The eyes of the people standing behind Parker bulged so much it looked like they would roll off their eye sockets at any moment. None of them had any idea why the gun suddenly dismantled itself. The guy who pulled out the gun in particular felt sweat dripping down his forehead bit by bit. He had never encountered something this strange since the day he joined the underworld. For a time, everyone was on high alert.
Parker waved his hand and smiled at Cillin. “Please excuse my subordinates’ foolishness. I hope we haven’t offended you.”
He didn’t see it, but he knew. Cillin had dismantled the gun at such high speed that none of them was able to see his movement.
Who was this guy? When did he appear in his domain?
At any rate, Parker had no intentions of probing Cillin more than was necessary and risk waking a sleeping tiger, especially not now. Cillin hadn’t displayed any hostility toward him so far, and he intended to keep it that way.
Parker didn’t freeze up just because he was in thought. Smiling, he motioned for the gunner to apologize to Cillin. Without hesitation, the gunner a.s.sumed a humble posture before withdrawing to the back. He wiped the sweat on his forehead only after he was out of sight, but he definitely wasn’t going to calm down anytime soon.
“It’s fine. As I said earlier, please ignore me and continue your conversation,” Cillin said uncaringly.
Parker faced toward Sha Rou after getting permission from Cillin. He didn’t know what was the relations.h.i.+p between the stranger and Sha Rou yet, so he forced a smile that was a lot more sincere than the one he usually wore and said in a quiet voice, “You’re the one who killed the three guys in the alley, right? They didn’t wear a mark, but just in case I wanted you to know that they’re related to the small bosses at Myriad Sea City. Also, don’t worry, you haven’t broken any rules or anything. Those f.u.c.kers got what they deserved for trying to cause trouble in my domain.”
Sha Rou let out a hidden sigh of relief when she heard the second half of his conversation. The big bosses of Myriad Sea City and Fox Wolf had been trying to recruit her into their gang for a long time, but she never agreed to any of them. She had made a couple of deals with both sides in private and a.s.sa.s.sinated some targets for them, but that was the extent of her relations.h.i.+p with both gangs. It was because she didn’t dare to get too involved with either gang, much less offend them. Earlier, she was worried that Parker might threaten her and force her to join their gang, but it seemed like that wasn’t the case, at least not now. The only question left was whether that was his intention from the beginning, or he changed his mind after Cillin’s display of power.
“Anyway, make sure you stay alert. As of late things have been rather noisy at Myriad Sea City, and the planetary government are keeping a close watch on everyone. Less action, more caution.”
“Got it. Thanks for informing me, boss,” Sha Rou said. Parker was one of the people she erred on the side of caution in her dealings.
“Okay. Now then, allow me to excuse myself.”
Parker rose to his feet, pulled his cloak around himself and left with his men. It was only after he went upstairs did he realize that his back was drenched in ice cold sweat. If he wasn’t wearing a cloak, his men would surely have realized that he wasn’t nearly as calm as he appeared to be.
Parker contacted someone on his communicator. “I want you to investigate this person.”
He tried to send an image of Cillin to the other person, but he quickly discovered that the security footages of the restaurant were all gone. In fact, not a single image of Cillin could be found anywhere.
After Parker left, Sha Rou went to a medicine shop first instead of leading Cillin to s.h.i.+ Tang immediately. This was the real reason she came to the city; to restock on s.h.i.+ Tang’s medicine.
“Aren’t you curious about my relations.h.i.+p with Fox Wolf?” Sha Rou asked.
“I looked into it briefly, but found no need to conduct an in-depth investigation.”
Cillin could actually see his old self—back when he was still a Shadow Hunter—in Sha Rou. If this was GAL, then Sha Rou would’ve been an excellent Hunter in a good Hunter regiment a long time ago. Unfortunately, she was born in the Mist Bodhisattva Empire.
Sha Rou’s questions regarding the stranger only grew as time pa.s.sed. He was obviously very young, but something just didn’t feel right about him. He seemed harmless on the outside, but that couldn’t be further away from the truth. In fact, even the arrogant Parker hadn’t dared to do anything untoward against the young man, effectively dissuading her from hatching her own plans of resistance before they came to fruition. Oh well, anything is fine if this guy really can get big brother the treatment he needs.
