Chapter Ten: The Hunt

Gao Gong hid amidst a sea of flowers, each nearly a meter tall, vibrant and reflecting metallic light under the sun.

Rather than a flower sea, it was more like a testing ground for sonic emitters. While seemingly silent, a low-frequency noise constantly harassed you.

The blooming metallic flowers emitted low-frequency noise, while the unbloomed buds emitted infrasound.

The human ear can perceive sounds in the range of 20 to 20,000 Hz. Anything below 20 Hz is infrasound. Infrasound can stimulate the brain, causing tension, unease, and panic. If it resonates with internal organs, it can even rupture blood vessels and cause death.

While in the midst of it, Gao Gong felt intense discomfort but endured it silently.

A major reason why classical mechanical hunters did not install implants in their bodies was that radiation beasts were adept at detecting sound and signals. Once discovered, the hunt would be impossible.

This field of metallic flowers could mask the sound of Gao Gong's internal machinery.

At this point, Gao Gong could only rely on the original owner's hunting experience to make judgments.

Prey and hunter, the roles could switch in an instant.

Soon, Gao Gong heard footsteps, and—a dog's scream!

The maximum speed of a Head-Dog was set at 23 km/h. It wasn't that he couldn't speed up, but if he did, the scrap parts from the junkyard would explode.

Therefore, each Head-Dog was accompanied by over a dozen Machine Ants. The Machine Ants had a detonator inside. The principle of this detonator was simple: two metal plates connected, a circuit connected to an electric detonator, and below it, a small bottle of Energy Ore Extract.

This extract was very unstable. It would explode if stimulated. Although its power was not great, only a tenth of a grenade's blast intensity, it was enough to give the Head-Dog time to escape.

Indeed, as the footsteps grew closer, explosions sounded one after another.

This must be a quadrupedal beast, as two Machine Ants had self-destructed simultaneously.

"Awooo awooo awooo awooo..."

As expected, from the grass that resembled steel needles, a metallic dog with a human head leaped out. Behind it followed a massive dark shadow, and from a distance, one could feel the visible rise in temperature.

It's not a bio-mechanical beast, it's a radiation beast. So it's this one—

The dark shadow behind it also leaped up, landing with a tremendous tremor.

Behind the Head-Dog was a proper dog's head. Its two fist-sized eyeballs were bloodshot, glaring fiercely at the Head-Dog.

This was a giant hound the size of an adult bull. Its bones were faintly visible, and thumb-thick blood vessels pulsed rhythmically on its flesh. Its mouth was filled with metallic teeth, and its four legs were thicker than a grown man's thighs. With every breath, its abdomen glowed noticeably, and smoke seeped from its mouth.

Name: Giant Radiation Hound

Radiation Level: E+

HP: 280/300

Stamina: 195/200

Bio-Energy: 312

Biological Attributes: Strength 22, Agility 10, Stamina 26, Intelligence 3, Perception 7

Skills: Frenzied Bite Lv.6, Steel Claw Lv.7, High-Temp Smoke Lv.4, Berserk Lv.7

Notes: This is a good dog, much more normal than yours.

Although the Head-Dog's metallic head couldn't express emotions, the trembling of its four mechanical legs indicated its fear.

Despite the brainwashing on the operating table and the memory wipe of artificial soldiers, they were still the basic combat units of the Knight Order, possessing sufficient combat intelligence. After leaping out of the jungle, it hesitated for a moment before heading straight for the flower field, not forgetting to turn back and provoke with a few "awooo" sounds.

The radiation hound paused for a moment. However, its intelligence was only 3, and its nervous system's information processing speed was quite low. The provocation immediately enraged it. Its bull-like body charged forward, heading straight for the flower field.

Semi-metallic petals scattered. The low-frequency noise made it even more agitated. The calm hunter watched coldly, his micro-motors at the four joint points running at their limit.

The next moment, he exploded forward. The Red Unicorn flashed with a dazzling light, its heavy blade plunging into the opponent's abdomen like a chainsaw.

Its target was the glowing part of its abdomen, the radiation organ, the energy source.

Gao Gong had previously experimented with scrap metal. The resistance of the Red Unicorn cutting metal was comparable to cutting an apple with a fruit knife. However, when the blade tip pierced the radiation hound's abdomen, it was like cutting pork with a fruit knife. This indicated that with the radiation hound's muscle hardness, ordinary bullets would absolutely not penetrate.

But the "Red Unicorn" was prepared by Gao Gong for this very moment. Few people knew now that Aunt Xiang's deceased boyfriend was a classical mechanical hunter, and all of his weapons back then were meticulously polished by Aunt Xiang herself.

Gao Gong's tiger mouth tightened, and he roared. The blade tip inserted smoothly, and he rotated the end of the hilt, forcefully twisting it above the glowing part.

[You dealt 156 damage to the Giant Radiation Hound]

[You used Brawl, dealing 'Critical Hit' to the target, putting it in a severely wounded state]

It was clear that as the radiation organ fell, the ferocity in the dog's eyes decreased by nine-tenths, falling into a dazed state of post-shock confusion.

