Chapter 218 Curse Clan
After asking a few questions, Ryan broke the assassin's neck, and then killed him again with the corpse that was resurrected by the "Abyss Evil Energy".
He wiped the blood that splashed on his face and then exhaled a breath. He looked at the bullet holes on his already tattered robe and pursed his lips.
After all, the other side had more people, and he was hit seven or eight times by the random gunfire.
Although not fatal, it still hurts.
Deliberately avoiding the vital parts, the bullets from the musket almost all hit the large muscle groups. Even though he hadn't condensed the battle qi armor yet, the maturity of the blood nematodes gave his body super high toughness. The bullet didn't penetrate too deep, and there was no need for a scalpel. The bullet could be removed with a flick of the finger. Once the healing line was sutured, it would be fine in a moment.
"Hiss~ I feel a long-lost sense of crisis..."
Ryan looked at the corpse and muttered to himself.
The feeling of the musket bullet brushing against his scalp just now stimulated the secretion of adrenaline, as if he was back in the days when he was in the "Weasel Phantom Thieves" and was walking on thin ice every day.
Without Bazel's constant presence, he had to remain alert. Without a way out, he could not hope for anything, as any hope would mean death.
This is the process he must go through if he wants to embark on the path of transcendence instead of choosing to enjoy everything .
However, an ordinary second-level extraordinary person can't give Ryan much of a sense of crisis.
A hunting team led by a second-level assassin was originally considered an elite team in a large-scale phantom thief group like the "Black Skull". This configuration was well prepared to wait for the enemy to tire, and even if they encountered a lone ordinary third-level extraordinary, they could still kill him.
It’s a pity that I met such a weirdo like Ryan.
Ryan didn't delay any longer, and went back to kill the guys who had turned into "zombies", collected the spoils, and then took the contribution cards of several people and chose to leave.
Although Guanghui City has established a country, this thing is still in use and has become an identity card.
"Looks like we have to wait for the next hunting group."
Ryan pursed his lips, and as he approached the base, he looked around to see if there were any other hunting groups. If it wasn't a bit conspicuous to go to the "Black Wind Valley Base" alone, he really didn't want to bother.
…
Probably because this place is not far from the "Black Wind Valley Base", the chance of encountering a hunting team is very high.
Luckily, Ryan picked a direction, found a small hill, and saw the black smoke from the boiler in the distance. He followed the direction for more than ten kilometers and saw the hunting team.
This was a mixed hunting team of more than 10,000 people rushing back to the hunting base. Leading the way was a "ghoul-level" mechanical city with "Glorious 77" painted on the exterior wall in white. Then there was a hunting team stretching for several kilometers, all with various strangely shaped steam locomotives and troop carriers. The team was not moving fast and did not seem to be in a hurry to get on the road.
Ryan had been in the hunting group in Glory City before, and he knew that those who could be in the mechanical city were all nobles. The people following below were all ordinary hunters. Judging from the messy equipment and hunting group logos, it was estimated that there were hundreds of hunting groups of all sizes in this group.
"Eh... looks like I'm pretty lucky."
Ryan raised his eyebrows, quietly chased after him, and successfully blended into the group of 10,000 people.
This kind of large-scale hunting operation involves a large number of people, all wearing gas masks, and no one knows each other, and no one cares that there is a strange doctor in the team. Even if someone saw him, they would guess that he was just a guy who went to relieve himself and take a shit.
Ryan was mixed in the team, looking relaxed.
He didn't say anything, just listened quietly to these scavengers bragging and chatting.
Upon hearing this, I realized that this was the hunting team of the "Rosas Family", one of the five major families in Guanghui City.
The main force in the mechanical city is the "Iron Hammer Brotherhood", a large hunting group in the Theed Empire. Now, their leader has led tens of thousands of hunters to the Glory City and sworn in as a citizen of the Glory Kingdom. The leader has also been conferred the title of "Viscount" and has become a retainer of the Rosas family.
The newly established kingdom granted fiefs to a large number of nobles. This was also the best opportunity for commoners to become nobles, and it was of great appeal to large hunting groups.
As long as the leader of the hunting group who brought his men and horses took the oath of citizenship, he would almost immediately obtain the corresponding noble title. Because of this population settlement policy, the population growth of Guanghui City in just the past half month has exceeded that of the past 20 years.
This growth momentum is still continuing to rise, with no sign of stopping.
The most excited ones are naturally the small groups of scavengers, who have also earned a lot of tangible benefits because of the [Black Tide].
"Haha, we made a lot of money this time. During the three-day zombie tide, I broke three of my muskets, but I also made more money than I could make in a few years..."
