The Pakari Forest Park was positioned as something akin to a 'farmhouse experience' in modern society. Many people with ample assets chose to vacation here during their leisure time.
The organizers, on one hand, aimed to give visitors a deep experience of the forest scenery, and on the other hand, they had to implement comprehensive safety measures.
Therefore, the security level at Pakari Forest Park was quite high, with relevant personnel even granted the qualification to carry firearms.
Early morning. The sun had not yet risen. Thin mist drifted among the forest cabins.
The park had many lakes untouched by human hands, and the building materials were predominantly wood.
As dawn broke, many people were already jogging around the artificial lakes.
Compared to steel cities, this place had a faint taste of paradise.
Two men wearing hats and carrying bows and arrows walked together towards the hunting zone demarcated within Pakari Forest Park.
The hunting zone was one of the theme park's features. Many wild animals were released there, posing little threat to humans, and the animal meat was quite good.
If guests wanted to enter and hunt, they had to pay a high entrance fee. The hunting zone would provide various hunting tools for free, though, of course, some seasoned guests brought their own gear.
Moreover, hunting wasn't the only theme. Guests could also choose to fish in the lake area or have picnics on the open plains.
These two men were regulars of the hunting zone and had prepared their own equipment.
They arrived at the entrance. Under the respectful greeting of the staff, they scanned their ID cards on the device and entered the hunting zone.
The uniformed staff member watched the guests' figures disappear into the mist, then slowly withdrew his gaze.
The hunting zone was artificially constructed, and the prey released were all docile by nature. After years of operation, the accident rate was zero.
Such an impressive statistic was also a reason for Pakari Forest Park's popularity.
The two men had clear targets. Seeming like frequent hunters, they bypassed the lake area where many prey often gathered and headed straight into the forest.
Their target was the [Tree Monkey], a monkey that enjoyed drinking dew, with meat quality ranking among the top three in the prey list.
The forest was quiet. The thin mist obscured part of the view, giving a sense of danger.
However, the two men looked relaxed and at ease, as if this were their own backyard.
In fact, that wasn't an exaggeration because they were too familiar with this place.
"Agreed in advance: the loser pays the full cost of tonight's dinner voucher," One man said, looking around.
"No problem. Tonight's chef is called... Zizhu, right? I heard he's quite famous," The other man said.
"You don't know Master Zizhu? He's a professional Gourmet Hunter. What kind of foodie are you?"
"I just focus on eating usually… I don't pay attention to so much."
"As a professional foodie, knowing the identity of every professional Gourmet Hunter is basic knowledge."
The man looking around confidently lectured his companion, then frowned.
"Strange."
He murmured to himself.
By this time, they should have already seen many Tree Monkey figures, but now they hadn't spotted a single one.
'Had the organizers cut costs?'
"What's wrong?"
His companion noticed his strangeness.
The man said, "We haven't seen a single Tree Monkey yet. Don't you find that odd?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah."
Rustle rustle.
The sound of leaves moving suddenly rang out.
"Here it comes!"
The two men identified the direction by sound. Drawing their bows and nocking arrows in one smooth motion, they simultaneously looked towards where the sound came from.
Crunch.
What came into view was an unknown monster standing on a tree trunk, with a half-human, half-beast appearance.
The monster held a limp Tree Monkey in its hand. The crunch sound just now was it biting off the Tree Monkey's head.
The two men's faces changed drastically. Reflexively, they released their bowstrings.
Twang.
Two arrows shot through the air, accurately landing on the monster's face, then cracked and broke apart, leaving no mark.
"Wh-what the..."
Before the words were finished, another kind of monster from behind smashed their heads.
The two men's bodies fell limply to the ground.
The one that smashed their heads was a humanoid monster with a human face but limbs covered in beast-like fur and sharp claws.
The one in the tree had a face resembling atavism, with obvious monkey-like features.
The monkey-faced monster glanced at the corpses under the tree and its companion, then leaped towards the next tree.
The other monster ignored the two corpses on the ground, walking in the direction the monkey-faced monster left.
One-sided killing without the need for consumption...
A while later, the sun rose higher, its rays piercing through the thin mist.
Figures resembling humans emerged one after another from the forest.
These entities were the legacy left behind by the Royal Guards and the Ant King.
Originally, as the Ant King, Meruem could mate with any female creature, thereby producing new offspring. However, this batch of Chimera Ants were not offspring reproduced by the Ant King but rather creations selected by the Royal Guards.
Using Nen attacks to force humans who didn't die on the spot to open their Aura Nodes, then transforming them into half-human, half-beast soldiers.
Calling them Chimera Ants wasn't wrong.
Saying they weren't Chimera Ants wasn't wrong either.
Now, they had passed through Milsy Wetlands and arrived at Pakari Forest Park, which had a permanent population of tens of thousands.
When all the mist dispersed, the staff in the hunting zone noticed something abnormal.
However, they met with utter disaster.
An uncountable number of monsters stepped over their corpses, passed through the hunting zone gate, and headed towards the area with denser buildings.
Then, a high-pitched scream almost echoed throughout the entire park.
That scream acted like a chain reaction. The park was plunged into unprecedented chaos.
"Monsters!"
Bang bang!
Screams, shrieks, gunshots.
Various sounds mixed together, shattering the park's usual peace.
Gunfire bullets hit the monsters, only splattering a bit of blood, not causing fatal damage.
"You gotta be kidding me!?"
The security captain emptied his submachine gun's magazine, then stared blankly as the monster, hit by all the bullets and only slightly bleeding, advanced towards him.
The monster walked up to the security captain, its gaze cold and emotionless.
Amidst the continuous screams in his ears, the security captain's face twitched, his legs trembling uncontrollably, rooted to the spot.
The monster coldly raised its arm, swinging towards the security captain's face.
The security captain closed his eyes in despair.
At that moment, a loud boom erupted beside his ear, drowning out the screams.
The expected pain didn't come. The security captain slowly opened his eyes, only to see the monster with a huge dent in its face and a man of ordinary appearance standing before him.
"Z-Zizhu-sama!"
The security captain seemed to see a savior, almost kneeling to hug Zizhu-sama's leg.
Zizhu looked at the corpses on the ground, frowning deeply, then suddenly asked, "Do you know the approximate number of these monsters?"
"N-no, I don't."
The security captain stammered.
Zizhu paid no more attention to the security captain, his expression grave as he looked at the scene of a river of blood ahead.
'A hundred? No, two hundred, maybe more.'
As Zizhu's gaze swept over them, that group of monsters seemed to sense something. With surprising synchronicity, they all turned their gazes towards Zizhu.
Cold, emotionless eyes gathered into a collective beam landing on Zizhu, as if looking at food.
In that instant, Zizhu felt as if he had fallen into an ice cellar. His previously calm and composed demeanor instantly crumbled.