Compared to the other three teams of the Golden Feather City Knights, the team led by Raven has always acted much more aggressively. As soon as he got the whereabouts of the sealed dust, in order to limit the power of the dragon cavity, Raven took the risk of destroying the ecology of the hunting ground to expel most of the monsters on the predetermined battlefield, leaving a "clean" battlefield for the elimination of defectors.

Unsurprisingly, this decision turned into an ecological catastrophe. The migrating herd was like dominoes that had been toppled, and after only half a day, the relentless tide of beasts had spread to every nearby village. After the pursuit was declared a failure, the Knights did not organize the rescue at the first time for some reason, and by the time the local emergency hunter team arrived, the beast tide had already formed a scale, and even the professional rescuers were out of luck.

Nearly a week has passed since then, and the woodland has finally returned to its usual calm. However, the average survival rate of civilians in all the settlements that survived the riots was only about 50 percent, and four villages were forever scorched under the ravages of the raging.

"I wanted to help, but I couldn't do anything......" Feng Chen's eyes were red, and a bitterness welled up from his throat. At that time, the defector hunter was seriously injured, and he was able to barely save a life thanks to the rescue of the mysterious dragonman, and of course he could not know the exact extent of the damage in that disaster. But in the last moments before he escaped, he witnessed a village that had fallen under the iron hooves of the beast.

It was already night when the Dragonwhisperer arrived, and the monster had been gone for a long time, only the raging fire was still burning in the ruins. The young man was already tired and tired, and he still had to worry about the knights who would be attracted by the fire at any time, and the dragon cavity searched a few times, but he still couldn't see the breath of a living person in his vision, and after wandering outside the village for a few minutes, he could only grit his teeth and turn away helplessly.

Since then, Feng Chen has asked himself more than once, the situation on the hunting ground that day is chaotic, and he is mentally depressed, and the dragon cavity vision that he has always relied on may also be missing. Even if there is still a survivor in the sea of fire, his own departure is to cut off his last hope. Although Feng Chen knew in his heart that this was just meaningless speculation, and knew that he was alone, even if he participated in the rescue, he would not be able to reverse the disaster, but since then, the billowing smoke hovering over the top of the deserted village has become a scene that must appear in his dreams every night.

"It's all my fault......" Annfinis said intermittently for a few minutes before Dust's mood calmed down slightly. For a long time, he was alone, full of guilt and resentment, and the young man was already on the verge of collapse. Now that he has finally found someone to confide in, the pressure in the hunter's heart has finally been slightly relieved, "If I had been a little more vigilant and had discovered the spies of the Knights earlier, this beast tide would not have happened......"

As soon as the last sentence was spoken, Feng Chen staggered to the corner of the alley as if his backbone had been pulled away. He thought about drinking something to moisten his throat, and reached into his backpack, only to remember that the several jugs in his bag were full of freshly picked bad wine. When he was in a dilemma, a heavy hunting pot was handed to the young man at the right time.

"You see, it's never your fault." Amphines folded her hands back and said in as gentle a voice as she could.

Old Ailu had been listening quietly, and Nameless wanted to interject several times, but was also pressed down by him with gestures. The two seniors worked hard to analyze the information from Feng Chen's complaints, and exchanged glances a few times during the period, and they all saw a little anger in each other's expressions.

It was no surprise that the Knights had withheld the details of the Beast Tide in the commissioned report, but they could not hide it from the eyes of the six-star hunters. As early as when the Black Star Twins got the report, Luo Pingyang was keenly aware that something was wrong, but he couldn't say why. Of all the knights of Scarlet, the ranks of Golden Feather City are notoriously bad. At Maureen's behest, it was no news that the team was on the fringes of Kingdom Decrees and Union Ordinances. The Black Star Twins thought that what they wanted to hide in the document was nothing more than another "accident" or "misconduct", but the truth made Amphinis refresh the bottom line of the Knights' actions in her heart.

Feng Chen poured a few sips of water from the pot, as if they would turn into a liquor to relieve anxiety when they were filled into his throat. The young man was short of breath and choked on the water and coughed violently. He wiped his wet breastplate and looked at Amphinis: "What's the difference?" I was there when the disaster struck, and that's all that matters. ”

Today, Feng Chen has long been unable to distinguish whether he is lucky or unlucky. Wherever he fled, disaster after disaster followed him like a ghost. The dragon whisperer is always inextricably linked to disasters, but he can only sit back and watch the tragedy happen, and it is difficult for him to do anything in it.

