Infinite Hunter

Half asleep, Cheng Yijiu felt like someone was standing outside the window watching him. It was a strange feeling, very... unreal. He suddenly woke up, and the window was empty, with only moonlight. He suspected that he had just been dreaming, but he still had doubts.

Cheng Yijiu stood up and walked towards the window, knife in hand. The window was tightly shut. He carefully examined the windowsill and glass. Unfortunately, there were no traces of anything suspicious. If someone was standing outside watching him, they would have to be able to fly, as this was the third floor.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Cheng Yijiu carefully recalled what he saw, "A man or a woman? Oh hell, I only remember a pair of silver eyes." This made him even more suspicious whether it was a dream, because only dreams would make you unable to remember them when you wake up and recall them.

Cheng Yijiu went back to sleep, and this time he slept through the night without any unusual symptoms. After washing up, he put the werewolf's head in a bag and walked towards the dock. "Is the mission not over yet? I guess there's still a chance of a change." The dock was deserted; the manager and servants who had left hadn't returned.

"Well, where are the two police officers?" he thought. He looked around but didn't see the two people. They had originally agreed to live in the stone cottage by the dock. Cheng Yijiu pushed open the door - "Damn it! I remember this door was locked. If they got up so early to open the door, did that mean they had left?"

Just as Cheng Yijiu had predicted, the place was deserted. He felt like he was in serious trouble. Had the two men left? Was there a boat this morning? That was impossible, as their orders were to hold the position until reinforcements and specialists arrived from other ships.

So they shouldn't have left. Even if they were looking for food, they should have seen them in the hotel. Cheng Yijiu put the bag aside and carefully checked the room. "The bed is not made, which means they... doesn't mean anything," Cheng Yijiu thought.

There was no way to tell when the two men had left. Perhaps early in the morning, perhaps last night. The lantern was still on the table, but the flame had gone out. Cheng Yijiu shook it and realized the oil was gone. "They kept the lantern lit all night... There's no need to be so scared."

Cheng Yijiu found a uniform and said, "Someone went out without a coat..." He looked at the ground. The footprints on the stone ground were not obvious. He came to the door and finally made out a footprint. "Is it going this direction? Let's follow it and see what happens."

Chapter 13 Failure

Following the footprints, Cheng Yijiu walked with heightened vigilance. Under the splendid sunlight, he wasn't overly concerned. Not to mention the sunlight's ability to weaken and injure dark creatures, Cheng Yijiu himself was a warrior protected by the sun. After walking for about ten minutes, Cheng Yijiu unsurprisingly spotted the first officer—he was sprawled in a bush by the roadside. The moment he saw him, Cheng Yijiu immediately concluded he was beyond saving.

As he approached, he saw that it was indeed the case. The man's body was ice-cold in the sunlight, his face pale, and his blood had been sucked dry. "Vampire..." Cheng Yijiu sighed. He could guess that the vampire had attacked or "seduced" the officer and "enjoyed" him in this place - because Cheng Yijiu didn't see any signs of running, and the officer didn't look like he had been running away. His clothes were still neatly arranged.

But where had the other officer gone? Cheng Yijiu couldn't find him. He'd circled around and couldn't find him. It seemed as if the officer had simply vanished. "Could he be a vampire? That's unlikely." Cheng Yijiu thought about it and realized he couldn't remember what the officer looked like. But he clearly remembered him standing in the sun and complaining to him about how hot it was.

Cheng Yijiu found the dead officer's gun, unfired of course. He unloaded the bullets and looked at them—"They're all regular bullets, without silver tips," Cheng Yijiu thought. "So this thing is basically useless." Search the entire island? It's useless for him alone. He doesn't have the ability to search the entire island. The other party can just play hide-and-seek with him. "Wait." Cheng Yijiu did think so at first, but then he remembered that vampires are afraid of sunlight.

"If we search for places without sunlight... is that possible? It can't be relocated instantly, so it seems there's a chance!" Cheng Yijiu walked into the hotel and picked up a map. How many places on the island weren't exposed to sunlight? There were quite a few. Not to mention hotel rooms and basements, even caves were possible. As for the shadows cast by the mountain rocks? That, on the other hand, was a non-issue, as sunlight moved.

Cheng Yijiu started his search by opening all the room doors, quickly opening all the wardrobe doors, and looking under all the beds. Of course, he also opened the bathroom door to check. At least there were no vampires hiding in the hotel's ground floor. But the basement? It was indeed dark. Going down there to check? Even with a lantern, Cheng Yijiu honestly didn't want to do it - he had locked the basement. As for the cave on the island, he thought about it and gave up.

