The Entry-plundering Demon Hunter

"Back again, students?"

When Lin Yi, Wei Nan, and the others arrived at the gates of Jail City.

They were stopped by the same guard from before.

Having learned from their first experience.

This time, Lin Yi and his group signed the life-and-death waivers without hesitation.

After checking the signatures and their information.

The guard confirmed everything was in order and gave them a few routine warnings.

The heavy gates slowly creaked open.

A chill wind blew out from within the city.

Lin Yi and the others stepped inside.

However, the moment they crossed the threshold.

Wei Nan let out a soft "Huh?"

"What’s going on? It’s completely different!"

"Where did the forest go?"

The scene before them was no longer the forest they had seen on their last visit.

Instead, it had transformed into a vast desert.

Yellow sand stretched everywhere, and the brilliant stars in the night sky shone with incredible brightness.

There was no end to the desert in sight.

Lin Yi, Zhou Qi, and the others also found it strange.

It wasn’t until Wei Shang explained that they understood what was happening.

"The reason Jail City can contain all those demon beasts, variant beasts, and heinous criminals isn’t because of the city itself! That’s just a name!"

"Jail City is like a miniature world, containing many different kinds of terrain!"

"Let me put it this way: the inside of Jail City is different every single day!"

"It might be a forest, it might be mountains, it could be a swamp, or even a lone, abandoned city!"

"But no matter what the environment is, it’s all completely real!"

"The environment just changes, and the demon and variant beasts inside are different as a result. Make sense now?"

After Wei Shang finished his explanation.

Lin Yi, Wei Nan, and the others finally nodded in understanding.

In other words, the environment inside Jail City changed once every day.

And the time of change was exactly midnight.

Those who entered before midnight would experience the previous day’s environment.

After they left and re-entered Jail City, it would be completely different.

Those who entered after midnight would find the newly changed environment.

Wei Nan’s face fell. "Then we’re screwed. If those local bumpkins timed it so they’d enter after midnight, does that mean we’ll miss them?"

"Theoretically, yes. The reason Jail City is designed this way is, one, because the captured demon and variant beasts are adapted to different environments, so they’re placed in settings that suit them!"

"And two, it’s also to prevent students from ambushing and killing each other!"

"But for now, we can only take a gamble and see if they know about this ’bug’!"

"If they don’t know about the bug and are brave enough to come in, this place will be their graveyard. If they do know, then we probably won’t see them tonight!"

Wei Shang’s words were like a bucket of cold water.

It drenched their hopes completely.

"How about this? You guys go on ahead. We weren’t planning on sticking together as a group this time anyway!"

"I’ll wait here for them. As long as they dare to show up, I’ll take them down!"

Wei Nan said, the anger in his eyes hard to extinguish.

As soon as he finished, Zhou Qi and Sun Tao quickly added, "This whole thing started because of the two of us anyway. Lin Yi, you go on with your Demon Hunting. We’ll wait here!"

Seeing that they all wanted to stay behind, how could Lin Yi possibly leave by himself?

But just as he was about to say something.

Wei Shang smiled. "How about this? Let Feng Lei stay here and wait with them!"

"I’ll go Demon Hunting with you. What do you say?"

"To deal with those few small fry, Feng Lei and the others are more than enough. There’s no need for all of us to waste our time here!"

Hearing this, Wei Nan nodded repeatedly.

"That’s right, you guys go on ahead. I’ll just wait for an hour.

If they don’t show up in an hour, I’ll come find you!"

Hearing them say this, and with Feng Lei staying behind.

Lin Yi thought for a moment, then nodded. "Alright, we’ll do that for now. If you really run into them and can’t win, don’t fight them head-on!"

"If you can run, run. I’ll deal with them later!"

Lin Yi’s main mission was to hunt one 3-star Demon Beast and one 3-star variant beast.

In this environment.

Lin Yi wasn’t sure if he could find them.

This was, after all, the freshman area, a place for first-year students.

The highest-level demon and variant beasts here only reached 3-star.

Compared to 1-star and 2-star beasts, they were a bit rarer.

After they finished their discussion, Shen Mengyi also chose to stay behind and wait with them.

In the end, only Lin Yi and Wei Shang headed deeper into the desert.

Although it was the middle of the night.

The scorching temperature made even breathing painful.

Wave after wave of heat rolled over them.

It felt like their noses and mouths were completely blocked by the hot air.

Every breath was like being roasted by fire.

And this was with Lin Yi’s innate resistance to fire and heat.

One could only imagine what kind of torture it would be for someone without heat resistance to come here.

You wouldn’t even need to encounter any demon or variant beasts; the temperature alone.

was enough to drive a person to despair...

"I’m worried Wei Nan and the others won’t be able to handle this temperature!"

Lin Yi said in a low voice.

Just as the words left his mouth, Wei Shang, who was walking behind him, laughed.

"With Feng Lei there, they’ll be fine!"

Hearing this, Lin Yi’s eyes flashed.

He slowly stopped and turned to look back at Wei Shang, staring into his eyes.

"Old Wei, we’ve known each other for a little while now, right?"

