Infinite Hunter

Cheng Yijiu also found some very old clothes in the room. There wasn't much dust on them hanging in the closet, but they were quite rotten - this made people even more puzzled, why didn't anyone take them?

He put on these tight clothes, "It's still too small. Nowadays, even the Germans... oh no, there is no concept of Germany yet, even these Germans are mostly short in stature." Cheng Yijiu is rich and has several gold coins from before, so going out to eat is no problem.

The clothes weren't exactly antique, just old-fashioned and unremarkable. So Cheng Yijiu slipped out from the back, went to the bakery and butcher's, and spent a gold coin to buy a large bag of black bread and more than ten kilograms of bacon and fresh meat, as well as a bag of salt and some butter. He slipped back in again and cooked a substantial meal in the dark room, using the copper pot and fireplace. As for drinks, it was just hot water.

After finishing all the food in one meal, Cheng Yijiu was back to full health. After that, he began to seriously study the spray gun. Now he needed a blacksmith shop, so he needed to find an opportunity. Because it looked like a war was about to start.

Back in Innsbruck, there had been talk of a serious political crisis, with some eager to start a war. This small town had several roads that converged and then expanded, making it a major transportation artery in the mountains. Because of the constant flow of people, the people at the butcher's and bakery weren't surprised to see Cheng Yijiu. He'd even disguised himself as a white man.

The werewolf hunters hadn't appeared, so Cheng Yijiu wasn't in a rush to flee. Each punishment mission required him to survive for a certain period of time, and since this place seemed safe, he naturally stayed put. He was lucky enough to be on this punishment mission, as the werewolf was a self-controlled supernatural being. Otherwise, it would be difficult to hide after transforming into a beast.

Although this place was a little dirty, fortunately it was just some dust. He only needed to clean up the place where he lived and hide there. He felt around and found that there were more than a dozen gold coins. He bought so many things for a meal and got three silver coins and a handful of copper coins in change. The real florin gold coins seemed to have strong purchasing power, so he decided to stay.

Late the next day, the army entered the town.

Cheng Yijiu had already heard and smelled the presence of groups of soldiers. He peered out from the shadows of a broken window on the second floor. Sure enough, brightly dressed soldiers were marching into this "unarmed" town. Even with a defensive force, they were no match for hundreds of soldiers. Mounted officers led soldiers in driving out the residents who hadn't fled from each house. Then, soldiers were assigned to each house and ordered to provide food and rest to the residents. The price they paid was to avoid being killed or drafted into the army...

Chapter 19 Armament

Cheng Yijiu looked at the soldiers' equipment and asked, "Why are they still flintlock rifles? Don't they have fixed-load metal ammunition?" This was puzzling. Perhaps, as he had previously suspected, the wolf hunters' weapons were specially customized? And fixed-load metal ammunition was a scarce, handmade product, making it impossible to deploy in large numbers? Speaking of difficulty, wasn't the difficulty of fixed-load metal ammunition primarily in the primer? It was likely that only a very small number of people knew how to manufacture these primers.

These flintlock rifles must have used paper-wrapped fixed-load ammunition, but most likely not Minié bullets—because Cheng Yijiu hadn't seen rifling in the wolf hunter's shotgun. Soon, the soldiers noticed the house. "It's probably just right that there's no one here," Cheng Yijiu muttered. Several soldiers used their rifle butts to smash open the lock on the gate in front of the house and were about to file in when an officer stopped them.

The officer looked at the house, pulled over a local resident, and began to chatter. The soldiers also surrounded him. Cheng Yijiu finally noticed that their faces had turned pale, and fear was evident in their expressions. Needless to say, Cheng Yijiu immediately realized that this house might be a hidden secret, most likely a haunted house - werewolves, vampires, and ghouls were there, so it would be strange if there were no ghosts or something like that.

So the question was, why hadn't Cheng Yijiu seen any ghosts in the past few days? Could it be that ghosts were afraid of werewolves? There was no point in overthinking it. If that was the case, Cheng Yijiu was determined to remain hidden here. It wouldn't be difficult for a few hundred soldiers to disperse and live in this small town on a major thoroughfare. It was already capable of hosting hundreds of travelers, and with a little crowding, it could easily accommodate an army of a thousand.

Barricades were quickly erected along the road, and several cannons were pushed onto the street. The cannons, with their carriages and wheels, didn't look large, but Cheng Yijiu could tell they were forged, then bored out of the barrel. Therefore, while smaller than cast cannons, their barrels could be made thinner, allowing them to fire just as well despite being lighter. These 4-pound cannons were likely the primary firepower of this infantry unit.

