what happened. As Lin Huang told him the brief background of what was happening, they arrived at the hotel. It was 11:30 p.m. when Lin Huang checked the time.
Qin Wei looked at the time as well and said, "It's too late now, I'll not bother you. I might need some of your time tomorrow though to talk further."
"Sure, what time?" Lin Huang nodded.
"Let's meet at the restaurant at 8:30 a.m. tomorrow and after breakfast, let's go to the Union Government division together to submit the mission. Since you killed the Brain Eater, the reward belongs to you but I'll have the body. We'll talk more after that." Qin Wei said.
"Will I be bothering you? If it's not convenient for you, we can reschedule." Qin Wei thought and added.
Lin Huang nodded. "8:30 a.m. is fine."
"Since I have settled the Brain Eater, I'll take a few days' rest in Luoxi City."
Lin Huang had been stressed for the past few days and occupied with the massive amount of information about the Brain Eater so he hadn't managed to rest well. Besides, he planned to stay in the city for a week. Since he needed two to three days for his Life Power to stabilize and he wasn't in a rush to leave to Meteorite Desert. He decided to stay in Luoxi City for a few days to rest and to adjust himself before departing.
The both of them took the elevator to level 76 and headed back to their own rooms. As he arrived in his room, he immediately looked at the Demonic Dandelion Vine monster card.
"Monster Card"
"Rarity: Epic"
"Monster Name: Bloody (Demonic Dandelion Vine)"
"Type of Monster: Parasite Species"
"Combat Level: Silver Level Rank-3"
"Skill 1: Leech Pods"
"Skill 2: Absolute Control"
"Skill 3: Supreme Intelligence"
"Summon Authority: Activated"
"Remarks: Monster skill has yet to be fully discovered, two more skills on the way"
"Card Remarks: Trainable"
Lin Huang then looked at the detailed description of Supreme Intelligence.
"Supreme Intelligence: Passive skill that can immensely increase one's intelligence."
"Remarks: The higher foundation in intelligence will result in an increase in intelligence."
Lin Huang was tempted when he saw the skill.
"Xiao Hei, extract the skill for Demonic Dandelion Vine."
If Lin Huang was to extract the skill now, the probability of obtaining Supreme Intelligence was only 1/3. Moreover, he did not need to add any other survival skill for it in the future so he decided to extract the skill now.
"Skill is being extracted… Randomly choosing a skill… Skill has been chosen… Congratulations, you have received a new skill - Leech Pods."
Lin Huang was speechless at what he got.
"Can I use Leech Pods?" Lin Huang was skeptical.
"I'm not a plant like Demonic Dandelion Vine with the gift. Even if I could transform my Life Power into pods, before I arrive at transcendent, there's no way that my Life Power could leave my body so it'd be useless."
Lin Huang attempted to activate the skill. There were silver dandelion pods growing on his palm, however, they disappeared automatically.
"Just as I expected, Leech Pods will only work on parasites but no other creatures…" What just happened proved Lin Huang's speculation right but soon, he thought for something else.
"What if I transfer the pods into a host, would my Life Power disappear as well?"
He thought of an experiment he could try and quickly summoned his Viridian Wolf and activated Leech Pods on his palm. He placed his palm on the Viridian Wolf's abdomen. Soon, the pods seemed to grow to Viridian Wolf's body.
A warning came from Xiao Hei.
"Warning: Something is wrong with your summoning card Viridian Wolf! A parasite has been detected inside it, would you like to recall the card?"
"No." Lin Huang shook his head and rejected to recall the card.
"I want to see if the pods that I've made would disappear."
Lin Huang noticed something strange as the pods went inside of Viridian Wolf. He seemed to have the same sensory ability that it had, where he could look from its point of view and even smell better. However, he could get out of that zone whenever he wanted. He could also control Viridian Wolf's movement including getting it to roll over, shake hands and greet with both hands…
"I shall go to bed and see if the pods disappear tomorrow." Seeing that it was near 12 a.m., Lin Huang didn't plan to recall Viridian Wolf as he was afraid that the parasite would be removed if he did. After a quick shower, Lin Huang went to bed in the bedroom while his Viridian Wolf stayed in the living room.
Lin Huang woke up at seven the next morning. As he brushed his teeth, he was observing his Viridian Wolf. The Viridian Wolf found it strange that Lin Huang was looking at it. The pods in it hadn't disappeared while his control over it had not decreased either.
"Could it be the same as Bloody's parasite where as long as I don't recall the parasite, it would stay forever?" Lin Huang thought as the pods remained inside Viridian Wolf after a night's sleep.
"I'll be heading out later. Stay in the room and don't run around." Lin Huang patted Viridian Wolf's head, he didn't plan to end the experiment just yet.
Viridian Wolf looked unwilling as it laid on the floor but it didn't dare to disobey Lin Huang.
After showering, Lin Huang left without Viridian Wolf to breakfast. It was almost eight when he finished his breakfast at level 3. He started reading the news while waiting for Qin Wei. Qin Wei soon walked into the restaurant and got herself some food before sitting across Lin Huang.
"You're done eating?" Qin Wei was not sure as she saw the table was clean.
Lin Huang nodded. "Yes, I'm done. The service crew cleared the table."
"Are you just in Luoxi City for the mission alone?" Qin Wei asked while eating.
"It's mainly to kill a gold level Life Seed monster." Lin Huang didn't hide his intentions but he hadn't revealed what he was hunting.
"Oh, I see…"
They chatted for a while, as Qin Wei finished her breakfast, it was almost 8:20 a.m...
Qin Wei looked at the time, stood up and said to Lin Huang. "I'm done! We're 10 minutes ahead of time, let's go!"
"Let's go." Lin Huang stood up and followed behind her to the elevator.
They got a monster car at the hotel entrance and headed to the Union Government division.
Chapter 244: Truth or Lie?
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The Ground Rhino pulled the black monster car to the entrance of Union Government in less than 10 minutes. Lin Huang got off the car first and as he held the door open, he extended his hand. Qin Wei hesitated before she decided to let Lin Huang hold her.
"Thanks." Qin Wei said softly after she got off the car.
Liang Yin who was rushing to work saw what happened and smirked as she asked, "Is this your girlfriend?"
"No, she's a friend." Lin Huang knew Liang Yin would not let him off so easily so he attempted to distract her.
"Have you just arrived at work? Have you had breakfast?"
"Is she really not your girlfriend?" Liang Yin knew what kind of trick Lin Huang was trying to pull on her so she asked again.
"She's really isn't." Lin Huang nodded as he knew there was nothing that he could do about her quirk.
"This is no fun at all…" Liang Yin was unsatisfied.
"Are you here for me?" She asked.
"No, the Brain Eater has been killed. We're here to submit the mission." Lin Huang said.
"I really must thank you for helping me this time." Lin Huang added.
"If you really want to thank me, how about you give me the carcass after you've submitted your mission? I have never dissected a Brain Eater…" Liang Yin was excited.
"I don't think I can give it to you because it belongs to Qin Wei." Lin Huang said.
"Her partner who was on the mission with her was killed by the Brain Eater. She must bring the body back."
Liang Yin then looked at Wei Qin but decided to let it go.
"Nevermind then, treat me to a good meal when you're free. I won't bother you anymore, I'm leaving for my office."
