Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 519 Let’s go!

October 14th, 11:40 PM.

After selling the last batch of goods, Yang Qiaoxi breathed a sigh of relief.

She was completely soaked in sweat, and her hair, which smelled of sweat, clung to her cheeks in strands. When she gently pinched her fingers, sweat dripped down her face.

The average temperature in the Hexi Corridor in October is only in the single digits, but that's above ground. The "Spring Breeze" base underground is much warmer, and with Yang Qiaoxi's stall located right next to the large boiler inside the base, the temperature is even higher.

She had already taken off her tactical vest and leather jacket, leaving only her undergarments and a thin shirt. The shirt clung tightly to her body, revealing her stunning curves.

She had just noticed that many people were giving her malicious glances, but Yang Qiaoxi didn't care much—no one in Yumen or Longcheng would dare to make a move on her. These people were just fantasizing in their heads; if anyone actually tried anything, Yang Qiaoxi wouldn't even need to lift a finger, someone would naturally teach that little guy who controlled the big guy a lesson.

"Ugh... I'm so hot I'm about to faint. I should probably set up my stall somewhere else next time." Yang Qiaoxi grabbed her water bottle and gulped down a mouthful. The sticky feeling all over her body made her really want to take a hot shower right away—unfortunately, taking a shower at Chunfeng was an extreme luxury. Ordinary bathhouses either charge per use or per minute, but at Chunfeng, showers were charged by the second.

Given Yang Qiaoxi's habit of taking at least 30 minutes to shower, the profit she made from this delivery trip would probably barely cover her shower expenses.

"I'll just find a hose and rinse it off." Yang Qiaoxi sighed, gathered her sticky long hair, and tied it into a high ponytail at the back of her head.

After counting the banknotes she had just received and stuffing them into the small safe she carried with her, Yang Qiaoxi took out her mobile phone.

Due to electromagnetic interference in the uninhabited area, communication signals in Yumen have always been intermittent. As a result, people have become accustomed to checking unread messages every now and then, or accumulating the information that needs to be published and sending it all out at once when there is a signal.

Yang Qiaoxi was already used to seeing a bunch of messages pop up on the screen, but when she scrolled to the bottom of all the unread messages, her expression froze for a moment.

"Spring Breeze is about to release all the information about the mysterious treasure map?" Yang Qiaoxi couldn't help but read the headline of the news aloud. "Free? Unconditional? All revealed? Has Spring Breeze's boss gone mad? Or... is there some kind of trap?"

Yang Qiaoxi took another sip of water and continued reading.

Besides this pinned message, the second most clicked post on the forum was about the convoy that had just returned from the no-man's-land.

This convoy was said to be an advance team commissioned by Boss Chunfeng to explore the treasure location, but according to the news from the onlookers, the convoy seems to have been completely wiped out... As for the reason for the complete annihilation, there are many different opinions.

"Looks like I'll have to find a chance to ask Chunfeng's boss about it," Yang Qiaoxi muttered. "But the advance team was completely wiped out, so why are these people still so obsessed with the treasure map... Aren't they afraid of death at all?"

Yang Qiaoxi packed her things and found a guard from Chunfeng nearby. After asking where Sun Hang and the others were, she went straight there.

October 14, 11:47 PM, Chunfeng base, "Kangle" bath center.

"I say, you three certainly know how to enjoy yourself, huh?" Yang Qiaoxi said angrily, wiping the sweat from her brow as she looked at the three people soaking their feet in the massage chairs. "What's this? Is this a paid indulgence? How much of a reward would I get if I reported this to the Tian Shu Tower?"

“Boss Chunfeng said he’d pay for all our expenses at the base. I thought these services were pretty expensive, so I brought the kids to try them out.” Sun Hang glanced at Xue Yue, who looked completely bewildered. “But you, Boss Yang, you smell so strongly of sweat. Did you go to sell goods or do manual labor?”

"It's all about the same. By the way, have you guys checked your phones?" Yang Qiaoxi grabbed the towel draped over Zhulong's shoulders, wiped her face haphazardly, and asked.

"Are you referring to the treasure map?"