Cheng Yijiu took advantage of the night to go to the bakery and butcher's shop to buy a large amount of food. So far, the army hadn't looted, but they had requisitioned a lot of flour and meat, so Cheng Yijiu had to spend more than double the price to buy the last bit of food. If the wolf hunters hadn't come, they probably wouldn't come again. Cheng Yijiu found that the army's military discipline was surprisingly good, and they didn't cause any trouble in the town.

As for forcing residents to work for them, building barricades or something like that was just a small matter. Cheng Yijiu was also very excited because he was about to see a battle. His ears and nose told him that an army was approaching, perhaps only ten kilometers away.

Sure enough, later that evening, an army camped outside the town, set up a field camp, and began firing at the town. And what Cheng Yijiu needed was chaos. There was a blacksmith shop in the town, and travelers needed their carriages repaired or their horseshoes replaced, which required the blacksmith shop to forge spare parts. Local residents also needed various tools, and the blacksmith shop still provided most of these needs—of course, it was now called a workshop, and it still used the convenient transportation to sell its products.

If the quality is excellent and they manage to survive, who says they can't become the future Krupp or Rheinmetall? Cheng Yijiu had previously observed this blacksmith's workshop while buying food. It was quite large, with a stream and a reservoir running through the town, and it even had a hydraulic hammer. Cheng Yijiu had also previously spied on soldiers on the second floor asking the workshop's blacksmiths to repair their rifles, suggesting this workshop was capable of manufacturing rifles.

This was exactly what Cheng Yijiu needed. When the bombardment began, he sneaked onto the roof of the workshop, observing the battle while looking for an opportunity to use the workshop. The workers and the boss inside had already fled to the basement - they probably wouldn't come out until the battle was over. This basement was also a secret room, different from the other public basement. It was estimated that every household here had a similar room to escape the war.

Cheng Yijiu watched as another army, in different uniforms, launched an attack in columns under the cover of artillery fire. They weren't limited to the main roads, but were also using the surrounding hills and uncut forests to gradually approach the town. The residents' houses were well-fortified—built of stone to protect against bandits. The back walls had no windows or back doors on the first floor, and a few narrow windows on the second floor, but they were inlaid with cross-bars, making it impossible for a single person to get through.

The gaps between these houses were small, so attackers could only enter in single file if they had to. Therefore, these houses formed a good firing position—and ordinary artillery couldn't be fixed on the slope of the mountain, making it difficult to break through these houses. The soldiers inside used the second-floor windows to fire outward, easily keeping the enemy out. Cheng Yijiu watched as the enemy deployed skirmishers outside and exchanged fire with the soldiers in the houses. After a long battle, there were no casualties.

The battle took place at one end of the road, artillery pieces firing at each other from hundreds or even thousands of meters apart, with poor accuracy. The enemy column, advancing in formation, also stopped outside the range of the artillery shells and began constructing bunkers—simple, earthen dugouts. Cheng Yijiu watched the battle unfold, his attention focused on the front as the soldiers and officers of the town silently slid down from the roof and into the ground floor of the workshop.

The workshop had no rear windows or second floor; it was simply a large building with a six-meter-high interior. Cheng Yijiu pulled the bellows on one side, and soon a fire was blazing in the hearth. He took the Wolf Hunter's rifle, and Cheng Yijiu felt the need to modify it to suit his needs. The handguard and stock would definitely need to be altered, and if the bolt mechanism wasn't working, that would need to be modified as well. The only thing that would satisfy Cheng Yijiu was the two forged and drilled barrels.

The blacksmith's workshop contained tools and wood, and Cheng Yijiu quickly set to work, the sounds of his work drowned out by the roar of gunfire and artillery fire. "Bullets are a serious problem, but where can I find chemicals? Especially mercury—I wonder if any pharmacists in this town have it?" The ammunition and supplies these soldiers brought definitely didn't have it, since they were still using fuses and red-hot iron hooks to fire their artillery.

These cannons were also muzzle-loading guns, which were worthless without gunpowder - except for their granular black powder, which Cheng Yijiu needed and he planned to steal some at night.

Chapter 20 Hell

The original wood had been dismantled, and the entire bolt mechanism would likely need to be reforged. There was still a fair amount of steel available, and Cheng Yijiu was selecting the appropriate material. He gripped the ingot with tongs and placed it in the furnace to heat. Although the tools were rather old-fashioned, Cheng Yijiu felt he could still successfully utilize them. He needed to forge the entire frame and the rear half of the gun, and also reassemble the trigger assembly.

