“That beast is cunning. It definitely took advantage of the chaos to flee to Area B or even deeper into the Non-Safe Zone to hide!”
“Going to Area A is a pure waste of time. If you’re unlucky, you’ll just run into unexploded shells or building collapses.”
Lei Lie, code-named Eagle Eye, didn’t show even a flicker of emotion upon hearing this.
He was well aware that Area A had just undergone a devastating wave of Purge Artillery.
Because the bombardment had covered such a vast range, and coupled with the various rumors about the Shadow-Stalker Beast circulating within the guild, the risk and reward assessment for this search mission had skyrocketed. This was exactly what attracted a Level 3 Hunter like him, who was seeking a breakthrough or rare resources.
He didn't bother explaining. He simply shook his head slightly and said in a deep voice, “I have my methods.”
The guard shrugged and waved him through. “Fine, if you’re hell-bent on seeking death, no one’s going to stop you. Just a heads-up: after the shelling, the structure of those ruins is extremely unstable. Many places still have high temperatures and residual radiation, so watch yourself.”
“Also... if you really stumble upon something you shouldn’t, like a follow-up reconnaissance team from the Inner City or anything else, it’s best to pretend you didn't see anything and get out of there fast.”
“Thanks,” Lei Lie responded briefly. He tucked away his badge, stepped over the roadblock, and officially entered the deathly silent ruins of Area A.
In the Outer City, at a hidden underground base.
A lean man sat at a crude table, his finger tapping rhythmically against the surface.
His name was Han Laosan, the leader of the Blood Fang Gang in the Outer City.
In this district where people from all walks of life mingled, Han Laosan’s name wasn't particularly famous, but no one dared to provoke him lightly either.
His ability to survive in the cracks for so many years relied on one thing: his wits.
Over the past few days, the hottest topic in the Outer City was the mission posted by the guild.
Finding the whereabouts of the Shadow-Stalker Beast came with a bounty high enough to let an ordinary hunter retire for good.
In the entire Outer City, anyone with even a shred of ability had their eyes turned red with greed.
Han Laosan was no exception.
He had sent out over a dozen of his men, splitting them between Area B and Area C, and some even risked venturing into the edges of the Non-Safe Zone.
But he knew in his heart that his subordinates were fine for scavenging supplies, but if they actually encountered an Aberrant on the level of a Shadow-Stalker Beast, they would be nothing more than fodder.
Therefore, he had set his sights on someone else—Lei Lie.
That taciturn Level 3 Hunter had taken the mission, and the moment he stepped out of the guild, he had been tagged by Han Laosan’s scouts.
Han Laosan knew Lei Lie’s capabilities; the man was known as “Eagle Eye” for a reason!
No prey that he set his sights on had ever managed to escape.
“Boss,” a small, thin man crouched as he slipped inside, his face filled with irrepressible excitement. “That kid Lei Lie is on the move.”
“Oh? Where is he headed?”
“Area A.”
Han Laosan’s tapping finger paused, and his brow furrowed.
Area A? That place had just been plowed by artillery. Every scavenger and hunter in the Outer City knew that going to Area A now was a complete waste of time.
Why would Lei Lie go there?
He hesitated for a moment, his instincts telling him that something was off.
Lei Lie wasn't a fool. If he was running toward Area A, either he had lost his mind, or there really was something there.
“A-Qing, A-Liang.”
Two dark figures emerged silently from the shadows in the corner.
These two were the aces under Han Laosan’s command. Both were Ability Users, and they were the primary reason the Blood Fang Gang could hold its ground in the Outer City.
A-Qing was small in stature with an ordinary appearance; he was the type who would completely disappear in a crowd.
His ability, [Aura Assimilation], was quite unique. It allowed him to blend his life signals with the environment within a certain range, making him an excellent candidate for tracking and infiltration.
A-Liang had sharp eyes and was constantly fiddling with a palm-sized instrument.
His ability was [Long-range Vision]. Combined with that modified old-era scope in his hand, he could determine the gender of a fly from three kilometers away.
“Follow Lei Lie and see what he’s doing in Area A. Remember, don’t get close. If you discover anything, come back and report immediately.”
Han Laosan spoke in a heavy tone, “That kid isn’t someone to mess with. Even the two of you together aren’t enough for him to crush with one hand.”
The two nodded and vanished silently into the shadows.
Lei Lie was unaware that he was being followed. As he traveled through Area A, he saw nothing but devastation.
Just as the guard had said, the scene before him was like a purgatory.
As far as the eye could see, there was almost no intact building structure taller than two meters.
Charred rubble, twisted metal, and strange substances that had melted and then solidified were everywhere.
The air was thick with the smell of burning, and while the field of vision was terrifyingly wide, it was also terrifyingly silent.
In the past, one could always see vagrants in the ruins, and sometimes you’d run into Low-rank Rot-Walkers or even some resilient mutated insects and small animals. But now, there was nothing.
“Tsk, they really were ruthless... This wasn't a purge; this was a total formatting,” Lei Lie complained internally while carefully choosing his footing.
He had seen his share of big scenes, but such a thorough carpet bombing was indeed rare.
Just how important, or how dangerous, was that Shadow-Stalker Beast?
The reason he could take on this mission didn't rely solely on his strength, but on an extremely rare ability—
[Trace Resonance Perception]!
This ability was somewhat niche, but in certain moments, it was absolutely critical.
When Lei Lie concentrated his focus on a specific target, he could vaguely perceive the traces left by that target within a certain range.
Depending on the target’s strength and the freshness of the traces, his current range was a radius of about five kilometers.
These traces ignored most physical obstructions, though they would gradually fade over time or due to interference from other intense energies.
To track the Shadow-Stalker Beast, he had paid a significant price to acquire a small scale fragment of the creature from a black market channel.
After several days of sleepless meditation and infusing it with his ability, he had barely managed to grasp the creature's unique signature.
It was precisely because of this vague guidance that he had ignored common logic and insisted that the Shadow-Stalker Beast might still be hiding in Area A rather than fleeing elsewhere.
However, as he delved deeper into Area A and continued according to his ability's guidance, the scenery became increasingly desolate and broken. The traces of destruction from the artillery were increasingly shocking.
Even he couldn't help but feel his confidence in his ability’s accuracy waver.
“Damn it... this place has been blasted so hard the soil has been turned over three times. Unless that beast can burrow to the planet’s core, it should have been turned to ash long ago...”
“Or is my ability’s capture off? Or was that scale a fake?” Lei Lie stopped and looked around at the nearly identical scorched earth, his brows locked in a tight frown.
Just then, in the shadows of the broken walls, he caught sight of several figures moving cautiously.
They were vagrants.
Rate on N.U.
