City 048

"Haha, I don't know why, but I just like going toe-to-toe with monsters. That's what makes a fight exciting—it gets my blood pumping," Sett said.

The group set off again. Under the moonlight, they occasionally heard monsters howling, but Sett and Luo Feng had gotten used to the Wilderness Zone.

"If we follow this highway, we should get there in about two days," Chen Fan said.

All five of them were at least intermediate-level Martial Artists. Even carrying packs full of gear, they could walk over a hundred kilometers in a night.

And that was without counting the times they had to fight off monsters blocking the way.

Dawn was breaking, and after walking all night, the five of them were exhausted.

"There's a village over there. Let's find a room and get some rest." Chen Fan spotted an abandoned village in the fields not far away.

After leaving the dilapidated highway, they walked through the overgrown fields, watching their footing.

Venomous insects and snakes hid in the grass, ready to strike a deadly blow at any moment.

"Watch out!" Yang Hui, with his sharp eyes, shouted.

He raised his sniper rifle and quickly aimed at a patch of grass, lightly squeezing the trigger.

Bang! The bullet shot from the barrel at supersonic speed and hit the snake hiding in the grass.

The snake's body convulsed violently where it had been hit. It writhed in agony, flicking its tongue and thrashing its head.

Yang Hui fired again, blowing its head apart.

The dead snake was green and, unlike other monsters, wasn't huge. It was only two meters long, easily hidden in the waist-high grass.

"I almost got bitten by that damn snake. That would've been a real problem," Chen Fan said in surprise, looking at its corpse not far from him.

Getting bitten by a venomous snake in the wilderness was a serious problem. Martial Artists had fast metabolisms, but the snakes had mutated too, and their venom had grown increasingly potent.

One wrong move, and you could die out in the wilderness.

"Brother Yang, that was some shooting," Luo Feng said quickly.

"Heh, it was nothing." Yang Hui was a little bashful, though his aim really was excellent.

Zhao Yong walked over to the snake's corpse, glanced at it, then kicked it. "Just a low-level Beast Soldier venomous snake. I can't even be bothered to skin it. Let's hurry up and find somewhere to rest."

After the snake's ambush, the five of them became even more cautious.

Fortunately, they made it through the grass without further incident and reached the abandoned village.

"Let's use this one. We can rest inside." Chen Fan pointed to a relatively decent two-story house nearby.

Creak—the iron gate groaned as they pushed it open. The house had been abandoned for decades and was already falling to pieces.

"I'm still feeling pretty alert, so I'll keep watch first. We'll switch later. Go get some rest." Chen Fan told the others.

The other four didn't waste time. They climbed to the second floor, quickly swept the floor, ate something, and went to sleep.

Out in the wilderness, their nerves were always taut or close to it. The four of them had barely closed their eyes before they were almost asleep; a whole night of high-intensity travel had left them exhausted.

Chen Fan sat nearby, wiping down his spear while listening for any sounds in the surrounding area. At the first sign of trouble, he would wake the others.

The other four had fallen asleep in their gear, their weapons within arm's reach, ready to fight at any moment.

Fortunately, there weren't many monsters nearby, and the Hunting Gun Squad went undisturbed all day.

When dusk approached, Luo Feng woke the other four. After eating some compressed biscuits, drinking water, and resting for a few minutes, they set off again.

The Hunting Gun Squad followed the road beneath their feet along the ruined highway.

Every so often, they encountered monsters blocking the way. Chen Fan usually left them to Luo Feng and Sett, helping the two improve their combat skills.

After Zhao Yong's lessons, Luo Feng had improved rapidly. He now knew how to kill monsters quickly instead of fighting them like an opponent in a ring.

This wasn't a movie. There was no need for flashy moves to entertain an audience. A real killing blow took only an instant—and that instant could decide life or death.

Luo Feng's blade work grew cleaner and more decisive, and he became increasingly skilled at using his Micro-level footwork.

As for Sett, Chen Fan didn't even know what to teach him. The guy was immensely strong, and when he fought monsters, it was like watching two monsters fight. He was wild through and through.

