Shen Qian opened the mission scroll marked "Twilight" amidst the complicated looks of everyone.
This is a mission to hunt monsters.
This kind of mission is very common, but it is also recognized as one of the more dangerous tasks.
Because hunting monsters is only the established goal, but the situation in the restricted area is ever-changing, and what you often have to deal with is not just simple monsters.
Another one is that since the spiritual energy was revived, the monster's wisdom has been growing with the passage of time.
Nowadays, it is difficult to see traces of monsters near major cities.
The Dark Star Team accepted this twilight bounty, and the target of the mission was a monster called "Night Fin".
The requirement is to capture them alive, and the rating of night fins ranges from W to R.
This represents the lowest and highest strength of a monster like Nightfin.
Level W is the same level as the silver-dyed beast Shen Qian got from Wang Shuo, and its strength is roughly comparable to the peak of a human warrior.
The R-level is a full five levels higher than the W-level.
"If it is an R-class monster, we may have to give up more. It is already close to the mountains and seas. If we insist on hunting, the casualties will be relatively large."
Yuan You packed up the elixir and sat back down next to Shen Qian. She was obviously familiar with the mission content and spoke directly.
"However, both W-level and R-level are relatively rare. W-level is equivalent to a young child, while R-level represents the possibility of mutation. Generally speaking, T-level is the most common, which is comparable to the mid-level of a high-level warrior."
Shen Qian nodded slightly. In fact, he already knew all this, but there was no need to show anything more.
"Hey, do you have a partner?" Yuan You suddenly touched Shen Qian.
"Ah?" Shen Qian didn't expect the other party to change the topic so quickly. He was stunned for a moment and then nodded, "Yes."
"How many?" Yuan You smiled half-heartedly.
"...Where do you start talking about this?" Shen Qian asked seriously.
"Tch, before I left, I saw you sent a message. It seemed like there was more than one person?"
Yuan You came closer, almost pressing on Shen Qian, not hiding the curiosity in her beautiful eyes, "The style of those portraits belongs to young girls at first glance!"
Shen Qian was speechless, and at the same time he once again felt the pressure from the smart woman.
...No wonder men want to find someone stupid when they get married.
"We are here, so cheer up. Xiaowang Village is different from Santou Town. There are still some unexplored areas here."
He Weichen's voice suddenly sounded.
Shen Qian was the first to stand up, and for the first time he felt that the other person was actually a pretty good person.
Under He Weichen's baffled gaze, Yuan You bared her teeth at him.
The car door opened, but surprisingly there was no wind or sand.
Shen Qian followed Du Qiu out of the car. Seeing that there was nothing unusual, he simply took off his mask and squinted his eyes to look around.
The armored vehicle stopped on a hillside that sloped upward. At the bottom of the hillside, there was a flat area mixed with weeds and broken bricks. It continued forward, all the way around behind a mountain, until it was deep and invisible.
You can still see the wind and sand in the distance, but strangely, the area in front of you seems to be blocked and appears calm.
"It's normal. The climate in the restricted area changes at any time, but because the changes are so drastic, some vacuum areas will occasionally appear."
He Weichen seemed to notice Shen Qian's doubts and took the initiative to explain.
"This narrow area surrounded by low mountains is Xiaowang Village. According to scattered records, Xiaowang Village was a famous local mining village before the disaster. There are many mining tunnels in the village, so the terrain is far more complicated than it looks. Everyone Be sure to pay attention.”
Yuan You's voice rang in the headset, "We can only walk here. We will set off after lunch."
The armored vehicles and the logistics team stayed on the hillside. As for the newcomers such as Shen Qian, they voluntarily chose whether to follow them into the village.
Of course, no one chose to stay.
In fact, two to three high-level warriors are enough to be rewarded at dusk. This time, all the elite forces of the Dark Star Team are dispatched, with the intention of training the newcomers.
After everyone had a lunch of satiety pills and clear water, everyone walked into the ruins of Xiaowang Village.
"ah!"
Chen Peng suddenly screamed and watched helplessly as the black shadow rushed toward him at an unparalleled speed, but he was unable to make any reaction.
Bang!
There was a dull sound, and He Weichen stood in front of Chen Peng and punched the black figure away.
And Yang Ni's vigorous figure had already jumped out at the same time, and a silver net in her hand opened, instantly covering the black shadow.
Everything happened in an instant. Before most people could react, Yang Ni had already walked back carrying a silver net bag.
