When they heard that it was time to get down to business, everyone became more serious. Huang Yuanlong took out a crumpled list and began to read the contents of it.
“The man-eating water demon, we need its gills and glands, five sets in total.”
"We need one body for the Xuan Tie puppet, but the more the better."
"The crown of the Maple Leaf Banshee, and if she has any elixirs, those elixirs are included."
"The backspin crab claw monster needs five sets of claws."
"The Mist Spikes need five tongues."
"Three pieces of dust left behind when a ghost in its ethereal form dies."
This sounds like a shopping list… After Chen Jing finished reading, he said, “I have another item here. Didn’t we deal with a lot of Mist Spikes in the arena before?”
Huang Yuanlong snorted lightly, his expression remaining completely unchanged: "Very well, I'll tell Miss Pan right now, so she remembers how many Mist Spikes we just harvested in the arena."
"What you're thinking is certainly not enough; you need some of the tongues of the Misty Stinger."
"Although there are quantity requirements, the more the better, since they are all spiritual materials. Miss Pan said that as long as we meet any of these requirements, we can exchange them for spiritual artifacts, elixirs, and even spiritual artifacts made by her herself from the ship's warehouse. If there are any extras, we will consume them internally."
Huang Yuanlong looked at everyone: "Miss Viya asked us to handle these matters in the next two days. Do you have any ideas?"
“Man-eating water ghosts exist in Songhe River,” Chen Jing said.
Dao Nan nodded: "Every year there are rumors of people accidentally falling into the river and being eaten alive by man-eating water ghosts."
"So, I can use the spirit-summoning magic to lure them out," Zhang Taoying said eagerly.
Li Aidan: "I'll go. Your animal disappeared too quickly; the water ghost hasn't even swum over yet! Besides, I should take a shower too."
Chen Jing recalled that Li Ai was a formidable person who could bathe in the Song River, which was teeming with water ghosts, every day, so her words were practically authoritative opinions.
“That’s settled then,” Huang Yuanlong said. “Today we’ll deal with the man-eating water ghosts, then go outside the city to find the Xuan Tie puppet. Tomorrow we’ll go to Meijing City and deal with the Maple Leaf Banshee, the Backstab Crab Claw Monster, and the ethereal wandering souls in turn. Miss Pan only gave us two days.”
Dao Nan thought for a moment and said, "Our equipment hasn't been resupplied yet; we used up a lot of palm grenades before."
"I'll take you to the warehouse manager to get it later." Huang Yuanlong waved his hand: "The palm thunder is a small matter, but it is also very important. Today we only need to deal with the man-eating water ghosts and the black iron puppets. We need to complete the resupply in the rest of the time."
Chen Jing asked, "Why the rush?"
For safety reasons, these kinds of hunts are usually conducted one by one, with a lot of preparation and arrangements made.
Huang Yuanlong explained expressionlessly, "Don't use the mindset of a hunting party to think about the behavior of the Black Hand gang. Most of the members of the hunting party are ordinary people. When facing monsters, even if they have weapons, they are often at a disadvantage in terms of individual combat ability and adaptability. But we are different. We have the advantage of individual combat ability. So when facing familiar monsters, we can act quickly without much preparation."
Chen Jing frowned, still finding the explanation rather far-fetched, but he had no choice but to accept it.
Afterwards, the group discussed a plan to deal with the water ghosts, and after resupplying, they set off.
During the discussion, Chen Jing discovered that Huang Yuanlong's thinking was indeed quite different from that of the hunting group. Huang Yuanlong's tactics emphasized gathering a large group; in order to hunt a few man-eating water ghosts, he even brought in a squad of guards from the ship area to provide support with rifles.
Man-eating water ghosts are extremely sensitive to the scent of living people's blood and essence. They cannot be "fished" out with dead flesh. If they want to swim in the river, they must carry very little equipment and can only wear a single layer of ordinary clothing.
This task was assigned to Li Aidan, who often swam and bathed in the Song River and was skilled at fighting like an animal.
"Man-eating water ghosts fear fire. When fighting them, the Three Flavors Oil is a very powerful weapon, but you must lure them ashore before using it, because the Three Flavors Oil is very light and will float on the water, and the water will also neutralize the burning power of the flames." Huang Yuanlong warned the guards, and also told the non-hunting group members: "Once the Three Flavors Oil is thrown at the man-eating water ghost, it will basically lose its fighting ability in a short time."
"The man-eating water ghosts are more agile and stronger than ordinary people. Their bodies are not tough enough, and bullets can penetrate them at close range. However, their fish-scale-like skin and special body structure provide them with high resistance to explosive weapons. Grenades and bombs are not very effective."
Chen Jing discovered that although Huang Yuanlong always had a stern face and liked to speak sarcastically, he had a very high level of understanding about monsters. It was as if he had tested every kind of monster, regardless of its strength, with various weapons.
Although the boat area is the area with the thinnest fog in the entire Ash City, the boat area refers to the land on both sides of the Song River and the dock area, not the Song River itself!
The fog on the Song River was even denser than in places like Meijing City.
This meant that when Huang Yuanlong was arranging the hunt for man-eating water ghosts, he couldn't make good use of long-range weapons. Often, by the time he saw a clear silhouette of the man-eating water ghost, the time it took to raise his gun, aim, and fire was enough for the water ghost to get close.
To address this issue, Huang Yuanlong first had defensive fortifications set up on a stretch of mudflats. Although there was no barbed wire and time was limited, Huang Yuanlong still made some arrangements, digging some sand pits in advance. Afterward, he organized the city guards he had recruited into two teams: one team armed with rifles with bayonets, and the other equipped with Molotov cocktails filled with sesame oil. Each team formed a platoon to defend the front mudflat position.
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