Chapter 59. Everything Has Changed
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Lin Huang started to prepare for the battle once he chose the Six-Armed Demon as his Life Seed prey.
He had looked up all the information he could get regarding the Six-Armed Demon on the network, including battle videos. He watched the videos repeatedly and he felt a mixture of thrill and terror.
One of the videos that Lin Huang remembered clearly was a team of five Reserve Hunters accidentally bumping into a Six-Armed Demon in the Wangyou Forest.
As soon as the Six-Armed Demon discovered the team of Reserve Hunter, she immediately attacked. In less than a minute, all five of them were slaughtered.
"She moves like a ghost and she was incredibly fast. Each of her arms was a dreadful killing machine…" the commentary played as he watched. Lin Huang immediately frowned as he saw the action. He had to admit that the Six-Armed Demon was a powerful monster.
After he finished gathering all the data about the Six-Armed Demon, Lin Huang did some research about the two districts – Wangyou Forest and the Demon Burial Ground.
In this world, people who went into places that were named burial grounds would normally be dead, but here he was planning his hunt, alive and kicking.
Similarly, the Demon Burial Ground was a place worse than that. All these years, none of the non-transcendent humans who entered this place ever survived.
He briefly looked through the information on the Demon Burial Ground and immediately excluded it from his schedule. He did not want to go into such a creepy place as he planned to have a fighting chance at a longer life.
As he closed the information page on the Demon Burial Ground, Lin Huang then checked the information on the Wangyou Forest.
Wangyou Forest was a very spacious level-4 wilderness. It was said that the transcendent monster had appeared in this place before but it was killed. The strongest monster in the forest was a gold-level monster. There was more than one gold-level monster in the forest while silver-level monsters were scattered everywhere in the forest.
"The level-4 wilderness is a bit troublesome…" Lin Huang frowned again as he finished reading the information regarding the Wangyou Forest.
To Lin Huang, the level-4 wilderness was a place with an extremely high death rate. With his abilities, it would be stressful for him even in a level-2 wilderness. Bronze-level monsters were a lot stronger than iron-level monsters. Although Lin Huang could easily kill iron-level rank-3 monsters, it was still unknown to him if he could defeat bronze-level monsters, let alone defeat silver-level and gold-level monsters.
"This wilderness is too far from me. It's within the jurisdiction of another medium sized foothold, around 20,000 kilometers away from me. To reach that place is a problem as well…" It was the first time Lin Huang realized that the world was so big and it was beyond what one could imagine. Between each of the medium-sized footholds, the distance that separated them was at least 3,000 kilometers. Some of them were even 5,000 kilometers apart. For the larger footholds, they were at least 20,000 kilometers apart given that the length of Earth's equator was only 40,000 kilometers.
There were no teleportation facilities in the small-sized footholds. For the medium-sized footholds, the distance one could teleport between two portals was limited. Basically, one could only travel to nearby medium-sized footholds. If Lin Huang were to go to the Wangyou Forest, he would have to experience a portal change six times over. The opening of a portal cost a lot. Also, the number of times for the portal can open as well as the number of people that could be transported was restricted as well. When the foothold was crowded and no prior bookings were made, he might have to wait for more than three days.
It was possible to travel there by riding an eagle. However, its ability to sustain prolonged flight was questionable and its physical strength was limited. He would have to transfer at each station at the medium-sized footholds and take a rest at the hotels since he would be spending a lot of time on the road.
Another method was to ride on the Demonic Crystal Spaceship. There were suites in the spaceship and its traveling speed was almost the same as the eagle. However, it was more comfortable and it stayed for only five minutes between each medium-sized footholds. One of the weaknesses of this spaceship was that the tickets for the spaceships were very expensive. It had limited cabin seats and only one spaceship would carry passengers each week. The ticket prices were very expensive but the supply was often falling short of demand.
Inconvenience had caused Lin Huang to feel like summoning a monster that could fly. Of course, he had thought of making Dimensional Relics like the green wooden door, but apparently, it would be more difficult.
After comparing a few methods, Lin Huang decided to take a ride on the Demonic Crystal Spaceship. He had never seen it before and wondered how the Demonic Crystal Spaceship looked like in this world.
Lin Huang was lucky as he successfully booked a ticket via the Heart Network. The spaceship would depart from foothold No.7C87 and three days later, arrive at foothold No.7C82. The distance of the journey was around 20,000 kilometers, so the ticket cost him 20,000 credit points.
After booking the spaceship ticket, it was already four o'clock in the afternoon. Lin Huang headed to the Stable Residence before dinner. He visited the boss of the hotel and the guest of the hotel who taught him the sword skill he treasured
He then noticed that the boss of the hotel was not the same person and the guest was not an ordinary hunter as well.
