"Are you serious about what you said?" The man dressed in smart formal wear sat in a speeding off-road vehicle, looking at the vast wilderness before him, turning to the driver beside him, "Did you really see the fugitive with a billion bounty?"

"Absolutely, he should still be there now," the driver looked at the man, speaking excitedly, "Boss, that’s a billion. We’ve been doing business in this Wilderness Wanderer Camp for ages, even if we did it for a lifetime and took over the whole camp, it wouldn’t be worth a corner of a billion."

"You’re so excited, be careful not to earn it alive and end up dead," the formal man snorted coldly, looked up, and glanced at the broken road ahead, "Someone with a billion bounty, can we afford to provoke them? The syndicate is so powerful and still couldn’t catch him, is the syndicate’s money that easy to earn?"

"But the bounty says," a burly man sitting in the back leaned forward excitedly, looking at the man in formal wear and laughed, "as long as you can provide any useful clues, you can earn at least ten million in rewards,"

He looked at the man in formal wear, "Boss, we definitely dare not touch the billion, but providing clues is a breeze, then we can make good connections with the city syndicate leaders, get some city identities, and leave this godforsaken place for good."

"Is it frustrating to follow me here?" The man in formal wear raised his head, turned slightly, and glanced at the burly man leaning forward from the backseat.

"Of course not, of course not," the burly man quickly said, "Following the boss here is definitely good, but if the boss could lead us to create a career in the city, that would be even more limitless."

"You’re quite good with words." The man in formal wear adjusted his stiff suit, looked up, and glanced north.

At the edge of his field of view, there seemed to be a towering city, faintly revealing some traces on the horizon.

Ains, the capital of the Federation.

He withdrew his gaze, rolled up the car window to prevent the surrounding dust from dirtying his suit.

"Are you sure that person hasn’t left?" He lowered his head and asked again.

The road ahead had disappeared, leaving only an endless expanse of wild land, and they seemed to be delving deep into the wilderness, a place no one had reached.

"Definitely not wrong," the burly man chuckled, raising a communicator in his hand, "I’ve left someone keeping watch over there, he keeps sending me messages."

"Have him be careful," the man in formal wear lowered his head, speaking coldly, "don’t startle the snake."

"Of course," the burly man continued chuckling, "we definitely won’t startle the snake, this is tens of millions, boss, we’re going to hit it big."

"Yeah," the man in formal wear lowered his head, speaking hoarsely, "we’re going to hit it big."

······

The strong wind blew over the knee-high swaying grass, and the elderly with curly white hair walked through the thick grass towards another part of the mountain.

Far behind him, the man in formal wear lowered his binoculars and glanced down at the wanted notice on his tablet computer, "It really is that Hawke."

"Boss," a burly man immediately leaned over, speaking excitedly, "let’s quickly send people into the city to inform those city lords, if we’re late, this guy might run away."

"No rush yet." The man in formal wear put away the tablet computer and looked back behind him.

The thin driver, two burly men, and a short, bespectacled man with a cunning face.

"Did you search the surrounding area?" The man in formal wear asked gently, "Is there anyone else nearby? If they steal our credit, we won’t even get a sip of the soup, let alone eat the meat."

"We are deep in the wilderness here, full of dangerous exotic beasts, people won’t come here," the burly man on the left spoke up, glancing at the cunning man in the corner, "If it weren’t for Rat looking for herbs and setting traps for exotic beasts, we wouldn’t have encountered this guy."

"Yes, boss, that’s how it is." The man called Rat curled up, speaking softly, "The exotic beasts here are dangerous, and no one would come nearby. Those hunters only hunt in the eastern hunting grounds, if it weren’t for these very rare herbs, I wouldn’t have come here either."

"Okay," the man in formal wear nodded, "but we still need to conduct a sweep, success requires secrecy, we must be cautious."

"The boss’s reasoning makes sense," the silent thin driver agreed, "The boss always considers things thoroughly."

"Alright, we’ll split into two teams to search the eastern and western areas, don’t go too far, stay in contact with the communicator." The man in formal wear glanced at the talkative burly man, "You follow me."

