Monster Hunter, start with a wife!

Star Iron Outer City, West 11th District.

The holographic screen at the "Old Hunter" tavern was packed with people.

Beer foam overflowed from the glasses, mingling with the smoky aroma of roasted rat meat, filling the air with a lively yet restless atmosphere.

The holographic screen displayed the real-time rankings of the game "Endless Wasteland" in the Hyperdistant Realm. Every change in the numbers elicited a chorus of exclamations.

A corner of the bar.

Cheng Qingshan huddled in the shadows, having already downed most of his iced beer.

"That brat... he really dared to crawl in there."

He frowned as he stared at Cheng Zhuo's personal page in the Void Realm information, gritting his teeth and cursing:

"Damn it, you heartless little ingrate! You don't even know how to show filial piety to your father when you're getting subsidies, and you didn't even say hello before going to the Void Realm. You're planning to sever our father-son relationship!? You're getting more and more unruly!"

When he opened Cheng Zhuo's team information, his brows furrowed so deeply they could trap a fly:

"The Wilderness Hunters?? What kind of team is this? Three Fs, two Es, and one unknown? Holy crap, are they insane?!"

"Hey, my dear Lao Cheng, what have you discovered? A dark horse? Hehe..."

Suddenly, a deep, raspy voice, like sandpaper being rubbed against the ground, came from the doorway, followed by a sly laugh.

A gaudy-dressed old white man, looking like a bacon roll, walked into the tavern and headed straight for Cheng Qingshan.

This man is called Old Ford, and he and Cheng Qingshan both work at a parts processing factory.

The two were gambling buddies and drinking buddies.

They seem to have a good relationship, but they're constantly competing with each other.

Seeing him approach, Cheng Qingshan hurriedly closed the page, switched to the personnel homepage, and feigned helplessness, saying:

"Sigh, what a load of bull. I'm just lamenting that it's such a rare cross-city event, and our Star Iron didn't produce a single S-rank newcomer. I guess the strongest newcomer will probably be snatched away by Bright City this time."

Old Folda pulled over and sat down, and the bartender, as if on cue, handed him a glass of ice-cold beer.

"Sigh, who can argue with that! I heard there's an S-rank greatswordsman in Bright City. In the starting village, that type is practically a boss..."

He gulped down half a mouthful, wiped his mouth, and chuckled:

"However, in a few days, we two brothers might not be able to drink together anymore, you see..."

Old Fuld drew a personal information page:

"My precious grandson, look, he's a C-level Earth Spirit Master, and he's entered the Void Realm this time too."

Cheng Qingshan didn't even lift his eyelids. "Not bad, not bad."

Seeing him like this, old Fold was not about to give up.

Withered fingers swiped across the screen, feigning ignorance:

"Hehe, I always heard you brag about your second son's good grades. How was his awakening? If you didn't get an S-rank, you should at least get an A-rank, right? It couldn't be... that he awakened an F-rank, could it?"

"Bullshit, how could that be!" Cheng Qingshan slammed his hand on the table like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, splashing beer foam all over the floor.

"My son, he, he, he... anyway, he's very strong..."

"Huh?!"

Old Fold seemed to remember something, and suddenly said:

"So he should have made it into the extraterrestrial realm this time, right? Aren't you going to place a bet on your son? Have you gone all in yet?"

"Well, um, he didn't..."

Cheng Qingshan's neck turned bright red as he stammered, trying to come up with an explanation, while Old Fuld had already started typing into the search bar.

He paused, scratching a few strands of curly hair floating on the Mediterranean Sea, and asked in confusion:

"What's your son's name again?"

Cheng Qingshan pretended to be nonchalant, took a sip of wine, and mumbled, "Stop searching, that brat didn't... didn't smuggle it..."

"Cheng Zhuo! Zhuo as in burning."

Before he could finish speaking, a passing bartender chimed in:

"The most talented student at No. 4 Middle School, Uncle Cheng praises him every day, saying he's the top three in the whole school in martial arts, I remember it all!"

"Hey, found it."

Old Fold exclaimed excitedly.

"Hahaha--"

He stared at it for a while, and after a long while, he finally burst into laughter that filled Cheng Qingshan with despair:

"Hahaha, your son, your son! Oh my, F-rank? And a summoner???"

Several other drinkers nearby heard the commotion and came over to see what was going on.

Several old drunkards who were acquainted with Cheng Qingshan patted him on the shoulder, their tone full of mockery:

"Oh dear, Lao Cheng, your hopes for your son to achieve great success have been dashed!"

"That's right," another person said, pointing at the screen and laughing so hard they were convulsing.

"An F-rank summoner dares to enter the Void Realm? Isn't that suicide? Even if you want your son to succeed, you can't do this to him!"

Cheng Qingshan's face turned bright red, from his ears to his neck, and he didn't know how to refute it.

He didn't say that he wasn't the one who sent Cheng Zhuo.

It's better to bear the stigma of having excessively high expectations for one's son than to be told that one's son is an idiot.

"Eh, eh eh..."

