Ashaka mentioned that he could sense the energy of a Light Spirit on Chinese soil.
If what had been at the Heukgang Seventh Research Base was indeed a Light Spirit, then the reason Senator Zhang Lifeng and the researchers were injured became clear.
Although Ashaka remained invisible to outsiders unless Lee Tae-sung wished otherwise, Tae-sung decided to be cautious regardless.
“By the way, what was that research facility originally for?”
“It was a secret laboratory for various national security matters. They primarily studied things that came through during the Gate Incident… or conducted research on combining technology from the Another World with modern technology.”
But that was all in the past now. After all the researchers and Senator Zhang Lifeng were severely injured, the facility was immediately closed down.
If it had been an ordinary commissioner who collapsed, they would have launched an investigation into the truth immediately, but this was the great Senator Zhang Lifeng.
If they investigated and failed to identify the cause properly, the person in charge would not be able to avoid punishment.
Furthermore, since the radiation levels near the laboratory were measured to be high, it was simply left closed for the time being.
“Then, would it be alright if I visited that laboratory once?”
“The laboratory? It’s already been closed, so there should be nothing left.”
“I personally have something I’m looking for, so I wanted to head nearby. While I’m at it, I’ll look into the cause of Senator Zhang’s collapse as well. Since he is your father, it is the same as my own father’s business.”
Tae-sung spoke with a firm tone.
It was a closed location, a secret base where the second-in-command of China had nearly died.
Naturally, foreigners would be barred from entry, and even for someone like Lee Tae-sung, there was a high possibility they would deny permission, citing the danger.
That was why he added those last words, but to the father and son, Zhang Lifeng and Jang Xuan, it sounded a bit different.
“Brother… I didn’t know you cared about my father that much…”
“Ho-ho. My benefactor, you not only warm my body but my heart as well.”
The two men were deeply moved.
Where else in this world could one find someone who gave everything so selflessly!
Tae-sung’s social conduct was so pure that they were almost worried many people might try to take advantage of him.
However, being moved was one thing, and reality was another.
Zhang Lifeng spoke in a worried tone.
“It will be very dangerous. We still haven’t found the cause.”
“It’s fine. I’m confident I can protect myself.”
“Hmm…!”
Because Tae-sung’s expression looked so determined, Zhang Lifeng eventually nodded.
“…Even without your request, I was planning to personally investigate that laboratory again soon. I have to check it one more time. I will allow you to join that survey team.”
“Thank you!”
***
The first survey team, or the advance party, of the Heukgang Seventh Research Base.
In truth, organizing a survey team was no easy task.
First, because the area was covered in radiation, they needed a superhuman body capable of withstanding it.
In other words, they needed Hunters.
Furthermore, since the previous Hunters at the laboratory had also been severely injured, they needed even stronger Hunters this time.
At the very least, they had to be at the Ranker level.
As a result, the scale of the survey team was quite meager.
“Haha. I look forward to working with you. I’ve really wanted to work with you at least once.”
Heo Ming, a Ranker from the Sinseonhyang Guild, smiled and offered a handshake to Lee Tae-sung.
“I told our Guild Leader about you. As expected, he showed interest. He asked if you’d like to spar sometime. Do you have any free time?”
“That sounds good to me.”
The Sinseonhyang Guild Leader was the top-tier Ranker known as the Sword Immortal.
Lee Tae-sung was also curious.
Even among Rankers, their skills varied wildly depending on their country and individual level.
How much of a difference would there be between the Sword Immortal’s skills and his own?
“Ho-ho. That’s the spirit! Anyone who uses a sword should have at least that much pluck! It seems my judgment of people was correct. I’ll set a time and let you know soon.”
The advance party consisted of three people in total.
Lee Tae-sung, Heo Ming, and a female Ranker with short black hair.
However, she seemed displeased about something, keeping her arms crossed and her back turned without even looking at Tae-sung.
Unable to watch any longer, Heo Ming stepped in with a wry smile.
“Aiyoo. How long are you going to stay like that? Guild Leader Tae-sung, this is Lingling. She’s a fairly famous Ranker in China.”
