Infinite Cosmic Cafeteria Chapter 82: Stone

Translator: Stellar Novels Editor: Stellar Novels

In response to the beast tide, The Giant Screen had entered its highest level of alert. All three major gates were shut, and getting onto the city walls was no easy feat.

However, Bocchi and Ma Lu both had hunter credentials. After registering at the guild, they received their passes and took the elevator directly to the top of the city wall.

The walls of The Giant Screen stood 16 meters tall, and with the massive dome above, the highest point reached over 20 meters from the ground. The width was equally impressive.

Ma Lu estimated that the top could fit two MPVs side by side.

The walls were built this thick to defend against attacks from giant beasts.

The desert was full of dangers, and while most large prey near The Giant Screen had been hunted by various hunter groups, there were still occasional stragglers.

But this time, it wasn’t just stragglers—the beasts from the desert had practically come out in full force.

A number of hunters had already gathered on the walls, observing the situation outside the city, including Wei Cha, the leader of the Blazing Fang Hunter Group, whom they had just met earlier.

Wei Cha was stunned when he saw Ma Lu and Bocchi. He hadn’t expected that after barely escaping the beast horde, instead of resting up, they’d show up on the front lines again.

He couldn’t help but regard the two young people with newfound respect, especially Ma Lu, who was increasingly pleasing to his eye.

However, since Wei Cha had already been warned by Bocchi once when he tried to recruit Ma Lu, he didn’t dare poach him again in front of her. All he could do was nod at the two in greeting.

Meanwhile, Ma Lu was already eager to pull out his hand crossbow.

He walked to the edge of the wall and peered down.

What he saw were clusters of beasts. A group of Short-Eared Link Hedgehog spotted him and immediately shook their bodies, firing dozens of spines with a swoosh.

But with Ma Lu’s current 379% reflex speed boost, he retracted his head as soon as the hedgehogs’ butts twitched, and the spines only ended up embedded in the concrete wall.

Ma Lu’s retaliation was swift; as soon as the hedgehogs were done firing, he threw out a 【Pain Link】 and counterattacked with his hand crossbow.

The shot didn’t trigger 【Headshot】, but there were enough Short-Eared Link Hedgehogs below that it hit one of the little critters.

The wound itself was minor, just a scratch, but soon, flames erupted from the hedgehog’s body, and it fell into states of severe injury, bleeding, poisoning, and slowing.

There was no help for it—although Ma Lu’s golden and purple blessings were limited this time, he had maximized his white blessings, and nearly all were enhanced to +10.

With a single shot, even he didn’t know how many effects he had unleashed.

Before long, the Short-Eared Link Hedgehog succumbed to the continuous bleeding and poison effects, which then triggered the 【Explosive Divine Arrow】 effect.

A small explosion occurred within a three-meter diameter centered on its corpse.

The explosion took out the surrounding Short-Eared Link Hedgehogs so swiftly that 【Pain Link】 didn’t even get a chance to activate.

When Ma Lu peeked down again, there were no more pesky hedgehogs firing spines at him.

Good, it looked like the power was decent!

【Explosive Divine Arrow】 was practically a field-clearing tool against these small, soft-skinned creatures.

The only regret was that the dead Short-Eared Link Hedgehogs couldn’t be salvaged. Although Ma Lu was no longer interested in these 1-star and 2-star ingredients, every little bit counts, even if it’s just scraps.

Even if he didn’t bring them back, he could still sell them at the local market for some money.

Unfortunately, all Ma Lu could do now was watch as the dead Short-Eared Link Hedgehog were devoured by other beasts from his vantage point on the city wall.

Ma Lu glanced around. Most people were focused on the larger beasts, discussing the possibilities of hunting them. No one paid attention to the fallen Short-Eared Link Hedgehog nearby.

He fired a few more arrows, further testing the power of his blessings.

By now, his attacks were hard to categorize into any single build; it felt like a mishmash of everything he could stitch together.

The good news was that with each arrow, multiple blessings would activate, and there were quite a few of them. The bad news was that there could be conflicts between some of the blessings.

But there was nothing to be done about it; after all, he had chosen all the “C” options at the time, so encountering bugs afterward was expected.

Still, it wasn’t a big problem. As long as there were enough blessings, a few conflicts didn’t matter.

Ma Lu was no longer content with low-level ingredients; his eyes searched the distance for something more formidable.

Then, suddenly, his vision went black.

It turned out that avoiding looking at the sun was still quite a challenge, especially when you were standing high up and constantly scanning the surroundings.

Fortunately, Ma Lu knew that the blindness would only last 10 seconds, and since he was in a safe zone, he simply closed his eyes and rested until his sight returned.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw Bocchi staring intently in a certain direction, her expression serious.

“What’s wrong?”

“It’s San Lu. He’s here too.”

Ma Lu followed Bocchi’s gaze and saw a figure.

At first glance, he seemed rather unremarkable.

Unlike the menacing gang leaders Ma Lu had encountered before, San Lu exuded a quiet demeanor.

He wasn’t particularly tall or short, and he had a plain face shaped like the Chinese character “申.” His stubble was neatly shaved, and his fingernails were clean, showing no signs of dirt—details that indicated he was meticulous about personal hygiene.

But beyond that, there was nothing striking about him, and unlike Wei Cha, he didn’t have the imposing physique of a group leader.

If Jin Jian was like a cunning fox, San Lu felt more like a stone.

You couldn’t read his thoughts or predict his next move.

San Lu was listening to a portly man speak when he seemed to sense Bocchi and Ma Lu’s gaze. He looked up at them.

Their eyes met, but Ma Lu saw no emotion in those black pupils.

San Lu turned back to the man, who looked like an official, said something to him, and then began walking toward them.

“Bocchi, Ma Lu,” San Lu spoke first. “I’ve heard of you. Your hunter group has made quite a name for itself in The Giant Screen lately.”

“No, Captain San Lu, it’s your Black Horn that’s truly infamous,” Bocchi replied.

San Lu seemed unfazed, even catching the hint of mockery in Bocchi’s tone.

“Without Black Horn, do you think those hunter groups outside the city would behave themselves and coexist peacefully? Didn’t you also run into bandits not long ago? At the end of the day, in this desert, it’s still about who has the stronger fists.”

San Lu pointed at the beast horde outside the city walls. “Right now, it’s about whether we or they have the stronger fists. Whoever wins gets the right to survive. You see, survival has never been about justice.”

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