After all, his prey wasn't a vampire. The reason he hadn't been allowed back was probably because the werewolf hadn't been killed yet—he'd already killed two, so was there really another? Cheng Yijiu had a knife in hand, and he truly regretted not being thick-skinned enough. If he had brought the lion skin and the greatsword, he wouldn't be stuck like this now. Another day passed, and no boat arrived.

Cheng Yijiu woke up in the morning and opened the door to find himself back in the hunting lodge. The glaring punishment mission was already marked. "How long has it been since I was punished? I don't know what it will be like this time." He sighed.

Cheng Yijiu went up to the second floor and entered the supernatural specimen hall. Unfortunately, due to the failure of the hunt, there were no new prey specimens this time. He looked at the werewolf specimen he had killed before and said, "It was still just a little bit short, just a little bit short." Now he had plenty of time to sit here and think about what he had seen, and analyze the situation of this hunt from the beginning.

"The first thing I considered was vampires—they appeared later. Now I think the most likely candidate is the deceased Ms. Danbill—but the timeline doesn't add up. The body was found sunbathing. If it were a vampire, it would have been unsightly in the sunlight. Could someone have turned her into a vampire later? In that case, wouldn't there be two vampires? And don't I remember the rumors saying that vampires can't drink the blood of the dead?"

Cheng Yijiu confirmed that he was not that kind of famous detective. He could not think of anyone else who was a vampire or a werewolf. In the end, he just sighed and prepared to take a rest for a while to prepare himself mentally before accepting the punishment task.

Cheng Yijiu read for a while, then went to the shooting range to practice shooting for a while, went to the training room to practice strength for a while, picked up the training sword and practiced sword fighting for a while, and finally took a shower and had a good meal, then sighed and opened the door.

The punishment mission is to survive for a certain period of time, and the person must be a wild beast, which will inevitably attract the attention of society. This time, Cheng Yijiu fell to the ground, his whole body feeling cramped, but he was still in human form, and he could even think normally. "The punishment mission this time is a human? Did they arrange the identity of a murderer?" He was a little unsure, "I'm a hunter, do they want me to use my brain to become a murderer? Try to escape from the detectives and the police?"

Come to think of it, this is the relationship between hunter and prey, right? It seems to fit the purpose of the punishment mission. Cheng Yijiu stood up and found himself in the forest. His clothes were a little dirty and messy. He took one step at a time and chose a direction to leave the forest. He had no weapons at all. If any wild beasts came out, he would probably have to rely on his bare hands to strangle them.

Does Cheng Yijiu still have this kind of strength now? He just feels a little weak.

The forest was utterly silent, giving him an ominous feeling. He finally found the logging camp—but it was already dark, and the camp was deserted, save for an axe chopping at a thick wooden stake in the ground. Ruts were visible on the ground, suggesting the loggers had already taken a bus back to town. But something was amiss. The wooden barracks suggested a semi-permanent logging camp, and the loggers should have stayed. Why would they leave?

That was easy. The forest was so dangerous at night that even loggers with established camps didn't dare spend the night there. Cheng Yijiu, recalling his own hunting experiences, gave a wry smile. This place, and the clothes he was wearing, clearly belonged to the West. So, it was probably a werewolf or some other monster, or perhaps a witch? Anyway, no matter how dangerous it was, Cheng Yijiu had to spend the night here. It was a good thing no one had discovered him, right?

There was food here. The loggers had left behind a little bit of grain – it looked like it was in very poor condition, and the amount was small, so it must have been forgotten. There was also some pickled meat hanging from the beams, not much either, and it didn't smell very good. It must have been poorly pickled and lacked spices.

Chapter 14: Breakaway

Cheng Yijiu took the meat and grains and went to the forest to gather some wild vegetables, including some large leaves. After soaking the food in water, he painstakingly wove a frame out of the leaves, stuffed the food inside, and covered the outside with clay. He dug a 30-centimeter-deep hole in the ground, placed the food wrapped in leaves, and then covered it with a layer of sand and built a fire to roast it—he had learned this from some wilderness survival manual.

