Chapter 49: Pursuing the Culprit Under the Moon
Chapter 49: Pursuing the Culprit Under the Moon
"Linsey, be careful." Red Moon reminded Linsey.
As her voice echoed in the courtyard of the church, Linsey had already put down Finn's body and climbed over the wall of the church once more.
At this moment, Linsey's heart was filled with raging anger, not wanting to waste a single moment.
"External interference! Someone deliberately activated Finn's body while I was keeping watch over his remains!"
His eyes were as deep as a cold, still pond, with a hidden flame ready to burst forth.
Linsey hurried through the town under the cover of night, his footsteps echoing low and urgent on the town's roads.
He rushed to Finn's cabin as fast as he could.
But this time, Linsey didn't enter the cabin.
He didn't even step into the courtyard but stood in front of Finn's residence, his sharp gaze scanning the surroundings.
The small town was usually quiet at night.
However, due to Linsey's previous actions in subduing the zombies, several houses nearby still had their lights on.
As this scene entered his eyes, Linsey tried to calm down and analyze the situation:
"Ordinary townsfolk can't affect Essence, so it's impossible for them to activate a corpse. The only person nearby capable of using Essence should be Dan..."
"No, it can't be her!"
Linsey immediately dismissed this unrealistic suspicion.
The female hunter had no reason to activate Finn's body tonight.
So, the root cause of tonight's incident must be from outside.
"It must be someone from the outside."
Linsey made several guesses and quickly walked around to the back of Finn's cabin.
He gazed into the distance, but the night shrouded the fields in darkness.
Perhaps there were nocturnal animals in the fields, but under the cover of the dark night, he couldn't discern any clues from the faint rustling sounds.
So, Linsey activated his Trace Manifestation ability.
Unexpectedly, it worked smoothly.
In the next second, he discovered something at the edge of the cabin.
Near Finn's cabin, several strings of blue footprints were visible along the edge of the wall. Following the direction of the prints, they led into the fields and extended all the way to the distant forest.
"..."
"I've found you."
Linsey's eyes turned cold as he approached for a closer look.
The traces on the ground were uniquely shaped, with five toe prints and four smaller toe pad prints surrounding a larger central pad print, and each toe print had a distinct claw mark at its end.
The overall distribution of the prints resembled an enlarged cat paw print, but longer, wider, and flatter.
That was the first impression.
Linsey's Habit Inquiry skill was also activated.
He sensed the consumption of Essence and immediately flipped through his Hunting Journal, confirming the identity of the beast that left these prints—an Ice Boar.
"..."
Linsey's brows furrowed, and he remained silent.
As he identified the culprit, various thoughts flashed through his mind.
First was the incident three years ago when he almost lost his life to a frozen zombie.
Recalling the details of that day, the zombie had suddenly activated after the appearance of the Ice Boar.
Now, three years had passed.
Linsey's teacher, Finn's body, had also been activated by this magical beast.
"..."
"Who would believe there's no connection here?"
Linsey's gaze intensified as he followed the footprints into the forest.
At the same time, he took out his bow and arrow from his Portable Bag, ensuring he could launch an attack at any moment if he spotted the enemy.
During this period, Linsey searched his Hunting Journal for information about the Ice Boar.
He realized something—Kill Achievement: 4/10.
Three years had passed! In these three years, Linsey had hunted with Dan countless times, but one certainty was that he had encountered many other types of magical beasts in Hidden Frontier.
For example, Black Horn Snow Deer, Frost Wind Sparrow, and Leaf Rabbit.
And for each of these, he had killed at least three or five of them.
But the Ice Boar was different.
Apart from the four Linsey had initially killed, in the three years that had passed, he hadn't killed a single one! Or, to be more precise, in these three years, Linsey hadn't even seen a single Ice Boar!
He thought this phenomenon was because, after Linsey and Torch were attacked, Dan had killed the leader of the Ice Boars and then swept the surrounding area out of anger.
But considering today's encounter, the disappearance of Ice Boars in these three years might hide some unknown secrets.
"A long-lasting conspiracy spanning three years..."
As these thoughts crossed his mind, Linsey's footsteps unconsciously quickened.
It seemed that tonight's issue wasn't just about activating his teacher's body.
Even the grudge from when he first arrived at Hidden Frontier and was repeatedly attacked could be resolved tonight!
...
Linsey's figure darted through the dark forest like a leopard chasing its prey.
This was a test of endurance and fate.
The kill count of Ice Boars hadn't yet reached the requirements of the Killer achievement.