His idea was to convert the musket into a double-barreled pistol. The large hatchet-like stock was designed for him to hold in werewolf form, so the trigger guard and trigger would be very large. He used a simple double trigger to fire the ammunition from both barrels, while retaining some of the original structure. The modification work was done quite quickly. Before the roar of gunfire outside subsided, Cheng Yijiu had already completed the first part of the work. He climbed silently to the roof with the half-finished product and left the blacksmith shop.

There were few casualties on the first day of fighting.

The next day, the bombardment began at nine in the morning. Cheng Yijiu, as usual, climbed from the roof and entered the blacksmith shop. Today, he would complete the forging and heat treatment of all the steel parts, and tomorrow he would deal with the wood and assemble them. If there was time, he would also like to forge a cold weapon. Considering the use of werewolves, he decided to use a single-edged broadsword. Werewolves' joints are not as flexible as humans', and their degree of freedom is slightly lower, so using a single-edged broadsword to leverage their strength and chop is the most reasonable choice.

There was still no actual contact between the two sides that day, with only occasional artillery bombardments and sporadic gunfire.

The fierce battle began on the third day after Cheng Yijiu ran out of food. This time, the attackers completed their trenches and launched their offensive. The L-shaped trenches continued to approach the town's entrance, and both sides focused their utmost attention here - everyone knew that once control of this area was determined, the outcome would be decided. Cheng Yijiu used a file and a grinding wheel to polish the wooden gun barrel. A finished broadsword was placed nearby, waiting to be heat-treated after polishing.

The battle was fierce. Cheng Yijiu could see through the gap that the distance between the two front lines was only fifty meters. The artillery was also pushing up, and short assaults were carried out constantly. As the sky darkened, the battle continued. The blacksmith shop had become a morgue, and the bodies of the dead soldiers were carried in one by one - this was the large space closest to the battlefield. Rather than piling the dead in plain sight and demoralizing them, it was better to put them in a room that was not visible.

By this time, Cheng Yijiu had already left. Although the surface of the single-edged broadsword had not yet been carefully polished, the blade had been sharpened and the heat treatment had been completed. The entire sword was gray and unremarkable. The handle was made of wood and leather. When a human held it, it looked like a two-handed sword. Because its handle was very long, when holding it in werewolf form, the handle was just right for one hand to grasp, and the other hand could also grasp the end of the handle to apply force.

He sat cross-legged upstairs and began to assemble his firearms—which were useless now, as he had no bullets. The pharmacist's shop had already been occupied, and almost all the medicines inside had been requisitioned. The fierce fighting lasted until midnight, and the defending side seemed to have finally collapsed. Their reinforcements had not arrived yet, and Cheng Yijiu had no idea how they were organized. Perhaps they were some kind of private army of nobles?

Anyway, the night suddenly brightened, and the troops outside rushed in. Many houses were on fire, and the incoming and the defeated troops were looting. Cheng Yijiu saw that even the blacksmith's workshop was on fire. The stone walls could not be burned, but the roof had been burned through, and flames rushed out directly from inside. However, the house he was in was completely intact. No one set it on fire and no one looted it.

About twenty minutes later, someone finally noticed the place. After a burst of shouting that Cheng Yijiu couldn't quite understand, more than a dozen soldiers kicked open the unlocked iron gate and rushed to the door. The leading sergeant kicked it again and again, finally kicking it open. Cheng Yijiu heard their rough laughter and rushed in - but the sudden sound of the door closing made the hunter feel something was wrong.

He had never gone downstairs before, instead scaling the wall to the upper floor. During the week he'd lived there, he'd only gone downstairs during the day to search for supplies, spending less than an hour there. He had no idea what strange things might be happening down there. Still in human form, Cheng Yijiu listened to the sounds below. "After the door slammed, where did those voices go?" Although curious, Cheng Yijiu decided not to step out of the room.

Then came the sounds of heavy objects rolling and smashing, while the human screams were surprisingly soft, as if they were hundreds of meters away. Then, Cheng Yijiu heard the sound of gunfire, which was quite loud, followed by a gurgling sound, and finally, silence... Now, Cheng Yijiu also stopped moving, listening carefully to what was happening below. He could hear the creaking of the door hinges, as if the door was slowly opening again.

