"It is my honor to witness your existence... Why do you witness my existence when you are fine?"
Li Fan vaguely felt something was off about this sentence.
He immediately combined it with the in-game plot of the Black Dragon and began to deduce.
The protagonist of the previous game, the player-controlled character, would basically have a fated showdown with the Black Dragon family.
But in the current situation, even if one truly wanted to hunt the Black Dragon, the Guild would definitely not provide assistance, and might even obstruct them.
This was the same logic as not actively hunting Elder Dragons.
Hui Hui, Feng Shen Long, and Lei Shen Long were only hunted with the full force of everyone after multiple investigations and assessments confirmed they would cause a severe ecological crisis.
Even if previous protagonists truly hunted the Black Dragon, it was destined to be a small-scale operation.
Although he didn't know why they had all disappeared, from a timeline perspective, those were events that had already happened.
As for the unhappened events concerning the Black Dragon, there was only one large-scale讨伐 (tǎofá -讨伐) operation that multiple organizations had jointly undertaken with the Empire.
This was also the first time the Guild had truly acknowledged the existence of the Black Dragon.
The most crucial point was, "I" also participated.
But why did "I" go? And what was the Guild's reason for participating in the joint讨伐 (tǎofá)?
Li Fan fell into confusion at this thought.
The Black Dragon possessed world-ending destructive power. If it was for the continuation of humanity, participating in it was quite convincing.
However, he still felt something was missing.
He raised his 3DS to his face again, looking at the timeline six months later, and a thought suddenly surged.
"It's still not right. Lao Shan Long poses no threat to the Black Dragon, so how could it trigger a world-ending crisis?"
Judging by the timeline markers, the arrival of Lao Shan Long at Shureid City was greatly related to the appearance of the Black Dragon.
But in terms of combat capability, it clearly couldn't stir up much trouble.
This was like a Great Jagras suddenly attacking a Star Base, and then the Star Base going berserk.
To slaughter all the monsters in the coastal areas, this was completely illogical.
"Encountered a problem, nya?"
Dielu said, nudging her head forward.
"Yes, a monster of low ecological status encountered a monster of high ecological status, and the high ecological status monster suddenly went berserk, wanting to leave its nest and launch a large-scale attack. I can't find any reason."
Li Fan informed her.
"Hmm... In such a situation, it's highly likely that the low ecological status monster was carrying extremely threatening traces, nya."
Dielu pondered for a moment and offered her deduction.
"Can you elaborate?"
"Around Kara Village, Puff and Brother Lei confronted each other for a while, nya. Back then, even if Brother Lei discovered a small wild boar carrying slimy bubbles, he would definitely be highly vigilant."
Dielu gave an example.
"I understand. Brother Lei wouldn't be alerted by a small wild boar, but the slimy bubbles it carried conveyed crucial information that Mizutsune was nearby."
Li Fan said, stroking his chin.
"Exactly, nya."
"If that event was bound to happen, perhaps Lao Shan Long also conveyed some kind of information... information that could make a taboo destroy the world."
With this thought, the entire event became clear.
Lao Shan Long's visit conveyed information, and the Black Dragon sensed the threat and appeared. The various ecological anomalies triggered by this highly matched the ominous signs recorded in history.
At this point, the Guild, the Empire, and other major organizations could no longer stand idly by, so they prepared for a joint讨伐 (tǎofá).
But could there really be information that the Black Dragon feared?
With his doubts, Li Fan slept until the next morning.
After breakfast on the Honoka, Li Fan began to sort through the mail on his desk.
As the leader of the fifth team, his current contributions were mainly focused on monster hunting.
He had handled relatively little of the investigation team's affairs, so he decided to spend a day reviewing the accumulated mail.
Sender: Lokaka
Dear Leader, can you give me three Sundstones?
Li Fan wrote, took the letter, and used his points to claim it. Then he raised the ink pad with the White Wind insignia and pressed it onto the letter.
Dielu took the reviewed letter, poured the wax, and began to seal it.
With the cooperation of one person and one cat, the mail that needed to be reviewed rapidly decreased.
"The Star Guild's hunter rating is only three stars, but I believe I have the ability to venture into the Elder's Recess. I implore the Leader to help... You should train more."
Li Fan finished writing his reply, tossed the letter to Dielu, and then grabbed another one from the pile and opened it.
