Chapter 11: The Reward

Half an hour later, inside the temporary shelter that had originally belonged to the refugees.

Lei Jie had finished treating the cloaked man’s wounds and had bound his hands and feet with tow straps.

Considering that the man’s strength and speed were far beyond those of an ordinary human, Lei Jie had used all four tow straps carried by the team. Still not satisfied, he had even hauled over several chunks of broken concrete and piled them on top of him.

At that moment, the man looked as though he had been buried alive. Glancing down at the concrete covering him, he said with a helpless laugh, “Are you worried I’ll get cold? Should you shovel some dirt over me and pack it down too?”

The moment he finished speaking, Chen Jian immediately sensed that there was something different about him.

There was no doubt that those refugees could speak.

But their speech had been stiff, mechanical, and even rudimentary.

And this man?

Whether in his choice of words, his tone, or the faint trace of humor in his voice, he was worlds apart from the refugee group Chen Jian had encountered earlier.

This was not simply the difference between a Holy Blood bearer and an ordinary person. It was the difference between a normal person and something abnormal.

With that thought, Chen Jian asked, “You’re different from the people we encountered before.”

The man shook his head in amusement and replied, “You don’t still consider those Converts human, do you? How adorably naïve.”

“No wonder they managed to trick you into entering the subway. So I’m curious—who exactly are you, and how did you escape?”

Another religious term had slipped from the man’s mouth, but Chen Jian understood his meaning at once.

Converts...

In other words, that refugee group had actually been living in dependence on the Mother.

That perhaps explained why they had said they could not leave while the Mother remained.

It also explained their attack on Chen Jian’s team, as well as the tremendous roar that had sounded before the creature known as the Mantis attacked.

Chen Jian had initially assumed it was some kind of warning. Thinking back, it had indeed been a warning—but not one directed at them. It had been meant for the monster.

Chen Jian slowly exhaled and looked toward the man.

“You’re in no position to ask questions. Given the circumstances, I should be the one questioning you.”

“Of course, of course.” The man shrugged. “Before you begin, perhaps I should explain who I am.”

“My name is Xu Lie. I’m from Jinling.”

“As you can see, I’m a Holy Blood bearer—and a hunter.”

“I was commissioned by an important figure in Jinling to come to Chuansha with my companions and hunt down this Level Four monster.”

“My original purpose was reconnaissance. But as soon as I entered the city, I discovered traces of the battle you had fought. Then I found you.”

“I noticed your equipment and initially assumed you were another team of hunters from the Mechanical God Cult. So I decided to watch from the sidelines and figure out your objective first.”

“But I never expected you to get mixed up with those Converts, much less be tricked into entering the monster’s lair.”

“I thought you were as good as dead, but then...”

“You already know what happened afterward. There’s no need for me to repeat it, is there?”

“Correct.”

Chen Jian nodded slowly but did not question him at once.

Those few brief sentences from the man called Xu Lie contained an enormous amount of information—more than Chen Jian could fully digest in an instant.

Jinling. An important figure. Hunters. Level Four monsters...

All these details indicated that there were still large-scale human settlements in this land. Not only that, but those settlements had developed complex and specialized functions.

Furthermore, humanity’s struggle against the monsters had clearly reached a fairly mature and professional stage. Otherwise, something like a system for classifying monsters by level could never have existed.

This was entirely different from the information provided by the Converts.

So had they been prepared to deceive them from the very beginning?

A chill crept up Chen Jian’s back. He gave Xu Lie a suspicious look, then continued questioning him.

“So you’ve been following us since last night?”

“If you already knew there was something wrong with those Converts, why didn’t you warn us?”

“Is there competition between hunters, or is there some conflict between you Holy Blood bearers and the Mechanical God Cult?”

“Neither.”

Xu Lie shook his head.

“The problem was with you.”

“Don’t you realize how strange you are? Your weapons and equipment resemble those of the Mechanical God Cult—guns, artillery shells, heavy armor, radios...”

“But clearly, the things you use are more powerful than any weapons I’ve ever seen.”

“And you possess many things I’ve never encountered before, or even heard of.”

“That flying mechanical bird, that strange object on your head that resembles a telescope but is clearly something else, those glowing goggles...”

“In short, people like you have never appeared anywhere in this land.”

“At least, not within my memory.”

“So tell me, should I have approached you of my own accord? You approached the Converts yourselves. I don’t need to explain how that turned out, do I?”

Chen Jian nodded slowly without arguing.

His mind was rapidly sorting through the information Xu Lie had provided, and in doing so, he noticed something rather strange—yet oddly consistent with a certain logic.

The man knew what guns were, but not bulletproof vests. He knew about radios, but had never seen night-vision goggles.

Clearly, some of humanity’s technologies—and even the names used to describe those technologies and the concepts they represented—had vanished into the river of time.

Other things that were more effective and more durable, however, had been passed down from one generation to the next.

That felt entirely real, and it convinced Chen Jian that, at least in this regard, Xu Lie had not been lying.

Seizing on the key point in Xu Lie’s words, he continued, “Where is Jinling? How many people live there?”

“You don’t even know about Jinling?”

Xu Lie stared at him in astonishment.

“You really are strange... You aren’t Holy Blood bearers, yet the strength of just four of you was enough to kill a Level Four monster.”

“You know absolutely nothing about this place, yet during combat, you seemed to understand the terrain perfectly.”

“Wait. How exactly did you escape from underground? I mean, no matter how powerful your weapons are, they couldn’t possibly... I see.”

Xu Lie let out a long breath.

“The mirrors on your heads are some kind of device that allows you to see in the dark, aren’t they?”

Chen Jian nodded without concealing the truth.

“That’s right. They’re called night-vision goggles.”

“Night-vision goggles... A very fitting name.”

“Then that explains it. As long as you could see, your powerful weapons would have allowed you to inflict even more damage on the monster underground than you did aboveground.”

“So that’s why it was so weak... Impressive.”

Xu Lie sighed in admiration before continuing.

“But let’s return to your earlier question.”

“Jinling is the largest city in the entire south. At least ten thousand people live there.”

“It is an outpost at the boundary between north and south, and one of the most dangerous places in the world.”

“Caravans, hunters, Holy Blood bearers, churches, thieves, monsters... You can find everything there.”

“No matter where you came from, if you want to gain a quick understanding of this world, you should go to Jinling.”

At this point, Xu Lie paused, as though he had just thought of something.

“No. You shouldn’t go there.”

“You have to make a trip to Jinling.”

“Why?” Chen Jian asked with a frown.

Xu Lie shrugged.

“You killed the monster and claimed the bounty.”

“If you don’t go there... who exactly are you planning to give your reward to?”