Chapter 42: Has the Extraordinary Perished?!

Around four or five in the morning, before the first light of dawn, Lin Huang was suddenly jolted awake from his sleep.

From the distant sky came a rolling thunder, a sound that rumbled like a tempest or the relentless barrage of heavy artillery. Even the hotel’s windowpanes vibrated with a low, persistent hum.

“Thunder?” Lin Huang was puzzled; the noise sounded much more like the roar of cannon fire than a storm.

Still caught in uncertainty, he got out of bed and walked to the window, peering into the darkness outside. The night was thick, the sky scattered with countless stars, with no sign of impending rain.

“Could it be two transcendent beings battling?” Lin Huang wondered. Yet, as he pondered, the thunderous noise receded into the distance. Within minutes, silence returned.

He shook off his restless thoughts. Since the world outside was still shrouded in darkness, Lin Huang crawled back into bed for a little more sleep.

Before seven o’clock, the Emperor’s Heart Ring on his hand began to vibrate, dragging him from his dreams.

The caller ID showed Yi Yeyu.

“Why is she calling so early…” Lin Huang muttered, glancing at the time—it was only 6:40—but he still answered.

“Lin Huang, come to my room. There’s something important I need to discuss with you,” Yi Yeyu’s voice was grave.

“This early?” Lin Huang sounded helpless.

“Hurry up, don’t dawdle,” Yi Yeyu said, and hung up.

Lin Huang splashed his face with cold water, skipped brushing his teeth, rinsed his mouth, and left the room.

When he arrived at Yi Yeyu’s suite, she was pacing anxiously in the living room, so lost in thought that she didn’t even notice Lin Huang enter.

“What happened?” Lin Huang closed the door behind him, unsettled by Yi Yeyu’s uncharacteristic agitation.

“Zhang Bo is dead!” The first words Yi Yeyu uttered after seeing Lin Huang were these.

“What?!” Lin Huang was stunned. “You mean the transcendent from last night?!”

“Around four in the morning, the explosions woke me up. I guessed they were fighting, so I used a detection-type relic to observe them. I saw the battle unfold. They started just behind the snowy mountain, then fought their way far off. He and that monster struggled for over two hours. In the end, the monster ambushed him, killed him, and devoured his body. The monster was seriously wounded as well and burrowed underground into the desert,” Yi Yeyu recounted.

“Did you notify the Hunter Association?” Lin Huang remained calm.

“I did. As soon as I saw him get killed, I reported to headquarters and sent them the video captured by the relic,” Yi Yeyu nodded.

“What did the Hunter Association say?” Lin Huang asked.

“They said the next transcendent won’t arrive for at least two days…” Yi Yeyu’s face was full of frustration. “But that monster is badly injured now. It will definitely launch a beast tide before other human transcendent arrive, slaughtering people at the nearby strongholds and devouring their life force to heal quickly.”

“If you use the Aoki Gate to fetch the transcendent, wouldn’t that be much faster?” Lin Huang suddenly thought of this.

“The Aoki Gate is just an ordinary spatial relic. It’s not as miraculous as you imagine. There are strict limitations. It can only teleport to coordinates I’ve visited and personally marked, and the range is limited to within three thousand kilometers. It’s not a free pass to anywhere,” Yi Yeyu explained, shaking her head.

“What about the number of people? Is there a limit to how many can be transferred in a day?” Lin Huang pressed.

“At most 300 people per trip, and only five round trips per day. At best, I could evacuate 1,500 people in one day. But this stronghold has over 200,000 residents…” Yi Yeyu shook her head; she had thought of this already—it was impossible.

“There aren’t enough Windriders here either, less than fifty…” Lin Huang considered breaking out on the flying beasts but quickly dismissed the idea.

“Enough. No point thinking further. At eight, I’ll assemble everyone and send you all away first,” Yi Yeyu decided. She knew there was no way to evacuate all the residents, so she no longer hesitated.

