Chapter 27 - Lawless Zones

The gate revealed an expanse of green to Tang Ling. There were trees and grasses but most of it was wasteland. This sight wasn't unfamiliar to him, the ground in 3 kilometres outside the city were mostly grasses where people could farm but it's also the protection range for civilians.

There would be patrols coming back and forth to ensure that there would be no beast invasions in the near future and merchants could expect them to guard them in the three kilometres range from the city. No matter how the officials were corrupted, they understood the importance of hunters, beasts reproduce fast and without someone killing them, it could become a horde to be feared and there was nothing more covoted than money and treasures. The incentive of hunting was money and countless people dreamed of becoming a hunter without being able to but the ones who become hunters are all capable persons.

In fact, some cities would let their doors open, encouraging young people to try hunting (even though most of them would lose their lives after their first hunt). Officials here kinda hoped that you were able to kill one beast before you died, a useless trash dying and a threat eliminated, it was like killing two birds with one stone.

Bao Feng City didn't allow this practise because first, they weren't as desperate as these cities. You could say that it was pretty well-off amongst other outer cities.

Second, the surrounding areas in Bao Feng City were very dangerous so it was stupid to expect a group of people to beat one beast. And third, it would be an action to be frowned upon if other cities learned about this policy.

That's why few cities would allow their citizens to hunt beasts. It was just that it was shameful to "openly" kill hundred of people but also, cities here lived a good life and good economy means that it needs people so unless that said city was very desperate or had an excess of citizens, it would never let their people be wasted. The old ways of human ressource wastage were over and the new ones came for the "good of the people".

Tang Ling walked on the grass and felt a sensation of freshness on it. The city never had the space to accommodate for grass and parks and like other cities, grasses and trees would only appear in the few parks in the rich areas. It was also rumoured that the mayor had such a large garden that it could mistaken as a small forest. It wasn't true at all.

The amount of money that the mayor embezzled could buy a small forest but who would use their entire money for this ?

Trees were once symbols of Brokang nobility and would be used to show off the wealth that they acquired. This was hundreds years ago and now trees became slightly more common. It could be found in some obscure websites and cost half a thousand credits for a tree sprout. If a small forest had around 50~100 trees, it meant that it cost at least 25000 credits and it doesn't include the cost to grow them.

No matter how filthy rich he was, the mayor wouldn't even dare to think about it. Embezzlement was common in any bureaucracy, not even mentioning that outer cities were isolated, but there is always a limit. Public money had to be spent for developing the town and giving tributes to Inner cities and the ruler of the territory so the Bao Feng's mayor could only hide minor transaction records to enrich his treasury.

But he wasn't here for trees or the vegetation, he was here for beasts. Slaying a single one could give him up to hundred of credits. If he was lucky, one or two per day, he would be able to gain profit after a few days.

Walking for fifteen minutes, he walked past a large mountain and circled around it. He then looked around and saw nothing but rocks.

....

Rocks, rocks, rocks and rocks...

Seeing just the dry ground, rocks and rocky mountains for five hours made Tang Ling mad. He even doubted if there were anything on here at all. School didn't teach anything about hunting so he could use his senses to find anything noteworthy but he couldn't catch anything. The land was so barren that he thought that it was a land of death.

"Huh... It seems that this day is unfruitful. I didn't expect that hunting was so hard !" Thinking about how much he was eager to hunt and even used the one thousand credits from Fatty Dong to buy his bow, Tang Ling sighed. Maybe he wasn't fit for hunting.

Then, as he approached a giant hill that he passed before, he suddenly heard a small noise : a clear sound of something falling. Water !

Why didn't think before this ? Beasts. no matter how strong or weak, would need to drink and eat ! For a beast to survive, it would need to have a water source and something to consume. The sound was weak but Tang Ling could infer that it wasn't far from him and he was close to the main road ! Bao Feng City has three main roads connecting to cities. The first road connects to an another giant road which was the path to enter the inner city. Then there is a road which was built with a close neighbour of the city, Glix City. This made the economy of both cities to flourish.

The third road connected to a mine, an important giant mine. Tang Ling didn't what it was produced but the previous mayor, with various companies invested a lot for this and created a small settlement for miners. He was also invited by an official to join and was really tempted by the benefits and pay but he refused because it didn't allow family members to join the camp.

The road that Tang Ling is close, is the third one. People would bring whatever the product is mined from the camp and give it to the city. But if a beast lived here, it could only mean that it ate humans ! Reaching this conclusion, Tang Ling's eyes turned cold; he knew that he was a little bit hypocritical; humans can eat beasts but beasts cannot eat humans ? He knew that it was hypocrite but what could he do about it ? The ones eaten were fellow humans.

Taking out his bow, Tang Ling crouched and checked carefully tracks that could lead him to something.