Chapter 164 – Gao Zhihong

‘The legendary sword?’

Min Do-jun, disguised as Ahn Gwang-hyun, was inwardly quite surprised.

He never expected the other party to mention the sword.

‘When I saw the right-hand man coming personally as a trading partner, I had an ominous feeling…’

To think he had visited to inquire about the sword’s whereabouts.

‘He never intended to receive compensation in the first place.’

No, he probably planned to take the sword as compensation instead.

‘Was he planning to kill everyone once he learned the sword’s location?’

This wasn’t a baseless assumption.

It was evident from the killing intent the Chinese man was openly emitting.

That he had come for murder, not trade.

[Gao Zhihong]

-Description: A Chinese hunter born in 1988. Current level is 3,000. Affiliated with the White Snake Guild, and his profession is Dual Swordsman.

-Combat Style: Uses dual swords for both attack and defense. Almost always uses horizontal slashes for the first strike. Occasionally feints with a vertical slash before cutting horizontally. Sometimes uses the dual swords as shields.

-Weakness: Relies heavily on his dual swords, so he’s defenseless if ambushed before drawing them. Poor mobility makes him vulnerable to ranged attacks.

‘So his name is Gao Zhihong.’

He only knew him as the right-hand man of the White Snake Guild, not his name.

‘He’s S-rank, but I don’t need to worry too much.’

With the information from weakness detection, there was no need to be afraid.

In terms of combat power, Min Do-jun had the upper hand.

The fact that Gao couldn’t detect his true face was proof enough.

‘And yet this guy is carelessly emitting killing intent without knowing that.’

Like a puppy not knowing to fear a tiger, it was absurd how he was sending murderous glares without gauging his opponent’s strength.

‘Is he that confident?’

Well, if he had just reached S-rank and was intoxicated with power, it would make sense.

‘Heaven beyond heaven. Doesn’t he know there’s always someone stronger?’

Though he wanted to immediately crush the arrogant look in the man’s eyes, he held back for now.

‘I can’t reveal my intentions until I extract information.’

He needed to find out how the Chinese knew about the sword.

Min Do-jun asked with an innocent expression.

“What sword are you talking about?”

“The sword. The legendary sword. Where is it?”

“How would I know that?”

Thud-!

Gao Zhihong stomped his foot, creating a depression in the dirt.

It was meant to be intimidating, but to Min Do-jun, it was merely cute.

“Hey. Do I look like I’m joking? Stop playing dumb and tell me straight. Where’s the sword?”

“Th-this Chinese bastard dares to speak to the boss like that!”

Though he couldn’t understand the words, the Black Sea Guild member could sense the atmosphere and glared as if ready to pounce.

However, having witnessed the other’s superhuman strength, he didn’t actually approach.

‘Hehe, idiot.’

Gao Zhihong sneered at this, but he couldn’t entirely dismiss the calm demeanor of the Black Sea Guild master.

‘This guy’s got guts, huh?’

Seeing no sign of fear, it seemed he was indeed the leader of a guild.

‘Or maybe he’s just pretending to be calm.’

He never once thought the other might be stronger than him.

As far as he knew, there weren’t many S-rank hunters in Korea.

“The sword? What on earth are you talking about?”

“Ha, I’ve never seen such a fearless bread-head. Still pretending not to know?”

Gao Zhihong emitted killing intent as if ready to kill at any moment.

Yet the master before him showed no sign of cowering.

‘He’s openly emitting killing intent, but there’s no sign of fear. Is he oblivious? What’s going on?’

His confusion was resolved when he saw the innocent expression of his opponent.

“I genuinely don’t know. I’ve never heard anything about a legendary sword before.”

“What are you saying? We definitely provided the information, didn’t we?”

“Information? What…”

“The information that the Association President of Korea has the legendary sword.”

Upon hearing this, Min Do-jun’s eyebrow twitched.

‘So it was these bastards who provided it?’

Learning the background of how the Black Sea Guild came to target the sword, Min Do-jun’s eyes turned cold.

‘China provided the information, and the Black Sea Guild took action.’

As a result, Hwang Eui-cheol was put in danger, and his daughter had to experience the pain of death.

Crunch-

Though he wanted to dismember Gao Zhihong right then and there, it wasn’t yet time.

“Ah, is that so?”

“Yes. And I believe we were paid for that information?”

“Where did you get that information from?”

“Why do you need to know that?”

“Just curious.”

“Ha, you uncivilized bread-head.”

Gao Zhihong frowned as if exasperated.

“You just need to bow down to our White Snake Guild and answer our questions. How dare you question us without knowing your place.”

“A Chinese bastard who doesn’t know his place is talking too much.”

“What?”

For a moment, Gao Zhihong doubted his ears, then his expression contorted like a demon.

“This son of a bitch, are you crazy?”

“I’m not the crazy one, you are.”

“Where’s the sword?”

“Do you think I’d tell you the sword’s location even if I were crazy? You stupid Chinese bastard.”

“You bastard!”

