Ark Traveler, I want to take a day off today too

“There’s no need. If we kill too many people… our Mr. Jose will run away.” Linley chuckled and shook his head. His smile combined with the blood-dripping harpoon looked extremely creepy. Immediately, a small group of bounty hunters scattered like birds and beasts.

The intelligence dealer named 'Jose' was not difficult for the two to find. When they pushed open the door of the tavern, an old man with a cane and a cloak made eye contact with them.

"Bounty Hunter Dredger and Bounty Hunter Tyrant...you guys are making a lot of noise."

The old man licked the cigarette paper, and just as he was about to take out some tobacco to roll it up, Lin Lei took out his cigarette box and took out a cigarette and handed it to him: "Since you know our names, it's easy to talk... You are Jose, right?"

"It's me." The old man nodded and took the man's cigarette, then he smacked his lips:

"Tsk tsk tsk, it's actually from Colombia, you have good taste, boy."

“It’s just that I think the cigarettes over there are too strong. I’m a bit uncomfortable with them, so I’m giving it to you.” Linley shrugged and casually stuck the harpoon gun on the floor beside him. “We need your help…”

"Since we are discussing business, then we need to see if your offer is worthy of my information."

Jose looked calm, as if the man’s actions had not affected him at all. He slowly put the cigarette Linley had given him into his mouth and lit it slowly. “But generally speaking, this kind of information can’t be exchanged for a cigarette.”

"Huh... It has to be this kind of high-quality cigarettes that are strong enough, much more comfortable than this low-quality tobacco~"

"Then let us state our requirements first, and then you can state the price."

Linley’s words immediately made the old information dealer laugh. “You mean… like you’re sure you can get the information you want from me?”

"I guess so. After all, I'm not a killer." The man sighed softly, then looked directly into the old man's cloudy eyes: "I need a map related to Saltwind City and news about the bounty hunter Skadi."

As he spoke, Linley placed three pieces of red gold on the wine table in front of the two men. In a sense, such a huge sum of money was enough for this old intelligence dealer to escape from this border town and head to a more inland place.

But Jose was unmoved - but his lack of interest did not mean that other people in the tavern were not interested. For a moment, the bounty hunters who were drinking and chatting around him began to breathe heavily, and the sound of weapons being unsheathed was heard countless times in an instant.

At this moment, Talu, who had been standing behind Linley like a guard, moved. She slowly took a step forward and in an instant, she drew out the black sword at her waist and pointed it diagonally at the ground. Then, pillars of fire rose from the ground one after another!

It was at this moment that Jose realized what the man meant by "I'm not a killer!"

Under Drake's deliberate control, these flame pillars directly attacked everyone except their table indiscriminately! This attack, which could be described as a small volcanic eruption, burned all the bounty hunters in the bar to ashes in an instant!

“It’s quiet now.”

Linley sighed as he watched the flames around him fade away. In less than fifteen seconds, the tavern, which had been as hot as a sauna, returned to its normal temperature. Apart from the fact that only their table was left, there was not much difference in the tavern.

"You...did it on purpose?"

Old Jose swallowed subconsciously. Although he had always told himself that he had lived up to his expectations, he still couldn’t help but get nervous when faced with such a situation. Linley shook his head and knocked on the table.

"If they weren't hostile, they wouldn't be targeted by my partner, right?"

"Old sir, I think this money is already worthy of your information. If you are still planning to ask for more... then I can only use some unfriendly methods - such as soul searching and brainwashing."

Jose smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I can give you another map related to Saltwind City... But before that, can you tell me why you are looking for Skadi?"

The old man’s cloudy eyes were filled with a faint scrutiny, while Linley looked at him calmly, “This matter has nothing to do with the deal, old man… Whether we seek revenge on her or help her… it doesn’t matter. What we need is intelligence and maps related to Saltwind City.”

“And you are the only one in this area who knows this.” Tallulah, who was standing behind Linley, immediately added.

