Chapter 176
Translator’s Notes: The punctuation mark below exists in the raw, so I kept it there. Personally I thought they look better without, but I seldom change the author’s punctuation mark choices unless it directly clashes against the English structure.
Also I couldn’t find a cool picture where satellites explode so you guys are gonna have to stick with Jiada acting cool for the meme instead.
Chapter 176: ‘Grim Reaper’s’ ‘G.o.dfather’ [Part 1]
Cillin chose a temporarily unmanned place that was slightly further away from the prison and used site-specific teleportation to appear there right away. As for the stars.h.i.+p, it kept a low profile and stayed invisible while hanging around in a certain area around the planet.
Cillin and Lung did not split up this time. Last time’s lesson taught them that every prison planet in Sector S was deadly. They would not be able to rescue the other party in time if they were far apart.
As for the gray cat and Scarlet Wind&h.e.l.lip;
"Wheeze, your main task this time is to bring Scarlet Wind around and familiarize him with a battlefield environment. Don’t act recklessly, and put concealment and observation as top priority." Cillin said.
"Observation?!" the gray cat’s whiskers straightened as it got ready to express its opinion, but when it thought of something, it said reluctantly while turning its ears backwards, "Alright."
"Teach some of your battlefield techniques to Scarlet Wind, especially regarding electronics and firearm equipment. The former environment he lived in did not have any of these. This shouldn’t be a big problem for you, right?"
"No problem." the gray cat answered with ears hanging downwards, "No problem."
Cillin pinched the hair at the back of its neck, lifted it to eye level and said, "Promise me you won’t act recklessly!"
"I promise!"
After briefing Scarlet Wind with two simple lines, he told them to put their own safety as their priority. If they were to die here he would ditch them, and if they caused any trouble they could forget coming together with them in the future too. They finally split up after acquiring their promises.
As Cillin watched the two swiftly departing figures, he sighed, "I can’t help but feel that those two are going to cause trouble."
"There shouldn’t be too much problems as long as they don’t attack first in such a chaotic environment. Plus, the two of them aren’t weak" Lung patted Cillin in the back, "Come on, let’s go see who we can run into this time."
The people appearing in Sector S this time weren’t people they could meet anytime they wanted beyond Sector S. They were always able to obtain some very important information during every thorough examination they conducted, and that was one of the reasons why Cillin and Lung had still chosen to come despite knowing the risks.
Cillin and Lung slowly infiltrated their way towards the prison. There were some people embroiled in a messy fight at some of the buildings near the prison. They were basically all convicts who had escaped from the prison. Their targets were beasts functioning as watchful guardians and robot guards. The prison guards were currently busy dealing with the internal matters inside the prison and could not be bothered with what was happening outside.
The duo carefully avoided the firefight between the convicts and the guards. A guardian beast discovered them along the way, but it was shot in the brain and killed by Cillin before it could manage a growl.
"Good shooting." Lung smiled.
"Good gun." Cillin withdrew his gun and continued to move stealthily.
The gun he was using was provided by Lung. The gun specially created by the Andrea Family was not something a normal gun could compare to.
The stench of blood was spreading everywhere. There was human blood, beast blood, and destroyed robots making sizzling sounds along the way.
Compared to the previous grade one prison, the defenses here were a lot more complicated. However, the collapse of the main defense system had nearly taken off the figurative arms of the prison. This made the prison guard’s task to control the situation a lot harder.
Cillin was walking towards the prison when he suddenly paused his footsteps and looked up sideways at a particular spot.
There were no overly tall buildings on a prison planet, but there were plenty of two to three storeys buildings. They were not normal civilian building, but rent buildings that were rented out at a high price to those people who came to visit the convicts, and temporary residence for material handlers. However, it wasn’t the time to resupply yet and there weren’t many visitors on the prison planet. Most of the buildings were empty, and right now they were completely trashed by the convicts, robots and guardian beasts.
Cillin made a hand gesture at Lung before moving towards a particular direction. There was a locked bathroom where he was headed.
Opening a lock like this was child’s play for Lung. He took out a decoder and, with a beep, quickly unlocked and opened the bathroom’s door. Cillin saw a young man drenched in blood inside the bathroom. Many parts of his body were penetrated, and they did not look like they were pierced by sharp weapons.
"I can’t believe he’s still breathing with a wound like this." Lung said after taking a look.
This person’s internal organs – especially his stomach – were severely injured. This was obvious upon sight of the wounds and the mucous membrane and small bits of flesh flowing out along with his blood. However, despite this degree of injuries the person’s life force was preserved and even looking to trend towards a recovery. The rate of his recovery was extremely slow, but it was recovering all the same.
