Star Rank Hunter

Not long after they had returned to Neo’s safe zone, the sky started to change color. In just a minute, the blue sky had turned completely dark, and the surrounding humidity had gone up in a straight line.

Pa pa pa——

Hailstones started falling towards the ground.

The hail had come as abruptly as like the sudden change in the sky. If Ah Shou hadn’t told them about this earlier, not even Cillin could’ve predicted this until after the weather had started to change.

Roaming wild animals and poisonous plants quietly growing in their territory weren’t the only elements of dangers that resided in this area. There were all kinds of harmful germs and viruses floating in the air, which meant that a normal, unvaccinated person couldn’t live long in this place even if they were lucky enough to avoid the bio-soldiers and wild animals. The pathological reactions caused by these germs and viruses alone was enough to kill a person.

Cillin and Gu Xin’s constitution was pretty strong, but not even they were immune to these invisible dangers. So far Cillin was still doing okay, but Gu Xin and Erty had had some close calls to say the least. If they hadn’t found Neo’s shelter, if they had to hole in a cave like the one Cillin had made for himself earlier, they would survive, but they wouldn’t nearly be as comfortable as they were now.

Cillin took a sip from his hot milk tea. Everyone except Neo who was still sleeping inside his bedroom were sitting in the living hall and watching the hail falling outside through the screen.

By now Erty had relaxed much of his guard. His wounds had mostly healed, and he supposed that Cillin and Gu Xin counted as fellow brothers in hardship. That being said, he still didn’t know why Gu Xin was able to recognize him, not that he had encountered any normal human being ever since he was dropped on this planet. All he knew was that he wasn’t alone because he had encountered both the corpses of bio-soldiers and wild beasts multiple times while he was exploring the area. He just hadn’t crossed paths with the killers yet.

Why was he dropped on this planet? Erty had no idea. It had almost been two years since he had gone into hiding, and as the most wanted person in the entire seventeenth star region Erty had thought that he had done a good job lying low after completing his revenge, or at least he thought so until he was knocked out by an underhanded trick not long ago. All he remembered before blacking out was seeing a couple of people, and when he woke up again he was already here. Unlike Gu Xin though, he didn’t have a gun or a blade with him. He had no choice but to take down the bio-soldiers and the wild animals in his way himself.

Well, it didn’t matter as long as he survives.

“How long will this hail last?” asked Erty.

Cillin and Gu Xin turned to look at Ah Shou in unison instead of answering. The girl shivered under their gaze and let out a burp. “Five... five days.”

“Five days? That’s not bad. That’s survivable.” Erty let out a sigh of relief.

“But... it’ll snow right after the hail stops.”

Erty: “...”

The temperature outside had fallen almost twenty degrees since the time Cillin and Gu Xin had gone out to look for food, and it was looking to fall even further. They didn’t know what else were lying in store for them in the future either.

“How long will the snow last?” asked Cillin.

“Six to seven days maybe... I can’t confirm it right now,” replied Ah Shou timidly.

“Let’s try not to go out there as much as we can, and I guess we’ll be eating less, saving up and sleeping more often,” said Gu Xin.

The safe zone in had its own internal temperature controlled system, and its warmth was a stark contrast to the terrible weather happening outside. Fist-sized hailstones could be seen striking the ground before shattering into bits. Even the bio-soldiers and wild animals had gone into hiding — the power of nature was best avoided even by the strongest beast out there.

The trees of the forest were pretty tough, able to withstand the barrage of hailstones without trouble. Those that couldn’t had to grow beneath the lush trees because it was the only way to survive the natural disaster. There were also some plants who stood no chance under the hail and got crushed into pieces, but once the hail passed they would regrow again like it was nothing. They were all perfect examples of the power of life.

Most of them spent their time resting during these five days. Neo turned out to be a pretty adept sleeper, which was a good thing because every time he spoke he made people feel like slapping him across the face.