"Okay, okay... I'll give you the map..." Jose could only nod helplessly: "As for Skadi, she is now disguised as a wandering singer and is approaching Saltwind City... I don't know what's so good about this place where you can't even breathe."

The old man muttered as he pulled out a map from his arms: "You are not the first group to buy information from me, but you are the first group to ask me for the information of that girl. Since you gave me so much, I will give you a friendly reminder..."

Jose's cloudy eyes flashed with a gleam of light: "The wilderness of Iberia will devour all hunters, so if you have nothing else to do, you'd better leave early."

“This map is enough. Thank you for your help, old sir.” Linley put the map in his arms and stood up. “But you got one thing wrong.”

"whats the matter?"

"Real hunters own the entire wilderness, so why would they choose to escape?"

While the old man was savoring these words, the two men had already disappeared in the tavern - they still had a long way to go.

005. Salt Wind City

Linley woke up almost at dawn, while Tallulah was still sleeping in the man’s arms, with the agile and strong dragon tail wrapped around his arm.

"Wake up, my dear Miss Tallulah...We still have to travel today."

Linley smiled faintly and stretched out his still-movable left hand to poke the girl’s cheek—but before he could poke her, Draco had already woken up.

Before Linley could withdraw his finger, Tallulah reached out and bit the finger in her mouth, mumbling, “You were so hard last night, I still feel a little… Hey, doesn’t it hurt?”

“Sister, it doesn’t hurt you, but it does. Can you please spit out my finger?” Lin Lei felt that if he just bent his finger a little, he could touch the tongue in the other person’s mouth. Well, he tasted it many times last night, and it felt completely different from others! (Thumbs up)

"Humph."

The girl snorted but still spit out her finger: "So should we head straight to Saltwind City or go find Miss Skadi first?"

“Let’s go to Saltwind City first. She arrived here much earlier than us. Even if there is no car… it won’t take long for that deep-sea hunter to get there with his legs.” Linley thought about it and stood up, handing the dragon girl her clothes.

"In a sense, these two things are the same thing...but there is one thing that I am quite curious about."

It took Tallulah less than five minutes to get dressed and put on the black and gold mask. "What's the matter?"

“He knows Kal’tsit, and he was able to take the ghost shark away from Skadi so smoothly… The only person who could do this could be another deep-sea hunter.” Linley narrowed his eyes. “He must be someone extraordinary to be able to take a person with him and move so quickly.”

"Those deep-sea hunters must be no simple people."

Tallulah crushed the bonfire with one foot, picked up her luggage, and walked slowly forward, while Linley walked slowly behind her with a harpoon in his hand: “No one knows how long Kosche has lived. Perhaps he has been around since the founding of Ursus…”

"But even such an existence still feels strange and unknown about the ocean and the existence beneath it, and the existence of the Deep Sea Hunter does not exist in his memory at all." The girl rambled on and on:

"You know, he has seen the nearly extinct Nightmare and the legendary Pegasus."

“This shows that the civilization of the ocean is somewhat different from the traditional civilization of Terra,” Linley said casually. “But, Tallulah, do you think the land around here is too barren?”

"Eh? Is there any?"

“No matter how desolate it is, there shouldn’t be no vegetation or animals… But we haven’t seen any animals along the way since we left that border town.” The man raised his head and said, “There’s nothing even in the sky.”

"At least we still have dry food, right? But what you said is true. Even in the far north tundra of Ursus, we can still dig up some wild vegetables and wild animals." Draco frowned. From this place, one can see the beach and the endless ocean.

But this ocean was different from all the oceans Linley had seen. It was as lifeless as the beach in Death Stranding. The girl said in disappointment:

"Is this the beach? It's so different from what I imagined, isn't it?"

"If you really want to see the sea, I'll take you to Xiosta later. That coastal city has been handing out flyers to many places."

After hearing the man's suggestion, Tallulah turned around and asked mischievously, "Just the two of us?"