His sense of smell told him there was a pile of bloody corpses below. Their weapons had been fired, but they had failed to prevent the oncoming death. After that, there was only the smell of stale dust that filled the house. "You can't get out of this door. You can only enter and exit the room through the window." Cheng Yijiu didn't want to cause trouble. He quickly assembled the gun, put it on his back, grabbed a long-handled machete, and climbed out the window.

He didn't even glance into the first-floor window. He quickly left, armed with his back to the enemy—out of instinct. Cheng Yijiu felt that the house had become dangerous, and he didn't intend to return until it returned to peace. Outside was a living hell, with both winners and losers venting their animal desires—out of fear and madness, the residents of the town who hadn't had time to escape were found from their hiding places, and most of them were killed if they were unlucky.

A handful of people escaped, but their houses were all set on fire. In some places, the victors and the vanquished were still fighting, the roar of flames and the screams of the people echoing in the night sky. "What a horrible battlefield!" Cheng Yijiu sighed, sniffing the stench of burnt and bloody air. His gaze was inevitably drawn to a little girl, probably only three or four years old, wearing a red dress and holding a simple rag doll, walking amidst the flames and carnage.

For a moment, Cheng Yijiu felt as if he were in the movie Schindler's List, and his eyes couldn't help but follow the little girl...

Chapter 21 Rescue

"There's another one!" The soldier, already mad with looting and slaughter, suddenly spotted the little girl. He laughed wildly, raised his rifle, and prepared to bayonet the little girl. At that moment, a long, mournful wolf howl echoed through the night sky, followed by a shrill, increasingly close shriek.

The next second, before the soldier could stab, his entire upper body was suddenly split open, the wound running from his neck to his navel, completely severing his ribs and internal organs. The thing that had split him was pinned heavily to the wall several meters away, and the vibration even caused the burning house to collapse completely, except for the stone walls.

It was a massive, single-edged sword, hurled with terrifying force, flying at least a hundred meters before splitting the soldiers and embedding itself deeply in the wall. The next moment, the remaining soldiers saw the silver-gray werewolf following suit.

The massive werewolf, hunched over, approached at breakneck speed. The frightened soldiers raised their rifles and, as if by telepathy, unleashed a barrage of fire. Even the werewolf would have taken a few hits. But the werewolf disappeared, and Cheng Yijiu instantly moved sideways, cutting directly behind the burning house.

Rubble and burning wood flew all over the sky amidst the loud explosions. The burning werewolf broke through the house and appeared in front of the soldiers. He waved his claws, and blood spurted like a waterfall, directly spraying the walls of the burning house behind him with blood. The screams were very short.

Then there was another round of screams of collapse. The soldiers who were lucky enough not to be cut by the wind blade screamed and fled like women. Cheng Yijiu swept over with a hot wind, grabbed a soldier, and twisted it like a towel. The blood poured down and extinguished the flames on his hair.

He moved and grabbed another sturdy soldier. He bit into him like a carrot, biting off half of the man's body. After chewing it for a few times, he spat out a ball of chewed meat, bones, and torn cloth. "It tastes terrible!" the werewolf muttered, standing up straight.

It was a monster almost as tall as a house. Cheng Yijiu knew that the werewolf he transformed into was over three and a half meters tall when standing upright, making it one of the most terrifying beasts. Cheng Yijiu reached out and pulled out the single-edged broadsword embedded in the wall. With a blade nearly one and a half meters long, the broadsword in the werewolf's hand was just a slightly shorter machete.

"I'm a pretty good fighter." After gripping the hilt, Cheng Yijiu found just enough space at the back for half a palm. He thought his skills were quite good, absolutely acceptable. By the firelight, Cheng Yijiu carefully examined the blade—he wanted to see if the throw had caused any damage to the blade.

He turned the knife over, with the blade facing the sky, and looked at it from the handle. "Very good, the blade is not chipped or curled." The blade is quite thick, so it ensures the strength of the blade. The blade is now stained with blood and fat, which will not be conducive to chopping, but with the power of the werewolf, this does not matter.

The werewolf squatted down and looked at the little girl in front of him. "Aren't you afraid of me?" Cheng Yijiu tried to say this in French - he didn't know much German, so he could only try in French. The little girl shook her head. It seemed that she was not afraid of him, but Cheng Yijiu still couldn't understand what the girl said. Cheng Yijiu knew some of the names, so he asked about the girl's parents. The little girl said something, which seemed to mean that she couldn't find them.

