Chapter 29: Courting Death

The hunt began.

The Blood Hunter, wearing a black vest, portrayed a fourth-floor resident, a young man in his twenties.

Although lean, he was one of the few in the entire building who looked relatively healthy.

Zhou Baiyu on the first floor also heard the commotion.

He stopped in his tracks and raised his head to peer through the gaps in the stair railings above.

Two gazes unexpectedly met.

The blood hunt had just begun, and the hunter had already spotted his prey!

The building was very quiet; only occasional thumping sounds from underground could be heard, with barely any other noise.

Suddenly someone opened a door—Zhou Baiyu surmised that the commotion he'd made might've been a bit loud…

…waking up that hunter.

"It's actually earlier than I expected… this building is ultimately too small."

Footsteps from both parties began to echo at the same time.

The rhythm of the footsteps was slow for both; neither side was in a hurry.

Zhou Baiyu no longer looked upwards, his expression calm.

The predator stopped looking down and, following the sound of footsteps, slowly approached Zhou Baiyu.

Hunter and prey drew closer to each other…

Such an occurrence was rare.

So rare that the predator suddenly wondered if his prey, Jiang Xianwu, had some sort of ace up his sleeve?

But what could a level-one Mutator, a novice who had only participated in one early trial of the 2.21 version, possibly have as a trump card?

Wasn't Jiang Xianwu's journey through the levels just a seven-day succubus experience with a man selling his looks?

So many onlookers had already spied on Jiang Xianwu, and he knew very clearly…

This attendant was very weak.

Finally, at the stairwell turning from the second floor to the third, the two met.

The distance between Zhou Baiyu and the Blood Hunter was only four meters.

"I'm not one who enjoys listening to prey's rubbish talk. Life and death are fated, and killing you is not my intention! I'm sorry!"

The black vest was suddenly torn apart by bulging muscles, showcasing the initial occupational trait of the Mountain Breaker—tremendous strength!

While the Blood Hunter spoke, he had already pounced toward Zhou Baiyu.

Zhou Baiyu instinctively protected his head, preventing the other party from delivering a fatal blow with just one strike.

He knew that he absolutely couldn't survive more than two rounds with this person!

But he had come up deliberately, for a reason.

As the mighty punch neared, many thoughts flickered through Zhou Baiyu's mind.

"I am not afraid of death. But only the first death is the easiest to make the other party believe."

"I must make good use of this death."

"There is still only one chance… to make the other party interested in me with just one sentence."

As the powerful punch from the Mountain Breaker came, Zhou Baiyu's body was hammered into the wall of the passageway, causing the entire building to shake slightly.

But Zhou Baiyu did not die, consciousness still within him, he said with difficulty:

"The 2.21 version… Midel told me a direct way to advance…"

The punch was imminent, but the terrifying blow did not come down.

However, the next second, the Blood Hunter made a move again.

He first crippled Zhou Baiyu's hands, two snaps resounding as he directly broke Zhou Baiyu's bones.

Then he delivered two consecutive kicks, shattering Zhou Baiyu's kneecaps.

Zhou Baiyu was worried that his screams of pain would cause Ling Hansu to forget the instructions and come running out.

He actually gritted his teeth hard, not screaming, just groaning a few times, enduring this round of torment.

Seeing that Zhou Baiyu was unable to move and was at death's door, and convinced that he could no longer play any tricks, the Blood Hunter finally spoke:

"Tell me the information, and I won't torture you."

According to the rules, forerunners cannot disclose the details of how they conquered a version.

That information must be paid for with forerunner points—it's paid information.

But it was indeed allowed for forerunners to talk about extra content unrelated to version walkthrough strategies.

Zhou Baiyu was gasping heavily, the pain from broken bones and shattered knees caused his forehead to be covered in sweat.

After a long while, he said with a trembling voice:

"Tell me something you can tell… Let's exchange information… I'll do as I say, otherwise you can kill me anytime."

The Blood Hunter was indeed interested in occupational advancement. Advancing from Mountain Breaker would level up to become a Sea Breaker, a second-tier existence capable of utilizing strength more skillfully, even able to perform some ranged attacks.

By the third tier, the Sky Cutter, one would already be considered a demigod in the human world, capable of fighting directly against the monsters outside.

Occupational advancement was definitely of interest to everyone.

The 2.21 version, post-apocalyptic era—a place almost no one dared to touch. The newcomer survived and even developed a special relationship with the succubus leader.

This series of information lent some credibility to Zhou Baiyu's words, especially since one at death's door is expected to be honest.

It was just that the Blood Hunter didn't understand:

"On the verge of death, what does knowing any information matter to you?"

Zhou Baiyu had already anticipated this response and said with difficulty:

"Between us… it's only a difference in stance, but I know, you are also an excellent forerunner."

"The reason I provoked you before was just to make sure everyone remembered me. Ha… I can't be a hero anyway, but I believe… you still can."

"The Blood Hunter is said to be much stronger than the prey, at least showing you are better than me, right? My information given to you will surely be of use to you in the future."

As the saying goes, a dying man's words are good.

