Wheeze lazily opened half its eyes when it heard Cillin’s question. It slowly let out a yawn before asking back, “What did you say?”
Cillin pointed at its back again before repeating, “What is that behind your back?”
“My back?” Suddenly, Wheeze felt a bit of itch creeping up its back again, so it tilted its head and tried to scratch it with its hind paw. It was then it finally noticed… them.
A changed, high-pitched cat squeal shattered the silence of the field. The alien beasts that just calmed down not long ago went ballistic once more.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?!”
The crew immediately recognized who the squeal belonged to, so they started looking high and low for the gray cat. Xingfu’s people on the other hand were not, so their bodyguards reflexively formed a protective formation around their charge instead.
Wheeze had grown two boring, gray lumps behind its back. It didn’t know what it was, but after it awakened they started stretching further and further until they resembled a pair of…
Wings?
Cillin was curious. Wheeze had said something about flying in the past, but he didn’t think that it would actually come true. Still… Cillin shot a skeptical glance at Wheeze’s round, fat body. Can it really fly with a belly this humongous?
Moreover, the gray cat’s wings had fur instead of feathers; the same ugly gray fur that covered its body.
Wheeze’s wings expanded even further during the short time he was thinking to himself, and now they were big enough to cover itself many times over. Grinning like a fool, Wheeze was so engrossed in caressing its own wings that it had abandoned even its bag of fish biscuits.
“How did you grow your wings?” Cillin asked.
“I wanted it to happen, and so it did!” Wheeze hopped, skipped and flapped its wings loudly as it declared. Boasts aside it didn’t know the answer to that question itself, only that it had been dreaming of growing a pair of wings as of late until it became a reality.
I should dream of an entire s.h.i.+p of fish biscuits this time, Wheeze thought to itself seriously, hopefully, it won’t take too long to come true.
Cillin said, “Well, you may as well try flying now. See if you can get used to your wings.”
“Sure!”
Wheeze shook its entire body, raised its head and straightened its tail. Then, it started flapping its wings!
Once… twice… thrice...
Two whole minutes of nothing later, Cillin finally couldn’t hold back any longer and commented, “You are trying to fly, not riding a bicycle! How are you going to do that when your wing flaps are completely out of sync!?”
After stopping Wheeze from continuing its futile attempts, he crouched in front of it and raised his arms. “Look at my arms and follow my movement. Now, up… down… up… down…”
Wheeze understood what Cillin was saying, but its new wings were a bit harder to control than it imagined. It took a while, but after some practicing it was finally able to keep its wings in sync. The results were immediate, and its feet slowly left the ground.
“Oh my meow—”
Cillin allowed Wheeze to fly freely and unevenly for a moment, but it wasn’t long before he noticed that the cat was forgetting itself, so he cried out a warning, “Focus!”
His worry was proven to be correct. Wheeze was so pleased with itself that it completely forgot that it was still a beginner, so when it tried to fly to where the crew was to show off its new ability, a sudden gust of wind knocked it out of balance and caused it to drop like a rock. It was unable regain its balance either because it wasn’t familiar with the motor control yet. It landed right on top of a napping alien beast who sensed it too late, knocking it out instantly.
The appalling sight didn’t escape the notice of the rest of the alien beasts, and they immediately categorized Wheeze as a deadly threat. Since then, they ran like crazy every time they saw a suspicious shape in the sky. If the fields weren’t as big as they were, the commotions would’ve caused an accident already.
“Is… is that…?” A stupefied Cary asked Eudy when he saw a familiar shape rising to the sky and scaring all nearby alien beasts while doing so.
“It’s Wheeze alright.”
“Cats don’t have wings, do they?”
“Normally, yeah. But that fatty is anything but normal.”
“When birds fly, they soar. But this cat? It looks more like a paddling duck than anything, and a fat one at that.” Cary said with a laugh as he pointed at Wheeze.
“Well, one way or another I foresee a perilous future for all of us,” Eudy replied with a sigh.
Cary could understand that sentiment completely.