They got into a flying public transport until they reached a certain stop. Then, Sha Rou made her way to a medicine shop like she had done this a hundred times already. The shop owner greeted her with a smile the moment he saw her. “Here to buy medicine again?”
“Yeah, the same last time, please.”
The shop owner recognized Sha Rou because she always purchased his medicine. However, Cillin was definitely an unfamiliar face. He examined him for a moment but quickly lost interest. He then beckoned a service robot to bring him the medicine Sha Rou ordered.
After the transaction was complete, Sha Rou wrapped the medicine in wrappings carefully before bidding the shop owner goodbye.
“Can I see the meds?” Cillin asked suddenly after they exited the medicine shop.
Sha Rou thought for a moment before pa.s.sing it to him. She didn’t think that Cillin would try to sabotage the meds because one, the meds weren’t worth much money, and two Cillin didn’t look like a poor person. It should hardly matter to him at all.
Cillin accepted the medicine bottle and gave it a sniff. A flash immediately pa.s.sed through his eyes. Even the gray cat on his shoulders had frozen in mid-yawn.
Wheeze had accompanied Cillin on many journeys now, and while it couldn’t claim to be a master of much knowledge at all, it was definitely getting better and better at evaluating the value of certain commodities. In this case, it could tell that Sha Rou had paid the shop owner less than a bag of new-flavored fish biscuits’ worth of money, but the actual medicine she got… was easily worth more than 50 bags of fish biscuits!
The prices in the city was hardly inexpensive. Although it wasn’t as expensive as it was at the city center, the price difference was minor at best. Naturally, the prices of medicine was the same. So why was Sha Rou charged so much less than what the medicine was actually worth?
Cillin only needed a sniff to know what level of medicine it was. He proceeded to check every medicine Sha Rou bought before giving it back to her. He didn’t say anything.
“Is something wrong?” Sha Rou asked uncertainly. Cillin’s actions seemed odd, but she never noticed anything wrong with the medicines she bought. In fact, they were very effective. Without them, her big brother would’ve pa.s.sed away a long time ago.
“It’s nothing. Is there anything else you need to do? If no, then let’s visit your big brother now,” Cillin said,
Sha Rou was still suspicious, but she didn’t press further. “Okay. I don’t have anything else to do for now.”
Sha Rou was planning to sell off the stuff she looted from the three men earlier, but after Parker gave her that warning she thought that it might be better if she took that warning to heart. She could make money after it was safe to do so.
Sha Rou didn’t notice that Cillin was tapping something on his communicator and sending the robots new instructions. The situation had turned out to be more complicated than he thought when he first arrived. No wonder s.h.i.+ Tang was able to survive this long despite his condition. But who is this mysterious mastermind?
He didn’t bother asking Sha Rou or s.h.i.+ Tang. There was zero chance they would know considering the troubles this mastermind went through to conceal their presence, so it was up to him to investigate this himself.
At the city entrance, Cillin got to relive the experience of a person of a lower cla.s.s. The attendants looked like they couldn’t stand to provide them their services, and their gazes were especially disdainful when they looked at people who rode in trains instead of their own flying cars.
Sha Rou sneaked a glance at Cillin but noticed that the young man was completely unaffected by the gazes. She was impressed. It looked like all amazing people had the ability to remain calm on the outward no matter how they actually felt on the inside. For example, there were times she knew that Parker was scared out of his living wits, but she could never pick up a sign from his appearance. Sha Rou decided that she could stand to improve a lot more in this department.
The trains heading out of the city was really s.h.i.+tty. It was cramped, it was smelly, and people were arguing with each other and busting out the swear words everywhere. A huge majority of them were aliens. Some were slaves who were given leave to visit their relatives, and some were civilians who lived outside the cities.
A lot of them were pretty good fighters, and even if fighting wasn’t their specialty they usually had other advantages. However, they were very satisfied with their current lifestyle and had no intentions of changing it. Sure they were slaves, but if they were obedient, willing to put in the work and had the good fortune of serving a good master, their living standards could be better than even the average citizen inside the city.
In the compartment he was in, Cillin watched as an alien boasted about a “gem” his master gifted him. The people around him were clearly green with envy and greed. If the alien themselves didn’t look like a good fighter, they would’ve beaten their a.s.s and claimed the “gem” for themselves already.
