Chapter 281: Can I Grow a Pair? [Part 2]
Erty and Hua Li should be thankful that they were at Neo’s ce at not somewhere else, because there nock of antitoxins here. Erty had begun recovering at the end of the treatment, and even the weaker Hua Li had regained consciousness.
“The two of you look like you’re recovering well,” Cillin said after inspecting their injuries.
Erty leaned against the back of a chair while wearing a dark look on his face.
“You have my pity. It’s only natural for anyone who got caught by those mice to feel frustrated,” Neo said with kindness and forgiveness towards the injured duo, not realizing at all that it only sounded like he was taunting.
Erty narrowed his eyes and forced down the spurt of anger Neo had incited. Then, he said slowly, “Someone fucked me over.”
Hmm?” Neo motioned for Erty to exin, but it was clear that he was looking at the man with suspicion.
Right now Erty wasn’t in the mood to banter with Neo. In fact, his increasingly calm-sounding voice was actually a sign of rising anger.
“I could’ve avoided that attack, but someone shot me in the leg,” said Erty while rolling up his pants. Although his legs looked fine on the surface, a closer nce would reveal a tiny needle protruding from his skin. Neo put it through a scanner and confirmed that Erty had been shot with a nt-based tranquilizer. In fact Neo had researched this nt before, but he didn’t study deeper because it was useless to him. The nt could be found inside the forest, and it was rtively simpler to finepared to the Tri-colored Bean.
Cillin did notice that someone was nearby, but he didn’t chase after them because Erty and Hua Li were injured. That person had even tried to follow their tracks, but they gave up after Cillin told Wheeze to lure over some wild beasts and stop them. Gu Xin had no idea this had happened.
“Ah, iing message!” Neo suddenly cried out as a metal piece on his bracelet shed. One presster, a photo with three people in it appeared into view.
“Eh? It’s the guy who followed us earlier!” Wheeze pointed at a man with four eyes.
“Hei Dou sent me this while they weren’t looking. You will sh with them if you want to get your materials,” said Neo.
“Hei Dou’s ce was taken as well?” Ah Shou said with a look of sympathy. It seemed that she wasn’t the only one who was gued with misfortune.
“Hei Dou’s ce has the bullet enhancement materials you need. If you want to get them you better start moving. Although Hei Dou said that those three people were nning something simr, but with their level of intelligence there’s a 21.93% chance that they’re just wasting resources. If you move now, you may be able to secure 17.76% to 56.33% of the materials,” said Neo.
Erty rolled his eyes at him and asked, “Why do you always count down to two decimal points?”
“There’s no need to exin to someone with your intellect.” Neo turned back towards Cillin and ryed even more instructions. He was asking Cillin to collect some chemicals and a couple more stuff he had been eyeing for a long time, but was stopped by Hei Dou.
“And that is why you should return with these stuff.” Neo passed Cillin a list he had preparedst minute.
Cillin took a rough nce before replying, “I’ll bring them back for you if there’s time.”
“I’m sure you’ll find the time!”
“Where are you going? I’lle with you. I’m not injured anyway,” said Gu Xin. It might be difficult for Cillin to handle all those ammo and materials himself.
“It’s fine, Wheeze and I can do this ourselves. You should stay behind to protect our base,” Cillin turned down his offer.
Gu Xin was about to object until he heard that Wheeze was going. Erty and Hua Li had a bad viewing angle at the time, but he had a clear view of the gray cat biting the white mouse by the neck and pulling it backwards by force. If it wasn’t for Wheeze, Erty would be mince meat already.
“Wait!” Hua Li said, “Mercury can carry you there.”
“Mercury?” Cillin asked in puzzlement.
“Aiya, she’s referring to that dumb bird of hers!” Neo exined, “But dumb as it may be, it will save you a lot of travel time.”
“That’s perfect.” Cillin was pretty curious about the white bird himself, although Mercury was definitely a strange name.
Hua Li spent a moment to exin Mercury to him and taught him some techniques. Then, she walked into the fores with Ah Shou and Cillin’s help before she ced a pair of fingers to her mouth. A whistleter, Mercury soon appeared in front of them.
