Ludie was the captain of the 13th Squad under the Department of Precise Investigation and Armed Suppression of Mutated Species, a division of the East Ring Wasteland Security Bureau.
Due to the department's excessively long name, most people simply called them Wasteland Hunters. Their primary responsibilities included clearing out Exotic Species and managing various dangerous situations; they were the combat personnel fighting on the front lines of Wasteland security.
However, Ludie was panicking a bit now because a major incident had occurred in his jurisdiction!
The animals in the biological exhibition hall had mutated and run rampant. A large number of Exotic Species had even appeared—an utterly unimaginable event for many.
His first reaction, like many others, was, How could Exotic Species possibly appear inside the Wall?
"It's over, it's over! There goes my year-end bonus!"
As a Hunter captain who had prolonged contact with Exotic Species, he had long grown accustomed to death.
The loss of too many friends and loved ones had caused him to shut down emotionally. He began to drink heavily, becoming decadent and indulgent.
Therefore, compared to the deaths of unrelated humans, he cared more about his income. This determined the quality of alcohol he could drink during the day and the caliber of clubs he could frequent at night.
Over the years, his 13th Squad, once a group of elite fighters, had degenerated into a motley crew.
The team was now packed with well-connected individuals and loafers from all walks of life, people who served little purpose beyond freeloading and waiting to die.
Aside from him, the good-for-nothing captain, the other team members were either rich kids—placed there by merchants, not in line to inherit family businesses—or illegitimate children entrusted to Ludie's care by higher-ups.
Ludie couldn't get these people to do anything. So, in most cases, he was a commander with no one to command, forced to do everything himself.
He had also grown too lazy to recruit new members; he didn't want to witness any more of his subordinates die. He was utterly fed up with that feeling.
The 404 Biological Exhibition Hall? This should be the place. What a strange name, he thought.
BANG! Ludie kicked open the main gate of the zoo and announced out of habit, "Hunters on a case! I'm Ludie, captain of the 13th Demon Hunter Squad! Nobody move! Men, hands on your heads, get on the ground! Women, face the wall!"
Unfortunately, the first floor was already empty. All that remained was hair, black and viscous as ink, clinging to everything.
Is this a Specter Species?
Ludie's sudden appearance immediately drew the attention of the Sleeping Witch! Countless strands of hair, sharp as steel needles and swords, shot toward him.
Faced with an attack dense enough to trigger trypophobia, Ludie showed no signs of panic.
He took out his Spiritual Energy lighter, lit a cigarette, and took a deep drag, nearly finishing it in one go. Then, he inverted the cigarette butt and blew sharply.
A cloud of embers, like a crimson sunset, instantly filled the exhibition hall's first floor. The intense dust explosion and flames incinerated all the hair.
BOOM.
Ludie walked calmly through the explosion. With a single move, he had cleared the entire first floor, a testament to his formidable power.
As the dust settled, a slender figure slowly emerged from the viscous hair. She did not reveal her face; eyes hidden within the strands seemed to fixate on Ludie.
Ludie looked at the woman's silhouette and suddenly burst into laughter. "So, it's a Humanoid Species. Quite special. It's truly strange for you to appear in this place!"
He quickly drew a revolver of absurdly large caliber. Its barrel was almost wider than a child's arm, and the cylinder was also exaggeratedly large. When the muzzle belched fire, it was clear this was no mere handgun; it was practically a cannon.
BOOM!
"AAAH!" The black, ink-like hair was blasted apart by the shot. Black fluid and blood splattered everywhere as Ludie's bullet severely wounded the Sleeping Witch, sending her crashing heavily to the ground.
Sensing Ludie's strength, the Sleeping Witch scrambled to her feet. She blocked Ludie's path with a mass of black hair, then rapidly writhed her body within the strands and fled upstairs.
"She sure runs fast," Ludie muttered. "Well, run if you want. If you didn't drag things out a bit, I wouldn't even know how to slack off properly."
In Ludie's assessment, since a Third Tier Humanoid Species—a hair monster with such a wide area of effect—had appeared, there were likely no survivors left.
This is perfect, he thought. I can linger here a bit longer, make it seem like the situation is tense and difficult. That way, if the bureau tries to pin the blame on me later, I'll have an excuse to shift it. The Exotic Species was powerful, I was caught in a tough battle... if some people died, isn't that to be expected? What's it got to do with me? I've already tried so hard; how could they have the nerve to blame me?
Displaying his utter lack of manners, Ludie tossed his cigarette butt aside. While picking his nose, he casually strolled towards the upper floors.
Lu Luo dragged the carcass of the mutant to a corner of the floor and shut the door. He then removed a hand bone from the corpse; this bone was one of the materials needed to synthesize the Wraith Blade.
I'm still not sure about the Wraith Blade's specific attributes and effects, Lu Luo thought, but if there's a chance to get even more powerful equipment, I'm willing to put in the effort.
Now that I have the mutant's hand bone, I can figure out the energy aspect later. The only things I still need but can't get right now are the Sleeping Witch's hair and the Shadow Stone.
The twenty minutes were almost up; the Observer's dormant state should be ending soon.
Truthfully, I could have started devouring much earlier, Lu Luo mused. I've been waiting for the Observer because I'm worried something unexpected might happen during the process. The Observer is crucial for dealing with unforeseen circumstances, so I've kept waiting.
"[A new Exotic Species corpse! Hurry up and devour it!]" the Observer chimed.
I quite like the Observer's cheerful personality, Lu Luo thought. It's much better than those cold systems that just force you to complete tasks.
"Alright, it's about time to start," he said.
He extended the Devourer's tentacles, plunging them into the mutant's corpse. The turbulent Dark Energy from the Second Tier Exotic Species transformed into pure Life Energy and flowed into his body.
This time, however, the devouring process yielded some different prompts.
"[You are devouring Life Energy from a Second Tier Mutant. You have obtained partial information for Sequence D03-Endurance.]"
"D03-Endurance? What's that?" Lu Luo wondered.
This prompt appeared only once. After Lu Luo finished devouring the mutant's corpse, his personal information showed not only an increased energy value but also two new lines under his talents:
Sequence D-03-Endurance
Effect: 1/10 (Not Activated)
Is this a new talent Sequence? Exotic Species actually possess talent Sequences? And the Devourer can even absorb talent Sequences?!
"[No need to make such a fuss. Noble Grade S Sequences are more powerful than you can imagine. Although the Devourer is a bit inferior to me, it's still Grade S, after all,]" the Observer stated. "[Currently, the efficiency of this trash Devourer Sequence is quite low. If you want to enhance it, you'll need a lot of resources. However, I still recommend you prioritize upgrading the noble Observer Sequence first.]"
"What's Sequence Value?" Lu Luo asked.
"[It's the Sequence Force obtained from devouring a creature that possesses a talent Sequence. If you're lucky, you can directly unlock a talent Sequence. If your luck is bad, you only get Sequence Value.]"
"Like that Sequence D03-Endurance just now? Is that considered a rare drop?"
"[Mhm. I think, rather than discussing these things, you should probably allocate your points now.]"