Chapter 1 The Workshop and the Tavern

Zhou Jing and the others arrived at the workshop ahead of the group, only to find that the inventory had been completely looted, with all kinds of Exotic Blood Potions and Exotic Beast equipment gone.

Even the artisans had disappeared, and the entire workshop was empty, with few corpses to be found.

"They've probably all been kidnapped."

The group looked around.

Since these thugs were Exotic Blood Warrior bandits, they would likely grab the artisans and force them to work.

Cole said solemnly, "These thugs are still wreaking havoc in the city, which means they have a temporary place to detain prisoners."

"Definitely. If they dared to attack a fortress city, they wouldn't just carry away personal amounts of loot. So there must be a temporary gathering point in the city, probably with beast-drawn carts ready. They're looting the city, moving the spoils to one place in batches, and finally leaving fully loaded," Zhou Jing said without hesitation.

Finding little in the workshop, the group hurried to the Hunter's Tavern.

The tavern was a mess, with shattered tables and chairs all over the floor, clearly the scene of a battle. Yet there wasn't a single hunter's corpse.

"It seems the hunters were taken away too. These thugs didn't even kill anyone," Cole said in surprise.

"Maybe they plan to persuade the hunters to join, just like the artisans they captured?" Zhou Jing speculated.

"That's too…" Cole didn't know what to say.

In his opinion, the first thing to do when looting a town was to eliminate the hunters.

If you let the hunters live, even if you imprison them, they are an unstable factor that could cause trouble at any time, so it's better to kill them.

Not killing the hunters, and even trying to persuade them to join… these thugs were either fools, extremely confident, or both.

Zhou Jing examined the traces of the battle in the tavern, stroked his chin, and analyzed thoughtfully, "This is a fortress city, there must be a lot of hunters. Even if most are out on missions, there would still be at least a dozen or twenty in town usually… so the damage caused by a fight wouldn't be so small. These thugs couldn't have easily subdued so many hunters, they must have used some means. I guess they used poison to incapacitate the hunters."

"If the hunters are alive, we still have a considerable number of helpers," Cole said with delight.

"Not necessarily. Alive doesn't mean they're combat-ready. They're probably being held at the thugs' temporary stronghold, guarded by someone… look there!"

Zhou Jing said casually, his eyes scanning around, and suddenly noticed a trail of intermittent bloodstains extending along the road.

The others saw it too, and their eyes lit up.

This must be from a hunter who resisted and was injured, leaving a trail of blood from his wound as he was being transferred and imprisoned.

"Following the bloodstains, we should be able to find the detention location."

The group immediately set off in pursuit.

…

Somewhere in Deep Rock City, a small bunker.

Originally a barracks for garrisoned soldiers, it was now occupied by the Sons of Exotic Blood gang and used as a temporary stronghold, after the garrison was wiped out.

The fire hadn't spread here, and the bunker was filled with people, stockpiled with a large amount of looted supplies, guarded by seven Sons of Exotic Blood bandits.

Zhou Jing and his group followed the bloodstains to this place, hiding behind a distant building, quickly peeking out to observe the bunker, noting the appearance and positions of the bandits.

"This is probably the thugs' stronghold. It doesn't seem like there are many people left behind. Maybe they think they've subdued most of the hunters, and the city has no more resistance, so they sent most of their forces out to loot?" Cole said in a low voice.

"That's good news. How should we attack?" the hunter squad leader asked, soliciting opinions.

"While the bandit's main force is away, just go straight up and hack them to death."

Zhou Jing did not hesitate.

Although they were all Exotic Blood Strengtheners, their squad was the elite of the Empire's Hunters.

He and the squad leader were both Third Enhancement, and there was also Cole, a Second Enhancement elite. With similar numbers, there was nothing to fear.

A group of bandits was unlikely to have very powerful figures, mostly First Enhancement... Seven people left behind were enough to resist any surviving town hunters, but far from being a match for their elite Imperial Hunter squad.

The others thought about it and had no objections.

Since they were not facing the main enemy force, they didn't need to use their brains too much, which was a good way to weaken the enemy's overall strength.

The group drew their weapons, spread out slightly, took a deep breath, and suddenly rushed out.

As soon as they stepped onto the open street, the seven bandits guarding the area noticed them.

The seven of them were shocked and quickly threw flying knives, javelins, and throwing axes at Zhou Jing and the others.