Hua Li gave Mercury a couple of instructions and made it get used to Cillin and the whistling sound he made.
Mercury couldn’t speak, but it was smart enough to understand their meaning. After crying out twice to signal that it understood, Mercury lowered itself so that Cillin could jump onto it.
Wheeze had already made a full round on Mercury’s back before Cillin had even moved his leg.
At first, Mercury wasn’t very used to having a different person on it. After shaking its head and pping its wings for a bit, it slowly found its bnce and calmed down. After Cillin had jumped onto Mercury’s back, Hua Li rubbed its head and told it to be careful. Finally, Mercury let out a cry and jumped into the air. Hua Li and Ah Shou waited until Mercury was just a dot in the sky before they finally climbed down the tree.
This was the first time Wheeze rode a giant bird, so it was very excited about the experience. Not only did the harsh wind and falling snow deter its passion in the slightest, it even started rubbing its fur against Mercury’s back out of habit. Unfortunately for them, its movement made Mercury extremely ufortable, and Cillin was nearly thrown off its back after an unsteady sway. Cillin had to give Wheeze a literal knock in the head before it calmed down and allowed Mercury to stabilize.
Although Cillin had a tight grip on Wheeze, its tail was clearly swaying with purpose. Cillin knew instantly that Wheeze was plotting something nefarious again. He flicked the gray cat’s ears and asked, “What are you thinking now?”
Wheeze’s mouth split into a grin. “Do you think I can grow a pair of wings in the future, Cillin? Maybe even multiple pairs?”
“Maybe, but right now you have no wings, and you need Mercury’s help so don’t bully it,” said Cillin while pinching Wheeze’s ear.
“I know!” Wheeze flicked its ears, but it just couldn’t forget the wings.
If I have wings I’ll be able to fly. If I can fly I’ll be able to hunt birds...
Unconscious or not, it appeared that a glutton’s thoughts would always trend towards food.
Cillin didn’t need to give Mercury directions at all, because it was obvious that Mercury was very familiar with Hei Dou’s hideout. It led Cillin straight towards his destination.
The snowfall had be even bigger than before, and everything above or below them werepletely white. If there were still some predators hunting for food at the beginning, they were almost all gone at this point. Cillin even saw two white mice while they were flying towards their destination. Technically speaking, it should be difficult to spot them since their skin was as white as the snow, but Cillin didn’t have any difficulties differentiating them from the white background.
The good news was that the two mice were still some distance away from Neo’s safe zone, so the group had nothing to worry about for now.
It had been ten days since hended on this. There was another twenty days to go.
Twenty days...
At first, Cillin thought that ck Viper was trying to choose the best of the test candidates and absorb them into their organization. It was so that they could rece some of their aging members.
But after ten days had passed, Cillin had deeper ideas about his purpose for being here.
As it turned out, the test candidates weren’t the only ones who were on this. Some ck Viper natives hade to this as well. These people were ordinary in some aspects, and extraordinary in others. Although they didn’t have strong constitution like Cillin, Gu Xin or Erty, they weren’tcking skill or expertise. Sometimes it was difficult to understand how they thought, but even he had to admit that they were extraordinarily talented in some areas.
Why on earth had ck Viper put them together with the test candidates? Especially considering that some of the candidates were literally kidnapped to this ce?
Both Guan Feng and Gu Changan had told him not to view ck Viper through old lens. In that case, what was ck Viper’s true form?
Everything was still a mystery just like the snow flying all around the sky.
A short whileter, Cillin and Wheeze gradually approached their destination.
Mercury turned its head slightly to point Cillin towards the exact location he was looking for. Then, it flew sideways and found a less conspicuous spot tond.
“I know the path. Find a ce to hide and I’ll call out to youter,” Cillin said to Mercury afternding.
Mercury nodded once before shooting Wheeze a nce. After realizing that the gray cat was staring rather curiously at its wings, it flew away hurriedly like it was being chased.
Cillin poked Wheeze once and said, “Come on, time to work!”
Hei Dou’s base was near the mouth of a volcano.
