Monster Hunter: I can hear the monsters' thoughts

Chapter 351 Returning to the old place
Lin Lin took a bite of the grilled meat, pulled a sky-blue gem from his pocket, lay down, and stared at it blankly.

Of course, it only looked like he was in a daze. In fact, Lin Lin was using it to sense the state of the Great Void. After confirming that everything was normal, he put down the Bond Stone in his hand.

Perhaps because this bond stone was formed from the blood of Da Kong, Da Kong is more special than other monsters who have formed bonds with Lin Lin. Through this stone, Lin Lin can sense each other's state, location, and even emotions, no matter how far apart they are.

Therefore, after learning that he needed to transfer to Lokrak to take an airship to reach East Doruma, Lin Lin did not let Da Kong follow him to the desert, a place it could not adapt to. Instead, he planned to wait until he arrived in East Doruma and found a suitable new habitat for Da Kong before summoning it.

For now, let's leave Oozora in Yuuki's body for the time being.

“You are here…”

A voice came from behind, pulling Lin Lin back to reality.

He glanced back, shifted slightly to the side, and casually patted the flat rock beneath him, brushing away the sand and gravel carried up by the wind.

The young woman walked gracefully over, gently sat down beside Lin Lin, and then tilted her head towards him:
"Brother Lin Lin, aren't you going to rest? What are you doing here?"

"I'm not sleepy yet, I'll stay here and look at the stars for a while."

"Star?"

Ye Zi looked up and saw that the Milky Way was as dazzling as ever. Was there anything special about the stars?
"You can't see such a beautiful starry sky in my hometown..."

Ye Zi couldn't help but feel curious about Lin Lin's hometown again, but since Lin Lin didn't say anything, she wouldn't ask him.

Ye Zi looked up at the starry sky for a moment, then suddenly brought up another matter:

"Brother Lin Lin, have you noticed that Senior Kevin and Senior Rachel seem to have a special relationship?"

Lin Lin hummed in surprise.
"I know, it seems like Rachel has always been quite interested in my master..."

Drooling?!
Upon hearing this wording, Ye Zi couldn't help but extend her fist and lightly punch Lin Lin's shoulder:
"Couldn't you have put it more nicely! 'Coveting' and all that, it sounds awful!"

"And that's not what I meant. When we first met, I felt that Rachel's gaze towards Kevin was strange. What I meant was the relationship between Kevin and Rachel!"

"Have you noticed that the two of them seem a bit closer since the Heroes' Celebration?"

"Is it……"

Lin Lin stroked his chin, briefly reviewing his experiences over the past few days, and then looked at Ye Zi again:

"I didn't feel anything at all."

Yoko: ...

She sighed wearily. Sure enough, Lin Lin's high emotional intelligence was just an occasional flash of inspiration; most of the time he was a blockhead.

Oh well, what can she do? She just likes this blockhead. A little slow-witted is fine...

……

The next day.

At an oasis where the sand plains meet the sea of ​​sand, the hunters parted ways with the caravan and boarded two sand boats sent by Lokrak. The three high-ranking hunters rode in one boat, and Lin Lin's team rode in the other. As for Ziyuan, Rachel threw her onto Lin Lin's boat under the pretext of "getting used to her teammates in advance."

The hunters were carrying a heavy load of weapons and equipment, plus the materials from a horned dragon. If it weren't for the fact that this time they weren't using the small civilian sandboat that Lin Lin had rented before, but rather a large sandboat second only to the Mineyama Maru in size, they would probably have been completely overloaded. Although this sandboat was only about fifteen meters long, less than half the length of the Mineyama Maru, it was indeed the largest sandboat besides the Mineyama Maru.

Of the group, only Yoko had never encountered such a magical means of transportation before. As soon as she boarded the ship, she looked around curiously. Seeing her curiosity, the captain generously let her try to control the sail. Unfortunately, Yoko probably didn't have the talent for driving a vehicle. She almost capsized the ship in no time and hurriedly handed the driver's seat back to him.

"Haha, it's okay, this is normal. Without enough experience in surviving in the desert, sand boats are indeed difficult to control."

On a large sand barge, a burly young man with dark skin laughed heartily.

