King of the Hunt

The scorching sunlight penetrated the layers of the rainforest canopy.

The Tyndall effect created mottled beams of light, mingling with the sunlight blocked by the canopy, heating up the rainforest.

A young man with a bare upper body and smooth muscle lines was wildly swinging a sharp logging axe, frantically chopping down a towering tree.

The young man's name was Allen. His movements were swift and rhythmic, but his eyes showed a hint of urgency.

Nearby, two skinny young men were observing and learning.

In the distance, four men were on the lookout, keeping watch.

Allen knew that in an hour, the forest rangers would pass by here.

Chopping, segmenting, debranching, and then transporting—he had only an hour to fell this precious redwood tree.

A month ago, Allen was a squad leader in this part of the rainforest's ranger team.

From a forest ranger, he had become an illegal logger.

It all started a month ago.

...

When Allen woke up, he felt pain all over his body, as if he had been trampled by a herd of elephants.

Especially the burning, piercing pain in his back, which reminded Allen of a deeply ingrained memory.

It was when Allen had just started his career, smuggling drugs, and was caught by a South African gang. After a brutal beating, he was left with lifelong injuries on his left foot.

When he was thrown out like a dead dog by those bastards, he felt the same excruciating pain all over his body.

...

"Damn bastards, daring to use an RPG in the neighborhood!"

Allen remembered that after killing more than a dozen people with his submachine gun, a strong black man shot him with an RPG.

Forget a flesh-and-blood body, even an armored car couldn't remain intact after such a blast.

With almost all his strength, Allen finally opened his eyes and saw his surroundings.

A broken bed, an old table, and crumbling walls—this was an extremely dilapidated house.

Until Allen, with his blurry vision, saw a hunting bow hanging on the broken wall, a flood of both familiar and unfamiliar memories surged into his mind.

...

"Redwood Nation, rainforest, ranger, lord, flogging... Allen!"

Different memories and backgrounds—another world?

Allen vaguely guessed that he might have crossed over to a world completely different from Earth.

After about half an hour, Allen accepted the fact that he had become a young man in this world also named Allen. At least, the name was the same.

This gave Allen some comfort.

This guy's body was very weak and couldn't survive the brutal flogging, dying in the cold darkness of last night, replaced by Allen.

Since that's the case, I will live on using this body.

Although this body is not in good condition, at least it survived.

"Alright, let me carefully see what caused 'me' to be beaten like this..."

Allen muttered optimistically. He had faced death several times due to smuggling, and the current situation was not the worst.

"Bang, bang, bang!" A series of knocks on the door interrupted Allen's thoughts.

A skinny young man wearing only ragged shorts pushed the door open and entered.

"Boss, we're doomed! That bastard from Bakken, like a woman, has announced your expulsion from the ranger team. You're no longer the squad leader!"

Peter's expression was panicked, and his tone was terrified. He was clearly very scared of this outcome.

As someone personally brought into the ranger team by Allen, Peter was Allen's staunch supporter.

As a squad leader of the ranger team, Allen had always been diligent, curbing the rampant poachers and illegal loggers in the estuary rainforest area.

Every month, he could receive a modest but sufficient reward from the ranger team supervisor based on the poaching teams he captured.

But last month, the old ranger team supervisor died on a wild boar hunting trip.

The new supervisor was the illegitimate son of the biggest feudal lord in this land.

Allen had always understood one thing: never use common sense or morality to speculate on the actions of those in high positions.

Those in high positions, often unrestrained by rules, frequently engage in behavior far beyond ethical norms.

For example, this illegitimate son, though not lacking money, was stingy like a miser.

Not only did he not give Allen's team the meager rewards they deserved according to regulations, but he also hung Allen up and whipped him when he reported his work results.

Even though Allen was in good physical condition, he still fell unconscious for two days and finally died last night.

This allowed him to cross over to this body.

"Don't worry, Peter. Besides the expulsion, is there anything else?" Allen asked.

Peter shook his head. "They all thought you were dead. I've been secretly feeding you at night these past few days... Oh, and one more thing, that cripple has become the new squad leader."

Hmm!?

Having been in the smuggling business for many years and seen the ugliness of human nature, Allen's intuition told him there was something fishy here.

But now was not the time to pursue this. Healing his injuries was the most important thing.

He glanced at Peter without a trace. The memories during his coma told Allen that this was a trustworthy young man.

Although he was rather honest, or rather, somewhat slow, he was loyal.

"Peter, I need medicine now. Go lift the wooden board in the middle of the table. There's a movable piece of wood inside. Open it."

Peter always obeyed Allen's words and immediately did as he was told.

"Oh wow! Boss, there are hundreds of copper coins here!"

Peter had never seen so much money before and was almost dancing with excitement.

But it was early morning, and there was no one around, so it didn't attract any attention.

Saving at most five copper coins a month, a total of two hundred copper coins—this was all of Allen's savings.

"Use half of this money to buy bandages and medicine, and the other half to buy bread and eggs," Allen instructed.

"Okay, Boss, don't worry. I'll still come to bring you stuff every night."

Peter carefully took the money and walked into the darkness of the night.

...

Allen ate a piece of slightly spoiled bread and drank a bag of clean water, regaining some strength.

He carefully reviewed the memories in his mind again and couldn't help but feel unfortunate about his tragic fate.

His parents died of hunger due to the exploitation by the noble lord.

His only relative, his sister Pudding, was beaten to death by a noble youth on horseback when Allen was six years old.

The reason was that Pudding was washing clothes in a river upstream of where his horse drank water, polluting the river.

Poor Pudding was only five years old.

When Allen returned home from the jungle, he only saw that thin, lifeless body.

Skin and bones, covered in red whip marks!

Her nails and mouth were full of mud and sand from struggling in pain.

For more than ten years afterward, hunger and hardship had been Allen's constant companions.

Surviving was incredibly difficult, let alone seeking revenge against those powerful nobles who wielded armed forces and mysterious magic.

However, the current Allen was no longer that weak and honest guy.

His soul had become that of a scoundrel who killed and plundered, but Allen considered himself a person of high moral character.

In the past, in that seemingly bright but actually dark world, he thrived in smuggling and plundering.

He didn't mind starting a new life in this barbaric world where cruelty was laid out on the table!

Bidding farewell to the past was the behavior of the weak.

The only thought lingering in Allen's mind now was how to repay his injuries a hundredfold!

"Actually, smuggling and poaching or illegal logging aren't much different. Smuggling precious plants and animals is something I've done before!"

Under his high cheekbones, Allen's muscles twitched into a smile that blended with the darkness of the night.

Since the original Allen was dead, let the Allen who walked in the shadows take over the journey ahead!

A cruel yet beautiful, dangerous yet mysterious world...

Here I come!