Absolute Gate

Chapter 101 Wanted Mission

Wu had already contacted Edelweiss for the selection task.

"Jianglongmu, have you rested well?" The agent was in a very good mood lately, and even his voice was filled with undisguised laughter.

No wonder she was happy; Wu had finally been promoted to Silver rank in just half a month, far exceeding expectations.

Even without counting extra loot, the platform's commission from just the few tasks he completed exceeded ten million yuan, and Edelweiss, as his guide, would receive half of that.

She never expected that the newcomer she casually introduced would be so successful, earning millions without even lifting a finger, exclaiming that she had struck gold.

Therefore, she had no objection to Wu's more than one month of rest and adjustment. On the contrary, she took this opportunity to carefully select two highly cost-effective tasks.

"Take a good look. Both are wanted posters, which I think are perfect for you." Edelweiss passed the information over.

"A wanted poster?" Wu Zhong was slightly taken aback.

He himself was once the target of the hunt, besieged by multiple teams, but now the roles have reversed, and it's his turn to hunt others down.

Wu carefully reviewed the materials and found that both tasks only had the basic characteristics and names of the targets, but the specific locations were unknown.

This means they need to locate the target first, and then carry out the kill. In the mercenary world, such missions with scarce intelligence are extremely difficult and are usually handled by large teams.

Edelweiss recommended this task to him, clearly recognizing his talent for tracking and tracing. Recalling the tasks he had completed—whether it was finding people or objects, or even resolving crises with increased difficulty—it had already proven his abilities.

Although Wu never revealed the details of his killing of McGonagall, Edelweiss had already judged that he had the ability to easily deal with Silver-level opponents, so she recommended the wanted poster.

“Trust me, this is an absolutely top-notch mission!” Edelweiss explained, “Both targets are standard Silver-level mercenaries, wanted by the regular army of a small African country. They were both hired by the rebels, and now that the rebels have been quelled, all mercenaries who once served the rebels have become pariahs, living on the run.”

“These kinds of missions are the best warrants. The target has no powerful backing, and even if they do, they are already discarded.”

"Right now, all the major mercenary groups are practically fighting tooth and nail for these missions. You must decide quickly and get ahead of the competition."

Upon hearing this, Wu Zhong astutely asked, "A lot of mercenary groups are robbing? Then we're very likely to run into other teams?"

“That’s true,” Edelweiss confirmed. “The principle of wanted poster missions is that whoever completes it first gets the bounty. So, it all depends on your ability. If someone else finds the target first… then give up decisively, and never get into a conflict with the mercenary group.”

"Understood." After a moment's thought, Wu Zhong decisively said, "Alright, I'll accept both missions!"

He glanced at the reward—eighty million and ninety million, which is considered top-tier among silver-level missions.

Ordinary lone silver mercenaries wouldn't dare to touch him, but Wu Zhong showed no fear, after all, his own bounty had already reached 300 million...

When he forwarded the arrest warrant to his team members, Yang Chunsha and Pei Lan's expressions changed.

Perrin exclaimed, "Brother, my dear brother! How could you take on such a mission?"

"A bounty of ninety million! This kind of target is definitely a top-tier figure among the Silver Rank!"

He thought to himself, "I've only just entered the Silver rank. Shouldn't I take on some simpler tasks to practice first? Why am I going straight for the highest difficulty level?"
Onion added, "Are they remnants of the Gangu rebellion? I've heard about it. Since both the Gangu president and the rebel leader are nominal members of the Black Iron faction, and both sides hired people from the Disaster Realm, they staged a 'magical clash'..."

"After the rebels were defeated, the president spared no expense and vowed to eliminate all mercenaries who had served the rebels."

"This is a series of wanted missions. I heard that several mercenary groups are racing to hunt down these people."

Everyone present was a newly promoted Silver rank expert. No one expected Wu Zhong to be so bold as to directly target a top Silver rank expert.

Wu Zhong smiled instead: "With the mission background clear, I feel at ease."

He was never worried about targets being too strong; he was only afraid of the complexities behind the mission. In the current situation of multiple competitors, the target's strength was clear—a genuine Silver Awakener—which was actually the type he could handle with peace of mind.

“I believe there’s no need to hesitate when accepting a mission; we can deal with problems as they arise.” Wu Zhong said firmly, “As long as the money is enough, there’s no need to be picky. We desperately need funds right now; speed is of the essence.”

"Let's start with this target of 80 million, slaughter the cattle!"

Seeing that he had made up his mind, no one tried to dissuade him anymore.

Wu made no attempt to conceal his intentions. In front of everyone, he performed divination by slaughtering two oxen, thus determining the approximate location of the target.

"Not far, about two thousand kilometers... but this direction... wait? Why is it in the sea?" Yang Chunsha asked, lying on the globe in confusion.

Wu Zhong looked and indeed, the location showed an unnamed area in the Pacific Ocean.

"He's not in the sea, he's on a ship," he deduced. "Since he's moving, let's wait until he reaches the shore. Let's find another target first!"

He performed the divination again for his second target, and this time, the result was even more unexpected... He pointed to the ground.

It wasn't underground in the literal sense; the target was actually too far away, with divination indicating a distance of 8,000 kilometers. A comparison on a map pointed directly to the North Pole.

"Good heavens, one is hiding in the depths of the Pacific Ocean, and the other is tucked away in the Arctic Circle," Wu Zhong couldn't help but exclaim.

"No wonder the boss had to issue an arrest warrant and appeal to the entire mercenary community for help. With this kind of hiding method, even the largest forces would find it difficult to locate."

