Paige Summers had been incredibly busy these past few days.

Ever since she convinced Levi Young and Claire Chapman to open a weapon shop, she had been running around looking for a suitable storefront.

But it wasn’t easy.

After Claire Chapman took care of the Pathfinder Rat situation, he returned with news of his own. He’d discovered that all the shops in the commercial district were, at least officially, already leased. To get one, it wasn’t just a matter of money—you needed connections.

And connections were precisely what they lacked.

So the matter remained unresolved.

Claire Chapman was just as worried about it as she was.

He had discussed two things with Paige Summers. The first was about shares in the weapon shop. Paige intended to style the shop around high-end, custom-made pieces. In fact, the quality of the weapons she crafted herself truly lived up to that standard. However, this made Claire feel like he couldn’t be of much help. He often frequented the commercial district and the Superpower User Management Office and knew a lot of people, but when it came to clients wealthy enough to commission custom weapons, he couldn’t think of many. Therefore, after calculating his income and setting some aside for emergencies, he invested another 100,000 Credit Points. Only at Paige’s insistence did he agree to accept a ten percent stake.

The second matter was establishing a Hunting Party.

The more people he met and the more he experienced here, the more he felt that temporarily teaming up with strangers for missions was a bad idea. Not only did it create security risks, but it often affected their compensation as well.

After returning from that mission, he proactively reached out to Jensen Archer and the other three. Everyone felt they were a good match, and they finally decided to form their own Hunting Party.

Registering a Hunting Party required a considerable sum of money. After discussing it with Paige Summers, the two of them covered the majority of the cost, while the others contributed smaller portions to settle the fee. Naturally, with the others’ endorsement, he took the lead and assumed the responsibilities of team captain.

Paige Summers was very supportive of this.

She planned for the weapon shop to follow a high-end model, which meant she wouldn’t have many customers. With plenty of free time, she couldn’t just stay cooped up in the city and stagnate. ’Over time, you’d just waste away,’ she thought. ’Taking missions outside the city to hone my skills is a must.’ With their own Hunting Party, their interests would be aligned. At least under normal circumstances, she wouldn’t have to worry about being stabbed in the back. 𝑓𝓇𝘦ℯ𝘸𝘦𝑏𝓃𝑜𝘷ℯ𝑙.𝑐𝑜𝓂

More importantly, having a Hunting Party backing the weapon shop would also serve as a deterrent. As the saying goes, a single tree doesn’t make a forest. Even though, all told, they only had nine members including Levi Young, as long as they had this foundation, they could gradually grow and expand in the future. This way, their ambitions wouldn’t have to be limited to mere self-preservation!

Several days passed. Although Paige still hadn’t secured a storefront, Claire Chapman and the others had already sorted out the Hunting Party business with impressive efficiency. After registering at the Superpower User Management Office, paying the fee with Credit Points, and having the file officially archived, it was done.

The Hunting Party was named "Bloodfall."

This ridiculously edgy name was Claire’s insistence. Apparently, ever since he was a kid, he’d dreamed of having his own Hunting Party with his friends and had been saving the name for over a decade.

Amused, Paige Summers and the others went along with it.

The night the Hunting Party was officially formed, the group splurged on some simple food and drinks and gathered at Paige Summers’s place to celebrate.

During the celebration, Jensen Archer was visibly excited. Despite having only a little to drink, he already looked tipsy. "From today on, you’re our captain!" he said, clapping Claire Chapman on the shoulder. "You may be young, but I believe in you! We’re definitely heading for better days!"

"Don’t worry, Boss Archer! Everyone trusts me, and I definitely won’t let you all down!"

Lucy Lee was also overjoyed, and more than a little emotional. "Donnie, Hugh, and I have known each other for a while. To be honest, the reason we ended up as lone wolves wasn’t because we never got invitations, or because we were arrogant. It was because we refused to team up with the kind of partners who are all smiles to your face but have daggers behind their backs! You can’t be fighting off Mutant Beasts ahead of you while having to watch your back for the person next to you, right?! Compared to that, it’s much cleaner to just keep things transactional—get paid for the job, no strings attached! Don’t you all agree?"

Walter Donovan, who was usually silent, nodded in agreement.

Heath Hughes readily agreed.

"It’s great now. We finally have a place to belong. Lucian—oops, I should say Captain—and Paige, the rest of us will be following your lead from now on. Please bear with us!"

"Lucy! We’re all family here; no need to be so formal. The Hunting Party belongs to all of us. We’ll move forward together!"说着,章晨曦就举起了杯子.