This is the person sent by Locke to pick up Lin Lin and the others. Moreover, he is someone that both Lin Lin and Rachel know, and he is also an acquaintance of Brave.

"I never expected it would be you picking us up, Connor."

Brave patted the young man on the shoulder, his tone wistful.

"What, are you surprised to see it's me?"

"Of course, I thought the captain would come to greet me personally, but it turns out it's just you, a two-star little Karami."

Bref was beaming, while the dark-skinned youth's face darkened—though his face was already quite dark.

"First, I wouldn't have come if it weren't for the fact that I was picking up an acquaintance. Second, I've already been promoted to three stars!"

Connor showed off the twin swords on his back; judging from their brownish-red appearance, they were most likely made from materials from a Barroth.

Bref glanced at the familiar material, offered his congratulations, and then asked:

"You've already reached three stars... That's fast. Are you still going to stay with the City Guerrilla Team?"

In Lokrak, the City Raiders are mainly responsible for maintaining order and dealing with small monsters like Velociraptors and Pteranodons. Therefore, apart from hunters who have no hope of reaching higher star levels and those who are unwilling to leave Lokrak, most hunters choose to leave the City Raiders after reaching two or three stars and go to places more suitable for honing their skills.

This has led to a situation where low-star hunters are plentiful in the city's guerrilla forces, but those reaching the four- or five-star level are extremely rare.

"I guess I won't leave?"

Connor chuckled softly, glanced at Brave, then at the high-quality equipment worn by the others on the ship, a hint of envy flickering in his eyes:

“I’m neither as talented as you, nor do I have any desire to venture out into the world. Staying at home is just fine.”

Behind them, Lin Lin peeked back for a moment before having to interrupt:
"Um... are we going straight back to Lockheed? Could we take a break along the way?"

"Huh? Why do you ask?"

Connor looked at Lin Lin with a puzzled expression. He remembered the hunter in front of him. Last year, the batch of Jieyun wood that Lokrak bought from Jieyun was escorted by this hunter and a senior heavy crossbowman.

Lin Lin pointed behind the sand boat, and Connor looked in that direction. Even though there was a considerable distance between them and the swirling yellow sand blocking his view, his extensive experience in desert life allowed him to instantly identify that it was a Yellow Velociraptor King, and probably quite large.

Such keen perception! But he's a bit too timid; he was actually frightened by a yellow Velociraptor.

"Don't panic, the sandboat is very fast, it can't catch up with us."

Lin Lin: ? ? ?
"No, I mean, can we take a break halfway through and wait for it?"

Jumpy is no longer the same as when he was first rescued from the desert. Back then, this guy could at least stay on the sandboat and get seasick, but now he's over ten meters long. If he were to get on the boat, it would probably overload the sandboat and make it unable to move. So, Lin Lin had no choice but to suffer Jumpy.

This time, it was Connor's turn to be full of questions. He pointed to himself, then to Jumpy following far behind, with a strange expression.

“That’s my hunting partner. It’s too big to get on the boat, so I have to let it follow behind.”

“Although it is a yellow Velociraptor, it cannot run continuously in the desert for too long... So I was thinking, could we stop for a while at the oases along the way so that Jump can rest?”

Connor's lips twitched, and he turned to look at Brave, wondering if he should ask Brave to persuade him to stop talking such nonsense. However, he found that his former colleague looked completely at ease and had no desire to refute him at all.

Connor: "?"

He then turned to look at Yoko, who had just tried to pilot the sandboat, and she nodded in agreement.

His gaze passed over the Elf cat next to Lin Lin and then looked at the last person on the ship. The person blinked his big eyes twice and stared blankly at Connor.

Perhaps it was a feeling of trepidation at the prospect of returning home, or perhaps some other emotion, but Ziyuan was somewhat distracted and didn't pay any attention to what they were talking about.

"You also think what he said makes sense, and we should rest halfway and wait for that Yellow Velociraptor King?"

Ziyuan coughed lightly, "Although you may not be able to accept it, Mr. Connor, what my senior brother just said is true. That Yellow Velociraptor King is indeed a partner who fought alongside us."

