Chapter 170
Translator’s Notes: I had a meeting today so I completely forgot about posting. Oops.
Chapter 170: Change in Prison [Part 1]
Logically speaking, Snarker was a strength type fighter whereas Serpenter was a speed type fighter. If they wanted to do something, then Serpenter and his speed was without a doubt the more convenient choice. However, it was also exactly why more people would place their attentions onto Serpenter. If Serpenter were to disappear from Qi Geyou’s side, those people would definitely think: Did Qi Geyou send Serpenter away to do something secretive again?
That was why Snarker was able to bring Cillin and Lung to Qi Geyou’s domain more secretively while Qi Geyou and Serpenter were attracting more attention onto themselves.
"Little Flying Snake’s place is pretty good." Lung circled around the room Qi Geyou had arranged for them and said.
They called it a room, but in reality it was pretty close to a garden villa already. There was also a swimming pool as well. When Lung saw the swimming pool, he stripped off all his clothes and jumped right into the swimming pool to enjoy himself.
Cillin thought: Thank goodness Berzett wasn’t here, or he would be so mad that he would lose hair again. The purpose of the so-called etiquette was to be forgotten.
Naturally, Cillin knew that Qi Geyou was very busy. After the big meeting, he had to gather his subordinates for a small meeting, plan for ops and settle the internal strife in his organisation as well. As the leader of this small organisation and as the main target of study and choice to succeed ‘Flying Snake’ in the future, naturally Qi Geyou needed to a.n.a.lyse the problem better and fight a comeback war after experiencing his first defeat.
Shawton once said that in a Hunter regiment, the development of a B Squadron was based on individual strength, opportunities, and network.
Compared to the other B Squadons in Vanguard, the Sixth B Squadron was severely lacking in terms of ‘network’. It had nothing to do with individual strength and foresight, and the main reason their network had fallen to such a state was because the former Sixth B Squadron commander was way too much of a ‘loner’. This caused the Sixth B Squadron’s development to fall off in a straight line the moment Seru had left their Squadron.
With more network, there would be more development branches and trading channels. Only then could the Hunter regiment develop faster.
Just the same, Cillin needed to find out certain things that were not known to the common people even if he was currently away from the Hunter regiment. Not only did he need to travel around the galaxy, he also need to acquire a wider channel such as the local forces of Sector S to learn more news. Since fate had brought him and Little Flying Snake Qi Geyou together, after a period of a.s.sociation he found that Qi Geyou was a thread that was worth grasping.
Obviously, a member of an influential merchant family like Lung understood this even better. Your elders might have existing channels to share with you, but they were in fact not suitable for you. After all, the other party had given you access for your senior’s sake and not yours. If one were to rely on his seniors forever, then it was only a matter of time before they were stepped on by others.
Cillin took a bath, filled his stomach, grabbed a bottle of wine and lay on a sofa, drinking and watching the local news of this planet. He had to say that the TV shows here were pretty fancy, less restricted and spoke blatantly. No wonder the people here matured earlier than usual.
While watching, a communicator beside him rang. It was a communicator Qi Geyou instructed Snarker to prepare for them. This way they would be able to communicate easier on this planet.
After the line was connected, Qi Geyou’s image appeared on screen. He looked very tired, but his eyes were just as bright. It was obvious that today’s meeting was met with pretty good results.
"How is it? the place is pretty good, isn’t it? I haven’t ill treated the young masters, have I?" Qi Geyou was fairly confident in the place he arranged for the duo. This place could be considered a luxurious zone even in the entire planet.
"It’s pretty good. But the walls of the training room aren’t tough enough, and the swimming pool isn’t wide enough&h.e.l.lip;"
"Two choices. it’s either there or on the streets!"
"I guess I’ll stay here then."
"Alright, if there’s anything, call me directly if you can’t find Snarker or Serpenter. They are capable of handling some of the matters here at least. You guys just rest for the day. We’re in the middle of planning a countermeasure right now, and we’ll come back to you once we’re done. Oh right, do you guys need any weapons? We can sell you for a cheap price&h.e.l.lip;"
"We’re fine with weapons. Go have your meeting. Take care not to get hunted to a lifepod again."
Cillin’s words obviously upset Qi Geyou again as he cut off the comm with a beep.
After cutting off the connection, Qi Geyou looked beside him and said, "What do you think of them?"
There was an old man holding a crutch and sitting beside Qi Geyou. The exterior of the crutch was shaped like a snake. Both of the old man’s hands were placed on the snake’s head of the crutch.