Yang Chunsha stroked her chin and suggested, "We can test it again in a while and see which target position is fixed, then we'll chase that one first."

The two of them sang in unison, leaving Perrin and the others dumbfounded.

"What...is this?" Perrin stared in astonishment at the tortoise shell in Wu Zhong's hand. Wu Zhong smiled calmly: "An anomalous object. You should know about it."

Perrin swallowed hard. "I know it's a catastrophic object, but... it can be used to find people? That's so convenient! We can use it to locate them directly and find them before everyone else!"

Wu nodded, without going into further explanation, but reminded him: "It is indeed convenient, but the price is not small. If you use it, all your sealing techniques will probably be rendered ineffective."

He was not exaggerating; Perrin's incarnation belonged to the divine magic system and he had to maintain his faith.

Once infected by the tortoise shell's "absolute lack of faith" characteristic, his current multi-faceted magic is essentially rendered useless.

"It's the price for banishing magic?!" Perrin's expression hardened.

He had initially thought the tortoise shell was merely a weapon of war, never expecting it to possess such a miraculous tracking function. However, the price that came with it was something most Awakened Ones simply couldn't bear. Perhaps only a martial artist like Wu Zhong could remain unfazed?

Perrin pondered to himself, unaware that Wu Zhong was not an enlightened being at all.

Next, the team set off for the Arctic Circle region of Canada. During the journey, Wu performed divination several times.

Four consecutive location checks showed that the target in the Arctic remained completely stationary. Meanwhile, the target in the Pacific Ocean, though still moving, was simply circling within a single area, clearly without a definite destination, merely wandering the seas.

"These two are being hunted by multiple parties and have nowhere to go. It seems that no other force will take them in; they are simply hiding," Wu Zhong analyzed.

Everyone was overjoyed: "That's perfect!"

The target within the Arctic Circle was so unknown to the financier that he didn't even know his code name, only that he was a black man who had used the name "Sedo" in the rebel army.

The only definite sign is that it can transform into a werewolf, possesses super vitality and endurance, has the ability to sense blood, and has a strength exceeding three tons.

After two days, Wu Zhong and his six-person group finally arrived at the far north of Maple Leaf Country.

Before me stretched a vast, boundless forest and snow-covered plain, a world draped in silver.

It was the dead of winter, and as night fell, the temperature plummeted to minus sixty degrees Celsius, and a blizzard blocked all roads.

They wrapped themselves tightly in heavy winter coats and trudged through knee-deep snow.

As night fell, the aurora borealis descended from the sky, like the swaying skirt of a goddess, leaving Yang Chunsha, who was seeing it for the first time, in awe.

"It's so beautiful... This is the first time I've ever seen the aurora borealis in person."

Wu Zhong was no different. He completely ignored the wind and snow, his gaze fixed intently on the Arctic wonders.

But Perrin had no time to appreciate it; he shivered, his teeth chattering, "No...no...brothers and sisters, it's minus sixty degrees! A blizzard has blocked the mountain..."

"It's...it's so cold! If I don't use the multi-method soon, I really won't be able to hold on!"

Although he, Onion, Acorus, and Ark possess twice the physique of ordinary mad vampires, their bodies are already nearing their limits in such extreme cold and blizzards.

Using a multi-dimensional approach would certainly be able to defend against it, but that would continuously consume precious "multi-dimensional moments," and once those moments are exhausted, there would be no more fighting power today.

Wu glanced at the map; the target location determined by the divination was only fifty kilometers away.

But with such terrible weather, is it really necessary to fight a werewolf in the wild under these conditions? He himself may not be afraid, but he cannot guarantee that his teammates will not be injured or killed.

He looked at the crowd shivering in the wind and snow, and laughed loudly: "How could this little bit of wind and snow possibly defeat our Miss Yang Chunsha?"

Upon hearing this, everyone perked up. That's right, how could we forget about her abilities? The previous air chamber and the later bunker safe house were both built using her abilities.

"Watch me!" Yang Chunsha stepped forward from the crowd. Her specialty was creating a warm and sturdy temporary base for everyone in such extremely harsh environments.

She pressed her hands to the snow, and magic surged forth... Her Shinjuku form was much stronger than before, and more importantly, she could now cast spells with her bare hands! She no longer needed to rely on the leather book.

"Crash!"

The snow was pushed aside by an invisible force, and the frozen soil below, as if given life, rapidly rose and pushed away with a low rumble.

In a short while, a rugged and solid rock passage entrance appeared before everyone's eyes.

Everyone filed in, instantly escaping the deadly cold wind and enjoying the relatively peaceful environment inside the cave. They couldn't help but sincerely exclaim, "Sister Sha is amazing!"

Wu Zhong examined the map and said, "Fifty kilometers ahead is the location for the divination and positioning, which is a completely uninhabited area. But the target hasn't moved during the positioning tests, so there should be a fixed hiding place."

"De Biao, it's up to you now. We'll dig a tunnel and sneak up to the target area to find out the situation first."

"No problem!" Yang Chunsha said with great enthusiasm. She and Wu Zhong were already very familiar with this method of operation.

The newly joined Perrin, Onion, and others found it all quite novel.

They were in an underground cavity that stretched ever forward, watching as the rock and soil in front of them were pushed aside, and the passage behind them was buried and restored.

Although the tunnel was still cold and empty, the thick earthen and stone walls had perfectly insulated it from the deadly cold outside.

……

(End of this chapter)