Chapter 2: Incident at the Prison (1)

Because of the sudden gunshot, the townspeople were now eying Zin. They were all nervous since this was probably the first time any of them had heard a gunshot. They didn’t know what was going on, so they hid themselves from the hunter.

Whatever the reason, it didn’t really matter to Zin, who had already pocketed his reward. Zin sighed as he left the small town. The townspeople who were scared of the fake gun were probably living as slaves, and that man had thought that the fake gun’s power was real.

“It’s still a world of fools.”

Zin walked and read the messages that started to pop up in front of his eyes.

[Darkborn Energy – 0.32%]

[All non-vital functions are inactive, remaining energy level – 392 days 2 hours 32 seconds]

[Devil’s blood is needed]

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Zin would stop functioning when he consumed all his energy. However, Zin knew better than anyone that there were no more devils in this world.

Out of the 210 blue chips that he earned, Zin consumed 100 of them. A normal person wouldn’t dare to do something so insane, but Zin ate the chips like a snack.

[Alternative energy consumption: 100 chips]

[Uptime increased: 100h]

For every chip consumed, one hour of life was extended. The uptime estimation was based on the level of darkborn energy, and when a potent amount of force was used, one’s lifetime decreased.

[Alternative energy has low efficiency. Please search for the devil’s blood]

Zin looked at the warning message and sighed.

A hundred years ago, the world’s last devil was hunted down.

Two hundred and eleven years had passed since the Apocalypse.

It was still a world of fools, and Zin was no different since he was living as a devil hunter in a world without devils.

After the Apocalypse, people wanted tall and thick walls around their homes, and so towns grew bigger with taller walls. However, in a world where technology had vanished, construction was difficult to carry out, resulting in brittle trash walls built up from stones and rocks.

The world’s tallest and strongest wall was built before the Apocalypse. However, life before the Apocalypse hadn’t required any walls. Therefore, building walls hadn’t been a common practice.

However, no matter how uncommon the practice, there were places where the humans needed tall and thick walls.

And one of those places was the Prison.

Prisons that housed many inmates were the perfect shelters for humans who lived in fear of beasts.

The prison cells were small and adjacent to each other, which allowed many people to live them. The prisons also had tall watchtowers that allowed them to easily spot any external threats. Weapons were stored in the prisons to attack and defend against beasts.

Therefore, all prisons, or at least the ones with tall and thick walls, were the best dwelling places.

Obviously, the weapons became unusable over a period of time, but even after two hundred years, the prisons became suitable habitations with tall walls and safe cells.

The original purpose of a prison was to prevent someone from getting out, but now, a prison became a place to prevent others from coming in.

“So this is the Ard Point.”

Zin stared at the tall wall in front of his eyes.

“Who’s there?”

The guards who spotted the approaching Zin showed up at the top of the wall. All of them had an arrow aimed at Zin. Looking at the bowstrings stretched to their limits, Zin felt weird.

A hundred years ago, when guns and ammunitions were readily available, people at the top of the wall would have patrolled with their guns. From machine guns and sniper rifles to rifles, from rifles to sub-machine guns, from sub-machine guns to pistols, from pistols to bow guns. And now, there were arrows. Zin wondered how much further their weapons would degrade. He thought perhaps slings and slingshots would be used next.

Now, technology was degenerating instead of developing. As Zin realized how times have changed, he also realized that he’d lived for far too long.

“I’m a hunter.”

Whether it was a town, security point, fortress or castle, there were two types of attitude towards a hunter — unwelcoming or welcoming. A hunter and a Reaver were not too different in that they both killed humans and beasts. The only difference was that Reavers killed without reason, whereas hunters received chips to kill either humans or beasts.

If a hunter was needed, a hunter would be welcomed, meaning that there were possible requests. If a town had no issues, the townspeople would not be so welcoming towards a hunter, who was essentially a stranger.

“Come on in.”

The guard’s words suggested that there were possible requests for a hunter.

—creeeeeeeak!—

The rusted steel door made a creaking sound as it opened, and Zin walked inside past the door. The two doormen were watching Zin alertly. The guards were armed with machetes and wooden spears, and they drew their weapons at Zin.

“No need to be hostile here. It’s his loss if he starts a commotion.” A man came down from the wall, and at his words everyone else withdrew their weapons.

The men were poorly equipped, but were organized. The man came and stretched out a hand to Zin.

“I am Baek-Goo, and I am the Captain of the Guard at Ard Point.”

“I’m Zin.”

“Quite an interesting name you have.”

“The same goes for you.”

“Hah… is that so?”

“Before the Apocalypse, people used to name their dogs ‘Baek-Goo.’”

Instead of being annoyed by Zin’s words, Baek-Goo started to laugh.

“Haha, yeah, my father used to beat me like a dog.”

Zin chuckled at his reaction. The Captain of the Guard of Ard Point seemed to be a person with a sense of humor, which was a trait rarely seen in these times.

“I was trying to piss you off intentionally, but anyway, my apologies.”

“It’s alright. That’s how hunters are like.”

Baek-Goo walked away and gestured to Zin.

“We are in need of help, so we can tolerate such discourtesy.”

Baek-Goo started walking into the prison building, and Zin followed suit. Inside the Ard Point prison was a garden, taken care of by people who seemed to be residents.

“Quite a lively community.”

Every village had its own lifestyle, but in this place, looking at the guards and those farming food, it seemed that the community had chosen to produce and distribute food as a community as well. Zin estimated that at least two or three hundred people currently resided in Ard Point.

In a village where a community was formed, the leader had the most power, and each community had its own strengths and weaknesses.

Of course, Zin had seen many cases where the weaknesses were visibly magnified. However, he did not notice any signs of pain or exhaustion from the people.

“Looks like a pretty good community”

“We’ve got beasts that are edible,and they haven’t been attacking us these days. It’s great here.”

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

Hunting beasts that weren’t poisonous was one way to gain food. However, there was no use hunting the undead and the poisonous beasts. Those were only hunted to extract chips.

“Who’s the boss here?”

“Our leader? Are you talking about our elder? He’s an old man, but wiser than anybody else. We were able to go through rough times because of the elder’s wisdom.”

In every village, the leaders would be called by different titles, and in this place, it seemed that the leader was referred to as the elder.

From Zin’s perspective, Ard Point seemed to be an ordinary place. However, Zin fell into deep thought.

“Hmm… this is troublesome…”

It was clear that the village had some troubling matters. It was usually some direct threat like hunger, attacks from the beasts, or the Reaver’s raids. These types of issues had to be dealt with right away without much thought.

Judging from its exterior appearance, this village seemed to be trouble-free. However, the fact that this type of village was in need of a hunter meant that there was a big underlying problem.

Based on Zin’s experience, peaceful-looking villages usually made dangerous and strange requests. Baek-Goo said,

“The elder may not ask you for help, so don’t expect too much.”

“He won’t?”

“Yeah.”

Baek-Goo himself also looked puzzled.

“So far, five hunters have come by, but none of them received a request.”

“Hmm… that’s interesting to hear.”

“Honestly, I’m not even sure what kind of person the elder wants.”

Baek-Goo started telling Zin about the elder’s strange behavior. Out of nowhere, the elder said that a hunter was needed, and when a hunter visited, he would reject them every time.

Without giving a specific reason, he would reject the hunter. He would then tell them to search for new hunters, but would always ask the visiting hunter to leave after a night’s stay.

“So… you can assume that you’ll get a night’s rest if you don’t receive a request.”

“Well. Whatever happens, I have nothing to lose.”

Getting a night’s rest in a safe place was a pretty sweet deal, and even though the leader seemed odd, Zin had nothing to lose.