"It's a pity that the price of 'magic crystals' has dropped. Originally, a first-level magic crystal could be exchanged for one gold crown, but now one is less than fifty silver crowns. Otherwise, this trip would be enough for us to return to Omar and live a wealthy life for the rest of our lives..."
"Everyone from our hometown in 'Harax Province' wants to come, why do you want to go back? I heard that the two empires have issued a decree to ban the direct hunters from coming to Glory City. If they are caught, they will be sent to the gallows! I don't plan to go back. Although it is a little dangerous, I can earn more money after all. If I work hard for a few years, I can earn enough money to marry a woman and live a good life..."
"Now everyone knows that you can make money by hunting here, and there are treasures everywhere. Commoners like us want to run here when we hear the news, but the nobles of the two empires still want to block people from coming. I have heard that riots have started in several provinces in my hometown, and even a lot of border guards have come here secretly. Everyone wants to come to Guanghui City to make a fortune, and many nobles have been killed for this..."
"Those damn nobles, they exploit us all on a daily basis, and now they want to stop us from getting rich, they deserve to die! Haha, without us commoners, those damn nobles will just be left guarding the empty city as their own lords..."
“…”
Ryan listened and his brain quickly captured and analyzed some of the situations.
I have seen some of this information from Canossa before, but now I heard it from someone's own mouth, and I know that the development of Glory City is still in its heyday, while the situation of the two empires does not seem so good.
The practice of giving titles to people just by bringing them in for naturalization is simply sucking the blood of the two empires.
However, because the City of Glory occupied the "Roaring Wind Pass", the only strategic throat connected to the Alcoron Mountains, the two empires could not do anything even if they wanted to covet this "fat meat".
There is no shortage of resources in Glory City. A large amount of undeveloped land can feed countless people, not to mention the [Black Tide] that can make people rich.
If this continues, the glory of the two empires east of the mountains that are not covered by the Black Tide will gradually become history.
The power of the old nobles will decline rapidly, or even completely lose their ruling position. Without a large number of commoners for them to exploit, how can the nobles be so powerful?
…
As they chatted, Ryan also heard these people talking about prices.
"Ah... I finally made it to the second level of Transcendent. Unfortunately, the price of potions in the city has changed every day recently, and the price of potions in the Sunflower Chamber of Commerce has also risen too much. If I could buy them with contribution points like before, the money I earned from hunting in the wilderness would have bought a silver-quality potion a long time ago. But now, even the better black iron potions are far behind..."
"There's nothing we can do. Good quality potions are only sold in big guilds. And after Glory City was founded, the taxes were too heavy. The prices of food, clothing, housing and transportation all went up. Even if you set up a small stall in the base, there won't be much left after the taxes..."
"Which territory doesn't collect taxes? Aren't all the nobles the same? If you have money to earn, just be content. Damn it, even the women in the tavern have increased their prices. In the past, you could get a nice girl for 800 li, but now you can only get a middle-aged woman for a few thousand..."
"It's good to have something to play. You know how many wasteland hunters there are now. Last time I went to the Customs Tavern, there was a queue..."
“…”
Ryan listened calmly.
Prices are always closely related to life, and the biggest expenses of wasteland hunters are nothing more than potions and equipment, as well as tavern girls. Both are skyrocketing.
In the past, Glory City strictly controlled the price of potions due to the contribution system, eliminating the space for professional merchants to raise prices.
Now that it has been switched to free trade...it's a good thing if I can buy potions of the same quality at ten times the price.
How can ordinary people outsmart the wealthy and powerful chambers of commerce?
Those professional businessmen were very good at monopolizing and simply copied the model of exploiting civilians from the two empires.
Monopolize the materials, monopolize the market, and then quickly raise the sales price of the finished potions to make huge profits.
"Ah... I'm still a long way from buying a good potion. I hope I can have such a good thing next time so that I can earn enough money..."
"You know what, that 'ghost girl' is really useful. Just let out a little blood and she can attract a bunch of zombies. During this hunting trip, the people from the 'Iron Hammer Group' ate meat, and we also drank some soup..."
"Tsk tsk, this girl is a little weird. Whoever touches her will be in trouble. Otherwise, if we keep such a 'monster-attracting weapon', will we still need magic crystals in the future?"
"Who dares to take advantage of it? The 'Iron Wolf Group' and 'Trident Group' that were destroyed inexplicably before... Which one of them was not a large-scale hunting group with thousands of people? They just want to monopolize this benefit, but none of them survived for five days..."
"Tsk tsk, this is so fucking weird. Let's go as far as possible to avoid being tainted by bad luck..."
“…”
When Ryan heard this, he became interested. Something flashed through his mind, as if he had thought of something.
It sounds like these guys were able to have a good harvest because of a "bait"?
