Volume 2 – Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 39: Hidden Danger
A devastating gunshot suddenly resounded above the mountain cliff. Zha Xi had set up an old-styled, large caliber machine gun, and was currently shooting every metallic bullet at its disposal at the werewolves. The werewolves who had just charged out of the cave were immediately staggered by the gunfire, their bodies blossoming with blood continuously.
However, werewolves had thick skin and flesh, and it was very difficult for a heavy machine gun to actually shatter their bones and deal fatal damage at this range. At best, the werewolves suffered some flesh wounds. To completely kill them,origin gun or direct close-quarter combat skills were necessary.
However, Zha Xi simply wanted to hinder the werewolves for a moment so that his companions could exit the valley smoothly. Four boxes of bullets were fired off in the blink of an eye as the heavy machine gun’s barrel turned bright red and was usable no longer. Meanwhile, Yu Yingnan’s group had already charged out of the valley and was running towards the agreed gathering spot.
His job done, Zha Xi threw down the heavy machine gun and ran madly along the retreat path he’d prepared earlier.
Even more werewolves charged out of the cave as their angry howls rang continuously. However, as Zha Xi’s traps were triggered one after another, explosions began to resound again and again inside the valley, blasting the werewolves that charged out into a complete mess.
Very soon, the entire hunter squad assembled at the gathering spot. The werewolves’ howls and the sound of their paws cutting through air closed in on them in an instant.
Zha Xi immediately pushed out a small, four-wheel truck, and poured black crystal powder into its ignition chamber. The propulsion meter immediately rose madly, and the truck began to rumble, driving off shakily toward Darkblood City.
Zha Xi drove while Qianye and the others climbed to the back of the truck. Li Lunzhe took out a rank two origin gun and aimed behind the car, while Yu Yingnan and Yang Tian were busy dealing with their wounds. Meanwhile, Qianye was rushing to channel the Combatant Formula and recovering as much origin power as possible.
Li Lunzhe’s face was expressionless, but his eyes were extremely dark. He had almost done it back at the wolf cave. If it hadn’t been for Qianye’s sudden cry, he would’ve plunged the knife into Yu Yingnan’s lower back, and dealt similarly with the defenseless Yang Tian. Then, he would run off on his own.
If that had happened, the severely injured Yu Yingnan and Yang Tian definitely wouldn’t have been any match to the werewolves, and it would have been very easy for Li Lunzhe to kill the tech nerd Zha Xi after having escaped from the wolf cave.
However, he had hesitated for a moment when Qianye had snatched the totem with surprising speed, so he lost his chance to follow up with his plans.
A few dark shadows appeared at the end of his vision. They were the werewolves chasing after them. The four wheel drive rolling at forty kilometers per hour was akin to a crawling tortoise in the werewolves’ eyes, and they swiftly shortened the distance between them. Li Lunzhe calmed himself down and paid full attention to the foremost werewolf that chased them. It was only when the werewolf had shortened the distance to less than a hundred meters that he pulled the trigger!
A blue light shot out of the barrel and struck the werewolf’s head dead on. The werewolf flipped a couple of times in midair before crashing heavily onto the ground. It was after he saw the blood splatter and organs scatter that Li Lunzhe finally felt that his evil desires were quelled a little.
Two more origin guns poked out from his left and right side. They were also aimed at the chasing werewolves. They were Qianye and Yang Tian’s. The two had recovered a bit of origin power, and barely had enough strength to fire just one more shot.
Gunfire rang as two werewolves flew backwards in response, and drew a bloody line in mid-air before slamming heavily onto the ground.
Half of the six pursuing werewolves were killed just like that. The remaining werewolves immediately slowed down and dared not get close to the truck any longer. They simply gave chase, staying out of the range of the origin guns as they waited for their group to reach them.
The two sides quickly approached the place where Qianye had met the mysterious, black-robed person.
A commotion suddenly broke out among the werewolves as many of them suddenly paused their footsteps and looked warily towards their surroundings. They continuously let out whines of fear, and some of the pursuing werewolves even felt the hair stand up at the back of their necks.
More and more werewolves slowed down their footsteps and began to whisper amongst each other. There were a few werewolves of exceptional size that sniffed hard at the night air before suddenly turning around and running with their tails between their legs at top speed. The rest of the werewolves followed after them, and soon, all of the werewolves were gone.
The sudden retreat of the werewolves caused Yu Yingnan and the group to look at each other in confusion. Not understanding what just happened, they could only be on their maximum guard. There weren’t many dangers on the wasteland that could cause a werewolf to backpedal.
Qianye guessed that the phenomenon might have something to do with the mysterious, black-robed person, but he didn’t think that it was a good idea to announce this matter.
The quintet’s latter journey was eventless, and they actually managed to return to Darkblood City safely. The mission was submitted very soon, and the totem was said to have impressed the expeditionary army’s specialist in the imperial research center quite a bit. Therefore, their original reward of one hundred gold coins had been doubled to two hundred gold coins.
This good news caused every member of the team to grow spirited. Most hunters were poor, and unlike fixed mercenaries, they did not receive basic equipment distribution, and had to use most of their income to upgrade their equipment and weapons. Without sufficient strength, it was only a matter of time before they perished on the wasteland.
Since Qianye had defied expectations and performed excellently during the mission, he had acquired forty gold coins. This ratio was obviously more than the usual distribution. Although Li Lunzhe’s face turned darker, he said nothing this time. After the rewards were distributed, he hastily left the place.
Yang Tian and Zha Xi also bid their goodbyes one after another, leaving Yu Yingnan and Qianye at the Home of Hunters.
