Hunter

The wasteland winter was exceptionally cold. Even at dawn, when darkness receded, sunlight remained blocked by overcast clouds, hanging pale and colorless in the high sky, making the entire world feel even more desolate.

It was as if the world was still veiled in a thin gauze, blurring everything.

On a stretch of frozen wasteland far from Mine Town.

An ugly, modified off-road vehicle roared abnormally as it sped across the ground.

Behind it, Mine Town had shrunk to a tiny black dot, and the sounds of explosions were long gone.

In the driver's seat, Lin Tuo felt the wind, sharp as a knife, whipping against his face. His taut nerves relaxed slightly, and he couldn't help but want to complain.

This car was very similar to those on Earth, but it had clearly been heavily modified.

Many parts were awkward and extremely crude. The front windshield was missing entirely, and as the speed picked up, the cold wind froze the muscles on his face.

Moreover, the engine sound was off—noisy and clattering, loud but not fast.

Still, considering this car was probably an antique left over from the "Old Era," with many parts likely cobbled together from scraps, he couldn't say much.

"Hey, where are you taking me?"

In the back seat, Hua Xi, her face red from cold and nose running, finally couldn't help asking.

"No idea," Lin Tuo replied frankly. Then, before the little girl's eyes could widen, he added, "I'm not familiar with this area. How about you recommend a place?"

Having rushed out in a hurry, he really didn't know where to go.

At least he had a local with him, so he wouldn't have to ask strangers for directions.

"No way, you..." Hua Xi paused, about to speak, but Lin Tuo suddenly cut her off. "Huh? Looks like we accidentally stirred something up."

Gripping the steering wheel, Lin Tuo glanced at the rearview mirror, frowning slightly.

In the pale morning light, the mirror reflected one black dot after another, clustered together, rapidly chasing the vehicle.

At first, he couldn't make them out.

After a few breaths, Lin Tuo finally saw the "pursuers" clearly.

They were a pack of gray wolves, fur bristling, bodies robust, expressions ferocious.

"Wasteland Wolves!" Hua Xi also noticed the anomaly. Straining to stand, she pushed open a small skylight on the roof, looked back, and gasped.

"Those radiation-mutated beasts? Are they strong?" Lin Tuo asked.

In this wasteland, the true rulers weren't humans, but the mutated beasts lurking everywhere in the wilderness.

"Very strong! Wasteland Wolves have tough hides that ordinary knives can barely cut, and teeth that can bite through steel. The key is they hunt in packs and have great stamina.

They can chase for hours and are hard to provoke. Even powerful Wasteland Hunters usually choose to avoid them when they encounter them... Hey, what are you doing?"

Hua Xi was speaking gravely.

Suddenly, she noticed Lin Tuo, while driving, pulling open the backpack on the passenger seat, which was filled with weapons and ammunition.

"Practice shooting," Lin Tuo said succinctly.

He used a rope from the car to secure the steering wheel and jammed something against the accelerator... Anyway, ahead was an endless wasteland, no traffic rules to follow.

At the same time, he quickly took out rifle parts from the backpack and tried to assemble them.

Well, since his college roommate was a military enthusiast, he had picked up some knowledge of gun structures. Though he'd never handled wasteland firearm models, the basic design was the same.

After some effort, he assembled a rifle, loaded a magazine, and then used the barrel to push open the pre-installed skylight on the roof.

It was clearly designed for situations like this, just big enough for one person to squeeze through.

Twisting his body backward, holding the gun with both hands, Lin Tuo felt a surge of excitement.

He'd only ever shot guns in games before. Now, seeing the wolf pack chasing them, his hands itched.

Clumsily, he tried to line up the sights on a Wasteland Wolf.

By then, the wolves were closer to the car. He could see their fur, tongues, the white mist from their breath, and the foul drool hanging from their mouths.

Seeing his movement, the pack immediately adjusted, trying to dodge the trajectory.

But the next second.

With a "bang," a bullet arced in a bizarre curve straight up into the sky, not even touching a strand of wolf fur.

