Chapter 987: The International Reward Pool Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales Translated by XephiZ Edited by Aelryinth Mu Ningxue did not recover from the shock after a long time. -The Drowning Curse, why would the same, strange curse take place at a beach that was so far away?- Mu Ningxue immediately asked the old man for more details. The old man told Mu Ningxue everything he knew. It turned out that eight people had already died to Drowning Curse at different times. The old man had lived in the area for many years, hence why he was familiar with the strange incident. However, no one knew exactly where the Drowning Curse came from! “So you’re here, what’s so special about that bonfire?” Mo Fan’s voice appeared behind her. Mu Ningxue was left speechless. What eyesight did this guy have? That was a body being cremated on the beach, not a bonfire! Besides, who the hell would come to the beach just to watch a bonfire in broad daylight!? 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢 “I witnessed something terrifying at East Maritime Fortress.” Mu Ningxue briefly explained the Drowning Curse to Mo Fan. Mo Fan was dumbfounded when he heard about the Drowning Curse. -A person running to the ocean to drown themselves?- And the corpse would turn extremely pale and dried up? It sounded like the symptoms of some scary disease, yet he had never heard of any disease that could force someone to kill themselves! “What about the skeleton? Did you learn something new?” It was unlikely they could figure out the reason behind the Drowning Curse now. Mu Ningxue switched the topic to the skeleton. As a matter of fact, the sudden appearance of the skeleton was actually a lot scarier than the Drowning Curse. “The creature’s bone marrow is all gone. The bones were huge, but the insides were empty,” Mo Fan told her. The group finally realized why the skeleton was able to float on the surface of the ocean. The bones were hollow and empty, thus they were not as heavy as the team initially thought. The Hunter Union had sent someone to investigate the matter. However, it was hard to tell if they could learn anything useful. “I want to learn the truth,” Mu Ningxue said. “Likewise, such a huge skeleton, the flesh, blood, and bone marrow were all gone. I wonder what actually happened,” Mo Fan said. “I was referring to the Drowning Curse,” Mu Ningxue said seriously. “...” Mo Fan felt his balls aching. Did Mu Ningxue’s thoughts always jump around like this? Alright, perhaps Mu Ningxue’s mind was occupied with the Drowning Curse, since it was her second time stumbling into it. Thinking about it, if something so terrifying happened at the East Maritime Fortress, and was now happening on the other side of the planet, the Drowning Curse was surely far more serious than it seemed before! “I’ll help you, I’m a Hunter Master after all,” Mo Fan said. “Mmm!” Mu Ningxue did not reject Mo Fan’s offer. For some reason, Mu Ningxue’s instincts were telling her that there was more to the Drowning Curse than met the eye. Mu Ningxue did not want to see another corpse showing up at the beach... —— It was true that Mo Fan was a Hunter Master, but he still had to ask the experienced and knowledgeable Lingling for help most of the time. Lingling was still in New York. She was probably busy with something that Old Bao asked her to do. Mo Fan returned to the inn and found a computer connected to the Internet. He briefly described the Drowning Curse to Lingling, hoping that she had some information about it. Lingling had access to a huge database that contained the records of most strange incidents that happened across the world. Lingling’s eyes immediately glittered when she heard about the Drowning Curse. “Where are you guys?” Lingling asked. “Tinuoaya City in Portugal. Don’t tell me you’re thinking of coming over?” Mo Fan replied. “Why can’t I? Anything is better than going back to school!” Lingling answered. Since Mo Fan had started traveling around the world, Lingling felt like she was going to rot at the Magic City. There were no incidents, no missions, no chance of using her brain. She felt like she was going to collapse at any second. She had enough of the boring days. She had to find something that a Hunter was supposed to do! “Mo Fan, I’ve investigated it, and I have good news for you,” Lingling immediately responded, as efficient as usual. “Good news?” Mu Ningxue felt Lingling’s description was unfitting. How could any good news be related to a Drowning Curse that was driving people to commit suicide? “About the Drowning Curse! The World Hunter Union is actually offering a reward for anyone that can solve the mystery of the Drowning Curse. It turns out that many places across the world have had similar incidents,” Lingling explained. “So the World Hunter Union already knew about it, meaning that it’s not just a mere coincidence. The good news you mentioned... are you saying that we can try solving the mystery for the reward?” Mo Fan asked. Mo Fan realized that he was still not strong enough after stumbling into Executioner Philip. Philip managed to dominate him with his Domain alone. He was only a kid waving his fists around wildly in front of Philip. Mo Fan was worried that he would find himself in a similar situation if he stumbled into a Mage with a powerful Domain again. His Fire, Lightning, and Shadow Elements had all reached the Advanced Level. His Summoning Element had improved