Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 780 57: Iron Fortress

"No, you are," Sun Hang corrected. "The researchers at Dubhe Tower are all public officials, so, of course, the research subjects are too."

Xue Yue: "Re-re-re-re-re...researched?"

"Ahem, let's get back on track." Sun Hang cast a glance at the little girl who had been frightened by his joke and turned to look at Candle Dragon who was driving, "When you said you were going to buy gifts, I thought you were going to get something special, but it turned out to be these industrial mass-produced goods that are only four or five hundred bucks a bottle? Are these really useful? Can you really hire someone as good as the top-ranked hunters with this?"

"This is just a stepping stone," Candle Dragon said, "It's for buying information. As for those hunters..."

"If you need to buy something, just say it, our budget is more than sufficient," Sun Hang said. "I've never fought such a rich battle... I finally understand why people's greed keeps expanding. Spending money, is really addictive."

"I'll try to use money to solve any problem I can, but this can't be solved that way." Candle Dragon shook his head, "Top-tier free hunters are not short of money, and what they want is something that is hard to buy with money."

"What do they want? For example?"

"Previously, a free hunter named Lewis posted a bounty on the Dragon City hunter exchange forum. His mother had a rare disease, and if someone could cure her, he was willing to work for that person unconditionally for twenty years, even if it was the most dangerous job in the world," Candle Dragon said.

"Oh, that's a really filial kid... If it's just an ordinary disease, I think I might be able to help. By the way, how is this Lewis's capability?"

"Unfortunately, his mother passed away more than a decade ago," Candle Dragon said. "As for Lewis himself, he went missing during an exploration mission in the uninhabited area of the Hexi Corridor and has not been heard from since."

"…It seems that what these hunters want, some might not be difficult for me." Sun Hang took out his phone and typed 'Dragon City hunter exchange forum' into the search engine, but all he got were irrelevant ads and fraudulent information.

"Strange, why can't I find this Dragon City hunter exchange forum online? Did I type the wrong keyword?" Sun Hang asked.

"The Dragon City hunter exchange forum can only be accessed by users with a Dragon City IP," Candle Dragon said. "You either use a VPN, or wait for me to drive another twenty kilometers, and search after entering the Dragon City area."

"...Is this forum helpful?"

"Honestly, it's not very useful," Candle Dragon said. "Most online information is what people have already picked over, and truly valuable information is rarely uploaded to the internet."

"That's not good," Sun Hang shook his head. "It's way too out of touch with the times."

"For those intermediaries and intelligence dealers, this is their bread and butter," Candle Dragon explained. "If you want to make a living in Dragon City, you have to follow its rules."

As they talked, Sun Hang saw a sign with white letters on a blue background by the side of the highway that conspicuously displayed three large characters: "Dragon City."

Sun Hang: "Are we there?"

Candle Dragon nodded.

Soon, a city that looked like a steel fortress appeared in Sun Hang's view.

Because they had reported in advance, Sun Hang's vehicle was not stopped for inspection at the outside checkpoints, and they drove straight into the fast-entry lane. After passing through the city walls that were almost stacked with city defense weapons, the vehicle finally officially entered the main area of Dragon City.

Sun Hang's first impression of Dragon City was that the population density was incredibly high—even though this was just a regular street near the city gate, not even connected to the main entrance route, the density of people on the street was comparable to the busiest commercial street in Tianfu City.

All sorts of vehicles were completely jammed in the middle of the road, and hurried "visitors" crowded the sidewalks on both sides. I say "visitors" because most of these people wore outdoor jackets, baseball caps, or fisherman's hats, often with large backpacks, and many dragged extra luggage, clearly not native to Dragon City.

"This doesn't look like a border fortress at all," Sun Hang muttered. "It looks more like a famous tourist spot."

"These people are not here for tourism... Dragon City's commerce is very developed, but also quite distorted," Candle Dragon said. "Almost all commercial activities revolve around one thing."

"Anomalous objects?" Sun Hang immediately understood what Candle Dragon meant by "one thing."

"Exactly." Candle Dragon nodded. "Honestly, it's not an exaggeration to describe Dragon City as a city sustained by 'anomalous objects.' The free hunters and mercenaries stationed in Dragon City need all kinds of equipment and supplies, and the anomalous object samples they hunt, along with some 'mutated items' dug out from the uninhabited zones, can fetch sky-high prices at auctions in inner-city areas."

"Those companies analyze the things they hunt, use the technology they develop to create new equipment, and then sell it back to hunters and mercenaries... it forms a virtuous cycle." Sun Hang said.

"Though it's not that simple in reality, you're not wrong to say so." Candle Dragon said. "Besides buying, those companies also provide equipment and supplies to mercenaries and hunters for free under the guise of sponsorship and testing… thus, even those without a penny, as long as they have the guts, can come to Dragon City to try their luck."