Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 571 The Bai Group's Industries

Cheng Ming really wanted to try out his "newly acquired" ability, but considering that he was in a hospital ward and that two nurses were taking care of him "personally," he eventually gave up the idea.

Cheng Ming looked down at his hands, recalling the feeling of those red spikes piercing his body during his previous battle with G09—he could vaguely sense several streams of heat flowing under his skin, and when he focused his attention on one of these streams, the speed of the heat would slow down and slowly condense into a needle-like entity.

Cheng Ming instantly distracted himself, and at the same time, the not-yet-fully-formed spikes transformed into a stream of heat, like a small fish escaping a net, swimming to another part of his body.

If one doesn't pay special attention, these subtle heat flows are almost negligible. Apart from a slight burning sensation when they condense, they don't cause Cheng Ming any discomfort.

Could this be the ability he gained after his monster meme infection process entered the "late stage"? Cheng Ming couldn't help but wonder.

Under normal circumstances, acquiring this ability would mean the start of his life's countdown, but with the help of that mysterious girl, he has now acquired this ability ahead of schedule in a "safe" (?) way.

The red spikes finally gave Cheng Ming a memetic ability that could be used as a means of attack, but Cheng Ming was also very clear that if he only had this one ability, he still could not be considered a qualified combat hunter.

He had watched many combat videos of top hunters. Some hunters could unleash flames that could cover an entire football field with a mere wave of their hand; some hunters could transform into a pool of liquid and silently appear behind their prey... or even inside its body; and some hunters could instantly create a vacuum around their prey, causing it to suffocate to death...

Compared to these abilities, the red spikes from the peculiar cactus are simply insignificant.

The limited attack range alone is a major weakness. To hit a target with the red spikes, Cheng Ming would have to engage in close-quarters combat. Not to mention the strange creatures with all sorts of bizarre attack methods, even if the target were a human soldier wielding modern firearms, Cheng Ming's chances of winning would not exceed 10%.

There are quite a few top-tier hunters who specialize in melee combat, but these hunters either have such abnormal physical strength that they can withstand bullets, or they are so fast that they are difficult to aim at. At the very least, they have various defensive means—energy shields, physical liquefaction or vaporization, defensive force fields, or illusions and other illusions...

Cheng Ming did not have any of these methods.

Although his physical strength is higher than that of ordinary people, it is only slightly higher. A bullet to a vital spot would kill him instantly, a spinal injury would cause paralysis, and if a major artery ruptures, he would go into shock due to excessive blood loss without timely treatment, and then die... By the standards of combat-type, especially melee-type hunters, Cheng Ming's body is far too fragile.

He even felt that killing G09 was a fluke—if G09 hadn't grabbed him with his palm and slowly increased the force, but instead had chosen to use a high-speed attack method such as throwing or slamming, Cheng Ming probably wouldn't have even had a chance to fight back and would have been beaten to death by G09.

Unless the ability to accelerate consciousness and enhance the body can also appear at the same time... But Cheng Ming tried several times after waking up in the hospital bed, but he still failed.

Those abilities seemed to have been temporarily "lent" to him by that mysterious girl.

"Mr. Cheng, would you like something else to eat?" The nurse cut a plate of apples into small pieces, and while using a toothpick to pick up a piece of fruit and feed it to Cheng Ming, she asked.

“Actually, I can do it myself…” Cheng Ming said. “I’m not used to being fed by others.”

“This is my job,” the nurse blinked. “Mr. Cheng, you are injured, so taking care of the injured is what I should do.”

"Okay, actually I'm not hungry." Cheng Ming shook his head. "Can I have my phone?"

"Okay." The nurse nodded, unplugged the phone that was charging on the bedside table, and handed it to Cheng Ming.

Cheng Ming glanced at the messages and saw no new unread messages other than the two text messages his mother sent him every day and the notification that the "compensation" had been deposited into his account by Bai's Military Industry.

