“Speaking of which, can you take a human form? You should know that the current era isn’t friendly to existences like us. Staying out here indefinitely isn’t the best move.”
Gu Lian sat sideways next to Yi Yi. She had once been human herself, and although she hadn’t had much contact with Hunters, she understood their attitude toward Weiyi. Especially lately, she had been fighting with Hunters every day, and twice she had nearly been captured by them.
“I need time to store energy. Otherwise, the success rate of my evolution is almost zero.”
Yao Yao’s expression was somewhat dejected. She clenched one hand so tightly that her nails nearly dug into her flesh. She knew how troublesome the Hunters were. Once, she and Yi Yi had nearly died at the hands of an old Hunter; in the end, that old Hunter had been recalled for some unknown reason, and the matter had finally passed.
‘Energy?’
Gu Lian immediately thought of the Eldritch Crystal Core she had swallowed. She was still a bit surprised. Clearly, Yao Yao needed that thing herself, so why hadn’t she used it and instead given it to her?
“What do you need right now? I’ll see if I can help you get it.”
“For now… I don’t need anything.”
“Alright then. I’m planning to take Yi Yi to Nanjiang City now to find a place to live. What are your plans?”
Gu Lian glanced at Yao Yao, whose expression was a bit stiff. She could sense that the other girl was struggling, but she was very strong. Dealing with the Eldritch was not easy.
“I’ll find a place to hide. Hunters are terrifying.”
“Fair enough. Come with me first and remember where I enter the city. Every 7 nights, I will go there once. If you need anything, you can let me know.”
Gu Lian gently picked up Yi Yi and strode out, pushing open the door. Moonlight filtered through the canopy of leaves, draping over Gu Lian’s body, and Yao Yao followed behind her.
She quickly recalled the routes in her memory. Nanjiang City was shaped like an irregular rectangle. To the southwest lay the Nan Qing Forest, to the north was the Bei Jiang Plain, and the south was less than 200 km away from Guang Hai.
They were currently deep within the Nan Qing Forest. Based on the speed at which the Hunters were arriving, it would take them 30 minutes to travel here in a straight line by air.
Calculating based on an armed helicopter’s speed of 293 km/h, The Sinkhole should be 146 km away from Nanjiang City. However, accounting for the unknown location of the helicopter’s landing pad and the fact that their current small hill was behind The Sinkhole, the actual distance likely had an error of about 5–7 km.
Gu Lian looked up. Dappled moonlight was imprinted upon the pitch-black woods. According to the map she had seen previously, the tree density in the Nan Qing Forest was high. To be safe, they couldn’t travel in a straight line; it would be best to circle around before continuing forward.
Secondly, they had to be on guard against those drones. After entering the outskirts of the Nan Qing Forest, they could no longer use energy. After all, the way Weiyi and Hunters manipulated energy was completely different.
Except for a small number of Hunters who were born with the ability to control energy, the vast majority used their own energy resistance to wield specialized Eldritch weapons, so their overall energy usage was very smooth.
Weiyi, however, were composed entirely of energy. People like them… should be considered special cases, but she had heard that their energy wavelengths were like an electrocardiogram.
The night wind blew gently as Gu Lian carried Yi Yi through the dark parts of the forest. Darkness was a good thing; she could protect herself within it.
“Haah~”
With dark circles under her eyes, Yao Yao covered her mouth and yawned. Gu Lian stopped walking and looked at her.
“Do you want to sleep? I can carry you.”
“No need… cough, cough.”
Yao Yao spat out a mouthful of purple blood. Thinking of her current physical condition, she gave a slightly embarrassed smile.
After the blood fell onto a branch, it evaporated quickly. Gu Lian stopped in her tracks, and Yao Yao, not paying attention, bumped right into her.
“What are you doing~”
Rubbing her nose with a soft, boneless palm, two drops of tears squeezed out from the corners of Yao Yao’s eyes.
Gu Lian shifted Yi Yi onto her back, then finished by crouching down and reaching her hands behind her.
