Star Rank Hunter

Chapter 403: Surprising Sample

A few years ago, Kang Man was still a stubborn, prideful youngster who was called the Twin Stars of Seven Lights together with Pride. Now, it looked like he had shedded much of that pridefulness, or maybe he had learned to internalize it. One way or another, he had gone through enough things to learn how to conceal his emotions.

Kang Man was very happy to see Cillin though. He purposely came to welcome Cillin since Ci Jincheng informed him that Cillin would be joining them. Although Cillin’s appearance was completely different from before, it did not influence his opinion of his old acquaintance in any way. This was doubly true after learning that Cillin had a hand in the incident involving the Miracle base in Sector C. He was really impressed to say the least.

Cillin introduced Kang Man to Czedow and Wheeze. Wheeze gave Kang Man a lazy look before it began marking its territory.

Kang Man did not know how many people were involved in this newly created “Tapir Extermination” task force or who exactly was involved. He only knew a portion of it.

Lung wasn’t currently present. According to Ci Jincheng, Lung wanted to play the role of an informant and feed whatever information he collected outside to the task force. It made sense as the information gathered by the military and the civilians might not necessarily be identical to one another. Besides that, Lung had many ways to collect a ton of information.

Kang Man took the lead and led Cillin into the base. The research area was some distance away from the hangar, and a couple of training grounds lay in between the structures. A few people happened to walk out of one of the training grounds as they were passing through the area.

The group of people was stunned to see Cillin at first. Then, the guy standing at the forefront sprinted over to his side, hooked an arm around Cillin’s neck and yelled, “You finally showed up, you bastard!”

Cillin kindly returned the gesture. “Dude, you’re gonna break my neck at this rate.”

“You deserve it!” The guy quipped, though he immediately loosened his grip and lightly punched Cillin in the sides. He was none other than Knight. “It’s your fault for going MIA and being unavailable all the time.”

“What can I do? It’s the life of a Hunter,” Cillin replied while rubbing his shoulders a little. The guy actually put some strength into his grip.

“Bullshit! I’ve dealt with Hunters before, and not a single one acts like you do. If I didn’t know better, I would think that you’re one of Mist or Merciless. Every once in a while, you’ll just drop off the surface of the galaxy and become impossible to locate or contact!”

While the duo were bantering, Knight’s companions were standing at the training ground entrance and smiling at them. Two of them were familiar faces: Yue Lou and Feng Haichao. The duo were looking at Cillin with strange looks though. They were recalling what had happened at the Miracle base. This was doubly true for Yue Lou as he had seen Czedow before. That was why his heart skipped a beat when Czedow looked in his direction. He suddenly recalled that strange man who had fought Stola to a standstill back in the Miracle base. Was it really him? Just how strong was he? When did Cillin take such a powerful elite under his wing?

It was at this moment Prisa called out from the rear. “Are you done training, boys?”

“Yo! You’re back!” Knight raised a hand and greeted her.

“You were so quiet I thought my presence had become so weak that I became invisible,” Prisa joked.

“Not at all!” Everyone shook their heads at this. Prisa’s help was crucial to their growth. Without her guidance, their training would not progress nearly as well.

The main reason Prisa came was because she promised Ci Jincheng to train these youngsters. Although they were all military elites, they were nowhere close to meeting her standards. Considering that they were joining the Tapir Extermination task force, and they would be going up against Miracle, a monstrous company famous for their bio-enhanced soldiers, it was only natural that Prisa wanted them to grow as strong as possible.

Meanwhile, Wheeze was sitting on Cillin’s shoulder and checking out his companions. Yue Lou was the first one it recognized. They had met multiple times by this point; their first meeting being the chance encounter at the Miracle base. It had not taken action at the time as Cillin told it to ignore him. It did not think that Yue Lou would become a member of the Tapir Extermination task force. There was just one problem though. Was he really strong enough to support them?

Sensing Wheeze’s gaze, Yue Lou looked at the gray cat and found himself wondering why Cillin’s pet was looking at him with disdain. They had run into the gray cat during their mission and known that it was extraordinary. However, it did not explain why the gray cat was looking at him like he was unworthy.

“Wheeze, right? Do you have a problem with me?” Yue Lou walked up to the fat cat and asked directly.

Wheeze’s ears flicked as it looked away with disdain. “You’re too weak.”

