Chapter 312: The Hunt Begins

“Your boss, that old Japanese man must be quite rich. This dune buggy has been operating for more than an hour, but its power has not decreased at all. It must be a custom-made equipment, right? This stuff is probably not cheap.”

Roddy was seated inside the dune buggy that the bald girl had summoned out; he had taken the initiative to take the driver’s position. Nagase Komi did not argue against his decision because she knew that Roddy’s skill was related to machines. It would be best to leave matters related to machines to him.

They rode in the dune buggy through the wasteland, speeding toward the point validation location indicated by the radar. As they were on the move, Roddy could not help but sigh. “A pity, this senior’s Thunderstorm Tank had been destroyed just like that. If I could bring it back, I might be able to make use of the wreckage. Perhaps, it might be possible to repair it…”

“Repair?”

“Mm, I remember seeing repairing options back in Zero City’s weapons and equipment shops. I think repairing would be cheaper compared to buying a new one.” Roddy sighed.

On the second row of the dune buggy, Han Bi was seated there. He did not utter a single word.

His mind was in turmoil.

Roddy had been generous enough to bring Han Bi along with them.

However, Nagase Komi gave Han Bi a cold glance and said, “You chose not to kill him and bring him along. Is it due to your previous friendship? Or is he your points backpack?  Kill him whenever you want for points?”

“Do I look like such an evil person?” Roddy harrumphed with a haughty expression.

Although that was Roddy’s answer, Han Bi felt a pang of bitterness in his heart.

Strength… compared to those two, his strength was far too inferior!

…

The dune buggy sped through the wasteland for nearly one hour. The distance between them and the ‘point validation location’ displayed in their radars became smaller.

The silhouette of a little town slowly came into their view.

“Mm? There was such a place here?” Roddy knitted his eyebrows and said, “I thought… this instance dungeon is a total wasteland. How could there be a little town here?”

Nagase Komi stared at the little town for some time before saying in a low tone, “I remember checking the terrain of this area before. We did not find this little town… it must have appeared after that.”

Appeared after that?

Nagase Komi’s words reminded Roddy of something!

This place was originally a stretch of wasteland. However, a little town had now appeared here!

In other words, this little town had only appeared after the merging with Player mode!

Could it be…

“Player region?” Roddy guessed. “Damn it! If this is a Player region… then… would we end up encountering Players here? Get ready for battle!”

The dune buggy did not turn around. Instead, Roddy accelerated and quickly sped toward the little town…

…

When the dune buggy got onto the road leading into the little town, the dune buggy jerked and Roddy shouted, “Hold on tight! Nagase Komi, you keep watch!”

After saying that, Roddy tossed a gun to the bald girl.

Nagase Komi accepted the gun and loaded it. Then, she cast a complicated gaze at Roddy – he had shown his back to her without any reservation. He seemed to have no sense of vigilance toward her at all.

Nagase Komi exhaled and stood up on her seat and held the gun at the ready on the surface of the dune buggy.

It was at that moment that they suddenly heard something coming from up front.

It was a short but clear sound and it echoed through the wasteland.

Hearing the sound, Roddy’s face immediately sank.

“It’s the sound of gunfire!” Roddy quickly said. “Someone’s here. Who knows if its Awakened ones or Players…”

Nagase Komi gripped the gun in her hand tightly and said with an expression of resolve, “Who cares! We can use this opportunity to score some points!”

Roddy cast a surprised look at Nagase Komi. He was taken aback by the bald girl’s show of strength and courage.

He recalled their time together in the Tokyo instance dungeon. Back then, she had begun as their captive – there, she was just a cowardly rookie. She was recruited into a guild formed by that fellow known as Culkin and sent to set up an ambush along a road. In the end, she was captured by Chen Xiaolian and his team.

Later, she was taken in by Chen Xiaolian. However, she was still a weak and cowardly girl.

Unexpectedly, after merely such a short time, this bald girl had become a cold and tough person!

Even back in the airplane, she did not bat an eye even though she had killed that terrorist with her bare hands!

Those matters made Roddy curious. However, it was just a momentary thought.

He returned his attention to driving the dune buggy into the little town, heading toward the sound of the gunfire…

After travelling a distance of several hundred metres, Roddy suddenly halted the dune buggy.

“Ten o’clock!” Roddy whispered urgently.

“I see it!” Nagase Komi jumped out of the dune buggy and ran forward with her upper body leaning forward.

Their personal radars had revealed several green dots in their ten o’clock position!

Those dots represented… Awakened ones. Additionally, they had already entered a state of combat!

…

With her upper body leaning forward, Nagase Komi continued moving in that direction. Roddy was right behind her; before running off, he turned his head back toward Han Bi. “Hide well and don’t come out.”

Somewhere three to four hundred metres away from the little town was a stretch of arid rocks.

The gunfire had come from this place.

Nagase Komi and Roddy ran toward the rocks. The two of them were able to act in concert and they began splitting apart, one heading to the left while the other to the right. They moved forward in a flanking manoeuvre.

Nagase Komi had whispered to Roddy, “We are not in a state of combat. They still do not know of our arrival… this will be a good opportunity to ambush them!”

Roddy nodded. He was quick to accept her suggestion and they began to move into a flanking position. They rounded the stretch of rocks from both sides.

Taking several steps forward, Roddy suddenly heard another gunshot coming from there!

Bang!

After hearing the gunshot, Roddy was surprised to find that one green dot had disappeared from his personal radar.

One has died?

…

Roddy stayed close to the rocks as he approached. He soon found a crack within the rocks. The crack provided him with an excellent opportunity to spy on what was happening beyond the rocks…

Within the stretch of rocks, a confrontation was occurring!

There were three men, all wearing protective suits on them. Judging from the way it looked, those protective suits were unlikely to be some high-grade equipment. They were probably just [B] class goods or lower.

They were all armed with firearms.

The three of them were in a ‘品’ formation and they were in the middle of laying suppressing fire upon a rock on the south side.

There was a man hiding behind that rock.

The two parties wielded firearms and shot at each other.

In terms of firepower, the three men were clearly holding the advantage. However, the fellow hiding behind the rock had better marksmanship. Each successive shot by him was accurate and ruthless!

Roddy also saw a corpse lying on the ground between the two parties.

Judging from the bloodstains, he speculated that the corpse must have belonged to the green dot that had disappeared just now.

The three-man team was clearly trying to kill the fellow hiding behind the rock. However, they ended up losing one of their own.

This was an unacceptable result!

Killing a participant will give 500 points. However, only the killer will acquire the 500 points while the killer’s allies get 100 points each.

And yet, they now lost one of their own!

According to the rules, losing an ally meant the deduction of 300 points for each of them!

Before succeeding, they had lost 300 points each!

This was too much of a loss!

Even if they do kill off this prey… only the one to kill the prey would get the benefit. Minus 300 points then add 500 points would result in 200 points.

But for the other two… minus 300 points then add 100 points would still result in a negative 200 points.

Even after killing off the enemy, two of them would still end up with negative 200 points.

How were they to accept this?

The Hell!

After encountering the fellow who appeared terribly injured, they had originally thought that they would be able to pick up an easy win. How could they have guessed that their prey would end up being so skilled?!