Chapter 19 Adjusting the Environment?_1

"With these, you don't have to worry about aiming issues, and it doesn't matter if your aim isn't good enough, the key is their larger killing range!"

"...Wouldn't that be more dangerous for teammates?" Zheng Yichen looked at the two weapons in front of him, both a long spear and a short cannon, and there's not much to say about a shotgun, as different ammunition can have different effects, this thing isn't just for shooting out a bunch of steel pellets.

The hand cannon is literally that, a hand cannon that fires not bullets but mini grenades, which don't require precise hits to target; hitting the area around the target is enough to inflict massive damage.

"Your teammates will definitely not be standing in front of you." The gun store owner laughed, he would never be Zheng Yichen's teammate anyway, and as a Hunter, their combat instinct shouldn't be too bad. Knowing what level Zheng Yichen was at, those Hunters would definitely not volunteer to be covered by him.

Besides, both the shotgun and this mini grenade hand cannon have a limited attack distance. They're highly lethal within tens of meters, but beyond that, it depends on the ammunition used. This means that when fighting alongside Zheng Yichen, as long as they don't stand in front of him, there's basically no risk of friendly fire.

Then the gun store owner took out a standard handgun: "This is basically standard issue."

"...How much for all of them?"

"Twelve thousand." The gun store owner quoted a price. Zheng Yichen, not being very familiar with this line of business, didn't know whether that was expensive or cheap, but these guns seemed very suitable for a beginner like him, the shotgun was the semi-automatic kind.

As for the hand cannon, naturally, it was a one-shot reload, and the handgun was too standard to warrant detailed explanation. For twelve thousand, it included sufficient ammunition, and a tryout membership card to the Roarers Club. Zheng Yichen could join this club if he became interested later on.

In his free time, he could also come here to practice shooting. The gun store owner said the club members were very strong and nice to talk to, welcoming someone with a strong build like Zheng Yichen to come for a friendly exchange and learning.

Carrying firearms meant he couldn't take the subway; as for taking a car, the bus was definitely out of the question, and whether a taxi was available would depend on the driver's willingness. The driver Zheng Yichen found was very willing—he had paid extra.

Zheng Yichen didn't go straight back to his place but headed directly to the Dusk Cathedral. He didn't intend to bring these items to his apartment. It was fine to leave them at the Dusk Cathedral, as both the Night Banquet Bar and the Dusk Cathedral were in the lower city district.

When he needed to complete a contract, he could just go to the Dusk Cathedral to get the weapons. He saw these weapons as tools to use in situations where close combat wasn't a good idea. At other times, he would definitely engage in close combat—how else to get stronger?

"Oh, it's you." Hunter Arno saw Zheng Yichen and greeted him. He glanced at the sturdy black travel bag in Zheng Yichen's hand but didn't say much more.

Zheng Yichen took a seat next to him and placed the rather heavy travel bag on the long table: "Do you usually come here in the afternoon?"

"Yes, if I have nothing else going on, I'll sit here for a while in the afternoon." Hunter Arno nodded, "Coming here at other times always gives me the illusion that the day is about to end."

"Indeed." Zheng Yichen agreed wholeheartedly with Arno. He had come here early in the morning, but as soon as he entered the Dusk Cathedral, it immediately felt like it was afternoon. The theme here was really too intense.

Zheng Yichen took a key and retrieved some snacks he had prepared from the storage area, sharing some with Arno, and they began to chat about various Hunter topics. Arno, for his part, didn't hesitate to dig into the snacks shared by Zheng Yichen.

The snacks weren't puffed food or such, but rather processed jerky and similar treats.

"I encountered a supernatural event last night."

"Oh?" Arno instinctively reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette, but seeing a nun glance over, he put it back. Smoking was allowed here but only in the smoking area: "It seems like you had quite an experience?"

"Haven't you seen the news?" Zheng Yichen was somewhat surprised.

Arno shook his head: "Haven't really been following it lately."

Zheng Yichen took out his phone and showed him a news report from Hazy City News: "Here, a lot of things emerged from the supernatural event last night, a pile of skeletal frameworks and moving corpses and such."

This time Zheng Yichen hadn't recorded anything, partly because there was no opportunity, and partly because Roy was watching; it didn't seem right to film. He felt it was a pity, especially since the bone dragon exhaling Dragon Breath was a truly awe-inspiring scene, even if the Dragon Breath that surged out of the center of the supernatural event turned into nothing more than a sneeze.

