Uncle Sam's Disciple

As the intelligence report stated, the ruins buried underground in the desert are quite large.

It resembles an ancient kingdom with many interconnected, massive cities, spread across tens of thousands of square kilometers.

However, not all places with city ruins are worth exploring. Most of the team members were experienced hunters who knew how to distinguish the value of ruins, making them semi-archaeologists. The common people's houses were small and most severely eroded by wind and sand; the large buildings that were clearly different in scale were the key places to search.

Of course, many of them are just empty cities with only ruins.

Occasionally, you can find some pottery jars and irregularly corroded metal objects in the sand, but they are not of much value.

Catherine, the president of the "Redwood Merchant Guild," didn't seem to have any intention of collecting those gold and silver items. Money didn't mean much to her.

Occasionally, when they passed places where there might be valuables, she didn't stop the hunters in her group from digging. But they didn't linger for long; after a short rest, they continued their journey.

Logically speaking, this was the first time these ruins had been discovered, and no one knew what was inside; they could only excavate as they went. But Rein wasn't sure if it was just his imagination, but he had a feeling that President Catherine seemed to know some routes, as if she were searching for something.

The first day yielded nothing; we spent almost the entire day walking.

The wind and sand in the desert are dazzling; after crossing one sand dune, another appears, stretching endlessly.

Fortunately, everyone was Transcendent and had brought enough supplies, so this level of difficulty was still quite easy for everyone. Apart from encountering a few scattered low-level undead along the way, they didn't encounter any real danger and were easily taken down by the hunter team members who were already sharpening their knives.

In the evening, the group found a spot in the ruins of an ancient city with First Tier thick, broken city wall and set up camp.

The camp is surrounded by weathered mud bricks, and the ground is compacted yellow earth, so you don't have to worry about a skeletal arm suddenly popping out of the wall and grabbing you in your sleep. Even if you encounter a large-scale zombie horde or monsters, there are places to defend yourself.

Tents were pitched and a fire was lit in the camp, and it gradually got dark.

There were no monsters or hunting opportunities in the desert, so everyone made do with the dry rations they carried with them.

Rein pulled out his dried meat and bread and sat down to eat them at the entrance of his single tent. He didn't mingle with anyone, which made him seem somewhat aloof.

Surprisingly, as they were eating, President Catherine came out of the main tent, stopping a basket full of fruit. Her son, Gannix, who carried a silver spear, followed behind.

This young master of a wealthy merchant family seemed to have never participated in a wilderness hunt before. He was extremely excited when he first entered the desert, showing interest in everything. Every now and then, he would poke scorpions and lizards in the sand with his spear. But as the day passed, his enthusiasm waned. This wasn't quite the wilderness hunt he had envisioned; a day of fruitless walking, no treasure found, no major battles that would allow him to showcase his skills—everything was strangely uneventful.

Catherine seemed intent on teaching her son how to conduct himself, having him carry a large basket of fruit and follow behind. Then, at each tent, she would inquire about the team members' well-being and give them two pieces of fruit.

Rein had seen them long ago, but when the lady came over, he was still quite surprised by her polite attitude.

Catherine looked at Rein, offered him two large berries, and said politely, "Mr. Nicholas, you've had a long day. I brought some fruit, but not much, please don't mind."

Fresh fruit is a luxury in the desert.

Oh no, any normal wilderness hunting expedition is a luxury. While Storage Ring are practically standard equipment among High-tier Extraordinary, that precious cubic meter of space isn't meant for storing luxuries like fruit. Carrying it yourself is too heavy, and it's not easy to preserve it. As for vitamins? Wild vegetables from the wilderness can solve that.

The more powerful a business guild is, the more adeptly they handle interpersonal relationships.

It has to be said that Catherine's ability to remember the names of every hunter and her polite gesture of personally delivering fruit to their door earned her a lot of goodwill.

Putting aside the "Black Gold Merchant Guild" connection, even Rein felt compelled to fulfill the contract once he accepted the fruit.

It was a very clever way to cultivate relationships, but it didn't make anyone feel uncomfortable at all.

"Thanks."

Rein nodded without saying anything more.

Catherine responded with a smile, then turned and walked towards another team member.

Because of the [Black Tide], the number of Sentinels has been increased.

Aside from the Catherine, everyone worked in three shifts around the night. As early as dusk, the first wave of sentries had already gone to the outer perimeter, to the battlements and outside the city walls.

Rein was assigned to the second batch, on midnight watch.