Liang Yin left, waving her hand to Lin Huang who was standing behind her.
"Your friend is interesting." Qin Wei commented as Liang Yin left.
"The food that she eats is even more interesting…" Hearing that comment, Lin Huang could not help but laugh.
"What does she eat?" Qin Wei did not understand what Lin Huang meant.
"Nothing." Lin Huang did not think that it was a topic that he should continue.
"Let's get down to business."
The submission of the mission was simple. All he had to do was to show the carcass and describe how he managed to accomplish the mission. In less than 10 minutes, Lin Huang had submitted the mission and received the reward of 3,000 Life Crystals. Later on, he passed the body to Qin Wei and they left the Union Government office together.
"Let me get you a drink, we can talk about the Brain Eater as well." Qin Wei took the initiative to invite Lin Huang out.
"Sure." Lin Huang did not reject her.
"I know a nice cafe here. A friend recommended it, I've been there a couple of times in the past few days." Qin Wei suggested.
"It's not far from here, just five to six minutes away."
"Let's go there then, I haven't had coffee for a while." Lin Huang nodded.
Luoxi City was not a developed foothold. However, it was crowded on the streets when it was nine in the morning. Many were looking at them as they walked on the streets as Lin Huang was handsome while Qin Wei was pretty. They looked like an old couple when they walked together.
After five to six minutes of walking, they found a cafe in an alley. It was not really big but it looked rather exquisite. The entire building was made of bamboo, including the floor and furniture.
The owner of the cafe was a middle-aged man with a mustache. He was almost 1.8 or 1.9 meters tall. Her footsteps were loud when he walked on the bamboo floor. Although he did not look friendly, he was passionate.
"You brought a friend today?" The cafe owner smiled while looking at Lin Huang as he greeted Qin Wei.
"Yes. Same old same old." Qin Wei said.
"Which flavor would you like? He could get you anything here." Qin Wei asked Lin Huang.
"I would like a black coffee please." Lin Huang decided without even thinking.
"Black coffee is bitter, are you sure you want that?" Qin Wei did not understand Lin Huang's odd preference.
"Would you like milk and sugar?" The cafe owner was calm.
"No, just a regular black coffee will do." Lin Huang shook his head.
"Please take a seat and wait a moment." The cafe owner gestured them to sit.
Qin Wei brought Lin Huang to the rooftop balcony on the third floor like it was her second home. They then got themselves a table.
"It seems like you've been here many times." Lin Huang laughed.
"I come here almost every day in the past few days." Qin Wei nodded and smiled.
"When you taste their coffee later, you'll understand why I come here every day."
"You've got me excited now." Lin Huang smiled.
"I've quite a few questions to ask you regarding the mission. Before I slept last night, I came up with a list." Qin Wei said while she projected the list.
Lin Huang took a quick glance and saw 20 to 30 items on the list.
"I'll start with the question that I've been dying to ask." Qin Wei moved the projection to the table in front of her. After some browsing, she looked up at Lin Huang.
"First question, how did you know Wu Hao was meeting the Brain Eater? Also, why were they together?"
"Would you like the truth or a lie? Wu Hao was your partner, if there's something that you don't want to know about, I can make up a story. If you're just writing a report to your management, there's no need for them to know the truth." Lin Huang did not answer Qin Wei directly as he looked at her in all seriousness.
Qin Wei hesitated and said, "I'd like to know the truth."
"Alright then. The truth is, Wu Hao coincidentally asked the host of the Brain Eater out when he was using the application Chilly Night. That's how they met, you know what happened next… I know about this as the application was created by a friend of mine. He had the authorization to look at their conversation." Lin Huang told the truth.
Qin Wei was silent when she heard what Lin Huang said. A while later, she asked, "How about a lie? How would you come up with a lie?"
"Wu Hao figured out who the Brain Eater's host was but he was killed while he was hunting it down. I happened to pass by and saw what happened, that's how I know he was the Brain Eater." Lin Huang spoke the story that he made up.
"Alright then, second question…" Qin Wei went silent after that and asked her second question.
Chapter 245: Bloody Is Now A Genius
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
As Lin Huang finished his coffee at the rooftop balcony of the cafe, Qin Wei had not even touched hers at all. After she was done with her 20 over questions, she turned off her notepad and started drinking her now cold coffee. She then slowly put her cup down.
"Thank you for giving me all the answers. Without you, I'd have had no idea how I'm supposed to write the report." Qin Wei let out an awkward smile.
"How long have you been partnering with him?" Lin Huang asked.
"Not long, only nine months…" Qin Wei shook her head.
"However, he's my fiancé…" Qin Wei added after keeping silent for a while.
Now it was Lin Huang who didn't know what to say. He'd heard from Yang Ling that Wu Hao had a fiancée but he hadn't known the fiancée was Qin Wei who was also his partner.
"He's gone now, my condolences." Lin Huang tried to console her.
"It's alright, I'm not exactly sad. It was an arranged marriage by our family. Before partnering with him I'd never seen him before. Both of us were unhappy with the marriage."
"I know he had a girlfriend that he'd known for more than 10 years, she came from an ordinary family background. His father killed the girlfriend in front of him and chopped her into pieces while forcing Wu Hao to watch while he fed the pieces to the pigs. The father told him that if he doesn't accept the arrangement, even if he killed himself, all of the girl's family members would have faced the same consequence."
"Since then he'd lost himself, he would go out with different women every day. He had been like that for the past two years. He was frustrated. It was his family's idea for us to partner up, hoping that I might be able to control him. However, he was still the same doing whatever he wanted to do. I hadn't expected such things to happen… Although, death was probably a release to him."
While Qin Wei didn't have strong feelings for Wu Hao, he was her fiancé after all. Now that he was dead, not only did she have to report to Adventure Paradise, she also had to speak to Wu Hao's family.
"That's why you suspected him when he tried to tell you that he was not the Brain Eater yesterday?" Lin Huang asked.
"Yes, because I knew he always wanted to die. However, I was still not sure that time as it was an instinct for humans to ask to live in a crisis. When I saw his reaction as you splashed the water on him, I knew you were telling the truth." Qin Wei explained.
"So are you writing two copies of the report for the Adventurer Organization and the Wu family?" Lin Huang finally understood why she'd asked for two answers earlier.
"The Adventurer Organization doesn't have to know the truth as it would bring shame to the Wu family. However, the Wu family must know the truth. I should thank you for giving me two answers to some of my questions." Qin Wei smiled and nodded.
After chatting for a while, they bid farewell to the café owner and left the cafe.
"When do you plan to leave Luoxi City?" Qin Wei asked as she stepped out of the cafe.
"In the next two to three days, how about you?" Lin Huang asked.
"I'll leave in the afternoon since I'm done with my task, there's no reason for me to stay." Qin Wei said.
"If you don't mind, please send me your contact details." She added.
"Sure." Lin Huang gave her Ye Xiu's number.
After adding each other as friends, they went back to the hotel together. When Lin Huang arrived in his room, his Viridian Wolf that was laying on the floor stood up and rubbed its head against him. Lin Huang patted its head and noticed the Leech Pods still growing inside. Thinking about the Leech Pods, Lin Huang summoned Demonic Dandelion Vine. Bloody was like a red baby snake that was less than two meters long and was as thick as a thumb.