In the net bag is a creature with a body covered with barbs and a head that looks somewhat like a rabbit.
It was still struggling, and the silver net made a harsh friction sound.
"What is this?" Chen Peng was shocked.
"W-level monster, Shadow Rabbit." Shen Qian stared at the rabbit and said, "The lethality is only at the beginning of the middle martial arts level, but its speed can kill most of the peak middle martial artists in an instant."
"No wonder I didn't react..." Chen Peng breathed a sigh of relief, and the annoyance in his heart faded away, and he finally didn't feel too embarrassed.
"You've done quite well in your homework." Gu Yungao glanced at Shen Qian and said something unintelligible.
These common monsters are marked on the "Restricted Area Guide", and no one finds it strange.
Shen Qian was too lazy to pay attention to Gu Yungao. He had long noticed that the other party seemed to have some kind of hostility towards him, although he didn't know where it came from.
Just after walking a few steps into Xiaowang Village, they encountered a W-level monster, which also alerted everyone. He Weichen went to explore the way first and began to go deeper into Xiaowang Village more carefully.
Time continued to pass in dull silence.
Shen Qian looked up and saw that there was obviously no change in the clouds above and the light coming out, but for some reason, as everyone continued to dig deeper into the weeds, the surroundings continued to become darker.
Shen Qian felt it again. So far, neither the system nor the black scroll in his space ring had any reaction, and he became calm.
This shows that currently, there are no uncontrollable dangers in the Xiaowang Village area.
"wrong!"
At this time, He Weichen, who was waiting in front, motioned for everyone to pause and frowned.
In addition to being an intermediate hunter, he is also an intermediate scout, shouldering the responsibility of guidance and warning.
At this time, everyone was near a broken dry well. Looking back, they could no longer see the hillside at the entrance. There were mountains on both sides and mottled weeds everywhere.
In the silence, Yuan You seemed to have noticed something was wrong, and frowned, "There is something wrong."
"Why didn't I notice anything unusual?" Gu Yungao asked puzzledly.
"It's so peaceful, don't you think?"
He Weichen's sharp gaze swept around, "Except for the shadow rabbit I met when I first came in, I haven't seen any traces of monsters since then. Let alone monsters, the weather in this world seems to have frozen. It has actually remained an ordinary cloudy day..."
"This dry well is already a dividing line in the depths and should not be so peaceful."
Everyone wakes up.
Xiaowang Village is a red danger area marked on the map. How could it not be encountered at all?
"Everyone should be more vigilant, keep their weapons loaded, and be ready to deal with emergencies at any time."
He Weichen said, and first drew out a psychic gun.
Hunters are basically equipped with such guns. Although the thermal energy gun is relatively inflexible and has charging limitations, its instantaneous destructive power exceeds its own.
Gu Zifang, Ouyang Fei and Chen Peng also drew out a psychic gun. Of course, it was just an entry-level gun, but its destructive power was comparable to that of a middle-aged warrior.
Only Shen Qian just pulled out an ordinary alloy long knife.
"You didn't buy a psychic gun?" Yuan You was a little surprised.
"We don't have enough money, so we haven't considered it yet." Shen Qian smiled and explained simply.
Yuan You was a little strange. Although he didn't know the inside story, he was the top martial arts champion in the country, and the reward he could get was an astronomical sum. How could he have no money to buy a psychic gun?
But she didn't know that what Shen Qian said was actually the truth.
Ordinary psychic guns were of little significance to him. The one he had liked in the psychic store was ridiculously expensive, so Shen Qian really couldn't afford it for the time being.
Everyone walked slowly for more than ten minutes. The surrounding mountains became denser, and their eyes seemed to gradually turn into a corridor.
Shen Qian looked up and felt that the shape of the mountain walls was a bit strange, but he couldn't tell what was strange for a while.
"The scroll is starting to get hot."
At this time, Yuan You suddenly said.
Everyone was in awe.
There is a special magnetic card on the task scroll. Once it is close to the target area on the map, the temperature will rise to remind the person doing the task.
At this time, everyone finally passed through the narrow corridor, and a small open area appeared in front of them. Among the overgrown weeds, a pavilion and a stone sculpture suddenly appeared strangely.
Everyone was a little scared.
Because although the pavilion has some signs of dilapidation, the main building is intact, which is simply impossible in the restricted area.
The stone sculpture standing next to the pavilion is a little blurry, but it can be vaguely seen as a woman.
"Captain, have you seen... this?"
