Hope and Dreams

Hope and Dreams

Thus, when Team 321's members suddenly discovered through their Smart Bracelets' alert tones that their team had accepted a Geng Grade mission to search for the rare plant Blood Kirin in the Exotic Beast Forest, every one of them was dumbfounded.

Li Fu immediately put through a holographic video call to Ye Shijie and shouted, "Captain! Are you out of your mind?! Whoever takes that garbage mission is an idiot! Let me make this clear in advance: I absolutely won't be taking part!—If you want to go, go by yourself! Don't drag our whole team down with you!"

Ping Qiong also furiously joined the call and said in rapid succession, "Captain! I'm with Li Fu! Absolutely not going! Have you even considered our team?! Such high difficulty, such low rewards—are our lives really that worthless?!"

Song Mingqian was the third to join. Sweeping back the long bangs over his forehead, he said solemnly and resolutely, "You all call me 'Song Mingqian'! That's because as long as there's money to be made, I don't mind risking my life! But I absolutely won't take a mission that risks my life without making money!—Captain, if you insist on having your way, I can apply for a transfer!"

Ye Shijie was just as confused at that moment.

Only after being blasted by his three teammates did he say coldly, "I already said it—whoever takes this garbage mission is an idiot!—Do you think I'm that kind of idiot?!"

Li Fu nearly blurted out the words, "You are!"

Fortunately, under Ye Shijie's furious glare, he stopped himself at the edge of the cliff and muttered, "...Who knows? People stumble, horses slip... maybe..."

"Li Fu, say that again!" If this had not been a three-dimensional holographic video call, Ye Shijie really might have kicked the bear-like Li Fu straight into the Exotic Beast Forest to the north!

Just as they were about to start fighting, Xia Chujian joined the video call.

Actually, Xia Chujian had known the moment Li Fu video-called Ye Shijie.

Because Li Fu had used the Squad Channel instead of privacy mode, when one person made a call, the entire team could see it.

She had not wanted to get involved. She had planned to wait until everyone calmed down before sending a group message to explain.

But she had not expected everyone's reaction to be so intense. They had actually chewed the captain out from head to toe...

She felt she had let everyone down, and she could not let Captain Ye Shijie take the blame for her.

So, before Ye Shijie could challenge Li Fu to a one-on-one fight, she joined the call. "Everyone, stop arguing. Don't blame the captain. I accepted it."

Not daring to meet anyone's eyes, she lowered her head and quickly said, "I'll go alone. You don't have to go. I mean it. If I succeed, I'll split the reward evenly with everyone. If I fail, the Association won't impose any punishment. You won't have to bear any risk."

Having said that, she decisively logged off.

For the past three years, her teammates had always taken good care of her.

She did not want to drag everyone into this thankless and exhausting mission.

Moreover, according to the Dark Night Hunter Association's rules, even missions accepted in a team's name did not actually require the entire team to carry them out together.

One person was allowed to go alone. Missions only had to be accepted as a team; once accepted, how they acted was up to the team itself.

But she really had to go to the Exotic Beast Forest to find Kongsang.

Accepting the Blood Kirin mission was merely to make it easier to search for Kongsang.

Because by accepting missions issued by the Association, she could claim equipment suited to the mission for free instead of paying for it herself.

In a place like the Exotic Beast Forest, even High-Grade Gene Evolvers would be walking into death without equipment.

Xia Chujian still had to save Aunt's life. She could not throw away her own life first.

That was why she had borrowed the team's name.

Xia Chujian lowered her head and scrolled through the mission description on her Smart Bracelet.

There was a picture of Blood Kirin on it.

Blood Kirin was a rare plant whose sole habitat lay at the edge of the Land of the Far North in the Exotic Beast Forest. It required temperatures that remained below a certain point all year round, but not so low that no life could grow.

Its appearance somewhat resembled that of succulent plants. It was bluish-green, with an unusual shape like the legendary divine beast Kirin.

When its fleshy stem was cut open, the juice that flowed out was red, like blood.

That was why it had been named "Blood Kirin."

From November each year to March of the following year was its mature season.

Yet Kongsang, an even rarer plant, was not mentioned at all in the Dark Night Hunter Association's missions.

Xia Chujian had only seen a picture of it in Academician Tantai's paper, which Shen Junyi had downloaded for her that afternoon.

It was a herbaceous plant that looked so delicate that a gust of wind seemed capable of blowing it away. Its stalk was slender, and its leaves resembled orchid grass, though they were half as long.

Its petals were hazy, moon-white tinged with pale pink. They looked profoundly unreal, like a few casually sketched lines in a black-and-white ink painting, yet they brimmed with vitality.

Its leaves were a misty green.

This plant grew alongside the bluish-green Blood Kirin, like a pale blue droplet in an ink-blue ocean.

It truly would not be easy to find.

And Xia Chujian did not know whether the remaining nine Kongsang plants were still alive.

It looked so fragile that perhaps wild beasts had already ruined it.

The Exotic Beast Forest was called the Exotic Beast Forest because it also produced all manner of strange animals.

But to her, this was hope. This was a dream.

She had to make a trip to the Exotic Beast Forest, even if she returned empty-handed with nothing to show for it.