Wheeze shot the “gem” that wasn’t even bigger than its paw pad before closing its eyes. Inside its mind, it muttered: that thing isn’t even half as attractive as half a bag of fish biscuits.
When they exited the city, it was as if they had traveled to a different s.p.a.cetime. The tall buildings and bustling cities they saw a moment ago faded away like mirages and were replaced by ruin-like structures.
Some of the people inside the compartment started howling when they saw their family’s residential areas. Most of them were slaves who hadn’t left the city for years at last.
There were people getting off the train at every stop, and those who could fly literally took to the air and flew toward their homes like they couldn’t wait even a second longer. Sha Rou seemed to be affected by their emotion as well as she grew visibly anxious the closer they got to their homes.
“Do you want me to take out the mice, Cillin?” Wheeze asked Cillin covertly.
“No, it’s fine. Let them follow.”
“Fine.” Wheeze kneaded its paws reluctantly. My claws are itching again.
Sha Rou rushed out of the train the second they arrived at the stop while Cillin followed leisurely behind her. He wasn’t worried that something would happen to s.h.i.+ Tang because his robots were protecting him right this moment.Chapter 314: Which Wheeze and Cillin, Exactly? Part 2Chapter 314: Which Wheeze and Cillin, Exactly? [Part 2]
s.h.i.+ Tang and Sha Rou’s home was quite big. In fact, everyone who lived in this secluded ruins enjoyed huge living s.p.a.ces because of one reason: most of the soil at this place contained radioactive elements, toxic substances or both, so anyone who wished to live here must possess the knowledge to neutralize both threats.
s.h.i.+ Tang and Sha Rou’s home was s.h.i.+elded as a matter of course. Otherwise, they would be dead in less than half a year.
It was a short but wide building that occupied hundreds of square meters of land. At first glance it didn’t look like anything special, but a person of the trade would notice that the machines that were a.s.sembled from shoddy materials were pretty functional.
Sha Rou was just giving s.h.i.+ Tang his medicines when Cillin entered the building. The young man holding a cup and downing the medicines was less than twenty years old, and yet he was as thin as bones, as pale as death, and almost completely bald. His eyes looked horribly sunken, and his nostrils had traces of unwiped blood because he suffered uncontrollable nosebleeds every time his illness worsens. His skin also darkened when his illness worsens, said Sha Rou.
Sha Rou talked to s.h.i.+ Tang about Cillin, and the latter took his time to gather his thoughts. Although his complexion looked terrible, Cillin could sense a kind of obsession residing in his sunken eyes. If Cillin hadn’t promised that he would take them away from this planet, s.h.i.+ Tang most likely would’ve rejected his offer.
He didn’t want Sha Rou to risk her life in the cities anymore.
Cillin didn’t press s.h.i.+ Tan to answer immediately, taking his time to observe the interior of the building. There were plenty of old electrical equipment in the house, and most of them were probably discarded machines that s.h.i.+ Tang took back home from the garbage yard to sell for money. Unlike Sha Rou, s.h.i.+ Tang didn’t have the health to venture into the city and make a living.
Suddenly, Cillin’s gaze stopped at an old, modified microcomputer. It was probably wrong to call it a microcomputer because it was five or six times bigger than the standard microcomputer due to a tonne of modification.
In the past, repairing broken electrical equipment was s.h.i.+ Tang’s only source of income. After Cillin’s “Return” forum appeared, he found a new source of income via answering some of the bounty questions posted in the forums. It also came with the benefit of being able to watch the debates of industrial experts and absorb knowledge from it.
There was also a drawing board with a lot of formulas written on it. Through them Cillin could see that s.h.i.+ Tang possessed deep understanding in the topic and great computational skills.
It was at this moment Cillin’s wrist communicator vibrated once. He looked down, pressed a b.u.t.ton and read the encoded message the robot he sent away on an investigation left him.
“I want to know why you picked me,” s.h.i.+ Tang said. He wasn’t one of those stubborn and reclusive researchers; he was well accustomed to many worldly affairs.
