While the six members of the Hammer Squad were hiding on the rooftop of a residential building in Sky Blue Community, searching for a Beast General level monster, an elite six-person martial artist squad was rapidly advancing towards County Town 0201, about thirty miles away on the dilapidated highway.
Each of these six individuals bore a tiger emblem on the left chest of their combat suits.
This was the highly renowned "Tiger Fang Squad" from Jiangnan City. The squad consisted of six members: two specializing in firearms and four in melee weapons. Of the four melee specialists, two were War General level martial artists, and two were High-level Warrior level martial artists! As for the two firearms specialists, both were War General level!
In truth, with enough talent, experience, and time, achieving the War General level through firearms was relatively easy, relying as they did on the sheer power of bullets.
“Old Han, have you located that old fellow?” Zhang Zehu asked in a low voice. Zhang Zehu was one of the six members of the Tiger Fang Squad, currently at the High-level Warrior level. In terms of strength, the Tiger Fang Squad was formidable. Even the two weakest members were High-level Warriors, and they were just a hair's breadth away from the War General level.
“Based on the tracking signal left by the signal flare I planted on the old guy, he should be about 40 miles from us. My judgment is that he is inside County Town 0201 up ahead!” the man holding an instrument resembling a compass said, looking down at the device in his hand.
“Finally, a confirmed location.”
“Once we hunt down this old guy, we brothers are going to make a fortune.”
The members of the Tiger Fang Squad all laughed.
Previously, while hunting monsters, they had chanced upon a 'Hunter' among the wolf-type monsters. One must remember that in the current distribution of monster populations, since pigs, dogs, cats, cattle, and sheep were the most common animals in human society before the Great Nirvana Period, the majority of current monsters are derivatives of pigs, dogs, cats, cattle, sheep, and snakes. Mutations derived from foxes, monkeys, scorpions, wolves, tigers, and leopards are exceedingly rare.
Because wolves, tigers, and leopards were inherently strong, their mutation resulted in beings that were almost terrifyingly powerful.
Of course, some common monster groups, due to their sheer numbers, can still produce exceptionally terrifying entities.
For example, among the 'feline' monsters, there exists a legendary entity—the Nine-tailed Cat Demon!
The Nine-tailed Cat Demon is the most fearsome of the cat types, possessing nine tails and strength that surpasses the Lord level! On the entire Earth, it ranks among the most terrifying monsters.
...
Wolf-type monsters, however, possess stronger reproductive capabilities, and martial artists frequently encounter them over the decades.
The 'Hunter' is a particularly terrifying mutated strain within the wolf types, also known as the king of the wolf race—the 'Silver Moon Wolf Clan.' Every Silver Moon Fierce Wolf is almost always solitary, preferring to prey on other monsters and human martial artists, notorious for their cunning, viciousness, and cruelty, hence the name 'Hunter.'
The weakest Silver Moon Fierce Wolf ever discovered was at the Mid-level Beast General level, and each one fetches an astronomical price.
“The Hunter we are pursuing should be High-level Beast General, perhaps even close to Lord level! Fortunately, this Hunter was heavily wounded before it engaged us. That’s the only reason we managed to wound it again,” stated the leader of the Tiger Fang Squad, a dark-skinned, lean, short man, in a low, cold voice. “Now that we have all recovered from our injuries and our strength is restored! This time, we must seize the opportunity to decisively slay this much-weakened ‘Hunter.’”
“Yes, Captain.”
All six members of the Tiger Fang Squad were filled with fighting spirit! Killing one Hunter would be equivalent to the hard-earned gains of a year or two of their usual effort.
※※※※※
Inside Sky Blue Community, on the rooftop of one of the 21-story residential buildings.
Five members of the Hammer Squad were using binoculars to carefully scan the area below. Luo Feng held a pair of binoculars in his left hand, taking a gentle sip of water from a canteen in his right hand, then lowered the binoculars, screwed the cap back onto the canteen, and placed it in his backpack. Only then did he resume looking down through his binoculars.
“Captain, are we just going to wait here foolishly?” Luo Feng asked.
“What do you know?” Gao Feng lowered his binoculars and smiled. “In the surrounding area, this 21-story building is quite tall. From the rooftop, using binoculars, we can survey a radius of four or five miles. How big is an entire county-level city? Of course, building obstructions reduce our scanning efficiency, but—this efficiency is already extremely high. We can rest while searching for monsters. It’s the best method.”
Luo Feng nodded.
“Captain, look over here.” Zhang Ke suddenly exclaimed, pointing toward a direction below.
Whoosh!