"He doesn’t look like a convict here." Cillin looked at the person’s equipment, "Eh?"
Since there were many holes in the person’s body, Cillin saw a tattoo beside a b.l.o.o.d.y hole at his stomach. Cillin extended a hand and pulled open the clothes covering his stomach. The tattoo was mainly etched around the person’s waist.
It was the tattoo of an extremely sinister and eerie-looking b.u.t.terfly with wings of flowery patterns.
Ghost b.u.t.terfly!
Cillin and Lung matched eyes in both astonishment and puzzled.
They were astonished to find a Ghost b.u.t.terfly member appearing at such a place, and they were puzzled by the ident.i.ty of mysterious a.s.sailant who managed to hurt him. This person should be pretty strong judging from his const.i.tution.
While Cillin and Lung were puzzled, the young man sitting against the wall suddenly opened his eyes. The killing intent that erupted in an instant caused the surrounding temperature to drop sharply.
However, the killing intent quickly faded as the man stared doubtfully at Cillin and Lung.
"Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen?" Lung spoke up. There was the number seventeen inside the ghost b.u.t.terfly tattoo. It also represented his ident.i.ty.
This young man was none other than the Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen who had acted along with Ghost b.u.t.terfly Zero. After Ghost b.u.t.terfly Zero left, he had been lying low in the surroundings and waiting for the operation to begin. What he did not expect was that he himself would fall into trouble.
Seeing that Cillin and Lung hadn’t shown any killing intent despite knowing his ident.i.ty, and that they did not look like convicts who had escaped from prison, Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen nodded in response but said nothing. Right now he did not have the energy to speak, and the fact that he was barely starting to recover was a boon already.
"It doesn’t look like he can speak." Lung frowned, "His vocal cords aren’t damaged though."
Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen’s face twitched. Sure my vocal cords aren’t damaged, but my lungs and other organs are!
Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen glared at the duo. His eyes might not have had killing intent, but they did not look like they were going to help him either.
And so both parties glared at each other.
Not even the gunshots and sounds of fighting outside caused the trio to break eye contact.
Finally, Cillin moved his gaze and looked at Lung. When he saw Cillin’s gaze Lung clutched his chest and said, "With an animalistic const.i.tution like his a normal one is enough! It’s way too wasteful to use high grade medicine on him!"
"Alright, my normal medicine it is then." Cillin crouched and looked at Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen, "Let’s make a trade. I can give you this booster med, and it will boost your recovery rate. But in return, you’ll sign an IOU and buy this for one million credits each and tell us what’s going on around here. What do you think? Nod if you agree to this."
Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen’s face was a little stiff. One million for one normal booster medicine???
But Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen did not have a choice in the matter. His life was on the line, and the battle outside was fierce. If he didn’t run into Fourteen and the others, then he was absolutely going to die with his current recovery rate.
Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen’s face that was already pale from blood loss turned paler. He nodded while gritting his teeth and thought: Once I recover I’m gonna beat the two of you to death!
Cillin searched for the item before he finally took out a bottle of medicine, "This may be small, but its effects are pretty good."
Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen felt like committing suicide when he saw the tiny item in Cillin’s hand. Wasn’t the volume of a normal booster medicine one milliliter cube? Since when was it just ten microliters?!
That being said, while the medicine was little, its effects were pretty good. Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen was obviously recovering much faster after consuming the medicine.
Two minutes later, his wounds had already turned into scabs.
Lung couldn’t help but comment, "This truly is an animal’s const.i.tution!"
Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen rolled his eyes at the duo before standing up and taking in a deep breath. He felt a lot more comfortable now.
"All my equipment has been destroyed, and I do not have one million with me right now. What’s your name, and how do I contact you? I’ll send the money to you later."
"I was going to make you sign an IOU, but we can skip that process. With your ident.i.ty as Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen, I believe that the Blue b.u.t.terfly should be trustworthy. They are one of the great four after all." Cillin said with an expression of great tolerance while tossing him a nutrient pill. The man had exhausted too much strength after a boosted recovery, and he had to replenish his energy somewhat.
"Thanks." he swallowed it after accepting the pill. He was extremely strained right now.
"Not at all. That will be one hundred thousand credits."
"&h.e.l.lip;" Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen’s eyelids jumped again and again, "Fine, I’ll cough out your dough."
When he saw Cillin and Lung looking at him with a face that clearly said, ‘are you an idiot?’, Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen felt as if his IQ had degenerated alongside his injuries.
Translator’s Notes: I wanted to choose between 2 memes, with one unimpressive and two not quite in context. In the end, I decided to post both! Because one plus one equals awesome, right?
