Monster Hunter, start with a wife!

"What the hell? That Zhao Shichang from the Thunder Guild stole your girl?!"

Upon hearing Cheng Zhuo's reason for breaking up, Hou Wanli jumped half a foot high, his voice booming like thunder. He rolled up his sleeves and was about to rush towards the Thunder Guild's recruitment area, cursing under his breath:

"Damn it, that bastard, I'm going to terminate his contract right now!!!"

"Keep your voice down."

Cheng Zhuo quickly pinned him to the spot, awkwardly glancing at the strange looks coming from all around, and said in a low voice:

"The penalty for breaching a Class B contract is at least tens of millions. Are you planning to sell yourself to pay off your debts?"

"Well……"

Hou Wanli's face turned a deep purplish-red.

Cheng Zhuo patted his shoulder and comforted him:

"Just stay there and relax. The Thunder Guild doesn't belong to Zhao Shichang's family."

Hou Wanli's brows furrowed into a pretzel shape:

"Are you still coming or not?"

Cheng Zhuo waved his hand dismissively:

"I'm not opposed to it. It depends on which company offers the best terms. I don't have a choice right now, but..."

He glanced back at Ruan Qinghe, who was not far behind him, and said, "If I had the chance, I might prefer Xingyun."

Hou Wanli followed his gaze, glanced at it, and said in surprise:

"Old Cheng, you wouldn't happen to have a crush on that prettiest girl in the next class, would you? I advise you to forget about it. I heard she already has someone she secretly loves..."

As he spoke, he stole another glance at Ruan Qinghe, lowered his voice, and winked, saying:

"Hey, she's been watching me with a smile the whole time. Do you think she might have a crush on me?"

"I want to eat it."

Cheng Zhuo glanced sideways at Hou Wanli, and amidst his shocked gaze, took two steps back and naturally reached out to pull Ruan Qinghe to his side:

"I forgot to introduce you, this is my new wife, Ruan Qinghe, quickly call her sister-in-law."

Then she turned to Ruan Qinghe, her tone softening:

"Qinghe, this is my best brother, Hou Wanli."

Ruan Qinghe extended her hand generously, a slight, shy smile on her face:

"Hello, Hou. I am Cheng's wife... I hope we can get along well in the future."

Hou Wanli glanced at the smiling Ruan Qinghe.

He glanced at Cheng Zhuo again.

After a moment of stunned silence, she suddenly snapped back to reality, immediately hooked her arm around Cheng Zhuo's neck, pulled him aside, and her voice cracked:

"Holy crap, what's going on? A newlywed wife? Or one of her???"

"Well, that's a long story..."

Helpless, Cheng Zhuo had no choice but to recount his drunken father's secret registration for marriage and his coincidence in meeting Ruan Qinghe and the twins.

He didn't mention that Ruan Qinghe had previously offered to marry him, worried that the boy would get so jealous he'd faint.

"You, you, you!"

Hou Wanli's face turned pale and then red, his expression one of utter shock:

"I haven't seen you for just one day, and you've already married three wives? And a pair of twins too???"

Looking back at Ruan Qinghe, whose smile was both innocent and charming, Hou Wanli suddenly felt that his B-level contract was no longer appealing.

He truly experienced firsthand what it meant to be—

I'm afraid my brother is suffering, but I'm also afraid he's driving a Land Rover.

Cheng Zhuo smiled and sighed, "I didn't expect it to be this fast either."

Hou Wanli gritted his teeth:

"I was worried you were heartbroken after your breakup, you dog! You're such a dog!"

He turned around and walked back to face Ruan Qinghe, resuming his normal demeanor:

"Sister-in-law, just call me Black Monkey. If Lao Cheng bullies you in the future, just tell me and I'll beat him up for you. Don't think he was a little better at fighting than me before; I can easily crush him now."

"Okay." Ruan Qinghe nodded slightly, looking at Cheng Zhuo who was approaching, her eyes sparkling:

"But he definitely won't bully me, right?"

"Of course."

"Ouch~" The black monkey exaggeratedly raised its hand to cover its eyes, letting out a long, drawn-out wail:

"Being single is tough—"

……

At nine o'clock in the morning.

A deep, resonant middle-aged voice suddenly emanated from the speakers around the playground, silencing the noise:

"Good morning, fellow Awakened Ones, the pillars of the city-state's future..."

Cheng Zhuo and the others subconsciously looked up.

On the screen, their principal, Zhou Dafa, with a belly that looked like he was eight months pregnant, stepped onto the high platform.

He adjusted his silver-rimmed glasses, which had slipped down to the tip of his nose, and cleared his throat:

"Ahem... Today's hunting trial is your first time facing a strange beast head-on, and it's also your first step in truly resisting this calamity. As the headmaster, I feel a great responsibility, but also immense pride..."

……

An hour later.

Cheng Zhuo was getting drowsy listening to the speech when Principal Zhou finally finished his opening remarks and swayed away from the platform.

From Cheng Zhuo's perspective, the effective information in his speech was actually only three sentences:

I. The Hunting Trial lasts for 12 hours.

II. A total of 2976 people will be divided into teams of 4, ranked by points for killing alien beasts, with the highest prize being 100 million.

Third, the individual comprehensive evaluation is handled by the city-state's super intelligence "Lingxi", which rates the contestants based on multiple dimensions such as melee combat, defense, ranged attack, reaction, and stress resistance.