After scrounging through a rather unpalatable dinner, Cheng Yijiu walked deeper into the wooden house. He blocked the doors and windows, trying to keep the cold wind out as little as possible. The nights here were really cold and getting colder. The walls of the wooden house seemed to be in disrepair. The moss and clay that had been embedded in them had peeled off, and the wind seeped in through these tiny cracks. The same was true for the roof, which was even worse than the walls.

The most annoying thing was the floor. Although it was also paved with wood, it didn't block the cold air from seeping up from the ground. It should have been suspended, but it wasn't. Cheng Yijiu didn't feel too cold after eating, but he just felt a little helpless - the trouble must be on him. As for what the trouble was, he had a guess - it was nothing more than a werewolf.

Moonlight streamed through the crack above, forming several beams of light in the dark room. There was no sound in the room, but suddenly, a pair of green, flame-like points of light emerged from the darkness, and a muffled voice rang out, "If I had known... this would have happened." Amidst the moonlight, a massive, silver-white monster emerged from the darkness, crashing through the roof. It crouched on the beam, howling at the moon.

The wolf's fur was silver-gray. Cheng Yijiu's transformation stood nearly three and a half meters tall. Its hind legs were indeed wolf-like, but much thicker. It also had an extra joint, giving the soles of its feet the appearance of soles—complete with heels. The extra joint for charging power made the wolf very adept at pouncing and capable of leaping higher. The wolf was incredibly sturdy, far more massive than the werewolf Cheng Yijiu had killed, and almost as large as the priest's alpha wolf.

Of course, its head was definitely a massive, stout wolf's. Its forelimbs were human-like, but covered in hair, and its fingers had claws like daggers. His eyes remained clear, and Cheng Yijiu grinned fiercely. "It's good to be able to control myself," he thought. At that moment, the sound of dogs barking and the glow of flames could be heard from afar. Cheng Yijiu raised his head and sniffed the air, and he could smell the scent of gunpowder.

"Wolf hunter?" he muttered indistinctly. Due to changes in the structure of his throat and mouth, he could only speak human language in this way. Cheng Yijiu didn't have the heart to go over and take a look. He leaped up and, half-bent, rushed into the jungle. Not long after, a group arrived: men on horseback and accompanied by hunting dogs.

At the head of the group was a man in a black robe. He appeared unarmed, but he was the leader. The others behind him wore Spanish-style wide-brimmed hats, chain mail, and leather jackets. They carried rapiers at their waists, and their horses' pouches were filled with muskets. If Cheng Yijiu had seen them, he wouldn't have been able to guess what era they were from—these muskets clearly didn't look like flintlock rifles.

These men also wore ammunition pouches, with shiny metal fixed rounds tucked into their belts. Judging by the color of the bullets, they were all silver. Arriving at the camp, several dismounted and began searching, quickly finding something. One man clutched a handful of silver hair. "Werewolf," he said, likely a Shinra dialect, though Cheng Yijiu couldn't quite understand it.

Cheng Yijiu was quickly moving away. He saw no point in staying where he was. Why did he have to fight the werewolves? Wouldn't it be nice for him to just hide in the forest, killing deer and wild boar for food? Punishment missions were always based on how long he could survive. However, there was no denying that one day he might be forced to seize something—hadn't he already become an Alpha Wolf with rational intelligence and self-control?

Wouldn't it be troublesome if he had to enter the city and obtain the "golden key" representing the city?

Fortunately, at least this time, Cheng Yijiu stayed away without any punishment.

The spotted mastiffs were barking fiercely, and the hunters could hardly hold them back. Someone also found the footprints left by Cheng Yijiu, "The werewolf went in this direction."

The leading figure in black took the wolf hair. He fished from his robes and pulled out the silver cross hanging from his neck. He muttered something silently before pressing the cross against the hair in his palm. A flame ignited from his black glove, and the cross reduced the hair to ash. "It's a werewolf." He twisted his fingers, rubbing the ashes apart. "Alpha wolf."

The mastiffs were released, but instead of barking, these ferocious dogs followed Cheng Yijiu's footsteps and galloped away. Cheng Yijiu could hear voices coming from behind, "If we don't get rid of these dogs, I'm afraid we won't be able to escape - who knows what will happen after daybreak? Although the Alpha Wolf can transform during the day..." Cheng Yijiu ran quickly, mentally calculating the distance between himself and the dogs and the hunters on horseback behind him.

In the end, he gave up his plan of ambush and counterattack because a river appeared in front of him. The river in the forest was fast-flowing and quite wide. Cheng Yijiu jumped into the water without thinking and prepared to swim along the river.

