Chapter 1 Dawn City Ruins

The ruins of Dawn City were as dangerous as the legends said.

After the first wave of attacks by giant bats, which resulted in several losses, the scavenging party encountered several more waves of monster attacks, with similar casualties.

One wave even involved monsters that Suren found somewhat tricky to deal with.

It was a humanoid aberration, resembling a quadruped with claws and its brain exposed. It emerged from the mist like lightning, killed someone, and then darted back into the fog. It was so fast that ordinary gunmen didn't even have time to pull the trigger before it vanished again.

The identification information revealed it to be a [Blink Walker], a monster mutated from an assassin-class professional.

The essence of the aberration was that the body had undergone a mutation due to bearing unbearable dark energy.

The dark spirit energy in these ruins was more than ten times higher than that near Old Lingdun, and the degree of monster mutation was much higher than in other places.

Therefore, even first-order monsters had certain attributes that were several times stronger than ordinary first-order professionals, such as speed!

Fortunately, there was a second-order professional in the team.

After several deaths, Bloom, the leader of the "Warblade Squad," personally pursued the monster into the mist and eliminated it, thus resolving the crisis.

However, the good news was that the monsters in the ruins were strong, and the probability of producing cursed materials was very high.

Even small groups like the "Drunken Gang," which followed behind the main force, had gained a lot of materials.

And for Suren, the ultra-high dark spirit energy concentration in this ruin was making him stronger with every breath!

.......

What would normally be a two- or three-hour journey ended up taking almost half a day.

In the afternoon, they finally arrived at the "Red Brick Tower District" marked on the map.

The architecture in Dawn City mixed various styles. This was a crossroads. To the east was a dilapidated red brick tower that looked like an ancient clock tower. With spires, flying buttresses, and some broken stained glass, it was clearly Gothic in style.

And the convent where the witch's hair was found was on the west side, facing each other, equally dilapidated, but Romanesque with a dome. The main building was white, but the main hall and cloister had large areas of collapse...

Suren took a look with his All-Knowing Eye, which displayed [A dilapidated convent].

There was no special prompt.

From the known information, there must be a "Wailing Witch" hunting humans nearby.

Someone had previously discovered a corpse in the vicinity and had taken away a strand of hair from the body. This meant that the witch might be a wandering wild monster, or it might be a cursed space triggered by special conditions.

Suren didn't dare to be careless and didn't approach the convent.

Then he looked down at his hand, made an awkward finger-twisting gesture, and looked around again. Then he repeated it twice more, his brow relaxed, he confirmed something in his mind, and muttered with narrowed eyes: "It's not a dream..."

He hadn't forgotten that the "Wailing Witch's" forte was killing people in dreams.

Moreover, even if Suren wanted to approach the convent, he couldn't.

Because the second-order leader of the "Warblade Squad" had already begun dispatching small teams to investigate the situation inside the convent.

They were a scavenging party sponsored by the Oliver family, and their purpose was to find clues about the "Wailing Witch" for the young master Danze. The dilapidated convent had become a key target of exploration.

But Suren thought this was pretty good.

Someone was clearing mines for him, at least to find out what kind of existence the witch was.

.......

Having arrived near the intended destination, each scavenging party began its search mission.

Because the "Drunken Gang" was a joint scavenging party with an equal contract, they were free to act after arriving at the destination.

Benson beckoned to his team members and also to Suren: "Let's go, brother Johnny, we'll go look for something in those buildings over there."

They couldn't go to the convent, but there were large areas of buildings around to explore.

Although scavengers had been here before, no one could guarantee that the treasures on the roads others had walked had been completely plundered.

Scavenging was actually similar to gold panning. Finding gold in a pile of rubble required enough patience and luck.

And because this city was suddenly destroyed, the ruins preserved many of the daily necessities of the city's residents from a thousand years ago.

Perhaps there were undiscovered cellars, jewelry boxes in collapsed rubble, private money buried underground...

As long as they searched patiently, they could always find something.

