C3 Sealed Roads

The dorm seemed empty.

During the last semester at the university, there weren't many students who would stay on campus, especially those who lived in the old dormitories, like Zhang Liang.

However, Zhang Liang thought it was a good thing, and he'd rather stay here alone.

In that case, at least he did not have to worry about the occasional complaints against him, because whenever he had nightmares, he couldn't help but scream in the middle of the night and most people thought he was just playing games.

Zhang Liang threw his things on his table, turned on his laptop, opened a document and started editing.

There was a long list of records in the document with enough space under each item. Each sub-item was marked with larger letters. The first sub-item on the list was "Yanam," followed by "Healing Church."

Those words had appeared in Zhang Liang's dreams more than once. He stared at the words for a moment, then scrolled down to the middle of the page.

"Title: Hunter of Yanam."

"Number 1: Yatra."

"Number 2: Guzzi."

"Number 3: Henryk."

...

Without a doubt, these were the names that had appeared in Zhang Liang's nightmares. Since he could only remember fragments of his dreams, he had minimal information. He did not even know if these names belonged to the "hunter" category.

Anyways, all he could do right now was to note down as much as he could remember.

Zhang Liang paused for a while as he tried to recall more. Then he added "Number 25: Carl" at the end of the document.

Most of the hunters who appeared in his dreams before were tasked with the most basic "hunting" tasks, but this time this Carl in his dream seemed to have a special status. From what he could remember, Carl was a senior hunter affiliated with the Healing Church, and he probably worked with the logistics department, which was the hunter workshop of the Healing Church.

In his dream this time, he finally found out something he had always been very concerned about.

From what he was able to gather, Yanam, a remote foreign town, should have existed around the time of the Victorian period. Gothic architecture was common in Yanam, and there seemed to be a unique treatment method popular around this place.

"Blood healing..." Zhang Liang's voice trailed off as he leaned against his chair. This kind of treatment method seemed different from all the treatment methods he had ever heard of. The key to this method seemed to be the blood itself, rather than the principle, technique, or equipment.

In other words, the blood Yanam residents used for the transfusion had amazing effects, almost like an all-purpose medicine. Not only that, but it could also enhance a person's physique. In his dreams, Zhang Liang noticed many hunters who were extremely tall and strong and could even pick up heavy weapons with one hand.

The scenes were too remarkable that he himself couldn't believe it. However, the connections between the pieces of information he gathered were incomparably real and tight.

Having completed his notes, Zhang Liang sat on the bed and fell backward, staring at the ceiling with a blank mind.

There was still time left before the class gathering tonight, so he still had some time to rest.

Zhang Liang spotted some mold spots on the ceiling and frowned in disgust. Annoyed, he put on his headphones to listen to some songs and then closed his eyes to rest.

"Well... I'll go to the hospital again... this weekend," Zhang Liang sighed, then relaxed his mind. He immersed his thoughts into the gentle music.

...

"Dong!"

The bell of the cathedral echoed against the walls of the buildings. A heavy noise came from the center of the church town, then moved towards the streets. It then went deep into every corner of Yanam and aroused a series of disturbances.

Not once did anyone dare to doubt the authority of the Healing Church; nor would they want to question it. But at that moment, when the bell stopped ringing, Carl felt the distrust and panic of the Yanam residents.

Cries and wails from different directions rang out the streets. The bell that indicated the Beast Disaster and Night of Hunting had never rung at this moment before. In the corner of Carl's eye, a man in a merchant's attire stuck his head out from a window. There was some rough and messy black hair on his face. It was obvious that he had suffered from the TransFur Disease.

Frustrated, he shouted, "Not again! Are you kidding me? It only ended yesterday!"

Carl's church hunter attire must've caught his attention, because the man turned to him and bellowed, "Liar! You dragged my wife out yesterday saying she was sick. Are you trying to do the same to my daughter now?"

Carl ignored the man's nasty remarks. He was too focused on the unexpected early warning that came. He didn't even know if he could make it back to Church Town in time.

