Chapter 88: Bounty Hunter

The next day, Ren Mian left Olympia.

She never said where she was going and Ji Xinghuo didn’t ask.

Only Ji Xinghuo and Jiangnan Caiyi were left in the villa, but after a few days, Jiangnan Caiyi also returned to Earth.

Practicing on Earth was no different from the Star Realm; most people preferred Earth for its convenience and being with family.

Ji Xinghuo considered returning to Earth immediately to hand over Ren Mian’s letter to the Sword Bureau to feel more at ease.

However, Ren Mian had advised to delay as much as possible.

Ji Xinghuo saw the wisdom in this; the later he contacted the Sword Bureau, the stronger his powers would be, allowing him to face any issues more confidently.

He continued his solitary training.

Every day, he used a bottle of Grade B Marrow Solution, steadily increasing his star power, soon breaking through 440 points.

His martial arts level was also advancing rapidly.

However, when Ji Xinghuo opened the interface of Wanxiang Star Pupils, seeing the minimal progress in his and Qinghong’s abilities, he found it unbearable.

Lacking spiritual source energy, only relying on personal training to enhance abilities, the efficiency was worlds apart!

Increasing star power was crucial, as was upgrading abilities.

Generally, it’s hard to manage both, but he could!

Moreover, his star power was increasing perhaps too rapidly; Ji Xinghuo estimated that reaching about 500 points would trigger his third evolution, elevating him to a high-tier variant.

This wasn’t necessarily good since, at the mid-tier variant stage, he had only fused with two variants, not much increasing the upper limit of his star power.

Thunder Hand was just a quality ability; after fusion, it only added a dozen or so points of star power.

Clearly insufficient.

After much thought, Ji Xinghuo finally packed his bag into Qinghong’s dimensional stomach and set out on his hunting journey again.

His original plan was to go to Peak Valley to continue plaguing the Gekko demons.

But later, he thought of a better place.

Early in the morning.

Ji Xinghuo boarded a train, leaving from Olympia’s eastern city gate, speeding southeast along the railroad.

Three hours later, the train slowed to a stop at a station.

From the train, Ji Xinghuo saw a series of robust fortresses and bastions along the way; this area was the “Star Realm Frontline,” about 274 kilometers away from both Earth and North Luo Master Clan’s star gates.

Getting off the train, he saw a huge military fortress spanning over thirty square kilometers, perched on a mountain summit, from the base to the peak it was surrounded by four solid city walls, the city built along the contour of the mountain, all structures sturdy and durable, stringent to military needs.

In the fortress, soldiers were posted every five steps, and sentries every ten steps.

Squads of fully armed soldiers patrolled the city, sounds of military drills resonating in the distance while most passersby were military personnel.

Looking up at the high walls, thirty-plus meters high walls mounted with rows of dense steam crossbow cannons; inside, the continuous roar of steam boilers operating.

Swathes of smoke and mist enveloped the air, reminiscent of the steam engine era on Earth.

This was the “Midpoint Fortress”!

The distance between Earth and North Luo Master Clan’s two star gates was 548 kilometers.

In 2051, the Earth Allied Forces repelled the North Luo Master Clan’s invasion and reclaimed the star gates, and under the mediation of Tianyu Wangting, both parties signed a peace agreement, marking a southwest to northeast border line at the midpoint between the two star gates.

The Earth side named it the Star Realm Defense Line.

This defense line lay southeast of Olympia, stretching two thousand kilometers, with its eastern end in the Asia-Pacific Community’s Yanhuang City and the southern end in the American Federation’s New Philadelphia.

Along the Star Realm Defense Line, Earth’s nations continuously invested manpower and resources, building military fortresses at every crucial geographical node.

To date, there are over seventy fortresses!

On average, every thirty kilometers there’s either a military fortress or bastion, with troops stationed within.

In the region behind the defense line, all key terrains and strategic locations are fortified with defensive constructions, watchtowers, bastions, fortresses, military camps, and the like, numbering in the tens of thousands, stretching all the way to encompass Olympia within the defense system.

Of course, the military focus remains in the southeast.

North Luo Master Clan has adopted a similar approach.

Across the Star Realm Defense Line is North Luo Master Clan’s battle line, with less than a five-kilometer buffer zone between them.

Among the seventy-plus military fortresses on the Star Realm Defense Line, Midpoint Fortress is the most crucial.

It was the earliest built and the largest in scale.

Importantly, the geographical location of Midpoint Fortress is also crucial, situated on a mountain over two hundred meters high, it blocks the most convenient road to Olympia.

Within Midpoint Fortress, tens of thousands of troops are stationed, just from the Asia-Pacific Community, around one hundred thousand!

Including the American Federation and other countries, the total number of stationed troops exceeds five hundred thousand.

The train station was built at the foothill of Midpoint Fortress, situated between the first and second city walls, relatively flat terrain.