"Let's see how smart you are; I'll get you to learn a human language these next few days." Lin Huang then downloaded the Union Government's learning materials on words from the network. He placed his Emperor's Heart Ring on the coffee table and projected the materials, allowing Bloody to read them for itself. Just like a baby snake, Bloody lifted its upper body to read all the documents that Lin Huang downloaded while Lin Huang was using Ye Xiu's Emperor's Heart Ring to read the news on the couch.
When it was almost 11:30 a.m., Lin Huang told Bloody and Viridian Wolf to behave themselves before heading out. Instead of lunch, he went to the Credit Bureau to transfer the 1,500 Life Crystals to Yang Ling.
Lin Huang sent Yang Ling a message. "I've transferred you 50% of the reward make sure you check later." He then found a nearby food store and had lunch before heading back. What he didn't know was, while he was out, Qin Wei who stayed next to his room was ringing at his doorbell.
Bloody made its way to the door and peeped at Qin Wei stood outside. It had seen her last night so she wasn't a stranger to it. It hesitated for a second but decided to open the door for her.
Qin Wei found it odd that it was Bloody that opened the door. "Ye Xiu?" She shouted at the door but there wasn't any response.
Just when she wanted to leave, she saw Bloody was using the tea in the cup to write something on the floor.
"Master is out for lunch."
"A summoning monster that could write?" Qin Wei was shocked. She then realized that this vine monster must have taken the Brain Eater's Supreme Intelligence earlier.
"Sure, I know that now. Thank you." Qin Wei patted Bloody's head.
"I thought he would be here so I wanted to say goodbye. Since he's out, let him know that I'm grateful for his help for the past two days and I hope he had a good time in Luoxi City."
Bloody nodded,
"Thank you for opening the door for me, bye!"
"You're welcome, goodbye." Bloody written on the floor again.
Qin Wei smiled and left. When Lin Huang returned to the hotel after lunch, Qin Wei had already left a long time before. Just when he arrived in his room, Bloody tangled his arm and pulled him to the couch.
"What's wrong?" Lin Huang thought it was absurd.
Bloody used the water in the cup and started writing on the transparent coffee table.
"The girl next door came earlier; she was here to say goodbye to master. She asked me to tell you that she is grateful for your help the past few days and she hopes you've had a great time in Luoxi City."
Lin Huang was shocked when he saw.
"Damn, you've learned how to write so fast?! You must be a genius now."
Chapter 246: The Saints
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was six in the morning, Lin Huang sat on the rattan chair in the balcony while watching the sunrise. Since Qin Wei left, it was his third day staying in Luoxi City. For the past few days, he did not slack at all. Besides eating and sleeping, he was learning a gun-fighting technique from Lin Xuan in Gun Master. He had mastered one more intermediate gun-fighting technique, the Life Power in his body had finally stabilized.
"It's almost time to leave, I'll leave tomorrow morning after my last task today." After admiring the beautiful sunrise, Lin Huang returned to the room.
The Viridian Wolf was still sleeping in the room while Bloody had been up for a couple of days reading the documents and learning the humans' language.
"Bloody rest if you're tired. There's no need to read them all at once." Lin Huang advised.
"It's alright, I'm not tired. Unlike humans, I don't really need to sleep." Bloody wrote on the coffee table using the tea in the cup.
"Alright then, I'll go for breakfast now. I'll be out the entire morning and afternoon and will only be back in the evening. Both of you stay in the room and don't run around."
He planned to buy some souvenirs and food on his last day in the city so that he could bring something back for Lin Xin and Lin Xuan.
"Go, I'll look after the Viridian Wolf." Bloody wrote on the coffee table.
Lin Huang nodded and headed out. After breakfast downstairs, Lin Huang called Liang Yin.
"What's up? Speak quick, I'm a bit busy right now." Liang Yin picked up the video call, Lin Huang could see that she was dissecting a male body. The chest of the man was opened up and his heart could be seen.
"Oh…" Lin Huang was stunned at what he was seeing.
"Why are you working so early today? Isn't it only 7:30 a.m. now?"
"Something happened in the city in the middle of the night. 33 people in the Luo family were killed. The forensic team for the city went there before 5 a.m., I was lucky that I managed to get a couple of bodies." Liang Yin explained as she proceeded to dissect the body.
"Killing so many people in the foothold? I guess only people from the underworld would do something like that." Lin Huang frowned.
"I heard they offended the Saints but I'm not sure what exactly happened. I'm busy right now, speak quickly please if you have anything to say." Liang Yin said.
"Oh, I'm leaving Luoxi City tomorrow morning. Didn't you ask me to treat you to a meal a few days back? Let me know if you're free today." Lin Huang finally said telling Liang Yin why he was calling.
"You're leaving tomorrow?" Liang Yin stopped what she was doing and looked into the screen.
"Unfortunately, I'm really busy today. I'll try my best to find the time, however, I think I'd only be free at night and I'm not sure if I can spare some time right now, I'll contact you again when it's eight at night."
"Sure!" Lin Huang agreed immediately.
"I won't bother you then. I'll talk to you tonight."
After hanging up the phone, Lin Huang left the hotel restaurant and shopped at the stores that he saw on the map buying many souvenirs and food. It was past seven at night when he returned to the hotel. As he arrived in his room, he took out a roasted pig. The size of the roasted pig was comparable with the one he made at home. The Viridian Wolf stood up immediately, starred at the roasted pig while drooling.
"Don't eat all of it, put away some for Bloody." Lin Huang patted the Viridian Wolf's head. Since it had gotten Lin Huang's approval, it started feasting on the roasted pig. Meanwhile, Bloody just looked in their direction and proceeded to read. Lin Huang sat on the couch while reading the news, the top local news read - Murder of 33 People from the Luo Family . Lin Huang frowned as he read the news.
The Luo Family was a family known by many in Luoxi City. Although there were no transcendents or royalty in the family, they had a very successful business and well known throughout the city. The family home was in the middle of the foothold, which was the most crowded place in the city. Many people had seen two people in white robes kill their guards, invade into the house and leave in less than 10 minutes.
With the description from the witnesses, the duo should be members of one of the underworld organizations, the Saints. The Saints were easy to recognize, they wore a white robe with a cross on their faces. Nobody would dress as one of the members because if someone did, he or she would be hunted down by the organization and savagely killed.
"The Saints…" Ever since he arrived in this world in the past year, Lin Huang had encountered the Purple Crow and the Heretics. His impression of the underworld was not good.
The Saints had a bad reputation, which was almost the same as the Purple Crow.
"I shouldn't spend any more time here; the other hunters can handle this." Lin Huang didn't want to have anything to do with such an organization as he'd be bringing trouble to himself.
It was almost eight as he read the news, Liang Yin called as she promised. Lin Huang picked up the call immediately.
"I've finally finished with my work, where are we meeting?" Liang Yin asked right away as the call was connected.
"Let's meet at the Union Government entrance, I'll pick you up."
"Sure, I'll wait for you." Liang Yin nodded.
Lin Huang then patted the Viridian Wolf who was still eating, "Buddy, we need to head out for a while."