It took him 10 minutes to arrive at the Stable Residence. The yard was no longer the same. The small garden had become an outdoor restaurant with some tables and chairs there.
There were a few young customers enjoying their drinks, sitting on the chairs in front of the small tables.
A waitress came to Lin Huang and asked as he stopped in front of the door, "Mister, can I help you?"
"Is this place owned by a new boss?" Lin Huang asked as he felt that it was impossible for Boss Yu to make so many changes to his beloved garden.
"Yes, it has been 10 days now. However, these days frequent guests like you have come and they complimented our dishes and drinks, saying they're better than before. You could give it a try and I believe you'll be satisfied with it." The waitress recommended a few new menu specialties as she knew that Lin Huang was a frequent guest of the hotel under its previous management.
"Thank you. I'm actually looking for Boss Yu. It's an urgent matter…" Lin Huang asked as he waved his hand at the waitress. When he was about to leave, he thought of Scarface too. He then asked, "Excuse me. There was a tall man with a scar on his face who lived here last time. May I know if he is still here?" he asked the waitress again.
"Scarface? No, I have never met such a person before. I'll remember if there's a person like that," the waitress said and shook her head.
"Alright, thank you," Lin Huang nodded, turned away and left. He never thought that Boss Yu and Scarface would leave the foothold so suddenly. Looking at the Stable Residence, he felt a sense of disappointment.
When he got home, he read some news. Nothing special had happened. He was getting ready for dinner.
Dinner had been prepared and Lin Xin was back from school.
Both of them sat face to face while they ate. Lin Huang then asked Lin Xin about the Stable Residence.
"Xin Er, when did the new boss take over at the Stable Residence?"
"The second day after you left. Boss Yu and the fierce uncle left as well," Lin Xin replied. She knew it as she was at the foothold all the time.
"It was such a big hotel. Why did the boss sell it out in a short period of time? It was still fine when we stayed there," Lin Huang asked, as he felt the transition was very strange.
"It was said that he had some family issues and needed money urgently. He sold his hotel at a very cheap price and rushed back to his hometown. The fierce uncle was hired as his bodyguard and they left together," Lin Xin told him the rumors she had heard.
"Oh…" Lin Huang felt that it was unusual. Now as he recalled, Boss Yu and Scarface must have known each other before that time they were there. Perhaps he intentionally asked Lin Huang to pay attention to the sword skills Scarface practiced in the garden. Both of them had disappeared and it would be difficult to further investigate the issue now.
"Whatever. I'm not going to think about it any further. Life has been so hectic recently," he said with a sigh. He shook his head and emptied his mind.
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Chapter 60. The Fatty Called
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For the next two days, Lin Huang prepared himself to hunt down the Six-Armed Demon. He even spent 100,000 credit points to expand the capacity of his storage space into 100 cubic meters.
After riding on the Demonic Crystal Spaceship, he arrived at foothold No.7C87 within a few hours. He looked for a hotel and stayed there.
Foothold No.7C87 was the top-tier foothold in the No.7D101 Wulin Town region which was the town Lin Huang was in. The locals called it Baqi City as the term sounded almost like the number 87. This was not its original name, though. People had forgotten its original name as they were so used to calling it Baqi City.
Baqi City was a regular C-grade foothold. A medium-sized foothold was a lot bigger than the average small sized foothold.
In comparison, the area of a small-sized foothold was almost the same as the area of a town on Earth. On the other hand, a medium-sized foothold would be the area of three cities on Earth, having a population greater than one million people.
Baqi City was livelier than Wulin Town and Snowy Mountain Town.
In Wulin Town, it seemed that there were no activities held at night. It was slightly livelier at the Snowy Mountain Town as more visitors visited that place but compared to Baqi City, Snowy Mountain Town was still far from it.
Lin Huang felt that he had returned to modern civilization when he arrived at Baqi City.
There were skyscrapers and even buildings with special architectural designs.
Lin Huang's hotel was one of the skyscrapers. The hotel had a total of 39 floors and Lin Huang's room was on the 21st.
He wondered how the people would get to the top floor as he entered the hotel since he had never seen a lift in this world. He realized that he had been worrying for nothing as there was a floating staircase in the hotel that somehow looked like a lift. Lin Huang had no idea about the theories and mechanism behind the operation of the floating staircase. He felt curious but he did not ask about it.
After checking in, he went to his room. Lin Huang sent Lin Xin a message to tell her that he was safe. He continued watching the battle videos of the Six-Armed Demon that Yi Zheng had sent him.
When he told Yi Zheng that he had chosen the Six-Armed Demon as his Life Seed prey, Yi Zheng advised him to change it but he insisted on his choice.
