Chapter 90: Silent Arrows
Chapter 90: Silent Arrows
Ji Xinghuo returned to the first-level city area but did not leave the city immediately.
The Golaoque of Beiluoshimen could fly briefly and had strong auditory and visual abilities, making them excellent scouts. The Dagun people had also formed aerial patrol teams, so it was not conducive to hiding during the day. Bounty hunters almost always ventured out at night and returned to the fortress before dawn.
Ji Xinghuo followed a few bounty hunters to a large inn, one of the largest gathering places for bounty hunters in the Midway Fortress.
The lobby of the inn was spacious, divided into a dining area and a bar.
Bounty hunters sat in groups of three or two at the tables or by the bar, drinking and exchanging information animatedly.
Ji Xinghuo's entrance drew a few glances.
However, most people only looked at him briefly before turning away. Someone murmured, "A newcomer."
"He seems to be quite capable."
"Anyone who dares to be a bounty hunter must have some skills," the person next to him replied, then added with a laugh, "Wanna bet how long he'll last?"
"Three days."
"Ten days."
"I bet 50,000 yuan that he'll make it to next month."
They didn't deliberately lower their voices, and Ji Xinghuo, still at the entrance, heard them clearly. However, he didn't mind being the subject of their wager and calmly walked up to the bar. The waiter asked, "Would you like a room, a meal, or a drink?"
"A glass of ice beer first," Ji Xinghuo said, handing over some cash.
The bartender quickly pushed a full glass of beer towards him, and Ji Xinghuo took a sip, listening to the discussions in the lobby.
The bounty hunters' conversations revolved around three elements: rewards, points, and targets.
Ji Xinghuo summoned the waiter again. "Do you sell defense maps here?"
"Of course," the waiter replied nonchalantly. "But we only have maps of the Beiluoshimen tribe's defense line on the other side. They're updated every ten days, and the information may not be entirely accurate. They cost 2,000 Asian yuan each. Do you want one?"
"Yes, please."
Ji Xinghuo paid, and the waiter immediately handed him an exquisite map.
He unfolded it and studied it carefully.
This map covered about fifty kilometers of military defense lines around Midway Fortress, and on the Earth side, only publicly known military buildings were marked.
In contrast, the Beiluoshimen defense line was described in great detail, including the locations of various fortresses, watchtowers, bunkers, and barracks, along with their defense facilities, number of troops, surrounding terrain, patrol routes and shift times, underground passages, and more—all meticulously presented.
Ji Xinghuo examined the map intently, committing most of the information to memory in just over an hour.
Then he left the inn.
With the day still young, he wandered around Midway Fortress, purchasing a batch of arrows—mainly titanium-aluminum alloy arrows, but also some capacitive and explosive flame arrows.
The armed stores in Midway Fortress tended to cater to stealth and survival.
Ji Xinghuo also spotted a Stealth Ring, identical to the one on his hand, priced at 13 million! Indeed, the Stealth Ring's effects fully justified its price tag.
"So expensive," he mused.
Many bounty hunters lingered before the display, coveting the superpower ring.
"Silent arrows?"
In an archery shop, Ji Xinghuo spotted a type of special arrow he hadn't seen before and immediately walked in to inquire.
Moments later, he walked out with fifty silent arrows in his quiver.
These arrows were made from a sound-absorbing material. When fired, they would absorb the sound waves generated by friction with the air, resulting in a silent flight. This made them highly effective for long-range assassinations. Moreover, upon hitting a target, the sound-absorbing effect would also muffle any noise, ensuring a silent demise.
However, the material of the silent arrows was slightly inferior to that of alloy arrows in terms of hardness and toughness, resulting in reduced lethality.
Additionally, if the arrow struck a hard target, it would be damaged and virtually impossible to retrieve.
This made silent arrows disposable.
Priced at 15,000 Asian yuan each, they were more expensive than capacitive arrows and usable only once, explaining why few people bought them.
Ji Xinghuo currently had no shortage of funds, so he bought fifty to try out.
If the silent arrows proved effective, he wouldn't mind purchasing more in the future and making them a regular part of his arsenal.
After acquiring the arrows and other useful supplies and tools, Ji Xinghuo checked into a random inn and took a room to rest. When he awoke, twilight was approaching, and the starry night was about to descend. He left the inn and made his way to the gate of the first-level city area, where over a thousand bounty hunters had already gathered.
Despite the large number of people, the atmosphere beneath the tall city walls was quiet.
Everyone was fully armed, their expressions solemn and silent, with no inclination to chat with those around them.
Each time they ventured out to hunt enemies, they wagered their lives, never sure if they would return. Perhaps, this would be their final hunt.
Ji Xinghuo spotted a few familiar figures, people he had seen at the inn earlier that day.
He also saw "Red Devil" Alex.
"Open the gates!"
As the last ray of golden light vanished from the horizon, revealing the twinkling stars and the emerging reflection of the Milky Way, the gatekeepers shouted, and steam boilers powered the chains that lifted the alloy gates, each over two meters thick.
The bounty hunters streamed out, dispersing in different directions.
One by one, their figures vanished from view.
After separating from the crowd, Ji Xinghuo activated his Stealth Ring to conceal himself and headed northeast.
