The Ming Dynasty began from Sarhu

Chapter 753 Bounty Hunter
The temperature in the forest dropped sharply in the dead of winter. In the second half of the night, frost froze the ground along the branches and leaves. Humans, having lost their energy, felt the bone-chilling cold.

The guide curled up in his temperature-controlled sleeping bag. The sleeping bag system kept telling him it was running low on energy. He simply turned it off, shivering with cold. He pleaded with Qi Meng:

"I say, why don't we stay overnight on our yacht and come back to find the secret of Tianxin City after sunrise tomorrow. There are still some energy block residues on the yacht that can warm us up. Or, you can lend me half a block first..."

"I didn't come here to look for the secrets of Tianxin City like others did. I'm not a tomb robber."

Qi Meng wiped the frost from his brow and said coldly: "Stay on the mountain. I will find a secluded place and make a fire."

"Make a fire?"

"You zebra, you're out of your mind! You dare to light a fire here? You'll set the mountain on fire and spend the rest of your life in jail! Besides, it's the dead of night, and you're lighting a fire here. Aren't you afraid of attracting some unclean creatures?"

The guide Qi Meng hired was a middle-aged man with a dark complexion. His name, Zhao Can, sounded like a woman's, but he was a true Chu man. He spoke with a thick Chu accent. His left arm was broken, perhaps in a car accident or some other mishap, and he had a prosthetic made of cheap titanium alloy. When he rolled up his sleeves, it reflected light, gleaming like a mirror.

Qi Meng told him more than once on the road not to go shirtless.

This person must also be from the underground city, otherwise he would not do such a dangerous job and risk being arrested to lead people into the forbidden area.

In the next five days, Zhao Can will continue to work for Qi Meng, who will pay him one-third of an energy block.

"More than three hundred years ago, many people died here. The ruins of Tianxin City are here. Countless bodies are buried under the mountains and forests. At that time, Emperor Taizu conscripted hundreds of thousands of people to build Tianxin City. The construction site worked day and night... Do you know the story of Meng Jiangnu weeping at the Great Wall? It's similar to that story. With so many dead people, resentment spreads, and unclean things appear..."

Qi Meng packed up his equipment and said dismissively:

"What unclean things? Elves and ghosts? Prehistoric beasts? Or ancient evil gods? I'm not afraid of any of these. Humans are the most terrifying thing in this world."

He climbed towards the other side of the ridge on the fallen leaves, and his dim figure quickly disappeared into the darkness.

Zhao Can hesitated, and the traveler in front shouted: "If you turn back halfway, I won't let you use the energy block."

The guide muttered a few words to the dark forest and followed with curses.

The two of them walked one in front and one behind in the dense forest. There was a thick layer of dead branches and leaves under their feet, which made a rustling sound when they walked on them.

The moonlight was bright, and the traveler's figure was like a ghost, swaying not far in front of Zhao Can. He quickened his pace and caught up with him.

"You, what are you hiding from?"

Zhao Can was so tired that he was out of breath. The man walking in front of him would rather run to this desolate mountain in the middle of the night than return to the yacht. He was most likely a criminal wanted by the underground city.

Thinking of this, he regretted taking the job, but the reward the other party gave him was so generous that he had no time to hesitate. The energy blocks the other party promised to give were enough for him and his family to survive for half a year.

"I advise you to surrender as soon as possible. Before you enter the restricted area, the base swarm will be on its way."

After much persuasion, he was told that if he surrendered immediately, he could save his life - of course, one or more organs might be removed and given to people who were in greater need.

Guide Zhao repeatedly assured Qi Meng that these were minor surgeries, and the nanorobots' technique for suturing wounds was perfect...

"I'm not afraid of the swarm."

"Then what are you hiding from?"

Qi Meng stopped and said word by word:

“I’m waiting…”

A strange sound came from the dense forest, and Qi Meng quickly lay down.