significantly after Little Flame Belle’s growth. It should be fairly close to reaching the Advanced Level. As such, Mo Fan needed to secure himself another Galaxy Vein. On top of that, Mo Fan felt like he was lacking something important too: he desperately needed a Domain! Having a Domain actually made a lot of difference! Normally, a normal Soul-grade Seed was priced around two to three hundred million. A Soul-grade Seed around this price was at least twice as strong as a Spirit-grade Seed, and different Soul-grade Seeds would also enhance the Mage’s spell with different special effects. As for a Soul-grade Seed with a Domain, the price was absolutely insane! According to Zhao Manyan’s description, most Soul-grade Seeds with a Domain cost at least six hundred million when they were auctioned off! Mo Fan had used most of his savings feeding Little Flame Belle with Soul Seeds. A Fire Spirit-grade Seed was at least ten million, and it was only enough to feed Little Flame Belle a few meals. As such, Mo Fan was living in poverty. He really missed the days when Lingling could feed him a great job, just so he had a glimpse of hope at buying a Soul-grade Seed with a Domain one day. “You just have to tell me how much the reward is,” Mo Fan prodded her. “It’s not a fixed amount. Do you know what a reward pool is?” Lingling asked him. “Nope, what’s a reward pool?” “You should know what a jackpot is, right? It’s a lottery that keeps stacking up until someone eventually wins it. Similarly, there is a reward pool for certain jobs too, especially those that are requested by people across the world. The World Hunter Union combines the rewards together. They don’t give the money back when someone fails to complete the job, but they put it into a pool instead. The reward continues to accumulate in the pool...” Lingling trailed off knowingly. Mo Fan’s eyes glittered upon hearing this! A reward pool, there actually existed something so wonderful in the world! Mo Fan could imagine himself having a swim in a pool of gold coins! Mu Ningxue was speechless when she saw how excited Mo Fan was all of a sudden. She was only eager to solve the mystery to do a kind deed, as she did not want anyone to die to the strange curse. To her surprise, there was already a reward pool for it. More importantly, it seemed like Mo Fan had completely forgotten that he was still a student on the national team after learning about the reward pool! “How big is the pool now?” Mo Fan asked impatiently. “There were 1,325 requests across the world to solve the mystery of the Drowning Curse. Most of them were submitted by the families of the victims, while some are from the local governments, associations, experimental labs, or charities. The sum is now three hundred forty-five million and seven hundred thousand... oh, someone has just contributed to the pool, it is now three hundred fifty million... I’ve bought a ticket, I’ll be there tonight,” Lingling informed him. Lingling did not show any expression during the video call, yet considering how fast she was packing her stuff, she was just as excited as Mo Fan! Mu Ningxue had no idea if she should be laughing or crying, watching the two Hunters who were like birds of a feather. Anyway, at least they were doing the world a good deed. Hopefully, they could solve the mystery of the Drowning Curse, so that no one would die such a horrible death again! “Mo Fan, if we can solve the Drowning Curse, we will be Four-Star Hunter Masters. We’ll be given more privileges to access useful information, and to accept jobs with greater rewards!” Lingling did not forget to mention before hanging up the call. “HAHA, at this rate, we’ll soon become Senior Hunters!” Mo Fan burst out laughing. Senior Hunters were highly respected in society. Mo Fan knew Lingling was aiming to become a Senior Hunter all along, while he was aiming to earn money by completing the jobs as a Hunter. He believed they would both achieve their goals eventually! —— Lingling was incredibly proactive. She was on a flight to Tinuoaya City before the sun had fallen. While Lingling was on the flight, she had already prepared the information about the Drowning Curse. She had combined all the information about the victims on the Drowning Curse on an electronic map to try and find some similar patterns to their deaths. “We know that all the deaths occurred in cities close to bodies of water like an ocean, a river, a lake, etc.,” Lingling was surprisingly very energetic. Her eyes were glittering as if they were saying, “There’s finally a case I can work on!” “Wouldn’t it be difficult to solve a mystery that has the whole world confused in a short period of time?” Mo Fan said. From Lingling’s electronic map, the Drowning Curse had taken place in the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, and Indian Ocean. Interestingly, there’s weren’t many incidents in China, but in other countries, especially Portugal, a lot more deaths had occurred... “Oh, to be precise, this Tinuoaya City actually has the highest number of deaths,” Lingling said. Mu Ningxue immediately recalled the old man’s words. Eight people had already died on the shallow beach! “It looks like we have found ourselves in the right spot, but then, I wonder if just the few of us are enough to crack the mystery,” Mo Fan wondered. “Don’t worry, I’m going to solve it!” Lingling’s eyes flickered with the stubbornness and professionalism of a Hunter as she replied stubbornly.