"What kind of aim is that? Can you even do it?" From the back seat, Hua Xi poked her head out of the skylight and couldn't help saying.

"Shut up." Lin Tuo ignored her. Wasn't it normal for a beginner to miss on the first shot?

Finding his rhythm, he pulled the trigger again.

"Bang!"

Well, this time was a bit better. The bullet hit the snow, kicking up a puff of white.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

Lin Tuo emptied an entire magazine without landing a single shot on target.

There was no helping it—this was his first time handling a gun, shooting at moving targets while he himself was in motion, and the enemy was dodging too. The difficulty was simply too high.

"So you don't know how to shoot at all, do you? If you can't, let me do it! You're wasting all these bullets, and that's money!"

Hua Xi watched helplessly as the magazine ran dry, her heart aching so much that the corners of her mouth twitched.

She had scavenged these universal-type bullets herself. In the Wasteland era, there was no longer any capacity for mass-producing ammunition.

Every faction was surviving on the munitions and firearms left behind by the Old Era. The latter could be maintained with proper care and wouldn't break easily, but bullets were different—they were consumables. Every round spent was one less in the world. In the Wasteland, they were worth more than food, a hard currency.

Lin Tuo's wastefulness made her heart tremble with pain.

"I told you to shut up. My K/D in-game is pretty high." Lin Tuo ignored her, silently swapping in a new magazine as he searched for the right feel.

Those first few shots had indeed missed, but if anyone looked closely, they'd notice each one was a little more accurate than the last.

Shooting, when it came down to it, was nothing more than "steady hands" and "calm mind."

Lin Tuo's physical condition far exceeded an ordinary person's. His balance and grip stability were extremely strong, and his mental state was equally solid. He wasn't trying to hit some pinpoint target—the wolves were a big enough area. All he lacked was the process of familiarization.

Bang. Bang. Bang.

With another round of gunfire, the wolf pack finally began to feel the threat. The incoming bullets were no longer flying wildly off course but growing steadier, more precise.

Bang!

At last, after he'd grasped the basics of shooting, a bullet struck a gray wolf's eye—partly by luck.

Pfft!

The massive wolf didn't even have time to yelp before it was flipped over, crashing heavily into the snow.

"One."

Lin Tuo counted silently, continuing to fire calmly, expending ammunition.

From time to time, a gray wolf was wounded or killed.

By the time he'd taken down the fifth, the wolf king finally let out a roar, called off the chase, and led its pack disappearing over the hillside.

"Giving up that easily?" Lin Tuo felt a bit unsatisfied, like he hadn't had enough fun.

"It's not giving up... It's that we've run into something worse."

Beside him, Hua Xi's face was pale and bitter as she spoke.

Lin Tuo frowned, following her gaze. In a patch of forest to the right, a massive bear had burst out.

It was enormous, comparable to a wild ox, its fur a pale white that seemed almost transparent under the sunlight. Its eyes were blood-red, and its teeth jutted out, gleaming with a metallic sheen.

"That's a Wasteland Savage Bear! If a rifle bullet doesn't hit a vital spot, it might not even break through its skin! Run! Hurry! Floor it and lose it!" Hua Xi's small face was deathly pale.

She cursed her luck inwardly. Wasteland Savage Bears weren't common—you could search for one and never find it—yet they'd stumbled right into one.

This thing's destructive power was terrifying. Bullets could at most scratch its hide, never kill it, and on top of that, it was exceptionally vicious.

Just from what Hua Xi had heard happening nearby, a Savage Bear had once broken into a temporary camp of the Burning Fire Company at night, wiped out the entire squad, killed an Evolver who was an executive director of the company, gnawed on his organs, and then walked away unscathed.

If this thing caught them, where would they find their lives?

"Wasteland Savage Bear? That strong?" Lin Tuo's eyes flickered. He tried firing a shot, and sure enough, it had no effect—only enraging the beast.

"Interesting." Lin Tuo didn't panic.

He put away the rifle, ducked back into the car, spun the wheel in a random direction, floored the gas, and sped off in a trail of black smoke.

