Chapter 102: The Hunt
Translator: Alsey Editor: Chrissy
Within the mountains, one could almost feel death in the air—there was nothing. At ground zero of the nuclear explosion, the temperatures were as high as 100 million degrees celsius. Nothing could hope to survive.
Unfortunately, the Ash Wolf was able to escape the center of the explosion.
Originally, this place was a lush forest full of ancient trees that reached the skies, but now, nothing was left; in fact, neither ashes nor embers remained. Everything had been disintegrated into oblivion.
A group of people advanced deeper into the region, along the path where all life had been obliterated. The once verdant forest had been thoroughly destroyed.
Although the radiation couldn’t be seen, its denseness could still be sensed in the air, which gave off a kind of suppressive feeling.
If a normal person came to this place, he would certainly die.
Chu Feng, Chen Luoyan and Ye Qingrou were all experts—top elites among mutants. Even if they were not wearing protective gear, they wouldn’t have much problems with the radiation.
Even so, within this land of death, they felt their hearts beating faster.
A barren land with neither flora nor fauna, this was a land of total annihilation. If it was them who had to face a nuclear attack, what would the result be?
Even the beast king was reduced to such a miserable state. A normal mutant would not even have the slightest chance at survival—certainly, they would have been vaporized within seconds.
"Found it, it"s here!" Suddenly, the clairvoyant Du Huaijin exclaimed as he ran forward.
What he had found was naturally not the Ash Wolf, but rather the crack in the earth via which the Ash Wolf had escaped the brunt of the nuclear blast and hidden himself.
The fissure was pitch black, reaching into the depths of the earth. This allowed the Ash Wolf to escape this tribulation.
The clairvoyant Du Huaijin’s eyes shone a bright golden light as his expression turned extremely serious. He no longer had that mischievous smile as he earnestly investigated the place for traces of the Ash Wolf, walking on as he did so.
It was definitely here. This place matched the photo taken by the probe, and there were even several traces of the Ash Wolf.
"Someone was here before us!"
Du Huaijin frowned. He noticed the dried blood on one of the stones had been smudged.
"The drops of wolf blood on the ground had long since lost its effect, do we still need it?" The clairaudient Ouyang Qing had some doubts.
"To all the major powers, even if it is dead blood or dried blood, as long as it is a beast king’s blood, it is worth further investigation. After all, they have never obtained king level blood samples before," said Chen Luoyan.
Up till now, only the government had obtained the Falcon’s carca.s.s, and even that was because it was killed by the divine crane of Mount Shu. The army collected the specimen with great haste.
Within the country, a few top notch laboratories were making an all out effort to a.n.a.lyze the blood sample of the Falcon. Rumor has it that king blood was mysterious beyond measure and has many wonderful uses.
Some external sources hypothesize that this blood was what gave the beast kings their tyrannical capabilities, and that it could also help an organism achieve evolution!
All the major corporations were tempted. The foreign super-powers were all green with envy, wis.h.i.+ng they could s.n.a.t.c.h the specimen and perform their own investigations.
"Different king blood will have different divine powers," said Ye Qingrou.
They set off again in pursuit of the Ash Wolf.
After tracking him for over ten miles, Du Huaijin started to curse. There was someone deliberately disrupting the Ash Wolf’s tracks.
"Too despicable, did they really believe they could handle the Ash Wolf alone?!" Ouyang Qing resentfully complained.
Disrupting the latecomers like this and causing delays might actually give the Ash Wolf more time to recuperate. In the end, if it recovered, it would be a huge disaster.
Ye Qingrou’s expression had also changed as she said, "These people are too crafty, they want to impede other people’s progress so that they can obtain the blood on their own. It’s fine if they succeed, but if they fail, the outcome would be unthinkable!"
The Ash Wolf’s recovery would, no doubt, bring forth a huge catastrophe.
"There must be some remaining clues. It"s impossible for them to wipe everything clean," Chu Feng reminded.