Saying that, Benson led his team members to unload their backpacks and tents and began a light treasure hunt.

The fog concentration on the streets was now very low, they could see quite far, and they didn't find any monsters.

Everyone scattered and looked for treasures based on their experience.

Tommy was very excited to be scavenging in such a dangerous place for the first time. But he didn't follow Benson, instead, he turned to Suren and asked, "Mr. Johnny, can I come with you?"

Suren asked curiously, "Why?"

Tommy's eyes rolled smartly, "Because I think it's safer with you!"

Suren smiled. This kid was quite clever. "Up to you."

Hearing his agreement, Tommy grinned and shouted to Benson, who had already walked across the street, "Dad, I'm with Mr. Johnny!"

Benson didn't care and waved his hand, "Okay!"

Suren wasn't very interested in scavenging for treasure. He wasn't short of money at the moment, so he searched perfunctorily.

Moreover, because he knew that the "Wailing Witch" haunted the area, his eyes were constantly observing these broken walls, trying to see if there was anything wrong.

Before long, the scavenging team had gained something.

Suddenly, there was a hearty laugh.

"Hahaha... I found a money box!"

The one who spoke was Bernal, a magic-type warlock in Benson's team who was skilled in "Gold Finding."

That kind of rare auxiliary spell had no combat power, but it was perfect for finding buried metal. He cast spells as he walked, like a personal metal detector.

Benson also laughed, "Oh, not bad."

A small box of ancient silver coins could probably sell for eighty to one hundred thousand.

With a good start, the Drunken Gang's enthusiasm greatly increased.

Suren and Tommy also searched for a building and plunged into it.

.......

This street had been scoured by previous scavengers. If they wanted to find treasure, they had to dig deep into things buried in the ruins, or hidden in more concealed places.

If they didn't know special spells like "Gold Finding," they would need to spend a lot of effort.

Suren was very laid-back, leading Tommy, a novice, and the two "amateur-level" scavengers wandered around the ruined building.

He hadn't hoped to find any treasures, but he found that Tommy's ability was surprisingly good at finding treasures!

The two walked to a pile of collapsed rubble. Tommy seemed to sense something and suddenly stopped, pointing to the ground and saying, "Mr. Johnny, I think there's something under you."

Suren: "What is it?"

Tommy frowned, seemingly trying to sense something, and said, "I don't know, I just feel..."

"Okay, let's dig and see."

Suren was increasingly curious about what kind of talent this guy had awakened after hearing this description.

A prophet? It didn't seem like it.

Thinking that there was nothing else to do anyway, the two began to dig.

Because of the mechanical arm assisting, they dug extremely quickly.

After they threw aside the broken bricks and stones, they actually found an alchemical staff inlaid with a blue gemstone.

There was probably a corpse next to the staff, but time had corroded it into a pool of brownish-yellow traces.

Tommy shouted excitedly: "Wow... Mr. Johnny, we really dug up a treasure!"

Suren appraised it. Although the runes on the staff had dissipated due to the long time, the material alone was worth a lot. He said, "The staff is inlaid with a 'Star Fragment Gem'. Such a large piece will not be lower than 800,000 at auction."

Tommy's eyes lit up when he heard the price, "Wow... we found 800,000 just like that?!"

Suren also felt unbelievable: "Yeah."

At this moment, he suddenly noticed something and suddenly drew his gun like lightning, pulling the trigger at a shadow crawling in on the ceiling behind him.

With a "bang," a monster fell in response.

Before Tommy could react, he watched a mutated lizard crawling on the ceiling fall from the ceiling.

......

Gunshots rang out from time to time, and some sporadic mutated monsters hidden in the buildings were killed by the scavengers. But there was no large-scale fighting, which meant that there were not many monsters, and they were not very threatening.

This made Suren even more careful.

This situation was abnormal in Dawn City, where mutated monsters roamed the streets in groups.

For example, in areas where tigers haunt, there would be very few other animal groups.

Suren and Tommy wandered around the ruins. Before long, they came to the collapsed red brick tower.

