Dudian's heart hung in his throat. He carefully raised his right hand and gently touched the burn on his left hand. Immediately, he felt nothing.
"How could this be?" Dudian's face turned pale. His right hand tightly covered the several burn wounds. Through his right hand, he could feel that the temperature of his left hand was extremely high. However, when the injured part of his left hand was touched, there was still no sensation at all.
"It's impossible!!" Dudian angrily raised his left hand and smashed it on the ground.
With a loud thud.
The ground caved in, forming a deep pit.
Dudian was stunned for a moment.
He raised his left hand and tried to clench his fist. He saw that his fingers could move freely. When he wanted to clench his fist, his left hand could do so. However, even when he clenched his fist, his left hand still had no feeling. He couldn't even feel the touch of his fingers in his palm.
This feeling was very strange. He could clearly see his left hand moving and even control it, but he just couldn't feel that his left hand was being controlled by his brain.
Dudian gradually calmed down. He carefully examined his left hand again and again. Suddenly, he thought of the pit on the ground. His heart skipped a beat. He raised his left hand and grabbed a stone beside him. With a bang, as soon as he grabbed it, the stone shattered in his palm.
This stone was a concrete stone that had already rotted. Originally, it would have been easy for Dudian to shatter it, but it definitely didn't feel like this. He hardly felt that he was exerting any force, and the thing just broke.
Dudian switched to his right hand and continued to grab a stone. He could clearly feel the touch. He gently exerted some force, and with a bang, the stone shattered again.
Dudian finally let out a sigh of relief. It seemed that it wasn't that his left hand had lost its sense of touch, causing him to use too much force just now. Instead, his strength had indeed been enhanced.
Dudian took out the black bow from the hidden items beside him. This was the bow and arrow of Baylin's younger brother, Bayen. He pinched the bowstring. As soon as he pulled it, with a hum, the bowstring suddenly snapped, almost hitting his face.
"Whether it's the weight I feel when holding it or the feeling when pulling the bowstring, it's obviously much lighter, as if it were made of straw." Dudian held both ends of the bow with his two hands. With a little force, the black bow immediately bent inward and was bent into a circle.
"My strength has increased, and it's more than doubled." Dudian was a bit excited in his heart. However, when he saw the burns all over his left hand, the joy in his heart vanished immediately. "Although my strength has increased, my left hand is equivalent to being useless. Although it can move, the nerves inside should have all died. I don't know if there will be other sequelae. Without the sense of touch, I will have a deviation in grasping the strength in the future. I can only rely on my feeling."
Thinking of this, he sighed in his heart.
After moving his left hand a bit more and finding that it still didn't regain its sense of touch, Dudian could only temporarily put it aside. He took out a dagger and heated it red over the fire. He took out antiseptic solution and gauze from the first aid kit and prepared them beside him. After the dagger was heated properly, he lifted the armor on his abdomen. He saw that the wound on his side abdomen that had been pierced by the tall young man's long spear had already rotted, and the rotten flesh was curled outward.
He gritted his teeth slightly and used the dagger to cut off the rotten flesh outside the wound bit by bit.
"Hiss!" The intense pain made him inhale sharply. He gritted his teeth and endured it. He suddenly hoped that these wounds could be as insensitive as his left hand, so that he wouldn't feel so much pain.
After a while, the rotten wound on his front abdomen was cut off and re-bandaged. As for the wound on his back, he could only cut it off slowly bit by bit. It was extremely inconvenient to do it with his backhand. Unfortunately, he was the only one around at the moment. Self-rescue in the wilderness was also a required course for hunters.
After a while, the rotten flesh of the wounds on the front and back of his abdomen was all removed and bandaged, and new gauze was replaced. Next was the wound on his thigh. The hunting leg guard had already been broken, and there were several holes from sharp teeth. There was a circle of tooth marks on his thigh, like a row of black holes, and the wound was completely rotten.
Dudian heated the dagger red again and endured the pain to cut off the rotten flesh piece by piece.
More than ten minutes later, Dudian finally finished bandaging all the wounds on his body. He was in pain and exhausted, feeling completely exhausted.
"After the injury heals a bit, I'll return inside the Wall." Dudian thought to himself. Although it wasn't suitable to recuperate outside the Wall, going back with such an injured body was also extremely dangerous. However, before going back, he had to wait at the giant Wall in advance for the passage to open to avoid missing it.
...
...
Half a month later.
The passage located near Area 9 of the Mellon Consortium was opened again. Dudian had thought that Pete, Maken, and the others would come out, but unexpectedly, it was a team of hunters. Among them, obviously was the female hunter he had seen before.
