Star Rank Hunter

Original and most up to date translations are posted at volaretranslations.

Translator's Notes: "Those who do not understand true pain can never understand true peace."

Chapter 174: Departure, Scarlet Wind [Part 2]

Cillin had guessed that they were hitman organisations, but he did not know of ‘Mist’ and ‘Merciless’ that Lung talked about.

Lung himself expressed that he didn’t know much about them, “They did stop showing up for fifty years. After that incident fifty years ago, the two top hitman organisations actually lay low as well. The decision really was quite puzzling, since they were apparently not involved in that incident. Of course they could have participated in it, it’s just that no one knew about it.”

“Oh right!” Lung asked Cillin excitedly, “Did you encounter several people from the two forces?”

Cillin nodded, “Their target wasn’t me however, so we never really clashed against each other. That blue-skinned woman in the end did try to kill us, but something happened at the time. It was probably the arrival of someone from another force.”

“They’re really strong, aren’t they?”

“They are!” Cillin closed his eyes and recalled the scene at the time, briefly explaining what he encountered back then. The gray cat and the little hellhound fellow also straightened their ears, lay on the ground and listened to him.

“We could not fight against that blue-skinned woman at all. We could only escape. However, even that blue-skinned woman was hit by that final strike, so there was obviously someone even more powerful in there. You know, I’ve always thought that I could take at least a blow or two, but when I was dragged back into the passage back then it felt really bad.”

Lung understood what this ‘really bad’ meant. One second you thought that you had escaped the quagmire, and the next you were dragged even deeper into the abyss without being able to resist at all. It was an undisguised blow to one’s spirit.

“It’s fine. At the very least, you survived the incident. Plus, you look like you’re doing pretty good other than a little bit of lethargy.” Lung knocked Cillin once with his elbow.

“I am much better now, but at the time a lot of my bones were broken, and my internal organs were severely damaged. If I was unable to endure it, I would’ve died just like that.”

“...”

Lung stopped saying anything. Perhaps not even his father had expected that ‘Mist’ and ‘Merciless’ would appear at such an unexpected place. If he knew, he absolutely would have dragged Lung back into his home and locked him in, forbidding him from getting involved in Sector S without needing Lung to say anything.

If the other forces who arrived at Sector S were about the same strength as ‘Mist’ and ‘Merciless’, then just how big was the probability that they would be able to return home safely?

But even if he knew that he was still leagues apart from the elites, even if he knew that those people were very strong, Lung wasn’t actually afraid right now. Fifty years equalled a generation of men, and as an active representative of the current generation Lung did not want his contact to become too limited by surrounding matters and people.

He was still young, and youth itself was a kind of capital. What he lacked was experience and opportunities, and he had to say that every time he hung around with Cillin he would run into something special. There were plenty of prison planets in Sector S, and there were at least hundreds of grade one prison planets, but somehow the incident just happened to happen where they were at.

Opportunities…

“Cillin, what are you going to do next?” Lung asked.

Cillin touched the door at the side, “Are you scared?”

“Scared? A little I guess. But I suddenly feel really fired up too.” Lung rubbed his palms, “Let’s go find a grade three prison planet to play with once we recover.”

“Alright.” Cillin tugged the corners of his lips.

“Bring me together with you next time!” the gray cat also said.

Cillin pinched its ear, “If nothing unusual happen then I’ll bring you all with me.”

Cillin had used the words ‘you all’, so he meant that the little hellhound fellow was included as well.

The little fellow seemed to understand this and wagged his tail real joyfully.

Ten minutes later, Cillin climbed out of the big hole the gray cat had opened up on the door. He had recovered much of his strength, and walking was not an issue.

When they found an exit, Lung took out the car key and pressed it. The flying car automatically flew towards their direction. When he sat on the flying car, Cillin suddenly recalled a matter and asked, “Did you guys feel anything strange when you came searching for me?”

Lung felt his own body for a bit before confirming, “No, I didn’t.”

Cillin looked at the gray cat, and the gray cat shook its head, “I didn’t notice anything unusual.”

The little hellhound fellow’s ears drooped. How sad that it didn’t know how to talk yet.

Cillin leaned against the seat, “Lung, you probably noticed that there was something wrong with the convicts in the prison rooms, didn’t you?”

Now that Cillin had reminded him, he did recall that they were acting quite strange. At the time, he had put most of his attention on guarding himself against ‘Mist’ and ‘Merciless’.

“Something was wrong those people, it’s like they’ve gone insane or something. But I thought that it was done by one of the two forces and didn’t think deeper into it.”

“It’s a kind of virus, but those viruses have now disappeared.”

“Could theyy have been destroyed by the other force? No, that can’t be right. Those viruses were probably ineffective against someone at their level, so naturally they didn’t need to waste energy to eliminate them. The surviving people inside the prison had all escaped, so logically speaking no one had the time to tinker with those stuff, did they?” Lung asked.

