The Scavenger Headquarters of the Mellon Consortium.
The carriage galloped over and stopped in front of the entrance. Dudian got off the carriage, looked up at this huge, seemingly dormant building, and then walked up the steps one by one. When he reached the front hall at the entrance, he saw that it was extremely spacious inside. There were a few figures of the consortium's scavengers browsing the information on the notice board in front of the hall.
This notice board was specifically used to announce the information needed by the scavengers, mainly about the changes in various areas under the Mellon Consortium outside the Wall, or the changes in the adjacent areas. When Dudian entered, he casually glanced at it. From a distance, he could see the pieces of information on the notice board. One of the messages was actually about the Eighth District. The general meaning was that there were walking corpses in the Eighth District, and it was temporarily sealed off. Scavengers were advised not to enter.
Dudian knew that, apart from being occasionally assigned by the consortium to scavenge in a specific area like they were this time, scavengers could move freely during their missions at other times and could go to any scavenging area under the Mellon Consortium without restrictions. Therefore, most scavengers would come here to learn about the latest changes in each area before each mission to prevent encountering the same kind of danger as they did this time.
After all, although these areas had been cleared, walking corpses and monsters wouldn't care about the boundaries set by people. They often invaded areas that had already been scavenged, just like the "Fear Infector" that Dudian had encountered.
After taking a look, Dudian walked up the corridor inside the hall towards the upper floors.
"Eh, Dean?" Suddenly, a voice came.
Dudian turned his head and saw that it was Pete, holding a cup of hot coffee. He had just come out of the office. Pete smiled slightly and said, "Mr. Pete."
"The supplies you picked up haven't been estimated yet. Why are you here?" Pete asked curiously.
Dudian was also puzzled. Hadn't Pete heard about his matter? Suddenly, he thought that matters related to hunters seemed to need to be kept confidential. Ordinary scavengers could only, like Scott, rely on their seniority and hear some gossip. However, Dudian didn't expect that someone with Pete's status hadn't received the news either. He immediately smiled and tactfully avoided the topic, saying, "I was asked to come here. It seems they have something to talk to me about."
Pete was taken aback for a moment. Suddenly, he seemed to think of something, furrowed his brows, and muttered to himself, "This shouldn't be right. Even if they have doubts, they wouldn't suspect you newbies..." Looking at Dudian's puzzled gaze, he hesitated for a moment, leaned closer to Dudian, and said in a low voice, "I guess they called you here regarding the walking corpses in the Eighth District. I've already heard about it. Moreover, in this incident in the Eighth District, a hunter died. A few days ago, news came from the Hunter Headquarters that they would thoroughly investigate the scavengers who entered the Eighth District this time. However, there's no reason for them to suspect you newbies. Don't worry too much. Just be careful with what you say."
Dudian was taken aback. The hair on his body stood up slightly, as if he had an instinctive alertness to danger. But soon he realized that his reaction was too strong, and his expression quickly returned to normal. He smiled and said, "I see. I was wondering about that. Thank you for the reminder, Mr. Pete!"
Pete smiled and said, "I have high hopes for you. Work hard!" After that, he left with the cup of hot coffee.
Dudian watched his retreating back and slowly turned his head. The smile on his face had disappeared, and his eyes narrowed slightly, with a hint of cold light. He had originally thought that the Hunter Headquarters would at most investigate the Eighth District and look for traces at the scene. He didn't expect that the scope of the investigation would be expanded to include them scavengers. Although he wasn't afraid, such a large-scale action was enough to show that the Hunter Headquarters was taking this matter very seriously!
His mind quickly recalled the traces he had dealt with. Suddenly, he thought of something. Since the Marks of the Demon were the ability of every hunter, would other hunters have any special abilities, such as a keen sense of smell like his?
Thinking of this, his fingers clenched slightly, and he made up his mind that even if the higher-ups found something, he would firmly deny it!
He looked at the steps ahead, his expression returning to calm, and walked forward step by step.
The Scavenger Headquarters had four floors in total, and there were guards on duty on each floor. These guards were private guards selected from the nobles belonging to the Mellon Consortium. Only nobles had the right to recruit private armed forces, but the quota was limited. This was also one of the basic requirements for the consortium to stand firm.
When he reached the fourth floor, Dudian stood in front of the corridor, not knowing which room's door to knock on. Suddenly, he thought of the two attendants beside the stairs. He immediately asked them about the room of "Mr. Fenton". After getting the guidance, he quickly found a dark red lacquered wooden door of a room on the left and knocked gently.
The door opened, and it was a middle-aged man who looked like a butler. He looked Dudian up and down, and a smile appeared on his face. He said, "You must be Dudian, the new member of the consortium. Please come in."
Dudian nodded slightly and entered the room.
The resplendent light immediately shone on him, and a faint fragrance wafted from all corners of the room. The ground he stepped on was extremely soft, actually a dark red woolen carpet. He quickly and accurately swept a glance around the room, and all the general things came into his view. All the tables, chairs, sofas, the desk, and the oil paintings were extremely expensive, exuding an overwhelming sense of elegance and wealth.
He deeply sighed in his heart at the luxury. His gaze fell on the figure under a huge oil painting of a woman at the upper part of the room. It was a middle-aged man with a strong build, thick eyebrows, and star-like eyes. He had a somewhat cold and decisive air, as well as a bit of vicissitudes and laziness. The most eye-catching thing was a finger-length scar on the side of his chin, close to his neck.
The position of this scar was startling. It made people can't help but think that if it had been half a centimeter off, it might have cut the carotid artery.
"Little guy, come and sit down." The middle-aged man, Fenton, looked at Dudian with a hint of surprise in his eyes and said with a smile.
Seeing that his attitude was mild, Dudian knew that he wasn't going to question him about that hunter. He secretly let out a sigh of relief and walked to the sofa opposite him and sat down.
"I've read your resume. The radiation value measured before was only 0.8, less than 1!" Fenton gently opened a notebook on the table and smiled at Dudian, "This time, you just came back from outside the Wall, and the radiation value in your body has just exceeded 1. But you've just returned, so the radiation content in your body is relatively high. After a while, your body will automatically adjust and adapt, and the radiation content should decrease by about 0.1. Generally speaking, the radiation content is still less than 1. Little guy, do you know that this is the radiation content that only hunters possess?"
Dudian nodded slightly and wasn't surprised.
"So, it's not strange that you have the Marks of the Demon. However, I do want to know, where did your Marks of the Demon... come from?" Fenton's eyes slowly narrowed, as if he was examining every slight change on Dudian's face.