Everyone turned around and shot glares at the gray cat immediately.

Took weak?

Yue Lou was currently one of the best youngsters in the military. It wasn’t like he had never been criticized in the past, but this was the first time he received such a scathing evaluation, not to mention that it came from a cat!

Prisa chuckled at this. “This is probably the first time Yue Lou received such a poor review, Wheeze. You’re too harsh.”

“No I’m not! I never lie!” Wheeze defended itself.

The group only glared at it harder. For obvious reasons, this remark was worse than the last. Yue Lou’s face was twitching hard, and he was so outraged he couldn’t even think of a retort. ȑΑNőʙƐS̈

Before Prisa could ask the gray cat why it had such a poor opinion of Yue Lou, Wheeze pointed at Czedow and declared, “Czedow could beat them all with one hand!”

This time, everyone except Yue Lou and Knight were speaking up. They were more or less on the same level as Yue Lou, so even though Wheeze’s remark was directed at Yue Lou, they felt like they were being belittled as well.

Now more than ever, Yue Loiu was certain that Czedow was the strange man he had a run-in with at the Miracle base. As for Knight, he was keeping silent because Lung told him about Czedow before. Although he had not seen Czedow fight before, Lung had described the inhuman as impossible to estimate; that he was a monster on the same level as Cillin.

Just look at the guy. Who would think that he was a robot if he didn’t out himself? Besides, only an idiot would try to measure up to his level knowing that he was a monstrous robot!

It was at this moment Prisa spoke up, “Alright, enough. Are you done resting? If you are, then get back to your training. It’s about time I check your progress anyway.”

While Prisa was pushing the group back to the training grounds, Yue Lou turned around to glance at Cillin and Czedow one last time. Then, he joined his mates and disappeared behind the entrance.

“I’m going to train too, Cillin. I’ll find you and Ci Jincheng after I’m done,” Knight said before striding after Yue Lou.

Before he turned away, he flicked Wheeze’s ear as if to retaliate against its scathing remarks. In response, Wheeze bared its teeth at him. If not for the fact that everyone here was an “ally”, it would have given Knight a taste of its claws already.

Kang Man was only interested in Cillin’s research abilities. He was very unfamiliar with the young man’s fighting prowess. Even so, based on their conversation alone, he could tell that Cillin was nothing like the young man he was back in Seven Lights. If Cillin’s companions were this powerful, then the young man himself must be on the same level or higher. Still, as envious as he felt, Kang Man was not blinded by his emotions. He knew that fighting was not where his strength lay. He would rather focus on developing his own interests.

While Kang Man was leading Cillin and his companions to Ci Jincheng, a riot was taking place inside the training grounds.

Not everyone in the training ground had stepped outside earlier. So, when they heard of Wheeze’s insults from Feng Haichao, they exploded with indignation and anger as a matter of course. The only reason they didn’t act on it was because Prisa was present. They were all the elites of the current generation after all. Who could stay calm after receiving such a scathing review?

“Does anyone here know how strong Czedow is?” Prisa asked while looking at the discussing group.

No one answered, and the mumbles became a lot smaller. Still, some people were grumbling under their breath.

“Knight, Yue Lou, the two of you know a little about Czedow, right? What do you think?” Prisa asked again.

It was at this moment Feng Haichao realized that Yue Lou and Knight hadn’t said a thing until now. He thought Knight kept quiet earlier because of Cillin’s presence, but it would seem that that wasn’t the case.

“I heard that he’s very strong,” Knight said seriously.

“You ‘heard’?” Ruo Lin frowned. He was dissatisfied with Knight’s answer. Everyone else was similarly dissatisfied because something you heard was hardly cold, hard facts.

Yue Lou was just about to reveal what he saw at the Miracle base when Prisa spoke up.

“In that case, allow me to say something. I’ve never seen Czedow fight with my own eyes either, but I promise that what I’m about to tell you is the truth. The person whom I hear this from won’t lie to me.”

This time, everyone fell silent and waited patiently for Prisa to speak. Out of the Six Stars of Hunt, Prisa was the only one who did not act like a Star Rank Hunter at all. She did not put on airs, and she was affable. No one would think that she was one of the Six Stars of Hunt or even think that they were related in any way if they didn’t already know the truth.