"Mm... a week!"

Wei Shang nodded, answering seriously.

"Then tell me, are we friends now?"

Lin Yi pressed on.

This question made a flicker of panic cross Wei Shang’s eyes.

He was completely unprepared for such a question.

He had never imagined Lin Yi would ask something like this.

’Are we friends?’

’From my real perspective, friends? As if. Or rather, what right do I have to be friends with the future Martial God?’

’But answering like that would seem too insincere.’

’Should I tell him the truth? That you’re the future Martial God, and I’m not worthy of being your friend?’

’That would just make Lin Yi resent me.’

’If that happened, all my previous efforts would be for nothing.’

’Worse, I’d become a suspicious person in Lin Yi’s mind.’

"Of course! I’ve always thought of you all as friends!" Wei Shang put on an innocent, harmless smile.

Lin Yi nodded. "Good. Since we’re friends, let’s have some honest words."

"You... and Feng Lei. Who are you really?"

"Huh?"

Lin Yi’s bluntness left Wei Shang completely unprepared.

He hadn’t even considered that Lin Yi would ask this.

"I want to hear the truth!"

As Wei Shang hesitated.

Lin Yi repeated himself.

After a long moment, Wei Shang’s heart gradually relaxed.

For him, it was better to come clean than to continue miserably hiding his identity.

It would be more liberating for both of them.

Wei Shang was silent for a few seconds before asking, "When did you start getting suspicious of me?"

"From the first time I met you and Feng Lei," Lin Yi answered softly.

"The moment you said you were local students was enough to raise suspicion!"

"Anyone can see the attitude local students have towards martial arts candidates from the Old District!"

"Of course, I believe that people’s views can change after getting to know each other!"

"But we hadn’t even gotten to know each other, and you two were already acting so enthusiastic. That in itself was suspicious!"

"After that, all of your actions were, without exception, aimed at getting close to me!"

"You even took out Calming Incense to help Wei Nan and the others open their apertures!"

"That goes far beyond the bonds of roommates. If we had known each other for a long time, I might have believed you were just being generous!"

"But as of today, we’ve barely known each other for a week!"

"Your excessive enthusiasm was just too conspicuous!"

"Also..."

Lin Yi paused, then continued, "We’re all new students. Don’t you think you know far too much about the school, about Jail City, about a lot of things?"

"Just that meal at the inn earlier cost nearly five hundred thousand!"

"I don’t believe an ordinary student can afford such an expensive meal, yet you didn’t even bat an eye. If you were the scion of some great family, that would be one thing!"

"But you’re not. You told me you’re just an ordinary student... Isn’t that enough to make someone suspicious?"

"So, who are you really? What is your status? And what is your purpose in getting close to me?"

"If you really consider me a friend, then tell me the truth!"

"If you’re an enemy... then let’s settle things right here, today!"

After Lin Yi finished speaking.

SHING—

A long blade suddenly appeared in his hand.

A golden light slowly enveloped the blade’s body.

An invisible killing intent whipped up the surrounding sand and wind.

Even Xiaoqi, on Lin Yi’s shoulder, became agitated.

It beat its wings, flying in low circles.

However, it never flew beyond the range of Lin Yi and Wei Shang.

It seemed that if Lin Yi made a move, Xiaoqi would help him cut Wei Shang down...

In this tense atmosphere, with the tension thick enough to cut with a knife.

Wei Shang let out a soft sigh.

"Lin Yi, I didn’t think you were this smart!"

"To be honest, I thought my acting was pretty good, that I hadn’t left any openings for you to see!"

"But now it seems that’s not the case at all. In your eyes, I was full of holes?"

Wei Shang first mocked himself a little.

Then, he stopped pretending.

He took out a badge from his pocket. On it were emblazoned the two words: ’Town Martial’.

"You’re from the Town Martial Department?"

Lin Yi said with some surprise upon seeing the badge.

Wei Shang nodded. "Not just me. Feng Lei is also from the Town Martial Department!"

"We were given a mission to ensure your safety!"

Hearing this, Lin Yi was completely baffled.

’The Town Martial Department is protecting me? What’s going on?’

’I don’t have any connection to the Town Martial Department.’

’So why would they want to protect me?’

’And why go to such great lengths?’

Seeing that Lin Yi still seemed unconvinced.

Wei Shang sighed inwardly.

’Time for Plan B...’

"You know you have a maternal grandfather in the New District, right?"

"Yeah, I know!" Lin Yi nodded.

"Your grandfather is an incredible man, a top-tier figure in the New District!"

"The Yi Family, in particular, is a major, big-name family there.

It was actually your grandfather who entrusted the Town Martial Department with protecting you!"

"How should I explain this... Have you heard of the struggles between great families?"

"The New District isn’t like the Old District. To put it bluntly, the reason the New District is called what it is is because it’s a peaceful land propped up by the various great families!"

"But with so many families, disagreements and conflicts over interests are inevitable. This has led to the emergence of family struggles!"

"The Yi Family has many enemies in the New District. Your grandfather was afraid you would be harmed by those rival families, which is why he commissioned our Town Martial Department to protect you..."