Chapter 14 The Woods Family Motto

Zhou Jing didn't answer immediately, but instead asked, "Are you a wandering hunter from White Plains City?"

"You know me?" Webber was puzzled.

Zhou Jing smiled. "I haven't seen you before, but the first time we met, I noticed you staring at my face, looking surprised, as if you'd seen someone who looked like me. Now that you've called out Jason's name, it's not hard to guess that you used to be a hunter in White Plains City. If I'm not mistaken, you and Jason used to be hunting partners."

That was enough information. Webber became more certain of his guess, but still asked to confirm, "Then are you?"

Zhou Jing put away his smile, deliberately lowered his voice, and pretended to be cautious:

"Jason is my younger brother, but I don't have a surname now. I'm just called Jess."

As expected, they were related by blood. He knew he wasn't wrong!

Webber immediately believed him. He didn't know Jason that well anyway and immediately accepted this explanation that fit his common sense.

After all, the resemblance between the two was solid proof... His previous suspicion that Jason had come back to life was indeed too absurd.

--He knew they couldn't be the same person. Ignoring the common sense that dead people can't be resurrected, the difference in their manner of speaking was quite large. This Jess clearly wasn't as taciturn as Jason, and he was much smarter than that brute Jason.

He wasn't surprised that Jess was hiding his surname. With the assassination of the lord having fermented to this day, the name "Jason Wood" was known to too many people. The surname was eye-catching, and concealing his name could avoid a lot of trouble.

At this moment, Webber suddenly became silent—although Jess was Jason's brother, he was still a stranger to him. After recognizing his identity, he didn't know what to say.

After hesitating for a few seconds, Webber thought of a question and asked doubtfully:

"You're Jason's brother and a three-time enhanced hunter. Why didn't Jason stay by your side and instead went to White Plains City to be a hunter? If he was with you, maybe Jason wouldn't have died..."

Zhou Jing waved his hand and said seriously, "I know what you're thinking, but our family never relies on others, even if they're brothers. At a certain age, they have to separate, scattered around the world, and live their own lives—independence and self-reliance. This is the Wood family motto!"

A look of surprise appeared on Webber's muscular face.

Since the tribal era, the concept of sticking together for survival had been ingrained in people's blood. He found it difficult to understand this kind of family motto.

But as an experienced hunter, Webber suddenly thought that there were many strange beasts in nature with similar habits, which allowed members of the group to forage and train alone outside before returning to the group.

Members of the group often died in this process, but the beasts that survived would be stronger. It was a cold and cruel survival habit.

'Wood... seems to be a cruel family.' Webber had this thought in his heart.

He didn't doubt the truth of Zhou Jing's words, nor did he doubt the strong resilience brought about by this kind of family motto, but he just couldn't understand it.

"But your brother is dead, and you're really just... oh!"

Webber asked subconsciously, and suddenly a flash of inspiration struck him, and his eyes widened.

That's right, Lord Lute of White Plains City was kidnapped and murdered, and the suspected murderer was a three-time enhancer!

The strength matched, and the motive matched... Case closed!

The murderer must be Jess—half a year after Jason's death, his brother personally went to White Plains City, took Lute's life, and achieved revenge!

Webber suddenly understood, and felt that everything was right.

A cruel family was cruel to their own people and must be even crueler to their enemies! Usually, they don't rely on each other, but once a relative dies, this Wood family will definitely give fierce revenge!

Webber was in awe.

Seeing this, Zhou Jing raised his eyebrows meaningfully. "Even if you guess something, don't say it. I believe in your relationship with Jason."

Webber came back to his senses and said with a serious face, "I will keep your secret."

He didn't intend to expose him in the first place. He was just asking to clear up his doubts. Now that he had the answer, he was satisfied and had no other thoughts.

Although Webber didn't approve of the crime of killing the lord, he wasn't pedantic. Since there was no proof and no one had discovered it, he wouldn't betray Jason's relatives. After all, he had spent some time as a comrade-in-arms with Jason.

Besides, Lute had already been regarded as an enemy by the hunters of White Plains City. If it weren't for his identity as the lord, he would have been killed long ago. Jess had just done what he wanted to do but had refrained from doing... When he heard the news of Lute's death, he had happily eaten three big bowls of meat.

Zhou Jing nodded. He still trusted the hunter's code of conduct.

If he was ruthless, he might be thinking about silencing him now. Zhou Jing didn't have such thoughts at all. After all, he was a former comrade-in-arms, and in his eyes, being recognized wasn't a big deal.

Did he know what a Star Realm Apostle was? He was afraid of nothing!

After chatting for a while and telling Webber the "truth," Zhou Jing walked out of the tent and gently exhaled.

This acquaintance wouldn't reveal anything, but the side effect was that Webber really thought there was a "Wood family" that had begun to hide their names...