The Viridian Wolf was unhappy as it transformed into a card. Through the three-day-long experiment, Lin Huang confirmed that his pods had the same effect as Bloody's. As long as it wasn't recalled, the parasite would remain there forever. However, compared to Bloody, his version of Leech Pods was the weaker version where he had to touch the host's body to make it work. Moreover, he could only put in one seed at a time.
"Bloody stay here and don't forget to eat when you're hungry." Lin Huang pointed at the remaining one-third of the roasted pig on the floor. Bloody nodded and Lin Huang left. When he got out of the hotel, Lin Huang immediately summoned the Viridian Wolf. Seeing that there was still a parasite in it, Lin Huang frowned. He rode on its back and headed to the Union Government.
Lin Huang then spoke to Xiao Hei.
"Would the parasite stay even if I've recalled the card and summoned it again?"
"Yes, some of the parasites can only be removed by a Cleansing Card. Returning it to its card form will not change anything."
Lin Huang just realized that his experiment did not require him to summon the Viridian Wolf all the time. However, since he could not remove the parasite himself, that also meant that other people could use parasites to take over his monster. He didn't like that.
10 minutes later, Lin Huang arrived at the Union Government's entrance. Liang Yin was already waiting. Riding on the Viridian Wolf, she asked.
"Where are we having dinner?"
"I know of a place that makes good offal dishes, you should have been there before, it's not far from here." Lin Huang knew Liang Yin loved such food that's why he picked the restaurant.
"Do you mean Tang Sanzhang?" Liang Yin asked.
"Yes, that's the one." Lin Huang nodded.
"But it's expensive, are you sure you want to treat me there?" Liang Yin was unsure.
"Don't worry about it. Although it's a little bit pricey, I can afford it." Lin Huang nodded and smiled.
Lin Huang had researched the place before; it was pricey because all the food was fresh from iron level to gold level monsters. Silver level hunters like Lin Huang would need at least tens or hundreds of Life Crystal for a meal there. It was not for the ordinary people.
"Since you insist, I won't decline." Liang Yin said.
After riding on the Viridian Wolf for another four to five minutes, they stopped at a cross junction. Lin Huang recalled the Viridian Wolf and headed to the luxurious restaurant. It wasn't even 8:30 p.m. yet and it was already crowded inside. However, Lin Huang had made reservations earlier after speaking to Liang Yin on the phone. After confirming his identity, a tall female service crew brought them to a table for two.
As they sat down, Lin Huang started ordering. Most of them were intestines of different monsters which were Liang Yin's favorite. Besides that, they ordered a plate of meat, vegetables, and fruits.
"See if there's anything else that you want." Lin Huang passed the menu to Liang Ying after ordering.
"It's okay, it's enough, I don't think I can finish all of it." Liang Yin didn't take the menu Lin Huang passed her.
"What would you guys like to drink?" The service crew asked while smiling.
"I would like a cup of passion fruit juice. How about you?" Lin Huang looked at Liang Yin.
"I'll have the same, I like passionfruit too."
As the service crew left, Lin Huang laughed.
"I thought you would have some exquisite drink preference as well."
"You're overthinking things. Girls usually love drinks that are sweet and sour, I'm like that as well. What about you, why don't you drink any alcohol?" Liang Yin asked him.
"I've something to do tomorrow morning once I have left Luoxi City, I must maintain my peak performance." Lin Huang didn't dislike alcohol but he disliked the hazy feeling he got after drinking. Especially in this world where anything could kill him, he did not want to let his guard down.
"Why not you stay for a couple days more? Although the city isn't bustling, it isn't bad at all." Liang Yin asked.
"Maybe in the future. It's true that this city has an odd sense of peace that I don't feel in many of the footholds." Lin Huang nodded as he said what he felt.
"I thought so too. Unfortunately, the peace was broken this morning." Liang Yin smiled awkwardly.
"You mean the Saints? The Hunter Association will send someone to handle the situation. Don't worry about it, the Union Government would do something to get them too." Lin Huang comforted her.
"These underworld organizations are too much! I heard that the family was killed just because one of the sons published a post called Cult Religion on the Heart Network. There were only two sentences about the Saints in the post which read - The so-called Saints are just a bunch of lunatics who show off about their religion . What they are doing is the total opposite of what moral and decent religions have. They are just a bunch of lunatics who do whatever they want . Just because of that, the two Saints members killed his entire family." Liang Yin knew the entire incident.
Lin Huang frowned as he listened.
"We can never understand what such people are thinking, the way they think is different from ordinary people."
"You're speaking as if you are related to many people from the underworld organizations." Liang Yin looked at him.
Lin Huang smiled without saying anything. Soon, the food was served and out of the many different intestine dishes, Lin Huang only tasted a few pieces. Two of the dishes were good and he could not tell that those were intestines.
It was almost 10 at night when they were finally done with dinner. As they walked out of the restaurant, Lin Huang asked her.
"Where do you stay, do you need a ride?"
"It's alright. If my mom sees you, she might bring me to try on wedding gowns tomorrow. She's afraid that I might not marry anyone." Liang Yin rejected.
"Alright then…" Lin Huang hailed a monster car for Liang Yin.
Hopping on the monster car, Liang Yin turned around and smiled widely at Lin Huang before she even sat down.
"Safe journey!"
"Okay, thanks." The monster car left leaving Lin Huang waving goodbye to her.
After sending her off, Lin Huang summoned the Viridian Wolf and headed back to the hotel. It was past 10 when they arrived at the hotel. As he went into his room, Bloody wrapped itself around his arm and pulled him towards the couch.
"What's wrong?"
Bloody used some water in the cup and wrote on the coffee table again.
"I have learned all 120,000 words; the human language is really profound. I would need a couple more days to be able to use all of them.
"I'm envious of such a learning ability…" The main reason why Lin Huang wanted the Supreme Intelligence skill was because he wanted the learning ability of a transcendent. There were 120,000 words in this world's most common language. So far Lin Huang had only mastered 8,000 words. However, Bloody had managed to learn 120,000 words within three days.
"We'll be leaving Luoxi City tomorrow morning. I'll have to put you away and let you out when we arrive at the Meteorite Desert. I'll need your help then." Lin Huang said.
Bloody nodded and wrote on the coffee table again.
"Sure, let me know if you need anything."
After recalling Bloody, Lin Huang cleared up the mess in the living room that the Viridian Wolf had made. It was almost 11 when he was done, he took a shower and went to bed…
Chapter 247: Meteorite Desert
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Dawn in Luoxi City was extremely peaceful. Lin Huang woke up at seven in the morning and walked to the balcony to stretch his body. The sun had just risen as a red ball but it did not hurt the eyes. Instead, it shone down on him with warmth. Looking into the distance, half of the city was within his field of vision. There was a tall clock tower far away and houses close to him as well as people on the streets…Perhaps, the lack of bustle made the city oddly peaceful.
"It's time to leave…" Lin Huang sighed.
After washing up, he returned to his room and looked around, making sure that he did not leave anything behind before heading out. Taking the elevator to level 3, he spent around 10 minutes at the breakfast buffet line before checking out of the hotel. As he stepped out of the hotel, he summoned the Alexandrian Eagle and headed in the direction of the Meteorite Desert.
