Chapter 114: Abandoning the Mission
At the entrance of the Yang’s Paper Industry factory gate, Zhou Ming turned back to look at the massive factory behind him.
At this moment, tens of thousands of workers were constantly busy, following a well-established production process to manufacture various paper products.
The factory was like an anthill, and the workers were like countless ants, continuously toiling for the Yang Family, the queen ant.
If nothing unexpected happened, most people would live out their entire lives this way.
If his former self had not possessed solid foundational Beast Taming knowledge and thus obtained a job at Canine Home, he would also have ended up working in a factory within a small base.
Zhou Ming did not dwell much on this matter, since the environment of Blue Star left ordinary people with very few choices.
What he was secretly pondering at this moment were the words spoken by Manager Wang’s secretary.
Yang Yi, the son of the chairman of Yang’s Paper Industry—who exactly was he betting with, and what was the bet about?
Or was it that someone wanted to deal with the Yang Family, and that was why they targeted the chairman’s son?
After all, youths in their teens were mostly hot-blooded and impulsive. With just a bit of manipulation, one could easily make them walk into their own demise.
Zhou Ming continued to think deeply, recalling the Yang Family’s situation within Qinshan Base.
Although the Yang Family could not be considered a top-tier power in Qinshan Base, because they occupied a leading position in the industry, the wealth they accumulated was still among the most notable in the base.
The only shortcoming was that the Yang Family’s rise had been too recent. The family lacked deep foundations, and more importantly, not only was the family population small, but there was also no Professional Beast Tamer within the family.
However, such a situation was actually quite normal.
The number of Professional Beast Tamers within Qinshan Base was fewer than a hundred. Among them, the Beast Tamers belonging to the city defense forces, the Public Security Bureau, and the Qinshan Base government together already accounted for half.
Most of the remainder were Professional Beast Tamers from the major families within Qinshan Base, and lastly, only a few Hunting Corps possessed Professional Beast Tamers.
The Yang Family was not unaware of their own shortcomings. Yet, after painstakingly nurturing two clansmen who showed promise of advancing to Professional Beast Tamers, both died in the wilderness due to various accidents.
“Could it be…”
Zhou Ming suddenly thought of a possibility—that Yang Yi possessed decent talent as a Beast Tamer, and the Yang Family’s enemies did not want to see the Yang Family grow stronger, so they secretly resorted to underhanded methods.
“If that’s the case, then the mission the Yang Family posted at the Hunter Guild is most likely a feint. While drawing attention elsewhere, they may have already sent their own people to Ghost Cavern Ridge.”
Based on the current situation and the Yang Family’s standing within Qinshan Base, Zhou Ming arrived at this conjecture.
Although he could not guarantee that his speculation was correct, the matters involved were definitely not simple.
“One million really isn’t that easy to earn.”
However, after sighing with that remark, Zhou Ming realized that he was facing a choice—whether or not he should get involved.
At present, he could be said to be penniless. Obtaining one million in a short time was no easy task.
The first time he left the base, he had earned over ten million, which could largely be attributed to luck.
With his current strength, it would still take a considerable amount of time and effort to earn such a sum.
If he got involved in this matter, he might end up attracting trouble.
After brief consideration, Zhou Ming still decided to head to Ghost Cavern Ridge.
Even if he abandoned the mission at hand, he could not afford to make the trip in vain, especially since he had already run out of money.
He had already gathered intelligence on Ghost Cavern Ridge. There were various relatively valuable resources there, and it was only a little over twenty kilometers from Huangyan Base. There was no way he would return to Qinshan Base just to choose another destination.
If he could not earn one million, then at the very least, this trip had to earn him enough money for his expenses.
Without wasting any more time, Zhou Ming directly headed out of Huangyan Base.
……
As night fell, Zhou Ming spent half a day traveling and finally arrived at Ghost Cavern Ridge.
Compared to the flat terrain of the Northern Wasteland, the complex environment of the hilly region was indeed difficult to traverse. Another reason was that his Phantasmal Beasts could not be ridden.
Inkband and Vermilion Jade instead clung to Zhou Ming’s body, letting their master carry them along the way—truly a reversal of roles.
Fortunately, with the help of the Beast King Body, Zhou Ming’s physical strength rivaled that of mutated ferocious beasts. Otherwise, he might not have even reached Ghost Cavern Ridge by now.
Under the cover of night, the wilderness was more lively than during the day, with all kinds of beast roars echoing endlessly.
Zhou Ming did not want to take risks and planned to find a temporary campsite to spend the night.
Before long, with the help of the Radar Sensory Domain, Zhou Ming found a mutated rabbit hiding in a rocky cave.
Its one-meter-long body soon began to sizzle over the campfire, grease continuously dripping into the flames.
The low and narrow rocky cave became Zhou Ming’s temporary shelter for the night.
To avoid attracting trouble with the roasted rabbit, Zhou Ming had no choice but to block the cave entrance with branches to prevent the firelight from drawing in mutated animals or Ferocious Beasts. At the same time, he sprayed a large amount of deodorizing agent at the entrance.
Moreover, Ironthread Snake groups were spread all around the rocky cave. Only then did he dare to leisurely roast rabbit meat inside.
“Having spatial storage equipment really is great. You can bring all kinds of seasonings with you.”
With a handful of cumin sprinkled down, the aroma instantly filled the air. Zhou Ming could not help but sigh in relief that he no longer had to eat dry and hard military rations in the wilderness.
Before filling his own stomach, he did not forget his two main forces, feeding one Spirit Nurturing Pill each to Inkband and Vermilion Jade.
Over the past year, most of Zhou Ming’s money had been invested into Inkband and Vermilion Jade.
The result was that their body sizes had grown from about one meter when they first became Ferocious Beasts to around one and a half meters now.
Their strength had barely reached the high stage of low-tier Ferocious Beasts, still some distance away from the peak state of low-tier Ferocious Beasts.
As for the ordinary mutated Ironthread Snakes, under Zhou Ming’s cultivation, they had already grown to their limit, each possessing a body length of about half a meter.
However, with Zhou Ming’s current strength, the greatest use of ordinary mutated Ironthread Snake groups was to construct the Radar Sensory Domain.
After finishing the rabbit meat, Zhou Ming did not plan to rest immediately. Instead, he used his Spiritual Power to help Inkband and Vermilion Jade digest and absorb the medicinal effects of the Spirit Nurturing Pills.
How to allow one’s Phantasmal Beasts to maximally digest and absorb various resources was no small requirement for a Beast Tamer.
“Bang…”
An unexpected gunshot abruptly interrupted Zhou Ming’s plan.
Soon after, sharp and piercing gunfire rang out continuously, accompanied by the hissing roars of Ferocious Beasts.
Facing this sudden change, Zhou Ming immediately extinguished the campfire, and both hands instantly drew pistols from his thighs.
In his left hand was the Blood Hunter Type-1 Handgun, and in his right hand was the Thunder Type-2 Revolver—both were pistols he frequently used.
Immediately afterward, Zhou Ming left the rocky cave.
In his current environment, a single grenade thrown in would mean instant death.
After leaving the cave, Zhou Ming did not need to investigate carefully to discover that people were engaged in mutual slaughter several hundred meters away.
The reason the Radar Sensory Domain had not detected them was that Zhou Ming had kept the snake groups within a hundred-meter radius.
Although the maximum range could form a circle with a diameter of one kilometer, it was prone to sensing blind spots, and the snake groups were also difficult to recall into the Beast Taming Space within a short time.
Faced with the ongoing slaughter, Zhou Ming did not hesitate at all and directly chose to move away.
What he needed most right now was steady development.
Not courting danger was the key.