As a sixteen-year-old young man, just showing up at the scene of the accident was enough to make him bear a heavy debt. The word "powerless" seems to have become a kind of torture, a curse hanging over the head of the dust, and the more pure the nature, the more guilt such an experience can bring, and it will torture the young man's heart even harder. The crossbow wound on Dust's shoulder had long since healed, but the mental blow lasted far longer than the physical one. He had even imagined several times that if he had died in any of the past disasters, he would at least have a moment of peace.

Feeling the heavy frustration and remorse emanating from the junior, Nameless and Amphines glanced at each other, and consciously quietly retreated a few meters. Old Ai Lu stepped forward, sat down next to the juniors, stroked his beard and said, "Sell an old man, I have been in the hunting ground for many years older than you, and I have seen countless disasters. Believe me, you don't need to rely on the dragon cavity, I can also understand your current mood. ”

Seeing that Feng Chen had reacted, he turned his head to look at himself, Amphinis coughed lightly, and then said: "For people like us, the hardest part after the disaster is not 'why them', but 'why not me'. That kind of self-blame and guilt will not be unfamiliar to any hunter with a conscience. ”

"How did you do that? What's the solution...... Can you get rid of it? The young man asked with a sad face.

"I'm sorry, but I wish I could give you some helpful advice." Legend has it that the hunter patted Feng Chen's back, but took out a pot of wine from the junior's backpack and unscrewed the cap of the bottle himself, "Hunter, this profession is born with a kind of 'original sin'. More often than not, you don't even need to see how many people have been killed, just read the numbers on the commission report and feel the ghosts weighing all the grievances on your shoulders. ”

"As the hunter gets older, the burden will only get heavier. If anyone is lucky enough not to miss a single shot in the hunting ground until he loses his hunting weapon or cannot see his prey, he may have a chance to pay for his 'sins' when he retires. But unfortunately, there are too few such people, and Ah Yang and I are not among them. ”

Seeing the surprise in the Dragonwhisperer's eyes, Amphines explained, "Frankly, we did something dishonorable when we were young, so much so that we still atone for it to this day. This ......" he pointed to his chest, although the six-star badge was taken off because of the need to hide his whereabouts, but Feng Chen also knew what Lao Ai Lu was talking about, "It's a shackle, always reminding me that if I want to really write off my debts, maybe I really have to wait until the day when I die in the hunting ground." Until then, all we can do is swallow every bit of guilt, and nothing else. ”

Six-star Ai Lu squinted his eyes and took a sip of bad wine, and then stuffed it back into Feng Chen's hand with a little disgust: "As for the moment, if this can make you feel better, Raven, the captain of the first team of the Golden Feather City Knights, was dismissed from the position of captain a few days ago, presumably he is the guy who gave the order in the first place, right?" The Knights didn't mean to make a statement, and the dismissal was under other pretexts, but such a punishment was more or less better than nothing. ”

"So what?" Feng Chen smiled bitterly and said with a smile, "The villages destroyed in the accident will not be restored to their original state, and the residents who lost their lives will not come back to life in vain." Anfi Instructor ...... What the Knights have done has long gone beyond what hell 'collateral damage' is, this is obviously murder! Having seen those scenes with my own eyes, how can I not lose faith in the Hunter Guild? ”

Being questioned so bluntly in person, old Ailu had no choice but to shake her head self-deprecatingly, and said in her heart that she was obviously too naïve to make such a request to Feng Chen when she was in Loclac. Amphienis sighed, "That's right, to remain unwavering in the face of these stains, for you...... It's a bit too much for anyone. ”

The six-star powerhouse was silent for a few seconds, and then said slowly: "In the last operation, the Golden Feather City Knights were injured, and it is unlikely that they will organize a large-scale special cleanup in a short period of time. Xiao Luo and I agree that the hunting for you may be coming to an end. I originally came this time to pick you up, and to arrange for you to keep a low profile for a period of time in the northern part of Scarlet or even north of the Great Snow Mountain. As long as you change your identity and apply for a hunting registration, you will still have the opportunity to be a hunter again. Now it seems...... If you don't want to, I won't force it. ”

