Star Rank Hunter

Chapter 405: A Flashy Entrance

On a planet within the C Star Sector Sixth Army Jurisdiction Region, busy soldiers and transport robots were everywhere.

This was a transit planet, where some of the Sixth Army’s cargo was routed to various destinations. Because of this role, the inspection channels here were exceptionally strict.

Materials on every transport line had to undergo several rounds of testing, and the slightest suspicion would trigger an alarm. Lines heading to the core regions of the Legion faced even harsher inspections, requiring multiple scans before any goods could be loaded onto a transport.

At this moment, transport robots were hauling several large cargo boxes toward a specific carrier. These robots followed designated routes, and scanners along the way performed multiple rounds of inspections on the boxes they pulled.

The distance from the warehouse exit to the carrier was only two hundred meters, yet the cargo underwent five separate scans.

This batch of goods consisted entirely of medical supplies. The drug inspections had already been completed during packing, so these subsequent rounds of scanning primarily checked for hazardous materials, surveillance equipment, or other anomalies.

After placing the large boxes into the carrier’s cargo hold, the transport robots turned around to haul the next batch. Two hours later, all the designated boxes had been loaded. The robots could have finished the job in under half an hour, but the five rounds of scanning had multiplied the required time. However, the personnel of the Sixth Army had no complaints; more scans guaranteed better security, giving them peace of mind.

“All right, that’s it for this batch. We’ll leave the rest to you,” the warehouse guard told the transport soldiers.

After registering the handover procedures, three pilots and about twenty guard soldiers boarded the carrier and prepared for departure.

The carrier slowly taxied from the warehouse runway toward the spaceport. To leave the planet, a ship had to launch from a specific takeoff site at the port, where it would undergo a few more inspections and verify the identities of the personnel on board.

Only after multiple verifications did the carrier finally lift off. Its next destination was a planet in the core region of the Sixth Army.

As the carrier flew toward its destination, three boxes in the cargo hold silently opened.

“I was suffocating in there!” Knight said.

People climbed out of the three boxes one after another. Three people had hidden inside each box, relying on Breathing Masks to survive. However, to avoid discovery during the scans, they had been forced to hold their breath for long stretches of time. If they hadn’t been specially trained, they likely would have died of asphyxiation.

After getting out, the group took a moment to just breathe the air. The boxes were cramped and stuffy, and relying on a Breathing Mask was uncomfortably stifling.

Nine people had come along this time; bringing any more would have been ill-advised. Those who stayed behind were guarding the base on the other planet alongside Purisa, while conveniently receiving some training from her.

In the plan formulated by Ci Jincheng and Cillin, they would first infiltrate the cargo transit planet and use the shipments as their entry point, as this was their only window of opportunity. Before the carrier reached the core region and entered the destination planet, they needed to pinpoint the exact planet where Gleyre was located.

Time was still extremely tight. If they followed the carrier all the way onto the destination planet, the nine of them would find it very difficult to escape.

Cillin patted Wheeze, who was looking around, and gestured toward the boxes with his chin. The next moment, Wheeze walked over to the boxes, opened his mouth, and regurgitated the medical supplies he had swallowed earlier.

Subspace could not be used here. Originally, Ci Jincheng had planned to open the other boxes and take items to refill these three, but Wheeze had volunteered to solve the problem. During their preliminary experiments, after Wheeze swallowed some items, Ci Jincheng’s equipment hadn’t detected a thing. Even without using Subspace, Wheeze could swallow and regurgitate items with ease, and bizarrely, no suspicious mucus adhered to them.

A freak. That was everyone’s evaluation of Wheeze.

Because of this, Ghost Claw had never been able to hold its head high around Wheeze. It lost its confidence the moment it saw the cat.

Wheeze curled his tail proudly and looked at Ghost Claw, who was standing beside Ci Jincheng pretending to observe something else. ‘I really don’t know why they brought this dead weight along,’ the cat thought.

After repacking the items and restoring the boxes to their original state, Ci Jincheng and Cillin began their search. By analyzing intercepted information to determine the nature of various planets, they could deduce which one Gleyre was likely on.