"The full information about the treasure map will be released in ten minutes. Haven't the Federal Parliament and the Tian Shu Tower made any moves?" Yang Qiaoxi asked.

"What kind of commotion do you expect us to make?" Sun Hang countered.

Yang Qiaoxi was slightly taken aback, then suddenly realized: "You've already been in contact with Chunfeng's boss?"

“Nanhua Town,” Zhulong said quietly.

"what?"

"The location indicated by the treasure map is in Nanhua Town."

Yang Qiaoxi took a deep breath and then nodded: "This location is quite deep... Since you even know the location of the treasure, then the entire advance team that was wiped out..."

"They encountered the cursed fog," Zhulong answered before Yang Qiaoxi could ask. "They lost their way in the Gobi Desert and stumbled into the area shrouded by the cursed fog."

"The Cursed Mist? That legend that's been circulating in the Hexi Corridor for years, but has never been verified?" Yang Qiaoxi's eyes twitched twice. "Are you sure?"

"The symptoms of the victims are almost identical to those recorded in the logs of the first group of people who encountered the cursed mist," said Zhulong. "The relevant information has been submitted to the analysis department of Tian Shu Tower, and I estimate that the cursed mist will be officially listed in the list of strange objects soon."

Just then, Zhulong's bracelet suddenly started beeping.

"My alarm was set five minutes before midnight."

"Are you also planning to go to Nanhua Town?" Yang Qiaoxi asked. "But didn't you come here to recruit hunters for Egypt?"

“Once the news is announced, the top hunters and mercenaries from Yumen and Longcheng will probably flock to Nanhua Town. Wouldn’t that save us the trouble of searching for people everywhere?” Sun Hang laughed. “What a great opportunity, don’t you think?”

"..." Yang Qiaoxi was silent for a few seconds, then asked again, "Has Chunfeng's boss revealed any specific information about the treasure to you? Of course, it's okay if you don't tell me if it's inconvenient. I'm just curious and that's why I'm asking."

“There’s nothing inconvenient about it, because Nagano Soya himself doesn’t know what the treasure is.” Sun Hang shrugged. “The reason he made the treasure map information public was to find out what this so-called treasure is.”

"Doesn't he want the treasure?" A hint of doubt flashed in Yang Qiaoxi's eyes.

“He didn’t say.” Zhulong shook his head. “The only information we have right now is that this treasure will trigger the deepest greed in humanity, causing people to kill each other…”

"Fortunately, we brought insurance." Sun Hang glanced at Xue Yue again.

With this little girl around, even the greatest greed would just be nourishment for her—she could absorb the negative emotions of so many people in Chunming City all at once, so the greed of just a few hundred hunters and mercenaries would be nothing more than a piece of cake. "Can I come with you?" Yang Qiaoxi's phone suddenly rang. She picked it up and saw that the time on the phone was exactly midnight on October 15th. Countless messages were being refreshed frantically on the Internet. Her intelligence network in Yumen and Longcheng had collected all this information immediately and sent it to her in a package.

Just as Zhulong said, the place indicated by the treasure map was Nanhua Town, deep in the no-man's land.

"Didn't you retire from the criminal world?" Zhulong asked, puzzled.

“I’m not interested in treasures; I just want to gather intelligence,” Yang Qiaoxi said. “Although I’m no longer a mercenary, I still occasionally work as an intelligence broker… not to mention, the intelligence acquisition prices offered by the Tian Shu Tower are really… tempting.”

"This trip will be very dangerous," Zhulong said seriously.

"Haven't I faced enough dangers before?" Yang Qiaoxi said dismissively. "How do you think I gained a foothold in Longcheng?"

“You can come along if you want, but let me make it clear first, we are not responsible for your personal safety—of course, you can hire us as your bodyguards, but you should know the price for hiring me and Zhulong.” Sun Hang nodded and said, “Also, Boss Yang, could you go take a shower first? Leather jackets and pants are cool, but once they’re soaked in sweat, the smell is just too strong…”

“If I remember correctly, Zhulong, you still owe me a favor.” Yang Qiaoxi looked at Zhulong.

The latter's expression stiffened, then he sighed heavily: "That's right, I owe you a favor. I will ensure your safety during this operation."

