The enraged rat lunged at close range, and the heavy blow landed squarely on its twisted, grotesque skull.
Thud!
Viscous fluid splattered, and the rat’s massive body stood frozen for a moment before crashing down with crushing weight.
[I gained 39.4N—this all owes to my formidable bio-limb…]
Pinned beneath that mountain of meat, the boy gritted his teeth against the stench, gasping as he struggled to crawl out from under the monster. His glazed eyes muttered weakly: –Thank you, everyone…–
He severed the link at once, and Moxel automatically reassigned control to Chronos.
Then, tilting his head with immense effort, Liang Xi stared toward the crossroads of the dark tunnel.
After a pause, he closed his eyes to sense the faint, lingering connection, while jagged rays of light bent along the public signature of Yang Zicang, stretching into the void beside him.
–Big brother, before I die… let me tell you a secret…–
……
Elsewhere. The vision from that child had vanished.
[Elect returned my Invest, apportioning 80% as a dividend, totaling approximately 206.8N.]
The final skirmish had blazed through in a flash, and Yang Zicang instantly sensed its echo.
His mind reeled—fifty-six years?
He had simply earned fifty-six years?
–That kid is amazing, I actually got eleven years and three months! That’s insane. Is this for real?–
Mu Xiaoyu was a bit excited.
She had seen Yang Zicang choose to Invest, so she followed suit. She never imagined that in just thirty years, she would earn this much!
Chang Yang chuckled softly and said, –I also made close to four months of time. Sigh, but that kid… I wonder what he’ll do next.–
Seeing that Yang Zicang seemed lost in thought and didn’t respond to them, he turned to look at Liu Yang, whose hair was already graying beside him.
–An inch of time is an inch of gold—now I truly understand that.–
–Damn it.– Liu Yang turned his face away.
Liu Yang thought that among everyone here, he was the one with the shortest lifespan.
He watched the two people beside him invest twice already, while every time he tried, he only managed to earn a few days.
Yet even gaining a few days of time was better than nothing—maybe the turning point lay within those few days.
Liu Yang mused aloud:
–No wonder that brat Liang dares to go to a place like that. Dangerous as it is, just two rat monsters yielded so much Chronos—it’s truly lucrative.–
–That’s because we’re the only ones investing, and he’s willing to split eighty percent of the Chronos. If others joined in and threw in a few decades, our dividends would be pitifully small.–
–But with injuries that severe, I wonder how much longer he can hold on.–
Yang Zicang suppressed the urge to explain, knowing that he still understood nothing at this point.
Captain Luo Xin’s words were harsh, but he was right—here, the first thing one must learn is rationality.
Even if he wanted to help these people, he needed to be strong enough first.
But…
[I chose the long-term investment, lasting until the end of the month. Chronos reduced by 100N.]
Yang Zicang decided to give Liang Xi a baseline guarantee of another hundred years of life.
Suddenly, the few of them sensed a chilling aura spreading from a distant place, permeating heaven and earth.
The ground trembled faintly. The four turned to look back and saw, at the site of the previous subway station, a dense black geyser-like entity shooting up. It towered between heaven and earth, as tall as a forty- or fifty-story building.
The creature’s body was covered with countless blood-red eyes, all scanning the surroundings.
–It’s the monster bred in the subway station above!–
Their hearts quaked with terror.
They hadn’t expected the monster to be so horrifying! Compared to it, the bus was just a minor fry.
Yang Zicang instantly felt that if he cultivated Moxel in the ticket hall, he would be one hundred percent certain to have his will devoured by that monster!
–Run!–
–We’re dead if it spots us.–
The four panicked and started running again, overwhelmed by a renewed sense of dread.
……
–Captain Yao, I wonder whether the person who gave birth to QuadMoxel will come.–
Amid a lofty, rock-hewn house as stout and towering as a fortress, a striking girl, dressed in a tailored suit like a career woman, clutched a folder in her arms and gazed out at the road beyond the door, her tone laced with worry.
–Xuemei, you’ve already asked that several times. Even if he’s a Quad, does he need you nagging once every quarter-hour? Or still dwelling on that Zhao Anlong, are you?–
–Enough. If Zhao Anlong can return safely, that’ll be a tremendous boon to us.–
Yao Chiming rose to his feet; his black pupils shimmered like flawless ink jade, refracting beams of intense light.
Beside him, a slightly plump girl sat with her cheek propped in her hand, wasting her eyes with a weary stare on the rolling clouds beyond the window. Moments before, she had sniped that very remark at Zhao Xuemei.
Yao Chiming said, –Faced as he was with powerful enemies closing in from all sides, Chu Chiang still dared to invest a thousand Chronos into bestowing his Investiture upon the lad, all so he could make plain our goodwill. And that young man has not disappointed our high expectations—truly fitting a Quad who, by nature, boasts double or even triple the Chronos Amplification of most people. Sigh.–
Zhao Xuemei wore a thoughtful expression, and spoke:
–Judging from his choices so far, this person has good character. Even if he doesn’t come, we’ll at least forge a positive bond with him. We can have Chu Chiang stay in touch and share some tips on how to grow stronger—maybe he’ll agree to look into Anlong Ge’s whereabouts.–
Her gaze steady and composed, she fixed her eyes on the slightly round-faced girl, her voice flowing clear as water:
–Feng Cailin, without Anlong Ge, there would be no Monster Hunter Alliance as we know it today. Don’t let his half-year disappearance make you forget the contributions he once made to us.–
–Alright, alright, my bad. You go ahead and ask. Let’s just hope that Quad shows up before the tenth round.–
Before she could finish her sentence, she saw Xuemei’s face light up with a look of surprise.