Since the Six-Armed Demon was a very dangerous monster, Lin Huang dared not take it too lightly. The past few days, Lin Huang had been watching the videos repeatedly as he was trying to observe and learn her attack moves, figuring out the patterns of her attack. However, he was not making any progress.
In laymen terms, the attacks of the Six-Armed Demon could be described as being creepy, fast, and cruel.
She did not seem to have any specific skill. Her attacks were irregular and every hit would cause instant death to her enemies. Lin Huang had a headache when he noticed this, and could not figure a way past her attacks.
Under normal circumstances, he concluded that the best way to defeat it in combat was to attack from afar.
Unfortunately, Lin Huang could not use his weapon as the effect of his GrayEagle17 on the Six-Armed Demon was very limited. She did not seem to have any weak spots. Even bombs would hardly have any effect on her. Therefore, Lin Huang would be forced to perform a close combat maneuver.
A human who killed a monster would carry out Life Light Baptisms, obtain Life Seeds and get upgrades. The entire process was restricted by two conditions.
First of all, the monster must be killed by the Life Light Baptist. It would not work if it was killed by the others.
Secondly, the Baptist can bring along his companion. However, the combat level of the human companion must be lower than the level of the monster. Otherwise, the Life Light would be spread out of the monster's dead body and Life Seed would collapse.
Lin Huang began to feel worried about the second condition. If he had to complete the hunting process all by himself and he was not allowed to summon any monsters for help, the rate of success would be close to zero. He might even be killed by the Six-Armed Demon. However, he felt slightly relieved as he watched some of the videos in which an Imperial Censor had completed the baptism.
The monsters summoned by the Imperial Censor were not human. Their combat levels would not cause the Life Light and Life Species to spread out. Therefore, Lin Huang could summon Bai or his Sand Monster to assist him in the battle.
Since he was being restricted by the first condition, the killer must be Lin Huang himself. The summoned monsters could not kill the Six-Armed Demon. Otherwise, Lin Huang would be unable to perform the Life Light Baptism.
"I've watched these videos so many times and there weren't any flaws in her defenses. Perhaps I could only let Bai lock her up with his Blood Power and I'll kill her," Lin Huang thought. He could only hope such an idiotic way would allow him to kill her.
He closed the page that showed the information and got ready to go out for dinner. He wanted to walk around the foothold and relax as he felt a tenseness build up inside him.
Opening up the page of contact, the first person who called him was the fatty, Yin Hangyi.
Lin Huang frowned and answered the call.
"Lin Huang, you're still alive!" The fatty's oily face appeared on the projected screen.
"I should say the same about you. I asked you to wait for me there but when I went back, you had disappeared," Lin Huang said.
"I wanted to help you. You don't appreciate me!" The fatty laughed a little and said. "If the witch did not tell me you were still alive, I'll not know it even until now. She told me that you've asked for my contact number from her. Why didn't you contact me?"
"There are two reasons. The first one is because I'm busy and another reason is that I've forgotten about it…" What Lin Huang said was indeed the fact. He wanted to contact the fatty after he had completed the assessment. However, he had forgotten about it when he encountered the massive monster in the crowd incident.
"That was bitterly disappointing. I miss you every day and even raised a memorial in your honor. I burned incense to you whenever I missed you…"
"Damn!" Lin Huang interrupted the fatty before he finished his sentence.
"Alright, alright. Let's talk about something else," Fatty said as he suddenly remembered that he had something serious to tell him. "Err… I heard from the witch that you've chosen the Six-Armed Demon as your Life Seed prey. Are you going to Wangyou Forest in the two days?"
"Yes, I am. Why?" Lin Huang asked.
"Are you sure that you want to hunt the Six-Armed Demon? It is a top-tier iron-level monster. Even Copper Hunters would not provoke the monster," he answered. Apparently, the fatty had heard of the monster before.
"I knew that. I've watched her battle videos so many times. It's indeed difficult to handle but I've got my ways," he replied. Lin Huang had fixed his battle strategy and was confident he had a chance.
"Oh. Since you think so, that fine. It's alright now."
"Fatty, you're acting strangely. What's happening?" Lin Huang immediately asked.
"The witch asked me to advise you not to go. Since you're confident that you can do it, then it's alright," The fatty told him the truth.
"She has my contact number. Why didn't she call me?" Lin Huang felt weird.
"She told me that her brother had advised you but you didn't listen to him. She guessed that she'll not be able to influence you as well and she asked me to convince you," The fatty said. He then asked, "Both of you are moving so fast in your relationship. Have you met each other's parents?"
"Stop bullshitting me. I'm going to hang up now."
"Wait, don't hang up! Tell me who her brother is…" the fatty asked amid laughter.
Lin Huang did not want to continue with a topic like that and hung up the phone.
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