They advanced several miles, combing the whole place for clues.
Du Huaijin had a solemn expression. His eyes were like golden lanterns, extremely resplendent. At times, a beam of light would shoot out of them.
After some time, he revealed a delighted expression, saying, "I found some more clues!"
The group of people followed him, charging towards the stones a few hundred meters away. He picked up some wolf hair which was slightly singed and curled up.
"You are even able to find this?" Chu Feng was surprised. After activating his divine instinct, the sharpness of his eyes was not inferior to Du Huaijin, but in capturing details, he was truly inferior.
"This is my ability, I only specialize in this one aspect. After branding something into my brain, I’m able to detect many minute details related to it with a certain range.
Du Huaijin’s words gave everyone a surprise.
Among them, Ye Qingrou’s reaction was the biggest. She warned him that he was not allowed to use his abilities on her or else she would beat him everyday.
Du Huaijin dryly laughed as his eyes sparkled.
After a minute or so, Du Huaijin discovered something shocking about two miles away. He stared at the patch of ground on arrival, knelt down and proceeded to pry apart the dirt and stones.
A faint smell of blood appeared. Some of the rocks had traces of blood on them. It was dark red in color, so apparently, it had already dried.
"King blood!" they all exclaimed excitedly.
The Ash Wolf probably hid here at some point. It had intelligence not inferior to humans, burying all traces of its blood to avoid being tracked.
"I wonder how much this is worth?" Ouyang Qing asked.
"King Blood is priceless!" Ye Qingrou replied, "If it was sold out of the country, quite a few superpowers will be competing for it at exorbitant prices, willing to obtain it at all costs."
King blood was simply too rare. Currently, none of the foreign powers had obtained any.
Ouyang Qing was charged with collecting the blood traces on the stones. He did so cautiously, as if he was handling a treasure.
"More over here!" Du Huaijin marked several places in the vicinity—it was obvious that the Ash Wolf was resting here at some point. Some blood could be found in all the places where he had laid.
It was not hard to imagine how severe its wounds were since it was bleeding from all over.
They all spread out to collect the wolf’s blood.
"Just this collection could be sold at a sky-high price!" Ye Qingrou said with certainty.
Suddenly, Chu Feng’s body tightened. He abruptly jumped up as he shouted, "Dodge!"
As he felt danger, his divine instinct had been fully activated. At this moment, he felt a slight tingle behind his head—according to prior experience, this was a sign of being targeted with a firearm.
Chu Feng grabbed the clairvoyant Du Huaijin and tossed him behind a huge rock.
They were all spread out at that moment, and Chu Feng was only able to save Du Huaijin who was the closest to him.
Ye Qingrou and Chen Luoyan were both very strong. Being elites ranked in the top 50, they did not require Chu Feng’s a.s.sistance. They swiftly fled the moment they heard his warning.
The clairaudient Ouyang Qing felt his hair stand on end. Although he dodged, he was unable to escape from harm. With a "pu" sound, a bullet had penetrated him, causing a string of blood splashed forth.
Chu Feng was like a whirlwind as he rushed over with astonis.h.i.+ng subsonic speed.
He grabbed onto Ouyang Qing with one hand and, while dodging all the incoming fire, rushed back to the safety of the giant rock.
Ouyang Qing’s left arm had suffered a penetrative wound, with fresh blood flowing out. Fortunately, he wasn’t hurt elsewhere.
At this moment, his face was pale, yet his large ears were gently trembling. With a vengeful low voice, he said, "East, seven enemies!"
His hearing was still very acute. Perhaps due to his agitated state, his abilities were pushed to their limits.
Chu Feng was surprised. He didn’t think Ouyang Qing would be able to use his hearing abilities under these circ.u.mstances. Even Chu Feng was only able to sense that there were six to seven people over there.
"They are all bearing firearms, about 1500 meters east!" The Clairvoyant was able to catch a glimpse of the enemy from his hiding place behind the rock.
