Just then, the blue exoframe stomped over from the west gate.

Seeing Chu Guang, Yu Hu’s eyes lit up and he shouted a greeting. "Brother Chu!"

"Yu Hu?" Chu Guang opened the helmet’s visor, looked at the young man in front of him and said with a smile, "How’d your hunt go today?"

"Hehe, not bad. We killed a wild boar weighing more than 80 kilograms and exchanged it for over 100 silver coins." Yu Hu smiled shyly, but his eyes were full of pride.

"Not bad!" Chu Guang nodded approvingly, and joked with a smile, "It seems that there will be roasted wild boar at the barbecue stand today."

Yu Hu smiled in response. Suddenly remembering something, he spoke immediately. "By the way, Brother Chu."

Chu Guang raised an eyebrow slightly. "What’s wrong?"

Yu Hu hesitated for a while, then continued, "I have something to tell you. When I was hunting today, I felt that the atmosphere in the fifth ring was a bit unusual."

This roused Chu Guang’s full attention. "Did you find anything?"

Yu Hu nodded. "Recently, mutants seem to be more dangerous than before. The wild boar I shot today was actually scratched by a Cruncher... This kind of thing never happened before."

Chu Guang had a thoughtful expression on his face. "This is indeed a problem. I have also noticed that the Crunchers and Creepers in the subway are notably more aggressive than before..."

Listening to the conversation between her brother and her Big Brother Chu, Xiaoyu looked worried. She couldn’t help but mumble at the side, "Yu Hu, why don’t you change to a safer job..."

"It’s okay, I don’t go hunting at night," Yu Hu said with a smile, seeing his sister’s worry. "Those Crunchers only go out at night and hide indoors during the day."

Chu Guang suddenly said, "That may not always be true."

As Yu Hu looked over in surprise, Chu Guang continued, "According to the experts in our shelter, there may be a Tide outbreak in the near future. During the outbreak, I am afraid it will not be very safe even in the daytime."

A Tide?!

Yu Hu’s complexion changed slightly. "The Tide... isn’t that something that would only happen in the city center?"

Chu Guang shook his head. "That’s a misunderstanding. As long as the conditions are met, the Tide can happen anywhere."

Yu Hu gulped in fear.

If anyone else said that, he would only treat them as a fool.

Boulder Town was on the edge of the third ring, and there was no Hives beyond that. Those Crunchers always sought out places with a lot of people, but the northern suburbs were sparsely populated. How could a Tide break out?

The only problem was that Chu Guang was the one who said it. The Chu Guang he knew would never joke about such a serious matter.

"By the way, Yu Hu, have you considered that thing I mentioned before?"

Yu Hu froze for a moment. "W-what thing?"

Chu Guang said with a smile, "Helping me out when spring comes along."

"Yes, of course!" Upon hearing this, Yu Hu nodded repeatedly, rubbing the back of his head in embarrassment. "But I only know how to hunt... I’m afraid I can’t help you much."

"Who says that?" Chu Guang smiled and said, "An experienced hunter and guide is exactly what we need now."

After a pause, Chu Guang looked at Yu Hu seriously and continued, "The threat of the Tide is drawing closer every day. I plan to establish a Hunter’s Guild at the outpost to unite the hunters in the vicinity as well as the shelter residents with hunting talents, then organize scouting parties along the edge of the fifth ring toward the city." 𝙍𝔞ℕọβÈş

"I’d like you to be the first president of this guild!"

Yu Hu froze for a moment, feeling a little overwhelmed for a while. "Me, be a president? But I’ve never been…"

"No one is born into it, but I’m very optimistic about your potential." Chu Guang smiled slightly and gave him an encouraging look. "Relax. I’ll teach you what you need to do and even how to do it. You just need to give me a simple answer. Yes or no?"

Yu Hu was more familiar than anyone else with the terrain in the northern suburbs. He was not only an experienced hunter, but also a reliable guide.

Although this young man didn’t look very smart, he was no fool. Chu Guang was very confident in his judgment of character.

Most importantly, he was well-known, not only by the hunters of Baker Street but also the hunters from other areas in the area. Even the players were somewhat familiar with him.

There was nobody more suitable to serve as this functional NPC!

Seeing her brother’s hesitation, Xiaoyu gently pulled at his sleeve and whispered, "Brother, just take the offer, it’s definitely safer to work there than to go hunting, and you’ll make mom and dad very happy."

Yu Hu rubbed the back of his head and muttered, "You little girl, you’ve only been away from home for a few days, but look at you now, you actually start to order your brother around."

Xiaoyu said woefully, "I’m just worried about you... And Big Brother Chu thinks that you can do well, so there must be no problem."

Stretching out his hand to rub his sister’s little head, Yu Hu looked up at the smiling Chu Guang and said seriously, "Since you are willing to entrust me with such an important job, I will definitely do my best!"