As night deepened and it was still early to go to bed, everyone gathered around the campfire and started chatting.

"Hehe, probably because of that S-Class Corpse Tide the night before last, there aren't many zombies in this desert. Our hunt this time will be quite easy."

"It's hard to say. Some zombies don't have very sensitive senses, or they might be trapped in underground spaces like 'Underground Palace' or 'caves,' so there might be some really troublesome ones."

"If we really find Underground Palace, we'll hit the jackpot. I heard that the place where they found mountains of gold artifacts was an Underground Palace."

"Yes. Our current hunting team is no less powerful than those large Scavenger Gang. As long as we don't encounter large, high-level undead, we can handle them quite easily."

"Wait, didn't the intelligence say there were lots of big insects in this desert? We haven't encountered a single one."

"It might be because of the insect repellent powder we brought. The first group seemed to be caught off guard when they encountered those strange insects. We brought a lot of insect repellent powder."

"."

The hunters chatted and joked, and Catherine and her son would occasionally chime in.

Presumably because of the fruit earlier, the hunters were noticeably less distant from their sugar daddy.

At this moment, one of the hunters spoke up and asked, "Lady Catherine, where are we headed? We've been walking all day and haven't dug much. It seems like we have a predetermined destination?"

This is also the issue that the hunters care about most.

After all, the final reward is a "dividend" that everyone will participate in.

The team had been traveling all day and encountered several city ruins, but they hadn't explored any of them in depth. This was quite different from their usual hunting practices.

Upon hearing this, Rein also became interested. It seemed that he wasn't the only one who felt this way; everyone thought so.

He also turned his head slightly and looked over, wanting to hear how the chairman would respond.

"To be honest, we do have a general direction in mind."

The team members' question about the investor's lie-hunting plan was somewhat presumptuous, but Catherine seemed to have anticipated this.

With a gentle smile on her face and no sign of displeasure, she explained to the group, "Now that we have confirmed that this desert is the site of the Ancient Monkel Kingdom, and it is an ancient kingdom, there must be a large complex of buildings such as a royal city. However, the cities we discovered during the day were not very large, so I suspect that there must be an even larger complex of ruins somewhere in the desert."

Upon hearing this, everyone's eyes lit up, and they vaguely guessed what she was trying to say.

After a moment's hesitation, Catherine continued, "And coincidentally, I have some knowledge of ancient city layouts. So I suspect there might be other large cities at the 'royal city' level! We're already a day behind the first group, and if we linger in these smaller cities any longer, we might miss the chance to reach the larger city first. That's why we rushed today; thank you all for your hard work."

She didn't say it aloud: if there were any large temples, they would definitely be in a major city like a "royal city." This was also her main purpose in forming a team to venture into the wilderness this time.

These words were very polite and clearly explained the direction and purpose of this hunt.

"Oh, I see."

Upon hearing this, everyone suddenly understood, and the slight resentment caused by their hasty journey vanished instantly.

At this point, Catherine added, "Of course, this is just a guess; there might not necessarily be ruins of a large city. However, even if we don't find the royal city, we can follow the markings left behind to excavate these smaller towns when we return."

Ultimately, the hunters are driven by profit.

This put everyone at ease. It turned out that it wasn't that they weren't going to dig, but rather that they had to prioritize.

Once the topic was started, the atmosphere became more and more harmonious.

Lady Catherine's son Gannix, seemed more interested in martial arts.

Now he wasn't too unfamiliar with the hunters, and had even gotten to know a few veteran hunters in the group. Unable to contain his boundless energy, the young man turned to Soldo, who was also wielding a gun and shield, and asked, "Senior Soldo, you also follow the shield warrior path. I'd like to ask you for some advice."

His tone sounded somewhat naive and immature, but it also revealed the upbringing and refinement of a large family.

"Oh? Young Master Gannix is interested in this?"

The bearded middle-aged man named Soldo raised an eyebrow and glanced at him.

Soldo used to lead a Scavenger Gang of twenty or thirty people, but a few months ago, they were attacked by a High-tier Demonic Beast, suffering heavy casualties, and the party was disbanded. He never regrouped after that, just joining temporary teams to make ends meet.

"Yes."

Gannix nodded and said, "My teacher said that Transcendent individuals who spend their lives hunting in the wasteland possess extremely formidable combat skills. I would be grateful if you could offer some guidance, senior."

Soldo also became interested. "Young Master Gannix, I saw that your marksmanship was guided by a master. May I ask who your teacher is?"

