Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 525 Take action
“They will kill us…whether we want to take the job or not,” the woman in the cheongsam said. “That’s the code of conduct for the elite hunters of the Sky Pivot Tower. They will try every means to eliminate any unstable factors…and we are what they see as ‘unstable factors’.”

"We have no choice but to strike first!" The spirited young woman gritted her teeth. "We've killed hunters from the Heavenly Pivot Tower before... These guys are all rolling in money, not like those poor wretches who live in the no-man's-land year-round. After we pull off this job, we can live comfortably for at least five or six years!"

"My only worry is being seen as a praying mantis," the woman in the cheongsam said calmly.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind... What's most deadly is that this "cicada" possesses fighting power no less than, and perhaps even greater than, that of the mantis.

"Try to strike when there are fewer people around," the female hunter driving said. "I've contacted the sisters in the other car. We'll have a chance to strike after we leave Sunfall Ridge."

“According to the latest map of the deadly sandstorm route, 5198 bypassed Sunfall Ridge and blocked our way at the front of our only route. The convoy will inevitably need to split up before leaving Sunfall Ridge,” the woman in the cheongsam said. “What we need to be careful about is not letting the White Tiger Mech and the people from Tian Shu Tower be put into the same team.”

"Leave this to me," the female hunter driving said in a deep voice.

"The target consists of four people: Yang Qiaoxi, a non-infected individual, skilled in wilderness survival, motorcycle driving, and firearms use; Zhulong, an infected individual, an elite hunter of the Tian Shu Tower, whose ability is to manipulate water with extreme cold properties, and who also possesses long-range attack capabilities and all-around defensive capabilities; the identities of the other two are unknown, but judging from the strength of their memes, this should be a standard one-on-one 'training group'."

The so-called "one-on-one" is a common team formation mode used by the Tian Shu Tower to train novice hunters. Such a group usually consists of three people: an elite hunter or a senior hunter as the leader, a mediocre but experienced ordinary registered hunter as the deputy, and a newly recruited rookie hunter. In such a training group, the leader is equivalent to more than 90% of the team's combat power. As long as he is taken care of, the remaining two are not a threat.

"Our primary target is definitely Zhulong, and we should try to kill him as soon as possible. The next priority is Yang Qiaoxi and another young male hunter... But the anonymous client added a rather strange note: he wants us to spare the weakest little girl's life... So, should we do as he asks?" the female mercenary in the passenger seat asked.

"Why should we do what he asks?" The young woman raised an eyebrow. "This guy is clearly trying to kill us. I'm already doing him a favor by accepting this task. Why does he dare to make any more demands?"

“If we determine that the little girl poses no threat, we can hold off on killing her for now.” The woman in the cheongsam shook her head. “A trainee hunter like her hasn’t been with the Sky Pivot Tower for very long. If possible, I’d like to recruit her into our organization.”

"What if she doesn't want to?" the young woman asked instinctively.

"Then kill him," the woman in the cheongsam said casually, as if she were discussing what to have for dinner.

……

Meanwhile, at the other end of the convoy.

"How come it's only fifteen million?" Sun Hang couldn't help but frown. "Are our heads only worth that little money?"

"What, fifteen million?" Yang Qiaoxi couldn't help but ask.

“Someone in the convoy has put a bounty on our heads for Seabuckthorn Rose, offering 15 million,” Sun Hang said.

“Actually, this 15 million is the price for my head.” Zhulong smiled helplessly. “You are all just bonuses included in the order… But if you, Sun Hang, reveal your identity, the price will definitely go up.”

“Sea buckthorn roses…they probably won’t take this order, right?” Yang Qiaoxi said uncertainly. “Even if they’re crazy, they wouldn’t dare offend the Tian Shu Tower…besides, there are so many people in the convoy.”

"That's hard to say," Zhulong shook his head.

“No, they’ve already decided to take the order.” Sun Hang took off his headphones and picked at his ear with his little finger. “The people who placed the order used anonymous accounts. This 15 million is like a pile of shit poured on the head of sea buckthorn rose. They can’t wash it off, so they can only swallow it down with their noses in their mouths. In their own words, this is an open conspiracy.”