The Meteorite Desert was located around 1,800 kilometers from the west-north of Luoxi City. With the speed of the Alexandrian Eagle, Lin Huang arrived at the destination in less than three hours. The gold level Life Seed monster than he picked was the Starlight Beast that Mr. Fu had recommended. The Starlight Beast was rare whereby it was only spotted in the Meteorite Desert in the entire Division 7. The Meteorite Desert was 12 million square kilometers and if it was placed on Earth, it was bigger than most countries. Even here, it was much bigger than an A-grade foothold.
Though barren, many powerful monsters existed in this wide land. In reality, the Meteorite Desert surpassed the level of the wild zone; it belonged to the danger zone that most hunters would not step into. In this world, there were no Transcendent monsters in the wild zones, so there were only four levels where the most powerful one would be at gold-level. Those areas with Transcendent monsters were labeled as danger zones.
There were three grades of danger zones. The mild danger zone would usually have one to four commander-level monsters. One commander-level monster was comparable to the combat strength of a human holy fire-level. The moderate danger zone would usually have more than five commander-level monsters or one chief-level monster. The chief-level monster's combat strength was comparable to a human immortal-level. Meanwhile, the severe danger zone would usually have more than 10 commander-level monsters or more than three chief-level monsters. Such a place was considered an extremely dangerous zone and only the top hunters would dare to enter.
A danger zone that was even higher would be considered forbidden land which was terrorized by a king-level monster. It was comparable to an imperial-level transcendent. Only the general of the Union Government or the elder of the Hunter Association would be able to fight such a monster. The Meteorite Desert belonged to the moderate danger zone. While there were only seven Transcendent monsters that were identified, there could be more.
With Lin Huang's ability, he had to be careful as he entered the zone. Although Bai and Charcoal were powerful, they were not powerful enough to fight a Transcendent monster. Under his instructions, the Alexandrian Eagle landed in the southeast zone of the desert, not venturing any deeper. The reason why they decided to land based on the document that Lin Huang had shown was because someone had witnessed a Starlight Beast near the coordinates. Recalling the Alexandrian Eagle, Lin Huang looked into the distance. There was nothing, not even weed or a dead tree; it was just endless sand all the way to the horizon.
"This is such a huge area. I'm not sure when can I find the monsters that are secretive…" Lin Huang mumbled to himself and summoned Bloody. Bloody curled around his arm and looked around curiously. This was its first time coming to a desert, so this was something new.
"Master, is this the desert?" Bloody extended an antenna and wrote on the ground.
"Yes, this is the desert. It's called Meteorite Desert, a danger zone with many transcendent monsters," Lin Huang nodded as he explained.
"It's even more beautiful than it was described in the books. Although it looks barren, it's majestic," Bloody wrote.
"It seems beautiful but danger is everywhere." Lin Huang smiled sagely.
"Master, what do you need me to do this time?" Bloody wrote.
"My purpose of coming to this desert is to kill a gold-level Life Seed monster called the Starlight Beast. However, it's very rare and elusive. It was last seen 17 years ago right where I'm standing. So, I need your help to find this monster," Lin Huang explained.
"So, Master, do you need me to release my parasites onto the monsters here and get them to look around?" Bloody knew what Lin Huang was thinking immediately.
"Yes! This desert is too big, so that's the only way," Lin Huang affirmed. Without Bloody's help, it would take too much of his time and strength.
"Sure, can I take a look at its picture?" Bloody agreed. Lin Huang projected the photo of Starlight Beast immediately.
Starlight Beast looked like a robot. Most of its body was orange in color and had a unique metal reflection under the light. Its face was turquoise and it looked like it was wearing a mask. Besides its eyes, there was nothing else on its face. There was a purple crystal the size of a fist under its neck. On both sides of its chest were four antenna-like arms in blue and green. It had a long torso and its waist was so tiny that it could be completely held by both adult hands. Both its legs were long like two thick antennas with no soles, so it had to balance on its pointy limbs.
After some observation, Bloody asked, "Are all of these monsters the same color?"
"Yes, the majority of them."
"So far, I've never heard of any other color."
"Alright, I shall look for them with this reference," Bloody confirmed.
It glided from Lin Huang's arm, its body enlarging. Soon, it grew to the thickness of an adult thigh and unraveled to become up to 1000 meters long, looking like a giant boa.
Bloody coiled around on the ground and there were buds growing out of its body. At a speed that could be captured by the naked eye, purple flowers that looked like dandelions grew out of the buds. Within seconds, the purple flowers bloomed and flew far away, carried on the wind.
"Bloody, try to be low-key. There are many Transcendent monsters in this desert, so let's not get their attention," Lin Huang reminded, looking at the purple flowers flying in the air.
"I understand!" Bloody responded and slowed down the speed of the purple flowers. The density of the leech pods was more than 10 times less than before. Looking at the seeds that were numbered to be at least 100,000, Lin Huang stood where he was and exclaimed, "What an amazing ability that Bloody is born with!"
Chapter 248: Free Man
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
It was a cloudless sky. The azure blue was like a painting so beautiful that it was unreal. The sun that was hanging high up in the sky was shining its best golden glow across the land. While the temperature in the Meteorite Desert was not high, the sun at 10 in the morning hurt his eyes. Lin Huang put on his sunglasses while waiting next to the portable tent to build itself.
Bloody spent more than half an hour spreading out all the 100,000 leech pods far away. If Lin Huang had not asked it to remain low-key, it could have done that within two minutes. Later on, Bloody shrunk to its original length of two meters and plunged into the tent while tangling itself on Lin Huang's left arm.
"How long does it take for all the pods to complete its parasitizing?" Lin Huang asked immediately.
"The desert is huge and the monsters don't gather together. Without getting the transcendent's attention, I slowed down their speed of flight to make them look like they were just wandering in the wind. Looking at the current situation, it'll take at least two to three days to be complete," Bloody wrote on the ground with its vine.
"Two to three days...I'll need more time to find the Starlight Beast…" Lin Huang planned in his own head.
"It seems like we'll have to stay here then."
With the help of many parasites, Lin Huang decided to stay and wait patiently. After some deliberating, Lin Huang summoned the Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion to guard the tent outside. The Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion and the Golden Armored Skeleton were two gold-level cards that Lin Huang had accumulated on the Little Devil Island. The reason why he picked the Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion was that because of the fact that Tyrant side, it was the only monster that best suited the desert.
There was no desert in this area, so there were passers-by sometimes. On some level, Tyrant had evolved into a new species so any passer-by might take photos or videos if they saw Tyrant. As the last few summoning monsters that he owned, Lin Huang did not want it to be exposed. Furthermore, at the border of the desert, there were hardly any monsters of silver-level. Therefore, the Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion that was gold-level rank-2 would be the best to defend them if monsters were to invade. Therefore, there was no need for Tyrant to guard the tent.
"If anyone comes, don't attack. Inform me or Bloody first. If there are monsters, you may kill them without informing us," Lin Huang instructed Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion. In reality, most of the monsters would not understand human language, especially the Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion which did not have high intelligence. The reason why it could understand Lin Huang was not because it could understand the human language, but it was owing to his summoning card which could read Lin Huang's instruction on the surface.
However, it was a different story for Bloody. Ever since it had gotten the Supreme Intelligence skill, it could understand the human language. No matter if it was Lin Huang or other humans, it could understand them. The reason why it could not speak was either because its biological structure did not allow it to, or because there was no need for it to since it could write whenever it needed to communicate with Lin Huang.