"I'm not going back." When he first heard the news, the dragon whisperer seemed to have the answer ready. He stood up suddenly: "I'm sorry, Instructor Anfei. This has nothing to do with previous disasters...... To be honest, it is one of my greatest wishes to be able to return to the Little Hunting Group and hunt with everyone again, but now is not the time. ”

Feng Chen's gaze was in the distance, it was already dark, and in the night, he could occasionally see a guy wearing a hunting weapon but without a hunter's badge walking past the street. The young man lowered his voice: "In these days in Wild Fox Town, I have found out something...... Have the instructors ever heard of a poaching group called 'Viper'? ”

The "Vipers" are a powerful poaching organization stationed under the snow-capped mountains in the south, which has almost monopolized all the underground commissions on the Pirecente border, and has taken over more than half of the high-quality commissions. Recently, however, they have uncharacteristically loosened their focus on the regular black market. A large amount of fat soup is left aside, and even loose poaching stations like Wild Fox Town can occasionally get fat differences such as "catching young animals".

Knowing that the hunters would treat poaching groups equally, and even if they were aware of changes in the underground market, they would not pay much attention to them, and with the acumen cultivated by long-term fugitives, Feng Chen asked the local residents a few more questions. He sorted out his thoughts: "I have inquired with the middleman in the town, and it seems that Viper has received a batch of orders of considerable volume a few days ago, and it took the strength of the whole group to barely digest them, so I have no time to take care of other commissions. ”

"You don't mean to say ......," Amphynis' mind raced. The trading of large quantities of materials is one of the characteristics of the mysterious organization that he tracked down. The Hunters' Guild followed Aemon's clues for so long, Luo Pingyang and Nameless almost flipped Scarlet over, but the other party seemed to have evaporated and was silent. Considering the tense situation in the aftermath of the Locklac disaster, the occult organization may have decided to travel far and wide, switching its operations to the territory of Peresent.

"There's only a vague piece of information, and I'm not sure of anything." Feng Chen's face was calm, "But as a 'clue', this is enough." ”

"You want to start investigating here?" The meaning of the six-star Ailu's eyes is hard to understand.

"It's too dangerous to come into contact with a big poaching group, and besides, you've just come out of danger, and you're not physically or mentally ready." Nameless on the side couldn't help but speak, "The next work might as well be done by the two masters and me." ”

"Senpai......" the Dragonwhisperer pleaded, "this is the clue I found, and that's why I stayed in Wild Fox Town." I wanted to investigate it to the end - not for the sake of the hell Hunter Guild, nor for the sake of the two instructors and everyone in the Little Hunter Troupe, but for myself. ”

"I stepped out of the thunderous sand sea to atone for my sins, and I don't know when I missed this opportunity. The efforts and risks taken in the past year, as well as the disasters and sacrifices encountered...... I can't watch them turn into meaningless experiences. Whether or not I can return to being a hunter, I don't want to go back to Scarlet empty-handed. ”

The young man's stubbornness came without the slightest warning, and he pressed his temples with a headache, and looked at the six-star Ailu for help: "Master Anfei......"

Amphienis pondered for a long time, but still spread his hands helplessly and said: "I also hope that my student will never take risks, but if you drag him to the airship here, this kid will probably hate me for the rest of his life, right?" Nameless, the path of the imp can only be chosen by himself, and all we can do is provide some advice and help. ”

Old Ailu stood up and brushed the dust off the young man's hunting suit: "Don't force yourself, whenever you decide to terminate the investigation, the proposal to return will be valid at any time." If you need help, just let me know to Anonymous, and we will try to accommodate you as before. ”

"I need an identity." Feng Chen checked the somewhat mottled bronze badge around his waist, which was a token symbolizing the identity of the Shadow Hunter, "This brand was left by me when I escaped from the Ancient Forest, with a dead man's badge, the guys here will be alert sooner or later." ”

"It's not easier to get the identity of the underworld than hunting, and it takes some time to arrange a stop." Nameless was still in a reluctant tone.

"Seniors don't need to worry, before that, I want to go to the east first." The young man pointed in the direction of the swamp, "After being away for so long, it's time to see that guy again, and there are some things I want to ask him about in person." ”