“You possess the potential.” Cillin pointed at the second formula on the drawing board. “The fact that you are using this formula means that you’re halfway to success.”
s.h.i.+ Tang paused. “Forgive me for being suspicious, but I just couldn’t believe that someone would offer us such fantastic conditions. We’ve lived here for over a decade, but no one has ever made us an offer like this until now, especially because I’ve never received a proper education in my life, not even primary level education. I don’t think that anyone will acknowledge someone like me.”
It was true that the current academia valued one’s educational credentials very much, so much that they overlooked countless young talent because of it. It was one of the issues Cillin had pointed out with greater criticism than normal during the presentation at San Calombo.
Cillin waited until s.h.i.+ Tang was done speaking before grabbing a medicine bottle. “Do you know what this medicine is?”
s.h.i.+ Tang looked at Sha Rou, but Sha Rou looked just as confused as he was. He answered, “I’m not familiar with medicine. Sha Rou’s the one who’s been buying my meds all this time.”
Every once in a while, Sha Rou would travel to the city to stock up on s.h.i.+ Tang’s medicine, but that was just one of her objectives in the city. s.h.i.+ Tang had no idea that she was secretly dealing with gangs like Myriad Sea City and Fox Wolf, just as he had no idea that his younger sister had killed over hundreds of people for the past decade.
Cillin knew this because Sha Rou told him to keep it secret earlier. Just when Sha Rou was wondering worriedly that Cillin might break his promise, he continued, “Do you know how much these medicines really worth?”
He pointed at the rest of the medicines on the table. “You can buy a good flying car with them.”
Clack!
s.h.i.+ Tang’s metal cup hit the floor with a clang as he turned to stare at Sha Rou in shock. Since when were they rich enough to afford such expensive medicines?! However, he immediately realized that his sister was wearing the same expression as him.
“How can this be?” Sha Rou murmured in a daze.
“What I’m trying to say is that someone has been keeping taps on you all this time. These medicines are so-so in terms of effectiveness: not good enough to heal you, but good enough to keep you alive. I probably don’t need to tell you how dangerous the electromagnetic fields, radiations and other hazards you’re exposed to every time you conduct your experiments, not to mention that you barely have any safety measures in place at all.”
Sha Rou and s.h.i.+ Tang abruptly recalled the day they bought these medicines three years ago. At the time they found the new medicines they bought surprisingly effective compared to the others, and they had stuck to the same medication since. This meant that this mysterious person had been keeping taps on them for three years at minimum, and they had no idea about it until Cillin told them!
Sha Rou jumped to her feet. “Who was it? Was it Fox Wolf? Or was it Myriad Sea City? What do they want with my brother’s research?!”
Even s.h.i.+ Tang knew how powerful the people of Fox Wolf and Myriad Sea City were. The best way to break ties with them was to not get involved with them in the first place.
“No wonder… no wonder I was able to find those materials… hehehe… it was all a setup from the beginning.” s.h.i.+ Tang clutched his pain in agony. The reason he literally risked his life to conduct his research was in hopes of escaping the environment and life they were stuck in, but now he was told that he had been living in the hands of those slavers since a long time ago! How could he possibly swallow his fury knowing this!?
The worst part was that their mysterious “backer” watched them, but didn’t provide them with the research conditions and environment he really needed to conduct his research. This meant that they didn’t really value him, and that the “help” was more like charity than anything. Oh, your research looks pretty interesting. I suppose I can toss you a bone or two.
The atmosphere in the house turned gloomy instantly. s.h.i.+ Tang didn’t fully trust Cillin either. It was because he thought that he was the same as those slavers who discriminated against aliens.
Wheeze flicked its ears before yawning in boredom. Suddenly, it looked at the shabby microcomputer s.h.i.+ Tang used and asked, “Hey s.h.i.+… s.h.i.+… well whatever. I’m bored, so let me play on your microcomputer for a bit, okay? Don’t worry about me and just enjoy your conversation.”
s.h.i.+ Tang’s head was a mess right now, so he paid the gray cat no heed. Wheeze took his silence as affirmation and jumped off Cillin’s shoulder, climbing up the table and sitting in front of the shabby microcomputer. It then pressed a couple of keys and entered the login page to “Return”. It was an act; it could obviously manipulate the machine data without physical contact, but it didn’t want to show it off in front of outsiders.
Wheeze grew angry when it saw what was going on in its category.
