Chapter 63: The Hunt In The Forest Beneath The Night Sky
The message automatically deleted itself after display. It was untraceable. It looked like these people had made full preparation before they came.
An hour. Cillin’s opponent had left him with no additional time to prepare at all. It was also three days earlier than the time Coy Behind The Smile had told him.
After returning to the accommodation, he took out his modified hoverboard and left a timed voice message on the answering machine. If he did not return after a specific time, the answering machine would tell Knight what he should do. Cillin did not bring his communicator with him either. It was too easily exposed.
A muffler was installed in his modified hoverboard. The energy installation was improved as well. Cillin rode the hoverboard and vanished into the darkness, heading towards the location marked on the map.
At a certain accommodation in Sector D of the ten trade Sectors, Coy Behind The Smile sat very indecently on the chair while speaking on the communicator.
“I’ve already sent out the news. He should know what to do.”
The reason Coy Behind The smile and Eight Claws had participated in the Sector Championship was purely for fun’s sake. Although Hunters would not normally participate in such contests, Eight Claws and Coy Behind The Smile were really bored out of their wits, plus they were also rather curious by the news of Shadow X prior to the event launch. And so they registered for the tournament. However, they did not expect that they would receive a mission to transmit codes, and they were even more surprised to find out that the legendary Shadow X was actually one of their own.
Coy Behind The Smile and Eight Claws had never planned to perform too well in the Sector Championship in the first place. It’s just that their luck was too good that all the opponents they ran into weren’t strong; not even the students from military academies. That was why the duo was able to become one of the remaining thirty two contestants of the tournament. Even without the mission, they did not plan to continue further. It wasn’t a Hunter’s way to expose their true capabilities in front of everyone’s eyes. They didn’t care for the extent Cillin wanted to fight either.
The person on the other side said something, and Coy Behind The Smile sat up straight with a frown.
“Didn’t you say that it is three days later... alright, I’ll keep an eye out for him at the Sector Championship platform. If he still hasn’t shown up before tomorrow’s match then he’s probably... alright. Got it.”
“What is it?” Eight Claws looked at Coy Behind The Smile, sitting like a statue after the call had ended.
Coy Behind The Smile sighed, “Something happened over at our employer’s side, and the assassination was brought forward. The exact situation is unknown. The hidden contacts arranged by the commander in Seven Lights could not contact Cillin either.”
“Judging from their habits, if he still hasn’t shown up during tomorrow’s last-16 match, then logically speaking, he will never show up again. If he does show up, it would mean the disappearance of the ‘Black Thorn’ killer organization from the killer leaderboard forever.”
“Yeah... but just how likely is that latter situation?”
Coy Behind The Smile didn’t say anything.
When Cillin arrived at the edge of the forest zone between the commercial trade zone and the entertainment zone’s Sleepless City, he retracted his hoverboard and stored it and his jacket into the ring. He ran into the lush forest.
Deep inside the forest, there were three men dressed in black whispering about something. Beside them was Theresa, both hands and feet tied while laying on the ground. Her hair was a little disheveled, she had dust and grass stains all over her, but her eyes had not lost its spirit yet. She had only suffered some bruises, and everything else was still fine. The ‘Black Thorn’ would not silence her yet until they found Cillin.
Theresa also knew that it was better for her to act obedient right now. If these people found out that she was pulling any little tricks on them, they would kill her without hesitation.
She did not expect that those people from the Douance Family would contact the ‘Black Thorn’, the killer organization who was almost on their last legs already. After their failed assassination on Cillin during their last mission and and consequent pressure and attacks from many sides at once, the Black Thorn’s remaining strength was no longer sufficient for them to float around the killer leaderboard any longer. However, the competitors within Aiflon’s family had lent them a helping hand when they were about to eliminated completely.
Although she wasn’t sure about the details, even Theresa could guess that this matter was definitely related to a deal between the Black Thorn and those few people from the Douance Family. Without their interference, the Black Thorn alone would’ve found it difficult to infiltrate onto Planet Seven Lights.
“Brown Thorn, how’s it going?” Someone said.
Theresa lifted her eyes and looked. She couldn’t see the person’s face clearly in the night, and he was walking really quickly. But Theresa did not hear any walking sounds whatsoever. It was like watching a ghost drifting back and forth.