The guide said "oh", and the next second, the buzzing sound of a swarm of bees flying overhead was heard.

Qi Meng rolled to the bushes nearby, took cover from the trees, and covered himself with a VolleBak jacket to prevent being spotted by the drone's thermal imaging.

Dense rain of bullets poured down like hail, hitting all living things on the ground. The clattering sound of gunfire instantly broke the silence of the forest.

A wild boar, awakened by the noise, leaped up, only to be torn to pieces by bullets before it even hit the ground. Qi Meng huddled in the bushes, motionless, as the swarm of bees circled overhead for a long time before finally drifting away.

He glanced to the right and saw that the guide who had been trying hard to persuade him just now had become very quiet.

Lying quietly in a pool of blood.

"What a pity! Another person has died as a result."

"I have to go now."

They covered the body with dead leaves and walked along the ridgeline towards the river. The yacht anchored by the river was engulfed in flames.

A slightly hoarse voice sounded in the forest:
"You can't leave."

Qi Meng shrugged, took out a miniature electromagnetic shotgun from his backpack, and aimed the gun at the bounty hunter who was chasing him.

"You chased me all the way from Nandu City to here, even leaving the Imperial Forbidden Zone untouched, yet you couldn't kill me. Aren't you tired?"

"What if I can kill him?"

The bounty hunter walked into the moonlight, wearing a slightly old bulletproof liquid armor on his back. His steps were steady and powerful. He stopped about fifty meters away from Qi Meng and quickly looked around to make sure there were no other threats.

"There's no other way. I have to stay alive. Bounty hunters all over the country are hunting you. If they kill you, the Senate will give you fifty energy blocks, enough for Kunpeng to fly to Neptune for vacation. And all the energy blocks in your backpack will also go to the bounty hunters. I heard you have a hundred energy blocks... It's such a good deal. I have to do it even if I have to chase you to the moon."

The buzzing sound of a swarm of bees sounded again above his head, and the next second, bullets poured down. As expected, all the laser-guided armor-piercing bullets hit the target, but unfortunately they failed to penetrate Qi Meng's outer defense.

Dense sparks splashed all around, like a gorgeous firework display.

He took two steps back and tapped the exoskeleton system start button on his chest. The damaged armor was repaired, and the thick yet light armor instantly covered his entire body. A long-lost sense of security surged through his body.

He sarcastically asked, "Are all the toys Vine Company sells to you childish little ones like this? Why don't you sue them?"

"You can't win the lawsuit."

Hunter said to himself, laughing at himself, over the swarm radio.

"I heard you're a clone? You're being hunted by the Senate because you tampered with the game system, entered a parallel world three hundred years ago, and massacred the natives?"

Qi Meng shrugged and said indifferently: "Let them say whatever they want, even if they say I'm a Martian."

"Enough of the nonsense. You're running low on energy, aren't you? Give up resistance. I promise to give you a quick death. Just pull the trigger and you'll be vaporized instantly. No pain."

"Really? You've never died before, so how do you know there's no pain?"

The bounty hunter pulled open his armor, revealing a long metal wound on his rib cage. "Two years ago, while hunting down rebels in Jakarta—probably your friends—a woman from the dungeon had her heart damaged. I replaced it with a stronger one."

The bounty hunter attempts to distract the target through conversation.

"I had a near-death experience during my organ transplant, so I know."

"So, it was you who killed Shi Yingning?"

The bounty hunter keenly caught the target's emotional changes, and the drone let out a hoarse laugh:
"Her name is Shi Yingning? Is she your woman? Is she a clone or a human?"

The miniature electromagnetic shotgun has been fully charged, and the tactile screen wrapped around the gun body keeps changing its eyes in line with the owner's emotional fluctuations.

At this moment, it instantly turned into a provocative dark red.

"You will soon experience true death. I've killed three bounty hunters along the way, and you will be the fourth."

(End of this chapter)