Chapter 1438 Shadows in the Night

Although it is still impossible to determine the specific age and location where he is currently, Hao Ren can still roughly deduce the "landing point" of his backtracking from the surrounding building styles and Vivian's notes - if the guess is correct If so, he and Lily should be somewhere between the 14th and 16th centuries. Judging from the accents of passers-by, this place should be in France, but it is impossible to determine which city it is.

However, being able to roughly determine the age has provided great convenience. At least Hao Ren can determine what kind of identity he should act as in the current historical period: a safari demon hunter who hides in human society and acts independently. .

Before setting off, he learned more about the Witcher from Hasselblad and Whitefire. As the most powerful influencing factor in the entire mythological era, the demon hunters are a group that Hao Ren is destined to deal with frequently throughout his historical journey, and their information is the most crucial intelligence for this retrospective journey. After cramming, Hao Ren learned that even in the most intense era of the conflict, the demon hunters were not a group of crazy hunters incited by fanaticism and hatred as ordinary aliens imagined, although they were indeed driven by fanaticism. and driven by hatred, but their actions and organizational structure are always full of reason and discipline.

In addition to the Saints who serve as the ruling body and the Presbyterian Order that guards the North Pole and almost never sets foot in the world, the demon hunters' troops traveling in the human world are mainly divided into three categories:

The first type is the "Holy Crusaders" equivalent to the frontal legion, also known as the "Battle Group". This organization was greatly active during the mythical war period. Thousands of them appeared on the frontal battlefield and used strong force to It directly destroyed all the mythical kingdoms in ancient times and was the promoter of all "Twilight of the Gods". However, after the end of the mythical era, this first-line army lost its meaning of existence, so it gradually disintegrated and was reorganized into the second and third categories. force;

The second type of troops is the "Hunting Troop", also known as the "Hunting Group". They are elite combat troops composed of a small number of demon hunters. The number usually ranges from dozens to hundreds. They are mainly active in the mythical era. In the later period and the dark age after the end of the mythical age, the armies of the "gods" had collapsed at this time, and there were no longer epic battles like thousands of troops sweeping across the Great Plains of Grüte, but the remaining exiles after the collapse of the "gods" Sects and small groups of heretical worship are still growing secretly. The so-called centipede worms are dead but not rigid. Even if these exiled sects decline, they can often control one or two towns. The "hunting group" is a professional team used to deal with these stragglers;

The third type of troops can no longer be called troops. They are actually a completely fragmented armed force called "Nomads." Rangers are usually demon hunters who act alone, or occasionally form teams of two or three. The active period of these combat elites is similar to that of the second type of troops. They are masters of independent fighting, and they are used when alien "gods" lurk into humans. Behind the cracks of civilization, these lone fighting elites have tirelessly played the role of sweepers. In rural areas and wilderness areas that hunting groups cannot take care of, this is where the safari demon hunters show their talents.

The two armed groups of the hunting group and the safari are not completely isolated. Under certain conditions, they are actually one, or can transform into each other: if the elite hunters in the hunting group pass certain tests, they will be qualified to go hunting alone. , so that they become hunters, and if there is an emergency (such as a group of remaining heretical gods being discovered somewhere), the hunter demon hunters operating nearby will be immediately summoned to form a hunting group to participate in the battle. .

Hasselblad once told Hao Ren that the organization of the demon hunters is indeed full of discipline. However, even the most tightly knit group will have loopholes. In the battle sequence of the demon hunters, the easiest to exploit loopholes are the third type of troops: Those safari demon hunters who live in isolation and have mysterious whereabouts.

In barbaric areas where the alien "remnants" are still powerful, the connection between the safari demon hunters and the organization will be extremely weak. They will even go deep into the enemy's hinterland for hunting. They will be unable to contact the outside world for half a century. In order to track Some extremely cunning prey will even completely change their appearance and keep their identities secret even when they come into contact with other demon hunters. This may sound a bit unbelievable, but under the premise of the phenomenon of "innate hostility", everything can be explained. Pass. Regardless of whether they are demon hunters or aliens, when they face each other, they are used to judging whether the person in front of them is "not of my kind" through their hostile instincts. As long as they see the other person and do not have the urge to draw a knife to kill them, they can rule out the identity of the enemy. Therefore, The process of confirming the identity of two demon hunters after meeting is actually not as strict as imagined, especially between the safari demon hunters.

Now an "outlier" appears in this period of time and space, and that is Hao Ren: He is a complete "outlier", but he will not cause innate hostility in front of anyone, which allows him to easily get into this biggest of loopholes.

