Infinite Evolution Hunter - Chapter 99

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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99
I unleashed a Fear aura and stood like a gatekeeper, fixing my gaze on the Chinese Military forces beyond the border.
Though a barbed wire fence ran across the border, to Hunters such barriers might as well not exist.
After returning, I had kept a low profile for some time. Without the strength to even protect myself, reckless actions could have prevented me from stopping future catastrophes—or worse, landed me in prison or dead. In the worst case, those around me could have suffered. But now, with power in hand, I could afford to be somewhat reckless.
The standoff continued in silence. This stalemate favored us. China lacked the resources to maintain such a massive force here indefinitely. Conversely, my presence alone was threat enough.
“How long do we have to keep doing this?”
Jung Min-gi asked.
“Who knows? Until they back off?”
“I don’t think China will abandon the World Tree.”
A sound assessment. A cash-strapped Chinese Government would never relinquish a money-printing tree.
“They’ll have to eventually, won’t they?”
“Why do you think that?”
I wanted to say, ‘Because a Legion Commander will appear in China within months,’ but there was no way to explain it.
When a Legion Commander arrived, China would suffer catastrophic losses. They’d have no attention left for the World Tree. The problem was that I’d already killed the first Legion Commander-class monster—the Ice Dragon—so the second might appear on the same day in the same location.
“Just a feeling.”
Even without a Legion Commander, as long as I existed like a nuclear weapon, China couldn’t easily make a move against us.
The nerve-wracking standoff dragged on. The soldiers who’d experienced my Fear aura were already on the verge of fainting from terror.
Bang!
A bullet suddenly flew through the air, struck my head, and ricocheted off.
“Uh… uh…”
The Chinese soldier who’d fired stared alternately at his finger and me. All eyes snapped toward him in an instant.
“Wait! It was an accident! Hold on!”
Hong Long stepped forward and shouted in Korean. He seemed to have memorized a few words.
“Seize that bastard!”
At Hong Long’s command, the Chinese soldiers tackled the shooter and pinned him to the ground.
The Chinese soldiers watched my reaction carefully.
“Lee Ji-seok.”
Worried I might charge forward, Jung Min-gi quietly called my name.
“I’m not going. I’m staying put.”
I answered Jung Min-gi quietly, barely opening my mouth.
“That was an accident!”
“An accident that fired a bullet straight into his head?! Back off!”
The Chinese Military Commander and Director Baek Young-shin raised their voices.
“Bullets don’t even work on S-rank Hunters!”
“That’s not the issue! China just fired on Korean territory! Take responsibility for this!”
* * *
“Tch…”
The Commander found himself unable to avoid contemplating how to handle this crisis. Retreat, and he’d return to Beijing only to die. Advance, and he’d die anyway. And now some fool of a soldier had fired his weapon. With the Koreans recording everything, this was decidedly unfavorable.
“Just attack.”
As Huang Bao deliberated, Tian Fei spoke.
“What?”
“Those bastards can’t beat us anyway. While Hong Long and I pin down their two S-Rank hunters, if the remaining Korean forces push forward with full strength, even S-Rank hunters won’t be able to hold out.”
“…”
“Beijing. Are you truly going to return like this?”
“Damn it…. Issue the order. We attack on signal.”
“For the Chinese people!”
Tian Fei saluted and withdrew.
* * *
“Huh….”
I couldn’t understand the Commander’s conversation with Tian Fei, but his resolve was written plainly across his face.
“What’s wrong?”
“Looks like they’re about to attack?”
“What?”
“The Commander’s face says he’s about to attack. This won’t do. I’ll just go take his head and come back.”
“W-Wait… We can’t launch a preemptive strike.”
“If we do nothing, all our soldiers will die?”
“Ugh…!”
The situation hung by a thread.
A Chinese Military communications officer rushed urgently toward the Commander.
“What…. What is it?!”
He was saying something, but he was too far away and speaking Chinese, so I couldn’t make out the words. I’d have to find time later to learn Chinese and Spanish as well.
“We will not forget this day! We shall return to reclaim our rightful Chinese territory!”
The Chinese Commander spouted words like some third-rate villain and withdrew his forces.
“What’s that about?”
“Who knows…. Well, at least it worked out.”
It could have turned into an all-out war, but fortunately it didn’t. Still, the question remained—why had they retreated?
That question was answered within hours.
“Good heavens….”
Everyone watching the television screen felt the same way. Beijing was burning.
“A civil war?”
The Chinese Military and Chinese Hunters were fighting each other. Monsters were rampaging everywhere.
That was definitely the Second Legion Commander—the Succubus Queen.
The Chinese Military’s infighting wasn’t coercion like with Franklin, but rather the Succubus Queen’s powerful brainwashing. Once caught, victims don’t even realize they’ve been brainwashed. Coercion prevents full capability and allows resistance, but this brainwashing has no such weaknesses.
The Succubus Queen herself didn’t appear on screen. In my previous life, this incident occurred, and for a long time afterward, no one knew which monster was responsible.
Foreign news outlets continuously reported on Beijing’s situation.
As if that weren’t enough, Taiwan and Tibet declared independence and rose up, with battles erupting everywhere.
With the Succubus Queen’s appearance, countless Gates across China wouldn’t wait idly, so many Hunters were deployed there as well.
With crises erupting from all directions, Beijing was collapsing, yet they couldn’t deploy enough forces to rebuild it.