Cheng Ming sent his mother a message to let her know he was safe, then opened his browser and entered the hunter forum in Longcheng—"Qin Shi Ming Yue Han Shi Guan".

This period can be described as the most popular time for the forum in the past decade. The posts on the homepage were refreshed almost every second. Hunters from all over the Federation flocked to the forum, forcing the forum operators to urgently add several more servers to barely handle the surge in traffic, which increased by thousands of times.

If there are a thousand hunters who come to Dragon City, then the number of users flooding into "Qin Shi Ming Yue Han Shi Guan" is at least a hundred times that number—many people can't come to Dragon City, but that doesn't mean they won't pay attention to this hunting operation with a sky-high bounty.

All sorts of people, with various motives, are watching this desolate land on the northwestern border of the Federation through the internet... For some reason, for a moment, Cheng Ming felt like a clown performing on a circus stage.

Accustomed to keeping a low profile, he disliked being the center of attention. However, the "task" given to Cheng Ming by the mysterious girl destined him to attract a lot of attention in the future. Thinking of this, Cheng Ming couldn't help but sigh.

"Mr. Cheng, what's wrong?" the nurse asked immediately upon hearing the sigh. "Is something bothering you?"

"Nothing much? I just feel a lot of pressure," Cheng Ming said casually. "If the Tian Shu Tower can offer such a high bounty, then the target monster must be very troublesome."

“No matter how tricky the monster is, with so many monster hunters out there, we’re sure to be able to hunt it down successfully!” the nurse said with a smile. “I’ve heard that Mr. Cheng is a very skilled hunter. This kind of operation shouldn’t be too much of a challenge for him, right?”

“It’s okay to feel stressed, just let it out,” another mature nurse suddenly said in a low voice. She glanced back at the security guard standing by the door, who immediately and considerately left the ward and closed the door behind them.

"Mr. Cheng, you can do whatever you want." The mature nurse brought her lips close to Cheng Ming's ear, and the warm breath she blew as she spoke went straight into Cheng Ming's ear canal, tickling his eardrum and his heart at the same time.

It would be a lie to say he wasn't tempted. Both nurses were exceptionally beautiful and had impeccable figures. In the past, whether it was programmer Cheng Ming or monster hunter Cheng Ming, such women would rarely appear in his social circle, let alone have anything happen between them.

Although Cheng Ming is not exactly a lifelong single, his romantic experience is quite limited. Apart from a brief relationship during his university years, he has hardly interacted with any women since he started working.

After Cheng Ming graduated, the only woman he talked to most, besides his mother, was probably his secretary at the company who was so scared she wet herself.

"Don't worry, there are no security cameras in the ward," the mature-looking nurse continued, while another sweet-looking nurse put down the plate, obediently went to the bedside, and drew the curtains.

The mature nurse had already unbuttoned the second button from the bottom of her collar, and her entire upper body was almost pressed against Cheng Ming's shoulder.

"Uh, can I get out of bed?" Cheng Ming suddenly asked.

"Get out of bed?" The mature nurse paused for a moment, then immediately understood. "Of course, Mr. Cheng, just tell us what position you prefer, we can do it..."

“I want to go outside for a walk,” Cheng Ming said. “It’s too stuffy in the ward.” “Ah? Oh… okay, okay.” The mature nurse’s expression was a little stiff, but her excellent professionalism allowed her to quickly switch to a gentle smile. She quickly buttoned up her clothes without making a sound, and then walked to the side and pushed the wheelchair over.

“I think I should be able to walk by myself,” Cheng Ming said.

The fractures on his body were concentrated in his upper body, while his legs and feet were the least injured and least damaged.

With the help of two nurses, Cheng Ming got out of bed.

He first tried to take two steps forward, and after finding that his body was completely fine, he signaled to the two nurses not to support him anymore and walked straight to the door of the ward.

Cheng Ming opened the door and walked out amidst the security personnel's mixed expressions of surprise and confusion.

