Volume 2 – Bloom of the Other Shore Flower, Chapter 34: Mission
Qianye had gotten a little grasp on the huntress’ personality now. Clearly, she possessed abundant hunting experience, and was used to battlefield life with no qualms between genders, which was why she was so unreserved. On the wastelands, when walking between the fine line of life and death, the distance between hunters were much closer than that of common folk.
Qianye’s gaze passed by a few scars on her body and could almost right away tell what lifeforms had caused them just by looking at the scar’s shape.
The two continued chatting through the bathroom’s door, and Qianye largely learnt the basic situation of this mission.
A complete werewolf tribe included the three rankings of alpha wolf, elders, and ordinary warriors. Some tribes would even have special kinds such as shadow wolves, needle wolves, battle wolves, or mad wolves.
The strengths of werewolves near the Boulderstone Region were relatively average. An alpha wolf was normally around rank five or six, and elders were only slightly weaker than that. As to the special kinds like shadow wolves, they would need to be judged based on some circumstances. However, situations where a powerful being existed that could shake the ecological homeostasis was very rare; because if that was the case, the dark races would undergo a turmoil within themselves first in order to re-allocate the sphere of power for the passing of their legacy to future generations. An traditional werewolf tribe would have around one hundred adult warriors, since their predatory region wouldn’t keep up with more than that.
With the power of Yu Yingnan’s small squad, it was simply impossible to frontally rattle the werewolf tribe. However, the goal of her mission this time wasn’t to entirely annihilate the werewolf tribe in the first place. It was to launch a surprise attack and snatch treasures. Yu Yingnan had acquired a type of origin power drug through some means by spending quite a bit of money. It could heavily damage werewolf’s sense of smell and cause their combat power to substantially drop in a short time.
In the huntress’s plans, this kind of drug was perfect for the sealed off environment like the wolf’s nest. It was estimated that the effect could last around half an hour or so. The hunters would have to launch a surprise attack at the wolf nest in less than half an hour of time, snatch over the totem, and escape at full speed. After avoiding being hunted down by the werewolves when returning, it would be considered a success.
However, the entire battle plan from the start to end gave Qianye a very unsettled feeling. From how he saw it, every chain of the plan were full of variables, especially the last one. To escape a few dozen werewolves who recovered their power, who were chasing them down with full force was way more difficult than one could ever imagine.
Qianye spoke his concerns, but Yu Yingnan answered taking no mind at all, “Alright already! Which operation doesn’t have accidents? It’ll be fine as long as we prepare adequately. Relax, I’ve roped Yang Tian in this time, he’s a professional at dealing with those large gray dogs. We are going to meet this afternoon, and make the final decision on preparatory work as well as division of labor. Come with me, and meet the other compatriots, so you’d have an idea of them.”
Qianye was stumped. From the start to end, he seemed to have never said he agreed to join, but Yu Yingnan considered him agreed to join as a matter of course. To put it flatly, the two’s relationship merely consisted of drinking together yesterday, moreover, she was the one who got put down by Qianye.
After eating lunch, Yu Yingnan took Qianye to a weapons shop on Black Copper Street, pushed open the door and walked in.
The shopkeeper was a middle aged man whose face was covered with sideburns. After seeing Yu Yingnan and Qianye, he pointed at the backroom, “All waiting inside.”
After walking into the door, it actually was a stairway instead of a backroom. A helix staircase lead all the way down into the basement. The space inside was unexpectedly spacious and the gas lamps were very bright. There were many partitioned rooms as well as various kinds of steel rails and machinery; it was actually a small sized workshop.
Yu Yingnan took Qianye to a room closest to the stairway, and from the appliances, it was a weaponry processing workshop.
Four workbenches were place in a row along the wall of the workshops, and on top of them were full of components as well as some semi-finished articles. One of the workbench even had a basin of crystal kernels. After those kernels were polished, they would become the important bullet head of a blank origin bullet.
In the room’s corner, shelves were stacked all the way to the ceiling and unprocessed steel strips were piled up on top of them.
Various models of firearms hung all over the walls that had large stretches of loose plaster and there were even two design diagrams nailed onto the wall.
Qianye took a look at the design diagram, and a few parameters that were intentionally circled out in black jumped into his view. To his surprise, he found out that they were actually standards of rank two origin guns.
He could not help but fix his faze onto it and looked over the entirety of the design plans. As expected, it was a self-designed origin gun that had barely reached rank two standards. To go as far as to surpassing the expeditionary army’s standard weapons shocked Qianye a bit. However, workshop-made guns were usually unreliable in terms of quality and mass production so Qianye still preferred the military’s standard-make weapon.
Three people had already arrived in the workshop. Two were sitting, while a young man with tanned skin was busy processing components at the workbench. When Yu Yingnan and Qianye entered, all of their gazes fell onto Qianye. There were curious ones, complementing ones, but there were also hostile ones.
Yu Yingnan did a simple introduction to both sides.
Yang Tian was like her, a four star hunter. He was over forty years old and looked to be a honest and sincere middle-aged man. He reached out and shook Qianye’s hands, as he smiled, “It’s actually the first time I’ve seen someone who could put Yingnan down on the liquor table! Welcome!”
As for the other two, one was named Jesse, and the other Li Lunzhe.
Jesse never left the workbench. Other than giving Qianye a glance when he came in, Jesse went back to being immersed in messing with the parts in his hands. Even when greeting Qianye and answering Yu Yingnan’s questions, his gaze had never left the components in his hands. One could tell that this was a technical madman.
Li Lunzhe was very young, around his mid-twenties or so, but his strength had actually also reached rank four, the same rank as Yu Yingnan and Yang Tian.
