Chapter 88: Team Black Crow

Cai Yu Tong's monitoring equipment detected the presence of other targets entering Building B of the Manning Center, coming from the stairwell in the underground garage, following a route that was basically the same as the one Li Wei and his group chose.

It couldn't be confirmed that it was Alvis and the others, it could be some semi-mechanical monsters, or it could be other monster hunters who hadn't taken on a mission and just happened to come here to hunt monsters.

However, the former was more likely, while the latter was very unlikely—coming to this enclosed unknown space to hunt monsters was not very safe. There were plenty of monsters wandering outside that could be hunted, so there was no need to come here for excitement.

But regardless, the suspicion of Alvis and his group was the highest. In Li Wei's view, these people did not seem like ones who would give up easily or swallow such a big loss. They were very likely to have followed all the way to cause trouble.

The outbreak of a battle in a place like the Manning Center basically had no chance of being noticed by others. As long as they killed Li Wei and the others, and then casually eliminated the remaining monsters in the building, they could wait for Li Wei and the others' mission deadline to expire and be declared a failed mission, then re-accept the mission, come over to make a show of it, and then leave, considering the mission completed.

The risk was, of course, great. If evidence was found, Alvis and their team would definitely not get away with it. But what did that matter? The huge profits were enough to blind people's conscience and rationality.

Moreover, they were not even hunters from the Four-Leaf Clover, and their registration was not even in Wistrom City. What could be done to them? Even if the whole thing was exposed, no one would know where they had gone.

Based on this idea, Li Wei and his group were extremely vigilant towards the individuals detected by Cai Yu Tong's monitoring device.

"They really dare to come?" Qian Long sighed. In fact, he was really not willing to fight with others. Fighting monsters was one thing, but fighting with other hunters always felt like a very bad thing.

"No choice," Li Wei said. "Since they're here, let's keep them all here."

"Okay." Ban De Rui nodded beside him. "How should we do it? Just like we discussed before?"

"Yes, exactly." Li Wei nodded.

...

Just as Li Wei judged, the ones who entered the building were indeed Alvis and his group.

They were monster hunters, yes, but at the same time, they were also criminals.

The cruelty of the new era was not yet so obvious in the vast city of Wistrom. But once you left the city, went to the outskirts, to the border areas, the darkness of the whole society would truly be revealed.

Black Crow Town was such a place.

It was a small town located on the border of the Kingdom of Wistrom, with a population of only around ten thousand. The town was established thirty-four years ago, relying on the advantageous terrain of a mountain hollow. Initially, this was a mining area with abundant blue crystal veins and a good output.

So, several resource companies in Wistrom joined forces to develop this area and hired a large number of miners.

Later, when the veins were depleted, the hired miners did not leave but instead established a town and settled down.

Relying on the favorable defensive terrain of the mountain hollow, coupled with its inconspicuous features, Black Crow Town's security could be somewhat guaranteed. The people cultivated the land, were self-sufficient, grew food, raised livestock, and lived fairly well.

For safety reasons, the representatives elected by the townspeople proposed to the Kingdom of Wistrom that they be officially managed and protected. This proposal was approved fourteen years ago, and Black Crow Town was officially incorporated into the kingdom's protection.

By now, the town's managers, while still representatives elected by the townspeople, were actually controlled by new capitalists. The power of capital had entered the town and controlled its lifeline—farming and animal husbandry.

The Hunter's Guild had been stationed in Black Crow Town longer than the kingdom. Due to its proximity to the wilderness and the considerable number of targets worth hunting, monster hunters also liked to gather here, eventually establishing a branch.

However, due to historical problems and the poor order in Black Crow Town itself, coupled with the fact that the guild here did not have many commissions, hunters mainly relied on hunting monsters to obtain loot as their main means of survival, not being too restricted by the guild. Therefore, the management of the entire branch became somewhat problematic.

Hunters who grew up in such an environment were not likely to be of high moral character.

The lower the restraint of the Hunter's Guild in a place, the worse the overall quality of the monster hunters, who were not good people to begin with, and the more unrestrained they would be.

The Four-Leaf Clover Guild was still okay, with good order. But looking at District 17, it was much more chaotic. District 17 was still within the city, and with Erin overseeing it, there wouldn't be any major problems, yet it was still chaotic. So, one could imagine what the situation would be like in Black Crow Town outside the city.

Alvis and his four teammates had been in a team for some time. Normally, aside from hunting monsters to earn loot, they hadn't done things like murder, arson, and robbery. For them, killing to snatch a mission was nothing.

They did indeed not dare to take action against the local hunters of the Four-Leaf Clover Society, but that did not mean they would give up.

Under the sudden blow from Li Wei at the time, Mu Ken was directly critically injured. They dragged their comrade to a safe place to recuperate, while Alvis took the other two and came all the way to the Manning Center.

"Do you think they won't complete the mission and leave? Or are they afraid to come?"

The one asking this was named Boyan, an Evolver who walked the hub chain and already had a development level.

"Don't jinx it."

Wang Lang glared at Boyan and cursed. He was an Evolver who focused on strength and wielded a large sword on his back as his main weapon.

Alvis said, "Don't worry about that. We'll know if they've come or not when we go up."

With that, they had already reached the first floor of the building.

The monsters on the first floor were still there, with a dozen or so semi-mechanical giant apes still alive and well.

"They might really be too scared to come." Boyan said again.

Alvis thought it was possible, but in the end, he made a decision: "Let's go up a few more floors and see. Maybe they skipped a floor and cleared the ones above first."