First Meeting with Cheng Xiaoyu

The mission hall of the S City Hunter Association headquarters was much larger than Z City's.

A giant electronic screen continuously refreshed various mission information.

Hunters either gathered in groups of three to five to discuss, or hurried to complete procedures alone.

Xu Feng's gaze quickly scanned the screen.

He needed an opportunity to get a foothold in the S City underground city ecosystem.

At the same time, he wanted to understand the general standard of the underground cities here.

"C-Class underground city 'Gloomy Ant Nest' walkthrough mission, Location:

Under Building 3 of the abandoned industrial park in the western suburbs. Requires two or more hunters of any class to join. Reward: Base 200,000, distributed by contribution.

Recruiting..."

"This one it is."

Xu Feng walked to the counter, reported the mission number, and registered his information as "Archer, low-level B-Class Hunter."

A B-Class rating was enough to earn respect from most teams.

Moreover, an archer was relatively low-key, making it difficult to expose his true combat style.

After leaving the association, he went to the Hunter's Supply Store and spent two million to purchase a decent quality C-Class magic longbow and several pots of specially made arrows.

The bow was entirely dark silver, engraved with simple wind-element enchantment patterns, which could slightly increase the arrow's speed and stability.

For him, a pseudo-archer, it was more than enough.

Following the mission instructions, he arrived at a desolate, abandoned industrial park in the western suburbs.

Rusted steel frames, broken glass, and overgrown empty lots.

It was a scene of utter desolation.

Building 3 was a gray, unfinished concrete frame that had been abandoned midway. Several figures were already gathered at the underground entrance.

Xu Feng approached, his gaze swept over them, and he froze slightly, his eyes narrowing.

Wait...

Is that Cheng Xiaoyu?!!

He saw a familiar figure, identical to the appearance of Cheng Xiaoyu from the manga in his memory fragments!

Thin build, standing tall, a head of black messy hair, his eyes calm yet sharp, his jawline distinctively sharp and angular.

This was indeed Cheng Xiaoyu.

The protagonist of this world!!!

Cheng Xiaoyu also saw Xu Feng. Their eyes met for a moment before shifting away.

Cheng Xiaoyu merely nodded slightly, acknowledging the greeting.

A young man stood beside him, wearing...

Well, very conspicuous equipment.

So conspicuous that he looked like a flashbang just standing there.

Xu Feng admitted his eyes were momentarily blinded.

Golden shoulder pads, bracers inlaid with various colored gems, and even the scabbard of the sword at his waist was intricately carved with complex patterns, faintly reflecting light even in the dim environment.

The man had an expression somewhere between curiosity and excitement, his eyes clear, like a college student who had been misled by his advisor.

"Hello! You guys were recruited too, right? My name is Liu Chenhao! D-Class Hunter, Swordsman!"

The golden youth greeted them proactively, his voice full of energy.

"I want to experience what a real walkthrough feels like!"

Cheng Xiaoyu stated concisely: "Cheng Xiaoyu, E-Class physical type hunter."

"Xu Feng, Archer."

Xu Feng also reported his information.

"Wow! A B-Class Hunter!" Liu Chenhao's eyes lit up upon hearing Xu Feng's rank, and his attitude became even more enthusiastic. "Brother Xu is amazing! With you here this time, it's definitely a sure thing!"

At this moment, the eight people who had been standing nearby walked over.

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The leader was a middle-aged man of average build, with a short beard and a rather shrewd look in his eyes. He wore a smile on his face.

"You are the hunters who applied, correct?

I am the Captain of this recruited team, Huang Dongshi, a C-Class Hunter, main attacker."

Seven people followed behind him, their equipment looking quite decent.

But Xu Feng glanced at them, his brow furrowing almost imperceptibly.

This team... the configuration is a bit strange.

Among the eight people, there wasn't a single Hunter who was clearly of the healing or support type.

They were all uniformly armed with weapons like swords and staffs, clearly geared towards offense, and the fluctuations in their magic power were mostly sharp and aggressive.

"Captain Huang, your team... doesn't have a healer or support?"

Xu Feng asked, seemingly casually.

The smile on Huang Dongshi's face froze for a moment, then he sighed, putting on a helpless expression:

"My friend, you might not know this.

Healers and support Hunters are already rare, and most of them are snapped up by those large expedition teams or chaebols.

For freelance teams like ours, who rely on taking on missions to make a living, it's hard to recruit them.

The enemies we usually encounter aren't particularly monstrous, so we can manage with potions and our own recovery abilities.

This mission target is a C-class underground city. We've assessed the risks and believe that with our current setup, plus the help of a few experts, it shouldn't be a problem."

His words were smooth, and his reasoning sounded plausible.

Hearing this, Xu Feng nodded in agreement, a look of understanding on his face.

But his experiences in the underground cities over the past month had made him wary of people's true intentions.

He could vaguely sense a certain restlessness beneath Huang Dongshi's smile, and a fleeting strangeness in the eyes of the team members behind him.

However, seeing the hypocritical smiles of Huang Dongshi and the others, Xu Feng didn't say anything.

On one hand, he had absolute confidence in his own strength. His B-class high-level evaluation was not for show; even without revealing his full power, he was confident he could handle most unexpected situations.

On the other hand...

He glanced at Cheng Xiaoyu, who stood silently beside him.

This was the protagonist, after all. According to the "plot," a mere trap in a C-class underground city shouldn't be able to stop him, right?

It would be a good opportunity to observe up close how this future Shadow Lord dealt with crises in his early days.

"I see."

Xu Feng nodded and didn't press further.

Seeing this, Huang Dongshi breathed a sigh of relief and became even more enthusiastic.

After all, with a B-class Hunter in their ranks, the success rate of the expedition would be higher.

And he was an archer, whose defensive capabilities were weak.

He secretly glanced at Xu Feng, then smiled and began to introduce the team members to Xu Feng and the others in detail.

Most of them were C-class and D-class offensive Hunters, with professions including fire mages, ice mages, swordsmen, bladesmen, and so on.

Xu Feng only vaguely caught most of the names, focusing more on observing their micro-expressions and body language.

These people, more or less, all had a wild streak about them.

Very similar to Jin Chang'en...

Cheng Xiaoyu, on the other side.

Xu Feng quietly sized him up.

At this moment, Cheng Xiaoyu was also staring at Huang Dongshi and the others, his brows furrowed.

Even as the protagonist, he wasn't completely brainless.

He had also noticed the abnormality of these people.

The corners of Xu Feng's mouth curved slightly upwards.

It seemed like a good show was about to unfold...

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