“You wanna get a drink?” Yu Yingnan asked.
Qianye shook his head and said, “Nah, I’m going back to rest for a bit.”
“Then I’ll come look for you in two days.”
This time, Qianye did not turn her down and nodded.
After returning to his accommodation, Qianye first checked the place thoroughly. Other than a few blood droplets on the walls and rooftop corner, he did not find any signs of infiltration. It would seem that those sneaky fellows finally learned their lesson and avoided this dangerous little building after having suffered dearly from the traps.
Qianye shut the door and immediately charged madly into the kitchen. He took out everything that was edible and began to eat like his life depended on it. He completely devoured all of his reserve food and continued eating until his stomach was swelling uncomfortably before finally stopping.
The saturation diluted Qianye’s desire for blood.
The hunger had begun during the latter half of the mission, after he charged out of the wolf cave. Perhaps it had been he had nearly completely exhausted his origin power and stamina, but when the blood of werewolves splattered about, Qianye once again felt the hunger for fresh blood. However, unlike before, when his hunger burned at his rationality, his mind had been absolutely clear. The splattering blood simply emanated a delicious scent and energy that tempted him to taste it.
Qianye pressed down on his head and smiled bitterly. He had a faint idea what was going on already. For a vampire, sucking blood was a shortcut to quick recovery and recuperation. After he acquired the physique of a vampire, he had inherited even this basic talent of the species. After he injected the military stimulant, he had been able to suppress the hunger easily, and he did not experience the kind of hunger that corroded and burned his entire body either.
Qianye did not spend too much time tangling himself in this matter. After taking a bath, he decided to head to Home of Hunters to see what equipment he could purchase. Great strength was a safeguard against one’s mortality, especially now that he had quite a lot of trouble on his shoulders.
As usual, Old 2 was sitting behind the counter, reading a book. It was only when Qianye walked into the hall that he raised his eyelids a little to glance at him once before setting his sight back onto the page.
Home of Hunters was rather crowded today, and the two tables in the hall were almost completely filled with people. Seven or eight hunters had taken up seats, causing the already small space to immediately feel congested.
The hunters were chatting about recent events and exchanged information that they had acquired during their adventures. However, a similarity Qianye heard amongst the different topics, was that the dark races had been unusually irritated and violent as of late. Even the normally gentler creatures were attacking adventurers rather frequently, causing a non-stop stream of casualties of adventurers, hunters and mercenaries alike.
Qianye acutely sensed that the hunters were all a little anxious.
Qianye walked to the counter and asked, “Old 2, when can I become a two star hunter?”
Old 2 answered without even raising his head, “When you accumulate a bounty of a hundred gold coins, then you’ll be able to ascend in rank. Right now, you can’t.”
“Okay. I’d like to see what I can buy.”
Old 2 nodded and summoned Little Mi to lead Qianye to the warehouse. It was still the same warehouse he was led to the last time, but somehow, the same array of equipment was now completely different in Qianye’s eyes.
After having fought with the style of a vampire back inside the werewolf cave, Qianye discovered that he was suddenly in love with it.
Normally, a human was weaker in terms of strength than most dark race warriors despite being of the same rank. Werewolves were a species well known for their strength, and when they went up against a human, their instinct was to rely on their strength to beat them. However, when they encountered Qianye who had an even greater strength than them, they had been defeated exceptionally quickly.
Qianye had already been known for his strength back at the Red Scorpions, and although his physique didn’t seem particularly impressive, his strength had been improved upon further when he acquired the physique of a vampire. Right now, he was comparable to a rank five Fighter, and his advantage in close-quarters combat due to his great strength was indisputable.
Usually, Qianye would place his attention on origin guns and their relevant mods when choosing his weapons, but this time, the array of close combat weapons had attracted his eyes. Qianye picked up one piece of armor after another, and tested them over and over before placing them back to their rack. Finally, he picked up an armguard and played with it repeatedly.
This metallic armguard was to be equipped on his forearm. It had good defense, and it had a weight that would turn it into a terrifying blunt weapon when swung. Moreover, it had a standard card groove on the surface that could be installed with military knives, thorns and similar weapons. There was also a small-scale origin array attached to its armguard. If injected with origin power, it could turn into a shield and block the shots of an average, rank one origin gun.
Qianye was very satisfied with this armguard. Its only weakness was that it weighed ten kilograms, but this bit of weight could be completely overlooked with Qianye’s current strength.
The armguard was labeled with two stars, indicating that it was an equipment that only a two star hunter could exchange for. If Qianye wished to exchange it before he ascended to rank two, he would have to pay an additional 20% of its original cost. Besides the armguard, Qianye also picked a few plates of armor, made from the outer shell of a cave spider. He would install them on the vital spots of his armor. This was a cheap and effective way of upgrading his armor.
These items alone cost more than thirty gold coins. The most expensive part was naturally the origin power-propelled armguard.
After walking out of the warehouse, Qianye walked to the counter again and asked, “Can I request someone to modify some of my equipment?”
Old 2 finally put his book down reluctantly and walked to an independent workshop at the side, beckoning Qianye to come in. He closed the door tight.
What Qianye took out was Flowing Gold Rose’s tactical mods. This included a scope, a storage device that could enhance blast power, and a silencer.
“I’d like to have these parts modified so they can be used on the ‘Ambusher’ rifle.”
Old 2 picked up these parts and examined them closely, saying, “These are all standard mods of vampires. The workmanship is pretty good. They are all originally part of the Flowing Gold Rose’s set, right?”
“You already knew about it?”