Yuan You looked solemn and asked what was the way of being a minister.
He Weichen shook his head and walked over step by step.
The Dark Star team has dispersed into a battle formation, watching the surroundings vigilantly.
Ouyang Fei, Gu Zifang and three other people were also affected by the atmosphere and became a little nervous for no reason, but Shen Qian remained relatively relaxed.
For no other reason, the system still didn't respond.
...Unless there is something beyond the system's perception here, there should still be no danger.
Just when Shen Qian was thinking this, Yang Ni in front suddenly let out an exclamation.
Everyone moved when they heard the news, but they all took aim at the spiritual energy.
Did I guess wrong?
Shen Qian was surprised at first, but then realized that there was no danger, but that Yang Ni seemed to have seen something that shocked her extremely.
After the alert was lifted, everyone gathered near the pavilion.
But on one side of the pavilion, in a low spot covered by weeds, there was a corpse of a big fish-like creature lying there.
This creature that is suspected of being a monster has colorful colors on its body, but at this time, perhaps due to the loss of vitality, those colors appear extremely dull.
In addition, it also has a pair of almost transparent wings as thin as cicada wings.
Just looking at the wings that shimmered with awe-inspiring colors, everyone felt a chill running down their spines. This was something that could make people realize how sharp it was just by looking at it.
"Nightfin!"
Yuan You also exclaimed in disbelief.
"What?"
Everyone was shocked, and then they understood why Yang Ni looked so shocked.
It turns out that the unknown monster corpse in front of everyone is the target of their dusk bounty, Night Fin's corpse!
"Yang Ni, confirm the cause of its death."
Although He Weichen also felt it was extremely strange, he was still calm and spoke.
Yang Ni nodded, put on rubber gloves and stepped forward. She leaned down and looked carefully.
When everyone's attention was attracted by Night Fin's body, Shen Qian came to the blurry statue.
He touched the carving marks and could feel that the knife work was rough and there were many signs of failure. He felt that it should have been carved by an outsider who was not good at this.
In addition, there are many fine and strange scratches on the statue.
Somehow, looking at those scratches, Shen Qian felt very uncomfortable.
Shen Qian's eyes suddenly froze, and then he squatted down and peeled away the soil at the bottom. He saw a line of small crooked red characters on the base of the stone sculpture.
"I miss you but don't see you, this hatred will last forever!"
Shen Qian looked at the ten small characters that seemed to be flowing with blood. An inexplicable chill came over his heart, and the system seemed to be agitated.
"It should be a T-level night fin, but it's a bit weird. It doesn't look like it died in a fight between monsters. It was probably another warrior who pierced its heart with a sharp weapon..."
Yang Ni stood up at this time and said with a serious face.
"But if it was another warrior, why did he kill him and not take away the body after killing him?"
Everyone was relieved to hear that it should be a human warrior, but Yuan You raised his doubts.
"That's right. Putting aside everything else, the night fins alone are worth millions. Who can turn a blind eye?"
Du Qiu nodded in agreement.
No matter how rich a person is, it is impossible to ignore a huge sum of millions, not to mention that the nightfin's wings weigh almost nothing and are easy to carry.
Shen Qian stood up, closed his eyes slightly, and then began to feel and observe everything here from another perspective.
About ten seconds later, Shen Qian spoke, directly interrupting everyone's discussion, "There are other corpses here."
"What?"
He Weichen and others turned their heads in astonishment.
Shen Qian remained silent, and just swept forward, arriving a few meters away, and kicked away a boulder nearly two meters in diameter.
The boulder rolled down, revealing another monster corpse buried underneath.
Shen Qian kept moving and soon found two other monster beast corpses covered by weeds and soil.
Yang Ni and Yuan You were the first to react and quickly stepped forward to check.
"U-level monster black-faced sheep, and two V-level shadow rabbits."
"The cause of death is very similar to Night Fin..."
Soon Yuan You and Yang Ni both came to a conclusion.
"What happened here?" Gu Yungao frowned, "Did some mountain and sea warrior pass by and kill them?"
"If they are just passing by, do you think these monsters have the courage to stop Shanhai?" Du Qiu shook his head.
While everyone was having a heated discussion, Yuan Youmei turned her eyes, but then focused on Shen Qian.
"How...how did you discover the traces of these monsters?"
Everyone was startled when they heard this, and then they realized, yes, even He Weichen, who was a professional scout, didn't notice anything just now...
Shen Qian, how did you find out?
