February 6, 2023, Early Night, Three hours before the Lantern Festival begins
Clap! Clap! Clap!
"That's right. You have time until the Lantern Festival begins. But, you don't need to worry."
An got down from the sack of rice he was sitting on. He threw the almost-finished plum to Gui, and Gui caught it by reflex. He then threw the fruit aside.
"For every Hunter you fight, we will only fight you for five minutes. After that, we will give you a score in the form of coins."
An, like a magician, pulled out five types of coins in his right hand. There were bronze, silver, gold, platinum, and jade coins.
"You must know the level of these coins based on their color. If you can survive after five minutes of fighting us, you will be given a bronze coin. If you manage to land even one attack and reduce our health bar, you get a silver coin. Three attacks, a gold coin. Ten attacks or more, a platinum coin. And if you manage to defeat us, we will give you a jade coin. How about that? Fair, isn't it?"
Sizhu raised a hand like an elementary school student wanting to ask a question. An pointed at him.
"Does that apply to every Hunter? Including Hunter Lang Zen."
An laughed at that. "If you intend to fight him, go ahead. However, Lang Zen will not hold back. His job here is to hunt you hunters who hunt us. But don't worry, if you manage to land even one attack on him, he will give you his jade coin."
It was Gui's turn to raise his hand.
"Does each Hunter only have one coin of each type?"
An clapped his hands.
Clap! Clap! Clap!
"Exactly! So this is a coin-hunting race. The faster you are, the more coins you'll get. Or... you can try to defeat us until our health bar is depleted before the festival begins. Don't worry, there will be many fireworks as a sign that your times up and you will be told to gather back in the field."
Sizhu glanced at Elizabeth, Mei Mei, and Gui.
Without further ado, the four of them attacked An from the front.
Because he was inside the warehouse, An's movements would be limited; he couldn't run backward, blocked by many objects like rice sacks and food cabinets filled with spices.
Gui intercepted An's left, Elizabeth his right, Sizhu advanced from the front while Mei Mei guarded their backs.
"Wow, so enthusiastic."
An raised his hands before the water sword, xizhang staff, and blood-stained wooden staff hit him.
Then, from five fingers on his glove, like a spider web, he shot a wire to the warehouse ceiling. Carrying his body flying upwards without needing to jump to avoid the sudden attack from Sizhu's group.
"Oops! Too bad."
An then squatted on the wooden frame of the warehouse ceiling.
"If you were just a second faster, your attack would have hit me—"
Before An could finish speaking, Sizhu, Gui, and Elizabeth also jumped high up. Making An grin widely without opening his mouth.
Boom!
An punched a hole in the warehouse roof a second before the three attacks hit him. He stood up there while Sizhu, Gui, and Elizabeth followed from the hole he created.
"So enthusiastic."
"That's because you are our first target."
Gui threw his xizhang staff, An tilted his body backward to avoid the staff throw, which was like a spear throw, almost grazing his face.
On the other side, Sizhu and Elizabeth attacked from two opposite directions.
"Here, I'll give it back!"
An pulled his hand back, as the xizhang staff shot almost hitting him, he tied the staff with his wire and used it as a weapon to block Sizhu's green fiery wooden staff from the right and Elizabeth's two water swords from the left.
CLANG!
Golden sparks flew. But what An didn't expect was, Gui deliberately threw his xizhang staff for An to use as his weapon. Meanwhile, there was a talisman paper attached to the xizhang staff.
"日生火,火生爆,爆生死.
令敵自爆,使其歸光.
Rì shēng huǒ, huǒ shēng bào, bào shēng sǐ.
Lìng dí zì bào, shǐ qí guī guāng.
(The sun creates fire, fire creates explosions, explosions create death. Explode my enemy, and return him to the light.)"
Boom!
The talisman attached to the head of the xizhang staff exploded in front of An's face while An was busy fending off attacks from Sizhu and Elizabeth on his left and right.
"That was close, wasn't it?"
An suddenly appeared behind Gui's body, unharmed. When the explosion was about to happen, An had already drilled a hole in his footing and descended into the warehouse, then swung to the back of Gui's position from below. The rest of the time, he easily drilled a hole in the roof without making a sound and stood behind Gui's back in a fraction of a second.
Gui was startled and reflexively turned his body while swinging his hand backward, aiming for An's neck. But An easily caught Gui's hand, the wire in his glove immediately entangled Gui's entire body and hung him under the warehouse like a spider's food storage with his feet above his head.
"One down." An grinned. He was avoiding various quick green fiery staff thrusts from Sizhu on the warehouse roof.
"First staff technique; 被火龍攻擊;
Bèi huǒlóng gōngjí! (Fire Dragon's Attack!)"
Green dragon heads formed with each thrust of Sizhu's staff. But An was skilled enough to parry and dodge Sizhu's quick staff thrusts. An even seemed to dance with Sizhu. Enjoying it.
"Faster! Faster!"
As he wished, Sizhu sped up his thrusts, causing An to stand at the edge of the warehouse roof. One attack left and he wouldn't be able to dodge.
"Second staff technique; 尖銳的火焰
Jiānruì de huǒyàn! (Sharp Fire Fangs!)"
Three sideways staff blows from the left and right surrounded An, who was standing at the edge of the roof. He smirked, with his wire he pulled three water swords that also slid from behind his back.
As Sizhu's attack almost hit An, with the wire hooking the three water swords that almost hit his back, An parried Sizhu's three sideways staff blows using Elizabeth's water swords that failed to hit her opponent from behind.