He succeeded. After he reached the other side from downstream, he estimated that he had drifted for at least 30 kilometers. It would not be so easy for these people to catch him again. But in front of him - he saw the stone bridge on the river and the road extending out. In the distance, he could even see the outline of the city - under the morning glow of the rising sun.

However, Cheng Yijiu felt a bit embarrassed. If he untransformed, he would be completely naked without any clothes at all—a pity he hadn't been given any Hulk pants for this mission. So he had to solve the clothing problem first. "Ah..." The werewolf sighed. The sunlight shone on his silver-gray fur, as if a layer of golden particles were burning on it. Cheng Yijiu didn't feel any weakening at all, but instead, the force pumping out of his heart became even stronger.

He moved quickly along the grass and bushes along the roadside, hoping to find a way out before entering the city - even better if there was a farm or inn.

Chapter 15 Robbery

There were actually clothes hanging out to dry. Cheng Yijiu secretly took the clothes, untransformed, and put them on - as for the shoes? Cheng Yijiu slipped to the side of the road, chose a cork tree, and directly dug out two large pieces of its wood core in the form of a werewolf, and then used his claws to carve them into wooden shoes.

After returning to human form, he tried them on and found they fit him well, so he walked towards the city ahead in his simple clothes and wooden shoes. This place always reminded Cheng Yijiu of the central Europe he had seen in movies and TV, especially the Gothic fonts that clearly looked like German. The whole atmosphere gave him the feeling of either Poland or Germany, anyway, it had the vibe of the Holy Roman Empire.

This was truly a despicable nation, neither Holy Roman Empire nor Roman Empire, and the atmosphere seemed quite tense. Because of his hood, Cheng Yijiu's features were hard to discern, and he was just walking around looking like a poor wretch, so no one paid much attention to him. He had his hands tucked under his clasp, and it didn't look like he was looking for an opportunity to steal anything.

Indeed, Cheng Yijiu wasn't hungry or cold yet, and he certainly didn't seem ready to take action. He was observing, "Why do I feel like this place has a pill-like atmosphere?" Although he couldn't quite understand the language or read the letters here, he could still sense the atmosphere of panic.

Finally, while standing against the wall, he overheard someone upstairs talking in heavily accented French, and finally he understood what was going on. "Is there going to be a war? So this place is called Innsbruck... Those heretical armies are approaching, and the emperor will send reinforcements? What's the connection?"

This place reminded him of the Holy Roman Empire. Like the Holy Roman Empire, it probably hadn't experienced any chaotic warfare. But what about heresy and the Emperor? Could this be the Thirty Years' War? Or the Peasants' War? "That's truly extraordinary. Military discipline is utterly shattered on both sides. The Thirty Years' War would have practically reduced Germany to a utter wasteland..."

Cheng Yijiu had studied history, and he remembered the first major European conflict clearly: the Thirty Years' War, sparked by the conflict between Protestants and Catholics. "The unrepentant German Protestants? And the Holy Roman Emperor must be that big-chinned Habsburg, a shameless wretch and a tyrant, who assassinated the brilliant commander Wallenstein."

These days, with the exception of Sweden, other armies have no military discipline to speak of; looting is what they excel at. If chaos breaks out, it would be a good opportunity for Cheng Yijiu to hide—I guess the wolf hunters in the city wouldn't dare to act recklessly—at least they wouldn't let their dogs bite.

This city had no walls to speak of; it was just an ordinary town on the riverbank. The only decent wall was on the hill in the center of the city. This inner city was approximately 100,000 square meters, with a low, star-shaped, sloping earthen wall that looked like a bastion.

The artillery placed on it could control the entire town. This bastion was well-built, and it was about two or three meters high. Cheng Yijiu was starting to feel a little hungry. He deliberately moved outward, sizing up the houses on the periphery that looked a bit wealthy. With his current skills, as long as he could hold on until nightfall, he should have a chance.

The only streetlights in this area were on the main roads, and they used candles, so there was plenty of darkness, allowing people to do whatever they wanted. Cheng Yijiu wandered around the city all day, then sat in the sun to avoid suspicion. It seemed that there weren't many idlers like him, but there were some, too.

As night fell, Cheng Yijiu still hadn't noticed any trace of the werewolf hunters. Did they seem to have given up on the hunt? That wasn't so good. Cheng Yijiu thought they were simply adjusting their pursuit. Werewolves weren't wolves, they were far more cunning than wolves, so the hunters who hunted them were definitely cunning.