"Small problem, small problem."

Zhou Jing muttered a few words, then put the matter down and opened the panel to take a look.

There were several prompts on the panel at this time.

[Triggered achievement [First Kill - Hetero-Blood Warrior (Second Enhancement)]]

[Obtain 1000 Star Points! [Aptitude Improvement - Physique (Small)] x1, [Aptitude Improvement - Resistance (Small)] x1]

[Triggered achievement [Hetero-Blood Killer (Ten-Man Slayer)]]

[Obtain 1000 Star Points!]

Killing Dotun and his group of subordinates triggered two achievements, a small profit.

Because Zhou Jing had not yet executed Dotun and planned to take him back to the royal capital to gain reputation, the first kill achievement for the three-time enhancer had not yet been triggered, but he was determined to get it. He was not joking when he applied to personally carry out the execution.

In addition to the achievements, this time also triggered a special prompt.

[You have obtained the career achievement——[Deep Rock City Rebellion]!]

[Rating: City-Level]

[Current Legend Degree Bonus: +1]

"What is this?" Zhou Jing triggered it for the first time and looked at the explanation.

When involved in certain special events and making an impact, there is a chance to trigger career achievements, which are related to Legend Degree. The higher the dissemination, influence, historical significance, and other factors of this achievement, the more Legend Degree it will increase, which is dynamically changing.

It is equivalent to a Star Realm Apostle's "famous deeds" and "great achievements" in the current world, which can bring fame and reputation.

As long as you promote the "career achievement," you can increase the Legend Degree bonus, but the upper limit depends on the nature of the event itself—promotion also pays attention to reality, and boasting must have a limit.

"It's strange. When I assassinated the lord, it was also quite sensational, and it gave me a lot of Legend Degree, but it didn't trigger this thing. I don't know what the judgment probability is."

Zhou Jing touched his chin. He had no clue, so he stopped dwelling on it.

Anyway, it was a good thing to increase Legend Degree, which could increase the returns of each return settlement and placement settlement.

Closing the panel, Zhou Jing touched the witchcraft book he kept close to his body, his eyes flickering.

"It's time to chat with that 'wizard'."

...

Lynn slowly opened his eyes and saw an unfamiliar roof. He was lying on a wooden bed.

Overuse of witchcraft caused a splitting headache, as if his brains were being stirred. He groaned and couldn't help but cover his forehead.

At this moment, a man's voice sounded next to him.

"You're awake?"

Lynn turned his head and saw a strong, burly man sitting by the bed. He looked vaguely familiar.

A jumble of memories surged into his muddled head, piecing together the experiences before he passed out.

Lynn suddenly remembered that he had been chased by bandits before he passed out due to overdraft, and was at the end of his rope. Suddenly, a fierce man descended from the sky and tore the bandits in half. It was the person in front of him.

"Did you save me?"

"Yes, I'm Jess, an imperial hunter." Zhou Jing nodded.

"Uh, thank you, Jess."

Lynn's tone was sincere, but his face was unnatural and his eyes darted around.

He was glad to be saved and was grateful, but he was also worried that the scene of him using witchcraft to stop the bandits had been seen, exposing his special nature. He couldn't help but feel uneasy and conflicted.

Unfortunately, things didn't develop in the direction he was praying for. Zhou Jing looked at him with interest and said:

"I saw you were able to manipulate earth and rocks. This isn't an ability of hetero-blood enhancement, is it? Aren't you going to explain it?"

He was still discovered... Lynn felt helpless and didn't know how to refute, so he just kept silent.

Seeing this, Zhou Jing took out the witchcraft book from his arms: "I've read this book. The ability you used is called witchcraft, right?"

Lynn was shocked and quickly touched his chest, only to find it was empty. He immediately reached out to grab the book.

"Give me back the book!"

Zhou Jing easily blocked Lynn's hand and shook his head. "Answer my question first. Where did you get this book from?"

Lynn's small arms and legs couldn't twist past Zhou Jing at all. After trying several times without success, he had to give up dejectedly and said helplessly, "I dug it up."

Zhou Jing shook the book. "Tell me in detail."

Lynn's lips moved, and after struggling for a while, he recognized the situation and compromised. He didn't dare to act presumptuously in front of the imperial hunter and told his origin in frustration.

A few years ago, he was still an accountant in a merchant caravan, traveling around with the team. One day, they encountered a strange beast attack in the wild, and the team scattered and fled. He fell into a cave during the escape, luckily avoiding the strange beast.

While falling into the cave, something poked his back, and he found a half-section of black hard object buried in the ground. He dug it out with his hands and pulled out an old box, which contained a book, which was this incomplete book recording witchcraft knowledge.

