Chapter 401: The Price of Growth (2/10, Autumn Subscription)

And the Blood Hunter, it seemed, had used his own death at the very last moment to preserve a single life.

Slowly pulling out the wooden spike, he flipped over the Blood Hunter's corpse.

What he saw was a curled-up, shivering Great-Headed Blood Hound puppy, eyes wide, whimpering weakly at him while wagging its short little tail furiously.

The people nearby, seeing this scene, were not surprised.

Clearly they had long since discovered the Great-Headed Blood Hound puppy hidden beneath the Blood Hunter's body, and that was also why they had told Jing Yan to go call for people.

Lin Ling reached out and picked up the Great-Headed Blood Hound puppy; at that moment, he felt as if this little life were the continuation of the Blood Hunter's own.

Amid the puppy's whimpering, Lin Ling gently soothed its emotions, then looked around at the others.

"Does any of you know how to take care of this little fellow?"

A Ghost Beast is unlike an ordinary creature—it requires professional care, and this was not Lin Ling's area of expertise.

The crowd could only exchange glances, and finally turned in unison toward Jing Yan at the door.

"Captain Lin, the Blood Hunter is dead. Among us survivors, the only Hunter left is… him."

Huh?

Huh huh huh huh?

Jing Yan instantly froze on the spot.

He was just a camera without feelings, doing a bit of hunting on the side, that was all.

You're treating me as a real, proper Hunter??

"Good. Then Xiao Xuedou is yours to raise and train. Take good care of it—it's a Ghost Beast, and it's also a member of our Gu Yue Cun!"

Lin Ling placed Xiao Xuedou into the dumbfounded Jing Yan's arms, then arranged for the others to handle the Blood Hunter's corpse with dignity and carry it to the temporary graveyard outside.

While the others were immersed in grief and busy with their tasks, Jing Yan was completely dazed.

After Fang Yue and the others had returned to the village, he had been hoping the Blood Hunter would send him a Blood Eagle—that alone would have been an enormous wish come true.

But after the Wu Yu tribe wiped out the village, he had ended up getting the Blood Hunter's Ghost Beast, a Great-Headed Blood Hound puppy, outright!

Th-this, this this this this—could I really be the legendary Chosen One?

Jing Yan looked at Xiao Xuedou sleeping peacefully in his arms, recalled in his mind all the little details of how the Blood Hunter used to care for that Big Blood Fight, and let out a sigh of frustration.

Although getting a Ghost Beast felt great, he had never actually learned how to care for and train one.

Being a Hunter is no simple job either.

Without professional skills and techniques, simply keeping a Ghost Beast alive is utterly pointless—you might even get devoured by your own pet!

There are many tricks and pitfalls in this, but these were things that Hunter Apprentice Jing Yan had no access to.

After stewing in his frustration for a while, Jing Yan tossed this happy little annoyance out of his mind.

Worst case, once he got to Qingsi County, he'd learn the real skills from other Hunters—Xiao Xuedou, he was keeping no matter what!

Pointing his camera at Xiao Xuedou's sleeping pose and giving it a three-sixty spin, Jing Yan grinned like an idiot.

Got fresh material today. The title will be: Attention all Hunter players—this is the very first Ghost Beast pet baby tamed by a player!

Mm… perfect!

Add in the footage of the Gu Yue Cun battle filmed yesterday. Though it feels a bit unkind to say so, Jing Yan had to admit—he suddenly felt that life had taken an unexpected turn for the better!

Trotting along happily behind Lin Ling, Jing Yan kept filming while helping out and gathering supplies.

All this footage was the most direct material possible—a quick edit later, some tragic music laid over it, and it could be posted on the forum.

Because he had already uploaded the Gu Yue Cun battle footage to the forum, like a serialized drama, dropping a tragic post-war video would let him keep harvesting traffic.

Sometimes, Jing Yan even wondered if he was being a bit too cold-blooded.

But after thinking it over carefully, he figured there was nothing wrong with it.

He was just a player—what did he care whether a village got wiped out, whether some NPC lived or died? As long as he himself was fine, that was enough.

After a busy day, Jing Yan logged out of the game and opened the forum to take a look.

The video about the Battle of Gu Yue Cun that he had posted that morning had already been pushed to the top of the hot list.

Replies came flooding in like a screen-filling frenzy.

No surprise there—the quality of the video was simply too high.

Although it was recorded in Jing Yan's own point of view, in fits and starts, the atmosphere of a village under attack by the bizarre, the life-or-death struggle of the entire settlement, had swept everyone along.

From the assault on Gu Yue Cun, to Ma Ling'er's clash with Fang Yue, to Chen Lao's suppression, and Lord Han's strike.

One grand scene after another, and finally, amid the sounds of fierce combat echoing from within the bone sphere, the screen cut to black.

And there, everything came to an end.

The footage that came after, Jing Yan had not edited into the video.

Because it involved Fang Yue's privacy, and it wouldn't have been appropriate to include it.

Even so, it was already more than enough.

Everyone's appetite had been whetted. The discussions were so heated they nearly crashed the forum entirely.

Because Fang Yue was the number-one player among them all.

Faced with such a terrifying enemy, everyone wanted to know how Fang Yue's story ultimately ended.

"He's done for! Absolutely done for! That bizarre thing is ridiculously overpowered! Yese Liming is no match for it at all!"

"Yeah, yeah! Look at that old guy in blue, just holding a Wooden Sword—obviously not some big shot. Gu Yue Cun has probably already been destroyed by the bizarre."

"Not necessarily! If those two could go head-to-head, their strength shouldn't be that far apart. Let's just wait for Jingse Studio's next video."

The soaring popularity made Jing Yan grin from ear to ear.

Letting his editors cut together today's footage, Jing Yan showed the forum viewers the aftermath of that night's battle in Gu Yue Cun, and at the very end of the video, zoomed in on Lord Han—blinking his eyes, with nothing left but a single head—as if hinting that Lord Han had beaten back the bizarre, but had also been so grievously wounded that only his head remained.

As for the thing everyone cared about most—Fang Yue's situation—Jing Yan kept them in suspense: tune in next time for the answer.

The hot-tempered regulars on the forum immediately responded with a barrage of national-curse insults and a warning of Thai-boxing-grade vocabulary.

Jing Yan, however, closed the forum at ease—let them argue, the more they argued the higher the buzz, and the more people would see and discuss his video.

After greeting the people at the studio, Jing Yan logged back in.

The moment he opened his eyes, he saw Lin Ling sitting beside him, playing with Xiao Xuedou.

"Captain Lin."

Jing Yan offered a greeting. Lin Ling lifted his eyelids slightly, hummed an acknowledgment, then asked: "Have you fed it yet?"

"I returned to Master's home. Lucky for me, the nutritional supplements Xiao Xuedou needs to grow—Master had long since stocked an entire warehouse. Even though the warehouse was damaged, the remaining supplies are still enough for Xiao Xuedou to eat for a long time."

"Mm, that's good… Jing Yan, raise Xiao Xuedou well. One day, I want to see the moment it bravely tears apart the Eerie Ones, kills the Wu Yu tribe, and avenges the Blood Hunters."

Lin Ling spoke words that left Jing Yan somewhat baffled; it seemed that after last night, Lin Ling had suddenly become much more profound.

And just then, a person in the distance ran toward them in a hurry, shouting as they ran.

"Captain Lin! Captain Ye is awake! Captain Ye is awake!!"

(End of chapter)