Chapter 160
Chapter 160: Interaction [Part 1]
After finis.h.i.+ng their cold drinks and resting for a while, Cillin’s group then bid Escherley goodbye. Escherley had even purposely gifted two boxes of biscuits to Tang Qiuqiu and a discount card, telling her to come over in the future whenever she had a chance.
Cillin extended his hoverboard after leaving the dessert store. Previously, Udoze was unfamiliar with hoverboards. After all, there were only far too few places that were suitable for hoverboard riding on Planet Acallela. Moreover, Wind City was constantly covered in sandstorm, so to ride a hoverboard there was just plain suicide. Therefore, Udoze had literally never came into contact with a hoverboard prior to leaving Acallela’s Sector. However, since his balance was great and he was quick to learn, it did not take long before he grew familiar to it.
Rikulab on the other hand, had used hoverboards frequently before arriving on Acallela. Therefore, this wasn’t too much of a problem for him.
Extending their hoverboards, the few people flew up to the level of hovercraft channels and headed towards Vanguard’s communication department.
The four great Hunter regiments’ communication departments were scattered at four places on this planet. They were pretty much the dominant forces of these four pieces of land. There would then be subdivisions of smaller Hunter regiments that shared a better relations.h.i.+p with them scattered around the four communication departments.
Vanguard’s communication department had some suspended dagger-shaped emblem holograms, direction and range indicator to guide the way since a long way back. Although its surrounding Hunter regiments also had smart road signs to guide the way, they were a lot smaller than the Vanguard’s. This was the advantage of a large Hunter regiment.
They did not need to rely on map or inquiries to make their way at all. They could easily find that magnificent building just by following the smart pointers.
That building could be seen from very far away. Overall, the building was in the shape of a sharp dagger just like their badge. There were also some low level buildings around it used for other matters.
Tang Qiuqiu took out her pinned badge. Cillin also pinned his lieutenant commander badge in the open. This was the usual practice, or they couldn’t blame anyone if they were to be injured by accident.
The looks on the people around them improved slightly after the duo had taken out their badges. However, their expressions were mingled with curiosity since Tang Qiuqiu was way too young to be an official member, and Cillin just so to be a lieutenant commander. They could not help but express their doubts.
There was a main service desk at the center of the first floor hall of Vanguard’s communication department. The Hunters who frequented the hall mostly wore Vanguard’s badge on their bodies.
Not many people paid attention to Cillin’s group when they first walked into the hall. However, when someone accidentally noticed the badges on Tang Qiuqiu’s and Cillin’s bodies, they gradually began to whisper among each other. Also, although it was called a ‘whisper’, in reality the volume of the whispers wasn’t quiet at all. Even in this noisy environment, anyone from ten meters away could hear them.
These people had voiced out their doubts directly. However, they wore strange expressions when they saw that they belonged to the Sixth B Squadron. After all, the Sixth B Squadron had shown up big time not long ago, and the A Squad issued them all the rewards and so on. Although some people were unconvinced, they had no say in the reward result the A Squad had announced in the end.
But while they could not say anything on the surface, things were very different in private. As long as the important figures of the A Squad weren’t present, they would basically say whatever they want to. Worst comes to worst they would get into a brawl. If you win then sure, I’ll admit that you’re capable. If you lose, then excuse me, but I dislike you and I’m going to beat you up everytime I run into you.
The higher ups of Vanguard simply viewed this as scuffles between the members of the B Squadrons. Quarreling improves health, and compet.i.tion promotes progress, right? Therefore, the higher ups would turn a blind eye as long as the commotion wasn’t too big. The commanders of the B Squadrons would especially remind their team members this: as long as you win, your commander will take all responsibility!
Therefore, many people in the hall were disgruntled by the sight of the lieutenant commander badge on Cillin’s body. The few other lieutenant commanders wearing the same badges were practically rolling up their sleeves: WTF, I spent a dozen or so years to finally climb my way up to this position. With what virtues or abilities did this rash and stupid-looking kid qualify for this badge?
While thinking, some people had already made their way towards them. They did not hide their thoughts from their faces either. Although they were wearing smiles, their smiles looked like deserve a fist no matter how you looked at them.
"Yo, why’s there a little baby here? You’re about ten years old, aren’t you little girl?" a brawny man over two meters tall walked over while saying loudly.
There was also another guy who was slightly shorter than him, but looked just as difficult to deal with beside him spinning the boomerang darts in his hands with great fervor.