After luckily escaping the disaster, Lynn began to study the contents of this book and found that he seemed to be able to practice the witchcraft knowledge recorded in it. According to the contents of the book, he traveled around looking for natural spirits that could inspire witchcraft power. After escaping danger again from being chased by strange beasts, he accidentally discovered a natural spirit and struggled to integrate it into his body, which is how he obtained the earth element witchcraft power.

After that, he lived in seclusion in the nearby Deep Rock City, not daring to expose his ability, and focused on studying the contents of the witchcraft book until today.

"...So you have witchcraft power, but you didn't do anything, you just stayed at home?"

Zhou Jing raised his eyebrows.

"I don't dare to use it, otherwise if someone finds out, someone will definitely snatch my book."

Lynn stammered, and couldn't help but glance at Zhou Jing as he said this, his expression seemed to be saying that I was right.

Having extraordinary power, he also wanted to show it, and also wanted to start a new life, but his concerns prevented him from taking this step, so he had been locking himself in the house, trying hard to study witchcraft knowledge, constantly suppressing the impulse in his heart.

Although he was now exposed, he felt panicked, but inexplicably there was also a kind of relief, as if the ability he wanted others to know but had to hide deeply was finally forced to be known, so he no longer needed to hide himself.

Lynn was willing to compromise and answer, partly because of this, because he had been suffocating in his heart for too long... At the same time, it was also because Zhou Jing was his savior, and he couldn't feel Zhou Jing's hostility.

After listening to Lynn's explanation, Zhou Jing rubbed his temples.

He thought this was a wizard with a lineage, but he didn't expect him to be self-taught. It seemed that he couldn't get information about other wizards in the world from Lynn.

"Now that I know your ability, what do you plan to do?" Zhou Jing asked with his arms crossed.

"I don't know either." Lynn looked tangled. "What do you want me to do?"

He couldn't do anything like killing people to silence them, and he couldn't beat Zhou Jing, and he didn't even think about it in that direction.

He only prayed that Zhou Jing wouldn't have bad intentions. Even in perfect condition, he probably couldn't beat this person, let alone now that he had overdrawn his spirit.

Zhou Jing looked him up and down carefully, and suddenly smiled, throwing the witchcraft book back into Lynn's arms.

"Don't be nervous. I asked you these things just because I was curious. I've never seen such power before, and I don't plan to do anything to you."

Lynn quickly grabbed the book, breathed a sigh of relief, and looked at Zhou Jing in surprise. "You're not taking my book?"

"No need."

Zhou Jing shook his head. He had already read it completely and could access it from the experience log at any time.

He paused, looked at Lynn's surprised expression after regaining what he had lost, and smiled:

"You have extraordinary talent. Would you like to accept my employment? I'll pay you, on the condition that I also want to study the knowledge in this book."

"This..." Lynn was stunned and hesitated.

Zhou Jing curled his lips and said, "The book says that natural spirits only appear in some remote places, which are generally very dangerous. With my protection, you don't have to worry about the threats of the wild and can boldly look for natural spirits. I'm already an insider. If you go to find other people to cooperate with, more people will know. I don't have any malice towards you, but others may not, so cooperating with me is the best and safest choice."

Hearing this, Lynn was a little moved.

In the past two years of seclusion, his witchcraft had hardly improved. He had only integrated one natural spirit because he didn't dare to go deep into the wild to find new natural spirits.

His little tricks couldn't deal with too strong wild strange beasts. Luck could favor him once, but it wouldn't always be so lucky.

Moreover, this powerful hunter was right. He was already an insider, and the matter was a foregone conclusion. Instead of thinking about continuing to hide, it was also good to cooperate together.

"Can you let me consider it?" Lynn couldn't make up his mind for a while.

"Of course. You can think about it slowly before I leave Deep Rock City."

Zhou Jing was very easy to talk to.

Recruiting Lynn was the result of his consideration. Rather than simply taking a book, it would naturally be more beneficial to bring a person who had successfully cultivated witchcraft. A living example was always better than a dead book.

But he didn't force it. If Lynn really didn't want to, then so be it. He could just study the so-called witchcraft on his own. The book had already written the entry method very clearly.

Only by finding natural spirits can one open the power of witchcraft. Natural spirits are quite rare and can only be discovered using the special methods recorded in the book. Finding this thing depends on luck.

Star Realm Apostles have a lot of trial and error costs. Lynn can succeed, so Apostles naturally have a better chance.

However, Zhou Jing felt that Lynn would most likely agree, not only because he was his benefactor, but also because his performance just now revealed a mentality between extraordinary and civilian, and he was not a very strong character.

As long as he can gain trust, has no malice, and brings the other party what they need, the other party should not mind sharing and cooperating.

Zhou Jing got up and left, walked out of the house, raised his hand to shield the sunlight, and the corner of his mouth curled up.

"Witchcraft system... I wonder what it will be like to use."