Hearing this, the burly man was briefly stunned and then quickly spoke excitedly, "Thank you, boss, for the opportunity."

With that, the group of five split up, each heading their own way

The man called Rat lifted his head, glanced at the burly man following the man in formal wear, and watched the two disappear into the grass. Then he averted his gaze and ventured into the grass with the other two.

Meanwhile, not long after the man in formal wear went into the grass, he stopped in a corner, crouched down, seemingly studying something.

"Boss," the burly man who had followed eagerly ran over, "Did you find anything?"

But before he could stand firm, a dagger, along with spraying blood, pierced through his throat.

"Gurgle, gurgle, gurgle—"

Blood gushed from his throat, but the man in the formal wear only pressed his mouth, pushing him into the grass.

As the blood stained the green grass, the man in formal wear calmly withdrew the dagger, "Brother, don’t blame me. Sometimes, knowing too much isn’t a good thing. The more people to split the money with, the less each gets."

With that, he covered the burly man’s eyes, crouched, and slipped into the other side of the grass.

The moment he left, the burly man’s eyes reopened wide, staring at the sky.

The wind stirred the grass slowly, and a figure emerged through the grass, standing beside the burly man.

······

Meanwhile, on the other side, three figures were exploring forward along the grass.

"I think there shouldn’t be anyone else here," Rat said hoarsely, trailing behind the group.

"It’s not normal for people to be in this dump," the thin driver snorted, "But since the boss insists on being cautious, we should be cautious. If the boss catches us slacking, we’re done for."

The burly man in front stayed silent, lowering his head, carefully parting the leaves with a miniature radar in his hand to detect any figures around.

"I’m saying," Rat kept his head down, eyes lingering ominously on their backs, "I think there shouldn’t be anyone else here."

"What do you mean?" the driver asked, puzzled, turning to look at Rat, "Is something wrong with your head? Why do you keep repeating the same thing?"

"I’m saying," Rat raised his head, voice rising slightly and sounding hoarse, "I found the target."

"I think you’re losing it," the driver straightened up, "Don’t you know who you’re working for? Did you find it? And don’t say, when you found it,"

He turned to glance at the burly man in front, roaring low, "there were others present."

Rat lifted his head, looked at the burly man ahead, and then lowered his gaze, "I found the target; there’s no one else here anymore."

At this moment, the burly man walking in front paused for a moment, lowered his head to look at the radar in his hand, gazing at the rapidly approaching figure on the radar, then turned around and looked behind him.

And in that instant, a vine suddenly sprung out from beneath his feet and looped around his neck.

Behind him, a bent tree suddenly sprang up, hanging his body, shaking rapidly.

Countless tiny poisoned arrows burst out from the surroundings, piercing into his body.

After a brief struggle, his movements completely stopped, and he was hung on the tree like a leaf dancing in the wind.

The driver’s gaze was drawn to this scene, and before he could react, he heard a faint sound coming from behind.

He turned his head, looking behind to see a mouse with a blowpipe in its mouth, "No, wait, we can negotiate, I don’t want money, I can acknowledge you as the boss—"

Poof—

But before he could finish speaking, a slender poisoned arrow pierced the root of his neck, his body stiffened, and he fell directly backward.

"The survival of the foolish loyalty won’t tell others, everything is mine," ’Mouse’ glanced at the burly man’s corpse hanging from the tree, then put down the blowpipe in his hand, looking at the driver’s corpse on the ground, "there are still two."

As soon as he finished speaking, a faint sound came from behind, but before he could take action, a dagger slashed across his neck, cutting open his neck with splattering blood.

"These lowlifes do things thoroughly," the man in a suit pushed ’Mouse’s’ body forward to the ground and stomped hard, "they even dare to covet my money."

Then he glanced at the bodies on the ground, took out a locator from his pocket, "Now it’s all mine."

Before leaving, he had already sent a message to the city to bring people over to capture the wanted criminals.

He turned his head, looking at the not far away slope, which was empty with nothing.

He was slightly stunned, "Where are they? Where are they?"