It is estimated that these people will find the right direction soon. Cheng Yijiu only hopes that they can find another werewolf or some other dark creature, so that they can chase those guys instead of chasing him - he has also seen the local notices. It seems that hunting dark creatures and obtaining bounties from the government, especially the church, is a common business.

This business must have been incredibly lucrative—the bounties for killing dark creatures were indeed substantial, hundreds of florins for a single werewolf. However, Cheng Yijiu estimated that a novice's survival rate for the first three attempts wouldn't exceed 20%. "Florin? I wonder what kind of gold florin it is. Is it Venetian?" Cheng Yijiu was quite interested in collecting beautifully minted precious metal coins.

In this era, stamped precious metal coins might have appeared, which would be more exquisite than cast ones. Fortunately, Cheng Yijiu was able to obtain them soon - as soon as it got dark, this guy nimbly slipped into the darkness and crossed the iron bars very easily - he did not climb over because that would make him more conspicuous, he relied purely on his strength to bend the two iron bars and then sneak in.

He walked to the back door easily, jumped and grabbed the second-floor window sill, then used his arms to force the upper half of his face to look through the window. "No one, they are all on the first floor." Cheng Yijiu's hearing also told him that most of the noise came from the first floor.

The windows here were not open, but there was a skylight on the roof that seemed to be open, so Cheng Yijiu climbed up like a big gecko and quickly climbed to the roof. He entered the attic through the skylight. The attic was very clean, with almost no dust on the floor and many footprints. It seemed that the people in the house often came to open and close this window.

Cheng Yijiu paused for a moment at the attic stairs. He didn't hear any footsteps, so he quickly went downstairs to the third floor. Along the corridor, he could hear laughter and voices coming from the first floor. He thought for a moment, should he start searching now or go down and knock those people unconscious before searching slowly? Cheng Yijiu finally decided to knock those people unconscious first.

He was considered tall in this world—Europeans these days weren't that tall. The clothes he'd stolen before didn't fit him, so this time he'd probably need more time to carefully choose. Cheng Yijiu took off his wooden shoes and moved silently barefoot.

He looked down at the hall below from the shadows of the second floor. Including the maid, he could see six people. There should be a cook in the kitchen. As for whether there was a gardener outside, he was not sure. Cheng Yijiu did not see him when he came in.

Chapter 16 Robbery

How could he subdue everyone present in the shortest possible time? From Cheng Yijiu's perspective, dropping from the sky might be a good idea? Actually, it wasn't. The best approach was for him to hide first, then wait for them to return to their rooms and take them out one by one. Cheng Yijiu didn't want to kill anyone, so he quickly sneaked into a room and hid under the bed.

This should be the master bedroom. After waiting for over two hours, the couple entered the room—during which time Cheng Yijiu even took a nap. Cheng Yijiu couldn't understand what they said. With a creaking sound, the two climbed onto the bed. There was no further movement, and the light quickly turned off—perhaps a gas lamp? Cheng Yijiu, a night-eye, didn't care. He waited until the two people above had calmed down their breathing before emerging from under the bed.

A middle-aged man and woman were lying in bed, already fast asleep. Cheng Yijiu pressed the sides of their necks with his fingers, quickly causing them to fall unconscious. Cheng Yijiu then lit the lamp again and began searching the room. The first thing he found was decent clothing. The man was much shorter than him, so Cheng Yijiu could only find a coat, but his shoulders were too narrow, so he had no choice but to use it like this.

The pants were similar. Luckily, he'd found some money, so he could have some clothes and shoes custom-made. However, the transformation would ruin everything. "How about a kilt? The kind with snaps that automatically pop open and fall off once the transformation starts? And sandals for the shoes?" Transformation was a hassle, and Cheng Yijiu understood that deeply.

If it were more modern, perhaps they could try using highly elastic materials, but in this era, after the transformation, you will definitely be naked. Cheng Yijiu collected some money, then he walked out carefully and went down the corridor. The maid and the cook should have gone to bed, and in the darkness, Cheng Yijiu walked into the kitchen. "They are indeed a well-off family. They have ham and sausages."

After Cheng Yijiu had filled his stomach, he slipped out with the small bag of money. He didn't want to hurt anyone else, so he put on his wooden shoes and tried to move as quietly as possible in the dark. He heard the clatter of horses' hooves and the low barking of dogs in the darkness. He remembered the sounds coming from the werewolf hunters, so Cheng Yijiu didn't think about dodging them anymore. He quickly took off his clothes, threw his wooden shoes into a pocket, and transformed into a werewolf, speeding away.