“Stop complaining. Carrying one is carrying, and carrying two is carrying as well. Get on.”
“Ugh…”
Yao Yao’s cheeks flushed. Her expression went through a series of changes: surprise, shyness, and a bit of embarrassment. She stepped forward and lay on Gu Lian’s back, taking a deep breath and pretending she wasn’t embarrassed.
“By the way, I have a question.”
“What is it?”
“Why did you ask me to buy a Gramophone? I don’t see you carrying it now.”
Gu Lian was bored, so she asked the question that had been on her mind. She felt Yao Yao’s behavior was somewhat contradictory. She had even given her a Gramophone containing an Eldritch Crystal Core, so why wasn’t she bringing it along?
“Ah? That… it broke…”
Yao Yao’s eyes dodged the gaze, seemingly unwilling to talk about how she hadn’t understood the instruction manual and had ended up breaking the speaker during her attempt to operate it.
“It… it’s broken?”
The corner of Gu Lian’s eye twitched. She clearly remembered giving the other girl the manual…
“I originally intended to leave a gift for Yi Yi, and I was going to leave a recorded message on it, because…”
“So you wanted to give your sister a surprise?”
“Yes.”
“Yao Yao, how old are you and Yi Yi this year?”
Gu Lian took a deep breath. She had realized that the Yao Yao in front of her only looked mature, but was actually quite easy to fool.
“I am 76, and Yi Yi is 36.”
Yao Yao couldn’t help but feel a bit sentimental.
“Uh… which means your sister only appeared 40 years after you were born? Wait, let me process this…”
Gu Lian sat with the thought for a moment, took a deep breath, and said somewhat helplessly, “You and your sister really are a pair of geniuses. Your mother is truly impressive.”
“We don’t seem to have a mother.”
“You two… are impressive.”
Gu Lian swallowed the words she wanted to say and turned her gaze back to the front. The dark forest path seemed endless.
‘Still… human society. It’s time for me to relax.’
20 minutes later, five helicopters hovered directly above the front of The Sinkhole. Five rappelling ropes were thrown down, and a total of fifteen people slid down the ropes from the helicopters to the ground.
“Team One, search for signals. Ice Duke is here. Feng Nü and Lan’s signals are also nearby. Team Two and Team Three, stay on high alert and be careful of attacks from Anomaly B-707 at all times.”
A man wearing a black steel helmet and a face mask spoke. His uniform was stretched tight by his burly muscles, and his thick arms tightly gripped a Crimson Greatsword. He also wore a Purple Gem Ring on his index finger. One look at his eyes was enough to know this man was a ruthless character.
“Report, Captain White Ghost, Captain Ice Duke has been found.”
“Hua Sheng, what’s the situation?”
A slightly surprised male voice rang out. White Ghost followed the sound to the team member. The member named Hua Sheng was performing CPR on Ice Duke, and he began to choke up as Ice Duke’s face gradually regained some color.
The moonlight shone down from above. The cold moonlight was very soft, but White Ghost felt a chill run down his spine.
“Are you sure… he’s still alive?”
“Positive.”
“As long as Ice Duke is alive, it’s fine. Have Feng Nü and Lan been found?”
White Ghost’s expression remained neutral as he made a gesture for two men to come and take Ice Duke away. Facing this bizarre situation, he was a little panicked in his heart.
“Report, Team Two has found Captain Feng Nü. Her vital signs are critical.”
The walkie-talkie on his chest crackled. White Ghost turned to look around and pressed the headset on his ear.
“Received. Team Two, you’ve done well.”
“Team Two has found Captain Lan. Vital signs have disappeared.”
“Understood. Watch your surroundings. There is a high probability that B-707 is nearby.”
The final piece of news caused the chill in White Ghost’s heart to turn completely somber. He took the walkie-talkie off his chest, switched the channel to channel 136, and began pressing the digits on the walkie-talkie to input a code.
‘01.21.12—1.77 (Weiyi, Intelligent, 1 Death, Extremely Dangerous.)’