"Being able to snipe at us from over 1500 meters away, they must be elite sharpshooters. They are definitely not simple people."
"Too despicable! With neither grievance nor animosity, they go so far as to attempt an a.s.sa.s.sination." Ouyang Qing was thoroughly incensed. He had just come this close to losing his life.
"They noticed that we were collecting the Ash Wolf’s blood and couldn’t resist the temptation. They are planning to s.n.a.t.c.h the blood after killing us."
Everyone was angry. Those hateful people were truly malicious. In order to loot the Ash Wolf blood, they had directly opened fire.
Chu Feng moved! He ran at an extreme speed despite the barrage of gunfire, dodging the terrifying explosions as he rushed towards the small hill.
Ye Qingrou also followed suit. Opening her white wings, she was like an angel in flight. She was as beautiful as she was powerful, and she emitted a terrifying killing intent.
On the small hill, the band of gunmen were incomparably nervous as their pupils rapidly constricted. These people were able to dodge all their bullets—truly inhuman.
Chu Feng was too fast; every second, he was able to advance over 260 meters. He had long since reached subsonic speeds. As fast and furious as a thunderstorm, even the flying Ye Qingrou had been left far behind.
Sou! With a whistling sound, he had reached the small hill.
One of the gunmen shot several rounds in panic, but with a thump, Chu Feng had caught the bullets with his bare hands—he was completely unharmed.
"Ah!" the man cried out in panic.
Chu Feng attacked. Those people had their bones fractured and their tendons broken as they collapsed to the ground and coughed up large amounts of blood.
They were extremely frightened, as if they had seen a demon. How could a person have such agility? And he was also bullet-proof!
Ye Qingrou landed with a swoosh and folded her wings.
After that, Chen Luoyan also arrived in a rush.
"You"re bullet-proof and impervious to swords and spears?" Ye Qingrou asked with great astonishment.
"Just so-so," Chu Feng replied with a faint smile.
Chen Luoyan was rendered speechless, how could this be called so-so? Even firearms were ineffective against him.
After a short while, the clairvoyant and clairaudient duo had also arrived.
"Why did you attack us with such malice? Instead of hunting the Ash Wolf, you guys wait in the dark to ambush people. Do you even have a conscience?!" Ouyang Qing shouted while grasping his wounded arm.
The few captive soldiers were terrified. They knew they had kicked a steel plate. They were totally helpless against these absurdly powerful mutants.
Chu Feng asked some simple questions and discovered their motives.
The men were just a small squad of normal "hunters". They came here after hearing that the Ash Wolf had survived, hoping to gain a share of the spoils. Coincidentally, while they were surveying the surroundings with binoculars, they found Chu Feng and party collecting wolf blood. As such, they decided to kill and loot.
"Their kind are too vicious, leaving them alive will only invite more disaster, let"s kill them!" Chen Luoyan suggested.
He was a very handsome man, and at a glance, no one would be able to a.s.sociate him with violence and murder. However, when he needed to make a move, he showed no mercy, truly cold and heartless.
"Pu, pu, pu!"
With a flash of his longsword, he had beheaded the lot of them.
Even the victim, Ouyang Qing, did not make a move, but those men had already lost their lives.
They continued their journey once again, pa.s.sing through the dead land to finally arrive at a forested area where the trees were all glowing faintly—a truly mysterious sight.
"Are these divine trees?" Du Huaijin was stupefied.
Before them was a thick and lush forest. Every tree from trunk to leaves were all mysteriously glowing.
Ye Qingrou sneered, saying, "How ignorant! This is due to the intense radiation. These trees have absorbed too much of it."
Especially in gloomy areas hidden from the sun, the glow would be most obvious.
"Oh, so it"s like that! I thought we just found a divine tree." Du Huaijin laughed loudly.
They entered the forest. Stepping onto the great desolate mountain meant that they had to be prepared to face ferocious beasts and vicious birds of prey at all times.