Now that Wheeze could fly, Moon and Sigma decided to join in on the fun and get it adapted to its wings while they were playing. Absolutely envious of its peers, s...o...b..ll leaned against a fence, bit its paw and stared melancholically at the sky until Tang Qiuqiu finally couldn’t stand it any longer and tossed it a hoverboard.
Meanwhile, Cillin had resumed his call with Lung and pointed his communicator to the sky, saying, “See that? That cat is too busy to talk with you right now.”
When Lung caught the blurry image in the sky and learned that Wheeze had grown a pair of wings, he immediately cried out in an excited tone, “Oh my G.o.d, can you please tell sir cat to show its face for just a moment? I’ve never seen a cat with wings before!”
So Cillin called Wheeze over to say hi to Lung. That was exactly what Wheeze did—say hi and nothing else—before flying away again to catch birds with Moon.
Both Wheeze and Moon absolutely possessed the speed to catch up to the bird they were chasing, but they intentionally stayed ten centimeters behind its b.u.t.t and took a swipe at it from time to time, teasing it. The poor thing was terrified as a matter of course.
“Heh, it looks like the cats I got aren’t qualified to serve sir cat anymore. I’ll see if I can get a flying molly from somewhere,” Lung said in a serious tone that didn’t fit the subject at all.
“Seriously? Do you really have nothing to do?” Cillin asked.
“Of course not!” Lung grumbled. In fact, every time he thought about it, he felt like his stomach was turning into a cesspit of stress. However, instead of spilling his complaints on the spot, he looked behind Cillin before shooting the hunter a look. “Let’s get you to a more private location first.”
The good news was that Cillin was on the Andrea Family’s property right now. Lung instructed a subordinate to guide Cillin to a secure room so that their conversation couldn’t be leaked.
On the other side, Xingfu was starting to get a measure of Cillin’s worth when he saw a manager guiding the hunter into a building respectfully. It was clear that Cillin was far more important to young master Lung than Fen Yuzuo, so the young man wanted to forge a good relations.h.i.+p with him. He didn’t want to rely on his grandmother and aunt for everything, especially since neither of them were in a particularly good position right now. The chaos was both a boon and a curse to everyone. That was why he wanted to decrease his dependence on them and build his own social network.
Back to Cillin, the hunter inspected the safety measures around him after being led to a room that looked like a study. It wasn’t long before he determined that it was very secure.
“Things aren’t exactly peaceful with the hunters right now, are they?” Lung asked.
“Yeah. In fact, the conflicts are escalating, and Vanguard will probably engage Heaven’s Birth in open war very soon. What about you?”
“What else? No one can live easy in this new era.” Lung’s expression turned serious. “Anyway, I wanted to tell you that h.e.l.l has broken out within the military. You know that the Eight Marshals are currently divided, right? Well, what we didn’t tell the public is that the Four Heavenly Edict Generals have decreased to just three.”
It had been a while since Cillin was stunned beyond words. A Heavenly Edict General, dead? Forget their personal guards, every Heavenly Edict General was a natural disaster of their own, It was no easy feat to defeat a warrior of their caliber at all, much less kill them. For example, Cillin managed to kill Oskulos only because a number of factors happened to favor him. In fact, he would’ve died if Wheeze and Czedow hadn’t intervened in time. Strictly speaking, the kill belonged to all three of them.
“Do you know who’s the killer?” Lung said in a mysterious tone.
“Who is it?”
“It’s Si Huang.”
“Si Huang, who?” Cillin asked in puzzlement.
“Oh right, you haven’t heard of him yet. He does like to keep a low profile. Si Huang is the guy in Grim Reaper, if you get what I mean.” Lung lifted his thumb to emphasize the point. “Usually you’ll never hear about him, and when you do it’ll be something crazy like killing a Heavenly Edict General. It’s why the power balance within the military is completely broken right now. The Eight Marshals are divided, and the Ci Family and Yu Family currently hold the upper hand because they both have a Heavenly Edict General of their own. The third and last Heavenly Edict General is lying low because one, none of his family members work for the Eight Marshals and two, his doesn’t have the military power to compete against anyone of them. Still, he does possess plenty of non-military power, and he’s smart enough to avoid the Ci Family and Yu Family before they set their sights on him, so he should be fine.”