When he saw that Cillin’s group had paid him no heed and continued to proceed forward while ignoring him utterly, he stuck out his lips and swept a disdainful glance across them. His eyes turned, and he took out a big lollipop (E/n: just what kinda of adult has lollipops on hand&h.e.l.lip;) and said, "Hey little girl, here’s something tasty for you. Do you want&h.e.l.lip;"
Bang!
The brawny man’s words were cut short.
The people who were about to laugh loudly at his words found their laughter stuck in their throats and became stupefied as well.
The stick of the big lollipop that was originally in the big man’s hands was snapped at where his fingers were holding. The man’s fingers were not injured in the slightest, whereas the part where the sweet was had flown high up into the air due to shock and applied rebound force. The lollipop spun towards Tang Qiuqiu and finally landed accurately into her hand. The bullet ultimately ended in the trash can and did not hurt anyone along the way.
Tang Qiuqiu tore the wrapping of the lollipop, leaned forwards to give it a lick and crunched it in her mouth before commenting, "It tastes okay!"
Is&h.e.l.lip; is she seriously just a kid about ten years old?! There were many people who were shocked by this sight.
Number one, how dare this little girl open fire in the Vanguard’s hall? They had never actually seen someone who dared to do so in the past. Although they had heard of such incidents in the past, they absolutely counted among the few. Plus, not everyone had the guts to behave so unscrupulously. If something went wrong, then even their lieutenant commanders would be dragged into the mess.
There was no problem if Vanguard’s men wanted to fight each other, they could just settle it on the spot. There was no problem if they wanted to compete shooting skills as well, but most of the time they would go to the communication department’s shooting range to settle the score. However, this was a kid who wasn’t even at lieutenant commander rank yet opening fire in a place like the first floor’s hall without a second thought. Where did she get the courage to do such a thing?
Moreover, not a single one of them had detected any killing intent from her. No, they did not even detected that instantaneous moment where she should be locking on to her target before firing.
Number two, this kid’s shooting skill was just too good. She had snapped the lollipop stick, hurt no one and ensured that the bullet was ultimately fired into the trash can. There was no doubt to her shooting skills, not to mention that she had caused the lollipop to fly into her hands after shooting the lollipop stick. She had intimidated her opponent and obtained her material benefit at the same time. One had to say that this was a most beautiful play.
Number three was the point where many people were at a loss with. Tang Qiuqiu had fired a trick shot*! It meant that the bullet had ricocheted a couple of
*This means a ricocheting shot. I stole the term from Atlas Reactor, where a character named Lockwood’s normal attack skill is a ricocheting shot.
The reason Tang Qiuqiu had used a trick shot was because a straight shot could not achieve the effect she wanted. Even if she did a curve shot, there was a limit to how far she could curve the bullet, and it still wouldn’t achieve the effect she wanted. Finally, Tang Qiuqiu chose to use a trick shot. Based on what Cillin had said earlier, the building materials of Vanguard’s communication department must be different from norm, and after she walked into the hall and observed the situation around her, she had been entertaining certain thoughts in her mind.
The results weren’t bad. She had managed a trick shot and gotten a lollipop at the same time. Tang Qiuqiu was very satisfied.
In reality, Udoze and Rikulab were even more amazed than the people around them. Usually, the Tang Qiqiu they saw acted no differently from a normal little girl. She would complain, she would hold little grudges, and she would be excited by the new and odd things around her just like any other kid. She was also a little fellow who loved to eat sweets. But now they knew that no one with that badge were pushovers, even if said person was just a little girl about ten years old.
"Thank you, uncle!" Tang Qiuqiu did not forget to express her thanks after licking her lollipop. The expression was purely formal without an ounce of actual grat.i.tude behind them at all, but no one would care about such a thing at this point.
E/n: Just when I thought my memes can’t hit a new low&h.e.l.lip;
Chapter 160: Interaction [Part 2]
"Haha, I guess I did underestimate you. No wonder you can become an official member at such a young age. Well done!" the brawny man smiled and lost the disdain he had before after snapping out of his daze. Then, he continued to walk towards Cillin’s group.
Meanwhile, the person beside the brawny walked directly up to Rikulab and looked at him from top to bottom. Since the beginning, he had found Rikulab’s appearance very unpleasant to the eyes. So you want to act cool, huh?
While spinning his boomerang dart with one hand and slapping Rikulab with the other, he said with a smile that did not reach the eyes, "That being said, it would see that this guy here did not have an badge. Could it be that you’re not one of us Vanguard? Sigh, there’s no need to feel down. Although the little girl qualified even though she’s so much younger than you, but there’s no need to be too discouraged, yeah?"
The strength he used to slap Rikulab’s shoulder was stronger than one might expect, causing a loud pop with every slap. However, Rikulab stood firmly on his feet and did not s.h.i.+ft a step.