After getting the Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion to guard the outside of the tent, Lin Huang took out his Emperor's Heart Ring and projected the monster encyclopedia that Yi Zheng had given to him. He took it off and passed it to Bloody. After an Emperor's Heart Ring was removed from the human finger, even with the authorization from the host, it could only work in offline mode. Communication, network, storage space, and other functions would be shut down with the basic function remaining. Such a restriction was for the safety of the user. If there was no such restriction, Lin Huang was more than happy to let Bloody learn by itself.
"If you are bored, you can look at the monster encyclopedia. This monster encyclopedia is so much more complicated than the basic one that I used to learn with. After you are done with this, I have another one that's more detailed on parasites. You can take a look at that as well and think about which are the two skills that you desire the most." Lin Huang lined out the learning mission for Bloody.
"However, I have a suggestion. The best skills that you look for would be survival and defense. You could consider that yourself."
"Sure, I will consider after I am done reading all the documents," Bloody responded.
"In the following days, I will be training my gunfighting technique in the gaming pod. My Emperor's Heart Ring will be offline with the communication systems shut down, so you won't be able to contact me from the outside. If something happens, you can press the emergency stop button on the gaming pod," Lin Huang said and he activated the game outside the tent. A gaming pod that was three meters long appeared less than two meters away from the tent.
Lin Huang walked out of the tent and pointed at the red button that was covered with a transparent cap on the right side of the pod door. "There's a red button that's covered with a transparent cap. That's the emergency stop button. If something happens when I'm inside the gaming pod, open the cap or smash the cap and press the red button. I will get out of the game right away."
"I understand!" Bloody nodded and wrote.
"If you have any news on the Starlight Beast, that'll be considered an emergency as well. By then, you should also press the emergency stop button," Lin Huang added.
As the Starlight Beast was secretive about its whereabouts, Lin Huang hoped that him training his gunfighting technique would cause him to miss the monster. He could always train any time he wanted but if the Starlight Beast ran away, he would have to wait for days for its next appearance. He hoped to complete that as soon as possible so that he could go home.
"Sure," Bloody responded.
"If you need to eat, settle that yourself. Don't bother me, I have my own snacks. If I feel like eating meat one day, I can always hunt myself," Lin Huang said that as Bloody was a summoning card which was different from a real summoning monster. They barely needed food or water to survive. As long as Lin Huang was alive and Xiao Hei's card system stayed, it was basically immortal. It would not feel hungry or thirsty. Even if it needed to eat, it did so to satisfy its craving before it became a card.
"Please help me watch the Starlight Beast, that's your top priority. Look at the monster encyclopedia when you have the time. If you don't, you can always look at it in the future. Anyway, I am putting you in charge here while I train in the gunfighting technique."
Lin Huang became a free man after he put Bloody in charge. He then opened the door to the gaming pod and entered. Seeing that Lin Huang was already in the gaming pod, Bloody returned to the tent and started studying the monster encyclopedia…
Chapter 249: A Small Incident In The Desert
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
On an early morning, the sun had risen in the sky and it shone on the Meteorite Desert, reflecting a red radiance like it was the Red Sea itself.
In the red ocean, there were six Megalodon Wolves lined up in order, resembling six boats slowly crossing the ocean.
Upon closer inspection, on each of the six Megalodon Wolves' back was a person. There were five young men and a young woman.
They were led by a man that was about the age of 25, with a muscular body and short hair.
"Brother Du, we are at the periphery of the Meteorite Desert. You don't have to be on alert and let the Megalodon Wolf run so slowly. We left the desert at five o'clock. It has been three hours and we've traveled less than 200 kilometers…" said a skinny, young man in his early twenties as he rode the Megalodon Wolf closest beside him.
"You know nothing!" Du Feng immediately turned his head back and scolded, "Do you know how dangerous the Meteorite Desert is? It is not an ordinary wild zone! It is a moderate danger zone."
"When I was still a Silver Hunter, I followed the gold Hunter team here. I witnessed a team of 20 gold-level rank-3 members being engulfed by a Transcendent monster. This incident remains clearly engraved on my mind. I can't forget it."
"Little brats, you have just leveled up to gold-level rank-1 and you think that you're indestructible. I brought you to the Meteorite Desert so that you know how powerful the monsters in this world are. They are beyond imagination. Of course, there must be a reason for the danger zone to be regarded as one. Don't fool around here…"
"Brother Du, there…" The skinny young man suddenly pointed towards a direction that was not far off.
The rest of them were startled, looking towards the direction as well.
"What's it? Don't interrupt while the leader is talking!" Du Feng scolded again.
"It seems like there is a Gun Master game cabin over there," said the only female member of the team to the young man next to her.
"Yes, you're right. It's a game cabin. From its appearance, it must be an outdoor deluxe edition," answered the young man next to her softly.
As the team members started whispering to each other, Du Feng finally glanced towards the direction they were looking at and he was shocked.
What's happening? Playing Gun Master in the Meteorite Desert! Was the person crazy?!
Lin Huang had woken up just after eight o'clock in the morning. After washing up, he immediately activated the game cabin.
He did not enter the game cabin right after that though. He ate his breakfast instead.
He never expected that a hunter team would pass by right after the second day he entered the Meteorite Desert.
Seeing the six of them riding on the Megalodon Wolf, Lin Huang did not pay much attention to them. After taking out the oven, he started to reheat his breakfast.
He ate snacks in the afternoon and at night during the first day. He then decided to make some changes in his diet.
At that moment, the fragrance of the food was wafting out of the oven.
"How fragrant!" the six of them exclaimed at the same time.
"It smells like cake!"
"It's a special local product from Luoxi City, quick-frozen cake. I've tried this before and I can still remember its taste," reminisced a young man immediately, "The cake is quickly frozen right after it is baked. You can either eat it cold or after it has defrosted in the oven. It's delicious both ways."
"He's living the good life. Why do we only have snacks?" the woman complained.
"What if…we take some from him? The smallest of this cake is 10 inches. He won't be able to finish it alone. We don't have to eat until we feel full. It's good enough to eat it for breakfast," the young man who recalled the taste of the quick-frozen cake suggested.
"It's not that good..." She turned shy upon hearing his suggestion and her face reddened a little.
"There's nothing to feel bad about. We can even pay him 10 times the credit points since the cake is relatively cheap. It costs less than 500 credit points. 10 times of that is only 5,000 credit points," the man beside her suggested.
"What if he only has one cake and he doesn't want to sell it?" The woman was still hesitant.
"If he doesn't want to sell it, we can't force him. We'll eat our snacks then," the skinny man said with his palms up in mock surrender.
"Alright then…"
"Eh, do you know that your leader is standing right here?" Du Feng never expected that they would have completely ignored him because of food.
"Brother Du…" The few of them suddenly realized that their leader had not raised his opinion at all.
"I've told you that you have to be alert all the time while you're outside. The guy there looks strange. He's only a silver-level but he's eating cake leisurely in the moderate danger zone. He's even playing games as if he's on a holiday. He has no sense of danger at all. There must be something wrong with him…"
As Du Feng was talking, Lin Huang cut a piece of cake and blew a whistle.
An Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion drilled out from the sand and Lin Huang passed him a big slice of cake.