The Ci Family was the family Ci Jincheng belonged to, and the Yu Family was most likely the family Yu Linglong belonged to.
Both families possessed powerful connections and social networks within the military, politics, business and academia. They were also supported by a Heavenly Edict General, so it was only natural that they came out ahead.
Moreover, a Heavenly Edict General wasn’t just famed for their individual strength. It was their connections and deterrence that really put their enemies on their toes and rallied more people under their cause. It was no wonder that the third Heavenly Edict General had willingly chosen to step out of their way.
“You probably don’t need me to tell you how deep the waters between the eight forces are right now, so all I’m going to say is that avoid getting involved with them as much as you could. Don’t involve yourself with those who wishes to get involved either, because they are just the military’s cannon fodders. ‘The military is far stronger than everyone imagined’—that was what Ci Jincheng and Knight told me before, and I’m pa.s.sing their advice to you now.”
“Understood. I’m already plenty busy as it is, and my newly built squadron is still pretty small. I won’t take on jobs my squadron can’t handle.”
Their conversation only lasted an hour, but there was enough content to keep Cillin busy for a very, very long time. Most of these information were impossible for him to acquire in a short time—the Andrea Family’s was well deserved—and while he was sure that Ji Feng already knew about them, the admiral was in no way obligated or compelled to tell him anything. That being said, he probably wasn’t expecting Cillin to learn all these top secret information from Lung either.
“Lastly, beware of the Yu Family and stay away from them, Cillin. Yu Linglong might not attack you, but the same couldn’t be said for the rest of the family…”
That was the last thing he said to Cillin before ending the call. The hunter was aware that Lung had left many things unsaid, but he could guess some of them just by reading between the lines.
This really was the age of chaos.
After the call was over, Cillin stayed in the secure room for a bit to organize all the information he learned so far.
Si Huang, the Grim Reaper. That organization were as mysterious and powerful as ever.
Grim Reaper hadn’t sent anyone to contact him, but Cillin was pretty sure that Jiada had already learned of his return. They were probably waiting to take care of their business in GAL before seeking him out again, and they likely didn’t believe that he could shoot for the moon in a foreign galaxy in just a couple of years.
He was correct. The reason Grim Reaper had stayed quiet despite learning of Cillin’s return was exactly because they planned to settle their business first. Although Si Huang had taken out a Heavenly Edict General, they still had a lot of problems that they needed to deal with, first and foremost the web of people that was tied to every Heavenly Edict General.
Jiada was currently away from Grim Reaper right now. It was rumored among the hunters that the man would be succeeding Oskulos as the new solo hunter and Six Stars of Hunt.
If the situation within the military was a mess, how much better could the hunters possibly be faring?
When Cillin finally exited the building, he saw Wheeze attempting to catch a mole-like creature.
The gray cat immediately flew over to him when it saw him. Now that it had gotten in some practice, its flight seemed a lot stabler than before.
Wheeze was lacking in some ways, but Cillin knew that it was even better than Moon at feigning innocence sometimes. He bet no one knew that Wheeze was listening in on his private conversation with Lung while it was practicing its flight.
“You done eavesdropping? Then make sure to keep it a secret and tell no one about it,” Cillin said.
Wheeze dumped the seemingly listless prey on the ground. The moment it hit the ground, the mole-like creature immediately dug a hole and vanished in the blink of an eye.
“Do you foresee a lot of trouble? I don’t really think they’re worth worrying, but worse comes to worst we can always run back to master grandpa two.”
It was getting better and better at addressing his maser that.
Cillin’s only response to that was a smile. When you were trapped in a whirlpool this large, some things were just unavoidable. It wasn’t necessarily all bad, however. As the saying goes, heroes are born in troubled times. This was a good opportunity to find some good seeds and bolster the Eleventh Squadron’s strength.
For now though, let’s focus on the present, Cillin thought to himself while shooting a glance at Xingfu’s direction. Now that he had Xingfu’s attention, he should be able to make it to Sector S a lot quicker than antic.i.p.ated and find the logbook Genya spoke of. After that, he would bring it to the “Queen” and gain her as an ally.
