Hunter

Winter in the Wasteland was exceptionally cold. Even in the morning, after the darkness receded, sunlight remained blocked by overcast clouds, hanging high in the sky with a deathly pallor that made the whole world seem even more desolate and chill.

The world seemed to still be veiled in a layer of gauze, making it impossible to see clearly.

On a stretch of frozen Wilderness far from Mine Town.

An incomparably ugly modified off-road vehicle sped across the land amid an abnormal roar.

Behind them, Mine Town had already become a tiny black dot, and the sounds of explosions had long since vanished.

In the driver's seat, Lin Tuo felt the knife-like cold wind battering his face. The taut string in his heart loosened a little, and he could not help wanting to complain.

This car looked very much like those on Earth, but it had clearly been grotesquely modified.

Many parts of it were awkward and crude, and the front windshield had vanished without a trace. Once the speed picked up, the cold wind blew so hard that his facial muscles nearly froze stiff.

And the engine did not sound right either. It was an uneven, thunderous racket, yet the vehicle was not particularly fast.

Still, considering that this car was probably an antique left over from the Old Era, with plenty of parts likely cobbled together from here and there, there was not much to say about it.

"Hey, where are you taking me?"

In the back seat, Hua Xi's face was red from the cold and her nose was running. At last, she could not hold back her question.

"I don't know." Lin Tuo answered frankly, then, before the little girl could widen her eyes, added, "I'm not familiar with the area. Why don't you recommend somewhere?"

They had rushed out in such a hurry that he genuinely had no idea where to go.

Fortunately, he had brought along a local. At least he would not need to ask strangers for directions.

"No way, you..." Hua Xi froze for a moment and had just opened her mouth when Lin Tuo suddenly interrupted her. "Huh? I think we accidentally stirred something up."

Holding the steering wheel, Lin Tuo glanced into the rearview mirror, his brows drawing together slightly.

In the morning light, one black dot after another was reflected in the mirror. They were moving in a pack, racing toward the vehicle.

At first, he could not see them clearly.

Only after several breaths did Lin Tuo finally make out the appearance of these "pursuers."

They were a pack of gray wolves, their fur standing on end, their bodies powerful, their expressions savage.

"They're Wasteland Wolves!" Hua Xi noticed the anomaly as well. She struggled to stand, rammed her head into a small sunroof in the roof to force it open, looked back, and cried out.

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

In this Wasteland, humanity was not the true ruler. The true rulers were the mutated predators found everywhere in the wilds.

"Very strong! Wasteland Wolves have tough hides that ordinary blades can barely cut through. Their teeth can bite through steel, and the key is that they hunt in packs and have tremendous endurance.

They can chase prey continuously for hours. They're very hard to provoke. Even powerful Wasteland Hunters will generally choose to avoid them when they encounter them... Huh? What are you doing?"

Hua Xi was giving her explanation with a grave expression.

Then she suddenly noticed that, while driving, Lin Tuo had opened the backpack on the passenger seat, which was stuffed full of weapons and ammunition.

"Getting some target practice." Lin Tuo answered succinctly.

He used a rope in the car to secure the steering wheel and wedged something against the accelerator... In any case, there was an endless wilderness ahead of them, so there was no need to obey traffic rules.

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

Well, back in university, one of his roommates had been a military enthusiast. Through constant exposure, Lin Tuo had gained a rough understanding of firearm construction. Though he had never handled Wasteland gun models, their basic structures were all the same.

After putting in a little effort, he assembled a rifle, loaded in a magazine, and used the barrel to poke open the reserved roof hatch.

It had clearly been built for situations like this, just large enough for someone to climb out through.

Twisting around and gripping the gun in both hands, Lin Tuo could not help feeling a little excited.

He had only ever fired guns in games before. Now that he saw the wolf pack chasing them, his hands itched to give it a try.

Awkwardly, he tried to line up a Wasteland Wolf in his sights.

By now, the wolves were closer to the car. He could clearly see their fur, tongues, the white mist they exhaled, and the foul-smelling saliva dangling from the corners of their mouths.