Chapter 176: ‘Grim Reaper’s’ ‘G.o.dfather’ [Part 2]
Deciding not to confuse himself with this issue any longer, and considering that the people making a din outside had subsided a little, Ghost b.u.t.terfly told the duo about his encounter.
Originally, they had planned the starting time of the operation. Once the clock started ticking, the convicts would break out from inside the prison while Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen provided them support from outside. There shouldn’t have been a large commotion if everything went according to plan. However, this confusion that had suddenly erupted completely screwed up their plans. After receiving Ghost b.u.t.terfly Fourteen’s news from inside the prison, Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen got ready to provide him support. However, along the way he encountered a person, got beaten into the state he was in, and some of his equipment had been destroyed as well. If he hadn’t escaped quickly he would’ve died there and then. After he escaped, he then hid himself inside this bathroom.
"Who’s the guy who hurt you?" Cillin asked.
"I don’t know. He was invisible. He was very strong." Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen answered.
"I’m surprised. You Blue b.u.t.terflies are imprisoned in just grade three prisons?" Lung rubbed his chin and said.
Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen obviously did not plan to talk further on the matter. He was now feeling a lot more spirited, and he expressed that he was going to find his companions and leave after wiping away the traces inside the bathroom.
"Oh right, since you’re already here, let me tell you something." before he left, Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen said, "There is a VIP in this grade three prison. He has probably come out by now. Take care and don’t offend him."
"Who is it?"
Cillin and Lung looked at Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen at once.
"Hunting Blade Jiada."
After parting ways with Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen, Cillin and Lung switched a new relatively hidden location to hide under and pondered about Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen’s words.
"What are you thinking?" Lung asked.
"There’s no blood." Cillin said.
"Ah?"
"You remember the time when we went looking for him? There was no blood on the ground. He did not bleed when he was escaping, and had only started bleeding when he was inside the bathroom. This meant that he could control the bleeding of his wounds. The bathroom door had also been processed. There are other scents that covered up the scent of blood. Not even a guardian beast could have sensed it."
"Someone from Blue b.u.t.terfly truly cannot be underestimated." after a pause, Lung asked again, "What are you going to do about Hunting Blade Jiada?"
"Let’s just go with the flow. Hopefully we won’t run into him, but even if we do, he shouldn’t raise a hand against small fries like us as long as we don’t offend him, right?"
While supporting his own head, Lung stretched his fingers through his hair and scratched, thinking, "I really didn’t think that other than Blue b.u.t.terfly, Hunting Blade Jiada would be here as well. If we were to query the convict data, we probably won’t find his records in it."
"Actually, I’m guessing that ‘Mist’ or ‘Merciless’ had a VIP hidden in that grade one prison from earlier too." Cillin said.
"It really is unexpected; to think that Sector S’ prisons had become their hiding spots."
"Are we still going in then? After all, you’re the employer of this mission to come to Sector S. The choice is yours." Cillin looked at Lung.
"Don’t you think it’ll be a huge shame to leave just like that? Let’s go. We have to clarify some things now that we’re already here, and even if we couldn’t, it is still very important for us to get some information."
Boom!
There was another explosion over at the prison.
"Come on, now’s our chance!"
Cillin and Lung seized the opportunity of the chaos created by the explosion to enter into the prison through a hole in the wall. The second he stepped into the prison, Lung suddenly felt discomfort all over his body. Cillin pulled Lung into an empty office. There was no one inside. The prison guards had all gone out to deal with the convicts.
"What’s going on? I’m feeling discomfort all over my body." Lung looked at the scanner and confirmed that there weren’t any other life forms around them. But he just couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable.
"Radioactive substances!!"
Upon hearing Cillin’s words, Lung hurriedly looked at the mini detector on his hand, "There are some radioactive rays and particles, but they are not within a threatening level. My detector would’ve sounded the alarm a long time ago if it was very serious."
Cillin felt the substances in the air around him before shaking his head, "There are radioactive substances in the air, and quite a lot of them too. However, they had gone through multiple radioactive decays and are no longer at a threatening level. The threatening period had already pa.s.sed."
Lung looked at the elements and degree of radiation displayed on his detector, "You’re saying that they’d mostly undergone radioactive decays already?"
A radioactive substance that had gone through a decay would transform into another kind of element. No wonder the data displayed on the detector was strange.
But how did it decay this quickly? It’s understandable if it’s just a small amount, but from what you say this is a huge amount of radioactive substances! I thought that the precise timing of decay of radioactive elements could not be estimated?"
"G.o.dfather!" Cillin said the name directly.
Lung’s entire body shuddered once, and with a gaping mouth he stared disbelievingly at Cillin. Then, he squatted on the ground and covered his face, "Cillin, why’s our luck so darn ‘good’?!"
