Chapter 49: The Modified

Quickly reaching the door, Liwei listened intently.

The sound, to Liwei, sounded a lot like Cai Yutong's energy blast.

The booming lasted for about a dozen seconds before stopping. Liwei slowly pushed open the door and looked to the left of the corridor outside. Indeed, he saw the familiar figure of Cai Yutong.

Upon hearing the door open, Cai Yutong reacted swiftly, turning her head with a gun aimed at Liwei.

"Hey, it's me. Don't shoot."

"Oh, sorry, Mr. Liwei..." Cai Yutong quickly holstered her gun.

Liwei peeked out and looked behind Cai Yutong, seeing a ragged corpse lying on the floor. It was vaguely recognizable as belonging to a semi-mechanical Chimera.

"You encountered these creatures too?"

"Mr. Liwei encountered them as well?"

"Yeah." Liwei nodded.

"I was reading in my room when I suddenly heard the broadcast. Minister Mars said something about the war starting, so I ran out. What exactly happened?"

"I'm not entirely sure, but... the war seems to have begun."

Even the Hunter's Guild had been directly attacked. If this didn't qualify as a war, then nothing did.

As they spoke, they walked downstairs.

When they reached the lobby of the Clover Branch on the first floor and looked outside, they were shocked by the scene before them.

Was this still the beautiful Clover Community?

Everywhere they looked, there was smoke and flames, explosions and cries.

"What's happening?" Cai Yutong, standing next to Liwei, asked. "Why?"

She and the other Hunters of Clover standing outside the guild's gate were much more deeply affected by this scene than Liwei. Clover Community had been their home for a long time, and until now, it had always been peaceful.

Although, as Hunters, they had encountered the darkness hidden beneath the calm and prosperity countless times, most people believed that while the world was dark, as long as they didn't step into the darkness themselves, it would not envelop them.

However, everything before them now overturned their beliefs.

"What should we do?" Cai Yutong was at a loss.

"I know where the attacks began. Minister Mars has already taken some people there about ten minutes ago. Let's follow."

"Okay." The girl without a backbone had no choice but to listen to Liwei.

There were quite a few people who shared the same idea. As they set off, there were about twenty or so people heading in the same direction.

There was no active team formation. Hunters excelled in solo combat and were good at cooperating in teams of two or three, but not in group combat, not even in groups of ten or so. Liwei walked with Cai Yutong but kept a distance from the others.

After walking for a few minutes, they encountered the first wave of trouble.

A shell flew in from a nearby street and exploded in the crowd. Experienced hunters, who had been wary from the start, quickly found cover to hide. The bomb only injured one unfortunate soul.

But this was just the beginning of the attack.

After the shell, a barrage of gunfire erupted.

At this moment, Liwei and the others were on the north side of a crossroads, heading south—where Minister Mars said the convoy had been attacked, and where the first group of Hunters had gone. However, at this crossroads, Liwei's group came under fire from the east and west, from the other two streets.

"Get inside, don't stay outside!" Liwei reacted immediately. He grabbed Cai Yutong, punched through the nearest building's glass, and pulled her inside.

As it turned out, Liwei's decision was correct. Shortly after they entered the building, the continuous bombardment swept the road, damaging several buildings around them.

Despite being hit by a shell, the building where they were hiding suffered little damage. Liwei and Cai Yutong were just covered in dust, looking a bit disheveled.

"We can't just sit back and take this. We need to fight back!" Cai Yutong, also an elite Hunter, had completed many missions. Although she had never encountered a scene like this war before, she had quickly regained her composure and was ready to act.

The two quickly moved within the damaged building. Through a shattered window, they observed their enemies.

A group of semi-mechanical beings.

These were not purely mechanical, as Liwei knew. In this era, there were no computers or similar products, let alone fully AI-controlled robots. However, the level of mechanical technology in this era was advanced, as evidenced by these creatures.

The appearance of these semi-mechanical beings was similar to the semi-mechanical Chimera Liwei had encountered in his room. Half of their bodies were metal and machinery, while the other half was flesh and blood. However, while the semi-mechanical Chimera was a combination of a monster and machinery, these semi-mechanical beings were truly the result of humans and machinery merging together.

"No wonder... I knew it was these things!" Cai Yutong cursed.

"Have you seen these things before?" Liwei asked.

Cai Yutong hesitated before saying, "I've seen them once on a mission. This was a project initiated by the Blackbird Heavy Industries. They recruited volunteers at a high price from the Lower District to participate in their project and undergo their human body modifications. These modified semi-mechanical humans were then sold by Blackbird Heavy Industries at a high price to perform many heavy labor tasks. I just didn't expect these semi-mechanical beings to be used as combat units."

After explaining briefly to Liwei, she turned around and said seriously, "Believe me, you don't want to see the scene of human modification with your own eyes. These modified people are very pitiful, but please make sure not to show mercy to them. Letting them die is the greatest mercy you can show them."