This place had been searched many times, and probably nothing of value remained.

At this moment, Tommy found something again, pointing to the collapsed building and saying, "Mr. Johnny, why do I think that bell tower is a bit strange?"

Hearing this, Suren became interested. When Tommy said "feel," there was probably a problem.

This was a square bell tower. The erosion of time had left only a seven- or eight-meter base. Looking at the rubble on the ground, Suren estimated that the building was at least a hundred meters high when it was intact.

In addition to broken bricks and stones on the ground, there were also some broken and rusted oversized clock parts.

For example, a giant clock bell that looked like it weighed more than ten tons.

Although it was metal, no one could take it away, and there was no need to take it away. This thing was worthless.

Suren focused his gaze on the collapsed ruins, identifying them one by one, but found nothing unusual.

With doubt, he turned and asked, "Tommy, what do you think is the problem?"

Tommy thought for a moment and said, "That clock bell."

"..."

Hearing this, Suren frowned and stared at the clock bell weighing more than ten tons again, trying to find something.

From beginning to end, from inside to outside, he almost didn't miss a single detail.

He even deliberately looked at the shape of the rust.

However, after looking at it for several minutes, he still didn't find any clues.

No matter how he looked at it, it showed [An ancient rusted clock bell].

"Could it be that some special conditions are needed to see the special features?"

Suren thought of the cursed space at No. 88 Ginkgo Street, which only existed when he thought of it.

Or... did Tommy sense it wrong?

.......

While the two were circling around the clock bell, Suren didn't notice that a ten-man team from the "Warblade Squad" that had gone to investigate the convent suddenly disappeared out of thin air.

A few seconds later, the huge clock bell that Suren had been looking at that had no anomalies suddenly identified different information.

[The Legend of the Clock Tower Monster]

Detailed explanation: A cursed space with a special trigger method. It only appears when the Wailing Witch appears. Ringing the clock bell will drag anyone within 100 meters who hears the bell into the space; Normally, this is an A-level cursed space, but for you, it's a D-level. Enter the clock tower, fulfill the monster's last wish, and you can come out. Special reminder, don't let it feel your disgust, or it will anger 'it'.

"It really is a special trigger?!"

Suren looked at the information, his mind racing.

But the information displayed showed that this was not the cursed space of the Wailing Witch that he had predicted.

Instead, a companion space that only appeared when a witch appeared???

Suren frowned. A D-level meant that there was almost no danger.

Before he could think too much, at that moment, Suren heard the sound of heavy objects falling nearby.

Tommy, who was beside him, also exclaimed, "Mr. Johnny, look quickly, there are so many corpses appearing here!"

Suren's gaze followed, and he watched ten corpses appear out of thin air not far away!

"Huh..."

Suren's eyes narrowed, and he immediately realized something.

The corpses appeared out of thin air, which meant that they were rejected from the cursed space.

He looked at his hand again and made a strange finger-twisting gesture.

Finding nothing unusual, he breathed a sigh of relief, "It's not a dream..."

He used his All-Knowing Eye to look around again, but there was nothing unusual.

The ten corpses had the same badge, a blood-colored warblade. And these faces were somewhat familiar. Weren't these people from the "Warblade Squad"? Suren remembered that this seemed to be the "Seventh Squad" of the Warblade Squad.

The corpses had peaceful expressions, but there were a few crystal threads on their bodies, piercing through their bodies.

"Wailing Witch!"

Suren immediately understood something.

No wonder the [Legend of the Clock Tower Monster] cursed space appeared. Its triggering condition was the appearance of the witch!

Suren discovered this and suddenly looked towards the convent, "It's not a wild monster, which means there is also a specially triggered cursed space there!"

At this moment, Tommy also discovered the silver hair. He curiously pulled out one from the corpse and asked, "Mr. Johnny, look what this is?"

Suren naturally recognized this thing.

However, there were nearly thirty strands of hair on these ten corpses, which was more than all of Suren's combined.

He then realized that this was how the previous hair strands came from.