Neither Glasses and Old Snake's group, nor the Sea Buckthorn Rose in the other car, were aware that their electronic devices had been hacked by the mastermind, and their conversations were transmitted verbatim to Sun Hang's earpiece.

“If other hunters came here on a mission, upon learning that Seabuckthorn Rose had been paid 15 million to kill them, the hunters of Tian Shu Tower would execute them regardless of whether Seabuckthorn Rose had actually accepted the job.” Zhu Long sighed. “This was originally intended to ensure that there would be as few unstable factors as possible during the operation, but this practice over the years has given these mercenaries and free hunters a stereotype that ‘the people of Tian Shu Tower would rather kill a thousand innocent people than let one guilty person go free’… They’re right, this is indeed an open conspiracy.”

“Even if we are willing to believe in the sea buckthorn rose, the sea buckthorn rose may not necessarily believe in us,” Sun Hang said.

"It sounds like we're in some kind of... predicament with them?" Yang Qiaoxi glanced at the two cars carrying Sea Buckthorn Rose out of the corner of her eye and said in a low voice.

"The Prisoner's Dilemma," said Zhulong. "As long as we are willing to trust each other, we can live in peace. But since neither of us can guarantee that the other will trust us, the final result can only be..."

“Here’s what we’ll do. You two will stay with me.” Nagano Soya, who had been listening attentively the whole time, spoke up. “With me here, I guarantee that neither Seabuckthorn Rose nor any other free hunters will lay a hand on you.”

"There's no need," Sun Hang politely declined Nagano Soya's offer. "To be honest, I'd quite like to get to know these people..."

……

……

"Attention all vehicles, attention all vehicles, we are about to leave the Sunfall Ridge area." A deep, hoarse male voice rang out on the public communication channel. It was the voice of the accountant driving the heavy trailer, disguised using voice-changing software. "According to the latest data from the Longcheng Sandstorm Observation Center, the No. 5198 deadly sandstorm is currently located 7.6 degrees northwest of Sunfall Ridge, at a distance of 27 kilometers. As originally planned, we will split into three convoys, departing from exits 1, 7, and 9 on the northwest side of Sunfall Ridge respectively. If you find yourself being pursued by the deadly sandstorm, please immediately declare this on the public communication channel."

The temperature reading inside the car was slowly decreasing, the surrounding terrain was gradually becoming flatter, and the number of lava pools of all sizes was rapidly decreasing.

Just as Sun Hang was wondering what methods the other party would use, he suddenly received a call request in his private communication channel.

Hello, who is this?

"I...I'm the person from the car you just rescued on the Bridge of Helplessness." A young woman was on the other end of the communicator.

"Oh?" Sun Hang and Zhulong exchanged a glance, the latter shrugged and said nothing.

The other person seemed to hesitate for a long time before speaking, "Um... I just wanted to remind you... it seems someone in the convoy wants to harm you." "Oh? How do you know?"

How I know this doesn't matter! You just need to know—

Before the other person could finish speaking, Sun Hang interrupted her: "Did they also pay Seabuckthorn Rose 15 million to kill us?"

"Huh? You already knew?!" The other person seemed quite shocked.

"How is the battle on Reach?"

The other party didn't have time to respond to Sun Hang's comment, and instead said somewhat hastily, "They...they seem to be planning to unite everyone in the convoy to attack you...We've also received private communications...but I can assure you, we absolutely will not attack you..."

"I saved you not long ago. Logically speaking, if you weren't heartless bastards, you would probably have felt guilty and informed us after receiving this message... Guess why they would tell you, who might leak the information?"

"Why... why?"

“Because they need us to know about this, and you are the best messengers,” Sun Hang said. “No one is willing to take the initiative, and the 15 million yuan that anonymous account transferred to Seabuckthorn Rose was the fuse that was lit… If the news hadn’t been leaked, Seabuckthorn Rose would most likely have swallowed the money without knowing anything, but once the news was leaked, they would have no choice but to accept the order.”