Old Ford rubbed his eyelids and pointed to the odds behind Cheng Zhuo, saying:

「小程最强新人这赔率……1:100？你们看看，我眼没花吧？不应该是1:1000吗？我孙子才1:180，他能到1:100？灵曦搞错了吧？」

Several people gathered around, all somewhat surprised.

One of them clicked on Cheng Zhuo's message...

"Hey, Lao Cheng, how come your son's a Wilderness Hunter? Several of these details aren't publicly available, like his physical fitness... 16.6? Did your son take performance-enhancing drugs?"

"Bullshit, where would I get the money to give him medicine?"

Cheng Qingshan also curiously craned his neck, scanning Cheng Zhuo's public information page, and asked suspiciously:

"I guess he joined some guild and got it as a gift."

"Are guild benefits this good now? Hundreds of thousands of serums have been used on F-rank?" the young bartender next to him exclaimed.

"How is that possible!"

Old Ford rolled his eyes. "My grandson signed with the Nebula Guild, and he's only a C-rank guild, and he doesn't even get this kind of treatment..."

As he spoke, he sniffed his bulbous nose and added in a sour tone:

"Xiao Cheng is quite good-looking. He's probably hooking up with a rich woman and becoming her mistress."

In Star Iron City, it's quite common for some wealthy women to openly have four boyfriends and secretly keep several others.

"You're talking nonsense!"

Cheng Qingshan slammed his hand on the table and pointed at old Ford, cursing:

"Don't think that just because your son married a rich woman, everyone is like your family! My son relied on himself!"

Old Fuld rolled his eyes and said angrily:

"My son's hooking up with a rich woman, so what? Otherwise, how could he have such an outstanding grandson? I'd bet a thousand on my grandson, do you dare? You poor bastard—"

As he spoke, he swiped out a thousand and placed a bet directly on his grandson's strongest newcomer.

"Let's pressure them then! Who's afraid of who?!"

Cheng Qingshan didn't back down either, and immediately placed a bet of one thousand on Cheng Zhuo's strongest newcomer.

"Hey, hey, hey! Uncles, don't be impulsive."

The young bartender next to them immediately pulled the two apart and silently advised:

"What are you two doing? If you have too much money, just throw it at me! A thousand yuan! That's enough for you to drink beer for a month! Don't go against your beer-loving nature!"

"Never mind that!"

Cheng Qingshan shoved the bartender aside, giving old Fold a sarcastic look:

"Stop pretending! Everyone knows your rich man's son never gives you a single penny!"

Old Ford was so angry he was furious; even a few of his curly hairs stood on end.

"They're still richer than you, supporting a bunch of poor kids and an old poor kid!"

"You old bald man, try saying that again!"

"Old poor bastard—"

……

at the same time,

Inside the top-floor conference room of the Inner City Hunting Ruins Administration.

Deputy Director Hu Yansong sat in the main seat, his gaze sweeping over the heads of the major guilds on both sides with a solemn expression.

He said in a deep voice:

"I have summoned you all here because I have important news to inform you of."

Ren Tianxing, sitting in the first position on the right, twirled the tip of his goatee with his fingertips and said warily:

"Is something wrong in the Newcomer's Realm?"

"That's right, this newcomer's Transcendental Void Realm will likely undergo an ecological mutation, becoming a First-Order Void Realm," Hu Yansong said.

Songhe smoothed his long hair and raised an eyebrow, saying:

"That doesn't make sense. We've been watching the gate the whole time, and there haven't been any changes. How can you be so sure it will mutate?"

"Forbidden Immortality."

Hu Yansong's voice grew even deeper, each word laced with hatred, "The Death God's Secret Treasure is reacting."

"What?!"

Upon hearing this word, the expressions on their faces changed drastically.

"There's no need for you all to panic."

Hu Yansong tapped his knuckles lightly twice on the table, his tone softening slightly:

"Having learned from the experience of twenty years ago, we are well prepared this time and will never allow the evil spirits of the Void Realm to act in human skin again."

Hu Yansong comforted him, saying:

"We will subdue him the moment he leaves the Void Realm."

He then changed the subject and said:

"However, this anomaly in the Void Realm still deserves our full attention. Once the seven days are up, you must send out your strongest Tier 1 teams to cooperate with the Void Hunter Army to quickly eliminate the BOSS and rescue the remaining newcomers. As for the Evil Spirit, I will handle it personally."

"No problem," everyone replied.

Ren Tianxing's eyes darted around, and he tentatively asked:

"I heard that a new S-rank outsider entered the Void Realm in a custom-made gravity body team. With that kind of strength, we might not even need to lift a finger."

"Old Ren, are you confused?" Song He rolled his eyes.

"Lingxi already sent over the information about the BOSS; it's the Blind Corpse."

Ren Tianxing was taken aback. "That blind corpse that blocks all electrical signals by releasing a force field?"

"What do you think...?"

Songhe shrugged and scoffed:

"This rich kid from some unknown conglomerate has assembled a bunch of F-rank and E-rank rookies and even signed them to a small town full of scumbags. He's probably going to pay the price for his arrogance~"