He raised the radar in his hand, aimlessly pointing at the slope, "They were just here, where did they go?"

The radar in his hand flickered for a moment, and soon a light dot appeared on the radar, speeding towards him from the direction of the slope.

Happiness emerged on his face, "Lucky!"

Saying this, he was about to dive into the nearby grass.

He only needed to locate the target and wait for the people from the city to arrive, there was no need to confront such terrifying figures.

Just then, he saw the light spot on the radar flicker and instantly appear at the center position, meaning it was right in front of him.

He raised his head, looking around, and his surroundings were empty.

Swish—

The blades of grass in front of him suddenly parted, revealing a face covered in fresh blood, with eyes wide open right in front of him.

"Boss," the bloodstained face gazed at the suited man, cracked a smile, "Why are you here? We should be investigating the other side."

The man in a suit looked at the sudden appearance of the bloodstained face, looking at the blood hole on the person who had arrived, he stepped back two steps, straightened his body, "You go first to investigate, I’ll come later."

"Boss, it should be done together." A deep voice sounded in the suited man’s ears, "It’s easier to run into trouble when separated."

The man in the suit turned around, looked behind him, and saw only a burly man standing behind him, his whole body bruised and eyes wide open, with a vine still hanging around his neck, gazing at him.

And behind this burly man, the skinny driver and the sinister ’Mouse’ also slowly crawled up.

"What illusion powers?" The man in a suit straightened his body, glanced to either side, clenched the dagger in his hand, and slowly retreated to the other side, "Once I get the money, I’ll grind you to dust."

As he spoke, he glanced at the empty slope, clenched his teeth, and began to retreat.

Just then, a bloodstained hand reached from behind him, wrapped around his neck, and a hoarse yet gentle voice sounded in his ear, "Boss, don’t go, don’t go, you said my son would come back in two or three days."

"You gave me your son yourself, money in one hand and the goods in the other," the man in the suit snorted coldly, broke free from the embrace, and looked behind him, there was a blood-stained, one-armed woman, her chest was cut open, inside seemed to be nothing but a hollow, "And now you regret it?"

He retreated while hoarsely saying, "When speaking and doing things, one must follow rules and reason."

His speed became faster and faster, until he quickly crossed the grass and returned to the side of the off-road vehicle.

He started the off-road vehicle, "Playing tricks, once I find the consortium, I’ll kill you all, kill you all."

The speeding off-road vehicle raced through the wilderness. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

In the vast wilderness, pairs of eyes seemed to light up, apparently belonging to the exotic beasts of the wilderness.

In this desolate wasteland, the man in a suit pressed the accelerator to the floor, rushing to the outside.

Before long, the sky dimmed without knowing when, leaving only a blood-colored sky covering the firmament, and ahead emerged a lone stone house.

The man in a suit took a sudden turn, bypassing the stone house.

But before he could turn his gaze back, the off-road vehicle crashed headlong into a stone house, the car door burst open, and his body rolled to a blood-red millstone.

He raised his head, only to see a gaunt figure inside the stone house, pushing the millstone, while cutting off parts of his body with a bloodstained curved knife, throwing them into the millstone.

He lowered his head, like a gaunt old donkey pulling at the millstone, "Just a bit more, just a bit more, I’ll soon have enough money, Mom, when the debt is paid, I’ll redeem you, when the debt is paid, I’ll redeem you all, we’ll leave here, we’ll never come back."

Pulling, pulling, he raised his head, saw the man in a suit driving the off-road vehicle.

He raised the curved knife, walked towards the man in the suit, with a flattering and ingratiating smile on his face, "Sir, sir, look, I’m about to earn enough money."

He raised the curved knife, chopped at the man in the suit’s arm, tore off the man in the suit’s flesh, throwing it toward the turning millstone, "Soon, soon, just, just almost there."

······

Standing atop the windy hill, He Ao lowered his head, glanced at his hand engulfed in flames.

Accompanying his further mastering of the ’Fear Skill’ within the ’Hell Manager’ Talent Sequences, he seemed to be gaining some new ’abilities’.

Abilities Hawke had never discovered or used.