Absolute Gate

Chapter 103 Super Blizzard

Thirty meters below the wooden house, in a temporarily created underground space, the atmosphere was somber.

When Wu finally told everyone what he had heard and that he had accepted all eight silver warrants, it was impossible for everyone not to be shocked.

Even if Wu Zhong is strong and has the combat power of a gold-level warrior, it's hard to say whether he can definitely defeat the gold-level mercenary inside the house, right? Not to mention that the other three top silver-level warriors each have a bounty of 90 million.

Even if Wu Zhong were confident, what about the others? They've all just reached the Silver level.

In terms of general expectations, people tend to prefer a gradual approach.

But since the case had already been accepted, there was no point in talking about anything else. Perrin, being the most professional, asked directly, "Do you have any information? Detailed intelligence on these four people?"

Wu Zhong took out the intelligence report on the four people that Edelweiss had just sent and said, "Of course, I accepted all the missions because of the intelligence."

“Hans.” Wu Zhong looked at the first portrait in the file, which also had the highest bounty. It was a burly white man with an arrogant look in his eyes and a thick beard.

"Golden Mercenary, according to the information provided by the client, this guy is an extremely skilled and powerful warrior. He also possesses at least two pieces of multi-dimensional equipment: one is some kind of magical protective gear, and the other is a magical spear that automatically retracts. Extremely dangerous, bounty of 210 million."

Yang Chunsha tilted her head: "Huh? All you know is his weapon? Is that all the information you have? Why is it extremely dangerous?"

Wu Zhong said, "The extreme danger lies in the fact that he is an old mercenary and has completed three gold missions. Theoretically, he can take on platinum missions. It's impossible for someone like him not to be dangerous."

"As for the scarcity of intelligence, it is because after he was invited by the rebel leader, he rarely took action. In the final battle, he was the first to run away, which indirectly led to the defeat of his side in the 'Cataclysmic War'."

The group looked at each other, speechless.

This guy is clearly a seasoned veteran in the mercenary world. He took the money to join the rebels, and when things got bad, he abandoned his patron and ran away.

Anyway, the patron is dead, so I can't give him a bad review...

Wu continued, introducing the second person as a sinister-looking black man, who was their original target, Sedo.

"Top-tier Silver rank, his ability is werewolf transformation. He possesses superhuman physique, sharp claws, and a bloodstain sensor, capable of tracking the scent of a single drop of blood dozens of kilometers away. In addition, he is a top-notch trap master and wilderness survival expert, with a bounty of 90 million."

"Moreover, according to what I just overheard, he can also communicate with animals and command them to help as sentries."

Onion nodded: "Animal sentry is an ability beyond intelligence. This ability is similar to ginger communicating with fish for help. As sentries, they are often hard to guard against. Fortunately, we approached by digging underground, otherwise we would have been exposed."

Wu continued to introduce the third person, Aba, whose profile picture showed a middle-aged man who looked somewhat weathered.

"He is very active in the rebels, serving as the rebel leader's personal bodyguard. He is highly trusted and possesses multi-faceted magic that allows him to control ice, creating thick, solid ice shields with astonishing defensive capabilities. Moreover, it is said that the more severe his injuries, the more his strength, speed, and recovery ability will increase exponentially. He has a track record of shielding the rebel leader from attacks by gold-level assassins, and his bounty is 90 million."

“The wooden house upstairs belongs to him. He is the real fugitive hiding in this icy and snowy environment. The others are just looking for him to keep warm.”

Perrin asked, "And the fourth person?"

Wu Zhong shook his head: "I don't know the name of the fourth person in the wooden house yet. I only know that his voice is deep and muffled. Based on this information alone, I don't know which one of the eight Silver Wanted List members he is."

"But it doesn't matter. We'll know everything once they start fighting amongst themselves."

Perrin was surprised: "Oh? True Ancestor, you already have a plan?"

Wu Zhong smirked: "They've been through iron and blood, and now the four of them are banding together. We don't have enough information about that gold. Even if we win in a head-on battle, it might be a Pyrrhic victory, and you might suffer casualties."

"But I feel that they are not a monolithic entity."

“Especially Aba and Hans, they are not on the same side at all. Aba is a friend and a true confidant of the rebel leader.”

"As for Hans, he was more like a figurehead invited to oversee things, and in the final battle, he was the culprit that led to the complete defeat of the Cataclysmic War. Although the rebels would have been defeated even without his escape, I could tell that Aba was very unhappy with him."

The group exchanged glances. Although they hadn't heard it with their own ears, Wu Zhong had said it, so there must be a reason for it.

Because some politicians have registered with the Free Mercenary Club, the Disaster Mercenaries often get involved in political struggles and warlord conflicts in some countries.

Even if the target is an ordinary person, it doesn't matter. While they can't be harmed, things like stealing intelligence or damaging equipment are beyond the reach of any major power, nor can they.

Therefore, in order to prevent the enemy from stealing their intelligence and causing sabotage, one side must also hire people from the Otherworld to protect them, or kill the people hired by the other side.

This creates a vicious cycle, with both sides hiring more and more people, eventually each having its own disaster-generating team, and they start fighting each other in a disaster war.

Many mercenaries even specialize in this kind of mission and are known as war mercenaries.

The advantage is that it's a long-term meal ticket, often resulting in being employed for several years.

Judging from his mission experience, Abba is a typical war mercenary. He has served the Gangu warlords for at least three years, while Hans and Sedo are not. They only participated for a few months.

It's not wrong to say that they are not united.

Perrin pondered, "Does the True Ancestor intend to sow discord and incite them to fight amongst themselves? Is that even possible?"