Zhou Baiyu, moreover, was someone whose words were very emotionally evocative.

His flattery, although incredibly sincere, had caused a moment of hesitation in the heart of the Blood Hunter,

but quickly, the Blood Hunter erased that hesitation.

He could not afford to be soft-hearted.

He dared not kill the snow demon, for that would lead to being hunted by the Future Gate.

But Jiang Xianwu had to die, or else he himself would be erased.

The Blood Hunter had already raised his fist:

"Very good. I admire you, you're crazy, yet you possess courage and responsibility. However, I must kill you."

Zhou Baiyu became even more immersed in his role:

"Of course... the rules make us enemies, which is a pity. I don't expect you to let me go, but I hope you would grant me some dignity."

"Dignity? How so?" the Blood Hunter's eyelids slightly lifted.

"I don't want to die knowing nothing about this place. I can tell you everything I know, but you must also tell me... your understanding of this place. At least before I die... I wouldn't have lived in vain. That's the dignity I want."

The allure of benefits prompted the Blood Hunter to listen to Zhou Baiyu.

And Zhou Baiyu's traits earned him a measure of admiration from the Blood Hunter.

Version information was not to be disclosed, but if two people were in the same version...

Then restrictions on their exchange would be somewhat relaxed.

Just like Zhou Baiyu exploring the fourth floor while Ling Hansu was exploring the first floor; if the two met, they could share their exploration findings...

This kind of exchange had no penalty mechanism.

But after leaving this area, mentioning it to others would be restricted.

At the moment, Zhou Baiyu and the Blood Hunter were both in version 1.44, the same area.

Actually, the two of them could exchange information.

The Blood Hunter was also very cautious. As he mentally prepared to reveal these things, he braced himself for intense pain... only to find no such pain assaulted him, and then he slowly said:

"Alright, I won't take advantage of you. We'll trade information for information."

"This is also my first time as a Hunter, and I've only just found out that I'd join the fray as a Gu Tower resident. Moreover... many memories seem to be locked. When I checked my attributes, I found this body's corruption value is very high..."

"94 points of corruption, and it will soon reach 100. I don't know what will happen when it reaches 100 points of corruption..."

"But 94 points are enough to cloud my mind... I can't remember too much."

"I only know one thing... don't be incomplete, definitely must not be incomplete. Physical incompleteness seems to attract something terrible."

Zhou Baiyu furrowed his brows.

He suddenly remembered, the skinny middle-aged man on the first floor who, after opening the door, also emphasized — I have no disabilities.

Bits of clues slowly interconnected.

The Blood Hunter was quite honest and said:

"Additionally, the person I'm playing has no children, in his early twenties, and single. Most people in the apocalypse just solve their base needs, but few talk about love and having children."

"But in my house today, a sheet of paper appeared out of nowhere. It looks like it was torn from some kind of workbook."

Homework.

Zhou Baiyu was stunned; he had also seen it on the first floor — that man's refrigerator also had a sheet of homework on it.

"What was the content of the homework?"

"Seems like... physics or chemistry, but I couldn't understand those symbols. It felt quite complex."

Zhou Baiyu was astonished. What was this? Could it be that the most desperate people in the apocalypse... still had to do their summer homework!?

Of course, things couldn't be that simple. Zhou Baiyu asked again:

"Any other information?"

"That's all there is. After all, this is just a temporary identity. I can access very little memory. Your turn now." The Blood Hunter shook his head.

Zhou Baiyu felt it was about enough:

"Alright, worthless trash, Daddy's very disappointed in you."

"???"

The Blood Hunter was confused by this turn.

Zhou Baiyu mocked:

"What, you were expecting me to give you information? I was making it all up. To tell you the truth, I thought of several layers of reasons to deceive you, to make you believe me. I didn't expect you'd fall for it so quickly. Too bad, you know too little, and are of too little value. I couldn't be bothered to lie."

The Blood Hunter's rage surged:

"You're asking for it!"

Bang!

One furious punch smashed Zhou Baiyu's head into the wall, his neck completely buried.

That mighty punch brought about an end; Zhou Baiyu died on the spot, end of story— as if.

The incident was far from over.

The Blood Hunter's anger hadn't subsided, and he kept pummeling the corpse with several more punches, and if it hadn't been for a sudden surge of crisis he felt at that moment... he would have kept thrashing the body.

On the fourth second after Zhou Baiyu's death, the Blood Hunter suddenly sensed he was being targeted by some terrifying creature.

A memory suddenly surfaced in his mind.

"Don't stay out too long... don't stay out too long..."

At this moment, even though he was the Blood Hunter, the role he played was that of a local resident of Gu Tower.

And the terror rooted in the resident's memory... made him suddenly alert, with an order that he couldn't stay out of his room for too long. He had to go back immediately!

Drowned in fear, the Blood Hunter didn't care to beat the body any longer, didn't care why there was no completion prompt... he started heading towards the fourth floor.

Bang! A few seconds later, the sound of a door closing echoed.

Another ten or so seconds passed... the person who should have concluded their story resuscitated, his status now unfinished.

The body, with limbs broken and skull embedded into the wall...

Moved.