Chapter 85: Secretly Watching
In early spring, the weather still carried a faint chill.
As he walked out of the gate of Qinshan Base, a cool north wind hit his face.
Outside the city wall, Zhou Ming could see, at a glance, the safety zone’s fields stretching for miles.
Under the arrangement of the Qinshan Base government, dozens of agricultural machines were busy with spring plowing.
But such a scene held no attraction for the hunters heading to the Northern Wasteland.
Because some forces had already set out for the Northern Wasteland as soon as winter ended.
Most of those hunters had rushed over from the southern bases, so they were already two days late.
Once they passed the city gate, many hunters immediately used their own methods to hurry toward the Northern Wasteland — off-road armored vehicles, wilderness bikes, summoning beasts to ride — all trying to be the first to reach the wasteland.
Only Zhou Ming felt somewhat out of place.
He walked slowly with a black backpack, as if he was not worried at all about missing out.
Having a sufficient understanding of his own strength, he knew what role he would play on this trip to the Northern Wasteland.
Vultures and hyenas took the leftovers swallowed by the big powers.
If he could pick up a bargain, all the better.
Maybe when Zhou Ming learned what kind of attraction that ruin had, he already knew he had no chance, but unwilling to give up, he still wanted to try.
After all, sometimes luck decided success or failure.
And he didn’t have much money now; it was time to start accumulating resources to cultivate Inkband and Vermilion Jade.
For several reasons, Zhou Ming set off for the Northern Wasteland with a try-it-out mindset.
If he couldn’t get what he wanted, he would still fish in troubled waters and pick up whatever benefits he could.
Otherwise, as he joked about himself,
He’d almost be unable to afford meals.
While hurrying, Zhou Ming also reviewed the intelligence about the Northern Wasteland.
The Northern Wasteland was located north of the Blue Star Alliance and covered an area even more vast than the Endless Forest Sea.
It was mainly grassland, desert, and permafrost; the farther north one went, the harsher the environment became.
The northernmost region was called the Polar Ice Plain, which was white with ice and snow year-round.
Such a vast territory naturally had Beast Kings, but compared with the Endless Forest Sea, the Northern Wasteland had only two Beast Kings, both located in the extreme north.
Fortunately, the base ruin that appeared this time was near the Blue Star Alliance’s grassland area and would not attract those two Beast Kings.
Otherwise Zhou Ming would have preferred to give up rather than look for death.
When Zhou Ming departed for the Northern Wasteland alone, several figures were trailing him from a distance.
They perhaps knew where he was headed, so they did not follow too closely; they planned to wait until Zhou Ming left the safety zone before making a move.
“This bastard thought he wasn’t going to the Northern Wasteland — he nearly made me go back into the base to find him.”
Seeing Zhou Ming’s solitary figure through a telescope, a bald burly man cursed.
That man was Shi Lei, who had fought Zhou Ming on the arena earlier; the hearty tone of his voice showed he had fully recovered in these past two or three months.
“If we catch him this time, I’ll cut him into pieces.”
Shi Lei hadn’t forgotten the humiliation he suffered.
The mental shock had been more painful than cutting flesh, and because his lion-tiger beast had died, he had to use his own savings to buy a new riding beast.
“No. Even if we can’t capture Zhou Ming alive, we must try to keep his body intact, especially his head; it mustn’t suffer so much as a scratch.”
The speaker was Hu Peng, the one Zhou Ming had instantly killed earlier.
Looking at Zhou Ming, whose silhouette had become distant, his eyes revealed boundless killing intent.
“Why is that?”
A short man whose hands were near his knees asked Hu Peng; he was Zhu Ming.
“Since you three were willing to leave Xin Hui and follow me, I won’t hide it any longer.”
Hu Peng then told Shi Lei and the others, in detail, about Zhou Ming’s snake pupils that had been exposed during the arena match.
“Boss, so we’re catching Zhou Ming for those snake pupils?”
“Since he killed my golden cobra, I naturally want to recover my loss. Those research institutions or underground factions studying genes will definitely pay a high price after hearing about Zhou Ming.”
“That’s also why I didn’t tell Xin Hui Construction Group or the power behind them. If they weren’t willing to help me obtain a ferocious beast of the same level as the Golden Cobra, then I would have to take back my loss myself.”
Hearing Hu Peng’s explanation, they understood why, after Xin Hui had abandoned Hu Peng, he had not collapsed.
Once he had recovered mentally, he had used all his savings to buy a lightning marten as his riding beast — it turned out he had been preparing to deal with Zhou Ming.
Hu Peng originally planned that after regaining his strength, he would find Zhou Ming and strike directly.
Unexpectedly, Doomsday ruins appeared in the Northern Wasteland.
He guessed Zhou Ming would go there too, so he had been lying in wait at the city gate.
They would act after Zhou Ming left the base, which would at least avoid unexpected complications.
If they acted inside the base and failed to kill Zhou Ming immediately, it might draw the Security Bureau.
“Boss, you mean this guy is really valuable.”
Hearing there was money to be made, Da Yong on the side was excited; after all, who wouldn’t want to get rich by following their boss?
“With the power those snake pupils released, the value would definitely not be less than one hundred million Alliance Coins. If we could capture him alive, the value would be even higher.”
Hu Peng recalled the terrifying pressure that the snake pupils had unleashed in the arena; he knew what he said was true, otherwise he wouldn’t have kept this secret.
Besides, he had chosen to tell Shi Lei and the others because they had stuck by him when he was down, and he also wanted to use the huge profit obtained from Zhou Ming to build his own force.
Now he finally understood the meaning of preferring to be a rooster’s head rather than a phoenix’s tail.
Shi Lei and the two others were to be the foundational members of his faction.
He also feared that if he continued to hide the matter and then acted, the three might fail to restrain themselves and damage Zhou Ming’s snake pupils — then it would truly be a futile effort.
At the mention of one hundred million, the other three’s breathing noticeably grew heavier.
“Boss, shall we act now?”
Hearing revenge and money, Shi Lei could not help himself.
“No. It’s spring plowing now; the surrounding city defense troops have more patrols. Acting now would likely cause trouble.”
“Zhou Ming will definitely head to the Northern Wasteland. We needn’t worry about losing him. Wait until he leaves the safety zone and then find an opportunity. It would be best to capture him alive.”
Hearing Hu Peng, the three thought it made perfect sense and all nodded in agreement.
“Move out.”
Seeing Zhou Ming’s figure nearly disappear through the telescope, Hu Peng instructed the three to start moving.
Although they were not afraid of losing Zhou Ming, they were worried he might encounter an accident.
Zhou Ming was now Hu Peng’s original capital to get rich; Hu Peng dared not be careless.
And the penniless Zhou Ming did not know that he himself was a walking cash machine.
If he heard Hu Peng’s mentioned price, he might just consider selling himself.