Cheng Yijiu felt that she had most likely been killed. He sighed, lifted the little girl up and placed her on his shoulder. "Hold on to my hair." Cheng Yijiu made a clenching motion, and then he began to move. He had no intention of continuing to kill the soldiers in the town. After all, he was not German and had no connection with the residents here. Before he could take action, the owners of the bakery and butcher shop and their families disappeared. Apart from that, he didn't know anyone else.

There was no need to avenge them - this kind of thing should be very common these days. The real Thirty Years' War was so cruel that a lone farmer or soldier would definitely not survive if they met the other side. The entire German region was reduced to a wasteland, almost all adult men died, and the total population was reduced by at least a quarter.

In terms of horrific loss, it's probably comparable to the losses in World War II, isn't it? Proportionally worse, but not as numerous. As Cheng Yijiu was moving, the little girl suddenly screamed, and the werewolf stopped dead in his tracks. Following the girl's gaze, he saw bodies thrown into the burning house. The charred parts of the bodies that were exposed were still intact, likely belonging to the girl's family.

"Stop crying." Cheng Yijiu pushed down the house, burying them. The blood-stained werewolf then quickly left the town and entered the forest again. "Are you asking for trouble this time?" Cheng Yijiu stood in the stream under the moonlight, washing himself, and looked helplessly at the little girl who had fallen asleep sitting beside him.

The child was only four years old. She probably understood death, but not that it was a permanent separation. If Cheng Yijiu hadn't taken action, even if the soldiers hadn't killed her, the girl probably wouldn't have survived. "Although it's a punishment mission, this time I can at least control my humanity. No wonder I couldn't regain my human form the first few times, but this time, at least I'm a magical creature."

Cheng Yijiu untransformed, retrieved his hidden clothes from the woods, and put them on. "Next, I need to find some money. I think robbing and killing those soldiers would be a good idea." It would definitely be uncomfortable to be with a little girl, so Cheng Yijiu was prepared. "The wolf hunters will catch up. Where should we go? Let's take it one step at a time. I think we should still go west. If there is a real chaos, I remember France is relatively calm."

Staying in the German area was definitely not a good choice. Cheng Yijiu picked up the sleeping girl and wrapped her tightly with extra clothes. Then he quickly caught up with the soldiers with his gun on his back and a big knife in hand - they had been partying all night after capturing the town, and now they started to put out the fire.

These guys probably realized by now that they had made a huge mistake. If they really turned this place into a wasteland, they wouldn't be able to stay. So what was the point of occupying this important transportation route? So what needed to be rescued must be rescued, the looting and killing must stop, and they had to find a way to restore the town's vitality and find some residents to fill it.

Chapter 22 Infiltration

That was a matter for those guys to think about on their own, while Cheng Yijiu and the little girl were trying to find a way to survive. It wouldn't matter if Cheng Yijiu were alone, but how was he supposed to keep a four-year-old girl alive? Eating raw meat and drinking blood with him in the mountains wouldn't work, and Cheng Yijiu could already vaguely smell a distinct scent—the same one he'd smelled on the wolf hunters, their mastiffs, and their warhorses.

This only meant that the werewolf hunters weren't far behind, but they might not be the same team. "Damn, business is so good?" Cheng Yijiu complained, placing the girl on his shoulder and transforming again. The silver-gray werewolf rushed through the forest at high speed. This business was really lucrative. The muskets those people were equipped with were completely different from the weapons in the hands of the soldiers. Cheng Yijiu knew very well that this was definitely a limited-edition, high-end product.

At least the bullets were definitely handmade and rare, making large-scale military deployment impossible. "Maybe they were even made by an alchemist," Cheng Yijiu said, not disrespecting him. Perhaps professional chemists simply didn't exist these days. However, the guns he'd painstakingly crafted were now just firewood. So far, he hadn't even had the chance to make primers, let alone bullets.

Cheng Yijiu hunted a wild boar. With his werewolf mobility, this wasn't difficult, but the meat was difficult for him to eat. He definitely wouldn't be able to eat it if he were revived, so he could only gnaw on some of the raw meat in his werewolf form. As for the little girl... Cheng Yijiu could only try to get her to eat the offal, especially the liver. The liver and stomach were more suitable, but they had to be cooked thoroughly to avoid parasitic infections.

But werewolves are different. They have no problem eating raw offal and pork.

As for resting at night, Cheng Yijiu had to hold the girl, otherwise his small body wouldn't be able to bear it. The werewolf urgently needed to find a town so he could try to rest, because his sense of smell told him that the werewolf hunters were getting closer. Running through the Black Forest, Cheng Yijiu encountered almost no other dark creatures, as if each had its own territory. The scent left by this place was that of some kind of bird.