The sender of this email was the leader of the third team, Ni Zhen. The letter contained the detection reports for two types of traces.
The results indicated that one of the crustacean traces was confirmed to be material from an Anjanath.
After providing some conventional indicators, a conclusion was specifically marked: analysis showed no erosion by miasma.
As for the solution with a strong fragrance, the scholars of the third team could not detect its origin from any creature.
They only determined that this solution was very magical, highly attractive to most insects, and had even caused an insect infestation within the research base.
Regarding miasma erosion, it was marked as having slight signs of erosion.
The danger was not that great, but the key problem lay in the irreversibility of miasma damage.
According to the conclusion, Uragaan seemed to be immune to erosion, while Shanshan was not.
Li Fan pondered whether he should have Shanshan drill a ventilation shaft in the upper layer of the Miasma Valley to ensure it was not eroded by the miasma.
A day passed quickly, and Dielu, carrying a large bag of letters, set off to mail them.
Li Fan, now free, stretched and opened his 3DS to look at Lao Shan Long's advance, entering a daze.
"Time to eat!... You look so dejected?"
Yudora, outside the door, looked at Li Fan slumped on the bed with some surprise.
"Do I?"
"Compared to yesterday, it's very obvious."
Yudora said with certainty.
Li Fan sighed, supported his forehead, and said, "Knowing too much isn't always a good thing."
"How so? The more you know, the more preparations you can make. Didn't you often make a lot of preparations before hunts? Even if they weren't all useful, they at least helped the team overcome crises."
Yudora retorted.
"That's true, but what if the enemy you face is invincible?"
"So that's it..."
"What..."
"You still want to hunt that Nergigante, don't you?"
Yudora asked with conviction.
"How do I have the mood to care about it now... Wait a moment, if I want to continue to improve my combat power to ensure safety..." Li Fan suddenly thought of a possibility, but quickly shook his head to negate it.
No, doing so would be too outrageous, equivalent to provoking two taboos simultaneously.
The difficulty of implementation was also immeasurable. Even more fatal was that, whether in game plot or current reality.
If he really did this, the Ruiner Nergigante would definitely come to the New World and scatter his ashes.
Just as Li Fan negated the idea, he suddenly saw Lao Shan Long on the screen, which had not stopped moving for a moment.
He realized that even if he did nothing, the Monster Hunter world would still face disaster in six months.
Unless he didn't care about anything and took his team to hide on a secluded island, he could theoretically be spared.
"It's all Lao Shan Long's fault. What information did it carry to make a taboo erupt? If only I had known... oh, it's invincible."
"What about Lao Shan Long?"
Hearing Li Fan muttering about Lao Shan Long, Yudora asked curiously.
"It's nothing... I have a very crazy plan, it might cost me my life, are you interested in participating?"
Li Fan asked seriously.
"Hiss~ Even you think it's crazy, then I really should consider it. Tell me what you're going to do first?"
Yudora asked cautiously.
"I'm going to capture Nergigante."
Li Fan said in a low voice.
"Uh... I remember you saying that dragon has mental problems."
Yudora reminded him.
"It doesn't matter, I'm not very normal either. Being ruthless and strong is what's urgently needed right now."
Li Fan waved his hand.
"Hmm... Let me guess, you've encountered a crisis?"
"Ah? How did you get so smart!"
Li Fan said in surprise.
"I've always been smart... Sigh~ There's no other way, let me help you."
"Thank you for your support, but the monster we'll be facing this time is probably beyond the capabilities of the Monster Squad, and the Star Base can't help either. It will all depend on the squad, so I plan to..."
Li Fan said, gesturing.
Dielu, having just mailed the letters, returned to the ship's corridor and saw Li Fan's silhouette projected on the wall, making all sorts of fierce movements.
"Ka! Ha! Ya!..."
With Li Fan's shouts, a pillow with a hole in the center was thrown out of the cabin.
Seeing the white fluff falling onto the corridor floor, Dielu pondered for a moment and decided it was better not to disturb them at the moment.
The next day.
Frey had been busy establishing land routes to the Elder's Recess. Apart from reviewing various reports, he had originally refused visitors.
However, upon hearing that Li Fan was visiting, he put down his work to meet him.
"Thank you for your hard work, Li Fan. The report you brought back is extremely valuable. The fact that there are safe zones in the Elder's Recess is something we never expected. We've decided to establish a camp there."
Frey explained his deployment.
