Death Notice Book 7: Chapter 5: Arrival

“The qualification for the Hunter Exam? Oh, that…” A look of realization appeared on Gutou’s skeletal face. He remembered something quickly. To Qin Lun’s slight surprise, what he thought was a very important clue seemed unimportant to Gutou.

Although Gutou was just an ordinary person, as the leader of a small Violence Gang, he was not ignorant about Hunters like Xiaonan and Xiaoya were. In Meteor Street, many Violence Gangs with some fighting ability actually knew about the Hunter Exam.

The Council of Elders in Meteor Street organized some people every year to take the license exam from the Hunter Association. They even actively gave “Airship tickets” to Meteor Street residents who wanted to become Hunters. These tickets provided transportation for people to leave Meteor Street and go to the Hunter Association’s exam location.

The so-called “Airship ticket” was actually a ticket for a ride on an Airship. This Airship was also one of the few types of transportation that could directly leave Meteor Street. There were only a few in the whole Meteor Street. The annual fuel and maintenance costs used up a lot of living resources.

Because it was a valuable resource, the Airship was usually only used for disaster relief and special events. For example: transporting Meteor Street members going to the Hunter Exam location.

The Council of Elders used the simplest method for distributing the “Airship tickets”. Apart from the necessary crew, the Meteor Street Airship could carry about thirty more people. The Council of Elders simply handed out the “Airship tickets” on a first-come, first-served basis until they were all gone.

However, no one objected to this simple and rough method. The reason was simple: the place where the “Airship tickets” were given out was in the most central settlement of Meteor Street, but the boarding place was on the outskirts of Meteor Street where the toxic dust was thickest.

Also, the “Airship tickets” did not have names or identities registered on them. In other words, on the way to the Airship, anyone else who did not have a “Airship ticket” could attack those who had one and take their ticket.

Simple, rough, and absolutely fair. It suited the tastes of Meteor Street residents very well.

Therefore, the Meteor Street residents who managed to board the Airship to take the “Hunter Exam” each year were often the truly strong ones.

However, there was one thing that made the Meteor Street Council of Elders quite helpless. That was, among these strong people who boarded the Airship, some simply wanted to leave Meteor Street, not to take the “Hunter Exam”.

“Speaking of which, I remember this year’s Airship should take off tomorrow afternoon.” Gutou glanced at Qin Lun and said, seemingly casually, “The area we are in and the Airship’s location seem to be only half a day’s journey apart.”

Qin Lun’s eyes gleamed. Through Gutou’s explanation, he finally understood all the plot guidance given by Shattered Starry Sky.

First was that hidden branch choice: to take over Gutou’s Violence Gang, then quickly expand the force to the surrounding areas, and gradually learn about the Hunter World’s power system through continuous fighting. Judging from the fighting ability of Gutou and the others, at least in the early and middle stages, Qin Lun would not encounter any insurmountable obstacles.

The drawback was that Qin Lun only had one month to stay. His range of activity was basically locked within Meteor Street. It was unlikely he could go to the world outside Meteor Street. This was hard to accept for both Shattered Starry Sky and Qin Lun himself.

Even if Meteor Street had some hidden plots, it was still just a corner of this world. The World Exploration Degree and World Origin he could obtain would be very little. And Qin Lun himself was very curious. It was hard to imagine him giving up an adventure aimed at the whole world just for Meteor Street.

But there was one thing about this branch that Qin Lun still hadn’t figured out.

In his view, rashly starting a Violence Gang fight was very dangerous. There should be high-level fighters from Meteor Street to stop him. Judging by the world’s difficulty, although Meteor Street was small, it produced many ruffians. Perhaps there would be “Hunters” equivalent to high-level Apostles of the third tier.

However, from the mission prompts he had received so far, Qin Lun came to an unbelievable conclusion. That was, in Shattered Starry Sky’s calculations, this branch was the least difficult choice.

Actually, due to lack of information, Qin Lun’s understanding of Meteor Street was still insufficient. Meteor Street did produce many strong people. The key problem was that unless something major happened in Meteor Street, these strong people might not return for years. Most were scattered around the world.

Even if a strong person happened to be staying in Meteor Street and noticed the Violence Gang fights, the most likely outcome was that they would become somewhat interested in Qin Lun, maybe even appreciative, rather than stop him.

Meteor Street was too poor. As long as they could leave, no one wanted to stay here forever. In a place like a big garbage dump, what was the point of forming a large Violence Gang? To some extent, a Violence Gang leader like Gutou was just a caretaker, needing to worry about food and clothing for the members every day.