Brown Thorn looked once at the obedient Theresa who was doing nothing at all before turning to his pals.
“We’ve found him. But according to Eagle Thorn, he disappeared after he had descended from his hoverboard.”
“Disappeared?”
“We can’t find him. We can’t even detect his hoverboard. It was like he had never appeared. But Eagle Thorn most definitely saw him riding over to the forest on a hoverboard.” Brown Thorn sounded very doubtful as well.
Tiger Thorn, the person who had spoken up earlier, let out a ferocious smile, “This young master has some abilities of his own. Otherwise, Gentle Thorn and the others would not have failed either.”
The Gentle Thorn Tiger Thorn had mentioned was the woman that had disguised herself as a nurse during the previous bio-station mission.
“What do we do now?” Brown Thorn asked.
“Tell Eagle Thorn and the rest to keep their eyes open and not screw up when they least expect it. Otherwise, Gentle Thorn’s fate will be their final lesson. This is our last chance.” At the end of his words, Tiger Thorn’s voice was already emanating with cold murder.
Black Thorn’s leaders were watched too tightly by all sides, which was why they hadn’t joined them on Planet Seven Lights. This operation was led by Tiger Thorn and supported by Brown Thorn.
Although the school zone and residential zone had gone dark for quite some time now, this forest zone had just entered nighttime not too long ago (T/N: Remember, this place’s a planet).
After running into the forest, Cillin did not hurry his way to seek out his target. Instead he slipped quietly between the trees looking for something. Cillin discovered what he was looking for at a lust, tall tree.
There was a hollow in the tree trunk, and there were many little things that were flying back and forth beside it. They were a kind of flying ant that were different from termites. They were the primitive inhabitants of Planet Seven Lights. Its body were only a few millimeters long, and even the big ones did not grow over a centimeter. Its adult form gave it a pair of wings that was slightly longer than its body. Its wings would not fall off, and it also had a developed upper jaw. It disliked light and consumed just about anything. These insects were what Cillin was looking for.
He sprayed an odorless solution into the hollow and its surroundings. The solution would form a thin crystalline film on the surface of the flying ants’ bodies. Then they would slowly change from solid to gas over time. These sublimed gas had no effect on the flying ants, but a human body was different. After a human body had inhaled the gas, they would exhale a different kind of gas that would cause these little fellows to become excited, just like how the human body inhaled oxygen and exhaled carbon dioxide. Again, the person who breathed it in would not feel any discomfort whatsoever, but they would unknowingly become these little fellows’ target.
Other than the flying ant nest he had found inside the tree hollow, Cillin seeked out a couple more nests and dealt with them the same way.
This was the edge of the forest, and these little fellows would fly everywhere at night in search for food. Moreover, the night breeze spread the odor they’re carrying deeper into the forest. Night had just begun at the forest, and these little fellows had a long night of work ahead of them.
Cillin had paid special attention to these flying ants when he was surveying the area on his first day arriving at Seven Lights. The forest was the best place to resolve grudges in secrecy and an easy place to lose satellite monitoring as well. There were many flying ants in the forest, and Cillin had researched them a long time ago. He had designed a few types of solutions according to their bio parameters.
Not even Mo Heng knew that Cillin had assembled a drug synthesizer on his own. Otherwise he would have definitely run out to brag about it. This was because the demand for precision to assemble a drug synthesizer was higher than the norm. The assembly of a drug synthesizer normally took three or more people to complete.
The fact was this was hardly the first solution Cillin had synthesized for his own use. He had made them during his leisure for emergencies, and he never fought a battle he did not prepare for. These synthesized drugs were all stored inside Genya’s coiled leaf patterned ring.
Cillin did not know how many people were hiding in this forest, but according to the information he obtained from Coy Behind The Smile, there was definitely more than 10 at least. These people were cruel and decisive, and most importantly they had hid themselves very well. Infrared scan would not find them, and without external support, Cillin’s predicament would become a lot more difficult. A single misstep would end his life.
However, most of the time, those that could help us were not necessarily human.
Cillin watched the little fellows flying far, far away before darting into the forest.
The hunt has begun.
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