Gao Gong slid the blade along his shoulder. As the blade was fully submerged, he slammed his shoulder into the radiation hound's waist, knocking it to the ground.

He pulled out the blade in one motion, and the tip plunged into the vicious dog's throat once more.

[You dealt 97 damage to the Giant Radiation Hound]

[You used Brawl, dealing 'One-Hit Kill' to the target, gaining 350 experience points]

Gao Gong pulled out the blade again. The splashing blood, like boiling water, splattered onto Gao Gong's outer garment, sizzling.

"No wonder classical mechanical hunters are called lunatics. This feeling of being on the brink of death is truly exhilarating."

Gao Gong wiped the sweat from his forehead, shook his blade, and the blade glowed red, smoking. The radiation beast's body temperature made the entire blade like a red-hot iron.

Hunting radiation beasts, cutting off their radiation organs was even more important than killing them. Because once a radiation beast died and its life system stopped, the radiation organ, as an energy source, would self-destruct.

Although the E-class radiation beast was not high-level, it had been a long time since anyone in Automobile City had hunted a complete Giant Radiation Hound.

Skilled at skinning and butchering radiation hounds, extracting valuable organs.

[You obtained E-Class Bio-Energy Source: Radiation Dog Liver]

[You obtained a whole dog hide]

[You obtained a complete dog tail]

[You obtained forty-two metal fangs]

[You obtained a dog whip]

Radiation beast meat is inedible, but dog hides, when specially tanned, can be made into leather clothing with better defense than standard bulletproof vests. Dog tails are also excellent bio-materials, and the metal fangs can be fashioned into accessories to sell to fellow scavengers. The dog whip is a necessity for the big shots in Sleepless City.

Gao Gong looked regretfully at the partially processed giant hound carcass. In fact, radiation hound bones were also a decent weapon material, at least harder than steel rebar. He had only taken a few long bones; the rest he couldn't manage.

"Let's go, see how your other brothers are doing."

The Head-Dog, which had been trembling so hard its machine fluid was about to leak out, was now acting smug. It even trotted over and kicked the corpse.

This was the benefit of choosing the 'Husky Template.' This Head-Dog Husky always teetered on the edge of death and had an extremely short memory.

Shortly after Gao Gong left, a small scavenger discovered the largely intact giant hound carcass and his jaw dropped.

It turned out this hunting method was indeed quite effective. In just three hours, Gao Gong had hunted two more giant radiation hounds and one Bio-Mechanical Butterfly.

Whether it was stumbling into a den or the Head-Dog possessing a natural 'Kin Taunt +100' aura, three of the four radiation beasts were radiation hounds.

The remaining Bio-Mechanical Butterfly was pierced through a vital spot by Gao Gong just as it was about to tear open a dog's head. However, Gao Gong had bad luck this time; the 'butterfly' the size of a dinner plate exploded, dealing him 30 damage.

What was comforting, though, was that after defeating the mechanical butterfly, 'Brawl' automatically leveled up.

Brawl Lv.9: You are a brawling expert. When using bare hands, blunt weapons, and metal blades, attack power increases by 16%, and damage reduction from blocks increases by 10%.

"Such beautiful dog hide, almost no damage. Impossible!"

Aunt Xiang looked up, scrutinizing him with the same gaze she had when she first met Gao Gong. After a long while, she asked, "Did you really go hunting?"

In her mind, the word 'hunting' carried significant weight; it wasn't something just anyone could use.

Gao Gong didn't answer. Instead, he flipped over the bag on his back, and various precious, scattered organs tumbled out.

"Radiation hound, mechanical butterfly, and... is this a Grenade Fruit?"

Aunt Xiang held a dark, heavy fruit. This thing was called a Grenade Fruit. Its exterior resembled a pinecone, its skin covered in metallic fragments, and it secreted ammonia internally. Once stimulated, it would explode—however, after being soaked in a special potion, it could be used as a natural grenade.

"Picked them on the way. Didn't dare pick too many, afraid they'd detonate."

Before being treated with the potion, these Grenade Fruits were extremely unstable and would explode with the slightest bump. He had only picked six, carrying two himself, with the remaining four given to the Head-Dog to carry one each.

Aunt Xiang didn't mind the mess and rummaged through the various scraps, but her tone softened considerably.

"I didn't expect you little brat to have some backbone after all."

"Or did you just give up because you can't make it as a city dweller?"

Gao Gong smiled and asked, "How much can I sell these things for here?"

"Putting aside the rest, this complete E-Class dog liver alone won't go for less than eight hundred. The other bits and pieces could fetch around four thousand."

"I'll give you 80%."

"You're out of your mind," Aunt Xiang said without looking up. "Go sell them to your big lover. This is a weapon shop."

"Don't rush, Auntie. Make a jacket out of one of the dog hides for me, and keep three of the Grenade Fruits. The rest of these materials will be your deposit."

Aunt Xiang took the slip of paper, glanced at it, and finally looked up, exclaiming, "You brat, you're really planning to go big!?"