He took out a lounge chair from the storage space, then he enjoyed the cake and drank his beverage. He indeed looked like he was on a holiday.
"I thought that it was a sand dune but it's a scorpion instead! One can hardly notice it if it had not come out on its own," one of them remarked in surprise.
"It is a gold-level rank-2 Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion. He is an Imperial Censor…" Du Feng said in fear.
An Imperial Censor could summon a monster of a higher level. Despite the fact that the young man was only a silver-level hunter, he could control gold-level rank-3 monsters. Furthermore, the number of monsters that he could summon was more than one, putting Du Feng on alert. Du Feng then understood why he looked like he was on a vacation in the desert.
"It is such a waste to give the slice of cake to the scorpion." The woman was staring hungrily at the cake in Lin Huang's hand.
"Do you really want to eat that?" Du Feng frowned as he asked.
They immediately nodded their heads.
"Alright. Wait over here. I'll ask and see," Du Feng compromised.
He then rode on the Megalodon Wolf and headed towards Lin Huang. The rest of them waited at their original position.
Lin Huang leaned back in the lounge chair, feeling cautious as he saw that a man was approaching him.
Right when the Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion saw this, it raised its tail, preparing to fight.
"Relax. He has no bad intentions." As Lin Huang saw that he was coming alone, he guessed that he was harmless. The Enchanted Poisontail Scorpion then retreated.
Du Feng got off the Megalodon Wolf as he approached him and slowly walked towards him.
"What's up?" Lin Huang had no idea why he was coming to him.
"Err…Bro, do you still have the cake that you were eating just now?" Du Feng's aged face blushed as he asked.
"Oh, yes, I do. Haven't you had your breakfast yet?" Lin Huang then knew that they must have smelled the aroma of the cake. He then nodded his head with a smile.
Du Feng told him the truth, "We actually have some snacks but the cake smells so appetizing. So…"
"It's alright. I have a lot with me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have given it to the scorpion." Lin Huang nodded and took out two cakes. "There are six of you there. Two should be enough."
"One is actually enough," Du Feng immediately said.
"There are two ways to eat the cake. You can either defrost it or eat it directly. Try it both ways so that you'll have no regrets," Lin Huang explained with a smile.
Du Feng did not reject his offer.
Lin Huang took out a table, placing one of the cakes into the oven and putting the other on the table.
He then simply cut the cake that had yet to defrost into six equal pieces. His cake-cutting technique was amazing.
Du Feng was also good in swordsmanship. When he saw Lin Huang's cutting skills, his eyes brightened.
"Bro, are you trained in swordsmanship?" Du Feng immediately asked.
"Yes, I majored in swords." Lin Huang nodded with a smile. When Du Feng got off the Megalodon Wolf, Lin Huang already knew that he majored in swords as well.
"So, you're not an Imperial Censor? Did you not summon the monster?" Du Feng kept asking.
"I majored in swords and I'm also an Imperial Censor," Lin Huang explained with a smile.
"Oh, I almost forgot that many of the Imperial Censors have other occupations as well."
A sound from the oven signaled that the cake had been defrosted. Lin Huang immediately took out the defrosted cake and placed it on the table. He then cut them into six equal pieces as well.
"You can bring this to them or ask them to come." Lin Huang knew that he had purposely come here on his own out of caution.
He turned back, waving his hand at them.
They immediately rushed over, riding on the Megalodon Wolf.
Lin Huang took out a few chairs and placed them in front of the table. He sat back on the lounge chair and continued to drink his beverage.
Once they arrived, the area near the tent became lively.
"Brother Du, he is such a kind-hearted person. You're overthinking," a young man said, smiling at Du Feng.
Du Feng stared at him and said, "Just eat your cake!"
"Brother Du, are you the one who cut the cake? They are cut neatly and all six pieces have exactly the same size as if they were measured," flattered the young man said.
"No, I didn't." Du Feng stared at him again.
The young man immediately shut up, knowing that he had flattered the wrong person.
They then shifted their gaze to Lin Huang, feeling curious.
Du Feng did not eat the cake. He moved the chair t nearer to Lin Huang and ate his snacks.
Lin Huang took a glance at the snacks that he was eating, smiled and remained silent.
"Don't misunderstand me. I'm not used to eating dessert," Du Feng immediately explained.
"I don't actually like dessert too. I can only eat a piece of the cake. I'll feel grossed out if I ate too many." Lin Huang nodded as if he could understand him. In fact, he did not actually care whether he liked dessert or not.
Soon, both of them kept quiet.
After a moment, Du Feng asked, "Why are you playing the Gun Master here? Is this a performance art?"
"No, of course not." Lin Huang shook his head with a smile. He then explained, "I've been waiting for a monster to appear. I'll be here for a period of time and it's too boring to stay here alone, hence the game."
"Oh, I see…" Du Feng did not continue asking as he felt that it would be invading his privacy.
"Why did you come here? For training?" Lin Huang knew that other than Du Feng who was at gold-level rank-3, the five of them had just upgraded to gold-level rank-1.
"Yes, so that they can walk around the Meteorite Desert and gain some knowledge as well."
Both of them chatted for a while. Five of the youngsters had finished their portion of the cake. There were two remaining pieces for Du Feng.
"Leader, we left two pieces of cake for you. Come over and have a try!" the female member turned back, shouting to Du Feng.
"Didn't you know that I don't like dessert? You have it." Du Feng waved his hand.
They shook their heads and smiled, keeping the cakes in a fresh food bag.
"Oh yeah, we've been chatting for so long but I don't know what's your name." As they had finished eating, he stood up, putting his snacks away.
"My name is Ye Xiu." Lin Huang stood up too.
"Thank you for serving us. My name is Du Feng." Du Feng extended his hand.
Lin Huang shook hands with him.
Then, Du Feng took out a Life Crystal and gave it to Lin Huang. "I'll pay you for the cake."
"It's okay. I'll treat you and your team members. The cake is cheap. If you pay me one Life Crystal, I don't have any change for you," Lin Huang rejected, pushing Du Feng's hand away gently. "If there's a chance, treat me back."
"Alright. I'll add your contact number, let's keep in contact." Of course, Du Feng knew that the hunters would not actually care about the credit points that he had spent to buy the cakes. Nevertheless, he did not want to owe him, so he could only treat him next time.
"Sure."
After adding each other as friends, Du Feng asked the youngsters to clean up the space and they left.
To Lin Huang, the appearance of Du Feng and the rest of them were simply a small incident that had happened during the journey.
After they had left, Lin Huang quickly entered the game cabin of the Gun Master and started practicing his gunfighting technique…
Chapter 250: Arrival Of The Saints
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The six of the Megalodon Wolves had been traveling in the golden desert for a few days.
Led by Du Feng, the Megalodon Wolves' active period was only about 10 hours. The rest of the time, they were recalled back to the monster taming token so that they could rest.
It was almost sunset by now and Du Feng instructed them to take a break again.
"There's a sand dune there. Let's set up our tent behind the dune." Du Feng pointed at the sand dune not far away from him. He then led the Megalodon Wolf towards the sand dune.
The youngsters immediately followed after him.