This female hunter should have been assigned to this new team. When she saw Dudian, she was greatly surprised and stunned and said, "It's you?"
Dudian narrowed his eyes, and a trace of killing intent flashed in his eyes. But he suddenly thought that she, the swordsman, and the thief hadn't helped the captain attack him, so the killing intent in his heart subsided a lot. He walked towards the passage.
"A hunter?" The other four people in the team were a bit surprised to see Dudian. They didn't expect to see a new hunter here. When they saw the incomplete emblem of the Mellon Consortium on Dudian's armor, they let out a sigh of relief. One-eyed young man in the team said to the female hunter, "Do you know him?"
The female hunter nodded subconsciously. Looking at Dudian approaching, her hand involuntarily reached for the dagger by her leg.
Dudian's height allowed his line of sight to easily see the other party's small movement. A trace of coldness flashed in his eyes. He looked up at her. As long as she dared to pull out the dagger even an inch, he would immediately take action.
The female hunter held the dagger not to attack but for defense. She was worried that Dudian would hold a grudge and attack her. Although she knew that the other party was just a newbie, after all, he was a real junior hunter, and his physique wouldn't be much inferior to hers. This could be seen from the fact that he was able to escape successfully last time. So, when she saw Dudian approaching, she couldn't help but feel nervous.
Seeing that she had no intention of attacking, Dudian didn't take the initiative to attack either. He passed by her and entered the passage behind them.
After Dudian's figure disappeared, the one-eyed young man in the team looked at the female hunter and squinted his eyes and said, "You seem to be very afraid of him? He's just a newbie. Is it really necessary?"
Seeing that Dudian had left, the female hunter let out a sigh of relief and said bitterly, "We'd better go and find the 'Filth Leaker' who broke into Area 9 as soon as possible."
The others saw that she didn't want to say more and didn't ask any more questions. They headed towards Area 9.
...
...
Dudian returned inside the Wall. According to the rules, he was sent to the Purification Institute again.
"I wonder if there will be any problems found with my left hand." Dudian thought to himself. He had absorbed too many Cold Crystals through his left hand. After all, these Cold Crystals were the crystals in the bodies of zombies. Now it seemed that many Cold Crystals couldn't be digested and were frozen in his left hand. He didn't know if his left hand was in the same situation as the arm of a zombie now, which made him feel a bit nervous.
However, he also knew that it was impossible to sneak into the commercial area. The border defense checkpoints in the commercial area were extremely strict. They hardly needed to be searched when they came out, but when they went in, they were carefully examined. It could be said that it was the second checkpoint besides the Purification Institute, and this checkpoint was set up by the military.
Hunters like them needed to obtain a qualified identification from the Purification Institute if they wanted to enter the checkpoint. Only with this identification could they pass through the border defense checkpoint.
Entering the Purification Institute again, Dudian was already familiar with the process. After washing his body with clean water, he changed into clean clothes and sat in the cage waiting.
The next day, someone came to draw Dudian's blood for a test.
Dudian was nervous. He extended his right hand for the person to take his blood.
The person didn't think much of it either. He took the blood from Dudian's right finger and dropped it into a bowl. There was already a drop of blood in the bowl. Now, as Dudian's blood dropped in, the two drops of blood quietly suspended in the bowl and didn't attract and merge with each other.
Seeing this, Dudian let out a sigh of relief and quietly waited for seven days to pass.
"After returning to the living area, I'll leave the hunter establishment of the consortium, be an honest apprentice cleric, and then climb to the position of a formal cleric, and even be promoted to the position of a deacon or a bishop. Then I can still give Jenny happiness." While waiting quietly, Dudian planned for the future.
On the fourth day, the cage was opened again.
Dudian thought that other hunters had come. When he looked over, he saw seven or eight people entering. Among them, four apprentice Light Knights were fully armed, and the other four were wearing strange standard armors. They came to Dudian's cage. One of the middle-aged men shouted, "Are you Dudian?"
Dudian was slightly taken aback. He felt a sense of something wrong in his heart and said, "Who are you?"
The middle-aged man snorted coldly and said, "Now I represent the Tribunal and arrest you on the charge of 'theft'. Come with me!"
"Theft?" Dudian was a bit confused.
"You must be mistaken. What did I steal? I'm a hunter. I just came back from outside the Wall!" Dudian couldn't help but say.
The middle-aged man said impatiently, "Stop talking nonsense. We'll talk about it in prison."