"They are not our enemies for now. It is good as long as they are not our enemies."
"Then I’ll be proceeding with the original plan."
"Mm. Work well."
Two days later, Qi Geyou came over to inform Cillin and Lung about the time of the operation and the rough itinerary. Of course, the specifics of the ops of the Flying Snake’s internal division were not told.
"Alright. Just get us the prison’s map layout, and we’ll work separately once we reach our destination. Relax, we won’t hold you back." Lung laid at the edge of the swimming pool and said, "We do not need you to supply us any equipment of whatever either. It’s such an amazing deal, right?"
Qi Geyou overlooked Lung’s final line directly, "Alright, that’s it then. I will have Snarker receive you when we depart."
Qi Geyou’s schedule was pretty hectic, and he did not have much time to communicate with Cillin and Lung. After explaining several important items, Qi Geyou then left in a hurry.
"Let’s go and tidy up the equipment." Cillin kicked Lung who was lying beside the swimming pool and not feeling like moving at all, "It’s time to test your family’s new products."
Inside the room.
Lung opened a box and took out two sets of clothes from inside. There was also a face mask that was so thin it was also transparent.
"The clothes, pants and face masks are all part of a set called the ‘Copy Set’. It can copy up to hundreds of clothing material and style. It’s controlled using brain waves, and it is not suitable for people who don’t use their brain."
While speaking, Lung put on one of the Copy Set before opening the wardrobe in the room. He spread out the clothes that were hung on the hangers and stood in front of a formal suit. Then, Cillin watched as an identical formal suit slowly appeared on Lung’s body. Moreover, it automatically adjusted to the wearer’s size and appeared very fitting on his body.
Then, Lung turned on a small projector as the head of a stranger was displayed. At the same time, Lung’s face swiftly transformed and became exactly the same as the face on top of the projector.
Cillin gave it a close look and nodded, "It’s good. How much is this ‘Copy Set’ on the market?"
"It’s still at the testing phase and hasn’t made it to the market yet. However, it’s very difficult to buy something like this without the appropriate channels." Lung said while tidying his attire and looking at himself in the mirror along the way "I’ve decided to experience the life of a prison guard and a convict for a bit. Although this is just a grade one prison, if all goes well we may be able to try it out again in a grade two and three prison."
Cillin chose a few guns that suited him well, whereas Lung began loading stuff onto his own body like he was loading a treasure box. The stuff were probably prepared accordingly to Lung’s character
"Are you seriously going to blow up the prison?"
"No. But this is a rare trip, and I’ve got to leave some memories behind, don’t I? Who knows if it may come in handy." Lung continued to load up the micro remote bombs.
Cillin shook his head. This fellow was the perfect candidate to stir up a row.
Originally, Lung’s objective was to take a look around the prison of Sector S and seize the opportunity to stir up a mess and entertain himself. However, Cillin had a feeling that their gains this time might be pretty huge.
Fifty years ago, some of the famous figures had all vanished without a trace at the same time. Cillin thought that he might be able to find the answer in Sector S’ prison.
The great hermit retreats into the city*.
*the translation of the full idiom would be, ‘the little hermit retreats into the wilderness; the great hermit retreats into the city’. In brief, it means to say that a person who has attained true enlightenment would not be disturbed by their environment, and be able to live life the way they want to.
Would they find some people in a grade one prison?
Cillin looked forward to it.
The day of the operation quickly arrived.
Chapter 170: Change in Prison [Part 2]
This time, ‘Flying Snake’s’ men were split into several group for the operation. Cillin and Lung were secretly arranged by Qi Geyou on a s.p.a.ceplane that was headed towards the grade one prison.
From outside s.p.a.ce, the majority of the grade one prison planet’s face looked like it was enveloped in fortress-like prisons. It was filled with a heavy and oppressive feeling. However, the people of ‘Flying Snake’ were feeling different. The closer they got to the prison planet, the more excited they became.
Today, a group of people would finish their sentences and be released from prison on this planet. ‘Flying Snake’ and ‘Mad Owl’ had all sent a group of men over. The last time it was a riot in prison, but this time it would be different. This time they were ready to fight both in and outside the prison.
Firearm attacks were forbidden within a certain area around the prison, and anyone who broke this rule would be attacked by the prison’s defense system decisively and without distinction. However, the places beyond this area were where the convicts often took care of their problems. The prison guards had installed plenty of monitoring cameras in those areas. While the convicts were fighting heatedly on the other side, the prison guards would watch the show happily inside the monitoring room. This was literally better than watching TV. It was a fight in the fles.h.!.+ Not only was it live, it was free as well.