Seeing his movements, the pack immediately adjusted, attempting to avoid his line of fire.

Yet in the next second.

With a bang!, a bullet traced a bizarre arc straight into the sky, failing to touch even a single wolf hair.

"What kind of aim is that? Can you even do this?" Hua Xi stuck her head out through the sunroof from the back seat and could not help saying.

"Shut up." Lin Tuo ignored her. Was it not normal for a beginner to miss the first time they fired a gun?

After feeling it out, he pulled the trigger again.

Bang!

Well, that one was a little better. The bullet struck the snow, kicking up a spray of powder.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

Lin Tuo emptied an entire magazine in one go, yet not a single bullet hit its target.

There was no helping it. It was his first time handling a gun, he was shooting moving targets, he himself was moving, and the targets were dodging too. The difficulty was simply too high.

"So you can't shoot at all, can you? If you can't shoot, let me do it! You're wasting all those bullets—they're money!"

Hua Xi watched helplessly as he emptied a magazine, her lips twitching painfully.

The bullets she had picked up were all universal rounds. In the Wasteland era, there was no longer any capability for mass-producing ammunition.

Every faction was using up the ammunition and firearms left behind by the Old Era.

The latter were manageable—if properly maintained, they would not break easily. Bullets were different. They were consumables. Every bullet fired meant one fewer bullet remaining. In the Wasteland, they were even more valuable than food, a form of hard currency.

Seeing Lin Tuo squander them like this made Hua Xi's heart ache so badly it trembled.

"I said shut up. My KD is really high in games." Lin Tuo ignored her and silently replaced the magazine, continuing to get a feel for it.

Those shots had indeed missed, but anyone watching closely would have noticed that every one had been more accurate than the last.

Shooting, when all was said and done, was nothing more than having "steady hands" and a "calm heart."

Lin Tuo's physical abilities far surpassed those of ordinary people. His balance and grip stability were exceptional, and his mindset was equally solid. He was not shooting at some pinpoint target either—the wolves were spread over such a wide area. All he lacked was a process of familiarization.

Bang, bang, bang...

As another volley of gunshots rang out, the wolf pack finally began to sense the threat. The incoming bullets no longer flew wildly in every direction; they became steadier and increasingly accurate.

Bang!

Finally, after he had gained an initial grasp of how to shoot, one bullet struck a gray wolf in the eye, partly by chance.

Pfft!

The giant wolf did not even have time to howl before it was sent flipping over and crashed hard into the snow.

"One."

Lin Tuo silently counted and continued firing steadily, expending ammunition.

Gray wolves were wounded or killed from time to time.

When he brought down the fifth one, the wolf king finally let out a roar, stopped the pursuit, and led its pack away behind a hillside.

"They gave up already?" Lin Tuo was still not quite satisfied, feeling as though he had not had enough.

"They didn't give up... We ran into something worse."

Beside him, Hua Xi spoke with bitterness amid her grave expression.

Puzzled, Lin Tuo followed her gaze and saw a giant bear burst from a forest to their right.

It was enormous, comparable to a wild ox. Its fur was pale, yet under the sunlight it seemed almost transparent. Its eyes were crimson, its teeth jutted outward, and they gleamed with the luster of steel.

"It's a Wasteland Savage Bear! If rifle bullets don't hit vital points, they might not even pierce its skin! Run! Hurry! Accelerate and shake it off!" Hua Xi's little face went white.

She groaned inwardly.

How could their luck be this bad? Wasteland Savage Bears were few in number. Normally, one might not find one even when actively searching, yet they had blundered into one by sheer chance.

This thing's destructive power was truly terrifying. Bullets could at most break its outer hide and could not kill it at all, while it was exceptionally savage by nature.

Just from what Hua Xi had heard happening nearby.

There had once been a savage bear that charged into a temporary Burning Fire Company camp under cover of night, swept through the entire squad, killed one of Burning Fire Company's executive directors, who had been an Evolver, then calmly left after gnawing on the person's internal organs.

