Mystical Journey

A distance away from Leo City, an abandoned highway among the remote hills.

At this moment, a team of men in short braids, riding on red motorcycles was hollering. They were making weird sounds as they whipped the metal chains in the air, constantly forming shadows hovering above their heads.

“Woo!”

“We discovered a new town, hahaha!!”

“Seems like we now have new food!”

“Eat! Eat! Eat!” Someone yelled.

On the leading motorcycle, there was a man with the longest whip in his hands. His eyes were slightly swollen, his skin a pasty white. The weird thing was that the braid behind him was different from the others. His black whip seemed to be moving faintly like a living creature, slowly crawling about his neck.

“It’s been five days since we have eaten, I’m so hungry…” The leading man muttered.

A passerby on a motorcycle slowly moved in the direction of the small town in front, and the town nearby just happened to be the rival of Leo City — Vulture City.

The leader of the town was a strong, conceited man with a good hand in heavy artillery skills.

“The hog we captured just yesterday had said, there are still five towns ahead in front of this region. Most of them survive by relying on garbage rummaging. The town was pretty big, about two-three hundred population. Seems like we will be able to eat some good food!” A motorcycle at the edge picked up its speed, laughing and exchanged smiles with the leader of the group.

“Take care of the town first!” The Chief raised his right arm up. His fingers were as red as blood, sharp and slender, just like five razor-sharp miniature daggers.

“Forward!” He suddenly shouted. It was followed by a strong enormous sound wave that erupted from his throat. The entire surface of the road shook ferociously.

A small town in the distance, under the morning sun at the observatory, a sentinel quickly rang the electronic alarm.

The continuous beeping sound of the alarm spread in all directions.

The collection team and the hunting team who were still out working around the area speedily returned.

The town was a mess. The leader was a brawny man with short hair, who was swiftly making his way up to the observatory. He took the electronic binoculars and looked towards the side.

“It’s the hunters…” The brawny man muttered.

“Hunters?!! Don’t they just roam around the northeast area? Why would they suddenly come here!” The deputy, who was by the edge, jumped in shock and hurriedly asked.

“Maybe something happened there, perhaps some other reasons. These monsters were prowling around the area. It’s no surprise that they made it here,” the brawny man flung the binoculars to the deputy. “See for yourself.”

He turned to glance at the dozen of young adults who had begun with manpower preparations for the upcoming battle.

“Prepare for battle!”

“Huo!”

The people below raised their firearms, and weapons one by one in response.

“Boss, we’ve never battled the hunters. Should we go seek backup from the other towns?” The deputy started to feel anxious.

“What are you afraid of? I’m here!” The brawn man cast a glance of annoyance towards him.

Hunters, a unique race of the radiation belt, are classified as the humans who were infected by the radiation disease. They practice cannibalism; they are brutal, temperamental, and powerful. However, most of their character had been affected by their instinctive desire to eat. Therefore, their characteristics are a mess – they only know how to attack with instinct. As for slightly complicated logical operations, they have trouble understanding and carrying out simple actions.

The radiation belt had the highest number of hunters. People who were driven out of the region after being infected by the radiation disease were everywhere. Eventually, they became hunters. This ratio would constitute up to 60%, and as for the rest, they were either dead or objects of exploitations. It would be relatively rare, especially for a normal human, to have the ability to survive.

The most barbarous thing was that hunters do not have a long lifeline. They only have just about five to six years. In spite of that, their fecundity was extremely frightening. Comparable to spiders, hunters are able to give birth to five or six, seven or eight, even at least ten children at once. Not only that, once someone became a hunter, their body would carry a forceful virus which would be sufficient to infect a normal radioactive person to become the same kind of low-class hunter. This was the most horrible part.

Fecundity, coupled with the pollution, was a major key to hunters being able to survive in this era of science and technology.

In fact, they were the highest population in the radiation belt. Normally, radioactive people would build up many defense systems to not only resist the threat of ubiquitous mutated insects but also to guard against them.

Boom!

A deafening sound of explosion blasted, severely hitting the army of hunters not far away.

The huge impact force of the explosion overturned the abandoned road, ripping off the cement road mercilessly. Blocks of cement hit the hunters on their head but only left minor wounds before it bounced away weakly.

Few of the hunters taking the lead were sporting a bloody face. Wiping their face grimly, they let out a higher-pitched howl. Even their glares toward the town in the distance became more murderous.

“Kill!”

“Eat!”

The group of people growled. Some of them only knew a few simple word pronunciations.

The entire team was about twenty people. With that, the army formed into the shape of two serpents, and they dashed towards the small town at full speed.

With a ‘bang’, another long-ranged explosion landed, breaking the ground. A hunter was hit by the pieces of rocks and his body burst open on the spot. A mixture of flesh and blood splashed in all directions; the battle had officially begun.

*******************

Leo Town.

East Perrin looked down at the sand model before her.

The two deputies were crouching by her side, sharing the same frown while staring at the sand model.

The three of them were the strongest in the entire Leo Town. Both deputies were Level Two Willpower Masters whereas East Perrin was a Level Three Master. That was also one of the vital reason to why she became the leader of Leo Town.