The next second he jumped high over Sizhu's head and entangled Sizhu's leg using the wire from his left hand and caught both of Elizabeth's hands with the wire from his right hand, then he jumped down outside the warehouse while pulling Sizhu's leg and Elizabeth's hands. Making them collide with each other and hang together under the eaves of the roof.
"Ah!"
"Ug!"
Sizhu and Elizabeth struggled to free themselves from the wires entangling their hands and feet. Also, the absurd position made Elizabeth blush and unable to focus on freeing herself. They both swayed like fish hanging together in a market.
"Hehe~ you two look good together."
Bang!
From a blind spot, a bullet shot, aiming for An's back. Not expecting it, An was too late to dodge so he only managed to step aside one step and the bullet grazed his upper right arm.
"You forgot about me." Mei Mei smiled broadly because her attack hit An.
An smiled back while controlling the wire to entangle Mei Mei's legs and make her hang beside the warehouse with Elizabeth and Sizhu. Her pistol fell.
"Ahh!"
After finishing, An checked his health bar on his holographic watch.
"Hmm, five percent down. Good job, I'll give you silver coins as a reward for your hard work in hunting me. It's been five minutes, bye bye~"
After throwing silver coins to the ground. An swung to the roof of the dormitory building and disappeared in seconds.
Meanwhile, Sizhu, Elizabeth, and Mei Mei were still hanging on the side roof of the warehouse. They writhed, trying to free the wires entangling their feet and hands with the roof wood.
"Ugh! This wire is very strong. I can't control water magic without using my hands." Elizabeth complained, still swaying like a market fish. Sizhu, on the other hand, was gathering fire on his staff, then he swung left and right and managed to cut the wire on his leg.
Sizhu and Elizabeth fell together on the ground in an embarrassing position. A sixty-nine position.
Elizabeth immediately stood up and moved away, her cheeks flushed. She said haltingly, "I-I didn't mean it! This is embarrassing!" She said it almost in a whisper.
Sizhu said nothing and stood up, picking up his extinguished staff from the ground.
"Ha! Ha! It's so fun to see you two. Now help me get loose! I'm the one who wounded that snake Shengxiao and got silver coins for us! Come on, let me go!" Mei Mei exclaimed, wriggling. She tried to touch her own feet but couldn't reach. This time, under her academy robe, she was wearing short sports pants so she didn't feel embarrassed hanging upside down like two nights ago.
Elizabeth created a water sword and slashed the wire entangling Mei Mei's feet. Mei Mei immediately fell face first to the ground.
"Ouch!" She then got up and angrily scolded Elizabeth, who apologized insincerely.
"You should have caught me when you dropped me, Lisa!"
"Um... sorry?"
"Silver coin." Gui picked up the silver coin lying on the ground. The three of them were outside the warehouse, with the light of lanterns hanging on the edge of the building and the street as illumination. He smiled slyly.
Sizhu walked closer to him.
"Gui. We got this together. Give us the coin." Reaching out to Gui.
"Together? That's right. Thanks for going to the trouble of getting this silver coin for me."
Sensing Gui's intention to take the coin they had painstakingly obtained for himself, Sizhu immediately spun his staff and stabbed Gui.
Elizabeth immediately threw a water sword in her hand. Mei Mei immediately aimed with the gun she was carrying.
"See you again. Friends!"
Clink. Clink.
Gui's xizhang staff shone, dazzling Sizhu, Elizabeth, and Mei Mei's eyes. Moments later, after they launched their attacks just as the light blinded their eyes, Gui had disappeared. Sizhu's staff stabbed empty air, Elizabeth's water sword stuck in the dormitory building wall, Mei Mei's shot only left a bullet mark on the building wall.
"Argh! He stole our coin!!!" Mei Mei shrieked in annoyance. Elizabeth was equally annoyed, her eyebrows furrowed in irritation at Gui who betrayed them.
Sizhu just stood silently in his spot.
"We don't have time to be angry. We'd better find another Hunter before we run out of time and other participants get more coins than us."
***
"Actually, this is more likely an individual game. Because each participant will only get one coin even if they fight together to get it. After that, the top ten winners will be judged based on the coins they have and successfully survive until the specified time. Those who faint tonight and don't wake up again will lose completely.
"And again, the coins we get can be stolen by other participants at any time. The best plan is to let someone defeat a Hunter and then steal the jade coin they obtained as a guarantee to enter the top ten."
Reza said beside Amon. The two of them were fighting together against the dog shengxiao, Zhang Fei.
"So? After we both defeat that Hunter, you'll scramble for the coin with me?" Amon understood the plan Reza mentioned. The young man with round glasses nodded and shook his head.
"I mean, what if we wait until some Hunter's health bar is low. That way we can get a higher chance of getting a jade coin compared to fighting the same Hunter repeatedly until their health bar runs out."
Amon clicked his tongue. "Ck, boring. This is a hunt. A true hunter will chase their prey to death no matter how long it takes. I don't like that cowardly plan."
"Alright, if that's what you want." Reza adjusted his round glasses. "Whoever lands the most attacks gets the coin."
Amon grinned, then nodded in agreement.
"Huh? You're going to hunt me? Too bad, kids."
Zhang Fei stepped forward with both hands ablaze.
"Dogs will hunt you! I'll tear you two into pieces!"
One swing of his hand created fiery claws as hot and sharp as real claws.
"Heh! We've got a strong prey!"
In the Darkness of the Forest. Fire Rages Wildly
***