I Will Teach You How to Hunt Gods

"Dong—"

The big clock in the center of the town chimed a total of three times.

After the last chime ended, curfew time also arrived.

Exactly ten o'clock at night.

At the precise moment the second hand ticked, Yangshan Town under the shadows suddenly fell silent.

The people who were clamoring on the streets just a second ago instantly shut their mouths and hurried into their homes without looking back; the bustling shops also closed up and turned off their lights, hanging up closed signs.

The sounds of talking, walking, laboring... all disappeared.

Even the barking of dogs and chirping of birds went completely silent, leaving only the rustling of the wind blowing through the grass echoing in the town.

Even though the rumored "thing" only appeared after ten-thirty, the town was already silent by ten.

The whole small town felt dead, completely shrouded under a giant beast named "darkness," with only the faint light still flickering from the two sentry towers at the town's entrance.

The kerosene lamp in Yun You's room also dimmed slowly.

It was only at this point that the little girl noticed it was already past ten.

Earlier, while she was studying Aurora's notes, she had drawn the curtains and focused entirely on the notes, naturally losing track of time.

But this wasn't really a big problem, after all, she was just inside the house and had a protective stone by her side.

"The matter of Hammer Vanguard and the townspeople's memory, let's study it slowly tomorrow."

Jack glanced at the time on his watch, stood up, and said, "It's getting late, let's rest for the night."

"We've been going for over twenty hours, it's time to replenish our spirit and physical strength."

"Chica, you rest first, I'll go check the windows and doors, see if any walls or the ceiling are broken and need some fixing."

"I'll take the first shift tonight, Frost Moon will take the second half. If anything happens, just call and I'll come up."

"Mm."

Yun You nodded, not rejecting the mercenary's proposal.

She was indeed a bit tired.

Throughout these twenty hours, the girl had been tense and had used her talent ability twice, drinking at least half a pound of alcohol...

Although her devouring ability could restore her physical strength, the mental fatigue could only be recovered through sleep and meditation.

A short nap might be a good choice.

Thus, Yun You waved her hand, watching Jack go downstairs.

But after Jack left, Frost Moon, who was supposed to go downstairs with him, still hadn't moved, just quietly watching Jack's back with a somewhat complicated expression, as if he had something to say.

"..."

Seeing this, Yun You squinted her eyes slightly, unable to help but feel a bit of doubt.

So she lowered her voice and softly asked, "What's wrong, Frost Moon..."

"Is there anything you want to tell me alone?"

Frost Moon didn't answer directly.

He remained silent for a while before nodding.

"Yes."

Then, the little hacker closed the door, approached Yun You, and said slowly with a somewhat hesitant voice...

"It's about Jack."

With these words, Yun You's pupils contracted slightly, her heart, which had just calmed down, was once again stirred up.

But on the surface, the girl maintained her calmness.

She scrutinized Frost Moon's eyes to confirm he wasn't joking or lying before speaking, "What's going on?"

"Tell me everything, don't hide anything, I need all the details."

Frost Moon nodded lightly, then poured out what he had just seen like spilling beans.

...

Two and a half hours ago, Jack and Frost Moon had finished investigating the town's mine. According to the plan, the next step should be procuring supplies at the tavern.

However, Jack, taking advantage of Frost Moon rebooting the chip in his brain, secretly brought out a few rare minerals from the mine.

When he did this, he specifically disabled the "local network cameras" and turned off communications.

He thought he had done it all without a soul knowing, but in reality, Frost Moon saw his actions through electronic eyes.

Afterwards, Jack casually reunited with Frost Moon with the minerals, then they went to the tavern.

There, Jack specifically asked Frost Moon to wait at the door, saying he would go in alone to purchase, and without caring whether the little hacker agreed, he directly slipped into the tavern's backstage.

Because there were several doors in between, Frost Moon couldn't clearly see Jack's actions this time, he could only guess that Jack probably sold the minerals and then purchased quite a lot of things.

This process took about over an hour, far exceeding Frost Moon's estimated shopping time.

Later, when Jack walked out of the tavern, Frost Moon took another look at the items he had purchased.

It was just a box of liquor, a few boxes of flintstones, a few packs of toilet paper... and more than thirty skewers.

How could these few items have taken an hour?

Frost Moon couldn't understand, he always thought that what Jack had done was probably not just as simple as "purchasing."

The mercenary might have done something else unspeakable.

Thinking this, Frost Moon simply used the excuse of going to the restroom to temporarily avoid Jack, sneaking into the tavern and asking the tavern owner—an uncle in his forties or fifties.

The result was that the uncle just shook his head, said nothing, and showed a meaningful smile, telling Frost Moon not to ask and that whatever it was... was all Jack's "private matter," and it's best for others not to inquire.

This puzzled Frost Moon even more, also adding some suspicion.

Earlier, the danger brought by the "thing" in the mine, and the information that "it" could influence people's minds left a deep impression on Frost Moon.

Frost Moon wondered if Jack might also have been affected by "it," hence doing those incomprehensible actions.

He wanted to investigate but was also worried about any potential mishaps.

So in the end, Frost Moon chose not to alert the enemies.

He pretended to be unaware, returned to the cabin with Jack, and told Yun You everything after Jack had left.

...

After listening to Frost Moon's account, Yun You unconsciously frowned.

Indeed, thinking back now, Jack's actions did seem somewhat off.

They left at five-thirty, yet returned around nine-thirty, spending a full four hours outside.

If it was to explore the town, maybe it would indeed take that long, but according to Frost Moon, they only spent a little over two hours exploring and gathering intelligence around the entire town.

That means by seven-thirty, they had already completed the "exploration" and "gather intelligence" tasks, leaving only the "purchase supplies" part.

But it was this simplest task that Jack took a full hour and twenty minutes.

This clearly doesn't make sense.

Like when Yun You usually goes to the Black Market for shopping, she finishes it in at most half an hour, definitely not exceeding an hour.

Especially since Jack didn't buy that many things.

It's indeed unreasonable and quite suspicious.