Wheeze helped intercept the data. He didn’t need any other equipment; he just crouched there, capable of gathering information while licking his paws. Beside Ci Jincheng, Ghost Claw stood on a custom-made device, hopping around as it used its talons to input commands, sometimes employing its beak as well, all while keeping its wings slightly spread to maintain balance.

Knight, Yue Lou, and the others rested nearby, gathering their energy. Watching Ghost Claw hopping around and Wheeze, who looked like he was asleep with narrowed eyes but still occasionally relayed information, Knight sighed.

“Sometimes I feel like these animals have higher IQs than humans,” he said.

It was true. It was hard to imagine how an ordinary-looking animal could possess such immense capabilities.

The sensor equipment in the cargo hold had long since been dealt with, so they weren’t afraid of being discovered. Generally speaking, no one would come to inspect the hold before they reached their destination.

Knight checked the time. The carrier would soon drop out of warp. Once it did, Cillin and the others would have, at most, a single minute to conduct their final analysis.

“Almost done,” Ci Jincheng said reassuringly. He and Cillin had already narrowed down the search area significantly. After the carrier dropped out of warp, it would take them at most fifteen seconds to confirm the location.

Knight counted the time in silence; his time estimations were highly accurate. After the carrier dropped out of warp, he counted another twelve seconds. Just as he finished the twelfth second, Cillin spoke up.

“Found it!” he said.

The words served as an action command. The moment he spoke, Cillin and Ci Jincheng quickly packed away their equipment. Knight and the others had already activated their specialized protective suits. Following a hand gesture, the cargo bay door opened, and Knight led the way, darting out. They knew the layout of this carrier like the back of their hands. While waiting for Cillin and Ci Jincheng to confirm the location, they had been mentally rehearsing the sequence, and now they were simply executing it.

There was a hatch near the cargo hold, specifically designed for loading goods. As Knight and the others approached, the hatch automatically opened. Ci Jincheng had orchestrated this; they had a three-second window where the carrier’s security network would go “blind,” and this blind spot would go entirely unnoticed by anyone else on board.

The nine people jumped out one after another, turning invisible the moment they leaped, their suits also shielding them from radar and scanning equipment.

Wheeze hooked his tail around Cillin’s arm. He didn’t spread his wings, too lazy to move.

Meanwhile, wearing a custom Breathing Mask, Ghost Claw flew out without any space protective gear. However, due to its innate abilities, it could turn invisible on its own.

“That guy isn’t completely useless, huh,” Wheeze muttered, looking at Ghost Claw, who was gripping Ci Jincheng’s shoulder tightly.

Animals capable of surviving directly in space without protection were exceedingly rare. Perhaps this was one of the reasons Ci Jincheng kept Ghost Claw by his side.

Having confirmed the planet, they flew slowly toward it. Calling it “slow” was only in comparison to vehicles like carriers; after all, the thrusters on their protective suits had limited output.

Every so often, a patrol fleet would appear nearby. Whenever that happened, Cillin and the group would stop and wait for the patrol to pass before continuing their flight. Fortunately, there were no asteroid belts in the vicinity, nor was there much space debris; this area was likely cleared on a regular basis.

“We can’t keep going on like this,” Knight said, watching yet another patrol fleet fly past.

Cillin looked at Wheeze, who was clinging to his arm and seemingly completely deaf to Knight’s words. He poked the cat.

“Time for a flashy entrance,” Cillin said.

Cillin understood Wheeze’s little schemes very well. However, earlier, when the situation was unclear, it truly hadn’t been suitable to make large movements. Now that they knew the general patrol areas, directions, and timings of those fleets, they could speed things up.

Wheeze twitched his ears, looked up at the group moving at a “snail’s pace,” and grinned.

“Forget it. Seeing how pathetic you guys are, I’ll lend you a hand,” he said through the internal communicator.

Wheeze didn’t shift into his mighty form. Randomly changing shapes could cause magnetic fluctuations that might be noticed by long-range detectors on some planets. Wheeze was well aware of this.

