Falsely Accused, I Started Plundering Monster Traits

A little over two hours later, the city had long since disappeared behind them.

The highway had given way to narrower roads as they pushed farther south, and eventually even those began winding between low Appalachian hills. Houses grew farther apart. The tree line pulled back in places, opening onto broad stretches of pasture broken by old fences and scattered stands of trees.

Lin Yan had spent most of the drive half-slouched in the passenger seat, one elbow resting against the open window as warm air rolled through the car.

The weather was clear, the grass outside still carrying the deep green of late summer.

It’s only a few hours.

He’d spent years pretending distance was the reason he never went back. It wasn’t. Going back broke, still scraping from one shift to the next, had simply felt worse than staying away.

Stupid pride.

Apparently knowing that didn’t make it disappear.

[Your reminiscence can wait.]

[Hunt Task issued.]

[A successfully descended foreign organism has been detected nearby.]

[Eliminate the target.]

[Reward: 3,000 Points.]

[The target is moving away. Further delay may allow it to leave the area.]

Lin Yan immediately turned to Claire.

"Pull over."

Claire glanced at him but didn’t ask why. She slowed and guided the car onto the gravel shoulder while Lin Yan looked back at the task notification.

"One target? Three thousand? You sure that’s not a mistake?"

[No.]

The first convergence had paid him 6,800 points in total, and 1,000 of that had already gone into expanding his trait slots. He had 5,800 left now.

One creature was worth almost half of what the entire convergence had paid him.

The moment the car stopped, Lin Yan unbuckled his seat belt.

"Do you have a gun?"

Claire’s expression changed as she reached for her phone. "Do I need to call this in?"

"Probably. What are you carrying?"

She touched the handgun concealed beneath her cardigan.

Lin Yan looked at it. "Anything bigger?"

Claire paused, then nodded.

"Yeah. In the trunk."

She got out and walked around to the rear of the car. Lin Yan followed.

The trunk opened.

Inside, beneath a dark cover, was a locked hard case alongside a compact medical kit and a folded plate carrier.

Lin Yan stared.

"You just drive around with this?"

"Since yesterday? Yes."

Fair enough.

Claire unlocked the case.

Inside lay a compact black rifle beside several magazines. Most of the weapon was enclosed in a thick polymer body, with a short barrel and an optic mounted above the receiver. The magazine was broader than the ones Lin Yan was used to seeing in movies, but he had no idea what the rifle actually was.

"What is that?"

"XM8. Directorate issue." Claire lifted it from the case. "Six-eight by fifty-one."

Lin Yan knew five-five-six and seven-six-two from movies and games, but six-eight by fifty-one was completely unfamiliar.

"Never heard of it."

"It’s newer. Higher pressure than five-five-six, more energy, better penetration, and it holds that energy farther out."

Claire handed him the rifle.

"In simple terms, it hits a lot harder."

Lin Yan took the rifle and gave it an experimental heft. The compact frame sat comfortably in his hands, and the balance felt better than he’d expected.

"...Oh, this is nice."

Claire looked at him. "Have you ever fired a rifle?"

"No."

"A handgun?"

"No."

She stared at him.

"What?"

"You sound very pleased for someone who’s never fired one."

Lin Yan shifted the rifle in his hands. "I’ve seen movies."

"Wonderful."

She gave him a quick rundown of the controls and basic safety rules, then made him repeat the important parts back to her before handing it over.

Claire picked up the plate carrier.

"Wear this."

Lin Yan looked at the open field, then took it from her without arguing.

Claire finished the call while Lin Yan put on the plate carrier.

"Nearest response unit has been notified," she said. "I’m coming with you."

"No."

"Lin—"

"Keep the engine running."

Claire stopped.

Lin Yan looked toward the field beyond the fence. "I don’t know what’s out there. If I come back over that fence running, I don’t want to wait for you to start the car."

"...Fine."

"And don’t turn it off."

"I heard you."

Lin Yan climbed over the fence alone.

Beyond it stretched a recently cut hayfield, broad enough that he could see almost from one tree line to the other. The land rose and fell gently beneath the short grass, while shallow dips and scattered stands of trees blocked large sections from view.

"System, where exactly am I supposed to find this thing?"

[You may purchase a suitable tracking trait from the System Shop.]

A translucent panel opened in front of him.

[Wolf’s Scent I — White — 2,500 Points.]

[Greatly enhances the user’s sense of smell and ability to track unfamiliar scents.]

Lin Yan looked at the price.

"Go fuck yourself."

He closed the shop and started across the field.

"Forget it. I’ll follow my instincts."

For roughly five minutes, Lin Yan moved through the pasture with the rifle held across his chest, checking the shallow dips in the ground and the taller patches of grass as he went.

"Can you at least tell me if I’m heading the right way?"

[You declined the tracking trait.]

"I declined paying twenty-five hundred points for a better nose."

The system offered nothing else.

Lin Yan was about to complain again when the wind shifted, carrying something sharp beneath the smell of dry grass and warm earth.

Blood.

He turned into the wind and followed the smell across the slope until a patch of white appeared between the grass ahead. As he drew closer, it resolved into the belly of a white-tailed deer lying on its side.

The entire left side of the animal had been torn open. Several deep gashes ran from the shoulder through the ribs, peeling hide and muscle apart and leaving broken bone exposed underneath.

Lin Yan stopped a few steps away and looked over the wounds.

"This thing did that?"

[Most likely.]

"With what, a fucking excavator?"

Beyond the carcass, the grass had been pressed flat in a broad trail. The ground was too dry to preserve a clean print, but several deep impressions remained where the soil had been exposed.

Lin Yan followed them.

A minute later, the smell of blood strengthened again, leading him to another carcass half-hidden in the grass.

It was a coyote, or what remained of one. Everything behind the ribs was gone, and there was barely any disturbance around the body beyond the blood-soaked ground.

Lin Yan fell silent for a moment.

"Fuck me. What am I tracking, a Tyrannosaurus?"

The system gave him no answer.

Lin Yan slowed after that. He raised the rifle the way he remembered seeing people do in movies and continued forward with considerably more caution than before.

By the time the trail reached the base of a shallow rise, the impressions had become difficult to follow beneath the thicker grass.

"How close am I now?"

[Very close.]

"That’s vague."

[It is accurate.]

Lin Yan looked farther up the rise and noticed a large boulder sitting above the surrounding grass. It was probably the highest point nearby, and climbing onto it would give him a much better view of the pasture.

He headed toward it.

When he was still around twenty meters away, however, something about the boulder began to look wrong. Its surface was uneven and gray-black, but instead of stone, parts of it seemed to be covered in thick, matted hair.

Then the entire mass rose slightly before settling again.

Lin Yan stopped.

"...How close did you say?"

[Very close.]

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