'I must hurry! There's no time to lose!'

He bit his lip and frowned. Then he grabbed his metal cane that was still stained with beast blood and quickly walked away, his left hand pressing on the special artifact at his waist.

It was an exquisite metal teapot-shaped device with a palm-friendly handle and trigger above it and a spout in the front.

Hunters were usually equipped with multifunctional gadgets to deal with a variety of situations. Hunter Pistol and short-handled rifles were the most common equipment. Hunters responsible for exploring dark areas would choose to carry a durable torch or a handheld light, while professional hunters would use more powerful firearms.

Carl's flamethrower was often used to intimidate and scare his opponents. The flames were highly lethal and would cause greater tension to the TransFur Disease patients or ordinary enemies.

Carl sprinted through the streets and saw plenty of Yanam hunters trying to maintain order. Ludwig, the church's No.1 hunter, recruited them at the last minute. They looked relatively young. All of them wore clothes made of tough leather, but for Carl, the clothes weren't enough to protect them.

'Ludwig...'

Carl sighed silently. He always felt that Ludwig was more like a knight than a hunter.

"Everyone! Go back inside your homes now! Turn off your lights and turn on the warning lights at the door instead! Everyone..." The young hunter's trembling voice trailed off in exhaustion. He had been running around the streets to announce the order.

The hunters had been doing this since yesterday, and some didn't even have the time to rest or dispose of the dead bodies of the hunters who died before the chaos had started again.

Just as the last bit of light from the setting sun was to disappear, Carl finally saw the gate of the Church Town. It was convenient for the people near the Healing Church. This way, they could take refuge in comfort.

"Get out of the way! Move!"

Carl pushed the crowd away with force, and a cleric turned in his direction. The young female priest quickly put down the work in her hands and brought Carl over.

"Mr. Carl, why are you here?" asked the female priest. She was wearing the church's black uniform. Despite her serious appearance, she was pretty. "Go to the workshop and get some supplies. Do you understand?"

Carl nodded helplessly, turned around, and walked towards the end of the tunnel. However, before he could take another step, the bell rang again above his head.

"Dong!"

Carl's expression tightened. "Why did the bell ring twice?" he turned his head to ask the female priest but saw that her face had already turned ashen.

This time the bell rang only once, but it was actually not the church's bell!

At once, a sound erupted. The stones rubbing against the ground seemed to come from above. Carl and the rest of the church hunters froze in shock.

This passage led to the square of the church town. It was a spiral staircase leading up, and the exit was an enormous vault used to seal off the passageway!

Apparently this was the sound of the vault moving. Someone from upstairs was trying to seal off the passageway to the Church Town!

Carl quickly understood what was happening and bolted towards the exit, but just as he arrived in the middle of the stairs, he was too late. The vault had covered the last trace of light from the Church Town. The entire tunnel fell into dead silence.

A hunter from downstairs lit up the lamp at his waist. The light illuminated everyone's face.

Despair, anger, panic...

In the darkness, Carl heard an old woman ask in a cracked voice, "Wh-what just happened?"

The light flashed across the female priest's face, and she looked flustered. She tried to open her mouth but did not know how to respond.

"They sealed the way, didn't they?" The old woman's voice was trembling. "Didn't they?"

Slowly, the crowd began to react to her question, causing a huge commotion. The hunters tried to maintain order, but they were in vain as the riot was getting out of control. Suddenly, someone from the crowd shouted, "You murderers!"

What followed was a gunshot. Then, the smell of blood filled the air.

Within the darkness, Carl heard the young female priest say to him, "Quick. Go and inform the teacher."

"Your teacher?" Carl was stunned for a moment. "You mean...Ludwig?"

Before he could get a response, the crowd roared, and the sound of weapons hitting each other rang out. Someone pushed him out of the way and into a corner. He could barely make out the angry people in front of him. The smell of blood became stronger and stronger.