After disembarking, Ji Xinghuo walked uphill towards the city area, almost everyone he encountered was a military personnel, with checkpoints at every intersection to check identities and verify races. Street-side stores, restaurants, bars, and inns mostly saw patrons in military uniforms.

Everything here served the war.

Moments later.

Ji Xinghuo arrived at a city gate within the second city wall after his identity was checked, he, along with others waiting to get into the city, awaited the gate’s opening.

Clank clank clank…

As steam hissed and white smoke billowed, sounds of chains and gears moving came from the black city wall, three heavy alloy gates raised by pulley chains up to about three meters off the ground then halted.

“Quick, quick, quick!”

“Head in now, the gate only opens for three minutes, don’t dally.”

Urged by the loud voices of the city gate guards, Ji Xinghuo hurriedly crossed with the crowd into the higher tier of the city area, known as the second city sector.

Midpoint Fortress’s layout was clear and straightforward.

The outermost was the first city sector, the lowest in terrain and largest in area, taking up about one third of the entire fortress; followed by the second city sector located between the second and third inner walls, which housed most of the administrative offices and some important military camps;

Further up was the third city sector storing military equipment, food, and various other military materials;

The highest at the summit city sector, the smallest yet most crucial area, housed the command center of the entire Midpoint Fortress, inhabited by military commanders from various countries, and overseen by an emperor.

Ji Xinghuo had not walked far in the second city sector before spotting his destination.

“Midpoint Fortress Bounty Office.”

He observed for a while.

It was called an office, but right next to it was a military camp. Not many people came and went, but every variant here, not in military uniform, exuded a robust aura, even some carrying the scent of blood, like desperadoes.

Each one of them was a bounty hunter!

Bounty hunting is not a professional template but an ancient profession.

In the past, bounty hunters hunted criminals, but now, their targets had shifted to the North Luo Master Clan.

Although both Earth and North Luo Master Clan had built military lines and agreed not to invade each other, could deep-seated enmity be restrained by a mere agreement?

Daily frictions occurred along the defensive line.

Every year, there would be larger-scale conflicts, bloodshed was constant, the war never ceased!

Besides overt military clashes, variants from both sides continued to cross the defense line stealthily, infiltrating and hunting the enemy.

Earth’s nations encouraged variants to do this, and offered bounties.

A bounty for a Legendary Da Guan was fifty thousand Asian dollars, same for Vine Spirits, while for Golauck, it was twenty thousand, and the lowest was for Gekko People at ten thousand.

As long as one brought back a part of a North Luo Master Clan’s identity, proving the enemy was killed, they could claim the bounty.

Collected variants could also be sold for money.

This breathed new life into the ancient profession of bounty hunting; many variants skilled in combat but lacking the patience for hunting monsters took risks for money.

Some were not for the money.

Some variants sought to hone their real combat skills, aiming to improve in genuine life-and-death battles, while also making money.

Such individuals were either bloodthirsty or true geniuses!

Or both.

Some, influenced by historical education, harbored deep hatred for the North Luo Master Clan, feeling only by killing humanity’s foes themselves could they alleviate their hatred and find psychological relief.

Of course, some were simply bored, taking pleasure in killing, satisfying their twisted preferences.

There were also those who took photos with the dead enemies to brag upon returning to Earth.

Some aspired to be heroes.

In any case, no bounty hunter was easy to provoke; those who lasted in this line of work were significantly stronger than their peers.

Ji Xinghuo entered the bounty office and approached the service counter.

A military person looked up, sizing up Ji Xinghuo, and asked: “What service do you require?”

“I’d like to register as a bounty hunter.”

Simply bringing North Luo Master Clan organs wouldn’t be enough to claim bounties; registration was necessary for official recognition.

Bounty hunters also had a point system.

Besides monetary rewards, the more enemies a hunter killed, the better the benefits and combat hero titles and medals linked to points in various countries.

This system was also for managing bounty hunters.

In times of war, mismanagement was dreaded; bounty hunters couldn’t be allowed complete freedom as it might negatively impact important battles.

The military person nodded, passed over a form “Fill in the information and bring it back to me.”

Ji Xinghuo took the form and sat aside.

Name, age, gender, nationality, profession, rank, along with some basic features like height, weight, email, address, and emergency contacts, without requiring other personal information. Clearly, the bounty office did not mandate providing real information.

Ji Xinghuo was about to use a fake name, then remembered Ren Mian’s words.

“When I’ve killed a few hundred or even thousands of North Luo Master Clan, accumulated a large amount of points, and obtained several hero medals, surely no one would doubt my position, will they?”

In the public eye, having sufficiently high hero points acted as a protective charm.

Absolutely politically correct, universally accepted!

Ji Xinghuo did not hesitate and wrote down his real name in the name field.

After filling out the form, he handed it in.

“Please stand here.”

The military person pointed to a spot in front of a white wall, and once Ji Xinghuo was in place, he picked up a film camera, clicked a few times taking half-body and full-body photos of Ji Xinghuo, and said: “Come back in an hour to collect your bounty hunter certificate.”