Since these people hunted dark creatures, they must have the ability to distinguish them from ordinary people. Cheng Yijiu didn't want to bet that they didn't notice. The werewolf ran at high speed in the darkness, and after he transformed, the dog's barking suddenly became louder. "Use the building to fight back?" Cheng Yijiu pondered. "No, that's not appropriate. Better to run outside first." There were also many armed soldiers in the city. He had already seen the barracks near the castle.

In the wild, with the weapons these people had, Cheng Yijiu felt he had a chance. "Metal fixed-load ammunition..." he sighed. If it were fixed-load ammunition, would there still be line-ups of executions? He remembered the Thirty Years' War as the era of the Spanish Grande Quattroporte? It seemed like it was also nearing its end. So, it should be between free-loading and cardboard fixed-load ammunition. In that case, could the upcoming war be the Boer War?

The military's organization hadn't been tested by the Thirty Years' and Seven Years' Wars against Napoleon, but its weapons had already evolved to the use of fixed-metal ammunition. Even Cheng Yijiu wondered what war in this world would look like. How many years would this evolution take, and at the cost of countless lives? He swiftly swept through the streets, easily leaping over a low wall and dashing directly into the woods on one side.

Cheng Yijiu ran in the moonlight. His silver-gray fur wasn't particularly noticeable. If it came to a wolf species, he thought it might be a Rocky Mountain wolf or an Arctic wolf. He definitely weighed more than the alpha wolf, at least 500 kilograms, which meant his combat power was definitely greater than that creature's. He felt like he could swing his vacuum claws, and the wind was obeying his commands—something Cheng Yijiu had just realized.

That's right. Considering that there are dark creatures like werewolves in this world, there's no reason supernatural powers shouldn't exist. So, all of this is perfectly normal—wasn't it perfectly normal for werewolves to be able to control the wind and wield cutting wind blades? And there's another benefit to wind: Cheng Yijiu can use the movement of the air to sniff out the people chasing him, and even seem to be able to see their every move.

The men unleashed their mastiffs, which, despite their well-trained nature, didn't rush forward, instead following Cheng Yijiu closely from a distance of over a hundred meters. A hundred meters further back were the wolf hunters. "How can they even gallop through the woods?" Cheng Yijiu began to suspect that these men and their horses might have been "modified"—a possibility entirely. Cheng Yijiu raced through the brush at high speed, executing a looping arc before suddenly changing direction and lunging at a mastiff. All this took less than three seconds.

This mastiff was larger than a leopard, almost the size of a calf, its head almost square, its jaws as powerful as a vise. Facing the werewolf charging head-on, the mastiff barked loudly and charged. The mastiffs on either side, lagging behind, also attacked separately. These dogs were incredibly ferocious, even fearless. These tiger-striped mastiffs will definitely not be allowed in cities anymore; they're every bit as dangerous as wild beasts.

Cheng Yijiu swung his right paw, and a shining blade seemed to appear out of thin air, flying out in a semi-arc shape. Even in the moonlight, the mastiff could see red stripes on its fur. It lowered its head and took the flying vacuum blade. Although it whimpered, it was not dead nor seriously injured. The vacuum blade cut its fur, but failed to sever it. It penetrated the flesh about an inch to several inches, and cracks could be seen on the bones in some places.

"It can actually withstand the vacuum blade? It turns out to be a dog that has undergone some kind of transformation." Cheng Yijiu was not surprised at all. He was just blocking it. The real killer move was in the front. He grabbed the leading mastiff with his right claw, looked at the guy's eyes like burning charcoal, opened his big mouth full of fangs without hesitation, and bit it viciously.

Chapter 17 Weapons

Cheng Yijiu's werewolf form was identical to the werewolves in the Van Helsing films he'd seen—both agile and robust. He opened his jaws and bit down with incredible speed, catching the mastiff between the neck and back. His masseter muscles engaged, and his sharp, conical fangs pierced the mastiff's flesh, crushing it with the force of a hydraulic press, shredding muscle and bone, even crushing the lungs.

Without causing the mastiff any more pain, Cheng Yijiu grabbed the mastiff's shoulder with his right paw, and with the strength of his arms and neck, he easily tore the dying mastiff in two, sending its internal organs scattering to the ground. Cheng Yijiu spat out the half of the corpse in his mouth and discarded the other half with his right paw. He retreated rapidly - the hunters were rapidly approaching.

