While a Fighter was using a Hunting Ground, it became their private territory. Anyone who entered without prior notice could be killed at the Fighter's discretion.
If they were only there to capture ordinary creatures, the odds of an encounter were actually quite low unless they were particularly unlucky. Hunting Grounds were usually vast, and the Fighter might not always be there.
Unfortunately, the mutated plant the laboratory wanted lay within that Fighter's main area of activity.
As for whether the Fighter was actually there, the laboratory had no way of obtaining that information. They would have to investigate it themselves.
That greatly increased the likelihood of encountering the Fighter, making this a fairly dangerous operation.
Then again, if it were not for that, the laboratory would never have hired them.
Besides them, several other mercenary groups would enter the Convergence Zone with them, bringing their total numbers to over a hundred. Those teams had different assignments, however. Some were tasked with collecting relatively ordinary mutated creatures, while others were to raid and destroy underground camps established by competitors.
Once all the teams had arrived, they immediately signed their contracts, then entered the Convergence Zone together through a concealed route along the continent's border.
Yingzhou was vast and sparsely populated, with many ancient ruins. As a result, rifts in many places did not converge within Central City, making them routes that could be exploited.
These rifts were extremely unstable, however. Sometimes they had to wait for a while, and only a limited number of people could pass through at once. After the first group crossed, those behind had to wait before following. They were nothing like the routes in Central City, which could accommodate trains and armies.
Their instability also meant there was no guarantee they would open again next