The thought of meeting the “Queen” without the logbook didn’t even cross his mind. He wasn’t stupid enough to think that he could prove anything without it.
After he inquired about Xingfu’s plans, he learned that both young masters were returning to Sector S ASAP. Cillin expressed his wish to accompany them, but didn’t tell them his exact intentions. He simply told them that he wished to meet a friend there.
Xingfu had no qualms with this whatsoever. Just like that, the trio—Cillin, Xingfu and Fen Yuzuo—traveled back to Sector S together.
Speaking of which, Blue b.u.t.terfly had sent a dozen or so people to receive Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen and Swallowtail. Their numbers were few, but everyone of them was a powerhouse in their own right. When they learned that the Eleventh Squadron was the one who saved them, they immediately went to Cillin and thanked him sincerely for his aid. However, the moment Wheeze flew over to tell them a certain story and demand their credits, their expression turned as ugly as someone who drank an entire barrel of bitter melon juice with chilis in them.
After the matter of Ghost b.u.t.terfly Seventeen and Swallowtail was finally settled, the Eleventh Squadron took off to Sector S with Xingfu and Fen Yuzuo.
On the stars.h.i.+p, Cillin, Xi Kai, and Czedow had officially begun their research on the installation of the super AI. Most of the crew including Cary were completely useless in this department, so he went to the bridge and ate some nuts by his lonesome.
The door to the bridge was open, so he could see the fellas flying around the pa.s.sage and playing games.
Ever since Wheeze grew a pair of wings, its playing field had changed from the land to the air. Right now, Wheeze, Moon, Sigma and s...o...b..ll were flying all over the place while Dough kept jumping up and down on the ground. There was never a moment a quiet when these fellas were together.
Wheeze had even generously offered his snake-skin ball to the gang. At first the object terrified s...o...b..ll and Dough somewhat, but after a while they managed to overcome their primal instinct. They had always been pretty dense in this regard.
To Wheeze, the best thing about growing a pair of wings was the ability to eat while flying. Previously, it had to stop at one place until it was done eating whatever food it was holding at the time. Now, it could let its wings carry it to wherever while it chowed down its bag of dried fruits. The floor was littered with leftover and crumbs wherever it flew.
However, the more Cary looked, the deeper his frown became. It was because the bag of dried fruits Wheeze was holding… looked very familiar for some reason.
Crack!
The nut he was holding was crushed when realization hit him.
“You little s.h.i.+ts raided my cabinet again!?”
s...o...b..ll and Dough were the first to escape when they heard Cary’s roar. Wheeze wasn’t afraid to him though. It slowly flew to the door and shot him a disdainful glance, “Come on, it’s just seven bags of dried fruits and three cans. We haven’t even checked out the big cabinet yet, not to mention that this dried fruit of yours is seriously mediocre. In the end, fish biscuits are the best.”
“What kind of justification is that?!” Cary stared at Wheeze. “There’s such a thing as going too far, man!”
The gray cat simply ignored him and went back to its food. Crumbs spilled across the floor as it took a bite.
Cary pointed at the crumbs and scolded it, “Look at the mess you left behind! Don’t you have any public spirit at all!?”
Wheeze picked up a piece of dried fruit with its fat paw and shoved it into its mouth. Then, it asked, “Wuzzat? I don’t understand the word.”
Cary: “...”
Cary grabbed a nut and threw it at Wheeze. The latter flapped its wings, dodged the “weapon” with a double barrel roll before commenting, “You suck!”
The cat could not be judged by its size.
“Don’t say I didn’t warn you, but arrogance is unbecoming of a cat, Wheeze!”
Wheeze arrogantly bared its teeth and flapped its wings twice, but before it could reply a hand grabbed it by the neck like a chicken and pulled it to their face. It was Cillin, of course.
The hunter looked at the crumbs on the floor for a moment before saying, “You have three hours to clean up all the crumbs you spilled across the whole s.h.i.+p.”
“Why do I have to do that? We have cleaning robots! The stars.h.i.+p itself has an automated cleaning module!” Wheeze complained.
“Sure, but it’ll cost you your cat food. You need to lose weight anyway.”