In the night's mist, their horses looked like monsters, their nostrils emitting white air, but their eyes, like those of the mastiffs, were like burning coals. "They must have been baptized by some supernatural power." These horses had extraordinary endurance and reflexes, as well as speed. The wolf hunters were already visible—they had already drawn their rifles.

As he retreated, Cheng Yijiu spun 180 degrees like flowing water and continued running at full speed. He killed one mastiff and injured another, retreating before the third could bite him. After that, only six mastiffs should be able to pursue him. There were at least eleven or twelve of these wolf hunters, so it wouldn't be easy to surprise them. Especially the guy in the middle, wearing a cloak and completely hiding his face, Cheng Yijiu sensed a huge threat from the "pattern" formed by his sense of smell.

This is a continuous forest that is completely black under the moonlight. Legends of werewolves and vampires have always been circulating here, probably second only to Romania.

Silver-gray Cheng Yijiu ran under the moonlight. The mastiffs no longer followed closely, having abandoned their plan to hunt. Cheng Yijiu quickly crossed the ridge, then circled to test the quality of the werewolves. If the group rushed at him, Cheng Yijiu would be helpless, but if they were separated, he wouldn't mind giving it a try. If the group stayed together, Cheng Yijiu wouldn't mind taking them on a long-distance training trip—at worst, he could maintain his werewolf form for a long time and take them to the mountainous areas of southeastern Europe.

He believed the Carpathian Mountains would deter them—the lair of werewolves and vampires, where only the strongest demon hunters dared to work. Looking at himself, Cheng Yijiu had no doubt he could thrive there. Alpha wolves as strong as his were rare, perhaps even two different species altogether. A fully controlled, rational transformation—something the werewolves in Van Helsing couldn't achieve.

Compared to the so-called werewolf form in Underworld, his werewolf form is even more powerful, both in terms of body size and head and claws. In particular, he can control the elements, and his wind blade claws have long-range attack capabilities.

Cheng Yijiu lay in ambush on the reverse slope, waiting for the moment when the mastiffs and the wolf hunters would appear on the ridge. He would then launch a lightning-fast attack, a one-hit-and-run attack, to see how formidable the enemy was. A werewolf's hearing was also excellent, and his sense of smell and hearing combined to map out the whereabouts of the mastiffs and hunters. They were only twenty or thirty meters away and would soon appear on the ridge. The mastiffs crossed the center of the ridge first, followed by the two wolf hunters.

They held muskets in their hands. Cheng Yijiu's sudden flight was like a whirlwind, leaping past the mastiffs and directly confronting the two werewolves. Their weapons were visible: double-barreled muskets. The two men on horseback had already raised their muskets and aimed them at Cheng Yijiu. The silver-gray werewolf twisted its body, forcibly lowering its torso. The other party fired, and the flames from the muzzle were probably a meter long.

The bullets missed Cheng Yijiu. He had successfully used the horse's neck and head as a blind spot. When he "jumped up," his height was far above the horse's head and rider. Cheng Yijiu grabbed the barrels of both guns and pushed them outward while twisting them, forcing the two hunters to let go—otherwise, their index fingers might be twisted off. As the two guns fell to the ground, Cheng Yijiu's claws were about to grab the two men's chests.

At that moment, Cheng Yijiu suddenly curled up, his hind legs exerting force as he rolled down the hillside. His movements were accompanied by the muffled sound of gunfire. The wolf hunters who had caught up with him opened fire, completely ignoring the two leading men. It was a remarkably decisive reaction, and Cheng Yijiu, their target, had to commend him for it. As he retreated, he also managed to tear and bite a mastiff to death, then fled into the woods before the other party caught up and continued firing.

Cheng Yijiu still held a gun in his hand—yes, he'd picked one up just in time—and was studying it as he ran. "The stock and bolt are quite 'old,'" he said. "The stock, in particular, is quite different from modern stocks. The ergonomics haven't been well-researched yet." Cheng Yijiu looked over at the few hundred meters they were already behind him. It seemed the gang had decided not to pursue them all night. So he stopped and began to study it carefully.

