Bear School Astartes

At the end, he looked at Lann with a questioning tone, indicating he didn’t know how to address him.

So, the Demon Hunter spoke very amiably.

"Lann."

"Alright, Mr. Lann." The Yan Nan Hunter hung the sawn-off blade on the strap at his back waist, grabbed his tricorn with his hand and lifted it a few centimeters, then slightly nodded.

He gave a simple hat tip.

"I am Henrik, a Hunter."

The Yan Nan Hunter lifted his head, only to find the person before him with a strange expression.

"Is something wrong?"

"No, nothing." Lann blinked and quickly replied, then chuckled and murmured softly to himself, "So young yet already with an M-shaped hairline?"

The Demon Hunter then took a closer look in the moonlight; the style of wearing both a mask and a tricorn, pressing the eyes to a slit, was indeed Henrik’s later on.

The eyes were somewhat similar to how they would be later.

Only at this time, he wore a black hunter’s leather trench coat, instead of the later yellow-brown one.

The young Hunter Henrik didn’t really mind Lann’s muttering.

In Yan’an, occasional murmuring to oneself was a harmless little ’quirk,’ not even worth paying attention to.

Moreover, Henrik didn’t ask why Lann, a foreigner, was in a quiet alley so late at night.

Because he knew well how the Yan Nan People treated outsiders.

"Yan’an nights don’t seem very peaceful."

Lann tapped the body of a beast-transformed patient with his toe, speaking with implication.

"If you want to pursue [blood therapy] to cure terminal illness, you’ll have to take risks at the same time, it’s understandable, right?"

The young Henrik spoke calmly while pointing to the corpse on the ground with the gun in his left hand.

"This is the risk."

"It’s just that you’re a bit more unlucky than other outsiders; now we’re not only facing the beast transformation disease, but also the gray blood disease spreading in the city."

"I thought this was just a town not too friendly to outsiders, where no one goes out at night." The Demon Hunter shrugged, "Didn’t expect to deal with this stuff too. And a plague?"

"I just helped you out, mind teaming up tonight? After all, I’m a stranger here, and this place indeed looks dangerous."

Lann said, casually spreading his hands.

Henrik frowned; why did he feel this guy was familiar with him?

He seemed certain that he would help him out this night...though he indeed just helped him, and he intended to repay it.

But he still sized up this unusually tall man, who almost reminded him of the handsome men descended from Sumeru serving in the Healing Church.

"I have a good sword and know how to use it, you don’t have to worry about me."

Lann smiled as he spoke, but the young Henrik didn’t understand what was so funny about that.

"The sword is fine, the armor is old-fashioned but sturdy, though it’s hard to say if these are useful in Yan’an."

Henrik’s eyes, trapped between the tricorn and mask, glanced at Lann’s waist.

There hung Aron Dite, sheathed.

But even sheathed, the smooth curves and construction were enough to take a good look.

Compared to the transformable weapons of the Yan Nan Hunters, it indeed seemed quite ’simple.’

Hearing the young Henrik’s response, Lann’s smile deepened with meaning.

"A familiar response... Traveling the same path once more, yet everything is different, sir."

Mentos understood the host’s peculiar mood at this moment, sighing together in the mind.

First meeting the old Hunter in the ’future’ Yan’an, then returning to Old Yan’an to have the same conversation and response with the young Hunter.

If not for crossing worlds and time, who else could personally experience such a wonderful process?

However, even though the young Henrik was critical like his older self, he still agreed to team up with Lann.

After all, the present Lann had undergone more modification surgeries than before, not just his skill, but even his physique was much more intimidating than when he first arrived in Yan’an.

This formidable combat strength was undeniable in Henrik’s eyes.

Moreover, Lann had just helped him once, and he learned from it. There was no reason not to agree.

So, just like in the ’future’ Yan’an.

Lann, on his first night arriving in Old Yan’an, teamed up with Henrik to walk through the desolate and empty streets.

Yet perhaps before Old Yan’an went through that night of hunting, the beast transformation disease wasn’t too severe.

The route they walked together was much easier compared to the three-person team that included Gascogne.

They encountered fewer than three beast-transformed patients, none as deeply transformed as the one Lann had punched to death.

At most, the hair on one’s body starts to transform into a beast’s black fur, and the body shape has yet to be twisted into deformity by the beast transformation disease.

The young Henrik, although already possessing the coldness and indifference characteristic of Yan Nan Hunters, was still more active than his older self.

Even in the short time they knew each other, he could exchange a few words with Lann.