Wheeze finally slumped in dejection. “Fine.”
Cary was about to dance atop its misery when he suddenly saw a notification on the screen.
“A s.h.i.+p is approaching us. They even have corvettes! Is that another rich man’s s.h.i.+p?” Cary asked.
The s.h.i.+p was flying the Eleventh Squadron’s way, but they were there for Xingfu and Fen Yuzuo, not them.
A short while later, Xingfu’s men sent them a transmission informing them that the s.h.i.+p belonged to Peneus, the little young master of another media giant with over 80 contribution points in regard to telecommunications, “Infinite”. Just like Fen Yuzuo, he had met the young man during Lung’s party.
Peneus went to Xingfu’s s.h.i.+p. Fen Yuzuo was there as well.
Xingfu was extremely excited to see Peneus. The moment they met, he asked urgently, “Do you have something new?”
Xingfu was referring to in-game battle footages. The young man adored them a lot, and ever since Peneus learned of his background he would bring him a bunch of cla.s.sic battle footages to enjoy. It was the same this time. After learning that both Fen Yuzuo and Xingfu were sightseeing at a hunting planet, he immediately came looking for them with an exciting battle footage he just obtained a while ago.
“Oh yes, and I promise you that this one’s top-tier! It’s really, really good!” Peneus declared proudly while waving a small storage device.
“C’mon, let’s check it out right away!”
Xingfu immediately grabbed Peneus and Fen Yuzuo’s arms and dragged them to his personalized theater room.
The bodyguards let him do as he pleased because this wasn’t the first time this had happened. Plus, they knew that they would earn Xingfu’s ire if they were overscrupulous with security.
Only two bodyguards followed them into the theater room. Everyone else stood guard by the entrance.
Xingfu had a weak body, so there were a lot of firearms he couldn’t use because he didn’t meet the physical requirements to wield them. So, he relieved his urges via gaming instead. The bodyguards understood why he needed this.
“This footage hasn’t been publicized yet, and even when it was publicized it would take a huge amount of money to purchase it! That’s how much it’s worth, man!”
Peneus bragged proudly while connecting the storage device to the projector. The boys and the bodyguards were instantly transported into the world of fire and steel.
Xingfu stared thirstily at the running images displayed across the entire room. He could almost feel the gunfire spitting from the firearms, touch the cold, hard metal of the weapons, and smell the smoke-scented battlefield all around him. Agile figures dashed all around him as explosion bloomed one after another.
He felt like he could touch the images if he tried, but he was brought back to reality when he stretched an arm and felt nothing, just like his impossible dream. He knew that it was just an illusion; that it was just the edited footage of a game. Even still, Xingfu loved to stand at the center of these images and feel them run all around him. It was a painful but intoxicating experience he couldn’t let go.
Xingfu slowly became absorbed in his surroundings. No one noticed that his pupils were starting to dilate irregularly, that it was slowly syncing up with the flashes of gunfire and explosion.
Moreover, Xingfu started feeling like all his frustration and worry were gathering into an irremovable ball inside his heart. It grew bigger and bigger until the pressure became positively suffocating, and his head grew dizzier and dizzier. All across the room, the images people running across the light cast alternating light and shadow into his optic nerves, constricting him further and quickening his breath. He felt like he was sealed inside an airtight box, and every breath depleted the limited oxygen inside it.
The footage had been edited in a way so that it would stimulate Xingfu’s brain via optic transmission. Its goal was to disrupt the central nervous system and kickstart a chain of adverse reactions. To another person, the footage was exactly what it was, a stunning, exciting but harmless record of a battle between elites. But to Xingfu, it was an unexpected weapon designed with the express purpose of killing him.
Sometimes, you don’t need a weapon to kill a person. Sometimes, a single footage is enough to pull someone to their grave!
The two bodyguards standing by the entrance were handpicked by the “Queen” herself, so the longer they watched the footage, the more they felt that something was off. The bad feeling kept growing until one of them finally cried out, “TURN IT OFF NOW!!”
He was too late though. Xingfu felt like he was at his limit, but he still wasn’t able to pull himself away from the hypnotic state. In the end, his legs gave way, and he dropped to the ground.