The insurance identity he set for himself was that of a safari witcher.

To be on the safe side, he borrowed a complete set of witcher disguises from Hasselblad before setting off. They were all genuine and standard witcher equipment that only the enchantment craftsmen of Corpus could produce. If you go to ancient times with this set of things, you don't have to worry about being found out to be fake even if you meet an elder demon hunter. However, he is now only equipped with a holy silver dagger that can symbolize his identity and some talismans and spell cards, because a safari hunter will not be fully armed at all times, and disguising as an ordinary person is their usual method.

Medieval French towns, like all other places in Europe during the same period, were shrouded in a dark and gloomy atmosphere, especially at night: the curfew system strictly prohibited people from going out during this period, and the vigorous witch hunts even more It makes everyone feel insecure, and there are almost no entertainment activities after dark. In order to prevent the informant from being exposed as a "witchcraft", the residents do not even dare to laugh loudly in their own homes: a kind of cemetery-like silence The streets of the town are shrouded in night.

Only the night watchmen and cavalry patrolling the town dared to walk on the streets at this time.

The flames of the Renaissance have been ignited in the cities of Italy, but the flames are far from reaching a small town in a remote part of France, where darkness has lingered for a long time.

Hao Ren and Lily walked through the empty streets, paying attention to avoiding night watchmen who might cause trouble, while focusing on sensing the sinister sights that might be hidden in the darkness: the latter was one of their targets.

"Everywhere here stinks," Lily complained dissatisfiedly. She had torn off a hem of the long dress that made her very uncomfortable. However, its length still made the husky girl very uncomfortable. You still have to hold up your skirt when running, and that’s it. What’s even more unpleasant here is the odor that can never be avoided in the streets and alleys. “I’ve only read about it in books before, but I didn’t expect that medieval European towns were really like this.” It stinks."

"Even big cities don't have much awareness of public health these days, let alone a town like this that doesn't even count as a city." Hao Ren was also unhappy with the smell around him, but he was glad that his nose was not as bad as Lily's. It is so sensitive, so it has not reached the point of being intolerable. "If this environment had not led to frequent plagues, the witch-hunting movement would not have been as serious as it was."

"Speaking of which, landlord, do you have any ideas?" Lily endured the odor around her and tried to distinguish possible alien smells from the odor, and asked Hao Ren in a low voice, "Looking for Vivian in such a dark place. Sleeping Land, why do I feel that the difficulty is so high..."

"Of course we have an idea," Hao Ren has always been confident. "First of all, our 'landing point' will definitely be near Vivian's sleeping place. From a geographical perspective, there is no need to worry too much. Secondly, there will be many places around Vivian's sleeping place." Abnormal supernatural phenomena appear. These supernatural phenomena will inevitably attract some people: alien survivors seeking power and inheritance, or demon hunters who come looking for them by smell. The latter two people will lead us to the right place. .So our first step is to inquire about the situation to see if there are any legends of ghosts and ghosts nearby, preferably recent events, and then go to investigate as an exorcist... Anyway, this is the best I can think of. Of course, if this method doesn't work, I have a follow-up plan, which is to make a big fuss, which will most likely attract the witchers, and then I will change my appearance and find a way to sneak into the witchers' team. , see if you can steal their local surveillance records, there must be valuable clues in them. However, the second option is very dangerous, and more importantly, you must not be exposed to the demon hunters, so at that time You'd better just go back to the 'safe house' and stay..."

The "safe house" Hao Ren refers to is the hunter's cabin embedded in the boundary of time and space. By luring locals to do tests, Hao Ren has confirmed that only he and Lily can see and enter the hunter's cabin, and it is a well-deserved safe base.

"I think the first option is better." Of course Lily didn't want to stay in that static black and white hut. "Don't worry, landlord, I won't be afraid even if I meet a witcher... Oh, I'm definitely not going to confront them stupidly." Wow, why can't I run away even if I can't fight? I have a special bloodline. Even if there are innate hostile factors left in this 'old body', its hostile reaction is not that strong. It can easily be caught from the demon hunter's eyelids. It slipped away from under the bed. And if that doesn't work, I'll pretend to be the 'prey' you caught... If you meet a stranger, you can pretend to be the prey I caught. Oh, if you think about it, the combination of the two of us is simply invincible. ?”

Hao Ren: "..."

He didn't know whether the combination was invincible or not, but this dog's logic was truly invincible!

At this moment, Lily suddenly stopped.

"Wait a minute," she lowered her voice and said to Hao Ren, "There's someone in front... I smell the magic potion."