Luckily, Sett's fists were hard enough that few monsters could withstand more than a couple of punches. His approach was simple and brutal.

Finally, on the third day, the five of them reached City 048.

Before the Great Nirvana, City 048 had been a third-tier city. It wasn't especially large or small, but its urban area stretched for over a hundred kilometers and teemed with monsters.

An outskirts district could be claimed by a single low-level Beast General and a handful of streets. The powerful monsters in the urban center were usually Intermediate or Advanced Beast Generals. As for downtown and the CBD, even Lord-level monsters could be found there.

"We'll set up in the outskirts for a few days and help Luo Feng and Sett get into the swing of things. Once we're working well together, we'll head into the city and hunt Intermediate Beast General monsters," Chen Fan explained.

For some reason, monsters seemed to love abandoned cities. The monsters in the wilderness were usually not very powerful, and Beast General-level monsters were even rarer in the Wilderness Zone.

On the journey from the military district to City 048, the only Beast General-level monster the five of them had encountered was the Blue-Blooded Deer on the first day. The strongest they had met since then had only been an Advanced Beast Soldier.

That was why Martial Artist squads went into abandoned cities to hunt monsters.

The strongest monster in an ordinary county was only at the Beast General level. As for the legendary City 003, Beast Generals were everywhere and Lord-level monsters were as common as dogs. Even Advanced War Generals wouldn't dare enter City 003.

Of course, City 048 was more than enough for the Hunting Gun Squad to hunt in. After all, even the city center had Lord-level monsters.

The Hunting Gun Squad entered this residential complex along the banks of the Binjiang.

"Bet there's a filthy ditch nearby," Sett joked when he saw the name.

After all, developers back then would call a place a river-view residence even if there was a filthy ditch next door. If there was a subway station a few kilometers away, they'd still claim it was right outside your door.

The group chose the tallest apartment building beside the road. The five of them ran up its thirty-three floors in just a few minutes.

Once they reached the rooftop, the Hunting Gun Squad quickly set down their packs. "Yang Hui, get some rest first. We'll keep watch," Chen Fan told him.

The other four paired off and used binoculars to scan the streets for monsters.

The Hunting Gun Squad's main tactic was to rely on Yang Hui's precise sniping, then have the other four rush down to finish off the monsters and collect the spoils.

This was usually the main tactic of other squads as well.

After all, there were so many monsters in abandoned cities that it would be foolish to fight them in the middle of the street.

Naturally, the captain wanted Yang Hui to rest first and conserve his strength. There was no rush—Yang Hui could take a shot once the others found a suitable target.

There were simply too many monsters in City 048, even in the outskirts.

Sett had been lying on the rooftop for half an hour and had already seen several groups of monsters.

On the street, two groups of monsters faced off from a short distance away. The leaders of both sides were low-level Beast Generals.

One was a wild boar with two huge tusks; the other was a gigantic wolf.

Dozens of Beast Soldiers stood behind each Beast General, howling as they followed their respective leaders.

"Brother Chen, look over here!" Sett noticed something strange about the two groups of monsters and quickly called Chen Fan, who had been watching in the other direction.

"Let me see." Chen Fan came over to Sett and raised the binoculars, looking where Sett pointed.

"Looks like these two groups are about to fight," Chen Fan said.

"What, monsters fight too? And in groups?" Luo Feng asked in surprise when he heard him.

"It's normal for monsters to fight each other for survival. We Martial Artists haven't killed as many monsters as they've killed among themselves.

"Look at those two groups down there. They're clearly fighting over territory. There's less competition in the outskirts, so even a low-level Beast General can have dozens of monster underlings," Chen Fan said with a shrug.

Monsters had to eat too. What's more, after mutating, they had become quite intelligent. Beast Generals had the intelligence of human grade-schoolers.

Naturally, they also fought over territory. The two groups below were doing exactly that, and their leaders were preparing to clash.

More than a hundred Beast Soldiers howled wildly. Nearby monsters that had been wandering alone heard them and scattered, leaving the area.

The two monster leaders howled at each other, ready to attack at any moment.

At last, after ten minutes of facing off, the Grey Wolf let out a howl, and its underlings charged forward.