Carrying a faint arrogance, he reluctantly shook hands with Qianye. Not greeting Qianye, he instead turned his head and spoke to Yu Yingnan, “Sis Nan, this kid looks quite green, does he have battle experience? How about a little test?”
Yang Tian who was on the side spoke, “No need, people who Yingnan had chosen won’t be bad. Also, this is someone acknowledged by Old 2.”
Hearing that Old 2 had also gave his words before, Li Lunzhe mumbled and no longer said anything else. However, his hostility toward Qianye was still clear as day and he was not hiding it in the slightest.
Then, everyone discussed about their respective duties and details in the operation plan.
The hunters would move separately first and then converge at the arranged location outside of the valley, so as to hide their intent of raiding from being noticed by werewolves. Jesse would be responsible for the escape route, Qianye would mobilize with Yingnan and had the responsibility of taking the totem away the moment they get their hands onto it. The others would cover his retreat in the meanwhile. They did not deploy any hard combat mission for Qianye. All he needed to do was to use his advantage in speed and successfully take the totem back.
After done negotiating the plan, Yu Yingnan knocked on the table, “Now it’s the old rules. Equipment goods as well as handing in the operation’s deposit, Qianye’s share is on me!”
Qianye had wanted to pay his deposit himself, but seeing that the other three all took five gold coins out, he could only stay silent. After paying the tab yesterday night, he only had one gold and several silver on him.
The only income since Qianye came to Darkblood City was the ten gold bounty traded in at the Home of Hunters. The expenses of settling down, buying equipment and supplementary supplies exceeded his expectations. This was also the reason why he didn’t reject to join in on this operation even though he felt somewhat uneasy about it.
To Yu Yingnan’s decision, Yang Tian and Jesse didn’t raise any objections, while Li Lunzhe’s hostility toward Qianye had become more intense.
Everyone dispersed very quickly, and agreed to meet at the arranged location after three days.
When leaving the shop, Yu Yingnan patted Qianye’s shoulder, “You come with me, we will be leaving again at night.” From start to end, Qianye never had the choice to object to her plans.
Just after the two traveled two street blocks, Yu Yingnan suddenly stopped in her tracks.
This was a street not too wide nor narrow, and was relatively clean. Most of the buildings on the side were single storied with the occasional two story buildings. Other than residential buildings, most of the others were various types of grocery stores.
It was three or four in the afternoon and the sky has begun to darken. Gas lamps lit on one by one, and it happened to be the peak time for hunters to return to the city. This place should’ve also been the busiest at this time, but at this moment it was dead silent. Even a person’s shadow could not be seen in the streets and alleyways.
All of the doors and windows were tightly shut, as though the entire street had closed down for the evening without notice. The muddle light of gas lamps shone on the lonely signboard, appearing even more hazy and powerless in the natural light that has yet fully vanished.
Yu Yingnan looked at the surroundings, and suddenly sneered, “Since you’ve come already, why still goof around and hide?
A freakish sounding voice suddenly floated out from behind the two, “Of course it’s because we’re worried that you would get scared after seeing us, then suddenly making a run for it!”
As the old door axle made a creaking sound, a thin and shriveled looking man walked out from the house behind them.
Then, many doors on the side of the street opened one by one. A few dozen people walked out and surrounded Yu Yingnan and Qianye. Most of these people possessed a power of a rank one Fighter, while that freakishly sounding man was shockingly a rank three Fighter.
Qianye’s gaze swept through them, then discovered that there was a venomous snake tattoo on the bare arms of every one of them. He could already tell that they ought to be gang members of a gang called Sky Snake Gang.
Sky Snake Gang could be said as the third biggest gang in Darkblood, possessing quite the power. This street block just happened to be their territory.
Qianye quickly sized up the surrounding environment. The buildings on this street actually couldn’t cause any obstruction, and even if there were still ambush inside the rooms, there was no possibility of them stopping Yu Yingnan and Qianye if their strengths were about as high as those out here right now.
Yu Yingnan raised her brows and said, “Tree Snake, no need to play these little tricks on me. Don’t beat around the bush, what is it this time? If it’s obviously a trap, then of course I will leave right away, then take my time and settle it with you lot later.
Tree Snake took his time and spoke leisurely, “Leave? You no longer want your business in the city?”
Yu Yingnan didn’t get angry either, and just spoke indifferently, “Yeah, but your Sky Snake Gang’s people, especially you, shouldn’t think about leaving the city from now on either. If you are going out, then prepare your own funeral arrangement first!”
The expression on Tree Snake’s face changed as his momentum instantly died down by a few notches. They did indeed have the power in numbers. Everyone of them possessed some combat power, not needing to back off against anyone in the city.
But the wasteland was an entirely different world. Unless they form large parties to travel every time, then they definitely won’t be the match of a veteran hunter like Yu Yingnan. If Yu Yingnan was determined to go at it, and keep watch everyday outside of the city, then not many of Sky Snake Gang’s members would really dare to go out. At least, they wouldn’t dare to get too far from the city.
Qianye instantly gained a whole new level of respect toward Yu Yingnan. He had thought this was a woman whose brains were filled with violence and muscles. But when he thought about it again, it really was true that no four star hunters were easy to deal with, no matter their personality and behavior.
Tree Snake put his smile away, “Alright, Yu Yingnan, you win! Now then, what are you going to do with that debt you owe our boss? If you want to keep delaying and not pay it back, that’s actually fine too. Our boss said that he’ll go speak to the Old 2 when the time comes, and not a single copper of interest and fines will be spared!”