Gannix called out a name: "Sam Aurora!"

Soldo recognized the name immediately, his eyes darting around before he asked, "The First Holy Shield Knight of Vasakodo Province, [Dragon Spear] Sam Aurora?"

Among the High-tier Extraordinary who wield knight's lances in this world, there are a few towering figures that cannot be ignored, and Sam Aurora is one of them.

Gannix said with a rather proud expression, "Yes!"

Hmm.

Not far away, Rein was also slightly surprised to hear this. This Gannix was actually Uncle Sam's disciple? No wonder he felt that the guy's gun and shield moves looked familiar.

"Since you are Sam's disciple, you certainly can't be asked to give me pointers. But we can exchange ideas."

The young master of the prestigious "Redwood Merchant Guild" humbled himself to ask for guidance, so Soldo was naturally willing to offer some pointers. Although he hadn't broken through to the Third Tier either, his years of hunting in the wilderness had given him rich practical experience, making him a formidable fighter.

Since it's an exchange, there's bound to be some friendly competition.

Gannix is the quintessential young master archetype, possessing advanced martial arts skills and breathing techniques, and enters the arena brimming with confidence.

The two exchanged blows, creating quite a lively scene.

But Rein could also see that Soldo had been completely at ease throughout, which was quite a show of respect. In a friendly exchange, they might be evenly matched, but if it came to killing, Gannix would probably be stabbed to death in two or three moves.

The quiet night offered little entertainment, but this sparring match provided a lively spectacle for everyone.

The sounds of shields and spears clashing and striking each other echoed through the night sky.

"Good!"

"Young Master Gannix, what a fine gun!"

"."

Since he was the big spender, the onlookers cheered for the young man.

Rein found it quite interesting and would occasionally shout out a few words.

Perhaps infected by the intense atmosphere of the competition, all the hunters were itching to get their hands dirty.

At that moment, Rein bald hunter next to the tent approached and asked, "Brother, I see you're also on the ' Fighter Sequence. What style of martial arts do you practice?"

Although there are more than a dozen Melee Extraordinary in the Scavenger Gang, only Rein and the "Martial Artist" named Tam next to him can be called pure Martial Artist.

You can tell just by looking at their weapons; only pure fighters equip themselves with only gauntlets.

The rest mostly carried weapons that exuded a murderous aura: swordsmen, axemen, hammer warriors, or shield warriors and lightly armored swordsmen.

Rein replied, "I've never had a proper apprenticeship, I've learned a bit from various sources, but I'm not an expert in anything. What about you, Brother Tam?"

Tam: "Brother, you're too modest. I'm only a few years older than you. I learned the boxing style of the Qianghu lineage of the 'Tiger Martial Arts School Grandmaster Qianghu School' in City of Radiance, so I can barely be considered an outer disciple."

Rein: "Oh? I also went to 'Hegemon Tiger Martial Arts Hall' to learn boxing, but I only studied there for ten days or half a month. The profound meaning of Grandmaster Qianghu was unparalleled in its fierceness, and I was deeply impressed by it."

Tam: "I've been studying for several years. I originally had the opportunity to learn a move or two of the Profound Martial Technique from my teacher, but I didn't seize the opportunity, and I didn't learn them even after watching."

After a pause, he added, "How about the two of us lend a hand and give it a try?"

Upon hearing about the proposed sparring, Rein politely declined. "I'd rather not. My fighting style is very mixed, and I can't control it well. Many of my moves are not up to standard and could easily injure someone."

At his current level, sparring with ordinary hunters is not very meaningful; if he were to use his full strength, he could easily injure someone.

Tam didn't seem to mind and joked, "Haha. You didn't learn the practical 'Street Fighter lineage' style, did you? Do you have moves like throwing lime?"

Rein chuckled, "I know a little bit about them all."

"Haha, any move that can kill the enemy is a good move. There's no such thing as a move that's not presentable or not."

Tam laughed heartily, and the atmosphere was quite harmonious.

"."

Before long, the sparring session ended, and everyone returned to their tents to rest.

Darkness enveloped the entire desert, with only a glimmer of light shining from where the group had set up camp. They were completely unaware that several stealthy figures had already crept up under the cover of night.

Thanks to 'Gan Liliang', '2018712005614203', 'Come and see from time to time', 'LEB', 'Sakura Dance Charm', '201990928191903012'. Thank you all for your support. Thank you.