Chapter 507: Bounty

Chen Ling cracked Vulture's phone in just one second.

All recent chat logs, call history, and visited websites popped up wildly before Chen Ling's eyes, as if out of control.

In this era, understanding a person is simple: as long as they are in the city, their every move leaves a trace online. With Vulture's phone in his hands, Chen Ling had almost all of his secrets exposed.

Among the vast amount of information, only two things caught Chen Ling's attention: several call records with Nie Yu, and a frequently accessed website address. There was little to glean from the call records; even with all his extraordinary abilities, Chen Ling couldn't remotely record their conversations without prior wiretapping. So, his attention shifted to the website.

“Is this... the dark web?” Chen Ling murmured, his eyebrows slightly raised as he browsed the site for a moment.

The website was far from simple; it was entirely structured overseas and encrypted using multiple top-tier technical methods, making it difficult for ordinary people to access. Of course, no matter how complex the encryption algorithm, if it was based on communication technology, it was meaningless in Chen Ling's eyes. He effortlessly hacked into the site and accessed its vast content.

It was a website rife with blood, violence, pornography, and illicit transactions. Human trafficking, organ smuggling, drug and gun deals, and bounties on lives were all openly conducted there. If the internet accessible to ordinary people was the tip of an iceberg, then the content on this website was the riot of the dark abyss beneath the surface.

Within this network, "Vulture" was a professional middleman. He had posted hundreds of assassination bounties involving various countries both domestically and internationally. Most of these were completed in the Golden Triangle region, and the one responsible for completing them was a person named "Hunter."

Currently, among "Vulture's" posts, a woman named Su Zhiwei had become the highest-priced bounty target domestically in recent days, with a reward of eight million. More than ten assassins were already involved.

“Eight million for Su Zhiwei? That’s quite a sum...” Chen Ling looked at the figure, scoffed lightly, casually threw the phone to the ground, crushed it, and slowly walked out of the Blood Bar.

Just moments ago, he had connected his flip phone to the dark web and backed up the contents of Vulture's phone, so he no longer needed it.

As Chen Ling exited the bar, the assassination bounty for Su Zhiwei was instantly altered. In its place were two lines of text, glowing a vivid purple-red:

Bounty Target Changed... Bounty Target: "Hunter" Nie YuReward Amount: 80,000,000Audience Expectation: 4

At the horizon's edge, a fiery red sun gradually set. Nie Yu, carrying his hunting rifle, traversed the desolate wilderness. In the reflection of his sharp eyes, the silhouette of a museum slowly emerged in the distance.

“Hiding there, are you?” A chilling glint flickered in Nie Yu's eyes.

Behind him, more than ten figures trailed in the distance, one after another. Their attire varied, but their clothes bulged, concealing unknown weapons, and most of them exuded a sinister and ruthless aura.

“He truly lives up to his reputation as 'Hunter' from the Golden Triangle,” one assassin couldn't help but marvel. “He can track the bounty target just by marks on the ground... I certainly can't spot any tire tracks.”

“But if 'Hunter' makes his move, even if we kill Su Zhiwei in the end, will we still get paid?”

“Given his skill and reputation, we'll probably only get the leftovers... No, most likely, we won't even get a drop of the soup.”

“With bounties, whoever gets the kill takes the credit. Even 'Hunter' can’t snatch that away.”

“True...”

“We can let him go in first, then find an opportunity to kill Su Zhiwei.”

“I think that works.”

The assassins' whispers were crystal clear to Nie Yu; the enhancements from Sirius not only improved his vision but also amplified his hearing several times over that of an ordinary person.

Even so, he didn't turn back to stop their 'scheming.' After all, he was the one who had issued this bounty in the first place, and he didn't expect to collect his own money.

His goal was to kill Chen Ling. As for Su Zhiwei, an ordinary person, he could leave her to these assassins.

Nie Yu only cared about the outcome, not the process.

As Nie Yu gazed at the museum from a distance, contemplating how to breach it and utilize the terrain for battle, an assassin behind him suddenly let out a soft exclamation.

“This... this...” He stared at his phone, his eyes wide with disbelief.

“What is it?”

“See for yourselves!”

At his prompting, everyone simultaneously pulled out their phones. Unbeknownst to them, the bounty for Su Zhiwei had vanished, replaced by a new bounty targeting "Nie Yu."

“Ones, tens, hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands, millions... tens of millions?? Eighty million? US dollars!!”

Their eyes were wide and round, as if they were dreaming.

“Who... who posted this bounty?!”

“I don’t know, it’s anonymous.”

“Eighty million US dollars... that's dozens of times more than the original!”

“But the target...”

They exchanged glances, then all looked up at the figure in the distance, carrying a hunting rifle and standing against the blood-red setting sun. Silence fell upon them.

Kill the legendary "Hunter" Nie Yu? Did they even have the capability?

But eighty million US dollars... the amount was simply too tempting.

The target was right before their eyes, largely undefended, and he didn't even know he had a bounty on his head. Attacking now, perhaps it wasn't entirely without a chance of success?

Several bolder, more ambitious assassins exchanged glances and nodded. Silently gripping the short knives and daggers hidden in their sleeves, they began walking towards Nie Yu's back.

A single bounty had fractured Nie Yu's pursuit team, initiating an internal conflict before they had even reached Su Zhiwei.

As Nie Yu pondered while looking at the museum, his intuition suddenly alerted him. He frowned, lightly stepping half a pace forward, and several chilling glints of light narrowly grazed his clothes.

The assassins who had attacked were startled. Upon failing their ambush, they immediately drew their guns and pulled the triggers without hesitation. Dozens of gunshots roared, and a dense hail of bullets flew towards Nie Yu's vital points.

Clang, clang, clang, clang—!

The bullets struck Nie Yu's skin at high speed, but like hitting steel, they produced a harsh buzzing sound, and sparks glinted in the setting sun.

At the same time, the black-clad figure, seemingly made of steel, slowly turned. A pair of intensely oppressive eyes stared chillingly at the crowd behind him.

“You... seek death??”