Cillin had the others take out tow ropes. One end was grabbed by Wheeze, and the other end was tied to themselves.

“This will do,” Wheeze said, gripping the ropes and accelerating.

With Wheeze’s help, their speed was indeed much faster. It wasn’t until they approached the confirmed planet that they finally slowed down.

Inside a monitoring station on the planet, technicians were staring at the large screens in front of them.

“Any anomalies today?” a person asked as they walked in from outside.

“None so far. Aside from the patrol fleets that passed by, there have been no other anomalies.”

“Mhm, don’t let your guard down.”

“Yes, sir!”

But just as the technicians confidently answered “Yes, sir!”, nine people had already silently breached the outer defense network and entered the planet.

Following their pre-arranged action plan, the nine people split up and infiltrated the massive experimental base.

The experimental base operated under the banner of military use, but the research conducted inside wasn’t necessarily meant to see the light of day. Even the personnel of the Sixth Army only knew about surface-level matters; they were unaware of the deeper secrets, such as certain research projects that had long been strictly prohibited.

Cillin, Ci Jincheng, and Fenghai Chao formed one group. In terms of marksmanship, Fenghai Chao couldn’t match Yue Lou, and his concealment skills were about on par with his. However, in other areas, Fenghai Chao was still quite capable. This guy could hang upside down silently from a ceiling for hours without the aid of any tools.

Ghost Claw didn’t follow them into the base. It remained high in the sky outside, reporting the aerial view and any intercepted information to Ci Jincheng. Their communication wasn’t in the Star Alliance Common Language, but in some obscure minor language from who-knows-where in the Star Alliance. Furthermore, even while using this minor language, Ci Jincheng employed code words when talking to Ghost Claw. Unless Ci Jincheng explained it, even someone who understood the language wouldn’t know the true meaning of his words.

Cillin and the other two hid in a section of the base, not rushing deeper recklessly.

Ci Jincheng reviewed the gathered intel. The stolen data contained no direct mention of the word “Dream Tapir,” but some codes hidden within the core experimental information looked suspicious to him. He circled three character combinations and spoke to Cillin.

“One of these three character combinations might be a substitute for ‘Dream Tapir’,” he said.

Cillin looked at the three combinations Ci Jincheng had circled, pointing to one of them.

“What information is there regarding this combination?” he asked. “I’ve seen it before; it should refer to something highly classified.”

“The thing this combination refers to is located over in the Third Experimental Zone of the base. However, the Third Experimental Zone doesn’t occupy much area here.” Area usually correlated somewhat with importance. The fact that the Third Experimental Zone was small suggested that the projects conducted there were not highly valued by Gleyre, except for one thing: “Gleyre spends the most time in the Third Experimental Zone.”

Suspicious!

There was definitely something wrong with the Third Experimental Zone. Correspondingly, there were quite a few access control devices around the zone. Both Ci Jincheng and Cillin had ways to get in, but if Gleyre was there, they didn’t dare proceed openly.

“Should we have Knight’s group cause a commotion over in the Seventh Experimental Zone to lure Gleyre away?” Ci Jincheng asked. Knight’s action team was very close to the Seventh Experimental Zone, and that zone was some distance away from the Third Experimental Zone. If Gleyre went there, it would give them some time to investigate the issues in the Third Experimental Zone.

“No, let’s not have Knight’s group act just yet,” Cillin said, reviewing the materials Ci Jincheng had compiled. The Seventh Experimental Zone was indeed relatively far from the Third Experimental Zone, but tampering with things there without being detected would be difficult. Although Ci Jincheng had given Knight and his team some chemicals and tools in advance that could successfully trigger an incident in that zone, it wasn’t the optimal choice. Furthermore, Gleyre might not go there personally; he might just lock down the entire area directly, because that was where virus experiments were conducted.

After looking at the available intel and the rough layout map of the base, Cillin pointed to the Eighth Experimental Zone.

“It would be better to strike here,” he said.

