In the world outside the Wall, in the Eighth District of the Mellon Consortium.
The consortium's flag, resembling a scarlet rose, was planted at the edge of the area. Three figures flashed past beside the flag at great speed. The gentle breeze they stirred caused the flag to flutter slightly.
The speed of these three figures was incredibly fast. Like three black cheetahs, they nimbly leaped and climbed over the broken streets. Whenever there was a collapsed building blocking the way, they easily stepped on the rubble and crossed over it.
Soon, the three of them saw two figures wandering aimlessly on the street ahead. Their green eyes were empty and numb, and their clothes hung on them like rags, revealing many parts of their grayish stone-like flesh.
"Hmph!" The leading figure among the three let out a cold snort, with a somewhat cold and delicate tone. It was a woman in scarlet soft armor. Her speed didn't slow down at all. She rushed past at high speed and reached in front of the two walking corpses before they could react.
Then, she dashed straight through the middle of them.
With two thuds, two heads fell behind, rolling on the ground like balls and then stopping.
The two figures following behind the woman quickly passed by the walking corpses, and the strong wind they generated blew the two headless corpses down.
"There are actually still walking corpses remaining. Something has indeed happened in the Eighth District." A young man on the left looked back and his face changed slightly.
The young man on the right looked at the back of the woman in scarlet soft armor with worry and let out a low sigh, saying, "I hope Byrne was just having fun for a while."
"Don't be distracted!" The scarlet-clad woman in front had a cold gaze and said coldly, "Gree, have you smelled my brother's scent yet?"
The young man on the left said, "Not yet... Eh!" He suddenly let out a surprised exclamation, stopped, and looked towards a street on the right. He said uncertainly, "Is this scent from that monster?"
The scarlet-clad woman immediately stopped and turned to stare at him.
Gree's eyes flickered for a moment, then he said, "Follow me. Maybe your brother is here." After that, he quickly dashed along the street.
Soon, the three of them arrived in front of a collapsed building. Gree quickly crawled into the collapsed building through a hole. The scarlet-clad woman and the other young man followed closely behind him. They came to a horizontal passage inside the building.
Gree jumped down from the hole in the passage. Only a slight buzzing sound was heard. He followed the source of the sound and looked into the darkness. He raised his hand and lit a portable wax candle, instantly illuminating the dark corridor.
The three of them were shocked when they saw what was inside by the faint light.
"Sure enough, it's the 'Fear Infector'!" Gree took a light breath, feeling a bit frightened.
The other young man exclaimed in surprise, "Why is the 'Fear Infector' in the Eighth District? This is a rare named monster. How could it die here?"
"It's still in its juvenile stage, and its hunting level is 'Nine'." The scarlet-clad woman looked carefully for a moment, scanned the surrounding dark passage, and said coldly, "It was burned to death? Hmph, it died so pathetically."
Gree came back to his senses and suddenly said, "Look, the head of this 'Fear Infector' has been chopped open. This should be the work of a novice. We all know that there's nothing in the brain of a 'Fear Infector' except brain matter! Moreover, none of its body parts have been removed. It seems that the person who killed it is likely a rookie hunter who has just become a hunter!"
"There haven't been any newly joined hunters in our consortium recently." The other young man said.
The scarlet-clad woman sneered, "Then it can only mean that a hunter from another consortium didn't understand the rules and trespassed into our area."
Gree nodded slightly. Suddenly, his nose twitched, and his face changed slightly. He said, "I seem to smell your brother's scent."
"Hmm?" The scarlet-clad woman raised her eyebrows.
Gree's face turned a bit ugly, and he said, "It's coming from this 'Fear Infector'. Could it be that..."
The scarlet-clad woman's face immediately changed, and she angrily shouted, "Nonsense!"
Gree held the flame and moved closer to the charred corpse of the monster. He immediately saw that between the claws of one of its paws, there was a half-piece of soft armor fragment as thick as a finger. The scent he smelled was coming from this fragment.
"This..." Gree picked up the soft armor fragment, his face looking a bit ugly. He said, "This is your brother's."
The scarlet-clad woman's face changed. Her beautiful face, as cold as ice and snow, turned red with anger. Her black pupils shrank slightly, and the color of her irises became somewhat blood-red. She trembled and slowly walked up to Gree. Looking at the soft armor fragment in his hand, she knew that with his ability to track scents, he wouldn't make a mistake. And she also understood what would happen if her brother had encountered this 'Fear Infector' with a hunting level of "Nine"!
"Beast..." The skin on the woman's arm slowly peeled off, revealing two blood-red blades like curved knives. She suddenly slashed at the neck of the 'Fear Infector'. With a puff, the decayed and fluffy muscle fibers of the charred corpse were easily cut open by the blood blades beside her arm. The decayed blood foam splashed onto her face, but she didn't care at all. She wildly swung her hands like a madman.
Blood splattered, and the bloodthirsty flies surrounding the charred corpse were scared away by her.
"Beast, beast, beast..." While her arms were tearing the charred corpse apart, tears welled up in her dark red eyes and slid down her delicate cheeks, washing away the blood on her face.
Gree and the other young man had complex expressions and didn't try to stop her, knowing that it would be useless to do so.
Soon, the upper body of the charred corpse was cut to pieces by the blood blades. The scarlet-clad woman had a ferocious expression. She reached into its decayed body with her hand and quickly tore its stomach apart. An extremely foul and decayed smell flowed out along with the gastric juice, staining the woman's arm. But she didn't care at all. She rummaged in the gastric juice but only picked up some already digested bone residue and metal pieces.
"Beast, beast..." The scarlet-clad woman repeated these two words. Grief had left her without the mind to think of new curse words.
The highly corrosive gastric juice splashed on her soft armor and blood blades, but it had no effect at all. Gree felt a bit sorry and pulled her, saying, "Don't do this. Your brother might have escaped from its claws and is still alive somewhere."
"Get lost!" The scarlet-clad woman turned her head and said coldly.
Gree sighed and had to let go of her.
The scarlet-clad woman panted slightly and clenched her fists tightly. Her beautiful face was filled with ferocity: "I will find the person who killed this beast. A damn rookie hunter could never have defeated it. It must have been severely injured after fighting with my brother and then was taken advantage of by that damn scoundrel. I want him dead!!"
Gree nodded and said, "We'll help you. We will definitely find that guy. He dared to invade the area we cleared. He can't be forgiven!"
The other young man said, "I think that person should have left some clues nearby. Let's search. Maybe we'll find something unexpected."
Gree nodded slightly, turned back, and pointed at the stones beside the hole they had jumped down from. He said, "The bloodstains on that should be left by that person. I've remembered this scent. Let's search around and see if there are any other clues."
The scarlet-clad woman looked in the direction he pointed. Her dark red pupils were extremely cold. She walked up to the stones and raised her hand to touch the dried bloodstains on them. A terrifying scene appeared. From her fair hand, something like black blood vessels suddenly broke through the skin and wriggled onto the stones, as if licking up the blood on them.
Soon, the dried bloodstains on the stones gradually disappeared.
Gree's face changed slightly, but he didn't say much, knowing that this was the ability of her Marks of the Demon.
"You guys search around. Search carefully!" The scarlet-clad woman said coldly.