Another half hour passed.

The new recruits participating in the trial began to receive their communications combat uniforms and weapons in turn.

The right arm of the combat suit is equipped with Lingxi's terminal auxiliary device, which can monitor the user's situation at any time.

In addition to rating, Lingxi will also monitor vital signs and activate the combat suit's locking shield and distress call procedures at any time to ensure the safety of everyone's lives.

As for the weapons used in the trial, they were all cold weapons.

However, unlike traditional cold weapons, these weapons are all embedded with source cards made from the source cores of alien beasts, containing various types of source power damage to ensure sufficient lethality against alien beasts.

Cheng Zhuo chose a long spear, which was the weapon he practiced with most often.

"Tsk tsk, this outfit must have cost at least two hundred thousand!" Hou Wanli twirled around, looking himself up and down, and sighed.

"With this material, even a beast that hasn't reached the next level probably couldn't leave a mark on it."

"Clothes may not tear, but shock damage won't be prevented." Cheng Zhuo weighed the gun barrel in his hand, his tone turning serious:

"Don't be careless."

"Yes, I understand."

Hou Wanli, unusually serious, put away his playful demeanor and nodded emphatically.

"Makka Pakka—"

Just then, Cheng Zhuo's watch suddenly rang urgently.

The words "old drunkard" appeared on the screen.

"Connect." As Cheng Zhuo murmured, a rough-looking man's face popped up on his watch; it was none other than his unreliable father, Cheng Qingshan.

Cheng Zhuo frowned: "What is it?"

Cheng Qingsong's face was ashen: "You rascal, where have you been all night? Your Aunt Wang was worried sick!"

"Didn't I leave a message for Aunt Wang saying I wasn't going back?" Cheng Zhuo asked, looking puzzled.

"Shut up!" Cheng Qingshan spat at the camera. "You didn't even say where you went!"

"Get to the point."

Cheng Zhuo was getting impatient. "I've never seen you care about me this much before. Are you thinking about the wedding allowance?"

Cheng Qingshan's expression was strange, and he pursed his lips, saying:

"Who cares about your paltry money? It's Wenwen and Xiaomo who are looking for you."

After saying that, the camera switched, and two half-grown faces immediately squeezed into the screen.

She bears a resemblance to Cheng Zhuo, but is more immature.

They are Cheng Zhuo's younger brothers, Cheng Mo and Cheng Wenwen.

"Wow, Second Brother looks incredibly handsome in that outfit!"

Cheng Wenwen excitedly shouted while clinging to the screen, "Second Brother, are you going to be a Beast Hunter?! Go go go! We're all watching the live stream!"

"Second brother can only be a servant." Cheng Mo pushed her aside, his face showing some worry.

"Second brother, being a rat catcher is actually a good job. You really don't need to risk your life."

"Don't worry, Second Brother knows what he's doing." Cheng Zhuo's voice softened unconsciously.

Although their family was poor, the siblings got along very well.

He chatted with his younger siblings for a few minutes, and soon his stepmother, Aunt Wang, came over and pushed the two little ones with pigtails in front of the camera.

Cheng Zhuo's relationship with his stepmother was so-so, but he had no ill feelings towards his two younger sisters.

The two little sisters are seven and five years old, respectively.

In their eyes, there was no such thing as half-siblings.

All they knew was that Cheng Zhuo was the second brother and was going to fight monsters, so they joined Cheng Wenwen in howling and making a ruckus.

"I'm hanging up, I'm hanging up, stop chatting."

A moment later, Cheng Qingshan gruffly snatched the camera away, giving Cheng Zhu a sidelong glance before turning it off:

"If you're going to fucking die, then don't bring it back. I don't have the money to buy another burial plot."

After the video call ended, Ruan Qinghe leaned closer, her voice tinged with envy:

"You have a really good relationship with your younger siblings."

Cheng Zhuo nodded: "Hmm, not bad. Introduce your second sister-in-law to them in a couple of days."

"Okay." Ruan Qinghe's cheeks flushed slightly, then she blinked curiously:

"They call you Second Brother, but where's the Eldest Brother?"

"I entered the Void Realm two years ago and haven't been able to get out."

Cheng Zhuo tightened his grip on the gun barrel, his voice dropping slightly.

His older brother, Cheng Yao, is four years older than him and has E-level potential. In order to seek an opportunity to enter the second-tier Kashuu, he risked entering the two-star realm gate.

According to his teammates, even his body was never recovered.

Upon hearing this, Ruan Qinghe's face paled slightly, and she looked at Cheng Zhuo with even greater worry:

"I'm sorry... you must be extremely careful."

"Yes." Cheng Zhuo nodded solemnly.

at this time.

Scenes like Cheng Zhuo's, where family members or partners offer words of advice, can be seen everywhere on the playground.

Cheng Zhuo had already submitted his registration via his watch, and now he just needed to wait.

About half an hour later.

The ethereal voice of the super-intelligent entity Lingxi echoed across the playground:

"All players, please proceed to the designated area and rendezvous with your teammates according to the instructions from your assigned team on the terminal..."

-

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[Conventional weapons are ineffective against alien beasts. In the 7th year of the Hunting Ruins Era, the first battle sword inlaid with Source Power cards was hand-forged by Master Mo Shan, marking the official birth of Source Power weapons.]

—Excerpt from the Weapons section of "The Hunter of Ruins"