‘G.o.dfather’ was a person. Twenty years ago, he discovered a method to control the time of decay of radioactive elements as a four star scholar in GAL research inst.i.tute. He was able to manipulate the activity in a radioactive element’s nucleus and cause the decay time to go according to his plans. At the time this research affected the entire GAL academic circle, but there were plenty of academicians – especially from GAL research inst.i.tute – that voiced out different opinions. Later on, when ‘G.o.dfather’s’ research claimed the lives of many innocent research personnel during the research process, the research was put under control.
‘G.o.dfather’ would escape along with his technology later and join the organisation ‘Grim Reaper’. Since he had always been an authority in the research of radioactive elements and decay, he was later given the t.i.tle of ‘G.o.dfather’.
‘G.o.dfather’ affected a lot of people. ‘Good’ or ‘evil’ aside, in terms of the research of elements the people greatly admired this ‘G.o.dfather’ for his work. There were no longer any news about ‘G.o.dfather’ after he joined the organisation ‘Grim Reaper’.
Since ‘G.o.dfather’ had brought with him his technology and research findings and joined the organisation ‘Grim Reaper’ no less, what could’ve won him a s.p.a.ce on the publication of absolute authority, ‘Code’, was waved away just like that.
If they were to talk about ‘G.o.dfather’, then they had to talk about ‘Grim Reaper’ as well. ‘Grim Reaper’ was an unconventional organisation. There was no such concept as good or evil in their dictionary, and they did not belong under the category of Hunters, adventurers or hitmen. Although the government labeled them as a ‘menace’, they still had plenty of supporters in GAL. The reason for that was their power – their absolute power.
Although Blue b.u.t.terfly’s average individual combat strength was the highest among all Hunter regiments, they could only submit in defeat when compared to ‘Grim Reaper’. That being said, not everyone within ‘Grim Reaper’ had incredible individual combat strength. For example, ‘G.o.dfather’ had poor combat strength since his expertise were leaned towards academics. Overall, every person in ‘Grim Reaper’ had their own familiar field of expertise and absolute authority there. It was just that they applied this authority with real action.
Radioactive decay, system hacking, destruction of defenses and an unknown combat strength. ‘Grim Reaper’ was even more of a headache to both the government and the military when compared to ‘Mist’ and ‘Merciless’. At least ‘Mist’ and ‘Merciless’ were simpler to define – hitman organisations, right? – but this wasn’t the case with ‘Grim Reaper’. They could roleplay a hitman, a Hunter or an academician too.
However, the amount of activities from ‘Grim Reaper’ had been pitiful as of late. Cillin’s generation and his father’s generation had only heard of ‘Grim Reaper’ as an ent.i.ty in legends.
But now&h.e.l.lip;
"That’s it. It has to be ‘Grim Reaper’. The instantaneous destruction of the satellite array earlier was probably their work as well." Cillin sighed. Ever since he arrived at Sector S, the amount of sighs he let out had obviously increased.
"Why did ‘Grim Reaper’ come here?"
"Who knows? Just like how no one would’ve expected that ‘Mist’ and ‘Merciless’ would appear in a mere grade one prison, all those people who should be appearing at grade five prison planets were all popping up at unexpected places."
Cillin sent a message to the gray cat. Since the situation on this planet had gotten even more complicated than before, he had to warn them one more time.
The gray cat quickly replied his message. They had found a food storing warehouse, and there were still some fresh food in it. They were currently eating&h.e.l.lip;
Lung’s mouth twitched upon seeing the gray cat’s reply.
"Screw it. We’re not returning empty handed at least!" Lung adjusted the parameters of his mini detector and said, "Let’s go rob a profit while it’s chaotic!"
"What are we robbing?"
"Energy blocks!"
The amount of energy needed to maintain the defenses of a grade three prison was quite a lot compared to a grade one prison. Therefore, the amount of energy storage here should correspond accordingly as well.
"The fresh food supplies on the stars.h.i.+p are getting low too. After we got the energy blocks, we’ll go to Wheeze’s location to collect some food supplies, just in case we get delayed by whatever that might happen later and couldn’t find food."
Nutrient pills were seriously unpalatable. There was absolutely no way Lung would want to live his life eating them.
After making their plans and enlarging the scan to acquire the prison’s overall layout, Cillin and Lung picked a route and headed towards the storage room containing the energy blocks directly.
What was strange was that the closer they got to the energy storage room, the fewer the people they encountered along the way. This was because most of the people who survived long enough to come here were dead. There were plenty of dead people lying on the ground of the pa.s.sage leading towards the energy block storage room, but no fatal wounds could be found on the surface of their bodies. All of the wounds that were visible had been inflicted by them upon each other.