“If we all leave, those two hundred thousand people will be slaughtered by the monsters.” Lin Huang fixed Yi Yeyu with a burning gaze. He couldn’t accept abandoning the residents—after all, they were lives numbering in the hundreds of thousands.

“I’ll stay,” Yi Yeyu replied calmly.

Hearing this, Lin Huang fell silent. He considered asking Xueluo and the Ice King for help, but after thinking it over, he gave up. He had saved Xueluo, true, but she had helped him repair his life wheel and given him an epiphany in return. By now, the two owed each other nothing. Besides, Xueluo was a denizen of the monster world. Asking her to kill a transcendent beast with whom she had no enmity was simply too much.

After a moment of thought, Lin Huang spoke again. “You said that monster was seriously wounded, so it’s unlikely to act itself. It’ll only incite a beast tide. The monsters nearby are only level one and two; the strongest is just bronze. If we all stay and fight, perhaps we still have a chance!”

“Though the monsters here aren’t high-level, their numbers are overwhelming. Even a gold-rank hunter like me would be exhausted to death in a beast tide. I am a member of the Hunter Association; it is my duty to stay and protect the residents. You all are not registered hunters and have no such obligation. I understand that you young people have spirit, but now is not the time for recklessness. Survive now. When you grow stronger, avenge the fallen by slaying more monsters.” Yi Yeyu shook her head, firmly rejecting Lin Huang’s suggestion. It was clear she had already resolved to die.

Seeing her determination, Lin Huang said nothing more.

At eight, everyone received Yi Yeyu’s urgent summons and gathered in the first-floor meeting room of the hotel.

Lin Huang sat quietly in the last row of the hall.

When everyone, including Bai Yan, had arrived, Yi Yeyu began to speak.

“Today, I have called you here to deliver some very bad news.” Yi Yeyu took a deep breath and slowly revealed the truth. “Last night, the transcendent sent by the association arrived. He confronted the monster responsible for the mutation, but by six this morning, he had been killed by it.”

Her words plunged the room into a heavy silence, soon followed by chaos.

“Even human transcendent are killed—this stronghold isn’t safe anymore.”

“We should have left yesterday. Now all the nearby strongholds must be targeted by that monster.”

“Examiner, you can send us away, can’t you?”

“Examiner, you were the one who made us stay in the first place. You must take responsibility for our safety!”

…

Under the barrage of complaints, Yi Yeyu’s face darkened, but she did not argue.

“Everyone, quiet! Let the examiner finish.” At this moment, Lin Huang stood up in the back row.

“Lin Huang, you bear some responsibility too. If you hadn’t stopped us, many of us would have already left days ago,” someone immediately accused him as soon as he spoke.

“Are you looking for a beating?” Lin Huang summoned Bai, the white-haired beast, who stood quietly by his side, sweeping the crowd with a cold gaze.

Seeing Lin Huang’s eyes, many people flinched, recalling how badly they had suffered when they crossed him before.

“Lin Huang, stop using your summon beast to intimidate us.” At this, Bai Yan also stood, once again opposing Lin Huang, summoning his Lion-headed Ogre in a clear threat.

“Enough!” Yi Yeyu finally lost patience and shouted down the uproar.

Seeing Yi Yeyu on the verge of an outburst, everyone immediately fell silent.

“I haven’t finished,” Yi Yeyu said, forcing down her anger. “I have already informed the association’s leaders. They are sending more transcendent, but it will take two days for them to arrive. So, my plan is to evacuate all of you to safety first.”

After Yi Yeyu spoke, no one dared voice further objections.

After a brief silence, a young voice rang out from the back: “Examiner, you can send them away, but I will not leave.”

~~~~~~

[There was a small mistake in the previous chapter. I meant to write that the number of hunters was in the hundreds of millions, but accidentally wrote 'gold-rank hunters in the hundreds of millions.' Thanks to the reader who pointed it out in the comments; I have already corrected it in time.]