The Savage Bear refused to let go, chasing at a terrifying speed. Though the distance widened, it never lost them.

Inside the car, Hua Xi's expression grew more frantic. A flicker of hesitation crossed Lin Tuo's face, then he began to slow down and parked in a mountain hollow.

"Why are we stopping? Did we run out of gas?" Hua Xi asked in terror.

Lin Tuo only tossed out a single sentence: "You stay put here. I'll go have a word with it."

??

With that, he pushed open the door and stepped out, stripping off his down jacket to reveal his well-proportioned body, then walked straight back the way they'd come.

"Are you crazy? There's no way you can beat that thing!" Hua Xi froze, then quickly poked her little head back out through the sunroof and shouted.

But Lin Tuo simply ignored her.

Crunch. Crunch.

His feet pressed into the hard-packed snow as the icy wind rushed to meet him, fine snowflakes swirling in the air.

Lin Tuo walked at a steady pace, beginning to regulate his breathing.

His concentration sharpened to a razor's edge. The Aether accumulated inside him stirred faintly, and every cell in his body came alive.

His heartbeat quickened, blood flow accelerated, and his limbs, bones, tendons, and muscles began to vibrate at an extremely rapid frequency—this was the warm-up method of the Weapon Transformation Fist.

It could activate the body through rapid trembling in an extremely short time, instantly entering a combat state.

Lin Tuo still remembered that when he was a child, his grandfather had proudly said that although their family's ancient martial arts weren't as famous as the likes of Bagua, Xingyi, or Arhat... those well-known styles.

When it came to killing power, it was in no way inferior to any martial art under heaven.

It was said that this set of Weapon Transformation Fist was originally a combat technique honed by ancient generals amidst thousands of troops and countless battles.

Later generations organized and perfected it; when practiced in peacetime, it could be as gentle as the wind, as bold as a forest.

It could even split mountains and shatter rocks, slaying enemies within inches!

Since Lin Tuo had achieved minor success in martial arts, he had yet to encounter an opponent who could let him fight with full force.

Now, however, he had met one.

The cold wind howled.

That fearsome Wasteland Savage Bear also noticed the human figure ahead.

A flicker of confusion passed through its crimson eyes, but it was quickly filled with brutality.

Just as its name suggested, as one of the apex creatures at the top of the wasteland's food chain, possessing immense power also came with the loss of intelligence.

"ROAR!!"

In the midst of the furious bellow, the oppressive giant bear kicked up large swaths of snow, its two front paws extending claws harder than steel, lunging to tear apart Lin Tuo's slender figure!

"Dodge!!" From behind, Hua Xi's voice came intermittently through the cold wind.

The next second, Lin Tuo's figure, still standing in place, flickered—and actually pulled out an afterimage, slipping between the two claws at the last possible moment, invading the savage bear's blind spot.

Then, with a few bounds, he leaped into midair, his left hand firmly gripping the needle-like fur, his right hand raised high, grasping at empty air.

A wisp of cyan-white breath materialized out of nowhere, condensing in his palm into an ethereal short spear!

"Stab!"

Lin Tuo silently commanded in his heart, and the Aether spear in his hand thrust downward with savage force!

Tearing through fur, embedding into muscle, and with the support of his full body strength, it forcibly pierced straight through!!

"Pfft!"

The next second, the ethereal spear precisely exited from the Wasteland Savage Bear's chest at the heart's position, bringing with it gushing hot blood.

"Explode!"

At the same time, Lin Tuo released his grip, stomped hard, and retreated backward, softly uttering the word in his mind.

"BOOM!!"

The Aether spear violently disintegrated and exploded, shattering the Wasteland Savage Bear's heart. Its eyes, filled with blood and disbelief, rapidly dimmed.

"Thud!"

Time seemed to pause briefly, and then this wasteland creature finally fell unwillingly. The sound of the wind became clear once more.

Not far away, Lin Tuo let out a deep breath, then raised his head.

His gaze swept past the bear's corpse and landed on the car roof ahead, where Hua Xi's face wore an expression of utter shock.