The man was going to praise Rikulab seeing that he was able to endure this level of strength, but when he saw that Rikulab was still wearing the same annoying look where he could not even be bothered to be bothered, his anger immediately surged up once more. He put his hand on Rikulab’s shoulder and increased his strength, saying, "You’re a new reserve crew, aren’t you? As a Hunter, you need to learn the courtesy necessary when facing your seniors!"
Cillin curled his lips. What was the courtesy necessary for Hunters? It was actually four words in a nutsh.e.l.l – the strong is king!
Although the brawny guy from before looked a lot stronger than this person, in reality the brawny guy was absolutely incomparable to him in strength. The first impression this person gave was that he was an agility type, but the truth was that he was a strength type. Therefore, when Rikulab had shown that he was able to endure the person’s force earlier, some of the people around him had already acknowledged him in their hearts. However, they did not mind watching Rikulab’s reaction from the sidelines after that person had increased his strength.
Reality exceeded everyone’s expectations. From the start Rikulab did not show any reactions at all. He did not even change his expression. The one who showed a reaction was the other person.
The person’s hand that was placed on Rikulab’s shoulder began to expand rapidly. What was obviously a steely and powerful hand with five well defined fingers swiftly transformed into a fat and thick meat palm in just a couple of seconds. His five fingers had lost their original forms, and the appearance of them joined together with the meaty palm was pretty comical. More importantly, the person did not feel any sense of pain at all. It was as if the nerves in his hand had been paralysed, or the receptors had been cut off. Thus, the true feelings of his hand could not be transmitted to to his brain at all.
The changes on his hand was just the beginning. As his palm continued to swell, his wrist were slowly starting to turn thick before spreading up to his arm as well. It was as if there was an air pump pumping air into his arm continuously. When the swelling spread up to his shoulder, the man gradually lot control of this arm as it drooped powerlessly towards the ground.
The surrounding people subconsciously touched and felt out their own arms when they saw this scene. They were all afraid that the same thing would happen to themselves.
"Hey you, kid!"
The brawny man took a huge step towards Rikulab, but found himself stopped by Cillin’s arm. The brawny man tried to push Cillin’s arm away from his path, but then realised that he could not move it an inch no matter how hard he pushed. By now the brawny man understood that they had ran into a real match this time. No one who could wear the badge of a lieutenant commander would be weak, and the other thing he learned today was that age had nothing to do with whether one could possess the badge of an official member, or a.s.sume the seat of a lieutenant commander.
The brawny man sucked in a deep breath and lifted his eyes to look at Cillin. However, he saw that this young lieutenant commander was wearing a faint smile that was neither alienating nor cordial. The good news was that he did not see any malice or disgust in Cillin’s eyes towards their provocations. This was a good sign for the brawny man.
"My brother, we have made an error in judgment this time, and this is our fault. We apologise. Please help cure my, ahem, brother’s* condition."
*just to clarify, but brother is a common Chinese term used to indicate intimacy. It is a term used to indicate a friends.h.i.+p that’s close enough to be compared to real brothers.
Cillin looked at Rikulab, and Rikulab shrugged, "It’s fine. He will recover very soon. It won’t affect his body."
Cillin turned around and said to the brawny man, "Then I guess it’s no big problem. It’s just a little prank, so relax."
Relax? Like h.e.l.l we can relax! Can you stay calm if it was your hand that was turned into a balloon? The brawny man and the other person grumbled. What kind of a prank was this? They were absolutely running as far away as possible if they met him in the future.
However, Cillin actually had seen someone who could still laugh and fool around despite having a ridiculously swollen hand due to allergy. For example&h.e.l.lip; that fool young master Lung of the Andrea Family.
It was as Rikulab had said. The person’s swollen hand were confined only to his shoulder and his arm, and when two minutes had pa.s.sed the swelling began to subside slowly. Five minutes later, his arm had already returned to its original form. Although there were initially still some wrinkles left on his skin, even those quickly faded as well.
The person looked over his arm and glanced at Rikulab with very odd eyes, "You can’t be an honor student who specialises in pharmaceutics or something, can you?"
Seeing that there were no petty resentment in the person’s att.i.tude – in fact, he appeared rather undisturbed – Rikulab also stopped giving him an att.i.tude and smiled, "No, I haven’t even received intermediate level education yet."
That’s even scarier! The crowd thought. A guy who could reach this level completely on his own without even receiving an intermediate level education was either a genius or a monster. Wouldn’t he become even greater than he was now if he finished higher education and filled up the blanks then? Or maybe he could just not receive higher education and keep working on his own, and who knows, maybe he could even publish some kind of achievement in some high contribution points medical type electronic publications.
