Damn it! Let’s smash the darkness together!
Chapter 271 - 52: Legend of the Night (5K for monthly pass)

Chapter 271: Chapter 52: Legend of the Night (5K for monthly pass)

After bathing, Gu Yue Ming, feeling refreshed and fragrant, wrapped herself in a bathrobe and stepped out of the bathroom.

She sat down on the round stool sofa by the bed and began to contentedly clip her nails and clean her ears, among other daily routines.

Her ease lasted until she saw Gu Pan burst in with a murderous aura.

Slap!

A rolled-up poster, tightly coiled like a sword sheath, landed in front of her.

"Panpan?" Gu Yue Ming instinctively retracted her feet.

If not for knowing that all the Sword Masters of the Gu Family always looked like the world owed them a fortune, one might have thought this was a duel challenge.

Gu Pan added expressionlessly, "Starting tomorrow, I’m going hunting at the edge of the Wasteland."

"Where to?" Gu Yue Ming asked instinctively.

"You’ll know tomorrow. I’ll be with people from a few other associations," Gu Pan said.

Her tone was naturally not that of a foster daughter to a foster mother, but that of a Sword Master commanding a Sword Master, guiding and directing, thus leaving no room for refusal.

According to the Supervision Bureau’s rules, Transcendents typically remained in safe zones to level up, venturing out only after reaching the 12th level to carve out their own territories.

However, the Gu Family was special; after quickly surpassing the initial ’inheritance’ phase, they would enter the Wasteland to seek opportunities. Through the trials of life and death, they further cultivated their Sword Intent, preparing for their ascension to the Second Rank.

The entire Gu Family Sword Masters followed the Martial Artist’s Second Rank ’Weapon Master’ path, which required them to nourish their energy using the essence of exotic creatures’ flesh and blood.

As such, every member of the Gu Family would engage in hunting activities during their First Rank to fill the vacancies of the Sword Artifact Discharge Hall.

To ensure a constant supply of flesh and blood essence in the future, they had to make sufficient Contribution during the First Rank phase. There had to be an inflow and outflow without bad debts; this was their unique rule.

"So, Auntie, prepare yourself to come with me. The conditions are poor on the Wasteland, so you’d better not... dress like that."

Gu Pan gestured towards the black stockings, high heels, and white shirt in the nearby frame.

After speaking, she strutted back to her room with her head held high.

Leaving Gu Yue Ming staring in astonishment.

After a while, her gaze lightly passed over the obscured extent of Gu Pan’s chest, and she muttered to herself, "Hmph, the little girl has been Transcendent for only a few days, and dares to give Auntie attitude. She’s not as well-behaved as she used to be~ Sigh, is it another round of life and death training for the Sword Masters to challenge their limits?"

Her foster daughter’s proud demeanor reminded her of an old acquaintance.

She picked up the rolled poster, unfolded it, and saw that it contained some military news. It mentioned that a large number of exotic species had suddenly overrun a wasteland near the northeastern border of the Wasteland, occupying it for a day before vanishing.

This matter had attracted the high attention of the upper echelons of the Supervision Bureau, suspecting that some major ruins might be emerging near the northeastern corner.

Presumably, the Gu Family, being one of the three heads of the Hunter Association, also received a call-up from the Supervision Bureau to send out people to help investigate the situation.

The Hunter Association was not only about Hunters. Occasionally, they had to do some of their original hunter duties, which was the true role of all Transcendents in the Post-Apocalypse Era.

With this thought, her gentle eyes suddenly narrowed, and she caressed the poster, murmuring to herself:

"Hunting, huh..."

...

"Hunting?"

Xu Shu raised his eyebrow, his gaze sweeping over Matthew and the dozen or so middle-aged men who accompanied him.

These ten-plus men, though appearing to be in their forties, nearing fifty, all had sharp eyes. The outlines of their muscles were visible beneath their camouflage outfits, and several had scars on their necks, clearly veterans of countless battlefield clashes.

And their stance, with Matthew at the lead, brought to mind some old acquaintances for Xu Shu.

"Were you guys part of the Patrol Team?" Xu Shu didn’t rush to ask about the hunting target but instead inquired about their backgrounds.

Matthew’s hand nonchalantly picked up the last piece of meat from the table and stuffed it into his mouth, chewing before he answered:

"Yeah, you might say I was part of the very first Patrol Team. A couple of years back, when I reached retirement age, I still felt fit and figured it’d be a shame to work logistics in town, so I started a Hunting Team here in the Wasteland to scrape by."

He didn’t state the specific reason, but Xu Shu could easily surmise that it certainly had to do with money.

Each team leader, once a Transcendent, upon reaching their fifties, would either be directly retired or reassigned from the frontline to work in logistics.

Of course, their income was significantly reduced.

Perhaps there were other pressures, such as the unwillingness to "age" so passively and the desire to prove that although aged, they remained as sharp as ever.

After a moment’s thought, Xu Shu tapped the table with his forefinger and asked, "Werewolves?"

He didn’t ask because he was unaware of what they were.

On the contrary, in the post-apocalyptic world, werewolves were notoriously well-known, universally recognized and despised.

Belonging to one of the three scourges of the Wasteland, werewolves were the most abhorred creatures, even more disgusting than calamity beasts.

The reason for their infamy lay in the ’human’ aspect.

The physiological structure of these monsters bore many similarities to humans, yet their nature was extremely lascivious. Any human refuge attacked by werewolves would see the men at best killed and consumed or polluted and turned into new werewolves, but the women...