“That’s probably going to be a bit difficult, and if that’s the case, I’m sure Froststar will fight you to the death.” Linley said seriously, and Tallulah could only turn around with a look of ‘regret’ on her face and continue walking.

"Tsk, but I also know it can't be just the two of us... But since you've agreed, don't regret it when the time comes~"

"Don't worry, I, Lin, always keep my word."

The two of them walked and talked, and the wind blowing from the sea from time to time brought an indescribable salty and rotten smell. This smell of death made Tallulah frown even with the mask covering her face:

"It smells so bad....I wish I could burn this smell away."

"That might be a bit difficult, after all, the whole ocean is filled with this smell." The man sighed, "To be honest, I'd rather go back to the bottom of West Lake to lead the pace than to stay in a place like this. At least the environment there is better."

"West Lake? What is that place?" Tallulah muttered, and her eyes suddenly lit up: "Hey... that place in front can't be Saltwind City, I see someone walking in!"

"West Lake... that's a place I can never go back to, but West Lake vinegar fish is not really to my taste."

As Linley explained, he followed the girl’s arm and looked in the direction—it was a small town that looked like a giant ship, except that the ship was much smaller than the others. The ship was not as big as the others, and it was just a small town with a lot of people.

In this world of gray and white, the girl in red who was slowly approaching the town was quite conspicuous in their field of vision - with her smooth back and long white hair that fell to her hips.

"It's really her."

Linley only needed to take a glance to confirm that this rather unique girl was Skadi, and she also stopped and looked back as if she had noticed him.

"Is it her?"

"It's her. Let's go... Our companions are still waiting for us." The man nodded and put the harpoon on his back and walked forward, while Tallulah muttered and trotted to keep up with his pace:

'How come it's another white-haired woman with a nice figure...'

“Rhodes Island has indeed sent you here.” Skadi pulled the dark green pointed hat on her head, and the aura of keeping strangers away quickly disappeared after Lin Lei approached. “Who is that person next to you...I don’t think I have seen her before on the ship.”

"The former leader of the Reunion Movement, Tallulah... is now considered one of my teammates."

"Your people? That's fine...then you should be able to come and help me." Skadi nodded immediately. "Shark was taken away by her old captain. I hope you can help me find them...Don't worry, I won't let you work in vain."

006. We are outsiders!

"We are here to help you... We can discuss the reward later."

Linley waved his hand towards Skadi and blinked, “I remember you said before that you would take me to see the sea, but the sea in this place…”

"The sea has changed now...even I can feel it is strange." The girl said faintly, "But one day I will take you to see the real sea!"

"When you finally surface after a long period of darkness, the moment you open your eyes, the brilliant starry sky drips into your eye sockets, the boundless waves brush your cheeks, and the taste of tears and home are both salty. In comparison, the bathtub in Rhode Island is so narrow and shallow... I must take you there to try it."

The pair of ruby eyes sparkled brightly in front of Linley, and the man could only nod: “I hope that day is not too far away.”

At this time, Tallulah coughed twice and said, "Let's talk about the future later. Why don't you first tell me why you want to go through the city? Is there any explanation?"

"Yes, you have to change your clothes too! If you enter the city wearing clothes like this, you will be caught by the Iberian National Defense Forces!"

After hearing the Dragon Girl's question, Skadi did not answer immediately but imitated what Old Jose had said to her before: "Now I am Skadi, a wandering singer from Iberia, and this outfit is what a wandering singer should wear."

The girl’s expression was quite serious, as if the natives would believe her words. Then Skadi turned around in front of the two of them, her red dance skirt fluttering gently in the wind. If it weren’t for the heavy violin case on her back, Lin Lei would have mistaken the hunter in front of him for a simple little dancer.

"It really suits you, but is the content in your box really a musical instrument?"

Linley clapped his hands, then looked at this weak woman who was so strong that she could lift a tripod with a subtle expression: “Where’s your great sword?”