What the other party didn't know was that the safe zone was the rear area of the Monster Squad's territory.
"I think that place is good too."
Li Fan nodded.
"Are you here for anything that requires the base's assistance?"
Frey asked tentatively.
"Yes, the exploration of the Elder's Recess has currently reached the limit of our existing capabilities. For the next step, I'd like to change direction." Li Fan stated his intention.
The existence of a pile of Elder Dragons had already been confirmed.
Only the information about the Behemoth Dragon was a bit lacking. Without any major discoveries, continuing to push forward was no longer very meaningful.
"What direction?"
"The coast."
"I understand. You want to open up new sea routes to make sea transport to the Elder's Recess a regular occurrence."
Looking at Frey's sincere eyes, Li Fan thought to himself, how could he not have thought of such a good reason.
Compared to the fabricated ecological observations during coastal voyages, it seemed so stupid.
"Yes."
"Route exploration is very dangerous. It's worthy of a fifth-team leader that you're willing to take it on."
Frey placed his hand on Li Fan's shoulder and praised him.
"You flatter me, Commander-in-Chief. To increase the possibility of discovering landing points, I'd like to borrow the Ecology."
"No problem, but the Ecology is supported by the Guild headquarters for the Lavasioth operation, and it doesn't belong to the Star Branch. Please be careful when navigating."
Frey reminded him.
"Mm... I will."
Li Fan hesitated for a moment before giving his assurance.
After spending a day understanding the general condition of the Ecology, Li Fan set sail.
As for the Honoka, it was towed by ropes, guiding it from behind.
Four days later, the team appeared at the research base.
Ni Zhen was very surprised by Li Fan's visit, as there were currently no contracts in the Coral Highlands that required the chief hunter's attention.
"Ni Zhen, I received the detection report, thank you. I'm here to ask if you have the design for Master Yuano's Long Bowgun here?"
Li Fan inquired.
"This... I can help you look for it. What do you need the design for?"
Ni Zhen asked curiously.
In terms of equipment manufacturing, the Star Base's workshop was undoubtedly the most professional.
Even if Master Yuano had submitted the design for the Long Bowgun, it was likely for his own future replication.
After all, such non-standard, self-developed equipment only fit the inventor's usage habits and had very low applicability.
"I have a new idea, and it requires pairing with the Long Bowgun."
Li Fan replied.
"The structure of that Bowgun is too simple."
Ni Zhen commented.
"I value simplicity."
After several scholars searched, they pulled out a page from a yellowed booklet and handed it to Li Fan.
Taking the paper, he found that the front only had a few strokes of annotation and a simple drawing of the Bowgun's structure, while the back was blank.
Li Fan thought it was indeed simple enough.
He then took his leave and descended to the upper camp of the Miasma Valley.
The scale of the camp here had expanded considerably since his last visit.
But it still felt like a gloomy, deathly aura was lingering in the air.
Li Fan, with Dielu, set off towards the depths.
"Tigrex learned to leap over gaps in the road, nya!"
Dielu exclaimed in surprise.
Li Fan, walking on the winding road, turned his head to look and found that it was indeed as Dielu described. The gap in the road ahead was such that Tigrex could leap over it with a rolling jump.
"It can adapt to this..."
Li Fan said with some surprise.
*Chagaga~ Chagaga~...*
After advancing about two hours into the depths, a sharp grinding sound that made one's teeth ache rang out.
Hunters who frequented the upper Miasma Valley called this sound the "demon scraping its fangs."
More than one hunter had warned Li Fan to stay away as soon as he heard similar sounds.
However, Li Fan paid no mind and instead followed the sound deeper.
He arrived at the edge of a cliff made of accumulated bones and pushed aside the withered vines blocking the way.
On a conical peak covered in dark yellow moss, a giant snake-like ruin city made of bone fragments was circling and sliding.
The saber-like protrusions on the bone fragments of the giant snake ruin city and the friction between the bone fragments embedded in the mountain were the source of the "demon scraping its fangs" sound.
"Stop for a moment! Shanshan!"
*Chagaga~ Chagaga~...*
"I said stop for a moment! Shanshan!"
Seeing that the other party did not respond, Li Fan had to raise his voice.
*Chaga...*
The giant snake ruin city circling the peak immediately stopped sliding, and silence fell upon the surroundings.
.
Zhao Lala reminds you: Remember to collect after reading.