Chapter 128: Hunting Grounds

Chen Mo had already learned some things about the Hunting Grounds.

The Hunting Grounds opened once every five days, and the next opening would be at six in the evening two days later. Each hunt lasted for six hours. If players exceeded that time, the teleportation NPC would disappear, and they could only return by dying and resurrecting.

The content of the hunt involved killing monsters. Chen Mo was not clear about the specific rules, but with the pretty lady La Xia there, he had spent some Gold Coins and was no longer unfamiliar with the Hunting Grounds.

For the next two days, Chen Mo did not log into the Game much. He only logged in each day to check if there were any sudden incidents in the Land of Exile.

Chen Mo did not join the competition for the monsters regularly refreshed on the second level. Each time, 25 monsters spawned. Without PK, killing others, or snatching monsters, he could at most obtain two. In a day, that would be eight Beast Cores. To compete, he would need to expose Sesshylow, but Chen Mo did not want to draw attention, so he simply gave up. Struggling for that little bit of Experience was really not worth it. If he could not level up in the Hunting Grounds, he would then consider joining the competition.

After the Game update, players could stay online for 24 hours if their body and spirit could handle it. Because Chen Mo was in the Land of Exile, his daily online time was pitifully low. While other Players were rapidly increasing their Level, he remained at the same place.

If he stayed in the Land of Exile for a full month, the loss would be huge.

Thinking this, the price of having a Black Name was truly not ordinary.

During these two days, Chen Mo encountered several newly arrived Blacklisted Players. Most of these Blacklisted Players, after learning the rules of the Land of Exile, resolutely committed suicide, deleted their characters, and started over.

Now that they could be online all day, training back to Level 15 or 16 would only take about half a month. With bad luck in the Land of Exile, they might not even be able to leave after staying a full month.

Even some of the original Blacklisted Players resolutely chose to commit suicide and start over.

Those unwilling to commit suicide and delete their characters in the Land of Exile were those whose characters had gained some rare benefits that were difficult to obtain again. Noticing this, Chen Mo could not help but feel curious.

There were thirty to forty people here. Could it be that all of them had such hard-to-give-up benefits?

If so, this small Land of Exile had gathered a large group of elites from the Huaxia Region?

At a bit past five in the evening two days later, Chen Mo logged in early.

At the lowest level of the Land of Exile, there were already many Players. Among the forty-plus people, even those who, like Chen Mo, usually did not compete for the second-floor monsters, were waiting early.

The forty-plus people were divided into three groups. Two large groups were the Six Paths Guild and the Seven Heavens Guild. The other group consisted of a few scattered Players.

Chen Mo saw Six Paths Maniac and Qi Se Yu Yi. The impression of Six Paths Maniac was very different from what Chen Mo had imagined. He was actually a young Assassin who looked shifty and dishonest. It was hard to imagine such a young man becoming the leader of the Six Paths Guild and leading over ten Blacklisted Players.

Qi Se Yu Yi was much more normal. He was a handsome young man in his twenties with a dashing appearance. His profession was Archer, and his image was much better than Six Paths Maniac’s.

Among the scattered Players, Chen Mo saw Qing Tian and the mature lady in black armor beside her. This mature lady was the same person Chen Mo had encountered two days before. It seemed she was Xue Ye Hua, the leader of the Snow Night Guild.

When Chen Mo appeared, the group of people looked over, and many had strange expressions in their eyes.

“Is this the one who came a few days ago, didn’t commit suicide to go back, and didn’t fight monsters to snatch Beast Cores?”

Chen Mo did not know that while he was observing the large group of Blacklisted Players, the shifty-looking Six Paths Maniac he had judged was asking a few frequently online members of the Six Paths Guild.

“That’s him. He logged in occasionally these past few days but only stayed for a short while before logging off. He didn’t go for Beast Cores. If he had, we planned to give him a hard time, but he never went, so we had no chance.” One person quickly answered.

“Then what is he here for? He must know that he needs ten Beast Cores to go to the Hunting Grounds.” Another core member of the Six Paths Guild frowned, voicing Six Paths Maniac’s doubt.

“Qi Se Yu Yi, what do you think of that Hunter who arrived several days ago?”

Even more surprising to Chen Mo was that the leaders of the two rival Guilds, whom he thought were enemies, actually started communicating because of him.

“It’s a bit strange. From what my people say, he shouldn’t have ten Beast Cores to go to the Hunting Grounds, unless someone privately sold Beast Cores to him.” Qi Se Yu Yi shook his head as he replied.

“Impossible! We control all the Beast Cores in the Land of Exile. Xue Ye Hua and those scattered Players only have Beast Cores to go to the Hunting Grounds because they made agreements with us, and the number of Beast Cores is exactly right, not one more, not one less. Unless one of them decided not to go and sold their Beast Cores at a high price to that newcomer!” The young Six Paths Maniac said without hesitation.

“Of course I know! If anyone dares to sell Beast Cores to him, that person won’t be able to stay in the Land of Exile. They should get ready to be wiped out!” Qi Se Yu Yi said coldly.

“If anyone has that nerve, be sure to call me. I’ll make them understand the cost of breaking the agreement!” Six Paths Maniac’s voice carried a chilling tone.