In the eyes of those strong people, if Qin Lun wanted to merge the gangs into a big Violence Gang, then let him. As for the people who died in the fights… more people died of hunger in Meteor Street each year than died in fights. Rather than care about them, it was better to encourage Qin Lun to merge the gangs even bigger. What was wrong with letting more people eat their fill?

This was Meteor Street. A place where death was easier than survival. A barren land so lacking in resources that even power and corruption couldn’t grow.

Putting aside this branch that both Shattered Starry Sky and Qin Lun ignored, the other two official plot guides given by Shattered Starry Sky were the “Hunter Exam” and the “Mercenary Selection” from the Guidance Mission.

Based on current information, Qin Lun thought Shattered Starry Sky also assigned task difficulty levels to these two plot guides. The difficulty of the “Hunter Exam” was lower than that of the “Mercenary Selection”.

This wasn’t because obtaining the “Airship ticket” was easier than the Mercenary Selection. On the contrary, since this was the Hunter World after all, becoming a free “Hunter” was clearly more promising than becoming a Mafia mercenary.

Because of this, the Meteor Street ruffians competing for the “Airship tickets” were naturally stronger than those taking part in the “Mercenary Selection”.

Qin Lun believed the “Hunter Exam” Historical Plot was less difficult than the “Mercenary Selection” referring to the main Historical Plot after the Guidance Mission.

Although he didn’t yet know the main content of these two plot lines, or how long the “Hunter Exam” would last, the “Hunter Exam” was clearly the best opportunity for him to gradually learn about this world’s Hunter power system.

Therefore, the Main Quest that Shattered Starry Sky would give next naturally wouldn’t be too complicated. It was like a straight, sunny road. Even if there were some hardships and dangers along the way, the end point was quite obvious and clear.

The other plot line, participating in the “Mercenary Selection,” was different. Although the opponents faced in the selection were a bit weaker, it would ultimately make him a Mafia mercenary, or thug.

Shattered Starry Sky must have carefully chosen the time point to place Qin Lun in this world. This meant that once the young man became a Mafia mercenary, within his one-month stay, he would inevitably encounter a large Historical Plot.

Given his subsequent dual identity as from Meteor Street and a Mafia thug, it wasn’t hard to guess that this large plot would involve many strong people in battles. He might even directly encounter high-level “Hunters.” The danger and task difficulty would naturally be far greater than the sunny road of the “Hunter Exam.”

Of course, besides these two inferences, there was another less probable inference. That was, these two plot lines might be connected, allowing him to participate in one task plot and then join the other.

For example: after taking the “Hunter Exam” and becoming a bodyguard Hunter or bounty Hunter, then participate in a Mafia plot event.

However, this inference only flashed in Qin Lun’s mind and then disappeared. The reason was simple: Qin Lun’s stay was short, and he himself was someone who liked to think and plan.

Even if there was time to participate in another Historical Plot after the “Hunter Exam,” he was destined not to get much information and clues. Rashly joining a task plot of unknown depth was not his style.

Qin Lun looked at the dim sky and asked casually, “By the way, if I disappeared one day, would Xiaonan and Xiaoya, who are fostered in the outside world, face Mafia revenge?”

“No, regarding this point, the Mafia is very thorough. Even if you void the employment contract as soon as you leave Meteor Street, the Mafia would still help Xiaonan and Xiaoya find adoptive families.” A faint smile seemed to appear on Gutou’s face. “However, the Mafia is good at winning people over, and the treatment they offer is not bad. Mercenaries from Meteor Street usually fulfill their first employment contract. After that, it’s up to you.”

“Let’s go. We need to hurry up. It will be dark soon.” Qin Lun nodded and quickened his pace.

…

“Alright, we’re here.” Gutou’s breathing was a bit labored as he pointed to a brightly lit building at the foot of the slope.

Even in the central area of Meteor Street, the air quality was not good. Since it was dusk, the light was even dimmer, making the brightly lit building stand out more.

But this ordinary-looking Villa gave Qin Lun a very strange feeling. The young man didn’t know where this feeling came from. Just standing on the slope hundreds of meters away from it, he inexplicably felt this way.

“Here, take this. It’s proof for participating in the selection.” Gutou took a copper badge from his pocket and handed it to Qin Lun, smiling wryly. “I can only take you this far. The rest is up to you. If you pass the selection, someone will notify us, and the Mafia will immediately start keeping their promise.”

Qin Lun silently took the badge, frowning as he looked into the distance. He didn’t pay any attention to what Gutou was saying, as if the Villa held an unparalleled attraction for him. When he came back to his senses and wanted to ask Gutou some things, he suddenly noticed that Gutou had already left. His figure was barely visible in the darkness.