Zhou Jing was the fastest, rushing to the front, easily dodging the flying weapons, and in the blink of an eye, he rushed in front of a bandit.

The enemy had just wanted to launch an attack, but before he could even raise his weapon halfway, two swift and incomparably cold lights circled around his neck.

*Puchi!*

The bandit fell to the ground, spraying blood, with no power to fight back.

Zhou Jing didn't stop, his twin blades dragging out two trails of light, and in the blink of an eye, he killed two more people. The opponents didn't even have time to defend, and they fell with wide eyes.

A First Enhancement level was now completely unable to keep up with Zhou Jing's speed. In a one-on-one fight, he was almost instantly killed. Before they could even make a parrying posture, their necks had already been cut off by the twin blades.

At the same time, inside a room in the bunker, a dozen hunters were lying haphazardly on the ground, bound tightly, weak, and cursing.

"That guy named Dotton actually pretended to be a hunter. I thought it was real, but I didn't expect him to be a bandit!"

"That bastard took advantage of our carelessness and put a paralyzing agent for Exotic Beasts in the wine. It's really despicable. My whole body is still numb."

"Damn it, I didn't die in the mouth of an Exotic Beast, but I ended up in the hands of a bunch of bandits."

The hunters were filled with grief and indignation.

They were drinking as usual in the Hunter's Tavern when they were ambushed and poisoned.

The paralyzing agent used by the enemy was originally used to capture Exotic Beasts alive, and could paralyze and weaken Exotic Beasts for most of the day. The bandits added more of it to the wine, so everyone was easily defeated before they could fight back.

Now, the effects of the drug were getting worse and worse, and everyone's body was paralyzed, making it almost impossible to move.

The chains that could usually be broken with force could not be broken now, and more than a dozen hunters could only lie here obediently.

At this moment, Weber in the crowd said in a deep voice, "Don't be discouraged, think of a way to escape. These bandits haven't killed us yet for some reason, but they can change their minds and take our lives at any time."

After leaving White Plains City, he traveled around as a free hunter, and had recently settled in Deep Rock City, but he didn't expect to get caught up in this kind of turmoil, and secretly cursed his bad luck.

Soon, someone responded helplessly, "We don't have any strength at all, so we can't escape at all. I hope there are other hunters in the city who haven't been tricked like us."

Now, everyone could only hope that someone was not in the tavern at the time of the incident and was not tricked.

But even so, everyone didn't have much hope.

Even if there were hunters in the city who had not been tricked, there wouldn't be many of them, and they were not a match for the bandits at all. It was not certain whether they would be willing to risk their lives to save people.

Even if they were rescued, the effects of the drug were still in effect, and everyone would have no combat power after escaping. They could only become a burden, unable to organize a counterattack, and completely unable to stop the numerous bandits. At most, they could only run away and let the city fall.

Weber was depressed and helpless, but there was nothing he could do.

This feeling of not having one's life in one's own hands was too unsettling.

Just then, faint sounds of fighting and screams came from outside.

Weber's expression changed, and he said sternly, "Did you hear that?"

"It sounds like someone is fighting outside?"

Everyone hurriedly listened intently, but the sound quickly disappeared.

After a while, the door suddenly slammed open.

Zhou Jing walked in with his teammates, carrying a bloodied bandit alive.

"Hunter brothers, we've come to save you," Cole said loudly, identifying himself.

The hunters were overjoyed and twisted on the ground, like earthworms, signaling the rescuers to untie them quickly.

Cole and the others hurriedly tore off the hunters' chains one by one, and helped everyone sit up.

At this time, the hunters could see the appearance of the rescuers clearly, and were stunned to find that they were unfamiliar faces.

"You're not hunters from Deep Rock City?"

"Well, we're Imperial Hunters, hunting a Fatal-level Exotic Beast. We happened to pass through Deep Rock City and discovered the changes here," Cole replied, briefly explaining the cause and effect.

"Fortunately, you came, or we would have been done for."

The hunters were full of gratitude, and subconsciously looked at the rescuers.

Weber's eyes swept over everyone, and then he saw Zhou Jing's appearance clearly, and was suddenly stunned.

This person… how could he look so much like Jason?

At the same time, Zhou Jing also noticed this familiar face. His heart tightened, but his face remained unchanged, pretending not to recognize him.