It appeared that Sixth B Squadron’s individual abilities were pretty good this time! Dammit, how did the Sixth Squad find such amazing talents?
While everyone was harboring their own thoughts, the woman over twenty years old who had been holding up her chin and watching from the main service desk all this time smiled and walked towards them. Her firm b.u.t.t wrapped in her short skirt swayed rhythmically along with her footsteps, but the Hunters around her hurriedly turned their gazes away instead when they saw her. They randomly picked a topic and began to talk bulls.h.i.+t, looking like they had not noticed the commotion at all.
The brawny man and his companion also escaped like the wind after giving Cillin and the others an awkward smile. Before he left, he moved his mouth said soundlessly, "Watch out!"
It would appear that this woman here had special status and was not easy to deal with.
But contrary to everyone’s thoughts, the woman who walked over said while wearing a cordial smile, "You are Cillin, Wheeze, Tang Qiuqiu, Rikulab and Udoze, am I right? Senior Barthus had told me to treat you well. Your meals have been prepared at the restaurant, and please tell me if there’s anything else you need. Allow me to lead the way." once finished, she made a welcoming gesture.
When the surrounding people saw the boss lady of the first floor who appeared to be a babe from a distance but was in fact a fearsome bandit at close range treating Cillin and the others with such courtesy, their jaws nearly fell off in shock. Since when was their tyrannical bandit girl this polite?
There were also some people counting their fingers and realising that the boss lady had said five names in total. However, there were only four people present in the group right now. So where was the last person?
In reality, the gray cat had felt drowsy ever since it had its fill at the dessert store, and was sleeping on Cillin’s shoulder all this time. As long as it wasn’t something big, mister cat could not be bothered to lift even an eyelid.
Cillin thought that this woman was rather interesting. Despite having been notified by senior Barthus beforehand, she still watched them being provoked by the surrounding people from beginning to the end before finally showing up. As expected, this was how Hunters interacted with each other.
The woman looked at the gray cat laying on top of Cillin’s shoulder and sleeping, and smiled, "We’ve purposely prepared some fishes as well. Steamed, saute, cooked, deep fried, roasted; we have everything&h.e.l.lip;"
Mm, fish was important business. Therefore, the gray cat’s ears captured the eligible keyword and awoken unhurriedly. Then, it stretched its back and yawned, "I’m hungry. Let’s eat."
The woman hid a smile behind her hand, saying, "What do you think of this place, Wheeze?"
"Think?" the gray cat said lazily while scratching its ears, "I don’t know, I was asleep."
Everyone: "&h.e.l.lip;"
As expected, they were utterly ignored.
After the woman had brought Cillin’s group to the restaurant, someone pulled her when she came out and asked carefully, "Hey boss, just who are those people?"
This boss of the first floor was never this courteous even when she was facing a B Squad’s commander.
The woman spread her arms helplessly and said, "What can I do? Senior Barthus himself told me to receive them well and not cause too much trouble."
The person came to realisation. So it was senior Barthus; no wonder their boss didn’t cause any trouble today and ended things after just watching a show from the sidelines.
Cillin directly connected with the Sixth B Squadron’s main control room and reported his return and the two new recruits he would like to recommend to Shawton. Naturally, Shawton was very happy about this, but when he looked at Cillin, there was some measure of worry in his eyes. He told Cillin to meet up with them as soon as possible, and that there was something important they needed to discuss.
After ending his conversation with Shawton, Cillin pondered about Shawton’s worried gaze for a moment. It was obvious that it hd something to do with the mission Barthus had told him about. After a moment’s ponderment, contacted again the control room of his squad’s* stars.h.i.+p.
*Not the B Squadron, but the small team he’s in like Cary and the others.
The first thing that showed up on the screen was Cary’s huge face when the connection had gone through.
"Cillin, your bro misses you so much! No wait, let me try this again. LC Cillin, we miss you so much we could die!"
Cillin had the impulse to throw a kick right into his face.
Before Cillin could speak, Cary continued to get high on his own from the other side, "Also my beloved Wheeze and my cute Qiuqiu, you bro misses you all so much I could die!"
Someone was pus.h.i.+ng Cary by the side, and judging from his voice it was Xiaoshang. Dough seized the opportunity to jump in front of the communicator before it was grabbed by the tail by Cary in an attempt to throw it away. Dough hugged onto the communication panel and refused to let go as Cary continued to yell in excitement, "Qiuqiu, your egg has been hatched!"
"Really?!" Tang Qiuqiu’s impatient face nearly filled up the entire communicator.