The other four immediately rushed over, each raising their binoculars to look closely below. Luo Feng also followed where Zhang Ke pointed, and through the binoculars, he instantly spotted solitary Giant Boars and Iron-haired Boars scattered across several streets in the northwest corner. In total, there were hundreds of them, and the number of pig-type monsters within the visible range was still increasing.
“Hmm?” Luo Feng’s eyes lit up as he saw a bizarre monster on one of the streets, entirely red, moving slowly like a tank, with a swarm of pig-type monsters following in its wake.
“Is that a Bloodthirsty Tank?” Luo Feng was startled.
The Bloodthirsty Tank strain ranked second among the pig-type monsters. They were a type of pig monster completely covered in numerous scales, possessing astonishing defense. At first glance, they resembled armored tanks, and in terms of defensive power and impact force, they were no weaker than actual tanks.
“It’s a Bloodthirsty Tank!”
“A big fish.”
“Captain, judging by the color of its scales, it should be Initial-level Beast General. Getting close to Mid-level Beast General.”
The members of the Hammer Squad began discussing.
“Yes, the price for a Bloodthirsty Tank is quite high,” Captain Luo Feng smiled. “Even though it’s only Initial-level Beast General, its price can compare to some Mid-level Beast General monsters. This is a big catch! Everyone, get focused.”
“Old Chen.”
“Chen Gu.”
The members’ voices prompted Chen Gu to finally open his eyes. Chen Gu stood up with a smile, “Brothers, have you found a Beast General level monster?”
“Take a look,” Gao Feng said with a smile.
Chen Gu quickly walked over, picked up the binoculars, and examined the target. He was surprised, “Damn, it’s a Bloodthirsty Tank, second in rank among pig monsters. Its defense is incredible! The armor-piercing rounds I brought might not even penetrate its scales! It looks like I’ll have to bring out my treasure.”
“Hurry up; bullets are cheap compared to the prize,” Gao Feng urged.
Chen Gu moved swiftly, immediately rushing to the iron box, retrieving three bullets with blood-red casings, and replacing the rounds in his sniper rifle.
Puff!
Chen Gu knelt by the edge of the rooftop, steadying the silver-gray heavy sniper rifle. The barrel refracted light under the sunlight. Chen Gu extended his palm to gauge the direction, performing careful testing and calculation to adjust the optical sight. The five members of the Hammer Squad dared not make a sound.
Suddenly—
Boom! A deep, powerful sound echoed.
Almost instantaneously, the bullet pierced through space and flew out. Although this alloy armor-piercing round possessed incredible power and traveled several times the speed of sound, because its velocity far exceeded the sonic barrier, the resulting sonic boom reached the Beast General monster’s ears only after the bullet did.
The Bloodthirsty Tank advanced slowly in the street, masses of monsters preceding and following it.
Puff!
At the spot behind the ear, where the scale structure met the neck, the scales of the Bloodthirsty Tank instantly sparked, and a hole violently burst open as the bullet drilled straight through.
“Aoo~~” The Bloodthirsty Tank let out a painful roar, staggering sideways for two steps. After stabilizing itself, the Bloodthirsty Tank immediately issued furious, agonizing bellows, causing the surrounding crowd of scattered pig-type monsters to frantically gather around it. Faint traces of blood seeped from the scales behind its ear. The Bloodthirsty Tank howled in fury, but it could not determine the origin of the shot.
...
On the rooftop, Chen Gu slowly looked up, moving his eye away from the scope, and confidently stated, “Good luck; I hit a vital spot. This Bloodthirsty Tank has strong vitality and didn't die instantly, but it will definitely fall within five minutes.” The most effective shot in long-range sniping is the first one, as the Beast General monster is completely unprepared.
But if the first shot misses the vital point, it becomes troublesome.
And Beast General level monsters have strong defenses, so merely penetrating the scales is a success. Therefore, bullets usually prioritize penetration power—‘armor-piercing rounds’—over highly destructive explosive rounds. After all, if penetration isn't achieved, how can one talk about damage?
“Great shooting,” Zhang Ke said with a smile, giving a thumbs-up.
“The skull of this Bloodthirsty Tank is the hardest part, and even if a bullet penetrates the body scales and enters, it won't significantly affect the Tank,” Gao Feng smiled faintly. “Chen Gu, this shot was incredible.” If Chen Gu’s first shot hadn't been successful, killing a Bloodthirsty Tank guarded by hundreds of monsters would have been extremely difficult!
“Don’t praise me too much,”
Chen Gu laughed, “Now you all need to figure out how to secure the Bloodthirsty Tank’s corpse. There are hundreds of monsters around that thing. And if we are slow... some other martial artist squad might snatch the prize.”
“Don’t speak ill omens,” Gao Feng smiled. “There are probably only two or three martial artist squads in this county town. Alright, everyone, pack up. Let’s go down and secure the body.” ..