The experiments progressing in the Eighth Experimental Zone involved bio-beasts, which was one of the experimental projects used as a cover for this planet. Every legion had similar projects, so there was no need to hide it. The proportion of the area occupied by the Eighth Experimental Zone was also relatively large, at least on the surface. If this public project encountered an issue, Gleyre would go take a look even if only to put on a show, demonstrating his regard for the project and reassuring the researchers.

Cillin didn’t believe that everyone in the base knew about the “Dream Tapir.” The people here who knew of it were certainly an extreme minority; only those truly participating in the core research of the “Dream Tapir” knew the real purpose for this base’s existence. Viewed in this light, the researchers working on the projects in the other experimental zones were definitely unaware of the actual situation.

The moment Cillin pointed it out, Ci Jincheng understood his plan.

“This is indeed a better target to start with, but the problem is that the others aren’t close to the Eighth Experimental Zone,” Ci Jincheng said.

The further away they were, the higher the chances of exposure. The risk was too great.

Cillin turned to look at Wheeze on his shoulder. The cat was already flexing his claws, eager to get to work. Cillin pointed at him.

“Just leave it to him,” he told Ci Jincheng.

Fenghai Chao, who hadn’t managed to get a word in edgewise, shot the fat cat a suspicious look. He couldn’t help but feel this was a terrible idea. Given the feline’s usual temperament, there was no telling what kind of disaster he might cause.

Clearly, Fenghai Chao didn’t understand Wheeze at all. While the cat usually seemed entirely undependable, he was actually incredibly capable when it came down to serious business.

After a moment of thought, Ci Jincheng agreed with the plan. He quickly notified the rest of the team about what to expect next.

To prevent Wheeze from going overboard, Cillin pinched one of the cat’s ears and gave him a stern warning.

Forty minutes later, a disturbance broke out over in the Eighth Experimental Zone. Word quickly spread that something had gone wrong with an experiment. Since mishaps were common in this line of work, the staff in the other zones were completely unfazed and simply ignored it. They belonged to different project groups anyway, so they had no real interest in paying attention. At most, it would serve as casual gossip when they were bored.

Over in the Eighth Experimental Zone, the process was straightforward: experimental animals were pulled from their holding cells, injected with drugs, and then placed into specially designed cages. Test boards lined both sides of these cages, projecting images specifically chosen to stimulate the dosed animals. Whenever they saw something they disliked, the creatures would lash out, furiously scratching at the test boards. The boards would then record and analyze a series of metrics based on the depth, width, and trajectory of the claw marks.

Initially, the theoretical efficacy of the newly administered drugs had been highly satisfactory. Now, however, the animals in the cages were exhibiting severely abnormal behavior—whether from sheer terror or some other psychological trigger. Starting with a single leopard in the middle cage, the frantic agitation rapidly infected the rest of the subjects. The test boards were quickly shredded by their claws, and the resulting chaotic data was processed by the computers into a series of erratic charts that flashed across the researchers’ screens.

The barrage of anomalous data threw the Eighth Experimental Zone’s research team into a complete panic.

Meanwhile, over in the Third Experimental Zone.

“Team Leader, there’s a problem with the bio-beast project. The researchers over there have completely lost control of the experimental subjects. Their emotional states are wildly contradicting our theoretical models.”

Gleyre sat back in his chair.

“In other words, it failed again?” he said slowly, his voice completely devoid of emotion.

The man standing in front of Gleyre wiped the sweat beading on his forehead.

“Yes... that’s correct,” he stammered. He had no idea what was actually happening over there, though to be fair, these kinds of setbacks were common in their line of work.

Gleyre let out a mocking sigh and stood up.

“Let’s go take a look. Otherwise, they’ll just file another report to the higher-ups complaining that I’m neglecting them,” he said.

Mission accomplished. Wheeze squatted proudly in a dark corner, admiring the researchers’ panicked reactions. He hadn’t actually done much—he had just let out a silent fart in the direction of the caged animals. Almost immediately, the subjects had gone completely berserk.