If she did not try, she would never die in peace.

Because Shen Junyi had formally informed her that there was no conventional medical treatment capable of curing Aunt's illness.

Kongsang was the final hope and the last resort.

Aunt was Xia Chujian's only family. She and Aunt had depended on each other since she was little, and Aunt had raised her.

To her, curing Aunt's illness was her greatest goal—and her only goal.

After reading the mission description, Xia Chujian followed a Robot to collect the equipment for this mission.

When she saw the equipment list related to the mission, Xia Chujian clicked her tongue.

Although this mission was only Geng Grade, the Association seemed to know perfectly well what it entailed.

Because the equipment list matched to the mission was extremely high-end.

First, this mission allowed her to claim an amphibious aerial Small Combat Aircraft equipped with highly advanced Solid-State Optical Radar. It was three generations more advanced than the Small Combat Aircraft assigned to their team.

As its name suggested, when this amphibious aerial combat aircraft was not flying, it could serve as an off-road vehicle speeding across the wilderness, or as a small vessel traveling on water. Its power source also used Controllable Nuclear Fusion technology.

Then, when choosing defensive and offensive weapons, Xia Chujian did not select a single Superpower weapon. She chose only Thermal Weapons that Ordinary People could operate, along with the latest full-body Bulletproof Vest.

She already had an Adjudicator No. 7 Sniper Rifle and a Contender 700 Semi-Automatic Micro Submachine Gun. Both had been issued to her by the team, and both were very low-grade.

The Fully Automatic Xing Teling Smart Machine Gun was also bound to the Small Combat Aircraft, rather than issued to her.

So she selected another batch of new equipment.

Fully Automatic Xing Teling 1200 Smart Machine Gun: five-millimeter caliber, effective range of eighty meters, and an extreme firing rate of up to 1,200 rounds per second. She took it!

Destroyer 800 Fully Automatic Submachine Guns, one tier above her own Contender 700 Semi-Automatic Submachine Gun. She took three!

Xia Zhi 085 Assault Rifles, with a terrifying 10.11-millimeter caliber, an effective range of 150 meters, folding stocks, and retractable barrels. They were absolutely the best choice for close-range firefights, so she had to stockpile at least three...

Doomsday 200 shoulder-fired smart grenade launchers, Rocket Launchers, and Flame Throwers—the complete three-piece set, all taken.

Mechanical exoskeletons made of rare metals and Ruby Grade 800 Shotguns—three sets of each.

The Qu Zhong 110 Handgun, known as a "hand cannon." One shot, one corpse, like the end of a song and the scattering of people. This was a must-have!

When she saw that the equipment list also included newly manufactured Adjudicator No. 7 Sniper Rifles, she immediately selected three more as backup weapons.

After all, the Judicator No. 7 Sniper Rifle in her hands had been used for almost a month. It needed depreciation, did it not...

Besides that, knowing she was headed into a forest, Xia Chujian selected three Red Cloud Tactical Daggers. Once their Energy Cores were activated, bloodthirsty red light shone from both sides of their forked blades. Their structure was exceedingly simple, and their lethality exceedingly brutal.

There were also 200,000 light machine-gun rounds, 100,000 semi-automatic micro-submachine-gun rounds, 5,000 125 sniper-rifle rounds suitable for the Judicator No. 7 Sniper Rifle, 10,000 rifle rounds, 500 rockets, 500 grenade launcher shells, sufficient flame gel, and 100 micro missiles.

It was enough to arm a small Arsenal, enough for a city's Garrison to use for an entire quarter.

In the freezing winter, only this amount of weaponry could truly bring warmth and comfort...

Xia Chujian could not help revealing a satisfied smile.

The Combat Aircraft Xia Chujian had newly received was three generations more advanced than her team's Combat Aircraft and twice as large.

Yet despite its doubled size, even with the most careful packing, more than half the aircraft's space was still used to store these ammunition reserves.

If the aircraft's capacity had not already reached its limit, Xia Chujian could have claimed twice as many guns and bullets.

With a gun in hand, there was no panic in her heart.

This was the only solution she had.

In an era where normal humans could become Gene Evolvers and humanoids could transform into superpowered Beast Forms at any time, Ordinary People like Xia Chujian, whose genes could not evolve, could only rely on Thermal Weapons to feel safer.

She had selected so much ammunition and equipment because she intended to keep a little private stash after completing the mission...

She also selected many personal supplies.

For example, three sets of the highest-grade, latest-model full-body Bulletproof Vests, plus one cold-weather coat with a self-heating system and one cold-weather coat made from Alien Beast fur.

A Helmet that could automatically connect to Star Net, all kinds of thermal imaging goggles capable of seeing through obstacles, as well as masks and gloves with self-heating devices, and tall Military Boots inlaid with Alien Beast fur.

The Association's mission provided approximate coordinates for Blood Kirin. They might not be accurate, as they had been set according to locations where Blood Kirin had been found in previous years.

They were at the southern edge of the Land of the Far North in the Exotic Beast Forest, where it was extremely, extremely cold.

It was said that the highest temperature all year was minus thirty degrees. As for the lowest temperature, there was no telling.

The chapter number for yesterday's chapter was wrong. It has already been corrected. o(╥﹏╥)o