Wu Zhong's eyes sharpened: "It's all up to human effort; if things don't work out, we can always launch a strong attack later."

"From what I've observed, they rely on firewood for warmth, and someone has to go out to collect timber every day. Once their people come out, we'll... close the mountain!"

"The mountain is closed?" Everyone was taken aback.

Wu Zhong then took out the water jug ​​containing the rain god Chuck.

“If people’s hearts are not united, conflicts are most likely to intensify in a closed and desperate environment. We artificially create a ‘locked room in the snow’ to force out their wicked tricks with high pressure.”

"If one of them dies under mysterious circumstances... what do you think will happen?"

By this time, the heavy snow that had been falling all night had begun to subside.

Upon seeing the water bottle, everyone immediately understood that Wu was about to unleash a torrential downpour. In this far north where temperatures plummeted to minus sixty degrees Celsius, a downpour would instantly turn into a blizzard!
Even if a pot of boiling water is poured down from a great height, it will turn into ice crystals when it hits the ground.

A glint of light flashed in Perrin's eyes: "Yes, this environment is simply a match made in heaven for the rain god."

"At worst, we can trap them in the cabin and force them to keep wasting their precious multi-dimensional time. Meanwhile, we'll be completely unaffected from underground!"

Wu Jian nodded: "That's right! So, let this blizzard come even more fiercely!"

He ordered Yang Chunsha to continue digging downwards, to a depth of 5,000 meters, to completely isolate any possible sound leakage.

After someone came out of the wooden house to collect firewood, Wu Zhong immediately took the kettle and circulated the Longevity Technique to gather true energy in his throat.

"Rain God Chuck, please send down a torrential downpour!"

He used a simple sonic technique, and the sound waves became so tangible that they vibrated the water in the pot.

This skill is insufficient for killing enemies, but its volume is sufficient for "praying for rain".

When Wu finally returned to the observation point near the surface, the outside world had become a completely different place.

The description of "heavy snow" is not enough; it's practically an avalanche!

The wind howled, and the snow poured down from the sky like a white torrent, turning the world into a vast expanse of white with visibility of less than a few meters, as if it were the end of the world due to a snow disaster.

This is a massive snow disaster that may not occur once in a century, or even a millennium!

"Wow... this snow is too much."

Several people emerged from a camouflaged snow cave in the distance, almost instantly buried, and had to struggle to climb up a distance before they could resurface.

Interestingly, the temperature actually rose a bit and it wasn't as cold as before.

This is precisely the manifestation of the Rain God's characteristics, because it creates liquid water out of thin air, and the rainwater freezes into ice and snow, releasing a large amount of latent heat, which briefly raises the ambient temperature.

Of course, even so, this is still the polar region, where temperatures can drop to minus thirty or forty degrees Celsius, a deadly cold.

"Fuck! What kind of weather is this?!"

At this moment, Sedo and Hans, who had gone out to collect firewood, got completely lost in the snow after walking a kilometer.

Waist-deep snow, tearing gales, and near-zero visibility made every step incredibly difficult.

“Aba is good at surviving in the Arctic, but we are not! Going to find him is just asking for trouble!” Sedo couldn’t help but complain.

Hans's eyes were icy as he surveyed the hellish scene around him, and he sneered, "Hmph, this blizzard is unusually strong... How do you know it wasn't Aba's doing?"

"What?" Sedo exclaimed in surprise.

Aba's ability is ice-based, so it's possible that he could find a new host and even intensify the blizzard.

"Hans, are you saying... that Abba is deliberately creating a dead end to force us to leave?"

Hans said indifferently, "His unwillingness to associate with us is almost written on his face."

"If they weren't wary of my strength, they probably would have already driven them away."

"Now that they see we're determined to stay, they're using this tactic to try and make us back down."

He paused, lowering his voice even further: "We've both traveled all over the country, when have we ever seen such an outrageous blizzard? And it just so happened to appear right after we came to us? Is it really such a coincidence that we encountered a once-in-a-century super cold wave?"

Sedo's tone suddenly turned sinister: "Heh... the more he tries to get rid of us, the more it proves his guilty conscience!"

"The leader's things must be in his hands! In my opinion, we should just take action!"

Hans shook his head: "No, I checked on his first day here that he didn't have it. If he's dead, the trail will be completely gone."

"What can we do? Just waste our time pretending with him in this awful weather?" Sedo said irritably, swinging his claws to chop down a dead tree beside him.

A cold glint flashed in Hans's eyes: "Next time, let him and Maurice go out to chop wood. We'll take the opportunity to thoroughly search the cabin inside and out."

"If we still can't find it... don't blame us for using our last resort."

"Alright! That's it! Damn it, the snow is too heavy, let's get back!" Sedo roared, partially transforming into a wolf, carrying several broken trees, trying to follow the footprints he had come from, only to find that the footprints had been completely wiped away by the blizzard.

"Hey! Hans, do you even know the way?" Sedo looked around blankly.

Hans raised his hand, his fingertips connected to a barely perceptible, thin, resilient metal wire, almost invisible to the naked eye if not for the snowflakes clinging to it.

“I’ve been sending out ‘guide threads’ to connect to the cabin ever since I left the house, and I just follow them.”

Braving the wind and snow, the two struggled to retreat along the silk thread.

Unbeknownst to them, several pairs of eyes were silently watching them through the snow-covered landscape not far away.

Wu Zhong and the others had already poked their heads out of the snow, but the heavy snow itself was the best cover. At this moment, their heads looked like white mushrooms in the snow, with only their eyes showing.

Under the cover of the blizzard, Hans and his men passed by without being noticed.

……

(End of this chapter)