From the mouth of young Henrik, Lann learned that this was just an ordinary night.

The main job of the Hunters was only to patrol the night, and when they encountered those infected by the beast transformation disease, they had to find a secluded place for execution.

The night of hunting where one could freely hunt beasts on the streets hadn’t been conducted for a long time.

The most troublesome issue now in Yan’an is the Grey Blood Disease, a deadly contagious disease that turns the blood of patients grey.

Yet, no one has studied its transmission route so far.

"That thing is useless."

The young Henrik glanced at the small oil paper triangle pulled out by Lann from his pocket upon mentioning the Grey Blood Disease.

"The Good Golden Cup Church... a bunch of people guarding useless doctrines and knowledge, still delusional about saving people."

The oil paper triangle was a gift Lann received from a red-robed man in that church when he first arrived.

But Henrik merely glanced at it and then shook his head indifferently.

"That thing might be somewhat useful as an antidote pill. But against the Grey Blood Disease?"

He ended his words with a question, but it practically amounted to giving a conclusion.

"Useless, huh..." Lann was indifferent, merely smiled, and put away the oil paper triangle with the pill inside, "at least the guy who gave me the pill, he seems like a decent person, I can tell."

"A decent person? Is being a decent person useful?"

The young Henrik continued to lead ahead of Lann in Old Yan’an, acting as a guide.

They walked through a thin cold mist, with wet, cold cobblestones reflecting the moonlight.

"The Good Golden Cup Church and their red-robed clergy are outdated. They are fearful of exploration and progress and accomplish nothing."

"In my opinion, controlling the Grey Blood Disease still relies on the Healing Church. You’re here for the pursuit of ’Blood Therapy,’ aren’t you? You know the Healing Church’s capabilities."

Eventually, the young man’s mind and perspective differ from an old man’s, even if they are the same person at different stages of growth.

Lann glanced sideways at the Yan Nan Hunter leading the way half a body length ahead.

Henrik, clad in a black leather coat, now melded into the crowd, just an ordinary novice hunter among Yan Nan.

He would even chase the beast transformation patients into dark alleys without a torch.

He is not in the ’future’ Yan’an, able to wear his earth-colored coat, considered by many hunters as ’too skilled and experienced to die in a hunt like a typical hunter’ old guy.

In Lann’s previous encounters with Henrik, he could feel that although the Old Hunter remains a hunter under the Healing Church’s management.

Typically, he would receive stipends and benefits from the church, accepting church missions.

But he is completely different from the Church Hunter directly affiliated with the Healing Church.

In fact, he doesn’t have a sense of belonging to the Healing Church, just doing work and tasks.

But this young Henrik in front of him clearly agrees greatly with the Healing Church during the Old Yan’an period.

"The Good Golden Cup Church clearly holds the Golden Cup, yet doesn’t dare to explore the Holy Blood deeply."

Henrik slowly and calmly shook his head and spoke softly.

"Although they are the managers of Yan’an, they don’t even understand the research on the Grey Blood Disease."

"It is the Healing Church that has extensively gathered patients and established many medical treatment centers everywhere. The clergy research disease, then overcome disease."

"The Good Golden Cup Church is outdated; soon they are bound to step down and let the Healing Church take over."

"Sounds like I came at the wrong time." Lann said meaningfully. "Do you all want to oust the Good Golden Cup Church originally managing the city amidst the plague?"

"No, no one would do that in such difficult times." Henrik didn’t care about the caution in Lann’s words. "There is no violence, no conspiracy; everything will be solved naturally."

"Even the Good Golden Cup Church is barely hanging on; they know they can’t handle the Grey Blood Disease, and the Yan Nan People have already had enough of their incompetence."

"Since the Healing Church’s medical centers are being established more and more, people will soon see who truly has the capability to manage things."

"You have just been to the Good Golden Cup Church’s cathedral; it’s pretty empty there now, right?"

The Demon Hunter nodded: "Can’t deny it."

When he appeared in that church, he scanned the surroundings, and indeed, the cathedral had been inactive for a while already.

"Due to the spread of the Grey Blood Disease, even their basic functions are about to collapse."

Henrik spoke calmly, but there was a hint of sarcasm in it.

"But this doesn’t affect you; seeking ’Blood Therapy’ naturally means coming to the Healing Church."

"I know a clergyman from the Healing Church. Tomorrow he can take you to the church, register as a Hunter, so your ’Blood Therapy’ can be prioritized; Hunters get priority."

"Times are hard now; the church is recruiting Hunters everywhere, and the process is convenient."

"Consider this my returning a favor to you."