Returning back to camp

During these three days, I did little more than hunt, learn and sleep.

And though the white coins in my possession grew at a steady rate, the amount of crystals I consumed everyday was decreased by quite a bit because I had to gave a lot of them to Jasvinder for his 'teachings'.

But even though a part of me worried about the fact that I was not growing strong, another part of me knew that learning these skills will help me more in the long run instead of pumping myself with crystals.

And now that I had learned the necessary (if basic) skills of hunting on my own, I was ready to return back to the town.

To meet Neha, Upma and check up on old man Gaurav.

'I had said that I would return after one day, but I took four days to reach a this level which I feel is satisfied with myself. Oh well… It is how it is.'

With such thoughts, I turned around and started walking in the direction of the town.

—————

The town had not changed much from the past four days. The defenses looked a bit battered and broken at places. The guards looked beaten and exhausted. And there was a general gloom in the atmosphere.

Oh, and there were also the thousands of dead bodies lying around the town.

When I returned, I could see some of the people dragging the corpses in a pile. One such pile was already burning in the corner and emanating a fierce stench and attracting even more abnormals and mutant beasts to the town.

They came in scattered forces. Two or three at a time, so even the weaker people with guns could take care of them with ease.

But then the gun shots would attract more of these creatures.

It was a never ending cycle. At least until we run out of bullets and those mutant beasts and abnormals grow so much in number that we had no other choice but to run.

'I can see why Rahul would change camp places from time to time.' Lily said in my mind as two little mutant dogs, twice the size of a normal dog ran up to me with hunger in their eyes.

I bent down slowly with my raised hand and when they jumped at me, I just gave single swing and both of them were sliced in half at once.

I took out the crystals and continued on my way with a smile on my face.

A few days ago, I would have definitely have taken more time and effort to kill them. Make no mistake, those mutant dogs were weak and I would have killed them in the end regardless. But not with such efficiency.

Four days of continuous hunting in the forest and reading the attack patters and habits of every single mutant beast I could find had made me an efficient killer.

I may not have increased my stats these past days, but my skills did get a huge increase.

I went to the person who had now stopped collecting the corpses and was staring at me with a slack jaw and handed him the corpses of the two mutant dogs.

"Add them to the pile." I said and was impressed by how deep my voice had become recently.

Maybe it was because of my evolution.

But I was more inclined to believe that the changes in my voice and personality happened because of the number of mutant beasts and abnormals I had killed.

Oh well. It is what it is.

I looked at the guards who were still staring at me with a bit of shock and fear in their eyes and frowned a bit.

"Take my advice and don't rely on guns so much." I said as I walked past them. "Bullets can't penetrate the skull of a 3rd tier creatures and I hardly think the situation is going to get better from now on."

The guard nodded fearfully and I wondered why he looked so afraid of me.

'It might have something to do with the fact that you killed two mutant beasts so easily.' Lily suggested and then added 'Or maybe it's your blood covered defensive suit which you haven't cleaned for a while. Maybe it's both.'

'Maybe. But I'm really not all that scary.' I sighed as I walked in.

The guard didn't even stop me. Even when he did not see my face.

'I should talk to Rahul but this. Such lax guards are nothing but a liability to us.'

'At least they did not point a gun to your face.' She replied cheekily and I felt my eye twitch in response.

'That was a low blow.'

She didn't reply and I continued to walk.

But as I continued walking it didn't take me long for me to notice the distinct lack of people in the streets.

'Where the hell is everyone.'

'Maybe they are having a giant orgy at one of those large hall back there.' She said seductively and I sighed at her antics.

'We really need to do something about your sense of humor Lily.'

It did not take me long to figure out where everyone went as I could hear a cacophony of voices coming from one of the large buildings in the block.

I walked up to that building and realized that there was a guard posted near the gate of that building.

Upon walking, he looked at me and raised a hand to stop me.

I looked inside the open door and realized that it was the temporary mess hall of the camp and everyone was having their lunch in there.

'Come to think of it, I never really ate inside the mess right.'

'Yep. You had your spatial ring filled to the brim with Creepy Bugger. I don't see why you would ever need anything else.' She said sarcastically while I shook my head.

"Its 2 1st tier crystals right." I said and took out the required sum from the black watch. "Here" I said and handed him the two crystals.

But he unexpectedly shook his head and said "Sorry bro. But I can't let a man covered in blood and… other things enter the mess hall. The sight and smell will ruin others appetite."

"Really!? Surely there are other hunters who are…" I stopped myself from speaking when just one glance inside the hall gave me a view of the attire of every single person in the town.

None of them were covered in blood and gore.

Not even those who were wearing full body suit.

"I see." I said and turned around.

'Creepy Bugger tastes better anyway.'