“Very good, I like men who keep their word.” Yang Qiaoxi smiled slightly, then pressed the service bell on the armrest of the Zhulong massage chair.

A waitress dressed as a maid quickly entered the private room.

"Arrange a room with a shower for me, and put the cost on their tab," Yang Qiaoxi said.

The waiter looked at Zhulong with a questioning gaze, and Zhulong readily nodded—after all, Nagano Soya would be covering the cost anyway.

"Also, order me a size S full-coverage combat protective suit, with a matching breathing and circulation system and a powered exoskeleton system. As for optional weaponry... um... let's go with the S03 suit from Longcheng Heavy Industry. You should still have these items in stock, right?" Yang Qiaoxi added, "Put it on their tab."

Even as Sun Hang wondered how a bathhouse could have such military-grade equipment, the waiter nodded to Yang Qiaoxi and said, "I'll prepare it for you right away."

"Wait a minute," Zhulong suddenly said, "Change the S03 set to D06—if you encounter combat during the operation, you don't need to take action; you just need to take care of yourself."

Longcheng Heavy Industry's uninhabited zone exploration individual weapon sets are divided into several series, with each series being distinguished by its first letter. For example, the S03 that Yang Qiaoxi wants is a third-generation sniper weapon, while the D06 that Zhulong mentioned, as the name suggests, is a sixth-generation defensive weapon.

"We don't have the D06 in stock right now, but we do have an enhanced version of the D05. Its performance is almost identical to the D06, but the price is only two-thirds of the D06. What do you think?"

“Then let’s go with D05,” said Zhulong.

……

Meanwhile, at the Spring Breeze base, hangar number zero.

Nagano Soya, sitting in a wheelchair, slowly drove into the hangar. A red light flashed from the fingertips of his mechanical prosthetic arm, and the originally dark hangar was instantly illuminated by searchlights as if it were daytime.

In the very center of the hangar, a massive machine, over six meters tall, was covered with a waterproof tarpaulin.

“You know what to do.” Nagano Soya tore off the robe he was wearing, and with a snapping sound of the clasps opening, his four prosthetic limbs fell off at the same time, revealing the wounds that had not yet fully healed.

At the cut surface of the wound, obvious crystallization was visible inside the whitish muscle fibers, which shimmered rhythmically with Nagano Soya's breathing.

“Boss, you don’t need to go in person… At least, you should wait until the first batch of hunters returns before making a decision.”

Nagano Soya silently shook his head.

"Boss, what you're doing will accelerate the crystallization of your body. Once the crystallization symptoms spread to the aorta and heart and lungs, with current medical technology..."

“I don’t want to say it a second time,” Nagano Soya said coldly.

The accountant gritted his teeth, walked to the control panel, and gripped the joystick.

A crane-like device lifted the limbless Nagano Soya from his wheelchair and moved him to the enormous object covered with a waterproof sheet.

“I don’t have much time left,” Nagano Soya said quietly. “I’ve lived until now for this moment.”

……

October 16, 5:30 a.m., Yumen.

Directly above the "Spring Breeze" stronghold, at Entrance No. 3.

After a day of urgent preparations, the first group of hunters and mercenaries agreed to depart from Yumen at 6:00 a.m. on the 16th, splitting into three convoys to head to the location marked on the treasure map—Nanhua Town.

Looking around, Sun Hang estimated that the number of hunters and mercenaries gathered here had exceeded six hundred, and there were also hundreds of different vehicles. There were even a few military mechs mixed in with the convoy, carrying large-caliber weapons that looked quite powerful.

Besides the hunters and mercenaries stationed in Chunfeng, many people also rushed over from other strongholds in Yumen, and another group of people came overnight from Longcheng.

"That's quite a spectacle," Sun Hang remarked, standing atop a pile of ruins. "With so many people gathered together, aren't they afraid of attracting a strange sandstorm?"

“So the convoy will have to split into three groups,” Yang Qiaoxi said, already wearing her new gear. “Two monster sandstorms won’t generate in the same area at the same time. As long as someone can distract the sandstorm, the other two convoys can successfully drive into the depths of the no-man’s land—let’s pray, I don’t want to be the unlucky bait.”

(End of this chapter)