It was impossible to tell if the volcano was active or extinct, but it hadn’t spoutedva for the past century at least. This was evident from the many nts in its surroundings.
This was mostly covered by evergreen nts. asionally, it was possible to glimpse a greenery or two despite the snow.
Wheeze started scanning the terrain and the blueprint of the base beneath the ground.
They quickly found the entrance to the base.
Of course, Cillin and Wheeze weren’t going to enter right through the front door. The n was to slip in through a narrow air vent.
There was no way the invaders upying this base would know itsyout too well. After all, they had only been here for a while.
Cillin and Wheeze stopped at a concealed air vent where severalyers of wire mesh were keeping them from entering. Wheeze easily cut open the wire mesh and connected with the circuits of the base. Cillin then took out of his tools, dismantled the window screenspletely and entered the base through the narrow vent.
Cillin and Wheeze arrived at a room after some crawling. Wheeze had already scanned a blueprint of the area, so they knew what the room was even before they went in, the instrument spare room. Hei Dou was locked in theb right next to it.
Cillin and Wheeze worked separately after that.
Hei Dou, a dark-skinned child with a chubby face and a childish appearance was sitting inside theb. Not far away, a fearsome-looking man was ying with a small knife alone. Even further away were two men discussing with each other about something.
The fearsome man suddenly withdrew his knife and walked next to Hei Dou. Then, he looked at Hei Dou and smiled. “Your reinforcement is about show up, right?”
Hei Dou trembled in surprise. Even Cillin was caught off guard by the sudden reveal. Did he figure out that Hei Dou had contacted Neo?
The fearsome man’s smile didn’t cause Hei Dou to rx in the slightest. On the contrary, they looked even more afraid than before. Unfortunately, some people were born with a face that looked scarier when they were smiling.
Sensing their fear, the big man rubbed Hei Dou’s head before saying, “Don’t be scared, little girl. I won’t let them know about this.”
Cillin: “...”
Hei Dou is a girl?
No wait, that’s not important. Something’s strange about this big man. Are they notpletely on the same side?
Cillin decided to wait and observe a bit longer. They weren’t using the materials he was searching for just yet, and he wanted to see exactly what this big man was nning.
“Let’s talk, shall we?” The big man lowered his voice and started conversing with Hei Dou. There was no way the other two people could hear his voice from their position.
Hei Dou looked up and stared at the big man in confusion. She had brown iris. She was listening because the other two invaders had nned to eliminate her directly, but he had changed their mind to leave her alive, for now.
The big man gave her a helpless smile. Although his smile was still scary, it managed to rx Hei Dou a little.
“If your ssmate ising over to save you, I can take out those two people for you. However, I want you to help me with somethingter.”
Hei Dou mulled over the proposition for a moment before looking at the big man for further exnation. She would agree if his exnation was eptable.
The big man looked relieved as he continued, “It’s like this. I need a ce to rest. When yourpanions arrive, promise me I can join you at yourpanion’s ce. I don’t want to freeze to death outside.”
This sounded like a pretty simple offer. Hei Dou agreed to it without any pressure at all.
The big man grinned with his teeth this time. It caused a shiver to course through Hei Dou’s body.
Although the other two people in the base had no idea about their conversation, Cillin had heard everything from his hiding spot and sent Wheeze a signal. If the big man was as sincere as he seemed, then he didn’t mind having an extra pair of hands. But if he didn’t take out his twopanions as he promised, then he wouldn’t mind Wheeze killing him and saving him the trouble.
Inside another room, the four-eyed man who ambushed Erty and tried to track them down was speaking to hispanion. The content of their conversation was about Cillin and his group.
Cillin stared at the duo conversing with each other before his moving his hands.
Bang! Bang!
One of the person copsed on the ground.
The man on the ground had begun moving the second Cillin had opened fire, which it was a sign of impressive reaction. However, Cillin’s bullet still went right through the center of his head.
There was only a short interval between Cillin’s shots, but the four-eyed man still managed to dodge out of the way.
It was at this moment a de caught the dodging four-eyed man in the neck and nailed him to the wall.