Chapter Forty-Six: Walking Alone

Chapter 46: A Lone Journey

Before Xia Zheng lay two items. One was a white hat, seemingly crafted from special materials. The design was rather fashionable, with a somewhat wide brim, and it weighed only a hundred grams, lighter even than a disposable mask.

“Mr. Xia, don’t underestimate this hat,” Sigrid said as she brought the product closer, displaying its details with supporting videos. “By releasing a magnetic field to convert energy, it forms an isolation shield half a meter to three meters around your body. It’s highly resistant to over 95% of known toxins—its anti-poison effect is superb. With this hat, there’s no need for masks, visors, or helmets. Simply activate defense mode, and you can move through poisonous mists and gases with ease. Even against liquid toxins, the shield will keep them out—unless its energy runs dry.”

Xia Zheng nodded, satisfied with the anti-poison capabilities, and inquired about the price.

“This magnetic protective hat isn’t mass-produced; it’s custom-made. Our shop only has one, starting at five hundred thousand Bangs,” Sigrid replied.

Xia Zheng frowned; the price was higher than he’d expected. He had at most 1.4 million in his accounts—this hat alone would cost nearly a third of his cash, which pained him. But he’d boasted moments ago, so, gritting his teeth, he asked, “Is there any discount?”

“It’s not usually discounted, but you’re special, Mr. Xia. I felt an instant connection with you,” Sigrid replied bewitchingly, even leaning half her body onto his. “I’ll give you a voluntary thirty percent off—just three hundred thousand. How about it?”

It was hard for Xia Zheng to refuse; after all, she’d just knocked off two hundred thousand, which made him reflect that, while Espers could live well enough, advancing to higher ranks required staggering sums. “Thank you,” Xia Zheng said, taking the opportunity to slip out from under Sigrid’s charms—this woman was dangerously tempting.

He then glanced at the second item and signaled for Sigrid to continue.

Sigrid, eyes lingering on Xia Zheng, continued, “And since no anti-poison is perfect, I personally recommend pairing it with this—an instant antidote pill crafted by a master pharmacologist. Effective against more than 99% of deadly poisons, there are ten in the bottle; one pill lasts twenty-four hours. It’s among the best antidotes available, dramatically increasing resistance and recovery from toxins. The price is one hundred thousand Bangs, but with your discount, both items together total three hundred seventy thousand. How about it?”

This time, Xia Zheng didn’t haggle. She’d already offered a generous discount—complaining further would seem miserly. He handed over his card.

After the transaction, Sigrid had both valuable items brought from the warehouse and handed them to him.

Xia Zheng opened the package. The antidote pills would have to wait; he stowed them away in one of the many pockets of his protective suit, bought earlier at the base. The hat, he put on immediately, and let Sigrid show him how to activate its shield. The operation was simple—a gear-like dial: turn one way to shut off, the other to increase the shield’s strength and radius.

The hat was powered by electricity, needing three hours for a full charge, after which it could last ten to twelve hours. Under toxic attack, however, the energy would deplete faster, but should still hold for several hours.

“Thank you for your patronage, Mr. Xia. Here’s my card—contact me anytime, as long as you’re in the Black Ice Lake region,” Sigrid said as he left, handing him a pink, private business card, her tone full of flirtation. Xia Zheng could only respond politely. Though he was far more mature now than in his school days, he was still somewhat green facing her type.

He returned to the inn, fully charged the hat, and spent another ten thousand to purchase intelligence on the B-rank Blood Beast—Fei. He learned its recent whereabouts. There were over a hundred people and more than ten teams hunting it—clearly, it wouldn’t be an easy kill.

In the end, Xia Zheng accepted the task. He now had three B-rank and one C+ rank assignments, all above his current level: 1) Hunt the Fei Beast, 2) Pursue fugitive Wadsworth, 3) Gather three types of medicinal herbs, 4) Hunt ten Black-Striped King Scorpions.

Checking the map, he saw that the herbs were the farthest, nearly outside Black Ice Lake, up in the Ice Kettle Mountains to the northwest. The Fei Beast and Wadsworth were elusive—their locations uncertain, requiring luck.

The Black-Striped King Scorpions’ territory, however, was only about twenty kilometers from Frost Town. They rarely strayed, making this the simplest of his objectives.

Thus, Xia Zheng bought a used motorcycle for two or three thousand, which could run several hundred kilometers on a tank—a fine deal. As for weaponry, he wasn’t overly concerned; he mainly stocked up on throwing weapons, rarely using guns, as they tended to alert enemies.

