War is coming?

With a heavy heart, Tang Ling could only avoid the soldier and the two workers. It is only after a long deliberation that he had done so. The soldier protecting the two workers and the vast machine extracting Excel held a rifle, not a musket or a pistol but a last-gen rifle.

Although he wasn't clear in the specifications of the weapon, a state-of-the-art last-gen rifle could shoot multiple bullets moving at the speed of sound in a few seconds. It was incomparable to the pistol he got from the assassin from speed, power, and versatility. The soldier was also a trained man so he wouldn't be like those boorish bandits seen on the road and panic in an ambush. Fighting him would require him to dodge the bullets he would face in the tens of meters he needed to rush to approach and face the soldier in close-combat. Since Tang Ling wasn't confident (not even close) that he would able to dodge or tank dozens of bullets rushing at him at the speed of sound and couldn't count on the soldier not being able to properly aim, he would have to avoid it.

Plus, defeating those people isn't worth it. Concluding from the circumstances he is meeting, they were but one team amongst many doing the same. Killing them would only alert the commander of this operation and his chance of being discovered and killed would be flying through the roof.

Anyway, he avoided the group and entered deeper territories but only found another rat that he killed in a single arrow. This time, there was only one, it should be the rat who got separated from the group.

Today, the loot wasn't particularly plentiful. Even after recovering 21 complete Grey Rat corpses, the Hunter Association exchange desk only gave him 21 credits for it. Only one credit per rat, and that was a full corpse!

In the waiting line, Tang Ling observed that most hunters would only gather fur or perhaps valuable organs from the creatures living underground. For hunters who hunted Grey Rats, they just took out the fur and sold it for half a credit each. With enough expertise, coming with fur and having a complete body is almost the same, and the burden of transporting corpses is lifted.

However, this level of income could barely sustain the lifestyle of a hunter. By becoming hunters, one would basically accept that they could die at any moment, and would need to train hard to remain in peak performance for hunting. Because of the high-performance in physical and mental abilities, they would need to eat and rest more plus need to reserve some funds in case they are injured.

Although it was a high-paying job, it was a high-maintenance one too. And the fact that the prospect is down to luck and is at times, life-threatening scenarios dissuaded many "strongmen" in the slums to participate in this activity.

For example, the wound on Tang Ling's calf was quite light in comparison to the middle-aged hunter next to him had his arm bitten off, breaking his bones. Flesh wounds aren't that harmful but bones cracks are.

If it were a cleanly split bone, it would be a non-issue. Bones would regenerate and reconnect after a month, and it would leave a small sequela after a year but if it is broken into pieces...

The pieces of bones would scatter in the region and pierce the tissues. Even after waiting for a year, the arm would still be nearly useless; at the very least it would be impossible to continue the career as a hunter.

The job is harsh, hard, and unforgiving but no matter how the mayor disregarded them, it is vital to maintain control in the territory. At the rate which the underground Beasts breeds, without the existence of hunters, there would be a scaled-down Beast Invasion every year. If the Beasts were smart enough to gather their force and wait for the main foreign Beast army coming every decade, it won't just require a few Orderers and hundreds of defenders to fend off the threat...

However, that wasn't Tang Ling's major concern.

'War is coming... I'm not sure about the specifics, but just in case, I need a back-up plan.'

Tang Ling tried to think of a plan but could only find two ways: relocating into another city or go into deep hiding.

Both are impossible.

Tang Ling sighed as he walked to his home. In the way, he took out two credits to purchase one large white breadstick and three credits for a sugary roll as preparation to Ducke's birthday.

'Tomorrow, it'll gonna be Ducke's birthday. Now that I've gained an opportunity, I should give my brother a portion of my gains. Then, when I am going to be I am in a higher office, will I fully repay the friendship of Ducke.'

Tang Ling had great ambitions, with the System, he couldn't simply be content with living humble lives in the slums of Bao Feng City... It was only an outer city of an uninteresting region, there was simply so much to know in this world!

He already had a plan in mind: get enough money from being a hunter, settle in an inner-city, and become someone in the empire.

This would undoubtedly be difficult and time-consuming, even the amount of money he needs lies undetermined. The future seemed quite cloudy but Tang Ling was confident that he would be able to carve his path to the top.

As to what constitutes the top? Tang Ling had no idea but he could start off as Fluxers/Orderers. It is apparent that Fluxers/Orderers has great standing in the Empire. Even sons and daughters of famous enterprises, conglomerate, and noble families strive to become Orderers. That was also the reason why Beast meat is so popular, especially at the level of Uruvian Bear or higher and Fusion Regents are so highly-priced. If the powers in the Empire is so interested in Flux powers, it can only mean that it's very important, and advancing into this direction can bring high status and respect.

But now, the current situation has broken his plans...