"Brother Du, we're too slow. We're only walking for 10 hours each day and the Megalodon Wolf can maintain a speed of about 70 kilometers. We didn't encounter any dangers all the way here. If the Megalodon Wolf were to lope at its full speed, we must have reached our training ground yesterday," grumbled Ai Peng, the skinny man. He was an impetuous man as he used to feel that Du Feng was being too cautious.
"Stop talking nonsense. Have a good rest tonight. We will reach our destination tomorrow afternoon if we maintain at this speed." Du Feng was lazy to explain his rationale.
"We have delayed the journey for at least two days because we're going at such a slow speed…" Ai Peng mumbled in a low voice.
"Get back to your own tent and rest!" Du Feng's facial expression changed. Liang Qian, who was standing beside Ai Peng, immediately pulled him away, not allowing him to continue talking. As the only female member of the team, she had been regulating everyone's relationship.
"Leader, I've always wanted to ask you why did you name our team 'Dian Feng'? Is it because there's a 'Feng' in your name?" Liang Qian asked and changed the topic after Ai Peng had left.
"No, of course not. It's because the previous team that I joined is called Dian Feng as well. I hope that I can continue using this name…" Du Feng explained with a smile.
"Your previous team?" When the rest of them heard of their leader's history, they immediately came over.
"Brother Du, why was the former team disbanded? Were there any conflicts between team members?" Duan Yang immediately asked.
"It was not because of conflicts, of course. We have a close relationship with each other like brothers." Du Feng smiled kindly. However, his face suddenly turned grave and he said, "The reason why the team got disbanded is that I'm the only one who survived…"
"What?!"
They were all shocked, gaping at Du Feng. They had joined Team Dian Feng for a few months and it was the first time they heard about this from Du Feng.
"Do you still remember the incident in Meteorite Desert that I told you about?" Du Feng glanced at the five of them.
They immediately nodded their heads.
"Our mission was to help a member of royalty kill a Transcendent monster so that he could be upgraded to the holy fire-level. There were a total of 53 gold-level hunters who joined the mission. I was the only hunter who was on silver-level. The rest of my team members had upgraded to the gold-level. But I hadn't made up my mind on which Life Seed monster to choose, therefore, I was not upgraded. I was only a handyman during the mission. I've told you that I joined the battle with the Transcendent monster. In fact, I didn't. I was standing at a few kilometers away, witnessing everything that happened…"
Everyone was quietly listening to Du Feng's story. None of them interrupted.
"The moment when they saw the monster, everyone pounced towards the monster. The leader told me to stay in my original position and not get involved in the battle because I couldn't use any relic yet and I could do no harm to the Transcendent monster. I understood that and agreed with him, so I witnessed the battle on the sand dune from a few kilometers away.
"I thought that it was not difficult to kill a commander-level monster as there were more than 50 Gold Hunters. I never expected that it was a Transcendent monster that had gone through a double mutation. Also, it was neither a white flame-level nor crimson flame-level Transcendent monster as recorded. It was of a higher level, the blue flame-level…
"At the beginning of the battle, the gold-level members had worn their defensive relics. However, with just one hit, they died. They had no chance of fighting back at all. The incident was a mass slaughter.
"The battle lasted for less than half a minute. As soon as the monster opened its mouth, half of the Gold Hunters were engulfed. Even those who found out that something was wrong and wanted to flee did not survive. They all became its food…
"Do you know what I did? I was a coward. As soon as I saw that, I immediately crept into the ground, hiding my head in the sand dune. Behind the sand dune, I maintained the same position for about three hours, only then did I dare to raise my head to see whether the Transcendent monster had left!"
"I'm a damn coward!" After he had finished telling his story, he scolded himself.
"Brother Du, you can't blame yourself. Everyone will, of course, strive for survival…" Before Ai Peng could finish his sentence, Liang Qiang slapped him on the back.
"Leader, you didn't do anything wrong. I think that your decision is right. Staying alive is the only way to take revenge!" Liang Qian said to comfort him.
"I think what Qian Qian said is right!" Ai Peng immediately agreed with her while the rest of them nodded their heads too.
"The reason why I named the new team 'Dian Feng' is because I hope that I could pass on Dian Feng's legacy. The revenge is my affair. I'll seek revenge on the monster after I've upgraded to Transcendent." Obviously, Du Feng did not want his team members to get involved in this.
"The main reason why I brought all of you to the Meteorite Desert is to meet my old mates. They must be happy to see all of you here if they find out that Dian Feng has new team members to carry on the legacy." Du Feng's mood turned better.
"So, we're not here for training?" Ai Peng frowned.
"You wish! Since we're here, of course, we have to train. We have to at least kill some monsters and earn some money," Du Feng said.
After dinner, they rested. The next morning, Du Feng woke everybody up.
After having some snacks for breakfast, the six of them rode on the Megalodon Wolf and headed towards their destination before 8 a.m.
After listening to Du Feng's story last night, even Ai Peng, who was the most impetuous ma, did not complain that he was slow anymore and the team became less lively than before. They were upset after listening to the story behind Du Feng's past.
It was slightly after noon when Du Feng saw a withered tree and was agitated.
Getting off the Megalodon Wolf, he quickly ran towards the withered tree and stood still.
A few of them quickly followed after Du Feng on the Megalodon Wolf and arrived somewhere near the withered tree. Five of them then got off their Wolf and put it back into their monster taming token.
"Leader, are the elders buried here?" Liang Qian asked.
"Yes, they are buried under this tree. However, their dead bodies are all gone. Only the graves remain here…" Du Feng slightly nodded his head.
As he finished his words, he took out a bottle of wine, pouring the liquid in front of the withered tree and announcing, "Bros, Xiao Du came back to visit all of you!"
The rest of them kept quiet, looking at Du Feng until he had poured the wine and bowed.
"Guys, introduce yourself so that you will know each other." Du Feng waved his hand at them.
Ai Peng was the first one who walked forward. While he bowed, he said seriously, "Hi, my name is Ai Peng. I have low emotional quotient and I'm a straight-talking person. We'll grow stronger together with our leader. The next time when we return, we'll kill the Transcendent monster and take our revenge!" This was the first time that everybody agreed with him.
"Hi, my name is Liang Qian. I'm the new member of the Dian Feng team. Brother Du has taken good care of all of us. We'll try our best to take care of him in future. Don't worry…" After Liang Qian had finished, she bowed.
The rest of them came forward and introduced themselves as well. After they had bowed, they stood aside.
After everyone was done, Du Feng waved his hand and said, "Five of you may wander around here. Don't go too far. I have something to talk to my old mates about."
After listening to him, they left. Only Liang Qian did not leave, his gaze upon Du Feng.
"Dear old mates, I'm sorry that I didn't visit you during the past two years. I'll bring along the youngsters and come here more often…We now have the new teammates to join Dian Feng hunter team. The legacy will be passed down from one generation to the next…" Du Feng sat with his legs crossed in front of the withered tree and muttered as if he felt that his teammates who had passed away could still listen to what he had said.
"Brother Du, something bad has happened!" Ai Peng suddenly ran quickly towards him and shouted.
"Ai Peng, what are you doing?!" Liang Qian immediately stopped him.
Du Feng frowned, staring at Ai Peng. "What's happened? Why are you shouting?"
"I saw two men dressed in white robes walking towards our direction. Judging from their attire, they look like they are the members of the Saints…"