Chapter Seventeen: A-Class Monster

Soon, Little Finger and Gao Gong went their separate ways. Little Finger mobilized his network to search for desert worm traces in Scavenger City and even further urban areas.

Gao Gong, meanwhile, decided to deal with the desert worms in the heavy metal swamp first.

Both of them were acting with a sense of urgency. According to Little Finger, forcing the Mechanical Hunters to hunt Radiation Beasts was only the first step. Soon, the Security Corps would organize the Mechanical Hunters into armed squads to hunt roaming wild beasts.

Once organized into squads, their actions would be considerably less free.

Puff

With a slight gunshot, a mud pit suddenly exploded near a metal worm, startling the large creature, which quickly burrowed into the swamp.

"Damn it!"

Gao Gong gritted his teeth. He hadn't felt it at first, but once the desert worms "knew" they were being hunted, the hunt became extremely difficult.

These worms would burrow into mud pits at the slightest scare. The deeper these mud pits were dug, the more metal content they contained, with some areas being as hard as metal.

Even excavators would be useless.

Except for the five caught on the first day, Gao Gong's catch had been decreasing daily. By the third day, he had spent the entire day and only caught one.

Apart from a few large worms, his catch over the past few days had been almost zero.

And from what he understood, Little Finger's catch was even worse than his own.

"I don't know why you're so set on catching these big worms, but your current state of mind isn't suitable for work."

Huang Yuanli, usually carefree, was surprisingly serious. She sat up and said earnestly:

"You should rest for a bit. I'll ask around in the tribe later to see if there's a better way to get these worms."

Gao Gong took a deep breath, letting the rusty-smelling cold air fill his lungs before exhaling. He then looked at her with surprise.

"You actually care about people?"

"Nonsense, I'm older than you," Huang Yuanli rolled her eyes. "You should call me 'sister'."

"Oh, right, this is a new flavor of lollipop. Want to try it?"

"New flavor? Give it here!"

Huang Yuanli's eyes lit up, and she snatched the lollipop from Gao Gong's hand.

"Is that all 'sister' does?" Gao Gong chuckled sinisterly and rubbed the top of her head with his palm. He had to admit, with her height, it was quite convenient.

"Hey! I'm warning you! If you dare touch my head again, I'll let the bees bite your butt!"

Huang Yuanli immediately bristled, her face turning red as she bared her teeth at him fiercely.

"Let's head back. Looks like this is all we'll catch today," Gao Gong stretched and said, "Let's call it an early day."

"Exactly, work and rest should be balanced. You can't cut corners in life. If you get addicted to walking a tightrope, you'll fall sooner or later. That's what our professor told me."

Along the way, to prove her elder sister demeanor, Huang Yuanli, while licking the lollipop, lectured him in a mature tone.

"Listen to your sister, and sister will guarantee you..."

Gao Gong's expression suddenly changed. He bent down, scooped up Huang Yuanli, and at full speed, covered over ten meters in seconds, rolling into an abandoned house.

"Mmmph—"

Huang Yuanli's mouth was covered tightly. She thought he was going to get beastly and drag her into the woods to do something to her. However, in the next moment, she no longer thought that.

It was the first time she had seen Gao Gong so tense.

Then, her pupils widened dramatically, and her body trembled uncontrollably.

A dense cloud of dust and smoke billowed everywhere. The high-intensity light pollution from radiation diffusion flickered like breathing. The intense heat, like facing a volcano's crater, and the scorching flames spewing from the dust and smoke, melted everything in their path, turning metal trees and concrete ground alike into liquid.

The strong energy fluctuations made it impossible to see the monster's true form. Looking directly at it was like looking directly at the sun.

And it itself was a mobile, miniature nuclear explosion.

The two gritted their teeth. Those few seconds felt like an hour, or even a day.

When the 'nuclear explosion' finally moved away, Huang Yuanli's eyes had rolled back, her limbs trembled involuntarily, and white foam spewed from her mouth.

Gao Gong's expression changed. He quickly put down his backpack, fumbled for a radiation needle, and injected it directly into her neck.

Huang Yuanli finally came to her senses, abruptly covered her mouth, crawled out of Gao Gong's embrace, and found a sewer opening to retch.

"Gag, gag gag—"

Gao Gong also felt uncomfortable. It was like having a swarm of cockroaches stuffed into his clothes.

He opened his status panel—

[Severe Radiation Status: All attributes -50%, Duration 10 days, with a chance of causing cell mutation, severe organ damage, accompanied by anemia, lesions, premature aging, and other conditions]

Gao Gong shook his head and took out a radiation needle, injecting it into himself.

Soon, this condition changed.

[Mild Radiation Status: All attributes -10%, Duration 3 days, causing mild nausea, blurred vision, and arrhythmia]

Huang Yuanli finally finished vomiting everything she could. She wiped the sweat from her brow and stammered, "What was that just now—"

"At least B+, very likely A-class."