Even in the pitch-black night, Linsey could find the fresh footprints on the ground, left behind moments ago.
However, as time passed, these blue imprints gradually faded.
As Linsey kept her Maintain Skill active, she could feel her Life Essence continuously depleting.
[Trace Manifestation], an extremely powerful active skill.
The cost of using it was the depletion of her Essence, and the exhaustion of Life Essence posed a life-threatening risk to Linsey.
But he dared not stop.
At least not until the very last moment when his Essence was completely drained, before finding the culprit of tonight's incident.
He would never stop until then!
At this moment, Linsey's eyes were fixed on the blue footprints extending before him.
He crossed hills, circled around trees, and pushed through bushes, navigating any difficult terrain in the most time-efficient manner.
His sole purpose was to approach his target at the fastest speed possible.
Before his Essence ran out!
...
For the first quarter of an hour, Linsey had no success.
It seemed as if the footprints on the ground were aimlessly extending forward.
But he remained unperturbed, his mind calm as still water, maintaining the fastest tracking speed.
Rustle, rustle, rustle—
Finally, after half an hour.
Linsey, with his keen hearing, detected faint sounds ahead. It seemed like claws scraping against wood!
"..."
He immediately slowed his pace.
After this long pursuit, Linsey's [Habit Inquiry] ability had added several new entries to the [Hunting Journal] under the Ice Boar category.
For instance—[Skilled at night travel, sharp vision, slightly weak sense of smell].
Using the cover of the surrounding trees and the darkness of the night, Linsey avoided dry branches and fallen leaves on the ground, approaching as quietly as possible.
Before long, he saw the blue footprints leading to their destination.
—Ice Boar.
—There were three Ice Boars there!
They were rolling around together, their dark brown fur rubbing against the ground as they bit into pinecones they had just pulled down from the tree.
"..."
Linsey held his breath, his right hand already touching the fletching of an arrow.
Thinking of these creatures as the culprits behind his teacher's reanimated corpse, a surge of anger rose in his chest.
But he suppressed it.
Linsey clenched his fist, gripping the fletching of an arrow tightly against the shaft.
Killing these three Ice Boars would only provide temporary relief.
The true target he sought was not just these three Ice Boars before him but the mastermind controlling them from behind the scenes! As long as he remained undetected, he could continue the pursuit.
Sooner or later, he would...
"Hya!"
Suddenly, the three Ice Boars stopped gnawing on the pinecones.
One of them even turned around and peered in Linsey's direction, as if inspecting something!
"You asked for this!"
Linsey's eyes sharpened instantly.
Without hesitation, he nocked an arrow.
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.
Now that he had been discovered, these three Ice Boars would never lead him to the truth behind the scenes. In this situation, there was no reason to remain silent any longer.
Even if they were corpses, he had to take down these Ice Boars first!
Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—
In an instant, Linsey activated the Rapid Shot skill.
Three arrows flew out in rapid succession, almost tail-to-head, like a straight line of lightning towards the three Ice Boars.
Two dull 'pfft' sounds followed.
Two of the Ice Boars, with their slower reactions, were already writhing in pain on the ground.
Only the last one, which had been looking in Linsey's direction, managed to dodge the arrow shot at it, the same arrow whose fletching Linsey had almost crushed against the shaft.
So, in the instant the arrow flew towards it, it jumped to the side, avoiding the deadly chill. Then, the Ice Boar tilted its head back, about to release an ice cone counterattack.
But Linsey was faster!
In the moment before the Ice Boar could complete its spellcasting, a shadow enveloped it.
This Ice Boar, having narrowly escaped death, had just landed when Linsey himself burst out from the woods.
With unimaginable speed, he kneed the Ice Boar, knocking it to the ground.
Before the monster could even let out a cry, Linsey drew a small knife from his Portable Bag and plunged it into the Ice Boar's neck, ending its life.
"Phew—"
Linsey exhaled, but his fists remained clenched, and his face remained grim.
Confronted with the reality of being discovered, he chose to kill these three Ice Boars, which also meant he hadn't found the true culprit behind them.
He had carefully followed the records in the [Hunting Journal], specifically avoiding the Ice Boars' field of vision and making no sound.
These were low-intelligence monsters.
How did they discover him when their backs were turned...
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, after killing these three Ice Boars that had turned Finn into a zombie, Linsey noticed a new message on his game player's panel.
[Quest Completed]
[Third Module Unlocked]
[Essence Infusion Successful]
[Simulated Business Module Activated]
[Please collect and vote!]
(End of Chapter)
Chapter end
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