Neo was very unhappy that his territory was invaded by so many “baggages”, so in order to make himself feel better he ordered Gu Xin, Erty and Ah Shou to do some house chores. In order to save energy, most of them had to be done through manual labor.

Cillin was the only exception to the rule because: “I saved your life and I found the Tri-colored Bean for you”. Admitting to the correctness behind his reason, Neo withdrew the chores he had originally planned for Cillin.

Sometimes, Cillin wondered if Neo had ever thought of the possibility of them ganging up on him and taking over his place by force. He probably didn’t.

Five days later, when the hail was just being replaced by a heavy snowfall, Neo suddenly let out a scream from his bedroom. It woke everyone in the living room from their sleep and nearly caused Erty, who had just finished scrubbing the bowls and feeling pissy on the inside to jump on his feet.

“The fuck are you screaming about!” complained Erty irritatedly while scratching his messy hair.

“Oh——” Neo let out a weird sigh again. “Oh my god, great grand aunts and uncles above!”

Ah Shou glanced at a bracelet-like object around her wrist, or more specifically a metal link in the bracelet that was blinking non-stop. She pressed it once and caused a small light screen to appear into view. There was an encrypted message on it.

After five days of peace and quiet, Ah Shou’s cry finally restarted once more.

The trio had a bad feeling after seeing Ah Shou and Neo’s reactions.

“My god, how could they release those secondary metabolites here?!” Neo walked out of his room gloomily while gripping his standing bed hair with both hands.

“What’s wrong?” asked Cillin.

“RB13 will soon be released on this planet,” answered Neo dejectedly.

“RB13?” Gu Xin’s eyes flashed once. “If I remember correctly, there used to be an illegally created artificial creature called RA13.”

“RB13 is the evolution of RA13,” replied Neo.

“Weren’t they all destroyed back then?” Gu Xin remembered that the entire planet and the RA13s on it were destroyed at the end of that incident. That being said, Black Viper was the one who had destroyed the planet, so it wasn’t exactly a surprise that they had acquired some RA13s for themselves. However, why would Black Viper be interested in a failed experiment like that?

RA13 was the secret project of a noble a long time ago. The empire tried to shut down the project after it was discovered and exposed, but because too many people and conspiracies were involved the operation had ultimately ended without being resolved. Then, Black Viper suddenly showed their faces and destroyed the entire planet.

“RA13 is a complete and utter failure, and RB13 isn’t much better than that. Although they managed to resolve the issue of premature ageing, there were still countless problems with that experiment. Why would they dump those imperfect experiments on this planet?! This is...” Blah blah blah.

Cillin had no interest in Neo’s commentary. He interrupted the man and asked, “Why do you say that RB13 is an imperfect experiment?”

“It’s because they don’t have perfect self control. They go crazy the moment they get excited.”

“Do you have introduction materials of RB13?”

“Yes, but I don’t have everything.”

Neo produced a couple of still images, and Wheeze’s eyes immediately turned round and wide.

Mice?!

The first image was the only image of RB13 that looked like a rat. The rest didn’t look like they were remotely related to the mouse in the first image at all.

Unlike the big black mice Cillin had encountered at Seven Lights, the bioweapon before him was mostly white in color. At first glance, RB13 looked just like the standard white mice, the near staple of every artificial creature experiment. However, very few such experiments had ended in success.

“Why does this one look like a porcupine?” asked Erty while pointing a finger at a different image.

“That’s one of the forms they can assume after getting excited.”

“So all these unmouse-like creatures at the back are the forms it can assume?”

“I didn’t think that you were this smart.” Neo shot Erty a kind, fatherly look, causing the latter clench his fists as he tried to suppress the urge to beat the bastard to death.

“How many of these creatures are there?” asked Cillin.

“I don’t know, but it can’t be few.” Neo’s clearly looked depressed. He didn’t think that he would run into these things prior to coming to this planet. At the time, all he had wanted to do was to rush over to this planet and perform his research as quickly as possible, so he had signed the agreement after a rough check and gotten on the spaceplane immediately after. Now, it was too late for regrets.