He was holding a double-barreled hunting rifle, a fairly large caliber. "12 gauge." As a hunter who often used shotguns, he was very familiar with this caliber. This gun was indeed a smoothbore rifle, so it was also a shotgun. Cheng Yijiu ejected a shell and a bullet. He first sniffed the shell. "Still black powder? But it seems to have been added?" This fixed-load ammunition had a brass shell, and if you looked closely, you could see that the primer was removable.

The other intact bullet had a silver tip. It was a flat-nosed bullet, its head flush with the cartridge case. Cheng Yijiu removed the bullet and discovered diagonal grooves carved into it. "This increases accuracy." He poured out the granular gunpowder and saw that it was indeed black powder mixed with a little nitrate cotton. The primer was likely fulminate of mercury. Has this world's technology advanced to this point? Cheng Yijiu was somewhat intrigued by the impending war.

Perhaps the wolf hunter's weapons are special - Cheng Yijiu saw unusual patterns on the barrel and the buttstock bolt, which gave him the feeling of some kind of runes. Perhaps these ammunitions are also made with some special technology rather than large-scale equipment - the price of brass is not cheap, and so is silver. It would be easy to recycle the bullet casings with this kind of pistol.

Chapter 18 Hidden

This mission is a punishment mission. Cheng Yijiu had no weapons when he entered, and he naturally couldn't have any extra bullets now, but he could make bullets so he would keep the gun. After he escaped far away and entered other cities, he would try to make some bullets himself.

This weapon gave Cheng Yijiu a new idea - who said werewolves couldn't use weapons? Those inferior werewolves lost their rationality after transformation, so of course they wouldn't use weapons even if they had them, but he was now a noble and completely rational Alpha Wolf, so he could definitely carry a lot of weapons.

For example, the shotgun, for example, armor, especially the abdomen and throat, can be protected with chain mail and steel plates. The silver bullet is very soft and has a high probability of being blocked by a certain thickness of steel. So Cheng Yijiu touched the shotgun and fell into thought - perhaps he should modify it or even build a new one.

The wolf hunter's double-barreled shotgun wasn't suited to the werewolf's hand shape, and would definitely require significant modification—it couldn't be used in both human and beast forms simultaneously. Cheng Yijiu ran through the night with the shotgun, covering dozens of kilometers before dawn, arriving at another small town nestled in the mountains. He wondered if the wolf hunter wouldn't find him this time.

Because Cheng Yijiu smelled another odor while fleeing - it was a rotten smell. In the werewolf's mind, this smell seemed to be called a ghoul. These monsters lived in groups. It seemed that these werewolves might hunt ghouls. There were many of them, they were valuable, and they were easy to hunt.

Cheng Yijiu released his transformation and sneaked into the town in a stealthy manner. Cheng Yijiu was still very tired and needed to rest, so he found a two-story house that seemed to be deserted. After climbing inside, he found that the house was still habitable - although there were cobwebs and dust everywhere, it was fully furnished and there was water when he turned on the faucet - the water tank above the house was working properly.

Cheng Yijiu didn't care why there were no homeless people occupying the house. He just made sure that there were no living people in the house. Then he found the blankets and carpets upstairs, shook off the ashes on them and found that they were still usable, so he put them into the sink and scrubbed them with his own strength. Then he dismantled a few dilapidated cabinets and threw them into the fireplace in a room on the second floor.

The unfortunate fellow had checked to make sure the chimney was clear—it didn't matter what, since the windows were broken anyway, there was no way he'd suffocate. He lit a fire in the fireplace and placed blankets and rugs beside them to dry. The fire quickly dried them out. Then, Cheng Yijiu transformed into a giant wolf, sprawled on the rug, and roughly covered himself with the blanket, preparing to sleep by the fireplace. Of course, he'd covered the windows with some cloth he'd found, allowing air to pass but blocking light, to prevent anyone in town from noticing.

A giant silver-gray wolf lay on the carpet, a fire blazing in the fireplace, truly warm. While visually appealing, it was actually quite wasteful for heating, with most of the heat escaping down the chimney. This also revealed that the house had been uninhabited for at least thirty years. Modern fireplace houses have water tanks and pipes running through them to the radiators in each room, a relatively recent invention.

Cheng Yijiu slept well, but he was a little hungry, which was unavoidable.

When the wood was completely burned into white ashes, it was already dawn outside. The huge werewolf had already regained its human form while sleeping soundly. Cheng Yijiu, wrapped in a blanket, yawned. He was full of energy now. This time, the sufficient sleep allowed him to recover very well - it would be even better if he could have a good meal next.