–Is he here?–
Feng Cailin also stood up and glanced out the door—just as Chu Chiang had said, there were indeed four people.
Everyone in the room was overjoyed, and Yao Chiming breathed a huge sigh of relief. As long as the kid showed up, half the battle was already won.
……
Yang Zicang sprinted forward, following the map of Zuo Ming Road etched in his memory, passing countless strange regions along the way that didn’t exist on Earth. Not far behind him loomed a pitch-black, ancient high-rise.
That black high-rise resembled a medieval structure, yet it was taller and more imposing than the buildings of that era, exuding a profound, heavy aura.
Yao Chiming and the other two came out to welcome them together.
–Is this the Monster Hunter Alliance?–
Yang Zicang glanced at the four-story building, its third and fourth floors tapering inward, with a broad balcony encircling the second floor, and the rocky walls even shaped into battlements.
–Welcome to you all. Yes, this is our team’s base. Everyone else is out right now. Tonight, we’ll celebrate together for you.–
–Hey, uh, before the celebration…– Liu Ming moved his dry throat with effort and said, –Do you guys have any water… around here?–
……
Half an hour later, Yang Zicang saw the tall, lean youth who had just come down from the fourth floor on the second-floor terrace.
–Finally, I get to meet you—the one who nurtured QuadMoxel.–
Although the youth was gaunt, his sinews seemed filled with power, and his voice carried a steadiness beyond his years, as if he had been through many things.
He said with a smile,
–Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Chu Chiang. Before coming here, I was a circuit designer. Now, I handle logistics for the team.–
–Hello, I’m Yang Zicang.–
The two reached out and shook hands.
–Without your help a thousand years ago, I would likely be dead. I sincerely thank you for your support,– Yang Zicang said.
–You’re welcome. As a newbie, it’s truly beyond my expectations that you could go this far. If it weren’t for the constraints from the headquarters, I wouldn’t have withdrawn that millennium of Chronos.–
–Headquarters?–
–The monster hunters’ camp headquarters. Actually, heh, let’s drop it.–
Yang Zicang nodded. –You have your difficulties, I understand. And I didn’t really kill him either.–
As long as he wasn’t in a state of excitement, the negative emotions contained in the Moxel within his heart didn’t have too much influence on him.
At this moment, recalling his intense bloodlust towards Bai Yuan, Yang Zicang felt a flicker of worry inside. The thing’s influence on his emotions was so powerful; if it affected him during a fight, it could easily lead to irrational behavior.
Yang Zicang lifted his head to glance at the sky above, then turned his gaze forward to the man before him.
–What exactly is this place? Do you know? Along the way, I saw buildings and landscapes that can’t exist in any city.–
Chu Chiang said, –I guess this area is no longer Earth. As for where exactly it is, we’re not entirely sure, but I think the answers will gradually be revealed in the future.–
–Why are you so certain that they’ll gradually become known?–
Yang Zicang keenly caught the information embedded in Chu Chiang’s words.
He smiled slightly and said:
–There’s a way to gradually decode it. If you join our Monster Hunters Alliance, I’ll share that information with you. Besides, there’s plenty else we can share—things like information to generate stronger force fields, weapons, healing items, and so on.–
His gaze burned intently as he looked at Yang Zicang, waiting for the young man’s response.
–Weapons? Healing items?–
–You can give it a try with me over here.–
Chu Chiang pushed open the heavy metal door, revealing rows of racks inside, laden with all sorts of bizarre objects—ores, timber, and scales from monsters.
These racks were all cloaked in a faint, pale white glow.
–Got any handguns? I seem to lean more toward ranged weapons,– Yang Zicang said, eyeing the dazzling array of items.
But Chu Chiang shook his head with a smile.
–I saw you take down Zhang Fei with a pebble. Probably thanks to your Quad, your Moxel ability is really formidable.–
–An ordinary two- or three-line metro station Moxel can at most boost your own speed or slow down an opponent, but yours can affect objects—or even multiple other people. However, if you’re hoping to achieve that same effect with bullets, you might end up disappointed.–
Yang Zicang’s heart tightened. –Why?–
–Tell you what, let me grab something and you can try it out yourself.–
Chu Chiang walked into an inner room, twisted the door open, and soon emerged with a wooden bow and an arrow shaft that looked utterly ordinary, its head bare.
–Ever used a bow before?–
Yang Zicang shook his head.
He was adept at basketball, but when it came to the bow and arrow—aside from toy ones in his childhood—he had never even seen a real one, let alone touched it.
The gaunt man handed him this half-man-tall wooden bow, passing along with it a single arrow shaft.
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