After dealing with the attackers, Boggy, Seta, and Sadie used the old method of stacking poison and triggering damage to kill off the remaining Lava Giant Lizard.
As a result, they essentially hunted two Lava Giant Lizards in one go, making a bountiful harvest.
However, at the moment, everyone's focus was no longer on the gains of this hunt.
Sadie rushed to Seta's side the first chance she got, anxiously asking, "Bro, how are you doing?!"
She had seen with her own eyes as Seta was stabbed through the heart, his blood nearly soaking his Hunting Clothes.
The hole in his Hunting Clothes was still there, yet when her fingers grazed the skin underneath, she couldn't find any wound.
Seta was also somewhat perplexed, scratching his head, as no one knew better than him how fatal that stab had been.
At that moment, Seta thought he was a goner, and then everything went black before his eyes.
When he opened his eyes again, he saw a melon-seed-faced girl picking on his sister, which set him ablaze with rage and prompted him immediately to create a Sand Soil Puppet and join the battle.
He didn't even have the chance to consider the fact of his resurrection until this moment when his tense spirit relaxed a bit, and he realized how incredible this whole thing was.
And speaking of incredible, an image immediately flashed into Seta's mind.
"Vice Captain, it was you who saved me!"
"No, you were just lucky enough. I can't guarantee I could save you again if it happened another time," Ma Lu spoke frankly, as he didn't expect the Purple Blessing [Resurrected from Death] that he had previously acquired to actually come into play.
Indeed, Seta's luck was good, hitting the 33% chance. In contrast, there were people who shot four arrows before triggering a [Headshot], which was incredibly unlucky.
"It really was you who saved me!"
Seta now had complete faith in Ma Lu, as he had always thought he was brave enough and did not fear death.
But when that moment truly came, he realized how much he feared it—worried that after his death, his father couldn't afford medicine, and scared that someone would bully his sister.
Thankfully, no, it was Ma Lu who gave him another chance at life.
Seta took off a beast tooth necklace he was wearing around his neck, presented it to Ma Lu with sincerity, "I don't have much money, so I can only express my gratitude with this for now. Of course, I'll always remember the debt of this second life!"
"Ah? No need, no need," Ma Lu waved his hand dismissively.
But Seta insisted on giving Ma Lu the beast tooth necklace, "This was left by my grandfather to my father, who then passed it to me. It's said to be connected to the whereabouts of a Secret Treasure."
"The person I interrogated didn't know. Black Horn has many people; he said that typically, such deals are handled by Vice Captain Jinjian. They just take the money and do the job, without asking too many questions, to avoid trouble."
Boggy frowned upon hearing this.
The Twin Sunflower Hunting Group was just a newly established, small group; it didn't make sense for them to be targeted. Pondering over recent events, Boggy could only think of the Treasure Hunting Group as the ones they had crossed paths with.
However, hiring Black Horn would cost a large amount of money, and the Treasure Hunting Group had just been beaten by them, losing their equipment and motorcycles, in addition to being banned from hunting for 3 years by the guild, so they should be short on funds.
Could they have borrowed money to seek revenge?
While Boggy was still contemplating, Ma Lu already spoke up, "Why not just ask Jinjian directly?"
"How could Jinjian possibly tell us the truth?"
"Isn't Mai Mai very skilled at interrogation?"
"Ah, you plan to capture Jinjian? But wouldn't that be declaring war on Black Horn? And then there's the law enforcement..." Mai Mai pretended to be worried, but the eager look in her eyes betrayed her true thoughts.
"As long as it's done cleanly and no one knows, it'll be fine. Black Horn has always been involved in dirty business, they must have quite a few enemies," Ma Lu said.
Having visited this realm several times, Ma Lu had interacted with many people and had gradually gotten a grasp of some local rules.
Plainly speaking, law enforcement could only take care of matters within the city. Out in this desert, it really came down to who had the stronger fist.
He looked at Boggy again and asked a critical question, "In your opinion, will Black Horn just quiet down after this setback, or will they come after us again?"
Boggy was ultimately persuaded by this statement. She knew the way Black Horn operated: once they took the money, they never spit it back out.
If they failed once, they would just look for another opportunity.
Being passive would only become more dangerous, better to take the initiative.
Read the continuation at m-vl-em,pyr
"What do you plan to do?"
"Does Jinjian often leave the city?" Ma Lu asked further.
Boggy nodded, "After all, Black Horn is a hunting group, even if they take on shady jobs on the side, on the surface they are no different from other groups."
"Then keep an eye on his movements. If he leaves the city before I come back, prepare some fresh ingredients for me, and let's give him a surprise," Ma Lu said leisurely.