“Adger who was on patrol duty earlier came over to report that he had spotted sight of hunters roaming about in the Northeast side. I didn’t believe it until Xiao Dong, who just came by, reporting that they have gotten complete pictures of hunters rushing in the direction of Vulture Town. They were almost caught by the hunters too. Imagine if they had been discovered by these monsters, these kids would definitely not be able to make it back!” The deputy, Caster said solemnly.

“How many were there roughly?” East Perrin placed her index finger in her mouth and began biting them slowly.

“Looking at the picture, there should be at least twenty of them,” Caster replied.

The other deputy, Mellon was a much older man with a beard that had faint white glows from within.

“I had once encountered a hunter in a small town somewhere in the East. They may be mad, but they have a strong physique. Some of the stronger ones are even good enough to fight against the mutated beasts, though their lifeline is pretty short. The worst thing is, hunters are cannibals so there will simply be no negotiations. They only kill!”

“What about their fighting power?” Caster asked.

“It’s tough, but as long as two Level Two hunters don’t show up at the same time, the others should not be a major difficulty. They’re afraid of firearms, so just take note of the number. It is mainly those Level Two or above hunters who would have the Hardened Skin Ability. Other than explosions, there’s no other way that you can defeat them!” Mellon shrugged reluctantly, “Thinking back to that year when the hunters attacked the town, I still shudder with fear.”

“What do you guys think? Will the Vulture Town be able to hold them down?” East Perrin whispered.

“I don’t know…” Mellon shook his head, “If there are no Level Two hunters, they should be alright. However, if there is… I’m afraid we must be prepared to face a vast amount of hunters. Their rate of pollution is pretty quick…”

What Mellon said sent chills down East Perrin’s, and Caster’s spines.

“Hopefully the Vulture Town is able to hold them down!” East Perrin stood up, “Immediately release the surveillance drones over Vulture Town. Energy consumption doesn’t matter. This is not the time to save money!”

“Alright, I shall start arranging everything,” Mellon nodded.

“Don’t forget to check the weapons storage — how many energy batteries do we still have, how much stock for bullets do we still have. Send a few people from the processing workshop.”

“The processing workshop has only one automatic bullet production line. Sending people over won’t increase production, because only two thousand bullets can be produced within a day. On the other hand, energy batteries are better stocked in comparison. I’m just worried that the ray gun isn’t strong enough…” Mellon let out a wry smile.

“We can’t possibly expect everyone to step up with a blade and fight, right?” East Perrin was getting slightly irritated.

“What about the other towns?” Caster asked quietly, “If we really can’t do it, why not retreat?”

“Retreat?” East Perrin was also considering this dilemma. With Mellon, the old encyclopedia by her side, they had a clear understanding of the hunters’ strength and what the hunters were capable of. However, if there were even just two Level Two hunters among the twenty other hunters, they were all in deep trouble. In reality, Level Two hunters were the equivalent of two heavily-armed standard Mechs. Even though this was just a theoretical comparison, a Level Two Pilot would definitely be stronger than a Level Two hunter.

While the three of them were hesitating, a pager rang from Caster’s waist.

“Uncle Caster! A hunter just turned up!!” Noises could be heard from the other side.

“A lot of… A lot!!””Run! Back to town!”

“Oh my God! There must be at least fifty or sixty of them!!”

Voices were mixed together, and the three of them were seemingly frowning more and more.

“What is going on there? Talk!” Caster yelled.

“They’re everywhere in this town! The town has been surrounded! The whole town has been surrounded! Oh my God!” The one holding onto the pager replied loudly.

The trio swiftly ran out of the room and approached the observatory to look towards the distance.

Just one glance and the trio was completely shocked.

The town was packed with hunters everywhere. Their eyes were swollen, skin a shade of ghastly pale white, black hair with short braids at the back. Each of them was agile and seemed healthy. Some of them even had their disgusting saliva drooling from their mouths.

From all corners of Leo Town, the collection team and the hunting team had returned. About thirty of them poured into the town and instantly, the construction of Leo Town’s war fortress was resumed.

Steel gates were fiercely dropped down against the ground.

Soon, the entire town formed a cylindrical dark gray fortress. The fences and gates were made from a thick layer of alloy that was as thick as a palm. Above the fence stood thirty young men who were holding their weapons, looking downwards.

A lot of them shared a look of nervous, but most of them had a natural expression. Although they had never come into contact with the hunters, they had experienced a lot of battles, and they were confident in each other.

The three leaders were calm and confident too, standing on the observatory with composure. This motivated them and brought them the confidence to fight.

“Attack!” East Perrin raised her arm, shouting into the megaphone handed by the deputy.

Bang bang bang!

A series of gunshots began.

A few hunters were knocked onto the ground, blood oozing out of their heads.

These hunters did not seem to have a leader, but neither did they seem hungry. They were just wandering around dazed. At this moment, forced by the sound of gunshots, they stopped in their tracks, surveying the whole town.

Woo!

Suddenly, a dramatic high-pitched whistling sound could be heard from the distance. It seemed as if a hunter was howling.

“It’s a Level Two hunter!!” Mellon’s expression paled immediately.

East Perrin and Caster also felt that the whole situation had just gotten even more complicated.

“What do we do?!” Caster looked at East Perrin.

“What’s the speed for hunters?” East Perrin asked in a low tone.

“Really fast, we probably can’t outrun them,” Mellon shook his head.