The next day, Cheng Yijiu spotted the owner of this place while running in human form, carrying the little girl on his back. It was a rather large gray stork, its beak and claws black, reflecting a sheen in the sunlight—a sheen Cheng Yijiu was familiar with, like the sheen of steel. Its gray feathers also had a unique reflective quality, making them look like metal.

The stork was probably as tall as a man, and looked quite ferocious. It had spotted Cheng Yijiu and the little girl—Cheng Yijiu now knew the girl's name, Hannah, a very common name. The stork swooped down, not very fast. As it approached, Cheng Yijiu rolled on the ground and hugged the little girl. The stork's neck popped out, and its black beak pierced through the tree, which was as thick as a man.

Then, with a jerk of his neck, he pulled out his sharp beak. It opened and closed with a few clicks before looking at Cheng Yijiu. Cheng Yijiu also transformed, revealing a silver-gray, human-like giant wolf. He reached out and pulled out his single-edged broadsword from his back. "Damn it! My broadsword isn't made of cold iron. I wonder if its steel can compare to this weird gray stork." The strange bird looked incredibly small in front of the enormous werewolf.

The bird tilted its head, then spread its wings a few seconds later and flew away. But before it flew away, it flapped its wings, sending dozens of feathers flying like crossbow bolts, striking Cheng Yijiu's mane. The quills of these feathers were sharp, pointed, and seemed to be made of metal. The feathers tore through Cheng Yijiu's defenses and pierced his flesh. If it weren't for the limited length of the quills, an ordinary person would have been pierced.

The bird quickly flew away, and Cheng Yijiu quickly untransformed, taking Hannah away. After crossing the ridge, he saw a highway. After traveling along the highway for half a day, Cheng Yijiu saw a city in the valley. This must be a city, because the valley turned into a large plain here, and a river flowed through, dividing the city in half. The city had walls, and the total area must be at least five or six square kilometers.

Cheng Yijiu took clothes from the bag, put them on, and secretly climbed over the wall with Hannah into the city. As usual, they searched for empty houses—but there were almost no such houses in this city, so Cheng Yijiu could only find an inn. Fortunately, he had money with him, and using silver coins to pave the way would make the other party ignore any suspicious points about him. Cheng Yijiu finally had a meal that normal people should eat with Hannah.

They could now rest in their normal beds. The wolf hunters' pursuit would take at least two days, and if they encountered that strange gray stork, it might even take longer. Cheng Yijiu could use this time to strengthen his armament, at least by equipping himself with bullets. While his knife wouldn't need to be improved for now, a suit of chain mail was definitely necessary.

Even against firearms, chain mail still had its uses. If the keyholes were fine enough and of high quality, it should be able to stop quite a few bullets. As for the impact... a massive werewolf could definitely withstand it. As far as Cheng Yijiu could remember, if this era was truly as he imagined, then simple machines for weaving chain mail would already exist. He would only need to weave it to his specifications.

All of this could be solved with money, so Cheng Yijiu just needed to get enough. And this place, this place also had dark creatures—many of them, all hidden in this city of perhaps over a hundred thousand people. The smell of these creatures was everywhere, from the rivers and sewers to the bell tower and the slums. The church was diagonally across from the hostel Cheng Yijiu was staying in, and a little further away was a small cemetery—these were probably all the dignitaries, while the common people were in the cemetery outside the city, but the smell of ghouls was still there.

There are demon hunters in the city, and Cheng Yijiu smelled a scent similar to that of wolf hunters, but there was no werewolf scent in this city. Perhaps werewolves don't like to stay in the city, they prefer to mingle with people in the countryside - the reason is quite simple, most werewolves can't control their transformation on the full moon night, and they are easily exposed in the city... Cheng Yijiu doesn't have this problem, only those professional wolf hunters can recognize him.

So, Cheng Yijiu began to scout out the area - first of all, he had to find out where the wealthy merchants and nobles in the city were...

Chapter 23 Preparation

A good way to borrow money is actually to rob the vault of a bank in the city. Simply robbing merchants and nobles has some small problems - that is, nobles and merchants are likely to be poor people with insufficient liquidity, or they may rob a bunch of valuable furniture and tableware, and have to take the trouble to find a way to exchange the stolen goods for money.

So Cheng Yijiu finally chose a bank. As a werewolf vault, it could not stop him - a one-meter-thick stone wall was nothing to a werewolf. As long as he quietly used his claws to dig a hole little by little in the dark, he could dig a hole big enough for a person to crawl in within an hour at most.