“They were not destroyed by someone.” Cillin rubbed his face, “It was probably something specifically researched by the force who spread out the virus in the first place. The viruses were injected with programmed death genes, causing their Median Lethal Time to be shrink greatly. The timing was just right so that most of the viruses were dead by the time they were finished with their business. Now, the viruses are basically all gone.”

This meant that these people also knew how to cause trouble using ways other than participating themselves. Although the virus used this time was very simple and not fatal, what about next time? What kind of virus would they spread?

A hitman organisation that was well versed in viral weapons was even scarier than norm.

Thank goodness it wasn’t parasites.

When Cillin saw Chamondine’s diary back then, there was a line written in broad point pen, “In the near future, parasites would replace viruses to become an even deadlier weapon. This is because that not only parasites could act as a carrier of viruses, they also possessed intellect.”

Never mind. Let’s stop thinking for now. Cillin rubbed his head. It would be counterproductive if he thought too much right now. He should consider the matters at hand first.

When Qi Geyou saw Cillin he was quite happy. It was a rare case for someone to be able to walk out from the site. This was also a reflection of power, and Qi Geyou’s attitude towards powerful people had always leaned on the better side, not to mention that Cillin and Lung had saved his life once.

Cillin and Lung didn’t say too much before their little group got ready to depart by spaceplane. There would be all kinds of forces of Sector S arriving on this planet one after another, and Qi Geyou himself was quite busy. Cillin’s group also had their own plans to make. However, before he left Cillin had revealed a bit of information to Qi Geyou. Right now, any bit of extra information was a great aid to Qi Geyou’s influence in ‘Flying Snake’.

Lung also cut off some footage and presented it to Qi Geyou. He patted Qi Geyou’s shoulders and gave him a ‘I have high expectations for you’ look. “Grab the real power in your hands soon. We’ll cooperate with each other when that happens.”

Qi Geyou’s eyebrows rose. The fact that Lung could say such a thing meant that his background ran pretty deep. He smiled confidently, “Alright, cut the nonsense and get out already! If you don’t get out now it’ll be difficult later on.”

It was true that Cillin’s group would find it difficult to leave once the higher-ups of every force had arrived.

When Cillin’s group had departed on a spaceplane, Qi Geyou instructed his subordinates to deal with a certain number of things. If what Cillin and Lung said was true, then the information he obtained would be enough to draw the higher-ups’ attention.

There was no one who knew about this incident better than those who had lived through it, and other than those two forces, those who had the experience were basically all dead. This also reflected just how valuable the information Cillin and Lung had supplied him was.

The moment they returned to the spaceship, they immediately flew away from the area just in case they were discovered when the visitors’ number grew.

Cillin made a fist while lying on a chair. Although he could obviously sense the change in his genes, and the helix structure of his DNA had changed a little, right now he hadn’t discovered any special abilities in himself yet. However, his constitution had improved quite a lot, and his strength had grown bigger as well.

Lung went to sleep after enjoying a fulfilling meal. He had exhausted quite a bit of energy this time, and he would replenish them as soon as possible.

The gray cat was crouching on four limbs while teaching the little hellhound fellow how to speak. The little fellow could now say some simple words, although full sentences were still impossible for it. Even if it did manage doing it, its intonation was still incorrect.

Cillin had to doubt the gray cat’s ability to teach.

“Wheeze, just teach him the most basic literacy. Once he knows how to read, tell him to watch some educational videos on his own.”

“I’ve taught him the basics a long time ago.” the gray cat said proudly.

“That’s good then.” Cillin picked up a headphone and put it on the little hellhound’s head. Then, he brought up some basic educational videos and gave him time to watch them. The videos would teach him the most correct intonation, and some smart daily dialogues would be conducted at the background of the video. The video Cillin chose for the little fellow was quite attractive, and it no longer needed the gray cat once it began watching the video. The gray cat happily lay on top of Cillin’s thighs and had him scratch its chin and tell it in detail what happened inside the prison. It wasn’t satisfied with the rough explanation from before.

While talking, Cillin suddenly heard speaking coming from the side. The little hellhound fellow was speaking one word after another according to the guide within the video.

They were all basic terms. There were terms of weather, and there were terms of color. There were also terms of some commonly seen objects and etc.

The little fellow’s intonation grew smoother and smoother after he got past the initial shakiness. Suddenly, the little fellow appeared to have thought of something as he came to a stop, took off his headphones and turned to look at Cillin, “Scarlet… wind…”

The gray cat shook its ears and cocked its head, “What’s that?”

The little fellow pointed at himself and said, “... scarlet… wind…”

“You’re saying that you’re called Scarlet Wind?” Cillin had told the little fellow once that he would give himself his own name once he had learned the language. He didn’t think that he would come up with his name so quickly.

He had probably made the decision after seeing the word ‘scarlet’ that represented the color red within the terms of colors, and the word ‘wind’ within the terms of weathers. Since the wind was very fast, the little fellow probably thought that he could run as fast as the wind.

Seeing the little fellow nodding, Cillin walked over and rubbed his head, saying, “Alright, from now on your name is Scarlet Wind.”