“Is that so?”
“It’s not that her skills are exceptionally great. In fact, among Rankers, she’s in the lower tier, but she’s a genius who became a Ranker just two years after awakening. The media gave her a lot of hype, too.”
“I am not in the lower tier!”
Lingling cut in sharply.
Only then did she look at Tae-sung.
“So you’re the Hunter who was most active during this Gate Incident? Even the Sword Immortal showed interest in you?”
“Uh… it wasn’t exactly intentional, but that’s how it turned out.”
“I can’t accept that.”
“……?”
Lingling said only that and snapped her head away again.
Tae-sung, wondering what the reason was, carefully whispered to Heo Ming.
“Um… is she perhaps a Chinese exceptionalist?”
He heard there were many such people among the Chinese.
They believed their country was the best, their people and culture were the most superior, and the greatest person in the world should naturally come from among them…
Was she acting like this because she was angry that a Korean like Tae-sung had performed so well?
“Aiyoo. It’s not that.”
Heo Ming wore an apologetic expression.
“It’s just that she’s shocked that Guild Leader Tae-sung is a Ranker with a shorter career than her. Her image as a genius Hunter who became a Ranker in two years has instantly faded.”
Heo Ming asked Tae-sung to be understanding, explaining it was simply the jealousy of an ordinary person who had met a true genius.
“Haha…”
Tae-sung, for his part, wore an ambiguous expression.
***
Guo Jie was not a famous Ranker, nor was he exceptionally strong among ordinary Hunters.
No, in the first place, it hadn’t even been that long since he awakened.
Strictly speaking, he was a rookie Hunter.
However, he firmly believed that he could conquer the world.
‘It should be about time for one more to be born…’
Guo Jie looked at his slaves.
Dozens of people of various ages and genders.
He didn’t call them slaves just because he treated them like ones; they were literally, truly his slaves.
To the point where he could easily take their lives with a single word!
**[Skill: Slave Brand]**
**- Turns the target marked with the brand into a slave. Slaves obey their master’s words absolutely, and the master possesses all of the slave’s rights.**
**- Making a target into a slave is possible if their mental state is extremely unstable and there is a large difference in strength between them and the skill holder.**
**- If the skill user dies, ownership of all slaves passes to the person who killed them.**
This was the skill Guo Jie had obtained upon awakening.
‘I-I’ve finally become a Hunter, too!’
There were countless Hunters in the world and as many diverse skills, but [Slave Brand] was a skill he had never heard of.
Originally a member of a bandit group in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, Guo Jie had been kicked out after a fight with the bandit leader.
While walking alone through the desert, waiting for the day he would die, he awakened like a miracle.
As the saying goes, even if the sky falls, there is a way out.
Guo Jie awakened just before starving to death near the northern desert region of Beijing, a long way from where he had been.
The moment one awakens as a Hunter, their abilities become several times better than an ordinary person’s.
Furthermore, since participating in Missions and visiting the Score Shop can be done regardless of where one is on Earth, Guo Jie performed Missions and purchased food and water to survive.
‘From now on, I’ll get my revenge… Huh? What is this place?’
In the process, Guo Jie discovered the closed Heukgang Seventh Research Base.
The military had closed the facility, but they hadn’t concealed it perfectly, so the traces were revealed as the wind blew the sand away.
After cautiously entering the laboratory, he found no one there and decided he could stay for a while.
In a situation where it was difficult to go to a city immediately and his return journey was too far, it was the best option.
He spent his days surviving by purchasing food and drink with the points he gathered little by little by performing Missions.
Then, he discovered a group of bandits passing near the research base.
‘……! Those guys…!?’
Guo Jie’s eyes widened.
It was the very bandit group he had been kicked out of.
He had intended to return and get his revenge once he grew stronger with this power, but to think they would find him first!
Guo Jie immediately launched an ambush.
“Y-You… Guo Jie? You were alive?”
“I endured the depths of hell just to take revenge on you bastards!”
Even a group of armed bandits cannot defeat a Hunter who is prepared.
