The Sooner You Buy, the Sooner You Enjoy

He was curious about George's world, but being held there meant he couldn't learn much more about it. From George's behavior, it seemed he was taking the opportunity to recruit people. He wasn't very interested in ordinary humans, but he paid close attention to beings with nonhuman features.

Maybe beings like that naturally had some special passive abilities?

For one thing, George, standing in front of him in this world's police uniform, probably had a sense of smell no worse than an ordinary dog's.

So Zheng Yichen decided to make a run for it. Once he got back to Longcheng and got his license, he could look into anomalies and moonlight as a civilian Mist Walker. He refused to believe that every other strange phenomenon in the fog would have him ending up in handcuffs the moment he arrived.

"Leaving? Then go ahead," George said. He was mainly trying to recruit people with specialized traits, not someone like Zheng Yichen. People with those traits were in high demand in many industries here. The one with scales, for instance, would be a perfect fit for work related to the ocean.

As for humans like Zheng Yichen... They could stay, too, but there were simply too many humans.

One more made no difference, and one less wouldn't be missed.

So Zheng Yichen was escorted back to where he'd come from, and the things they'd confiscated were returned to him. "You can walk through and come back without any trouble, but if you're gone for more than half an hour, coming back is a violation."

George warned him. Zheng Yichen went straight into the fog. Looking around, he saw that this time his luck wasn't as good: he hadn't ended up somewhere familiar, but in a place where the air was extremely damp. He could make out several moving figures in the mist.

Nearby lay several motionless "people," all covered in scales. In this environment, Zheng Yichen could clearly feel another change in his "body's sensations." In George's world, he'd felt that his body was unusually "lively." Here, it was the environment that felt "lively."

He could even vaguely sense the "water vapor" in the air—not just the ordinary feeling of a humid environment.

"..." Without stopping, Zheng Yichen backed away and left. He did want to explore further, but for now, his priority was getting back to the world where he'd spent so long living after transmigrating.

"Oh? Did you take a wrong turn?" George said, raising an eyebrow when Zheng Yichen returned.

"I'm curious. If you want to recruit people, why not go over there and recruit them directly?"

"That wouldn't work," George replied bluntly. "Anyone who can't pass through a rift on their own has poor adaptability."

"Got it." Zheng Yichen ran back into the fog. Watching him go, George's doglike face took on a thoughtful expression. Other people who could cross the rifts were exhausted after making the trip back and forth once in quick succession. That fatigue was mostly due to the pressure exerted by the rifts.

Yet Zheng Yichen didn't look tired at all. Was his adaptability exceptionally good, or was he hiding his true abilities?

George didn't see Zheng Yichen return a third time.

The second time, Zheng Yichen made it back to Longcheng. He couldn't help reflecting that only the areas where rifts appeared were covered in fog in George's world, whereas Longcheng was known for being foggy all year round. Could the fog here have anything in common with the fog around the rifts?

Zheng Yichen didn't know, but he did know that Longcheng was definitely a place where "rifts" appeared frequently.

After returning, Zheng Yichen immediately found somewhere to hide. He stayed there until the security officers who'd sealed off the site "found" him and chased him away. They were quite impatient with him. Once the scene was sealed off, the civilian Mist Walkers had started playing hide-and-seek.

They still hadn't found everyone. On top of that, they had to rescue Mist Walkers who'd fainted near the anomalies and clear out the Abnormal Creatures active in the area. As for those unconscious Mist Walkers, a hefty rescue bill would be waiting for them afterward.

The ones who were still awake were simply chased away. There was no need to confiscate their equipment. The fog-bound anomalies in Longcheng weren't exactly a secret; all they had to do was keep the internet under control. Besides, thanks to these civilian Mist Walkers, local research into the anomalies had made quite a few major breakthroughs.

When enough people were filming, someone was bound to capture something that was usually hard to catch.

After bluffing his way through, Zheng Yichen let out a small sigh of relief and put away his phone.

Night Banquet Bar.

The bartender glanced at Zheng Yichen as he walked in, raising an eyebrow. "You didn't bring a chicken this time. You brought a few Giant Rats?"

"What's wrong with Giant Rats? They're mutated, too." Zheng Yichen gave the bag in his hand a shake.

"All right, follow me." The bartender looked away from the bag. Zheng Yichen had cleaned the Giant Rats before bringing them in, so they didn't give off any strange odors. That was a considerate touch.

He took Zheng Yichen to the back of the bar, put on a pair of gloves, and checked the Giant Rats again. The bartender looked rather surprised. "You've got good technique. Every one of them was killed with a single strike."

Each Giant Rat had a fatal wound that went straight through its head. It hadn't been made by a gun, but by something like a spear. Giant Rats moved quickly, so anyone capable of piercing one cleanly through the head had to be quite skilled. If Zheng Yichen really had done it, the bartender had to admit he'd underestimated the young man.

Once he confirmed that the evidence was in order, the bartender promptly pulled up the photos he'd taken earlier, printed out a license, and stamped it. After laminating it, he handed it to Zheng Yichen. "Starting today, you're a 'Hunter.' I hope you make it far down this path."

Those who didn't make it far were dead.

Getting the license wasn't complicated. This world was in the internet age, after all. How hard could it be to get a certificate?

Zheng Yichen took out his phone. "I've also got a close-up video of an anomaly. Do you buy those?"

"Hm? Was it the anomaly that appeared yesterday? The exact value depends on how much useful information you captured." The bartender brought out a sheet listing the purchase prices for anomaly footage, from twenty yuan to two million. Its value depended on what had been filmed near the anomaly, how clear the footage was, and so on.

Zheng Yichen showed him part of the video, including some footage of George emerging from the fog. He'd filmed it on his phone, so the image quality naturally wasn't as good as footage shot on professional equipment. Still, George was a giant dog-headed man...

"You're in luck. Videos like this usually start at fifty thousand." The bartender didn't ask where the rest of the footage was. He simply named a price. "You can sell it to another research institute if you like. We don't specialize in buying this sort of video. If we act as your agent, we'll take a five percent commission. You might think that's a bit steep, but we're absolutely trustworthy."

"Just like that? Could you explain in more detail?" Just filming George's face could fetch that much? Wouldn't professional equipment make the price skyrocket?

The bartender smiled faintly and tossed the gloves he'd just taken off into the trash. "If you want to know more, you'll have to pay for the information. Prices range from five thousand to five hundred thousand."

"Of course, you can always investigate on your own. When it comes to buying information, the sooner you buy, the sooner you enjoy it."