Cheng Yijiu decided to do it anyway. His demands weren't high; a hundred or so gold coins would be enough. This amount of gold coins would allow him to live in a nice family-run hotel with a garden, three meals a day, and hot showers. Such services could last a four-year-old girl until she was twenty-four... Of course, this was in peacetime.

Ordinary people hardly see or use gold coins in their daily lives. The large-denomination coins they use are just silver coins.

As night fell, the city, with the exception of the upper town and a few bars, fell into a dark slumber. At this time, Cheng Yijiu walked out silently, walking cautiously in the darkness. At this time, it was the world of demon hunters and dark creatures, and ordinary residents should hide in their homes.

Cheng Yijiu was almost jumping forward on the dirty streets - although the city already had a sewer system and municipally paid cleaning union workers who were responsible for daily public street cleaning, the ground was still quite dirty - what a damn quality of the citizens.

Cheng Yijiu cursed inwardly, but ultimately there was nothing he could do. Compared to medieval European cities, this place was already much better. Furthermore, there was a river running through the center, preventing it from becoming a cesspool. A slight odor, a few urine stains, or something, was considered good enough—at least there was no feces…

Of course, Cheng Yijiu also saw those scum sneaking around in the dark. There was no need to see them clearly. Just the presence of them made them look like villains and scum - whether they were human or not was another matter. These scum and scum watched Cheng Yijiu pass by and gradually surrounded him with tiny sounds. These rats dared to do such a thing.

If it were any ordinary person, they would only see a stripped body in the gutter the next day. If they were not careful, they might not even have a body, but become one of the missing persons. When Cheng Yijiu stood behind the bank, this group of scum also surrounded him. They were all scum with rat-like eyes and dog-oil beards, but the knives in their hands were shining.

"I think at least half of these people aren't human." Cheng Yijiu glanced around and muttered disdainfully. The next moment, a silver-gray giant wolf appeared, and those scumbags scattered like rats on fire. However, there were some unlucky ones who didn't escape...

Cheng Yijiu waved his arms, and the wind blade easily cut the four pieces of trash into pieces. With the crackling sound of bones, Cheng Yijiu sniffed the rusty smell in the air with satisfaction, and then he started to work - his sharp claws grabbed the hard rocks as if they were soil, and broke them into gravel and threw them out.

It took less time than he expected. Half an hour later, Cheng Yijiu had carved a hole about a meter in diameter. He then untransformed and crawled inside. Inside were boxes. When they were opened, they contained mostly silver coins, but not many gold coins. Cheng Yijiu wasn't ruthless and simply wrapped a piece of cloth with about a hundred gold coins and the equivalent amount of silver coins before crawling out again.

After that, he left, stealing a few suits from a tailor and leaving behind a few silver coins. Those scum who had been lurking around him were long gone—and word of the werewolf had probably spread, so those scum who roamed the nights should beware. Werewolves were known for their brutality and bloodlust, terrifying monsters to both ordinary people and those living in the dark.

As expected, Cheng Yijiu moved to a new place to live. He rented two rooms in a family-run hotel run by a widow and paid for a full year's rent. He even paid an extra fee for the other party to provide three meals. Leaning against the second-floor window, Cheng Yijiu saw the demon hunter - the smell told him it was the demon hunter.

The man wore a black leather cape and a large-brimmed hat. He had a slender rapier hanging from his waist and a musket in his pocket. His leather boots clicked as he moved around, sometimes hopping like a monkey. Cheng Yijiu knew he was tracking the dark creatures, the ratmen hiding in the sewers. His hopping was a way to mimic their movements, and Cheng Yijiu's nose had already taught him how the rats moved.

After jumping around, this guy seemed to be aware of the gaze, stopped, raised his head, and pushed the brim of his hat up with his thumb. Cheng Yijiu was also stunned for a moment. It turned out to be a young woman - "She didn't wear any perfume and she smelled so bad, I thought it was a man." It was also the guy's fault for not paying attention.

The girl looked down at Cheng Yijiu and gave him an embarrassed smile. She flicked her hat brim as a greeting and then returned to the pursuit. This made Cheng Yijiu laugh. This was definitely a novice. Cheng Yijiu watched the girl skipping away. Killing a few ratmen was arguably the best task for a novice.

How many witchers began their careers this way.