Moreover, Guo Jie knew their armaments perfectly.
In the end, he killed the bandit leader and succeeded in his revenge.
From then on, he tried using his **[Slave Brand]** skill in various ways.
He couldn’t use the skill when he was alone, but now he had many materials.
The skill didn’t work on the ordinary bandits.
He presumed it was because they weren’t in a state of mental or physical weakness.
“Aaack! Stop… Save me!!”
He applied the skill even after inflicting torture and breaking their spirits as much as possible, but he still failed to make them slaves.
Guo Jie was discouraged.
However, unexpectedly, the solution appeared elsewhere.
The bandits’ main source of income was human trafficking.
They had been passing through the area where Guo Jie was located to deliver the people they had kidnapped to a trading post.
The victims, who had been held captive for a long time and were exhausted and mentally broken, successfully received the **[Slave Brand]**.
‘I-It worked!’
About fifteen people were marked with the brand.
They were slaves who obeyed Guo Jie’s orders unconditionally.
He even experimented with various things, and two of the slaves awakened as Hunters.
Guo Jie was extremely nervous, but once they became slaves, their status was maintained even after awakening.
He had gained two Hunter slaves who followed any order.
From that moment on, Guo Jie was consumed by a dream.
If he continued to increase his slaves this way and more Awakened appeared among them…
It would eventually be possible to create a slave corps made entirely of Hunters!
He tried to create more Awakened somehow and expand the scale of his organization by kidnapping more people.
Since he had two Hunter slaves, he didn’t have to do everything himself.
He had been living while obsessed with that dream when…
“Master. Contact with Ma Jun has been cut off.”
“…What?”
Communication was suddenly lost with the Hunter slave tasked with guarding the entrance.
Guo Jie felt a chill that was strangely eerie.
***
The Heukgang Seventh Research Base was located in a place called Zhangjiakou, north of Beijing.
Zhangjiakou was a grassland region that had undergone significant desertification.
Short grass grew in patches, but most of the area was covered in sand.
Being about 200 km away and having such terrain, it was perfect for building something like a secret research laboratory away from Beijing.
Lee Tae-sung, Heo Ming, and Lingling arrived at the laboratory’s location.
Heo Ming narrowed his eyes as he looked at the entrance.
“It seems someone has entered the laboratory in the meantime. There are traces.”
Guo Jie had tried to hide the traces as much as possible, but it was impossible to escape the sharp eyes of a Ranker.
Near the entrance of the laboratory, which was dug underground, there were clear signs of people coming and going.
Then, Lingling, who was looking toward the entrance, spoke.
“There’s a person in stealth.”
Lingling was an Assassin-type Hunter.
Therefore, she noticed another Hunter of a similar type waiting in stealth near the entrance.
“You’re right.”
Tae-sung also nodded, as he had used **[Hidden Detect]** to realize someone was hiding.
Lingling looked at Tae-sung.
“Do you want to try taking them out? You know you have to do it quietly, right?”
“Then you should do it, Miss Lingling. I don’t have a stealth skill.”
“Hmph. Looks like you’re scared.”
Lingling taunted him with an excessive sneer, but Tae-sung didn’t take the bait.
What did it matter who took them out?
All he had to do was check for traces of the spirit inside.
“Understood. I’ll do it. Well, a stealth skill is necessary in many cases, so try to get one if you find a way later. Though it won’t be easy.”
As Tae-sung merely shrugged, Lingling moved with an expression of boredom.
However, she underestimated her opponent’s ability.
Whether the hidden enemy noticed them or not, he suddenly stood up and began to retreat immediately.
“!”
As Lingling bit her lower lip and prepared to run, Tae-sung moved one step ahead.
Using **[Flying Flower Explosive Shadow]**, he created an explosion at the tips of his feet and closed the distance to the opponent in an instant, thrusting his fist to knock the man unconscious.
The speed was like a bolt of lightning, causing Heo Ming, who was standing beside him, to click his tongue in admiration.
“Well, now. If you’re that fast, you won’t even need stealth or anything else, will you?”
“……”