With a new reason to confront extraordinary creatures, Zheng Yichen’s drive kicked in immediately, there’s nothing to say, it’s all for the gear!!
Although he wasn’t particularly adept at using bladed weapons, how could he pass up the opportunity to obtain what might be magic equipment?
After inspecting the body, Zheng Yichen began his preparations. All that was left was to wait for the extraordinary creature to appear. As for investigation, solving cases was a job for the police or detectives, not him. As a Hunter, his only job was to take care of the harmful extraordinary creatures.
What did the rest have to do with him?
Of course, some simple preliminary investigation was necessary, such as the information the townspeople might know. After beginning this part of the investigation, Zheng Yichen found something that was really similar to what the mayor had said—many people in the town did not believe that an extraordinary creature was responsible.
Or rather, they thought such things were too far removed from them. Of course, there was also a segment of the townspeople who believed in their existence, though this group wasn’t very large. After a straightforward investigation, Zheng Yichen concluded that most people here felt that extraordinary creatures were as likely as a major celebrity showing up in a small mountain village—extremely unlikely.
Although this was the prevailing belief, once the residents learned that Zheng Yichen was investigating the matter and preparing to deal with it, their attitudes towards him began to change. They did not believe in extraordinary creatures, but the fact that people had died in the town was undeniable.
His identity as a Hunter-Demon diverged from what they had imagined, but what made him stand out was that Zheng Yichen was very strong. His well-built, muscular physique even surpassed that of the most robust person in town.
Not to mention anything else, just his stature was quite persuasive. In such times, being robust was synonymous with reliability.
"Hmm... horse hoof prints?" After gathering some information and arriving at the crime scenes of several victims, Zheng Yichen hesitantly said, observing the marks on the ground. He lacked professional training, and everything he was doing was based on his own exploration.
At most, he could discern some horse hoof prints at the scene, which tracked through the path and disappeared deep into the forest. So, was the extraordinary creature a horse, or a cavalryman? It could also be a person wielding a special weapon, couldn’t it?
Well, regardless of which it was, the key point was that someone had been killed. Although the victims’ heads were taken, it was easy to confirm their identities in such a small town, and none of the deceased were bad people.
They were standard members of the town.
If it wasn’t an extraordinary creature, then eliminating a threat to the people would suffice.
Thinking this, Zheng Yichen heard the sound of horse hooves. A figure emerged from the faint mist, and he couldn’t help but raise his eyebrows. He paid particular attention to the mist; whenever he encountered it, he wanted to go directly and check it out, regardless of whether there were signs of something unusual or not—it never hurt to look.
As the sound of the hooves drew closer, the figure also became rapidly clearer—a Knight in light armor with a long spear, and headless.
The moment he saw the Headless Knight clearly, Zheng Yichen immediately turned on the portable camera he carried, and in his right hand, he pulled out a spray can and shot at the Headless Knight, whose long spear burst into a ghostly green flame as he came closer.
This time, he wasn’t using birdshot anymore, instead, he opted for buckshot. There were fewer pellets, but each was larger and more lethal.
The buckshot spewed from the barrel hit the Headless Knight, who didn’t dodge or evade. The impact had no effect whatsoever on the adversary; there wasn’t even a hint of stiffness. The Knight, still maintaining his charge on horseback, kept closing in on Zheng Yichen.
Zheng Yichen was somewhat displeased. Ever since he had bought the gun, the thing had never shown the effectiveness expected of a firearm. Weren’t guns supposed to be powerful weapons? Is this all it can do? So far, the only notable achievement his firearms had was shooting quite a number of birds.
Nothing else.
Seeing that firearms were of no use, Zheng Yichen put it away to avoid wasting more bullets and took out his fishing rod instead, whipping it open. The black spear was fitted inside the rod to strengthen it, and he stabbed it directly into the body of his opponent.
The advantage of a long weapon became apparent, but the Headless Knight pierced by the long spear still didn’t react much. Holding his charge, the Knight continued his assault with the longsword in his hand, burning with a greenish flame, swinging it towards Zheng Yichen’s neck.
Zheng Yichen’s arm muscles bulged, and with a loud shout, he dislodged the Knight from his steed. Even with an ability to ignore attacks, the creature’s weight was a fact, and in terms of strength, he was not lacking.
The Headless Knight was pried off the horseback. Zheng Yichen drew his handgun and began firing at close range at the Knight’s sword-bearing arm. The Knight seemed to have an undying body that ignored the attacks, but being hit still caused damage.
After emptying several rounds, Zheng Yichen realized that disarming was futile; the Knight’s arm, riddled with holes, began to heal rapidly. Meanwhile, he heard the sound of hooves coming from behind him.
The black horse charged at his back. Left with no choice, he quickly dodged. The horse reached the Knight, who grabbed the reins and remounted.
This time, the Headless Knight resumed his attack. Clearly, despite lacking a head, he wasn’t completely devoid of intelligence. He had been careless before, failing to dodge and got dismounted by Zheng Yichen, but now he became much more cautious.
After circling Zheng Yichen twice on horseback, the Headless Knight returned to the misty forest.
"What the..." The Headless Knight was gone, and Zheng Yichen’s fishing rod retracted back into a short stick. After hitting the Knight, he had attempted to absorb some blood, and he did draw something out, but the feedback wasn’t strong. It didn’t feel like the blood of an Extraordinary creature or the ’soul’ of a Vengeful Spirit, but something in between.
The act of absorbing lacked a sense of substance, like drinking water mixed with a few bits of meat. The water part wasn’t significant; it was the meat bits that mattered, which only made up one-tenth of the water content. To get at the meat, one would have to gulp down a large mouthful of water.
And the Headless Knight didn’t seem to sustain any real damage. Based on the feeling just now, to kill the Knight with Bloodsucking Damage from the black spear would take an extended period, plus he had an undying body and could escape on horseback if overpowered—quite a predicament.
Nevertheless, it was fortunate to have discovered this creature at the outset. He had planned to collect clues painstakingly and carry out a thorough investigation before finding the target. Yet, the target had proactively come to him... as if it was specifically targeting him?
On his way back, Zheng Yichen pondered this issue, as it felt too much of a coincidence. He had merely visited a crime scene to check it out, and then that creature came after him.