After the s.p.a.ceplane had descended, Cillin and Lung then split ways with Flying Snake’s people. Their objectives were different, which was why their itineraries were different too.
A large transport slowly flew over from the prison’s direction before descending at the edge of the garrison. A prison guard walked out from the transport and looked at the s.p.a.ceplanes parked in the area. There were obviously several forces currently present.
The prison guard smiled to the point where his cheeks trembled after sweeping a glance across his surroundings, "Looks like the lineup is pretty big this time." the bigger the lineup, the more intense the fight later would become. He had to get back soon to watch the live battle.
While thinking, the prison guard shouted two lines to his back so that the people inside could come out quickly.
The people inside the transport came out and walked towards their respective belonging forces. The eye interactions and secret signs between the convicts and their companions had already begun. While walking, the convicts moved their bodies so that they could return to top form as soon as possible. The bloodthirst and excitement in their eyes were insuppressible, especially the ones from ‘Flying Snake’. This time they would mount an impressive counter attack.
Once the released convicts had all walked away, the prison guards returned to the transport and piloted it back into the prison.
There were thirty or so prison guards among the escort. When the transport flew into the warehouse, the people inside the prison’s monitoring room began shouting even before the guards came out, "Quick, it’s started it’s started! f.u.c.k, what impressive firepower! This time the fireworks are huge!"
The prison guards of the escort hastily quickened their movements, charged out of the transport and rushed towards the control room. However, they did not notice that there were another two people wearing the same prison guard uniforms coming out together with them.
Cillin and Lung operated separately. While donned in the prison guard uniforms, they calmly walked into a pa.s.sage.
Looking at the time, it was almost the time Qi Geyou had mentioned. The riot inside the prison was also about to begin.
Bang bang bang!
Noises began to resound from the other side of the prison. There were plenty of convicts imprisoned in that place.
"f.u.c.k, they’re fighting inside as well!" a prison guard yelled.
"Let’s watch both sides together. Bring up the monitoring footage inside the prison now!"
"Tsk sk, looks like the commotion this time is pretty huge. I guess ‘Flying Snake’ wants their revenge this time."
"Should we go take a look? What do we do if it gets too big?" a prison guard asked with slight worry.
"Who cares, if it gets big the fines are paid by the people behind them and not them. If they’ve gone blind and went over to the forbidden zone, then they can’t fault us for taking measures against them." another prison guard pressed a red b.u.t.ton while speaking. It was the b.u.t.ton of the prison rooms’ defense system. After the b.u.t.ton was pressed, the status of the system was changed to Grade A. It also meant that any convicts whose fight went beyond the allowed area would be killed instantly.
Cillin left after listening in on their words.
There were basically no prison guards inside the pa.s.sage. Right now, they were all sitting in their respective monitoring rooms and watching the live battle. They had left all the defense work to the defense system.
Perhaps they had done this for many years, but they could never imagine that today was a special day.
While walking towards the prison rooms, Cillin suddenly stopped and looked behind him. There were still no one there.
After looking for a bit, Cillin turned around and continued walking.
When Cillin turned around, a small shape abruptly protruded from the walls of the pipe-shaped pa.s.sage and moved towards the direction Cillin was headed to.
After Cillin had gone through this section of the pa.s.sage, he did not continue towards the prison rooms and instead, took a bent and walked down a different pa.s.sage. This pa.s.sage did not lead towards the prison rooms but the warehouse.
Along the way, he encountered several prison guards of the area, but they were all out here to pee and take care of their physiological problems midway. After giving Cillin a hasty greeting or a simple nod, they immediately ran back to the control room to watch the show. Cillin had copied his face from a prison guard, but that prison guard was still some distance away from where he was now. Therefore, he wasn’t at risk of being exposed just yet.
While listening to the prison guards loud discussion, Cillin thought: the scale of this fight is quite big, but&h.e.l.lip;
Cillin raised his head. Another prison guard walked out from the warehouse. Cillin smiled and nodded towards the prison guard before brus.h.i.+ng past him.
After Cillin had took a turn around the corner, the prison guard turned to look at where Cillin had disappeared. A red light flashed past his pupils as stretched out his tongue and gave himself a lick. This was nothing unusual, except for the fact that his tongue was deep blue in color and extremely long. It could almost touch his on forehead. The smile he wore was full of cruelty.