If they were caught by this thing, how could they possibly survive?

"Wasteland Savage Bear? Is it strong?" Lin Tuo's gaze shifted slightly. He tried firing, and as expected, it had no effect. Instead, it enraged the beast.

"Interesting." Lin Tuo did not panic.

He merely put away the rifle, withdrew into the car, spun the wheel toward a random direction, stomped the accelerator, and fled trailing a cloud of black smoke.

The savage bear refused to let them go and pursued them at terrifying speed. Though they managed to pull ahead somewhat, they simply could not shake it off.

Inside the car, Hua Xi's expression grew more and more anxious. A brief look of hesitation flashed across Lin Tuo's face, after which he began to slow down and parked the car in a mountain hollow.

"Why are you stopping? Are we out of gas?" Hua Xi asked in terror.

Lin Tuo merely tossed out one sentence in a calm voice. "Stay here and wait. I'll go meet it."

??

With that, he pushed open the door, took off his down jacket to reveal his well-proportioned body, and walked straight toward the rear.

"Are you crazy? You can't possibly beat that thing!" Hua Xi was dumbstruck. She hurriedly stuck her little head back out through the sunroof and shouted.

Yet Lin Tuo turned a deaf ear.

Creak, creak.

His feet stepped across the hardened snow as freezing wind rushed at his face and fine snow powder danced through the air.

Lin Tuo walked at an even pace while adjusting his breathing rhythm.

His mind became intensely focused. The Aether accumulated within his body stirred faintly, and every cell in his body came alive.

His heart began to beat faster, blood rushed through his body, and his limbs, sinews, bones, flesh, and skin began to tremble at an extremely rapid rate. This was the warm-up method of the Weapon Transformation Fist.

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

Lin Tuo still remembered how, when he was young, his grandfather had proudly said that their family's ancient martial art might not be as famous as Baguazhang, Xingyiquan, Luohan styles, and the like.

But in terms of killing power, it was absolutely no inferior to any martial art under heaven.

It was said that this Weapon Transformation Fist had originally been a combat technique honed by ancient generals amid armies of thousands upon thousands and countless battlefield formations.

Later generations had organized and refined it. When practiced ordinarily, it could be as gentle as the wind and as bold as a forest.

Yet it could also split mountains and shatter rocks, killing enemies within inches!

Since attaining minor mastery in martial arts, Lin Tuo had yet to encounter an opponent against whom he could truly let loose.

Now, however, he had found one.

The cold wind howled.

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

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

Just as its name suggested, as one of the creatures at the top of the Wasteland food chain, it had gained tremendous strength while losing its intelligence.

Roar~~

With a thunderous bellow, the oppressive giant bear swept up great sheets of snow. The claws extending from its two forepaws were harder than steel as they tore toward Lin Tuo's slender figure!

"Dodge!!" Hua Xi's voice came from behind, broken and intermittent in the cold wind.

In the next second, Lin Tuo's figure, standing in place, swayed and actually left behind an afterimage. At the very limit, he evaded the two claws and slipped behind the savage bear.

Then, with several leaps, he climbed into the air. His left hand gripped the steel-needle-like fur tightly, while he raised his right hand and loosely clenched it.

Strands of Cyan-White Qi appeared from nowhere, condensing in his palm into an illusory short spear!

Pierce!

Lin Tuo gave a low shout in his heart as he drove the spear of Aether viciously downward!

It tore through fur, sank into muscle, and, bolstered by all his strength, forcibly pierced straight through it!!

Pfft!

In the next second, the illusory spear precisely burst out from the Wasteland Savage Bear's chest, through the location of its heart, accompanied by scorching blood.

Explode!

At the same time, Lin Tuo released his grip, kicked off fiercely, and retreated backward as he softly uttered the word in his heart.

Boom!!

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

Thud!

Time seemed to freeze briefly. Then the Wasteland creature finally fell unwillingly, and the sound of the wind became clear again.

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

His gaze passed over the savage bear's corpse and landed on Hua Xi atop the car roof, her face wearing an utterly stunned expression.