Chu Guang shot him a look of approval. "Just what I’ve been waiting to hear!"

...

In the evening, Yu Hu returned to Baker Street, intending to tell his parents and elder brother about this matter, then return to the outpost the next morning.

Chu Guang told him not to hurry, advising him to settle the family affairs first, as long as he reported to work within 2 days.

Night gradually fell, and over in Boulder Town…

Tail, who had had a full meal, was stroking her slightly bulging belly, and belched as she came out of the restaurant. "

Buuuurp…

Sisi, there’s so much delicious food here."

"Emmm... I don’t know about that; I think the snack street at our North Gate Market was better." Sisi gave her a sidelong glance. "You should pay attention to your image, Tail."

Tail said nonchalantly, "What’s the matter? Ability users need to eat more, is there a problem with that? And anyway, in this game, even if you gain a little weight, it all goes away after you die and respawn."

"Well... The cost of resurrection has become cheaper, but I didn’t expect you to use it in this way."

They each ate a large bowl of noodles and spent 4 chips.

Objectively speaking, it was not as delicious as the food made by the player named Zhang Hai at the North Gate Market.

As expected of the people in Boulder Town, who survived under constant threat. There was no seasoning in the noodles except salt and vinegar!

They eventually arrived at the same conclusion.

Where was the chili pepper? Can ramen without chili still be called ramen?!

Sisi unfolded the note in her hand, which listed the items she planned to investigate. She had checked off more than 20 of them, and there were only a few left.

"The next stop is the tavern."

"The tavern!" Tail’s eyes lit up immediately. "Oh, there must be a lot of mercenaries there, right?"

"In theory," said Sisi, glancing around. "But... This street seems to be full of shops, and there is no signboard that looks like it belongs to a tavern."

Taverns were not mentioned in Ample Time’s strategy guide either.

It’s not like him to omit this kind of key information...

Tail eventually said energetically, "It’s okay! Let’s take the chance to explore!"

"Mhm, that’s what I planned too."

The two walked on the street for a while, then continued toward the inner city. Soon, a big sign board came into view.

On the signboard, there was a picture of a girl with a graceful figure, with her back leaning on a wine barrel, holding a beer glass in her hand, and colorful neon lights flashing around her. Although the art was wild, there was no doubt that it depicted alcohol.

"Sisi! We found it!"

"Emmm... I don’t think this is the kind of tavern we’re looking for."

"What does it matter? Since the game development team made it, there must be a good reason for its existence!"

"Eh? What you said actually makes sense." To be honest, Sisi was also very curious about how realistic the game was.

Seeing Tail looking at her so expectantly, she made a helpless expression, and then walked over with Tail.

The security guard standing at the door looked at the two of them in surprise, but said nothing. After collecting the cover charge of 2 chips per person, he let them through.

The lights in the "tavern" were shaking and the music was loud, full of a wild and explosive feeling.

The two who had never been to a bar felt out of touch with the atmosphere there. Even Tail, who loved to play around, felt a little uncomfortable.

"Si, I’m asking because I have no idea how exactly should people who are at a tavern for the first time act so they look natural?"

"I think it might be helpful to think of this as a cafeteria."

Tail looked at Sisi in surprise. "Woah! Are you someone who frequents such wild places, after all?"

Sisi sneered. "Do you really think that’s likely, for someone who plays games every night?"

This place was not like the kind of tavern usually encountered by adventurers in RPGs.

It was more like a bar that could be found in real life.

𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

The two of them found an inconspicuous position at the bar and sat in the corner keeping a low profile.

Soon, the bartender brought them 2 glasses of watered-down beer. Sisi politely said thank you in the language of the Federation of People, sniffed the glasses, and instead of drinking, looked at the surrounding environment.

Outside of the dance floor, the lights were very dim, they couldn’t see the people around them clearly, but no one paid attention to them either.

Just when Sisi was wondering where to start the investigation, the music in the bar suddenly changed.

A host went on stage and said a few words into the microphone, then a dancer dressed in a very avant-garde outfit stepped onto the stage.

There were excited cheers all around, and it was so loud that it even overwhelmed the live music!

The dancer standing on the stage gave the audience a flirtatious look and started her performance.

However, it was not the dance itself that attracted the attention of the players. It was the dancer’s clothes.

Sisi froze for a moment, with a surprised expression on her face.

Isn’t that Teng Teng’s...

Before she had time to say anything, Tail jumped up excitedly as if she had made a groundbreaking discovery and tugged her clothes excitedly while pointing at the stage. "Oh my god! Sisi, look! Isn’t that Teng Teng’s artwork?"

There was an awkward expression on Sisi’s face, as if she had seen what was about to happen in the next few hours.

"Mhm... I see it. It’s quite impressive."