The wolf hunters arrived a little later. Cheng Yijiu stood upstairs, watching the black horses and carriages pass along the road. Wolf heads were pinned to the four corners of the carriages, proving their identities. It seemed the mastiffs hadn't entered the city, but it was also possible that this group of wolf hunters didn't have any.

These wolf hunters were all middle-aged men with faces that looked quite capable. Despite being called wolf hunters, they were the elite among the demon hunters, specializing in dealing with the most dangerous dark creatures, werewolves and vampires. As for the most dangerous monsters, such as vampire dukes and summoned demons, these were the most dangerous monsters that had to be handed over to the professional judgment of the church.

Cheng Yijiu looked at these six people, including the one on the carriage, a total of six people, and he was a little troubled - he had to speed up his actions, go to the weapons workshop in the city and buy a few pieces of the best chain mail directly, and then come back and string them together into an extra-large one - when they were in human form, he could use cloth strips to stack them and tie them up, and after transforming, he could just break the cloth strips.

Chapter 24 Out of Control

Finding an Alpha Wolf in a city is a difficult task—because Alpha Wolves can transform at will and possess rationality. In human form, silver tools don't significantly harm them, allowing them to endure the damage, making them incredibly difficult opponents. Fortunately, there are never many Alpha Wolves; werewolves who reach Alpha level are no longer the same dark creatures as other werewolves.

Therefore, the bounty for an Alpha Wolf is also very high, essentially the same as that of a prince-level vampire—interestingly, vampires are also divided into two types: vampires and Count Dracula. Vampires, from the lowest blood slave to the highest prince, are all called vampires, with varying powers and abilities based on rank and years of life. While Count Dracula is also a vampire, he is a completely different being, the Lord of the Unborn, the King of the Night.

Dracula's bounty was definitely much higher than Cheng Yijiu's, because he was just an unknown alpha wolf—even though there were probably twelve alpha wolves in all of Europe, and Dracula's bounty for all twelve alpha wolves combined couldn't even compare to his. And that was even among the notorious alpha wolves. Dracula was completely on a different level, and his bounty had been on the shelf for years with no one claiming it.

As soon as the wolf hunters disappeared, Cheng Yijiu headed for the weapons workshop. Back then, there were no laws prohibiting the possession of weapons, especially swords and chain mail. Even muskets weren't explicitly prohibited, though buying gunpowder was a challenge. As long as one had money, weapons were readily available—especially since the place was about to begin a major riot, so weapons were definitely in demand.

Cheng Yijiu wanted to buy a whole set of chain mail, which he could then cut and string together himself. The weapons workshop actually had chain mail available, so he chose the smallest, most finely meshed, and most expensive, and placed an order directly. He wanted to cover his body, with the lower end falling to the knees. He didn't need to protect his arms, just the front and back. This would require at least five square meters of material.

After paying the deposit, Cheng Yijiu slipped away, still retiring to avoid being spotted by the werewolf hunters. Up until this point, Cheng Yijiu had managed his duties perfectly. His only concern was that the punishment mission wouldn't allow him to slip through, forcing him to lose his mind and transform into a killing spree. Therefore, it was necessary to make advance preparations—Cheng Yijiu himself felt he might not be able to stay in the city and would have to live outside, while the little girl could be entrusted to the widow's care. As long as he confirmed that he would visit regularly and pay the bills, she wouldn't be mistreated.

Cheng Yijiu acted immediately. He moved out immediately after making arrangements with the widow, not taking back the year's salary but giving it as a down payment. The hunter quickly left town, but before leaving, he secretly broke into the pharmacist's shop to get some materials for making primers. As for copper shells and gunpowder, Cheng Yijiu had already collected some. He decided to gradually transform his living space into a small workshop, at least with the equipment to assemble bullets and the ability to repair weapons.

At least a heating furnace was necessary, along with hammers and other supplies, which could be obtained by stealing or purchasing from workshops throughout the city. Cheng Yijiu had also spotted a stone house near his own residence. It was in a state of disrepair, so he bought it cheaply and began repairing it—as long as it didn't leak. Even though the warmth during the day kept Cheng Yijiu in control, he still felt a bit irritable at night.

He was not only protected by Apollo, the god of light, but also by Artemis, goddess of the moon and the hunt. Even Artemis would be curious about someone protected by his twin brother, a hunter who had offered such a powerful prey to Apollo, and would naturally pay him a bit of extra attention. It was thanks to Apollo and Artemis that Cheng Yijiu was able to contain the werewolf blood he had acquired during this punishment mission. Even an Alpha Wolf would go berserk if it accumulated...