Exploding with anger, Gao Zhihong equipped his hunter gear.

As a dual swordsman, his specialty was vertically slicing opponents regardless of who they were.

But today, he needed to control his strength.

‘If I kill him carelessly, I won’t be able to take the sword.’

Since there was a high probability the sword was in his inventory, he couldn’t kill him recklessly.

First, he needed to break something to make him reveal the sword’s location.

But his plan was thwarted from the start.

Tseeeet- Tak-

Before he could even summon his dual swords, both his fists were caught by his opponent.

‘Wh-what!’

Even though the distance was close, how could his hands be caught in the blink of an eye?

‘M-my weapons won’t summon.’

Other equipment was equipped, but his weapons wouldn’t appear in his hands.

The weapons needed space in his hands to be equipped, but his opponent was preventing him from opening his hands.

Moreover, his opponent…

Crunch-

“Kuh, kuuuugh!”

Not content with just grabbing his hands, he was trying to crush them.

Surprised by the sudden force, Gao Zhihong hastily pulled his hands away.

Thanks to his high strength, he managed to pull his hands out before they were crushed like paper.

‘Wh-what monstrous strength!’

Speed that prevented him from even equipping his gear, and strength that could break hand bones.

‘Could he have higher strength than me?’

Gao Zhihong’s strength was about 2,200… While he wasn’t sure about speed, he was confident in his strength.

Even within the guild, no one except the boss could match him in strength.

‘And yet I’m being overpowered in strength.’

But it wasn’t just strength.

The difference in agility was also stark.

Tseeeet-

Belatedly taking a stance, he tried to draw his dual swords.

Thud-

But he dropped them almost immediately.

His hand bones were broken, making it impossible to grip properly.

In that moment, Min Do-jun closed the distance and delivered a powerful slap.

Smack-

And again.

Smack-

The other cheek too.

Smack-

Staggering like a punching bag, Gao Zhihong felt his vision darkening.

His eardrum might have ruptured, as he heard a ringing sound and one ear went deaf.

“That’s what you get.”

Smack-

“For trying.”

Smack-

“To steal from others.”

He could barely understand the Chinese words with his remaining ear.

‘I-I’ll die at this rate.’

Sensing the danger, Gao Zhihong managed to dodge the next slap despite his disorientation.

Then, creating distance, he cried out desperately.

“Y-you think you’ll get away with this?! Touching me means you’ve made an enemy of the entire White Snake Guild!”

“Oh, really?”

Flinch-

The opponent before him vanished, and suddenly a voice came from beside his ear.

Gao Zhihong quickly turned his head toward the sound.

“Where are you looking? I’m over here.”

As he turned his head again, a fist was waiting for his face.

Smack-!

“Kuheck-!”

Feeling his nose bone collapse instantly, he fell backward ungracefully.

Min Do-jun quickly mounted him and swung his fist like a hammer.

“Well, since it’s come to this.”

Smack-

“Killing you.”

Smack-

“Is the best option now, isn’t it?”

Smack-

“S-stop.”

Sensing a threat to his life, Gao Zhihong frantically waved his hands.

“I-if you kill me, your guild will be annihilated. Touching me and killing me are completely different matters.”

“Why make it so complicated when you’re just begging for your life? I can’t understand you.”

“……”

“Say it. Beg for your life.”

“P-please spare me.”

“No pride in the face of death, huh?”

Sneering at the weakened Gao Zhihong, Min Do-jun put more force into his fist.

“Sleep.”

Smack-

With that final blow, Gao Zhihong lost consciousness.

His bloodied face almost looked pitiful.

“A-amazing, Boss!”

The Black Sea Guild member who had been watching the entire process exclaimed excitedly.

“Such an ill-mannered Chinese bastard indeed needs to be beaten to come to his sen… Guheck!”

Suddenly, with his chest pierced, the guild member looked at Min Do-jun with disbelieving eyes.

“Why, why…”

The bleeding guild member’s body disappeared with a message.

[You have killed Hunter Lim Young-min.]

[You have stolen the characteristic ‘Cat’s Step’.]

[You have stolen 7 pieces of equipment.]

[You have absorbed the target’s corpse.]

[Your health is recovering.]

He had killed the only witness, the guild member.

The reason was simple.

‘I need a spot for a Parasite.’

Min Do-jun placed his hand on the unconscious Gao Zhihong’s head.

[You have planted a parasite in the target’s head.]

[Infected targets: 20/20]

With this, 17 Black Sea Guild members, Go Du-sik, Shin Hye-ri, and Gao Zhihong became infected targets.

‘Originally, I planned to get information and kill him, but…’

Now that he knew the White Snake Guild had leaked information about the legendary sword, he couldn’t let him die easily.

‘I’ll use Gao Zhihong to gather information.’

He could kill him later when he was no longer useful.

‘Awoo, remember Gao Zhihong’s scent.’

[Woof!]

‘I’ll have to kill him someday.’

The day he loses his usefulness will be the day of his death.