Although the Armies worshiped the Heavenly Edict Generals more and generally had a low opinion of Hunters, no one here shared such an opinion. Maybe it was because Prisa was Ci Jincheng’s aunt and so was deserving of trust and even more respect, or maybe it was because some of them were let down by the Armies one too many times that their admiration had transferred over to Prisa.

In any case, Prisa began speaking under anyone’s gaze, “You’ve all heard of the two killer organizations, Mist and Merciless, right? I’ll be using Mist as a comparison then. Not long ago, an old friend told me that Mist lost three of its members. One of them, Tyers the Swiftblade, had died in Czedow’s hands. Czedow did not suffer a single wound.”

There was silence. Long, absolute silence.

How strong was Tyers the Swiftblade? They could not say for certain as they had never actually fought the man before. Still, they heard enough to have an idea. The idea that someone who could kill Tyers the Swiftblade and without a scratch was…

“W-what about the other two people then?” Ruo Lin asked with a hoarse voice.

Prisa looked at him and said, “Have you forgotten about Cillin?”

Gasps broke out everywhere at once.

The corners of Knight’s mouth twitched again and again. He swore inside his head: Lung, you fucking bastard! Why haven’t you told me about Cillin’s deeds? And since when did Cillin become so strong?! What the fuck!

With that said, Prisa turned her head and smiled at some of the equipment hanging on the ceiling of the training grounds.

Meanwhile, Wheeze was still sitting on Cillin’s shoulder and, for whatever reason, wearing a disgusting smile on its face. Then, all of a sudden, it stiffened for an instant before crying out, “What the meow! That woman found me!”

Cillin gave it a knock to the head, “What did you expect was going to happen when you eavesdropped openly?”

Wheeze’s ears turned as it argued, “I was just careless. If I was serious, that woman… may not necessarily be able to detect me!”

Kang Man was walking in front of them and so heard their conversation perfectly. He was confused and wondering why he could not understand what they were talking about though.

Upon arriving at the research area, they saw Ci Jincheng sitting alone in a room. When Ci Jincheng saw Cillin, he cracked a rare smile and greeted him, “You’re here.”

“Mm.” Cillin looked at the surrounding equipment and remarked, “Impressive equipment.”

As expected of the Ci Family, the equipment they used were top-tier. Even Wheeze, whose keen eye had only become keener after witnessing the equipment Xi Mu and the others were using, had no insult to offer.

“How’s the progress?” Cillin asked while looking at the numbers and molecular models on the surrounding screens.

Ci Jincheng massaged his forehead upon hearing that, signs of fatigue evident on his face. It had been many days since he got any proper rest.

“The samples are incomplete. It’s nearly impossible to make any progress because of this.” Ci Jincheng worked on the holoscreens for a bit before pointing at a set of data. “Every sample we have so far is incomplete and poorly preserved. As a result, the amount of useful information we can collect from them is terribly limited, not to mention that the accuracy is nowhere near my standards. It had taken us a stupid amount of effort to acquire these samples too. The other research teams aren’t faring much better than me either.”

Cillin could empathize with Ci Jincheng’s frustrations. It was very difficult to make progress without good samples. They could research day and night and still not necessarily obtain the result they desired.

Back then, Si Fang had executed the Tapir Extermination with extreme prejudice. Not a single one of her subordinates would preserve a sample of the Dream Tapir. They had destroyed all of the Dream Tapir samples they saw or knew. That was why not even the military was able to find an intact sample of the Dream Tapir. The ones Ci Jincheng and the other research teams currently possessed were all samples they had obtained via raiding Miracle.

“Is it not possible to obtain results even through information splicing?” Cillin asked.

“Unfortunately, no. Every sample we obtained differed from one another in some ways. The viruses they carried and even their tolerance are different. Any attempt at information splicing without knowing anything about the Mother would only create more errors.” Ci Jincheng grabbed a cup on the table and took a few deep gulps of water. He had worked like a dog since arriving at this planet, and yet the results were disheartening to say the least.

“What about Lung? Has he made a breakthrough?” Cillin asked.

Ci Jincheng shook his head. “No, and it’s unrealistic to expect much breakthrough from—”

He was still talking when suddenly, Ci Jincheng received an emergency comms request. All communications in the base were encrypted and obfuscated many times over. It made it very difficult for anyone to eavesdrop on it.

Ci Jincheng raised an eyebrow when he saw the numbers on his communicator. “Speak of the devil.”