He looked in the direction those people were pointing, and finally saw a delicate figure running in the dust at the end of the team.
It was too far away to see clearly, so Ryan slowed down a bit and then he could see clearly.
It was a little girl about ten years old, very thin, with messy black hair. She was barefoot , wearing a piece of clothing that looked like a rotten linen bag, and her arms were wrapped in dirty bandages that were either stained with dirt or blood. There were some festering wounds on the exposed skin, which looked terrible.
The wasteland hunters avoided her as if she were the "plague god" and no one dared to approach her.
The little girl followed the main group a few hundred meters away, chasing the mechanical city with a numb expression. She looked lifeless and looked more like a walking corpse than a living person.
Ryan's eyes froze slightly.
According to people around me, the little girl seems to bring "bad luck", so no one dares to approach her?
"Blood can attract a large number of zombies and bring bad luck to people... I remember it seemed to be a legendary alchemical material..."
When Ryan thought of this, his "intelligent brain" had already selected for him the ancient book records that met the relevant conditions.
He saw the introduction on his retina and was surprised.
"Sure enough... the alchemical material 'Blood of the Cursed Spirit' mentioned in the ancient goblin civilization is exactly the same as this description! Could it be referring to the blood of this little girl? Is this a special bloodline race in myths and legends?"
[Blood of the Cursed Spirit]
Detailed explanation: High-level psychic; fresh blood of the "curse clan", cold in nature, high in magic power, high affinity with dark elements; can attract the dead, efficient psychic medium; this material is level VI dangerous, those with bad intentions will be doomed if they touch it;
Seeing this, Ryan looked at the little girl again, a little confused.
"Curse Clan?"
This is an unfamiliar word that sounds like a special human race like "werewolf".
Ordinary people cannot explain the reason for the "bad luck", but the ancient books clearly mark it out. If you have bad intentions, contact with them will bring bad luck...
Something in her blood will affect the "luck" of those who come into contact with her, or it may be a special existence in terms of the "soul".
No wonder people regard them as "plague gods" and avoid them. Wild hunters are all bloodthirsty people. How many of them have a completely righteous heart?
Ryan seemed to be thinking about something, but he didn't mind his own business and followed the team back to the "Black Wind Valley Base".
…
Ryan followed the large army into the city. As expected, no one asked about his background in detail. He took off his gas mask, took a look, and paid the money to enter the city.
The contribution system has been abolished, but the entrance fee and protection fee are quite high, one thousand miles a day.
It looks cheaper than the previous 10,000 a day in Glory City, but it is actually much more expensive.
In the past, if the wasteland hunters didn't want to live in the city, they could still set up tents in the wilderness. But now they are harassed by the [Zombie Tide] almost every night. Without the high walls and iron walls of the mechanical city, low-level extraordinary people would be courting death if they stayed overnight in the wilderness.
No one dared to set up a tent outside the steel walls, and the nobles would not allow civilians to fleece them. They would shoot any human who tried spend the night at the foot of the wall as a zombie.
This place is much more lively than the previous "plague base". In the past, 100,000 people were considered a lot for a base, but here, looking around, there are at least hundreds of thousands of people.
The daily "shelter fee" is a considerable income and it is sustainable.
…
As soon as Ryan entered the city, he saw several wanted notices on the official list at the city gate. He did not stop, glanced at them, and walked straight into the city as usual.
At this time, the bounty order that he had just seen was projected on his retina.
At this glance, it turned out that Mafa, Bazel, Canossa, and himself were all put on the bounty list.
There were four bounty posters posted on the notice board, which were exactly the images of the four of them when they were in the belly of the "Morocad Flower".
Bazel was a familiar figure on the wanted list. Everyone knew his name and rough face. But the two empires had offered a reward of 180 million rizos for his head, but now it had increased to 1 billion!
Moreover, the bounty orders from the two empires were originally ineffective in Glory City.
Now that it is posted, it is obviously a direct declaration of war.
The portrait of the Great Priest Mafa was also very clear, but his strength was not marked on the list. Instead, it was noted as "important leader of the barbarians" and a bounty of 1 billion was also offered. I guess they were afraid that if the unrivaled combat power was truly stated, it would scare all bounty hunters away.
The photo of Canossa wearing a gas mask doesn't reveal anything, except that she is a woman, so this wanted warrant is of little use.
Ryan looked at himself and it was almost the same, with his face covered and a bounty of 100 million.
Then there is another line of words under the wanted order: Hunting down a "barbarian" can exchange his head for 10,000 gold crowns; if you encounter the above wanted persons, those who provide clues can also receive certain rewards.
Ryan looked calm, as if this was what he had expected.
He raised his eyebrows and stepped into the bustling hunting base.