Whether B+ or A-class, they are referred to as "boss leaders" among players. This means these monsters possess sufficiently large genetic territories where they command a group of bosses with the same genetic attributes. The biggest difference between them and S-class monsters is that they haven't taken that final step.

Taking that step means breaking through the limits of Tier 2 and reaching the Tier 3 level.

Generally speaking, monsters above level 60 are also called "planetary monsters."

Huang Yuanli's calves trembled, and she couldn't even stand. "But this is clearly a low-risk area."

According to the scavengers, normal city areas are divided into low-risk, medium-risk, and high-risk zones.

High-risk zones are guaranteed to have an A-class monster.

In Scavenger City, there are officially two A-class monsters: the "Crimson Queen" in the Red Lantern district and the "Mechanical Fortress" in the Metal district.

The Red Lantern district, where the former resides, is a recognized no-go zone; even aircraft flying overhead would be shot down by the Queen.

The latter, on the other hand, is the source of one-third of Scavenger City's Mech-Bio Beasts.

If nothing unexpected happens, Scavenger City will soon have another high-risk zone designated.

Even if the other party isn't A-class, it's definitely on the verge of evolving.

"You should be glad it was an A-class monster. In its eyes, we're nothing but ants. If it were a B-class or C-class Radiation Beast, it probably would have attacked us on the spot."

Gao Gong let out a breath, his mood heavy. "Let's go. From now on, any district in Scavenger City will be dangerous."

The two proceeded back to the city with extreme caution, stopping and starting. Gao Gong released his Head-Dog, and Huang Yuanli released her Electronic Bees. They continued only after confirming they were completely safe.

It wasn't until they reached the city's outskirts that Huang Yuanli's expression relaxed. She opened her mouth, wanting to say something.

However, her expression quickly changed again because the Electronic Bees she had released had returned, and they brought back another Electronic Bee.

The two Electronic Bees flew and intertwined, as if transmitting something.

Huang Yuanli's face changed drastically, and she instinctively grabbed Gao Gong's arm. "This is bad, our tribe members are surrounded by monsters."

Scavenger City isn't entirely surrounded by a concrete jungle. Before the mechanical war, it was a famous tourist city, preserving the oldest forest areas on this planet. After the war, that ancient forest also became a rarely visited forbidden zone.

The off-road vehicle accelerated, charging into the forest along the dilapidated asphalt road.

The road to the forest was already difficult to navigate, full of potholes. Fortunately, the degree of mutation here wasn't too high, at least not completely blocking the road.

"Is it this direction?"

"That's right, the Electronic Bees said it's here."

Gao Gong glanced at the electronic bee on her palm, wondering how they communicated. Neural sensing? Exotic domestication? Or biological transmission?

The trees on both sides grew taller and taller, their branches intertwining between them, like two rows of high walls standing between heaven and earth.

Gao Gong inexplicably thought of the term "megalophobia."

Soon, Gao Gong saw a corpse on the road. The corpse's eyes were rolled back, and it was cut in half at the waist, its intestines spilling onto the ground.

The further they went, the more corpses they saw. All of them were chopped into pieces. Some corpses' nerves hadn't completely died, causing their limbs to twitch.

Huang Yuanli suddenly covered her mouth.

"We can't go any further!"

At a bend in the road, Gao Gong slammed on the brakes, picked up his sniper rifle, and some equipment Huang Yuanli had never seen before.

Previously, Gao Gong had been holding back to let his hand injuries heal. Now, two weeks later, the previous injuries were mostly recovered.

Seeing Gao Gong draw the large saber he used when they first met, he cut a large opening in the wall of trees with a few swift slashes. For some reason, Huang Yuanli suddenly felt a strong sense of security.

The two took a detour, climbing up a hill. After climbing about a hundred meters, screams and shouts could be heard.

"I'll go up and take a look."

Gao Gong flicked his Steel Rope Claw, hooking onto a tree branch as thick as a thigh. In just a few moves, he climbed up. Using the same method, he quickly ascended to the treetop. His right eyelid blinked rapidly, activating the aiming mode. His vision magnified, passing through leaves and bushes, and locating the highway.

He saw more than twenty people wearing animal skins, hiding behind makeshift cover, firing rifles towards the distance.

The ones at the forefront were particularly tall, at least two meters in height, wielding steel bars and hammers. Whenever the Mech-Bio Beasts charged forward, they would rush out and push them back.

And behind them, several girls about Huang Yuanli's height stood with their eyes tightly shut. Above them, more than a dozen Metal Sparrows circled. Whenever the situation at the front became unstable, these sparrows would charge like small fighter jets, repelling the enemies.

Gao Gong pushed his vision to its limit and finally got a clear look at the monsters ahead.

Hmm, old acquaintances.