Ci Jincheng pressed the answer button, and young master Lung’s unkempt appearance immediately popped up on the holoscreen.

Young master Lung yelled as soon as the line was connected, “Is Cillin there yet? I have something urgent to talk about!”

Ci Jincheng looked at the guy shaking his leg like a swing and eating a watermelon and resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Then, he adjusted the angle of his communicator so that it would match up with Cillin.

“Pff!” Watermelon juice jetted out of both Lung’s mouth and nostrils when he saw Cillin. “Dude, you didn’t tell me that Cillin has arrived?!”

“What’s this urgent matter?” Cillin went straight to the point knowing that Lung could talk about nonsense all day every day if he was allowed to.

After wiping his mouth with his sleeve and tossing the watermelon skin aside, Lung said, “I found a little something regarding the sample Ci Jincheng told me to find.”

Ci Jincheng was going to step aside and take a seat nearby while the duo conversed, but Lung’s words immediately stopped him in his tracks. He asked, “You found it?!”

“I did, but man, it pisses me off to think about it!” Lung grumbled. “That red-eyed fuck is such a hard ass I spent half a day trying to persuade him and still got nothing!”

Young master Lung led a much enjoyable life ever since he “exiled” the old butler, Berzett, from his study.

“Red-eyed?” Cillin asked.

“I’m talking about that terrorist from Sector V!”

“Oh, you mean Blood Eye Aikenseth.” Cillin nodded. “What does this have to do with him?”

Lung clarified, “With him personally? Not much. But his adopted father? A lot.”

The adopted father of the current leader of the Free Army, Aikenseth, used to be one of the big bosses of Sector V. However, he and the rest of the big bosses were murdered one after another. After Sector V plunged into total chaos, Aikenseth, one of his many adopted sons, seized the opportunity to rise to power.

“There were many reasons why the big bosses of Sector V were killed, and one of them is their connection to Miracle. Aikenseth’s adopted father isn’t just connected to the Miracle, he’s one of the people entrusted with the duty of preserving the samples.”

Out of all the things Lung had said, this was the most important of them all. Ci Jincheng could not help but feel excited despite himself. It didn’t matter that the sample was difficult to obtain, the important thing was that there was a sample. He was going to get his hands on it one way or another because it would be too late otherwise.

It made sense why Si Fang had failed to eradicate the samples completely. No one expected it to make it to Sector V somehow. Even more ironic was the fact that Sector V was helping to preserve the samples that were this close from eradicating their existence.

Oskulos must have interfered with Si Fang’s extermination attempts as well. Otherwise, considering how determined and ruthless Si Fang had been, Sector V might not have been able to keep the matter a secret.

Lung continued to elaborate about his investigation. Via illegal means that he could not say, he was able to uncover a surprising amount of useful information. When he dug a little deeper using the information he collected, he was able to make a connection to Aikenseth.

“The samples were retrieved by Miracle after the big bosses were killed, but they weren’t able to retrieve all of it. The big bosses were told to keep a box, and the box was used to contain the samples of Dream Tapir. The big bosses themselves have no idea about the contents of the box. They only know that it was something someone paid a huge sum of credits to keep.”

“Some of them tried to force open the boxes, but the samples were destroyed as soon as they made contact with oxygen. Luckily for us, there was an exception.”

“One of the samples did not undergo oxidative pyrolysis with the container despite making contact with the air. At the same time, Aikenseth’s adopted father happened to be visiting that person. After killing that person, he secretly preserved the sample and kept its existence a secret until his very death.”

“If I have to guess, Miracle wasn’t expecting such an exception. Since they found signs of oxidative pyrolysis at the scene, they did not suspect Aikenseth’s adopted father of foul play either. After taking out the people who helped preserve the samples and retrieving said samples, Miracle put Sector V out of their minds.”

“So, you suspect that Aikenseth is in possession of that sample?” Cillin asked. Aikenseth had received—or more accurately, robbed—some of his adopted father’s possessions. One of them could very well be the Dream Tapir sample.

“That is correct. However, I’ve spoken to the hard ass many times and gotten nothing out of him. I couldn’t even confirm if he actually possessed the sample. However, you share a better relationship with him. He may tell you if you ask him about it in person.”

Young master Lung was pretty miffed. He, the young master of the Andrea Family, had gone so far as to speak with Aikenseth in person, and the hard ass dared to give him the cold shoulder! The nerve!