However, this thing was not easy to get.

Just as Tommy pulled the hair from the corpse, a team of people nearby also saw something and walked over quickly. From afar, the leader, a captain, coldly stopped Tommy from continuing to pull the hair: "Boy, that thing is not something you can touch!"

Hearing this tone, Tommy was so frightened that he shivered and stood there at a loss.

And Suren's eyes suddenly turned cold when he heard this.

.......

Originally, Suren didn't expect to be able to get these hair strands by normal means.

After all, these ten fresh corpses were all people from the "Warblade Squad." They wouldn't let outsiders take the things they risked their lives to test.

However...

What was this "malice" like a thorn in his back?

Suren looked up at this group of people. If he remembered correctly, it was the Second Squad of the "Warblade Squad." This afro-haired captain seemed to be called "Bomb Man" Collins.

Tommy, who was beside him, was a little puzzled and asked, "Captain Collins, what do you mean?"

Collins naturally recognized that Suren and Tommy were from the "Drunken Gang," but looking at the corpse, he seemed to be in a bad mood, "I said... don't touch these damn threads!"

Tommy's face flushed red, and he argued, "We didn't say we were going to take it..."

At this time, Collins completely lost his patience and glared at Tommy and Suren: "Get out!"

That lord had given a death order that they must find the "Wailing Witch" this time, or a sufficient number of hair strands.

Otherwise, even if all the people in their team died here, they couldn't go back!

Now... it was far from enough!

Which meant that someone would definitely continue to die!

Suren, who had not spoken, had already determined something at this moment and calmly beckoned to Tommy beside him, "Let's go, Tommy."

After he turned his head, the expression under his mask suddenly became playful, "The malice has turned into killing intent... it seems I guessed right."

......

Suren had been wondering when he came why the Oliver family's scavenging party clearly had enough strength, but still brought three freelance teams out with them.

They said it was to take care of each other, but in fact, the "Warblade Squad," with its second-order professionals, didn't need to bring some "disobedient" freelance teams out at all, whether in terms of combat power or equipment.

The most reasonable explanation was that these guys had bad intentions, not out of consideration for human relationships.

Otherwise, knowing that the "Wailing Witch" haunted this place, they wouldn't have revealed any information.

They were probably holding the idea of having multiple teams and more people to scout the minefield.

After all, a completely unknown cursed space had to be explored with one's life.

Just like these ten corpses in front of him.

Seeing this situation, Captain Benson was also tricked by an "acquaintance." (Before, it was not certain that there would be a witch here, and other places in the ruins were not necessarily safer than here, and they were still acquaintances, so there was no point in reminding Benson.)

But even if he guessed some clues in advance, Suren came along.

One was that he thought he had to come and see anyway, and it didn't matter who he came with.

Secondly, if the other party really had bad intentions, Suren felt that it was a good opportunity to reap a wave of experience and loot.

With the Abomination Ghoul and Black Scythe in hand, the "Warblade Squad" was not enough to make him feel like an irresistible threat.

Now that the corpses had appeared out of thin air, it meant that they had tested how to trigger the "Cursed Space of the Wailing Witch"...

Looking at the malice turning into killing intent, the intention was self-evident.

.......

However, killing people in this "inexplicable" way didn't seem very good.

The other party had a large number of people and a strong momentum. If they fought head-on, Suren might not be able to gain much advantage.

And although his predictions were all facts, the "malice perception" thing was unclear after all.

If they really started fighting, several freelance teams would probably be at a loss as to whom to help.

Suren didn't want to be hostile to these freelance scavengers who didn't know the truth, unless it was absolutely necessary.

But he didn't plan to wait for others to point a gun at his head before taking action.

So, he thought of another way.

He ignored the corpses and walked straight to the huge clock bell, then took out a piece of iron and rang the clock bell violently.

"Dong..."

Since it was inconvenient to kill people here.

Then change the place.

Moreover, Suren felt that he might have captured some important clues about the "Wailing Witch" and had to go to this cursed space to take a look first.