Chapter 22 There are actually many similar commissions..._1

At this moment, Zheng Yichen didn't feel any dissonance while considering those shouting offers like "Newbie carriage fee XXXX, expert support ready, fast and violent C-speed incoming..."

"Are you alone? Do you want to join our team?" someone approached Zheng Yichen, whose appearance was disheveled by the wind, but upon seeing his license, their expression changed, "Sorry to bother you."

They were looking for teammates, not to babysit newbies; they couldn't afford a hunter who hadn't even been one for a month.

Zheng Yichen was also very concerned about the extraordinary creatures that appeared in the southern forest. From the simple information provided by the commission, it seemed that the creature showing up in the forest this time should be... a unicorn, right?

At least, that's what the blurry figures in the photos looked like, and Zheng Yichen was very eager to try his hand. However, the scene before him now quenched his interest.

Still, since he had come all the way here, it didn't seem right to go back immediately. After checking his equipment, especially the guns that hadn't been fired since purchase, Zheng Yichen entered the southern forest. Many saw him venture in alone, but paid him no mind.

If the extraordinary creatures in the forest were so easy to find, there wouldn't be so many people here, nor would there be direct commissions for hunters to come search. Of course, once the news leaked out, even without commissions, hunters would come here specifically to search for that extraordinary creature.

After all, profits aren't solely gained through bounties.

Upon reaching the forest, Zheng Yichen took out his phone and checked it. The signal was already affected on the periphery, one of the reasons people rarely ventured deep into the southern forest.

Zheng Yichen had never considered venturing deep into the forest to court death before, but with a gun in hand, he felt confident. Although his marksmanship had not been tested, his weapons should be... quite useful here, right?

Probably.

Along the way, Zheng Yichen spotted signs of other people's presence, including clear marks on some trees. Before his phone's signal was completely gone, he wisely decided to return. He headed to the Dusk Cathedral.

Today, Hunter Arno was also there. The drinks Zheng Yichen had prepared came in handy. As for other things, he would have liked to bring out Mahjong and playing cards, but there wasn't enough time. Maybe next time.

"The southern forest, huh? That place is also rife with anomalies, more difficult to deal with than those within the city," Arno briefed Zheng Yichen on the situation there. The southern forest had a massive magnetic field that severely interfered with various signals.

Signal interference coupled with fog made that area seem prone to accidents even without any extraordinary beings present.

Anomalies deep in the southern forest were sometimes hard to spot. The Bureau of Countermeasures couldn't fully handle the anomalies that occurred in the forest, leading to the deep forest becoming a very dangerous place. Aside from getting lost, the area was teeming with extraordinary creatures.

The emergence of anomalies affected the environment, leading to mutations in some creatures. Although humans were not within this high-probability range for mutations, there was still a chance, however low. Factors such as high intelligence, high physicality, and strong will made it easier for creatures to avoid mutation in an anomalous environment.

Of course, considering that humans already had a low probability of environmental mutation, further reduction on this low probability was negligible—after all, it was a chance that could be overlooked.

Moreover, the mutation that led to becoming an Extraordinary Being wasn't necessarily a good thing; the odds of mutations being benign or having no side effects were not high.

"Whether Extraordinary Beings will undergo new changes on top of their own, I'm not sure about that, but deep in the southern forest, there are definitely various extraordinary creatures. Those creatures might not all be mutations of the forest's original inhabitants; some might have escaped from abnormalities and can't find their way back."

Zheng Yichen expressed that he had gained new knowledge. Since he was an Extraordinary Being himself, according to Arno, he didn't need to worry too much about the impact of the abnormalities. If so many ordinary people were unaffected, what were the chances that he would be?

And as for the matters deep in the southern forest, when he was just an ordinary person, he really hadn't had access to this kind of information, which led to more questions: "Since there are so many extraordinary creatures in the southern forest, why are there still commissions like this? Or should I say, are there actually a lot of commissions of this type?"

He felt like he might have misunderstood something...

"Of course," Hunter Arno nodded as if it were obvious. "The inner parts of the southern forest are too dangerous. I don't want to go there, and neither do the other Hunters. No one knows if there's an extraordinary creature dangerous enough to kill most Hunters in an instant."

"We don't go in, but it's a different story when some special extraordinary creatures come out... What's up with you?"

Seeing Zheng Yichen rubbing his forehead, Arno was quite curious.

"I just realized that I've been thinking about some issues too egocentrically," said Zheng Yichen, unable to help but twitch at the corner of his mouth. When he had gone to the southern forest, he assumed all the Hunters had the same commission, but now that Arno had enlightened him, he suddenly understood.

Thinking that the other Hunters had the same commission as him was purely wishful thinking on his part. There might have been others on a similar task, but definitely not everyone. No wonder the bartender had suggested Zheng Yichen take an extra look at the other commissions.

"Hahaha, since you've got your license and became a Hunter, it's normal to feel different from ordinary people. You'll get used to it eventually. Shall we play cards?" Arno laughed heartily. Although he didn't know what Zheng Yichen had encountered, it was good that he acknowledged his misconceptions.

Zheng Yichen wouldn't refuse the knowledge Arno had given him, and seeing the 'Combat Beast Card' Arno took out, Zheng Yichen wondered how it would be if he recommended some other card games. Would this Hunter then become a seasoned card aficionado?

However, Zheng Yichen's impression of other card games was vague, other than poker and mahjong, which he had learned about from his childhood and the internet. Unfortunately, he hadn't kept up with his childhood hobbies. Though he occasionally paid attention to related information as an adult, he was more of a cloud gamer.

While playing cards, Zheng Yichen exchanged ideas with Arno; given that there were many abnormalities in the southern forest, could they perhaps approach the abnormalities more directly without disturbances?

In response, Arno warned young Zheng Yichen not to court death. The idea was good, but the question was, once they entered deep into the forest, without knowing their direction, would they encounter an abnormality first or one of those powerful extraordinary creatures?

Abnormalities appeared randomly, while those extraordinary creatures were the original inhabitants of the forest—entities not fully recorded in any comprehensive creature compendium. It wasn't that they couldn't be documented; it was that there was too much variability.

The abnormalities deep in the forest could bring new extraordinary creatures and also take some away. The creature compendium updated today might become partially obsolete tomorrow.

With this in mind, which do you think you would encounter first when moving in the depths of the forest: extraordinary creatures or an abnormality?