Astral Apostle
chapter-136

Moreover, Jason mentioned that his family was born with extraordinary strength.

Therefore, it made sense for the Wood family to have a Third Enhancement expert.

Does that mean that one of Jason’s family members heard the rumors worldwide and sought revenge?

Yes, it must be the Wood family’s revenge!

Barong sucked in a deep breath. The more he thought about it, the more he felt he had solved the case.

But he didn’t intend to say it out loud… If he guessed correctly, he would be causing trouble for Jason’s family.

It was better to keep this secret and let outsiders continue being in the dark about the mysterious person’s identity!

Barong made up his mind.

As Barong was engaged in intensive mental activity, Weiss suddenly thought of something and spoke hesitantly.

“By the way, if Lutt dies, White Plains Town will have a new lord. Are we going back?”

Barong paused as well, but his face quickly became determined.

“Since I’ve become a freelance hunter again, there’s no need to go back… I’ll travel around, just like those old days in the past.”

He was not a man who liked to turn back. He initially thought that he had settled down, but Jason’s death made him realize the throbbing still lurked deep in his heart.

Compared to living in the remote village, Barong only wanted to return to his wandering life a few years ago to see how the world had changed in the past few years.

He felt that he had returned to being that unrestrained prodigal son… although his image was completely different from that one of a prodigal son.

Barong grabbed the wine cup and splashed it on the ground under everyone’s shocked gazes. As if he was praying for something, he muttered to himself,

“Did you see that, Jason? Someone has avenged you!”

...

“I saw it, I saw it…”

On a wide road, Zhou Jing had a helpless expression as he pressed down on Ross’ outstretched arm.

It was such a big town in front of them. As long as one was not blind, they could naturally see it. How could he still point the way…

At the end of the dirt road was a “majestic city.” The tall city walls and continuous buildings were incomparable to White Plains Town’s size and grandeur.

Tarn City, capital of the Terra Empire!

It had been two months since he left the White Plains area. With Zhou Jing’s speed, it would only take about 10 days to reach the capital, but he extended the journey to two months. As long as there were other towns along the way, he would take a detour to visit them and buy a map to add to his interface.

To him, this only took two projection cycles, two days in the main world.

The area of the Mutant Beast World on the interface had already expanded dozens of times. A wide, crooked curve extended from White Plains Town north to Tarn City. In the middle were scattered different towns. Some were ordinary towns like White Plains Town, while others were larger fortress cities.

However, the fortress cities he saw along the way could not be compared to the city of Tarn in front of him.

The capital city of this world’s civilized regime was the largest fortress for humans!

The first Fortress City was named after the royal family’s surname!

“We’re finally here. Let’s go, dumb-dumb. Follow me into the city.”

Zhou Jing called out and walked along the road towards the city gate. Ross followed behind obediently.

Soon, a long line appeared in front of them. Farmers, merchants, residents, and all sorts of people were waiting to be cleared and sent into the city. The line stretched for two miles.

Zhou Jing arrived at the city gate. The place was extremely congested. At a glance, there were 20 to 30 guards conducting inspections of people entering the city. There were also archers patrolling the inner wall with eagle-like gazes. The security standards were several levels higher than in White Plains Town.

The guards quickly noticed his behavior—not queuing up and observing by the side. The two guards immediately came up to him.

“If you want to enter the city, line up at the back. Don’t loiter around the city gate!”

Hearing this, Zhou Jing directly asked, “I’m a mutant beast hunter. Can I enter the city directly?”

“A Mutant Beast Hunter?” The guard sized up Zhou Jing carefully and waved his hand. “That won’t do either. Recently, there have been orders that anyone has to be interrogated before they can enter the city, especially those who have been strengthened by the Mutant Blood.”

Zhou Jing’s expression did not change even as he nodded.

Ever since the news of him killing Lutt spread, many towns went into panic. Under the orders of their Lord, they temporarily removed the privilege of hunters not being interrogated and allowed free access into towns. Instead, they would all now be strictly checked.

However, there was no problem with the capital doing this. After all, it was the capital. It was too unstable to allow people with supernatural powers to enter as and when they pleased.

Zhou Jing was about to line up at the back when he heard a guard’s reminder.

“Foreign hunters have to go to the Imperial Hunters’ encampment to register before they can enter the city.”

When Zhou Jing heard this, he turned to ask a little more before understanding the situation.

The Imperial Hunters were an important force in maintaining the safety of the vicinity of the capital. However, they were not permanently stationed in the capital. Instead, they had established a subsidiary city not far from the capital. Training, living, and nurturing newcomers were all conducted in the city. It was similar to a military camp and was the headquarters of the Imperial Hunters.

Only a small number of Imperial Hunters who were absolutely trusted stayed in the capital to protect the safety of the capital on a long-term basis, as well as the royal guards, palace guards, and the guards of the various tribes.

One of Zhou Jing’s goals in the capital was to be a hunter of the Empire and obtain the best supernatural resources. The procedures and tests for joining the Empire’s hunters had to be completed at the encampment, and the resident hunters present would check if he could join.

He asked for the location and immediately set off. Not long after, a camp appeared in his sight.

It looked like a heavily guarded town, except the people coming and going were all hunters wearing different mutated beast equipment. For the first time, the proportion of hunters present was higher than that of ordinary people.

“I feel strangely at home…”

Zhou Jing shook his head and brought Ross closer. Soon, they were stopped by the soldiers standing guard at the door.

“This is the Imperial Hunter’s base. Don’t approach casually.”

“I’m a freelance hunter. This is my companion. We wish to join the army. I wonder if the Empire Hunters are still recruiting?”

Zhou Jing went straight to the point.

When the guard heard this, he asked Zhou Jing to wait for a while. Then, he immediately instructed his colleague to report.

After about three minutes, a hunter with seemingly a high status walked out and sized up Zhou Jing.

“You want to be an Imperial Hunter?”

“I’ve this thought in mind, I don’t plan to continue drifting outside.”

Zhou Jing nodded and spoke as if it was a serious matter.

Barong had told him about the difference between the Imperial Hunters and the Freelance Hunters in the past. The Freelance Hunters were more inclined to be mercenaries or volunteers, while the Imperial Hunters were similar to regular troops. They were organized and received systematic training. What they learned was the comprehensive training plan summarized by the Terra Empire after integrating the skills of many tribes to nurture hunters.

All kinds of hunting techniques, mutant beast intelligence, wilderness survival, weapon mastery, and hunter’s breathing techniques were included.

Therefore, although freelance hunters were a tradition, they were already considered unorthodox now. The Empire’s hunters could be considered the orthodox academic faction… Of course, this kind of academic faction had a lot of actual combat experience and was really more comprehensive compared to just being a theoretical academic institution.

Many Imperial Hunters had been chosen to enter the base since they were apprentices. After several years of boring training, they would finally use mutant blood to strengthen themselves.

However, there were also a considerable number of Imperial Hunters who had switched from originally being Freelance Hunters. The Terra Empire had always been keen to recruit such “wild” Hunters.

Therefore, when he heard Zhou Jing’s request, the hunter who came to question him was not surprised.

“Alright, come with me. You can call me Cole. I’m one of the stewards of the base… What’s your name?”

Zhou Jing raised his eyebrows.

“My name is… Jace.”

Cole nodded, then looked at Ross, who was expressionless behind Zhou Jing.

“What about this companion of yours?”

Zhou Jing’s expression did not change as he lied through his teeth.

“Rosen.”

(TL Note: He basically switched the last characters of their names.)