Before Cheng Ming had taken more than a few steps, a doctor rushed over and asked with concern, "Mr. Cheng, are you planning to be discharged? Although your injuries are no longer serious, it would be best if you stayed in the hospital for observation tonight. We can arrange for your discharge first thing tomorrow morning!"

"I'm just browsing around," Cheng Ming said.

"I see... Do you need me to send a few people to follow you?" The doctor glanced at the two nurses and security personnel following Cheng Ming at a distance and asked cautiously.

"Need not."

"Then please be careful," the doctor added. "There's a garden downstairs in the hospital; it's quite nice. You can go sit there for a while."

"Can I go outside the hospital?" Cheng Ming asked the doctor earnestly.

He wanted to ascertain one thing—whether the Bai Group's meticulous "care" for him was a form of "house arrest."

“Of course you can, we have never restricted your freedom,” the doctor said immediately. “However, before your injuries have fully healed, please try not to go too far from the hospital. As you know, a lot of people have flooded into Longcheng recently, and these people are a mixed bag, which has increased the pressure on the city’s security. If you want to leave the hospital, I suggest you take two people with you.”

"I'll just wander around the hospital area," Cheng Ming said.

"That's good."

After dealing with the doctor, Cheng Ming took the elevator down to the first floor.

He walked straight through the garden the doctor had mentioned without lingering—at the end of the garden was one of the hospital's side entrances, leading to a commercial street. However, Cheng Ming noticed that many of the shops on this street displayed the Bai Group's logo.

In other words, this entire street may belong to the Bai Group.

"One of the three major families in Longcheng... No wonder Li Ming was so desperate to get into the Bai Group." Cheng Ming muttered to himself, then looked back twice.

No one followed them out.

Of course, this is only what's on the surface. Cheng Ming is certain that someone is still following him in secret. Not only that, but there might even be someone specifically using the city's surveillance system to monitor his whereabouts... Even the drones that fly by from time to time could be spies from the Bai Group.

Cheng Ming wasn't a newbie who had only been a hunter for a few days. He was well aware of the seriousness of the previous G09 out-of-control incident—he even had a momentary thought about whether he would be silenced. However, it seemed that the Bai Group wasn't that bold... or rather, their power in Dragon City hadn't truly reached the point of being able to control everything.

Cheng Ming casually found a water bar to sit down. Perhaps because the water bar was located next to the hospital, neither the customers nor the staff paid much attention to Cheng Ming, who was wearing a hospital gown.

"Hello sir, what would you like to drink?" A bartender who was wiping glasses behind the counter looked up and asked.

"Orange juice, please." Cheng Ming glanced at the menu on the wall and asked, "By the way... why don't the drinks on the menu have prices listed?"

Cheng Ming thought to himself, it's just a glass of orange juice, even if this store is overcharging, I can definitely afford it... not to mention that the Bai Group just deposited a huge sum of money into my personal account.

"All drinks in our store are free," the clerk said with a smile. "This is one of the employee benefits of the Bai Group."

Employee benefits?

It was only then that Cheng Ming noticed that almost every customer in the store was wearing a Bai Group badge. Although he himself didn't have a badge, his hospital gown clearly identified him—someone who could stay in the Bai Group's internal hospital was definitely one of the store's customers.

"Does this store...accept outsiders?" Cheng Ming asked. "I mean, people who are not employees of the Bai Group."

“People who aren’t from the Bai Group generally don’t come to this street.” The clerk brought over a glass of fresh orange juice. “And even if people who come to this street aren’t employees of the Bai Group, they are still among our customers.”

Cheng Ming understood immediately.

No wonder the doctor let me out so easily; it turns out this whole street is under the control of the Bai Group.

Cheng Ming felt like a monkey that couldn't escape the Buddha's palm.

He picked up his orange juice and took a sip. Just then, his phone beeped with a text message notification.

The message came from an unknown number: "Hello Mr. Cheng Ming, are you free right now? I'd like to meet with you; there are some things I need to discuss with you."

(End of this chapter)