Upon entering the venue for the wish mission, Bai Ye was slightly surprised.
When Bai Ye was looking at the light screen, he thought the venue for this wish mission would be in a modern civilized setting, given the modern high-rise buildings.
However, upon entering, Bai Ye discovered many suspension bridges in the sky, seemingly without support pillars, yet able to hang in the air.
In addition, numerous flying vehicles passed by in the sky, and the cars on the ground were filled with a sense of technology. There were also robot trash cans by the roadside that would automatically move to people who needed to discard trash, or pick up litter from the ground and deposit it into their bodies.
Bai Ye did not rush into action. Instead, he first opened the light screen to take a look.
As expected, this was an era of future technology.
However, it was in its early stages.
Simply put, it was a phase where modern civilization was transitioning into a future technological civilization. Some future technological equipment and techniques were already present, but the gap with modern civilization's technological level was not very large.
Robots and the like were already in use, but they were limited to roles like garbage robots, cleaning robots, and other simple jobs, or were semi-robots.
For instance, construction robots were present on construction sites, but they could not completely replace human labor and still required human supervision and a certain degree of operation.
Apart from these background elements, this world had a profession called Hunters.
Hunters were also known as bounty hunters. Their job was to apprehend fugitives and bring them to justice, for which they would receive a reward. They possessed weapon permits and were allowed to use weapons, with a certain degree of immunity from prosecution for killing.
Under normal circumstances, Hunters could only capture criminals, not kill them. However, if there was a threat to life, Hunters could shoot their targets.
Of course, their portable pursuit recorders had to document the moment they were in danger of losing their lives. Without such video evidence, killing would still be a crime, essentially a high-level self-defense permit.
Bai Ye and the other eight participants were currently the nine most wanted criminals in this city, with the highest bounties. The amount of reward was enough for a Hunter to not work for several lifetimes, living a life of luxury and squandering it all.
Therefore, every Hunter in this city wanted to apprehend these nine individuals.
After reviewing this information, Bai Ye felt that this wish mission was relatively less cruel and bloody.
Compared to the simple and straightforward "only one remains" rule of the Twelve Great Battles, a city-wide pursuit allowed for survival without necessarily obtaining the mission rewards, similar to the Holy Grail War.
However, the degree of cruelty and slaughter was higher than the Holy Grail War.
This was because the ultimate goal of the Holy Grail War was to obtain the Holy Grail, not to kill. Theoretically, it was possible for the wish mission to end without anyone dying.
A city-wide pursuit was definitely not like that. The best-case scenario was only one death, and after nine days, the person who successfully apprehended someone would win.
The worst-case scenario was that after nine days, no one had completed a pursuit. This would trigger a final battle, where the nine individuals would directly fight, and the last one standing would be the victor.
While thinking, Bai Ye walked along the street, pulling up his collar, glancing left and right for a moment, and entered a clothing store.
A moment later, screams erupted from inside the clothing store, and customers continuously fled out.
Meanwhile, Bai Ye quickly kicked open the back door, grabbed a scarf from inside the store, and tied it around his face.
This was an extremely awkward situation. Bai Ye had no intention of robbing the clothing store. He just thought that with his current wanted status, walking on the street openly was not good, and he wanted to find something to cover his face.
As soon as he entered, the large screen at the entrance was playing wanted criminal information, with his own face prominently displayed.
Then, he found himself staring at the shop assistant for half a minute, after which she almost sent Bai Ye away with her operatic scream.
Emerging from the alley, Bai Ye quickly moved to the side.
As he continued forward, Bai Ye realized his predicament. Or rather, the predicament of all nine participants was not good.
The screens and billboards along the roadside were constantly broadcasting news about the nine wanted criminals.
The reason was...
The Villain Pursuit Tournament in the wish mission!
This was an annual event in the city where a large number of Hunters would pursue the nine most wanted criminals, who had been selected and had the highest bounties.
And the already high rewards would be directly doubled during the Villain Pursuit Tournament, naturally driving the Hunters into a frenzy.
At the same time, the entire city would broadcast information about the wanted criminals, providing assistance to the Hunters.
"Damn it!"
Upon learning of this situation, Bai Ye couldn't help but curse.
Let alone in this life, even in his previous life, the core of the wish missions Bai Ye had participated in was the contention among the chosen ones. This was the first time the chosen ones hadn't fought each other directly, and they might have to deal with the natives first.
At this very moment...
Tat, tat, tat, tat, tat...
Continuous gunshots suddenly rang out. Bai Ye instinctively ducked his head and, with a somersault, dove behind a car.
"Are you kidding me? They're here too fast!"
Although he had been exposed, being pursued by Hunters right after leaving a clothing store was ridiculously efficient.
But after the gunshots, Bai Ye found no further movement.
This made Bai Ye somewhat puzzled. He poked his head out from behind the car and walked towards the corner where the gunshots had originated.
As Bai Ye reached the corner, a figure suddenly burst out.
Bang!
"My nose!"
Bai Ye and the other person simultaneously clutched their faces, instinctively recoiling. Then they looked up.
"Damn!" The figure that had burst out was stunned and cursed, "It's you again!"
Bai Ye turned his head and saw that it was none other than Li Jiayi!
The next instant, Li Jiayi swept a leg towards Bai Ye. Bai Ye quickly raised his arm to block.
Bang!
Their blows collided. Li Jiayi's palm trembled, and then a burst of bright white light erupted.
Bai Ye's eyes stung for a moment, and then his vision went black.
Bai Ye cursed inwardly, a blinding effect!
In the darkness, Bai Ye felt a blow to his chest and was sent flying backward, crashing heavily into a car on the side, denting it.
The blinding effect was short-lived. Bai Ye quickly regained his vision, only to see Li Jiayi launching a ferocious knee strike towards him.
Bang!
Bai Ye crossed his arms and blocked another blow.
"Beat your grandfather!" Bai Ye cursed, "Am I your target? Go find number one!"
"How did you know I was number two?" Li Jiayi was stunned, then became even more enraged and roared at Bai Ye, "Did you, you bastard, initiate the wish mission? Give me back my Zouxu!"