“All right, let’s welcome our new team member. Everyone, please introduce yourselves so we can get to know each other.”
Zhang Kun spoke up, and with these words, he officially acknowledged Bai Nian.
“My name is Shi Gao, profession: Invisible Man. I’m also the support role in the team.”
Shi Gao pushed up the glasses on his nose and said.
“I’m Li Qian, profession: Infinite Archer. Little sister, I look forward to working with you.”
Li Qian said, extending a hand covered in protective plates.
“Bai Nian.”
Bai Nian also reached out politely and shook their hands.
Hearing this name, Shi Gao’s eyes flickered with surprise from behind, as if he had already guessed something.
“My talent is Outlaw,”
Zhang Kun added, then looked toward Shi Gao.
“Explain the situation with the Seventh Gate to Bai Nian.”
Shi Gao took a step forward, pulling out his phone to check the notes he had prepared earlier.
“The Seventh Gate is a solo dungeon. Each person entering faces a completely new and unknown environment, and the only way to clear it is relying on oneself.”
“So far, the death toll in the Seventh Gate has reached twelve. Conservatively, if about eight more fall, it will level up to the second tier. The bounty for clearing it is twenty thousand, and for eradicating it, fifty thousand.”
“Our team has clear rules on bounty distribution: the one who clears (eradicates) the gate takes 80% of the bounty, and the rest is evenly split among the others as hardship pay.”
Shi Gao looked at Bai Nian after finishing, and she nodded slightly, indicating her understanding.
“Hmm, that’s how solo dungeons divide the bounty. For team dungeons, no matter the contribution, as long as everyone comes out alive, the bounty is shared equally,”
Li Qian added.
“If there are no questions, since it’s still daytime, let’s set off now!”
Zhang Kun stood up, his gaze mainly on Bai Nian.
“I have no objections,”
she replied calmly.
“Good, let’s go!”
Zhang Kun was a man of action.
The four of them left the lounge in a grand manner, heading all the way to the Parking Lot behind the Hunter Guild.
In a corner spot was Zhang Kun’s modified military green Jeep.
“Pretty cool, right?”
He patted the car door, showing off to Bai Nian.
“Why do you always have to brag about your car to everyone?”
Li Qian immediately rolled her eyes and looked at Bai Nian.
“Don’t mind him.”
“Oh.”
Bai Nian nodded and obediently got into the back seat.
“You women wouldn’t understand,”
Zhang Kun said dismissively as he started the engine.
Soon, they drove away from the Hunter Guild, heading out of the city.
Leaving the urban area, they drove along the road past vast open countryside, and soon a towering city wall appeared in Bai Nian’s view.
The wall was entirely white, majestic and imposing, its surface wrapped in thick steel armor.
Several large-caliber cannons sat atop, coldly pointed outward.
Seeing Bai Nian’s slight daze, Li Qian laughed.
“Impressive, right? I was amazed the first time I saw the Great Wall defending against the beasts.”
“Is it dangerous outside?”
Bai Nian asked with curiosity.
Now she finally understood why Yu Zishan said she rarely comes back from the capital except during the New Year holiday.
“Not really, it’s just a Forbidden Zone.”
Li Qian, thinking Bai Nian was scared, patted her shoulder reassuringly.
“This wall has stood for who knows how many years. The beasts inside have long been controlled; it’s just to prevent the catastrophic extinction events from history happening again.”
At that moment, the Jeep stopped.
Zhang Kun was chatting and laughing with soldiers stationed at the base of the wall.
“They’re all members of the Heavenly Dynasty Nine Provinces, mainly tasked with eradicating the remaining beasts inside and dealing with disasters. They have a close relationship with our Hunter Guild,”
Li Qian explained like a tour guide, answering Bai Nian’s questions.
“I see.”
Bai Nian actually found it easy to understand—it was basically the military within the alliance’s territory.
And the Hunter Guild’s main task was to deal with the Disaster Gates.
Their responsibilities complemented each other naturally, hence the close cooperation.
After a while, the heavy steel gate rumbled and slowly began to open.
Bai Nian saw the scene outside.
It wasn’t as barren or lifeless as she had imagined.
Instead, it was vibrant, full of greenery and tall trees.
Some bloomed with flowers, others bore colorful fruits—a scene bursting with life, with no trace of an apocalypse.
The vehicle drove beyond Tianmu City limits, rolling over a bumpy concrete road, and the air was filled with a fresh fragrance.
“Don’t be fooled by appearances. Whenever you see any plants or animals in the wild, don’t let your guard down. They could already be infected by the beasts and extremely dangerous,”
Shi Gao’s voice came from the passenger seat, mingling with the wind.
After observing along the way, he realized Bai Nian had never been out in the wild before, so he started giving a crash course.
“It’s already reached that level of infection?”
Bai Nian asked in surprise.
She was familiar with the concept of beast infection from books.
“Not just that. Some powerful beasts, when slain, leave behind corpses that can form entire Forbidden Zones. This kind of contamination is something current technology cannot solve. We have to find other ways through the Disaster Gates,”
Shi Gao explained further.
“So don’t trust everything in the books. What you see is just what they want you to see, hahaha,”
Zhang Kun laughed and chimed in.
“The powers of the professionals and beasts both come from the Disaster Gates. When a powerful beast dies, it forms a Forbidden Zone. What about professionals?”
Bai Nian connected the dots and asked.
Shi Gao nodded.
“Smart. The stronger the professional, the larger the area affected when they die. That’s why a secret organization exists specifically to contain the bodies or dying individuals. Hopefully, we never have to meet them.”
“They wouldn’t care about some minor character like you who doesn’t even have a Divine Mark,”
Li Qian mocked without mercy.
Shi Gao quickly retorted, “Don’t underestimate the young and poor. Maybe one day I join them and become the first to contain you!”
“You dare!”
The four chatted casually along the way, and Bai Nian quickly grew familiar with everyone.
Through the conversation, she learned the three were longtime teammates.
After clearing a second-tier Disaster Gate, they lost a teammate, leaving their squad incomplete.
The Hunter Guild requires at least four people per team, so they opened recruitment.
This was only a first-tier gate, so for those who had cleared second-tier ones, it wasn’t a big concern.
“By the way, Qian, what happens to the gate after it’s cleared?”
Bai Nian asked curiously.
Since the cleared gate doesn’t disappear, could it be entered repeatedly until eradicated?
“It downgrades,”
Li Qian answered.
Well, that dashed the plan.
But Bai Nian at least understood the basic logic of the gates.
“Each time a gate is cleared, it drops a level until it reaches zero tier, which is used for trials for you students,”
Li Qian added.
However, aside from disappearing upon eradication without gaining a Divine Mark, the zero-tier gate has a limit on the number of times it can be cleared and fully removed.
It requires many Awakeners to invest effort, and it also restricts professional entry, seeming designed specifically for awakening.
This made it quite different from other gates, forming a perfect closed loop in the process.
Unconsciously, the vehicle had already arrived at its destination.