Over a day after that, they were still in hot pursuit. Du huaijin utilized his clairvoyant abilities to a great extent and was of great help in tracking the Ash Wolf. His eyes were like electricity, always able to reveal some subtle clues.
On the road, they found some human corpses. Some were caused by melee combat, and some were mutilated by beasts.
"There are at least over 10 squads that have entered this patch of forest. So far, none of them have found the Ash Wolf. They are fairly guarded against each other and fights seem to have broken out among them," Chu Feng deduced.
"Eh? A foreigner?" Not long afterwards, they came across a corpse while traversing the forest. He had blue eyes and white skin—a westerner no doubt.
After that, they found even more Europeans, most likely from a single squad.
"This team was very powerful. They were actually able to successfully track down the Ash Wolf, but unfortunately, they were all killed," Du Huaijin explained. He was able to discover a tuft of wolf hair within the gra.s.s.
This meant that they were closing in on their target!
"How come even the European experts have come?" Chu Feng was surprised. One had to know that the distance between the two continents was colossal. Even plane routes have been broken.
A safe route had yet to be established since the great change came about.
Even so, there was a group of Europeans here. It was rather suspicious.
Afterwards, as they kept on walking, they discovered more and more corpses, which mostly belonging to the natives. However, there were also a few white faces.
"There were experts from the pre-Qin research inst.i.tute, the Tong Gu Alliance and the Foreign Culture Inst.i.tute."
Along the way, they found the remains of many mutants. There was no need for secrecy on this mission, so the deceased were easily identifiable.
"The situation is quite bad, these people were most likely killed by the Ash Wolf!" Du Huaijin said.
"Shh!" Suddenly, the clairaudient Ouyang Qing went pale, gesturing him to stay silent.
His large ears were moving, listening attentively to the surroundings. Within the dense forest, his ears were more useful than Du Huaijin’s eyes. He was able to pick up sounds over long distances.
Chu Feng was surprised. There was so much ambient noise in the forest, including the cry of apes and the howl of tigers, yet Ouyang Qing’s clairaudience could discern everything. In this aspect, he was superior to Chu Feng.
Chu Feng could also listen over long distances, but he could not differentiate between the detailed sounds from different sources.
"We’ve most likely run into him!" Ouyang Qing said. His ears constantly moved as his face turned pale. "I hear an unusual breathing sound, it is not very loud, but it leaves me with an extremely oppressive feeling, making me s.h.i.+ver in fear."
He pointed to the depths of the primordial forest, about 1600 meters south. There lay a terrifying and stifling existence, resting in seclusion.
"You guys wait here, don’t come over!" Chu Feng also felt its presence. No sooner had he said those words than he disappeared, rus.h.i.+ng forward with a lance in his hand.
This long weapon was provided by the Hollow Jade Temple. It was refined with rare metals, extremely durable and incomparably sharp.
1600 meters were crossed in the blink of an eye!
Chu Feng knew there was no other way except to face it head on. This beast king’s senses were simply too sharp.
In front of him, the Ash Wolf had already raised its head, gazing at him with cold eyes.
Perhaps he had already discovered Chu Feng’s group much earlier.
Before reaching the Ash Wolf, Chu Feng fired a bazooka round on the way.
A loud explosion took place in front as flames gushed towards the sky and giant trees were splintered.
A terrifying aura hung in the surrounding air—even though was left with only half a body and one eye, the Ash Wolf’s speed and perception were still shocking.
With a swoosh, it flew tens of meters away, effectively evading the explosion.
Chu Feng’s eyelids twitched. Just how was this wolf moving so fast with only half a body?
"Aou!" the Ash Wolf howled, shaking the forest and breaking several trees. The leaves were sent dancing in the air.
The Ash Wolf’s gigantic head was as big as a house. It opened its b.l.o.o.d.y maw and rushed out. It was incomparably fierce as it rode on a gale of terror.
"Sou!"
Chu Feng rushed at him head-on, his hand grasping the azure gold lance. He violently pierced towards the remaining eye, swift beyond imagination.