“I let him go. A wandering singer doesn’t need a greatsword… and I’m here to find someone, not to kill someone.” Skadi said seriously, and Linley could only sigh and cover his forehead.

"But this does not mean that you can enter the city without weapons, even though your body itself is an indestructible weapon."

As Linley spoke, he glanced towards the city, which could already be called a ruin. The people inside were not skinny, but they were extremely thin, and their faces were extremely stiff.

Even if they suddenly took out axes and pitchforks to chop the intruders, the man would not feel anything wrong at all - after all, in his opinion, the mental state of these people was not much different from that of the psychopaths in the Undead Settlement and the locals of Yharnam.

In a sense, they are indeed outsiders and are all hunters.

Linley thought for a moment before taking out the residual light from the lining of his coat and handing it to Skadi. “But having a weapon is better than having none, and a dagger won’t conflict with your identity.”

"It... looks sharp." Miss Orca took the dagger carefully and nodded: "Thank you."

"But you really don't plan on doing some cross-dressing?"

“That’s not necessary. We’ve been standing here for so long… If there was a problem, it would have happened long ago.” Linley whispered, “Let’s go in directly. Tallulah, follow me closely.”

"Don't worry, I'm not a kid... and I don't know much Iberian..." Draco waved his hand casually: "Just let me be a quiet thug."

When the three of them entered the city, it only took a few simple contacts for Skadi to understand what Linley had said before—none of the people standing in the streets and alleys took the initiative to look at them. In a sense, the only difference between them and the sculptures was that they could breathe.

This feeling of being combed and different became more and more obvious when Linley approached one of the Iberian residents with his hands in his pockets. Just as Skadi was about to move closer to the two of them, a small voice came out from another alley and rushed towards Skadi's neck.

Linley would naturally not let this fellow get so close to his companions, so he casually swung his flying knife and nailed the figure’s clothes to the wall.

"Ding~"

"Ah!!!" A child's scream rang out, and Tallulah and Skadi also saw the appearance of this little guy at this moment - he was no different from the residents of this city, except that he was much younger.

At this moment, the pale and tender face showed only fear and the expression of surviving a disaster. If the flying knife with a gleaming metallic luster had deviated to the left by just one or two millimeters, it would probably have cut off the child's aorta.

"You held back?" Skadi said calmly, "If it was in Dripping Water Village before, you would have cut the child's throat."

“It’s just a petty theft, not a vicious murderer… There’s no need to go too far… And this little thing probably doesn’t think he’s stealing other people’s things.” Linley responded calmly, and at this time, the ‘statues’ in the shadows of the nearby alley seemed to come alive and surrounded them.

"They are coming. Do you want to take action?"

"No need. At least we can't start first." The man calmed Tallulah down while pulling out his harpoon gun and pointing it at the ground: "(Iberian) It seems that you are finally willing to communicate with us."

"You...are very strange...who...are you?"

Iberian with a thick coastal accent came out of the mouths of the locals who gathered around. Just like the patriot whose throat was infected by oripathy before, every word they uttered was extremely laborious.

"We are outsiders, a singer and her two bodyguards." The man pointed at Skadi and then at himself: "We are here to find two people."

"But you want to hurt the bench..."

Bench? Is it the kid hanging on the wall? This name is really friendly, just like Chen Ergou. As Lin Lei thought about it, he smiled very kindly:

"Hurt? If he wasn't too close to my friend, I wouldn't have attacked him... He wasn't hurt, which was the result of my mercy... Or do you want to try it too?" He held the harpoon and looked at the Iberian resident who was about to step forward:

"Leave before my patience runs out, or I can't guarantee you'll still have hands and feet to eat!"

007. Girl, are you smart?

It was not known whether it was because Linley’s harpoon looked too fierce or because his words, “You still have hands and feet to eat,” were more frightening, but in any case, this group of unfriendly-looking residents retreated and disappeared like statues.