"Prison?" Dudian suddenly became angry and said, "Without interrogation and investigation, what right do you have to send me to prison?"
"What I say is the right." The middle-aged man sneered.
Hearing this, Dudian looked directly at him and said, "So, you don't have an arrest warrant?"
The middle-aged man's face suddenly darkened, and he said coldly, "Of course I have one. I'm just afraid that you'll run away. I came to arrest you today first, and there will naturally be an arrest warrant later!" As he spoke, he waved his hand and said to the apprentice Light Knight beside him, "Open the door and cuff him!"
The young apprentice Light Knight nodded, took out the key, and opened the prison cage.
Dudian didn't expect that he could order the apprentice Light Knight. His face became even more gloomy. Suddenly, he realized something in his heart, and a strong killing intent welled up in him. He coldly watched as the prison cage was opened. He slowly stood up, stepped out of the cage, and stared at the middle-aged man, saying, "You were called by the Mellon Consortium, right? You want to frame me with a crime?"
The middle-aged man frowned and shouted to the people beside him, "Cuff him!"
Dudian didn't resist. Instead, he raised his hand and extended it. He stared at the middle-aged man and said, "Try cuffing me. You dare to arrest an apprentice cleric without an arrest warrant. Even if I'm in prison and my crime is proven by you, I still have the right to sue you as an apprentice cleric for ignoring the judicial process and abusing your law enforcement power!"
The middle-aged man was taken aback. He raised his hand to stop his companion who was about to cuff Dudian. He looked down at this boy who was about the same age as his son. He didn't expect that such a young boy could still remain calm in such a situation. While being secretly surprised, he also felt a bit of a headache. After a moment of silence, he said, "Kid, you have some guts!"
"Do you think you're worthy of calling me kid?" Dudian sneered.
The middle-aged man frowned slightly. He didn't want to engage in a war of words with Dudian and said, "Boy, wait until I bring the arrest warrant tomorrow. You'll see what's coming to you." After saying that, he waved his hand and signaled for the others to leave.
The several apprentice Light Knights and his companions looked at each other. They didn't expect that when the situation was at a critical point, they were actually forced back by Dudian. They suddenly felt a bit frustrated and could only leave in a dejected manner. After all, no one wanted to take on any extra trouble.
Dudian watched them leave. However, he didn't feel any joy of winning a battle at all. Instead, his heart was extremely cold, filled with indescribable anger and killing intent. At the same time, he quickly thought about a way out: "They say I committed theft, but I have sufficient alibi. Even if they maliciously frame me, there is no evidence! Although they can fabricate false evidence, many people in the consortium know that I went outside the Wall to carry out a mission, and it can't be hidden at all."
Thinking of this, he felt a bit more at ease.
In the blink of an eye, another three days passed.
As soon as Dudian left the Purification Institute, he saw a prison carriage and several people waiting outside. The person in the lead was exactly the middle-aged man from before, which made his heart sink.
"When he came to arrest me before, my seven-day purification period hadn't expired. Obviously, I hadn't been convicted at that time." Dudian thought to himself. In these three days, he had thought of something strange. "When he came the first time, even if he had an arrest warrant, he had no right to take me away. After all, my purification period wasn't over, and I couldn't leave the Purification Institute, not even to go to prison."
"This shows that he didn't want to take me to prison at all. Instead, he wanted to secretly kill me. In this way, the consortium could even define me as having died outside the Wall, and the Tribunal wouldn't be able to investigate."
Dudian looked at the middle-aged man sneering at him. He frowned slightly. "Now that he dares to come, he should already have an arrest warrant. But the Tribunal hasn't interrogated me. How could they give him an arrest warrant?"
Thinking about it, Dudian walked over and said coldly, "Don't show that servile smile. It's disgusting."
The middle-aged man was taken aback. His face darkened, and he said, "Boy, stop being glib. You wanted to see the arrest warrant, right? I've brought it for you." After saying that, he took out a cross-shaped arrest warrant.
Dudian's heart sank, but he said, "You have a lot of guts to forge an arrest warrant casually."
The middle-aged man was taken aback and then sneered, "Boy, you'll know whether it's forged or not later. However, I've already shown the arrest warrant. If you dare to resist, heh heh, I have the right to shoot you on the spot."
Dudian certainly wouldn't resist. If he did, even if he was innocent, he would be considered guilty and would be directly listed on the wanted list and hunted down throughout the city. There would be no place for him to hide inside the Wall.
"Get in." The middle-aged man opened the door of the prison carriage and sneered at Dudian.