He brought a week’s worth of food and water, a camping tent, and a cold-resistant sleeping bag. Alone, he rode out of Frost Town on his motorcycle. Along the way, he noticed that few Espers at his level traveled solo. By C-rank, most preferred teams or were assigned partners by their companies, since the risks—and casualties—rose sharply at this stage.

Many Espers, seeing a young man who looked like a student riding alone into the wild—especially toward an area teeming with C-rank Blood Beasts—couldn’t help but react.

“Reckless kid…”

“Pity his family—he’s probably not coming back.”

“He brings this on himself. So young and already courting death.”

“A rookie, surely. Who comes all the way north to die?”

“Strange, I think I’ve seen him before.”

“Isn’t he the one the Nalan family picked up in their car?”

“Really? What’s his background?”

Surrounded by such chatter, Xia Zheng heard none of it. He rode on calmly toward the scorpions’ lair—a place resembling a mass grave.

Because the area was plagued by poisonous insects, Espers often ventured there on missions, or ordinary people wandered in by mistake, only to be attacked by venomous creatures and die, their bodies never recovered—a forbidden ground, one of many. Over the years, as the death toll rose, it became known as the Mass Grave.

Half an hour later, Xia Zheng reached his destination. The land ahead was clearly different from what he’d seen en route—sickly, as though poisoned, with unhealthy soil and vegetation, as if tainted by plague. A cold wind carried an unpleasant, nauseating stench.

Xia Zheng immediately turned the gear on his hat, activating the energy shield. Instantly, the stench was blocked—its effect remarkable.

He hid his motorcycle in a thicket, covered it with a rain tarp, and locked it. If it was stolen despite these precautions, there was nothing he could do.

Shouldering his backpack, he tightened his protective suit, braced against the biting wind, and with the shield active, entered the deathly zone.

He activated his boots’ protective functions as well, to prevent the toxic soil from seeping in. Pants, sleeves, and collar were all snug; with the shield, he had little to worry about.

Suddenly, a massive, withered flower bud beside him “came alive,” straightening its stem and blooming abruptly. A cloud of purple mist sprayed toward Xia Zheng. He dodged at once, his shield rippling from the impact—the mist was clearly poisonous.

A nearby viper was caught in the cloud, immediately twisting in agony before being swallowed whole by the monstrous flower.

Seeing the wilted flower buds strewn along the path, Xia Zheng felt a chill. Without the shield, these poisonous attacks would be hard to fend off.

He expanded his psychic power, manipulating a throwing knife to fly above a wilted flower bud. Instantly, the petals rose, and as the knife circled, the bud exploded into a cloud of dust, which corroded the blade, melting it into a lump of metal.

“I didn’t expect these man-eating flowers to hold so much venom, strong enough to corrode alloy. If it got on skin, that would be disaster,” Xia Zheng thought, severing his psychic link to the knife. Then he used his power to lift a large stone, dropping it onto another toxic, untriggered flower bud. The stone fared much better than metal—the corrosive poison seemed to not affect it much.

After a quarter of an hour clearing the deadly flowers, Xia Zheng reached a frozen river. The ice looked thick. He sent a small stone onto the ice, and immediately black specks—about the size of sunflower seeds—began to gather below. Sensing the stone was inorganic, they quickly dispersed, which gave Xia Zheng an idea.

Polishing two flat stones with his psychic power, he stepped onto them, gliding across the ice. The black specks gathered, sensed the stone, lost interest, and scattered. Thus, Xia Zheng crossed without disturbing the unknown creatures.

According to the map, the Black-Striped King Scorpions dwelled deep within this mass grave, near a centuries-old tree. There were still several kilometers to go.

If flying didn’t consume so much psychic energy, Xia Zheng might have soared above the toxic land. But, wary of the wild’s dangers and not wanting to draw attention or exhaust himself, he refrained.

A giant red ant brandished its pincers, attacking him…

What looked like wild grass suddenly morphed into a massive, multi-legged fish-creature, catching him off guard.

Swarms of blood-sucking insects fell like leaves; even with the shield, some managed to slip through, forcing Xia Zheng to swallow an antidote pill as a precaution.

Assailed by wave after wave of deadly creatures, Xia Zheng pressed on, relying on his prepared gear, medicines, and his psychic abilities. He reached his destination safely—near a century-old, broad-trunked tree. From the brush nearby came strange, whistling sounds, almost human. Xia Zheng knew: this was the distinctive call of the Black-Striped King Scorpion.