The New Hunter

“…But why?” Zhu Yan asked Vine Cage Girl, baffled.

He had already returned from the Demon General Store.

Although he hadn’t found any Repair Agent suitable for the puppet, he had bought plenty of Level 14 Universal Potions and various healing medicines, along with more large-capacity Straw Bottles.

The Level 14 Straw Bottles available for purchase from a Level 14 Demon could drain the vitality of players up to Level 14.

They were practically invincible!

Besides those items, Zhu Yan had also stopped by the Witch General Store and bought some cosplay supplies for the art student and Vine Cage Girl, maintaining the goodwill he owed them.

Now, he and Vine Cage Girl sat around a low table. On it lay a bag of white clay for Vine Cage Girl, several jars of paint, and a pile of snacks looted from dungeons.

Vine Cage Girl opened a packet of Crispy Liver Slices with a high concentration of Trembling Delight.

“What do you mean, why?”

“That old man,” Zhu Yan said. “His answer was good enough. So why did he have to look at the second page of the menu too?”

“Quite tasty!” Vine Cage Girl’s dull gray eyes lit up.

Its neck rotated a full 180 degrees as it looked at Zhu Yan. “I don’t understand what you’re asking. First of all, he isn’t old. Secondly, he wasn’t sincere.”

“Oh…” it added. “And he showed no respect whatsoever.”

Zhu Yan didn’t care about Vine Cage Girl’s standards for judging sincerity and respect.

He seized on the other information instead.

“He isn’t old? He looked at least fifty. What else did you notice?”

He could go back and retrieve his equipment in a little while.

But that was a matter for later.

Back in the dormitory, Yang Zhanbai and Qi Yinming had been so exhausted that they had already fallen asleep.

Chen Zhaoxing and Xu Tongguang had gone out to complete their enrollment procedures, while the puppet lay quietly and safely on the bed.

That meant Zhu Yan could happily sit here with Vine Cage Girl and gossip about anything that interested him.

Vine Cage Girl had already finished one packet of liver slices and opened another.

“Honestly, you really are a newbie,” it said, relaxing completely. “Once your level is a little higher, you’ll be able to tell. The person just now doesn’t have a high player level, but his ability level is a full eight.”

Eight?

Damn.

That was the same as his player level, and even higher than his Acting ability!

But that wasn’t the important part.

The important part was…

“You can see his ability level?”

“Because he foolishly used his ability on me,” Vine Cage Girl said lightly. “His ability is somewhat similar to yours, but also different somehow. It’s another disguise-type ability.”

“Anyway, you think he’s a fifty-year-old man, but from where I’m standing, he isn’t even as old as the person next to him.”

Zhu Yan was shaken.

The young man in the black Sun Yat-sen suit looked no more than thirty.

Vine Cage Girl, however, didn’t find this strange in the slightest.

It pulled out several tissues from the table and wiped the moisture from its hands, then resumed stroking the soft fur of the cow cat, one slow stroke after another.

“His real age seems to be only a few years older than yours, Hunter. So the way he questioned you afterward was actually rather immature… I can’t quite put it into words.”

“In any case, none of the old people I’ve met talk like that.”

Zhu Yan was even more dumbfounded. “I overheard the one in black call him Dad.”

“They were acting. The two of them look very alike. They might be brothers, or perhaps cousins.”

“Then can you tell what his player level is too?”

“Mm. He’s a natural-born prodigy. His player level is only three.”

Vine Cage Girl had no concern for the Hunter’s privacy whatsoever. “Keep working at it. His expression was strange when he questioned you. Maybe he was trying to see whether you could be used, or something else.”

“Neither of those two is kind.”

Zhu Yan could tell.

If they really were kind people, they wouldn’t have said something like, “A mission involving murder is too easy.”

“Clear dungeons,” Vine Cage Girl said calmly. “An ability at Level Seven isn’t easy to upgrade. Clear dungeons, raise your player level, and everything will become clear.”

“Come talk to me next time you visit.”

Zhu Yan felt a little pressured.

The man’s player level was three, but his ability level was eight.

If the standard was one ability level gained every three dungeons, then had his initial ability level been seven?

And he was only a few years older than Zhu Yan…

What kind of natural-born prodigy was he?

Zhu Yan became thoroughly interested.

He didn’t know what that ability was.

He didn’t know whether the man would participate in the ability-competition dungeon a month from now.

If he got the chance, could that ability become his?

“Could you do me a favor?” Zhu Yan asked Vine Cage Girl. “As for payment, would a pile of snacks do?”

“Sure.” Vine Cage Girl agreed without hesitation.

“Keep an eye on that person for me,” Zhu Yan said. “And if it’s convenient, find out his real name.”

He wanted to take the name to the Nightmare Bookstore and look up some information.

What was that saying again? Know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never lose a battle.

“Easy enough.” Vine Cage Girl blinked and held out one hand toward Zhu Yan, palm up.

Yet within a minute or two, the hand it had just dried was dripping again.

“Snacks. I want them now. Give me several more packets of Crispy Liver Slices… Oh, right, I also need to commission the art student!”

Five minutes later.

Zhu Yan said goodbye to Vine Cage Girl and walked alone with the cow cat into the narrow, elongated passage leading to West Hill University.

He opened his phone and logged into WeChat, which had inexplicably disconnected for several days. He wanted to message the Doppelganger wearing his uncle’s skin.

Several messages from the Doppelganger lay quietly in the chat window.

“Hello, my Yueyueyou.”

“Human writing is so complicated.”

“Hello, friend.”

“I pulled out my fluid heart today and washed it. Have you ever tried boiling water at 100 degrees?”

Over four days, the Doppelganger had sent four messages in total.

Zhu Yan replied, “What do you mean, 100-degree boiling water? Friend, did your human skin get scalded?”

“Friend!”

This time, the Doppelganger replied much faster. “Oh, you’re finally out of the dungeon!”

“Yes, friend. I accidentally scalded a large patch of one of my skins bright red.”

“Ah, it can’t be used anymore. So ugly.”

Business!

Zhu Yan typed away as he strolled slowly toward the end of the passage.

“In this dungeon, I kept an eye out and managed to get several human skins. Do you want them?”

“Yes!” the Doppelganger replied immediately. “My level has increased again. I’m Level Nine now.”

“Please sell me some human skins… I want to try them.”

“What if one day I can enter the Abyssal Eye Club?”

Excellent.

If he sold several human skins, he could at least recover part of what he had spent at the Lazybones Craft Shop, right?

Zhu Yan leisurely arranged a time and place to meet the Doppelganger two days later.

Then, feeling refreshed, he put away his phone, jogged out of the passage, and hurried toward the Lazybones Craft Shop.