Part of me wanted to just watch it burn, but the Chinese people weren’t at fault. And if China collapsed or suffered excessive damage, a Gate Break would occur, and that damage would reach Korea as well.
But I couldn’t just rush in and save them on my own—my current relationship with China wasn’t good enough. If the Chinese government had stopped functioning like in Mexico, that would be different, but it still operated. China would find any excuse to pick a fight with me later, even if I helped now.
“They’re asking for reinforcements without any shame.”
Baek Young-shin hung up the phone and spoke.
“What did they say?”
“They asked us to send Hunter Lee Ji-seok and Hunter Jung Min-gi. This is the first time I’ve seen China come to us so humbly.”
“What’s the price?”
“They said they’d give us magic stones. Essentially, it’s free labor.”
“Director. If we hunt down the monster that caused this catastrophe, let’s demand land. If we fail, they don’t owe us anything. And I’ll go alone.”
“Land?”
“Near Baekdu Mountain, we’ll make sure they can’t cause trouble again. Demand Liaoning Province and Jilin Province.”
Combined, those two provinces equaled the size of North and South Korea together.
“I’m not sure… they might not accept such harsh terms….”
Baek Young-shin worried the conditions were excessive, but I was certain they would accept this proposal.
In my past life, hundreds of thousands of brainwashed people suddenly poured out from the densely populated Beijing region, and whenever troops were deployed to suppress them, those troops were instead captured and turned against us, creating a situation spiraling into chaos.
Not all S-rank Hunters possess a mental barrier like mine, so even an S-rank Hunter who entered once fell under the brainwashing and never returned. That was Hong Long.
The World Hunter Association didn’t even know what monster was causing this, so they couldn’t recklessly deploy Hunters. By wasting time, it eventually reached a point where they couldn’t send anyone even if they wanted to.
In the end, they did eliminate it. Cornered, China dropped nuclear bombs and wiped out both the monster and their own brainwashed citizens. After that, an S-rank Hunter went in and cleaned up the dying Succubus Queen and the remaining monsters. This led China down the path to collapse. Well, not just China—all nations would face the same fate within a few years.
“Brother, you’re going to help China?”
“Yeah, I have to.”
I answered while lying down watching television.
“Uh… when? Things are chaotic there right now?”
“I’ll help them, but it seems my assistance isn’t needed yet. They said they’d give me magic stones in exchange for my help.”
“Still, people are getting hurt….”
Yang Sang-heon, despite having ill feelings toward China from his standoff with the Chinese Military at Baekdu Mountain, was still worried about Chinese citizens. Some might call him a pushover, but I appreciated that Yang Sang-heon was a good person. When Bae Na-young and I made extreme choices, having someone like Yang Sang-heon’s perspective provided some necessary restraint.
I sat up straight and looked at Yang Sang-heon.
“Yang Sang-heon, I understand your feelings. If stateless people were suffering, I would’ve gone to help them too. But once we set a precedent, China will keep requesting free cooperation from Korea, and we’ll keep getting dragged along.”
If China kept provoking Korea, it would make my activities difficult. I needed to weaken them through this incident and establish dominance in Korea-China relations.
“Don’t worry. It won’t take long.”
Beijing was China’s capital and a symbol of its long history. The Communist Party wouldn’t just sit idle while it was occupied.
Sure enough, contact came soon.
“They’ve changed the condition to sharing the area near the World Tree.”
“They still have room to negotiate. Tell them the conditions remain unchanged.”
Just one more day passed before the answer came.
“Hunter Lee Ji-seok was right. China has agreed. However, they’ve stipulated it only applies if you defeat the causal monster alone.”
Baek Young-shin brought the agreement. The World Hunter Association’s seal was stamped on it.
“That’s fine. Regarding immunity from attacks by brainwashed Chinese Military during the monster elimination process—has that been negotiated?”
“Yes, they currently lack the capacity to even save the brainwashed people themselves. The Korean Government is also coordinating with the World Hunter Association to recruit troops for evacuation assistance of civilians in the outer areas.”
“Then, I’ll head out first.”
“Wait, do you at least know what’s happening and how?”
“Well, I’ll figure it out somehow.”
* * *
“You’re heading to Beijing, right?”
Bae Na-young asked as I prepared for departure.
“I’ll go alone this time and come back. I’ll just take down the brainwashing monster and leave. Brainwashing doesn’t work on me anyway.”
“What do you think will be in Beijing?”
“Huh? The news said there’s a brainwashing monster there….”
“No, I mean—what exactly do you think the monster will be? Take a guess.”
Bae Na-young had already sensed that I was hiding something.
“A succubus? More specifically, an unprecedentedly powerful Succubus Queen?”
There was no point hiding it in this situation.
“Seriously? Its mind control would be stronger than mine, wouldn’t it?”
“Probably.”
“Just a feeling?”
“Yeah… I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. It’s fine. But what if I came with you and did this instead?”
Bae Na-young pondered for a moment, then proposed an idea to me.
“What? Would that even work?”
“Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Let’s go together.”
Bae Na-young looked directly into my eyes as she spoke. Now that mana flowed through her entire body, even when she wasn’t casting magic, her irises held flecks of violet.
She’d sensed something when we went to Mexico too, but she’d followed without a word and suffered tremendously. Yet this time, she didn’t question my actions—she simply wanted to help.
“Fine. Let’s go. But we won’t be traveling comfortably.”
“Huh? How are we going then?”
Bae Na-young tilted her head in confusion.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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