Before Weber could ask, Zhou Jing took the initiative to speak and asked, "How are you doing? Can you still fight?"

Hearing this, the hunters showed bitter expressions and shook their heads.

"We were ambushed and ate a paralyzing agent. The effects of the drug haven't worn off yet, so we can't help you."

Cole frowned, "This is terrible…"

They came to rescue the town hunters in order to find helpers to fight against the bandits. But the hunters had lost their fighting power, not only could they not help, but they would also have to distract them to protect them.

They had just captured a prisoner and found out some information - this group of bandits called themselves the Sons of Exotic Blood, with nearly forty members, all Exotic Blood Warriors. If there were only a few of them in the squad, it would be difficult to deal with them.

In particular, the leader of the Sons of Exotic Blood, Dotton, was actually a Third Enhancement, and was the backbone of this bandit gang.

Nearly forty Exotic Blood Warriors were already a force to be reckoned with. A gang of this size could pose a threat to most cities. It was because Dotton had the strength of a Third Enhancement that he could gather so many Exotic Blood Warriors and suppress the crowd.

From the captured prisoner, they learned that this Dotton had not always been a bandit. He used to be a proper hunter, but he didn't know what he had experienced, and his temperament changed drastically, and he eventually embarked on the path of gathering in the mountains and committing crimes.

And many of the other gang members were recruited during the looting process. They captured this group of hunters without killing them because they wanted to persuade them to join and strengthen the gang's strength.

"According to this prisoner, their plan is to loot all night. The night is still long, and we have a lot of time... While the main force of the Sons of Exotic Blood is still looting outside, you should take the hunters away first, and release the workshop artisans."

Zhou Jing turned to the others and said in a decisive tone.

"What about you?" The squad leader didn't mind Zhou Jing giving orders, but widened his eyes and asked.

"I'll scout around to see if I can find any stragglers to kill, and try to stop the enemy's main force from returning so quickly, to give you time."

"...Okay, be careful."

The squad leader thought for a while and did not object.

He was not too worried about Zhou Jing. Although they were both Third Enhancement, he had sparred with Zhou Jing many times in the past few months, and he had not been able to win once. He knew that Zhou Jing's strength was above him, and the other party was just too lazy to lead the team.

Zhou Jing nodded, threw down the bandit alive, and then turned and left the bunker.

Weber watched Zhou Jing's back leave, opened his mouth, but still didn't speak.

His heart was full of suspicion and disbelief. He didn't understand why he would see someone who looked so much like Jason.

Weber could only be sure that this person was definitely not Jason, because Jason was already dead, and he had watched him be buried.

Such a resemblance could only prove that this person and Jason might have a blood relationship...

But now was not the time to say these things. Weber did not immediately ask his inner doubts, and decided to find an opportunity to ask in private... if he could survive tonight.

…

Dotton and his group searched Deep Rock City, and did not find any other resistance teams, but they found another corpse of a companion who had been killed by earth thorns, like he had been subjected to piercing torture, running through him from top to bottom, and his death was tragic.

"Who did this, dared to torture and kill my brother!"

Dotton looked at the body of his companion, his eyes burning with anger.

He didn't know the specific battle process, but in his opinion, a normal battle would not have resulted in such a tragic death. This must have been the enemy torturing and venting their anger.

"Keep searching, I want this guy to taste the same death!"

Dotton stood up, his face livid.

But the companions behind him had different opinions and said:

"Boss, let's go back to the stronghold first and put away the gains from this trip."

During the search just now, everyone also looted along the way, and now everyone was loaded with spoils and just wanted to go back and store them before going out to loot again.

Dotton glanced back and saw that everyone had the same wish, so he had to suppress the anger in his heart and nodded, "Okay, then let's go back to the stronghold first, put down the things in our hands, and then go after this enemy. By the way, let the others not be separated anymore."

More than a dozen bandits immediately returned, heading to the stronghold.

The bandits who received the news on the road also came to join, and the team quickly grew to more than twenty people.

As they walked, the group suddenly stopped, surprised to see what was in front of them.

At the end of the street where the fire was spreading, a figure holding twin blades was slowly approaching in the smoke, looming and blocking the way.

Zhou Jing walked out of the smoke, stood in front of the twenty-odd people, glanced at everyone with concealed excitement, and then pointed at all the enemies with the blade.

"I finally found you. Come, let me hack you to my heart's content."