“Isn’t this place good enough to stop them?” Gu Xin looked at their surroundings. After all, Black Viper did build the place.

“It’ll be difficult. There’s a 65.27% chance that those artificial rodents will dig through the defenses.”

“All we can do is defend this place when that happens.” Gu Xin shot a glance at the white world on the screen. Right now, there wasn’t another place to move to even if they wanted to.

“Then I’ll leave the defense to you all!” said Neo.

“What weapons do we have?” asked Cillin. Right now, they needed good weapons they could comfortably use, or those artificial creatures could prove to be a real trouble.

“There’s not much here. Come have a look yourself.” Neo opened the door to a room and revealed a couple of guns and a rocket launcher inside.

“These weapons probably aren’t going to be too useful when the attack arrives, but they’re still better than nothing. Let’s hold onto them for the moment and prepare our defenses while we still have time.” Cillin swept a glance across the room before declaring.

At the same time, at a mountain on the other side of the forest, an entrance suddenly appeared on the wall without warning. It was another base just like Neo’s. However, it was a lot smaller than Neo’s base, and it was completely covered up by both the hail and the snowfall. The walls were covered in a sheen of ice, and even opening the window didn’t allow fresh air to enter the base. One must first shatter the ice outside the window first.

The face on the window was none other than Hua Li, the woman Neo claimed to have a dissection fetish. Hua Li stared at the falling snow above the sky and the forest at the distance before shutting the window in one fluid motion.

She returned to her room and opened up a couple of huge boxes, taking out some of the stuff and setting them inside a rectangular-shaped box. A couple of gun barrels and weapons could be spotted inside as well.

After she was done packing everything, Hua Li set up the passcodes and shut down the base completely. Once she was outside, she walked to the edge of a cliff, put two fingers into her mouth and whistled. It was noisy and hazardous enough outside that she didn’t need to worry about attracting the bio-soldiers or the wild beasts’ attention.

A silvery white figure flew up from the bottom of the cliff a while later, Hua Li jumped right down and landed squarely on its back.

It was a huge bird about three meters tall if it was standing in an upright position. After Hua Li had found herself a secure position, she ordered the bird to fly away from the mountain.

The duo quickly passed through the forest without any troubles. Right now, there were very few flying predators in the sky, and the entire world was white and blurry. The snow was thick, and the cold wind felt like knives cutting against the skin. The good news was that Hua Li had put on a breathing mask beforehand.

A beastial roar came from the front without warning, and a couple of flying predators took to the sky and flew towards Hua Li and her ride.

“We don’t want to waste any time on them. Let’s change course for a moment,” said Hua Li.

The white bird shot a reluctant glance at the aggressive predators flying their way before changing directions. They would have to circle around a valley and travel longer, but it would take less time than dealing with those predators. Hua Li was in a hurry, and she had no time to bother with petty obstacles.

The white bird flew very quickly, clearly used to this kind of environment. It didn’t take long before they had shaken off their tail completely.

Just when the white bird was about to celebrate its success, alarm bells suddenly rang inside its head as it let out a cry at a particular direction.

Hmm?

Hua Li immediately pieced together the parts inside her waist bag and fired a shot down that direction.

The bullets suddenly spread out in mid flight.

Bang bang bang —

Something blocked the bullets before they could hit their target, and a figure suddenly flashed across the air. Hua Li opened fire a couple more times, but she couldn’t keep up with her opponent’s speed. Still, she was used to this kind of situation and was able to keep her enemy from getting close to them with collected shots.

Suddenly, her opponent sped up and fired their own gun at Hua Li. However, she was prepared for this as she switched her gun to a new mode and pulled the trigger again. A giant electrical web burst out of the barrel and blocked the incoming bullets. Her opponent was forced to change directions and rest their feet on a mountain face so as not to get caught in the web.

Hua Li finally got a good look of her opponent’s face. He was a man, a humanoid to be exact.