“Later, let the scattered Players teleport first. We’ll know at a glance who didn’t go!” Qi Se Yu Yi suggested.

“Good, let’s do that!”

The two then separately contacted people. The scattered Players who hadn’t joined the two major Guilds received their messages and found it a bit strange, but none asked further. Only the mature lady in black armor, Xue Ye Hua, glanced at Chen Mo in the distance after receiving the message.

“Morris is here!”

At the Resurrection Point, which was also the lowest-level Teleportation Array, a white light flashed, and an old man with white hair named Morris appeared.

“The Hunting Grounds will open soon. Same rules as before, don’t run too far. Those who don’t return to the Teleportation Array within six hours will be left in the Hunting Grounds. The number of people participating this time is about the same as last time. We’ll also teleport over in two groups. Those who want to go first, stand on the Teleportation Array now.” Morris looked at the crowd and spoke loudly.

The scattered Players who had received instructions from Six Paths Maniac and Qi Se Yu Yi all stood up and walked onto the Teleportation Array.

Chen Mo, who was standing a bit far away, also walked over without hesitation under the slightly gloomy gazes of Six Paths Maniac and Qi Se Yu Yi.

“Shui Huo Burong, take a few people and follow them over. After teleporting, if you are near that Hunter, kill him and send him back immediately!” Six Paths Maniac knew that this Hunter likely had Beast Cores and promptly called several capable subordinates to teleport over together.

“Yes,” answered the steady Warrior named Shui Huo Burong. He brought a few people and stood on the Teleportation Array.

Seeing that the number of people was about right, Morris waved his hand and activated the Teleportation Array. More than half of the people on the Teleportation Array were teleported away.

“He really teleported over, and none of the scattered Players stayed behind. Six Paths, what’s going on?” Qi Se Yu Yi asked in confusion.

“We control the Beast Cores very strictly. It’s absolutely impossible for there to be extra Beast Cores.” Six Paths Maniac said coldly.

“Then what exactly is happening?” Qi Se Yu Yi asked impatiently.

“Have you forgotten that woman Xue Ye Hua? This guy must have some kind of privilege here, just like Xue Ye Hua!”

“Privileged class? Then we definitely can’t let him live. We need to kill him quickly in the Hunting Grounds after entering, or it might become troublesome!”

Qi Se Yu Yi was startled, then his expression turned fierce.

“Of course!”

…

“It’s unbelievable. The monsters in this place are actually raised by the Land of Exile.”

Appearing on a grassy hill, Chen Mo looked at the vast land and could not help but murmur.

From La Xia, Chen Mo knew that the land he was on now, although similar to the outside world, was not the real outside world. The sky above was fake; it was formed by a huge Magic Array. The biggest evidence was the blazing sun emitting strong white light high above.

That was not the sun, and what fell was not sunlight, but light emitted by a light Magic Array. Under this light, humans could move normally on this land. Once that light disappeared, the land would be covered by thick red fog. Humans could not survive in this fog, which the Land of Exile used to raise monsters.

Monsters living in the red fog would form various crystals inside their bodies. Blacklisted Players came here to hunt these raised monsters, obtain the crystals from their bodies, and give them to Morris. This could reduce their Crime Value or give them a lot of Experience Points.

“Eh? A Silver-level monster!” Standing on the hill, Chen Mo saw a monster with a half-exposed silver-glowing crystal on its forehead.

The crystals formed by the monsters here were displayed on their foreheads. Based on the crystal’s Level, they could be divided into four types: Bronze, Black Iron, Silver, and Gold. Among them, a Silver-level crystal could reduce 3 points of Crime Value at Morris’s place and increase a Player’s Experience Points by 10%.

10% Experience Points per monster was something Chen Mo would not miss. He moved quickly and rushed toward that monster.

It was a huge ape with a blood-red body. Due to the erosion of the red fog, all the monsters here were this color, but the crystals they formed had nothing to do with the blood-red color, which was a bit strange.

The Blood-red Giant Ape was Level 17 with very high Health Points, a full 100,000. It was slow for Chen Mo to kill it alone, so he called out Sesshylow.

After fighting for a while, Chen Mo found that the Blood-red Giant Ape’s body had a distant erosive quality. When hit by it, the body’s Defense ability would decrease a lot, and Health Points would continuously drop.

But Sesshylow’s condition was a bit strange. She was hit by the Blood-red Giant Ape several times but did not continuously lose Health Points like him. Instead, her body gradually turned blood-red; he did not know the reason.

Hmm, someone’s coming.

The Blood-red Giant Ape’s Health Points were nearly half gone when Chen Mo’s eyes shifted, looking toward the top of a distant hill where a figure appeared.

“Mimicry!”

Using the Blood-red Giant Ape as cover, Chen Mo immediately had Sesshylow retreat and use the Mimicry skill, turning into a clump of grass, hiding on the ground.

Initially, he thought Sesshylow could use Stealth because Sesshylow had used the Mimicry skill, turning into a thin sheet of ice and moving on the icy surface. The Mimicry skill only canceled after being affected by Bevicent’s Magic Scroll.