"what……"

"Not only that, you will most likely become their targets as well... If you want to survive, stick close to the White Tiger and don't fall behind."

"Okay, okay... thank you..."

Sun Hang hung up the call and muttered to himself, "Just as I expected... But then again, it seems there are still some consciences among these free hunters and mercenaries. It's just a pity these two are too weak, otherwise they would be good recruitment targets."

"Are you sure you don't need me to escort you?" Nagano Soya asked again.

"Need not."

The exit of Sunfall Ridge finally appeared directly in front of the convoy. Just as the convoy began to split up, several vehicles suddenly and abruptly cut in front of them, surrounding Sun Hang's car and Yang Qiaoxi's motorcycle.

The heavy trailer and the White Tiger mech left through the exit on the right, while Sun Hang and his group's car was swept along by these vehicles and merged into the traffic flow that went through the exit on the left.

Sun Hang rolled down his window, looked at the car next to him that had repeatedly brushed against his rearview mirror, and greeted it with a smile: "Hey, looks like you guys have a lot of manpower!"

The other driver was a burly woman with an incomprehensible tattoo that covered most of her face and neck. When she noticed Sun Hang talking to her, she was startled and immediately pulled out a pistol and shot Sun Hang in the forehead!
"Bang!!!" The distinctive sound of a large-caliber hunting pistol echoed like thunder through the convoy.

"What's going on? Weren't we supposed to wait until we'd create some distance between ourselves and the other two convoys before making our move?" The young woman following behind Sun Hang and his group grabbed her walkie-talkie and yelled, "Fifteen! Why did you fire prematurely?!"

"He! He seems to have realized something!" The burly woman called Fifteen continued to pull the trigger. The pretty boy in the passenger seat had his head smashed to pieces, and his headless body slid down the seat. However, as the primary target of this attack, a thick ice wall appeared around Zhulong's body. The ice wall was embedded directly inside the SUV, and even a Magnum bullet that could shatter a person with a single shot could not penetrate this ice wall.

Looking at the bullets embedded in the ice wall, Fifteen reluctantly put down his pistol, rubbed his wrists which were sore from the recoil, gripped the steering wheel with both hands, and swerved the car to crash hard into Zhulong's off-road vehicle!

"Bang!!"

The SUV was thrown to one side, and Yang Qiaoxi, who was on the other side of the SUV, threw several grenades into the windows of several cars next to her according to the pre-arranged plan. Then she abandoned the motorcycle and rushed into the SUV through the open rear door.

"Damn it, those crazy women from Seabuckthorn Rose!" Yang Qiaoxi cursed as she quickly closed the car door and rolled up the bulletproof windows.

With several screams and explosions, the two vehicles, engulfed in flames and thick smoke, were thrown away, but the car following closely behind immediately caught up and stuck to the side of the SUV.

"Attack!!" Seeing that the two sides had already broken off relations, the young woman no longer concealed herself. After shouting "Attack!" she climbed out of the sunroof of the car.

She grabbed the heavy machine gun welded to the roof of the all-terrain vehicle and opened fire on the driver's cab!
The free hunters and mercenaries in the other vehicles were not to be outdone, and they all took out their weapons to attack the off-road vehicles, and gunfire and explosions filled the air.

“Sun…Sun Hang is dead?!” Yang Qiaoxi took a breath, but when she looked up, she saw Sun Hang’s “corpse” in the passenger seat and was immediately startled.

"No." Zhulong shook his head.

"Then...then this..." Yang Qiaoxi pointed at the corpse, "Could someone who's been shot in the head still survive?"

“It’s just a puppet,” Zhulong said.

Under Yang Qiaoxi's horrified gaze, the corpse's skin quickly lost its color, then turned into a pool of pale mycelium wrapped in a human shape, scattered on the car seat.

"Then...where is Sun Hang now?"

“If I’m not mistaken, he’s probably gone to find the culprit behind this farce,” Zhulong said.

(End of this chapter)