Well, although she didn't actually fight alongside Jump Jump, this statement is quite accurate if we exclude her from "us".

"That's...ok."

Connor glanced back again. Even if all four of them had gone hysterical and lost their minds, it was still just a yellow Velocidrome. He had already hunted a Barroth, so he could handle any unexpected events.

"There's an oasis not far ahead, let's stop and rest there!"

……

Connor secured the sandboat to a large, protruding rock with a rope, his expression tense as he watched the approaching Yellow Velociraptor King.

When the other party was truly standing in front of him, he suddenly realized that the Yellow Velociraptor King in front of him was simply too big, and this guy even had a complete set of armor on his body. Judging from the material, it should be from the same monster as the armor worn by Lin Lin and Ye Zi.

Could it be... that this really is their hunting partner?

As Connor watched the panting Yellow Velociraptor approach, he instinctively reached behind his back, ready to draw his twin swords, when he suddenly noticed a figure passing by him and heading straight for the monster in front of him.

Under his shocked gaze, Lin Lin reached out and vigorously rubbed the lowered head of the Yellow Sudden Dragon King:

"Thanks a lot!"

"Gah ah ah ah..."

The Yellow Velociraptor nuzzled Lin Lin's body with its large head, and the cry it made seemed to be responding to Lin Lin's concern.

Connor: ...

This world is truly insane...

Something was suddenly shoved into his hand. Connor turned around and saw it was his old friend Brave:

"Want a cold drink to calm down?"

Connor did not refuse. He unscrewed the bottle cap and poured down the icy, pale white liquid that still exuded a slight chill. He then involuntarily shivered.

Stimulated by the cold from the ice crystals, Connor finally regained his ability to think.

"When I first met Jumpy, my worldview was shattered by the shock. But after spending more time with him, I gradually realized that this guy is really different from the desert bandits we used to deal with. His temper might be a bit worse than that of the Elf Deer Bird, but compared to the Wild Boar, he is much gentler."

"Many times, I've wondered why I wasn't the one who found this thing back then..."

"Pick it up?"

Connor grasped the key words instantly.

"To tame a Golden Velocidrome to this extent, wouldn't it have been nurtured from the moment it hatched from the egg? What do you mean by 'picking it up'?"

Brave gave a slightly smug hum:

"You don't know this, do you? This kid took a quest to hunt a Sand Dragon King. While eating, he met a Jumpy Dragon that was still a Yellow Velocidrome at the time, and then he lured Jumpy away with a meal of roasted meat."

"It's that simple?!"

If taming a Yellow Velociraptor were that easy, the City Race Guerrilla Team in Lokrak would have been renamed City Race Dragon Riders long ago. Desert bandits would no longer be a threat; all they would have to deal with would be the Pteranodons in the sky.

"Of course not. There were quite a few twists and turns in that story, but I mainly heard about it from others, so my account may not be detailed enough. Why don't you ask Yezao? He was a direct participant in that mission."

……

While Connor was learning from Brave and Dates, Lin Lin didn't pay attention to them. Instead, he led Jump, who was thirsty after running around for a long time, deeper into the oasis.

Jump is now too big, and the water bag that Lin Lin uses to carry with him is far from enough for it. Only by finding a water source in this oasis can Jump drink to its heart's content.

However, as he walked, Lin Lin inexplicably felt a sense of déjà vu, as if he had been to this oasis before... and more than once.

Lin Lin glanced around in confusion, but couldn't see anything clearly. However, they had arrived at the water source. He temporarily put aside his sense of déjà vu, and while Tiao Tiao lowered his head to drink water, he also began to fill his own water container.

Of course, you shouldn't just pour the water directly into the water bag. The water quality in stream areas is so good that it's fine to drink the spring water directly. However, for water sources in desert areas, it's best to go through two water purification processes first.

Just as Lin Lin was about to boil water, a series of noisy sounds came from all directions.

"Gah! Awooo!"

"Gah! Gah!"

"Gah! Gah!"

This sound...

Lin Lin's eyes widened in surprise. He was all too familiar with that voice. Apart from being a bit higher and sharper, it was exactly the same as Tiao Tiao's.

This is a herd of yellow velociraptors!
(End of this chapter)