The humanoid had a pair of wings and was barefooted. His toes could grab onto the uneven surface of a rock and hold steady just like the claws of an eagle. His eyes were dark golden in color, and his exposed skin were etched with narrow, blackish brown patterns.

The man stood on the wall and stopped trying to attack Hua Li. Hua Li kept her gun trained on the man, ready to fire the second he did anything unusual again.

The snow flying between the duo nearly covered up their figures completely. A normal person would’ve lost sight of the other party a long time ago, but these two never let down their guards until the white bird had carried Hua Li completely out of sight. The humanoid relaxed only after he was sure that Hua Li and the white bird was gone.

“Hey Oriville, what’s going on up there?” Someone called out to the man from below.

“There was a woman riding on a huge bird.”

“Do you know where they’re headed to?”

“No. She flew down that direction.”

“There? Never mind, we’ll talk later after we get back. Let’s find something to eat and get back as soon as possible. I don’t want to wait and see if the hail will start again, also the captain said he had something urgent to tell us.”

“Alright.”

Orivlle extended his wings and retracted his toenails. Then, he flew back down to the ground.

Cillin’s group had no idea of this exchange. They were busy watching Neo arguing with a certain person standing outside their base.

“No way, this base is completely full already! Your presence will overpopulate this place, put pressure on our living environment and complicate our social relationship. Amd...”

That was the end of his rant because Hua Li had held up a rocket launcher at the entrance. After conducting a feasibility analysis inside his brain, Neo reluctantly pressed the open button. “Barbarian!!”

Hua Li’s bird wisely went over to the cliff to rest its feet instead of following her inside, causing Neo’s complexion to ease up a little. He would’ve gone insane if that giant bird had insisted on squeezing with them — bird shit is so disgusting!

If the white bird knew what he was thinking, it would’ve crushed him to death with its talons.

“Why did you come here?” asked Neo impatiently.

“I can’t deal with those things alone.”

“Do I look like I can deal with them?”

“You have the equipment I need.” Hua Li shot a glance at Neo’s lab.

Neo immediately ran up to the entrance of his lab and stretched his arms wide, “I’m warning you, I’ll fight you to the death if you dare lay a finger on my lab! You’ll have to walk over my corpse to enter my lab!”

Hua Li gave him an expressionless look before turning to face Ah Shou, “Did you lose your base?”

Ah Shou pursed her lips unhappily and said tearily, “Mm.”

“Dammit!” Hua Li put down the box she was carrying on her back and sat on the sofa. She had never glanced at Cillin, Erty or Gu Xin, not that the trio was interested in speaking with her themselves. Maybe it was because Hua Li had dissected too many bodies, or because she had a cool temperament, but they couldn’t help but feel that Hua Li’s eyes were cold and creepy. She gave the impression that everything in her eyes was just a corpse, and she looked like she would grip a scalpel and dissect a body at any moment.

Hua Li was sitting somewhat close to Wheeze, and the sleeping gray cat twitched its nose before opening its eyes. It shot Hua Li a strange glance before walking a circle around her, sniffing.

Hua Li didn’t react to Wheeze’s unusual movement besides shooting it a glance. However, it was clear that Wheeze was impervious to Hua Li’s laser gaze, or maybe it just didn’t care in the slightest.

“I smell a bird on her,” said Wheeze.

“She came here on a huge bird,” answered Cillin.

“Not that one, a different one. It reminds me of a humanoid.”

Everyone turned to look at her at once.

Hua Li slowly set down her cup before answering, “I’m not a humanoid, but I didn’t encounter a humanoid who can fly on my way here.”

When Hua Li was done drawing Orville’s face on the screen, Erty immediately swore in a low tone, “Fuck, why is he here!”

Gu Xin rubbed his chin in thought. He knew this person as well, although he had never come into direct contact with him before.

It looked like no one Black Viper had kidnapped over to this test was a small fry. This Orville at least had a blacker criminal record than even Erty.

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