Chapter 40
Chapter 40
“Was it really all right to hang up on him like that?”
Qin Lan vaguely sensed something was wrong but could not identify what.
Why did Luo Yue dare act so brazenly?
Lu Xingshan was a director–her immediate superior, at least in theory.
Even Qin Lan did not dare behave too casually around him.
“It’s fine. Director Lu can be such a nag sometimes… You’ll get used to it after you’ve been here longer.”
“Let’s hurry and set out.”
Luo Yue smiled and brushed the subject aside.
Qin Lan remained puzzled but did not ask further questions.
After finishing their preparations, they left the Safe Zone and headed toward the locations marked on their map.
Since the Cataclysm years ago, satellites and other advanced technologies had failed one after another. Maps of the Fallen Zone could only be built by Anomaly Hunters exploring bit by bit and transmitting the collected data back.
For that reason, [Exploration Assignments] and [Assistance Assignments] formed the bulk of the Anomaly Hunter Bureau’s work.
Combat assignments were comparatively rare.
Luo Yue’s responsibility was to determine what resources existed inside the three instances and gather information on the anomalies hidden within them.
Once confirmed, the data would be sent to the Anomaly Hunter Bureau, and other Anomaly Hunters would clear the sites.
The first instance matched their expectations.
It was an ordinary 2-Star instance with a simple process. A bus traveled along a mountain road at night, and one passenger aboard was an anomaly in disguise.
To clear the instance, participants had to identify the “false passenger.” Choosing incorrectly would provoke the anomaly’s attack.
It was a thoroughly ordinary supernatural tale, the sort of short horror story relegated to the back page of a cheap magazine and worth reading only while sitting on the toilet.
Even the mildly suggestive jokes on the cover were more entertaining.
Once Luo Yue finished collecting the information, Qin Lan stepped forward and shattered the “false passenger’s” head with a single swing of his baton.
His ability to see death had identified the target without effort. [Backup Reaper], his Unique Hidden class, saved him a great deal of trouble.
“Dying to ordinary 2-Star anomalies barely increases my attributes anymore… Killing them through my class ability gives me more.”
Qin Lan sighed.
He had initially tried standing still and allowing the disguised anomaly to attack him. To his surprise, the result was merely the consolation prize of [Strength permanently increased by 0.1].
After he killed the anomaly, however, [Backup Reaper]’s first class ability triggered: “You possess a unique understanding of death. Every enemy you kill will become a source of strength.”
It directly raised Qin Lan’s Strength by a full 0.8.
Luo Yue was astonished by how efficiently he dispatched it.
She had met countless Anomaly Hunters and could naturally recognize what his performance meant.
“An ordinary 2-Star Anomaly Hunter would suffer at least minor, perhaps even moderate injuries while killing a 2-Star anomaly without using their Talent…”
“His strength must have reached the absolute limit of the 2-Star rank!”
Luo Yue was shaken.
Landing a single decisive blow and instantly killing a 2-Star anomaly as Qin Lan had done was something only a 3-Star Anomaly Hunter could accomplish with ease.
But Luo Yue did not dare consider that possibility.
Advancing from 1-Star to 3-Star in a single month?
No one would believe such news if it spread.
“I won’t bring this corpse back. I’m short on curse energy right now, so I should absorb whatever I can.”
After calling out to Luo Yue, Qin Lan began absorbing the curse from the anomaly on his own.
Luo Yue paused, then waved both hands.
“I’m only responsible for collecting information. It’s even better if you can resolve the threat directly.”
“It’s your trophy. You have every right to decide what to do with it.”
[Curse Energy: 75 > 85]
“It’s getting slower and slower.” Qin Lan sounded regretful.
From what he could sense, he was approaching the “Tier 2 bottleneck” described in his Curse Codex.
Converted into the numbers on his status panel, that meant the threshold of one hundred curse energy.
Every Curse Codex used the same ranking system, dividing curses into five tiers.
Tier 1 corresponded to a 1-Star anomaly.
When Qin Lan first began studying a Curse Codex, absorbing the Slit-Mouthed Woman’s curse energy had brought him to the entry level of Tier 1.
After clearing several more instances and absorbing a number of 1-Star anomalies, he broke through the Tier 1 bottleneck and entered Tier 2.
Now he was nearing the limit of Tier 2.
The strength of Qin Lan’s curse energy affected more than the power of his Talent. He could also use it to activate class abilities or simply add raw damage to his attacks.
The more he possessed, the better.
“Let’s go. It’s time for the next instance.”
As the corpse on the ground dissolved, Qin Lan rose.
After an anomaly died, its instance would collapse over time. Until then, it remained explorable, making that interval ideal for collecting special resources.
But that had nothing to do with Qin Lan.
The instance’s information had been recorded. The Anomaly Hunter Bureau’s specialized extraction department would explore it later.
“Don’t you need to rest?”
Luo Yue asked instinctively, then immediately shook her head.
“Never mind. Forget I asked…”
Ordinarily, Anomaly Hunters emerged from an instance mentally exhausted and needed time to recover.
But how could Qin Lan possibly be tired?
How much effort did it take to kill something with one swing of a baton?
The second instance was equally unremarkable and passed without incident.
The third, however, presented a far larger problem.
“Well.” Qin Lan studied the threads of death in the distance and clicked his tongue. “Forgive me for saying so, but I suspect the intelligence on this 2-Star instance is wrong.”
“Why don’t we report it and ask the Bureau to reassess the place?”
Qin Lan tried to phrase his opinion tactfully, though his meaning was already explicit.
This was unquestionably a 3-Star instance.
The death threads symbolizing danger gathered far more densely here than before.
“You think there’s something wrong with this instance?” Luo Yue asked curiously, wondering what his judgment was based on.
An instance’s rank could only be estimated through equipment readings of its curse fluctuations, so some margin of error was unavoidable.
There had been cases where high-star instances leaked very little curse power and were misclassified as low-rank ones.
Qin Lan hesitated.
“Uh, how should I put this…”
“I have an extremely strong premonition that something terrible will happen the moment we enter…”
“My instincts are as reliable as arthritic joints before a rainstorm, so you should probably trust me.”
Qin Lan did not mind entering a 3-Star instance. He was only worried about Luo Yue’s safety.
They might not know each other well, but she was still an acquaintance.
He did not want to see anything happen to her.
“It’s fine. Even inside a 3-Star instance, I’m capable of protecting myself.”
Luo Yue hesitated only briefly before smiling with confidence.
Qin Lan silently opened his communicator.
When he read the unread message, his expression changed.
[Lu Xingshan (Director): Kid, if she loses so much as half a hair in the Fallen Zone, you’d better be ready for me to give your bladder a thorough massage with a spiked club when you return!]
“What kind of mess have I gotten into…?”
Qin Lan sighed at the sky and swiftly composed a reply.
[She’s entering a 3-Star instance. Come protect your princess immediately.]