“Meow dammit! I’m only gone for a couple of days, and these b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are already threatening to overthrow me!?” Wheeze shook its tail in annoyance.
s.h.i.+ Tang finally looked at Wheeze because it was worried that the cat would damage its one and only microcomputer. However, he was astonished when he saw the screen.
“You frequent ‘Return’ too?” s.h.i.+ Tang stared at Wheeze curiously before walking over for a closer look. The second he saw the login ID and the blinking image on the screen, he froze like a statue.
“Whebeze?” s.h.i.+ Tang almost stuttered out the syllables. He could hardly believe his own eyes.
If there could only be one famous person in the free style debate category, then Whebeze had to be it. There was no one hadn’t heard of “Whebeze” because they were the legendary figure who “argued” with a couple of legendary academicians until they fainted from sheer frustration since the foundation of the forum. A lot of people guessed that Whebeze was a member of the RAS, but no one in the RAS confirmed nor denied the suspicions. It was because they would be dragging their own reputation through the mud if they admitted that Whebeze wasn’t an affiliate of theirs, and contributing to the cases of civilian experts scoring one over a well known researcher. Therefore, a lot of people mistakenly thought silence as tacit admission.
But now, s.h.i.+ Tang felt like someone had nailed a hammer to his head? Was this cat really the legendary “Whebeze”? The legendary figure who had hordes of fans cheering them from behind every time they entered a debate? Really?!
s.h.i.+ Tang’s face scrunched together in disbelief again and again.
The person—or rather the cat in question itself paid s.h.i.+ Tang’s reaction no heed because it was busy arguing with the “dissenters”. Its appearance caused the already lively free style debate area to explode in population in an instant, and countless people were still pouring in from other categories.
s.h.i.+ Tang had no choice but to believe that Whebeze really was a cat after seeing this.
However, his attention was quickly pulled toward the ongoing debate. Every time he was engaged in a purely academic argument, he could literally feel the adrenaline in his body pumping into his vein. It was just such an exciting atmosphere! Severely underpriced medicine? Mysterious mastermind? None of it mattered to s.h.i.+ Tang anymore as he immersed himself completely in the debate.
“Oh my meow, this old fool is still denying his mistake! His matrix equation is wrong, dammit! Cillin, we need to punish him severely! Senior professor my a.s.s, more like incompetent con artist!” Wheeze complained while typing the correct matrix equation with its paws.
Cillin?
Cillin!!?
Out of all the names in s.h.i.+ Tang’s dictionary, the name “Cillin” was absolutely among the top. It was to the point where his mind went boom the second he heard it from the gray cat.
“Wh… which Cillin?” s.h.i.+ Tang’s contorted features loosened. His words were rapid and br.i.m.m.i.n.g with excitement.
No footage of the presentation at the twenty third star region had been transmitted, or more accurately no existing footage had survived the clean up. As a result, no one—not even in Return—had ever seen a photo or video of Cillin. It became a legendary name that many insiders heard of, but no one had ever seen before.
However, those who attended the San Calombo academic presentation in person and listened to the whole thing would sometimes speak of the content that was deleted from public eyes. To many people—especially those oppressed young researchers who were stuck at the bottom and dreaming impossible dreams—Cillin was a living myth of the academia.
s.h.i.+ Tang’s breathing grew more and more rapid. Even before Return was founded, s.h.i.+ Tang had already heard of Cillin. At the time, his name was only spread in localized areas and specific industries, especially those that dabbled in the research of virus. But after the latter half of the presentation was spread by mouth, more and more people started to hear about the man named Cillin. Then, Return entered the world and caused another storm in the academia and made Cillin into the idol of countless aspiring youngsters. Even Sha Rou, an outsider in regards to the academia had heard of Cillin from s.h.i.+ Tang; a man who achieved many great things despite being only a couple of years older than them.
While s.h.i.+ Tang was pumping with excitement, Cillin suddenly look to the entrance and asked, “Why are you skulking behind the dorr? Come in already.”
A round, mechanical head poked through the gap. Then, Moon walked in with a body language that oozed embarra.s.sment.
“h.e.l.lo, I heard that it’s customary to bring gifts when visiting someone’s home the first time, so, please accept this,” Moon said “politely”.
Cillin felt a muscle twitch in his face. He could have sworn that he had seen Moon’s “gift” from somewhere.