When he climbed over a low ridge, he beheld a barren landscape—a terrain of rolling hills, devoid of forests, with all vegetation destroyed, exposing rocks and soil as far as the eye could see. Not a hint of green remained.
Both sides would lie in ambush within this labyrinth.
Just crossing the buffer zone was extremely dangerous.
From a distance, Ji Xinghuo spotted a glimmer of light—it was Beiluoshimen's "Victory Fortress," standing in stalemate with Midway Fortress.
At this moment, many assassins and killers from the Beiluoshimen tribe had also left the fortress, preparing to cross the defense line and infiltrate human territory.
Ji Xinghuo did not step into the buffer zone but instead continued along the defense line, heading northeast.
After traveling over twenty kilometers, he entered an underground passage.
The entrance to this passage was well-hidden, marked on the map he had bought at the bar. When Ji Xinghuo arrived, he saw a few bounty hunters.
He deliberately kept his distance from them and only entered after they had gone in.
The passage twisted and turned, with many forks along the way.
For someone coming here for the first time, it would be easy to get lost, and they might spend an entire night wandering in the passage, even encountering enemies.
However, with a quick scan of his magnetic field perception, Ji Xinghuo easily found the correct path.
Exiting from the other end of the passage, he had crossed the buffer zone.
The bounty hunters split up, some going solo and others forming teams of two or three. Ji Xinghuo did not disturb them and instead continued in the direction he had chosen.
Under the starry night sky, a translucent figure moved swiftly, making not a single sound.
Being in stealth mode consumed Xing Power.
Ji Xinghuo almost always had it activated, and his ether affinity granted him an extremely fast Xing Power recovery speed, which perfectly countered the consumption of the stealth ring.
Soon after.
He spotted a Beiluoshimen watchtower.
From two to three kilometers away, Ji Xinghuo's Omniscient Star Pupil allowed him to observe the watchtower as if it were right before him.
The Beiluoshimen tribe was entirely ruled by the Dagun people, and their architectural style reflected this. On the ground was a three-layered circular wall, with a cylindrical tower in the middle, over twenty meters tall. The upper structure flared outward like a giant mushroom.
At the base of the watchtower was a barracks; from its scale, Ji Xinghuo judged that the number of troops stationed there was likely between one and two hundred.
And the commander was surely a Tier 4 expert.
Ji Xinghuo had no intention of attacking this watchtower; even if he wanted to, he wouldn't be able to defeat them. He detoured far around it and continued deeper into Beiluoshimen's defense line.
He traveled over twenty kilometers, and along the way, his magnetic field perception detected numerous watchtowers, hidden sentries, bunkers, and barracks of various sizes. They were densely arranged, occupying advantageous terrain to form a tight defensive system.
Such military installations could not be conquered by a single person.
Ji Xinghuo didn't consider them his targets for the time being. His goal was the patrol teams.
It had been over three hours since he entered the starry night, and Ji Xinghuo finally arrived at the predetermined area. However, he didn't rush to make a move but instead spent over two hours familiarizing himself with the terrain, defenses, and roads in this mountainous area, correcting the errors on his map.
Then, he began to wait patiently.
Like a professional hunter, he waited for his prey to appear.
Half an hour later.
A patrol team entered his field of vision, and Ji Xinghuo, perched in a tree, felt his spirits lift. The patrol route was marked on his map, and a patrol team passed by every three hours.
They had set out from a barracks five kilometers away, passing by several watchtowers before returning via a different route.
However, almost no bounty hunters would dare to target them.
This was because such patrol teams usually consisted of twenty people, including members from all four tribes of Beiluoshimen. Their professions were well-coordinated, their equipment was excellent, their combat was seamless, and a Tier 3 Dagun person served as the team leader.
Even if two or three Superhumans joined forces, they wouldn't dare to confront the patrol team.
Moreover, the patrol team had a method of instantly communicating with the barracks, and in the event of an attack, stronger tribesmen would quickly arrive at the scene.
Ji Xinghuo observed from a high vantage point.
Indeed, just as the information had stated, there were twenty enemies.
Half of them were from the Shixi tribe, their tall bodies clad in metal armor, carrying shields and weapons, and bearing spears on their backs. They served as the team's meat shields and close-quarters combatants.
Five Golaoque took turns flying and scouting the surroundings.
There were four Dagun people, three of whom rode armored warhorses, while the fourth Dagun rode a Thornstalker—a mystical, panther-like creature with a body composed of living vines and leaves.
Obviously, the Dagun rider of the plant leopard was the patrol captain.
A few minutes later, the patrol team entered the range of Ji Xinghuo's magnetic field perception, and he identified the professions of the four Dagun people.
Not all Dagun people were Water Masters or Ice Blades; these two professions only accounted for about half of them. The other half chose from a variety of other profession templates, just like humans.
However, the Dagun people's genetic talents tended to be more specialized, so the number of profession templates they had was not as diverse as that of humans.
Many professions had similar abilities, but there were also differences when compared to humans.
Ji Xinghuo quickly formulated his tactics.
Soon, the patrol team came within his range, and Ji Xinghuo raised his Dragon Falcon Eagle Bow. A faint light circle appeared in his right eye as he aimed at a Dagun person carrying a hunting bow and fired an arrow.
(End of Chapter)
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