Among the commissions that Zheng Yichen now saw, a third were related to the southern forest, and another third were related to research institutes. Within the part concerning the southern forest, nearly half of the commissions came with ’logistics’ services.
That is, after capturing or eliminating the target of a commission’s reward, there would be a dedicated team to handle the retrieval operations, with the body effectively being sold to the commissioning party, allowing for additional income.
For example, the previous task Zheng Yichen completed only yielded the basic reward; it did not include additional income from the creature’s body since he hadn’t taken it with him, so the reward was somewhat less. Of course, overall, it was still quite substantial.
The reward for that mule included not only its intrinsic value but also the fact that the extraordinary creature had injured people.
No matter what it was, anything that killed people generally couldn’t be left alone, let alone an extraordinary creature.
Zheng Yichen deliberately skipped over the commissions related to research institutes. He wanted to be a field hunter; having tasted the sweetness of eliminating a large extraordinary creature, he was determined to thoroughly develop in this area.
"Why is there even a task to catch birds??" Upon seeing a strange commission, Zheng Yichen couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow.
The bartender looked at the commission and said, "These types of commissions are generally from research institutes that want to cultivate new varieties of ornamental creatures."
Items related to extraordinary creatures are prohibited from entering the market for ordinary people, primarily because such items are more likely to cause new anomalies—risk turning into a huge troll’s little stories.
An ear of a huge troll was taken home, which then regenerated into a new huge troll... Extraordinary items could also potentially do this, even though the probability is low, it’s not zero.
"That’s possible?" Zheng Yichen smacked his lips, thinking of some foreign tycoons on Earth who liked to keep lions and tigers—very dangerous animals, but some people just wanted the thrill of raising them.
"Of course it’s possible, as long as they’re not true extraordinary creatures. Besides, these new varieties cultivated by the research institutes are very attractive." The bartender didn’t say much on the subject, seeing Zheng Yichen’s reaction and knowing that this young man was not interested in such commissions.
"Take your time." After seeing a new customer arrive, the bartender gestured for Zheng Yichen to move aside.
Zheng Yichen nodded and sat down beside the menu, looking through it. Deciding to become a hunter had been the right choice; when he wasn’t one, few things happened around him, but now, just by looking at the commission menu, he could understand how many extraordinary events were occurring in Hazy City.
The commissions from research institutes were very clear, but in those places, he couldn’t ’hunt’ well. Many of the commissions to capture extraordinary creatures required them alive; for those that could be dead, the body needed to be sufficiently intact and not too severely damaged.
These didn’t suit Zheng Yichen very much. More than the generous rewards, what he was after was personal growth; as long as his strength increased further, he would be able to take on more challenging tasks and face more formidable extraordinary creatures.
This was a virtuous cycle; earning money for its own sake wasn’t very meaningful—money earned didn’t translate well into self-improvement.
"Haven’t found a suitable one?" After chatting with the new customer, the bartender looked at Zheng Yichen, who was frowning in thought, and asked with slight surprise. The big data-recommended tasks might not be an absolute fit for all types of hunters, but they generally matched well with the hunters’ overall performance.
If a certain type of task was completed many times, it indicated that the hunter had sufficient experience with such tasks, which could be seen as a safety net; even if it wasn’t the best fit, it wouldn’t be terrible.
Zheng Yichen was currently in a ’rating pending’ phase, and the task recommendations might seem rough, but these commissions should still meet some of his needs.
"I’m mainly not good at capturing alive," Zheng Yichen said with a hint of helplessness. "I don’t have a team, just me, and it’s very difficult to capture extraordinary creatures alive when fighting them."
The bartender nodded in understanding. Lone hunters like him were not well suited for capture missions unless they had considerable strength. It seemed Zheng Yichen wasn’t too keen on finding teammates either. Otherwise, he would have done so earlier.
In the Night Banquet Bar, there were plenty of hunters, and now he had completed two missions, neither of which were pushovers. Even if he wasn’t too skilled with guns, with two missions under his belt, finding teammates wouldn’t be too hard. At worst, he could join a temporary team.
But Zheng Yichen never stayed in the Night Banquet Bar for more than an hour. He would come, gather some information, have a couple of drinks, and leave.
"You can wait a couple of days and come back to check; the missions in this area are updated quite quickly."
"I’ll take this one," Zheng Yichen chose a mission that he felt quite suitable for him. The main content of the mission was to gather information on extraordinary creatures, a task that could be completed repeatedly and was limited to the southern forest.
The mission required information on the creature, not limited to photos, blood samples, hair, and if one had the ability to capture them alive, that was also acceptable.
To Zheng Yichen, if every hunter could capture the creatures alive, such missions wouldn’t exist. These types of missions were secondary options for hunters whose abilities didn’t quite measure up.
"I thought you’d look down on this kind of mission."
Seeing Zheng Yichen’s choice, the bartender was slightly surprised.
"I’m not picky right now."
"Then it’s best not to deliberately complete such missions just for the sake of it," the bartender advised kindly, the implication was clear. The southern forest was not a place to be taken lightly—its periphery may be reasonably safe, but it was different deep inside.
The more unique extraordinary creatures tended to dwell deep within the southern forest. Many of the creatures found on the outskirts were already recorded, and photographs or blood samples didn’t fetch much value.
Compared to missions with specific targets, these ongoing tasks were more likely to become traps for newcomers, who would often venture deep in search of those extraordinary creatures or other unusual phenomena.
The thoughts of these rookies were simple—just record a video or take a photo, being careful not to provoke any conflicts, and everything should be fine. And then there were no more ’afters’.
Every year... no, every month, there were a few unlucky ’lucky ones’.
"I’ll pay attention to that. But before that, should I buy a better quality camera?"
"Ha, you could also buy a low-quality one, so you won’t give anyone a bargain if something happens to you," the bartender laughed. "I don’t know much about this stuff, so I won’t recommend anything. You better find a suitable seller yourself."
After gathering all the necessary information, Zheng Yichen left the Night Banquet Bar as usual, without any intention of lingering for amusement.
Before his transmigration, he didn’t have much of a connection with bars, and after arriving here, he was only here for ’work’; once his business was done, he left immediately.