When Cillin walked towards the warehouse, he had raised a communicator that looked nearly the same as the prison guard’s on his wrist. In reality, this was a modified communicator. Of course, this modified communicator did not have voice communication functionality, but it was also more stealthy. It could swiftly deliver a coded message to a person on another planet.
After entering a few brief messages, Cillin withdrew his communicator and raised his head, looking towards the warehouse. He smiled.
On the other side of the prison, Lung turned on his communicator and looked at the message Cillin had delivered to him. He replied with a ‘roger that’ before continuing on his way. There was a mark that looked very much like a pool of water stain beside him, and if someone were to pay it close attention they would find it sticky and was composed of about the same substances as blood.
At the same time, on another planet, Qi Geyou who was fighting alongside his subordinates discovered that the communicator on his hand had vibrated once. The frequency of the vibration allowed him to know that it was Cillin who had transmitted this message. If Cillin had transmitted something to him at such a time, then it was probably very important. Therefore, after cutting down a person who had jumped at him, Qi Geyou extracted himself from the battle and motioned for Serpenter to take over for a while. Once he was got out of the battle zone, Qi Geyou looked at the message displayed on the communicator. It wasn’t elaborate, but it had clarified out all of the important issues.
When he saw the message on the communicator, Qi Geyou’s face changed abruptly. After explaining himself briefly to the people behind him, he swiftly returned to the s.p.a.ceplane and activated several communication channels at the same time, sending out various orders to each of them.
At the grade one prison outside the prison zone where Cillin was at, the clas.h.i.+ng personnel received a message from their PICs, "Hurry up. We will evacuate in ten minutes!"
Inside the prison, the ‘Flying Snake’ men who were fighting a messy battle in the prison rooms also received their orders and altered their movements to fit the new operation plan.
The closer Cillin got to the warehouse, the more obvious the stench of blood became.
Judging from the smell of this blood, it was probably a human. The time of death wasn’t long, and it was only several minutes at best. Cillin’s fingers moved when he recalled the person who had earlier brushed past his shoulders. A blade had appeared soundlessly between his fingers.
Other than this warehouse, the doors of the remaining warehouses were all closed. The stench of blood had spread out of this open warehouse.
The stench of blood grew stronger and stronger, and there were bits and pieces of chewing sounds coming from inside as well. Judging from the sound, there were likely a lot of them.
He soundless appeared beside the cabin door and hid his presence. Although the interior of the building wasn’t lit, Cillin could see clearly the state of the man inside. The prison guard had been chewed almost down to bones, and he was surrounded by a dozen or so feeding mice-like creatures.
They looked like mice, but they did not have hair. Instead, their exterior was covered in a layer of metallic like armor. Its limbs were thicker, and its sharp claws could draw many deep marks on a person’s bones. The barb on its long tongue sc.r.a.ped layers of meat off the bones again and again as they fed.
Pak!
A soft sound surprised the feeding fellows inside. Amidst darkness, they looked outside the cabin door with scarlet eyes that shone with the light of madness and bloodthirst.
Swoosh swoosh swoosh swoos.h.!.+
Before those things could leap on their feet, Cillin had already tossed out the blades in his hands. These flying knives were all made of special materials, and they were about the same as the ones that had killed the ‘Skull King’ back then. However, these new ones were smaller, and the shape of the knives had been modified as well. The toxin inside the knives was also changed to a different kind.
The five knives struck five of the creatures directly. While those things had tough exterior armor, it wasn’t at the level where the flying knives could not penetrate their bodies. The creatures that were struck by the flying knives slowly turned into a pool of something that looked like water stain as they died. It was just a little stickier than usual, and the creature’s armor had long since melted along with its main body as well.
After taking out five of the creatures at once, Cillin raised his hand and popped out a half length wrist blade. The blade flashed around repeatedly, but the actual sound of split air was very thin. It was only when the blade struck those creatures that there was a slightly louder noise.
The several creatures who leaped towards him had all been slice in half cleanly. There were three creatures that had tried to escape, but they were nailed on the spot by Cillin with three flying knives and turned into water stains.
After he was done dealing with these creatures, Cillin then turned his head and looked towards a nearby corner of the pa.s.sage.
Before Cillin could say anything though, a person had walked out of the corner. The person appeared to be a little pet.i.te with a pair of small slanted mustache and a head wrapped in a scarf.
"Very sorry, I didn’t do it on purpose." the person’s tone seemed to say ‘sorry, I totally did it on purpose’.
The soft noises from earlier had been created purposely by this person. Their objective was to attract these creatures’ attention so that they would attack Cillin.