Though there wasn't a video, listening to Zheng Yichen's description, Arno understood the gist of the situation. He picked up a piece of broken skull, glanced at it, and put it back. The skull was useless now, not even valuable as material; it was just trash.

To keep from ruining their appetite, Arno suggested Zheng Yichen toss this 'collectible' into the trash bin.

"I was wondering, since things from the anomalies can come out, then… can we enter them?" Zheng Yichen said to Arno.

"Since you've experienced such things, it's okay to talk about this. Indeed, we can enter anomalies, but most people cannot. As for what happened last night, that was an exception."

Normal creatures feel pressure when they approach the center of an anomaly; however, the creature that emerged from that anomaly is not a normal creature. That's a rare case; usually, only a few existences cross over from the other end of the anomaly, or nothing comes through at all.

The Countermeasures Bureau of Hazy City doesn't even need to step in; regular police are enough to pick up the unfortunate ones who fainted or the Fog Travelers and take them to the hospital. Local residents who get caught up in it involuntarily are no big deal, but the Fog Travelers will definitely get fined.

"Because the duration of an anomaly is unpredictable, it's best not to enter the center of one, even if... you can withstand the pressure nearby."

"Entering an anomaly may not be dangerous, but if you fail to return before it disappears, under normal circumstances, you definitely won't be able to come back."

This statement seemed obvious, but Zheng Yichen caught the key point in Arno's words—that under normal circumstances, you definitely won't be able to come back. Zheng Yichen had learned from Dog Head George about the times when circumstances are not normal.

"For example, if you're lucky and get stuck in the place associated with the anomaly, and soon another anomaly occurs there which happens to be connected to where we live, then you can return."

"How likely is that?"

"Maybe slightly higher than the likelihood of you winning the lottery jackpot," Arno made a not-so-funny joke before continuing, "The living conditions in places connected by anomalies might be better than in Hazy City. If you find yourself trapped after entering an anomaly, you might feel it's not so bad. The only thing to consider by then would be the issue of identity."

Arno's words made Zheng Yichen think. It made sense—if the world connected by the anomaly was one where the average living conditions were explosively good, staying there might not be a bad thing, except that the place they went to before had the bone dragon.

A place filled with undead creatures was probably one where a normal person wouldn't want to stay for long, let alone be forced to stay.

Arno continued, "However, for some people, even if those places have excellent living conditions, they might not be willing to stay."

"Why is that?" Zheng Yichen asked, not understanding. He had only been a Hunter for less than a month and had many questions. All the information he was getting was like completing a puzzle; once he had enough pieces in place, he would truly be able to roam freely within certain limits.

He fished a bottle of wine out of his snack bag, and Arno raised an eyebrow at the well-prepared Zheng Yichen, smiled, and continued, "Normally, this would be somewhat complicated to explain, but since you encountered an anomaly invasion last night, you should have an opinion about it, like the Dragon Breath you mentioned."

It looked terrifying in special effects, but the actual breath turned out to be all bark and no bite?

As a transmigrator who had previously entered anomalies, he immediately thought of a plausible possibility: "Does the environment weaken each other??"

If not for this reason, how else to explain the bone dragon's breath being so lackluster?

"You understand well, but some clarification is needed," Arno praised Zheng Yichen's understanding and elaborated, "To be precise, the environment makes adjustments to each other."

Zheng Yichen was very curious about this topic and learned more about it, getting to know the specific meaning of these adjustments.

Anomalies are temporary connections between different worlds caused by some reason. If they can see an anomaly on their side, the other side can see an anomaly as well; it's mutual. Whether or not one can get through to the other side is another matter.

Then there are 'adjustments' due to the differences in environmental conditions between worlds.

This immediately reminded Zheng Yichen of his initial feelings after his first 'transmigration.' After going to the world of Dog Head George, he felt very vigorous, but when he tried to return, he ended up in a world that might belong to the shark beings. There, not only did his vigor change, but he also felt a 'humidity' that was not normally perceptible.

All of this returned to normal as soon as he was back in Hazy City. He had been curious about this, but without enough information, wild guesses led nowhere.

Now, with the information provided by Arno and combined with his previous experiences, Zheng Yichen understood what was going on.

In layman's terms, it was probably about different worlds having different levels of 'suppressive force,' right? Some worlds have a stronger suppressive force, so everything in that world seems ordinary, while others have a lower suppressive force, making the natives seem very powerful…