Star Rank Hunter
chapter-198-2

Chapter 198: Hiding Under the Goddess’ Skirt [Part 2]

Cillin put his doubts at the back of his mind. Right now, the most important thing was to escape this place. He had only three minutes left going by Knight’s ten minutes deadline.

Inside the research base, panic and chaos continued to spread everywhere. The parasites consumed one human puppet brain after another crazily as if they were entering many hotbeds. The human puppets were even crazier since the only thoughts remaining in their heads were murder. The experimental beasts charged towards all directions as the gaseous substance in the environment caused them to grow more and more irritated.

The experimenters became the sacrifices of the battle between both sides. The bodyguards also decided to forget about their duties and leave this place once they’d seen through the situation.

On the other side of the planet, there was a prosperous city.

Amidst a clump of skyscrapers, Kedwell stared at the huge goddess statue at the edge of the city and said softly, “Some people are destined to become sacrificial lambs. There is no doubt that Shelt has brought a huge amount of profit to ‘Miracle’, but in face of such circumstances, his fate still cannot be altered. He had nothing but his own conceit and refusal to listen to advice to blame.”

For the past many years, the things Shelt did caused many people to feel unhappy at ‘Miracle’s’ actions. Alone they were nothing, but when accumulated, all that unhappiness had ultimately exploded in their faces today.

Kedwell might have said this with pretentious dignity, but in reality there was no way Shelt could’ve done what he did without the management’s acquiescence.

“Boss, everything is ready.”

“Let us begin.”

“Got it!”

Kedwell looked at the display he was holding his his hands. A loud bang resounded from the base, and something that looked like a tornado slowly spread to the surroundings and engulfed everything inside. It twisted and crushed everything it consumed, causing the entire research base to be turned into dust after the loud bang.

The tremendous blast of dust and debri caused by the explosion rolled towards the city, but judging from its momentum, it would most likely weaken into a normal endurable sandstorm not far away from the gigantic goddess statue.

However, the sand and dust, as far as the eyes could see, did limit the vision of some people.

The gigantic goddess statue sculpted in the image of ‘Genesis Mythos’’ Goddess of Miracle, Alvinia, looked like she would endure all of mankind’s miseries with the wings on her back. Her open arms and the smile she wore in her unique countenance were said to be able to bring forth a miracle. The clean, white petticoat that covered her ankles looked like they would dance under the assault of the sandstorm.

On this gigantic statue, there were many dust covered people lying in the folds of the goddess’ skirt.

“F*ck me, pooh! It went into my mouth!”

“Cough, cough, cough. Damn, that was too close. Thank goodness we escaped quickly, or we would’ve been blown away by the storm.”

“Cut the squealing. Is everybody here?” Knight said into the communicator as he lay down and crouched inside the folds of the skirt.

All ten men inside his team reported their own conditions. The goddess statue was huge, and there were a lot of creases around its skirt. They hadn’t arrived here at the same time, nor gathered at the same spot. After confirming their respective locations, they slowly gathered towards Knight’s spot.

The gray cat, Tang Qiuqiu, as well as the unconscious Scarlet Wind and Snowball carried by Czedow had already found a spot for themselves to crouch in, but Cillin was nowhere to be seen.

“Cillin, are you there?” Knight called out to the communicator once more. He would call out to Cillin once every while, but he had not gotten a response from the man at all. In the end, Knight’s temper flared up, “Where the hell are you? Can’t you make some goddamn sounds at least?!”

Just as Knight was roaring into the communicator, a grappling hook suddenly flew right towards his face. Knight moved his head sideways and dodged out of the way.

Ding! The hook clung onto a bulge as the thin thread attached behind the hook contracted. Then, a figure and slammed into Knight heavily, nearly knocking the latter down the statue.

“What the... f*ck!” Knight skidded and rolled on his head once before he managed to steady himself. Then, he sent a kick flying towards the culprit, “Can’t you find a better place to come in, bastard?!”

“Cough, cough,” Cillin wiped the dust on his face and leaned sat down against the bulge of the crease where the grappling hook had clung onto. He paid no heed to Knight’s kick and smiled at him, “Sorry, sorry. This shitty environment blocked my sight.”

“Bullshit! If your sight is really blocked then why did you jump on me?!” Knight kicked him a few more times while speaking, “That claw of yours nearly smashed into my head.”

“You’re not Knight if you get hit that easily.”

Knight humphed and sat down next to Cillin, “What took you so long?”

“I ran into a little trouble, but I got something good out of it.”

Cillin felt a lot more relaxed now that he knew that everyone was here.

“My dad always told me that I’m a restive person, but you’re even worse than me, sonny.”

Cillin threw a punch right at him, “Who are you calling sonny?”

“Come on, call me daddy, sonny.”

“F*ck you.”

Cillin’s communicator beeped while they were chatting with each other. It was Czedow.

“What’s wrong?” Cillin asked.

“Something’s wrong with Scarlet Wind and Snowball. They’ve been injected with stimulating drugs, and they’re starting to react to it.”

“I’m coming over right away.”

Cillin turned around to inform Knight about the situation before heading towards Czedow’s spot. He used the grappling hook again because it was pretty difficult to climb while a sandstorm was raging. The grappling hook was the less time consuming option anyway.

When Cillin arrived, he saw that Scarlet Wind and Snowball were writhing on the ground. Tang Qiuqiu was watching them both in worry not far away, and the gray cat stood in front of her protectively. Czedow was kneeling beside Scarlet Wind and Snowball.

“This is the analysis result of the drug’s components and effects.” A small transparent window that displayed the molecular formula and relevant data of the drug appeared before Czedow.

The sandstorm had covered up the sun and cast Cillin and the others in darkness. Therefore, their surroundings were illuminated when the window had winked into existence. Snowball’s pupils shrank and expanded abruptly at the stimulation, and in a second it turned aggressive, bared its fangs and pounced towards Czedow.

Cillin used the energy behind Snowball’s pounce, raised his leg and kicked into its side. Snowball was launched against the goddess’ walls, and he seized the opportunity to wrap the rope in his hands several times around Snowball. However, Snowball easily broke free of the restraint.

“Czedow!” Cillin yelled.

Czedow transformed both his arms into many tentacles and restrained Snowball tightly. Although Snowball had struggled greatly against Czedow, it wasn’t able to break free in a short time. Cillin quickly used the short time window to analyze the drug.

However, Scarlet Wind had fully awakened not long after. His claws were sharper than ever before, and it left many deep marks on the goddess’ body. Long hair grew out of his skin, making Scarlet Wind look more animalistic than human.

Cillin restrained Scarlet Wind’s pouncing movements and shouted loudly at him, “Scarlet Wind, look at me! Look at my eyes!”

Scarlet Wind’s struggling body and gnashing teeth slowly stopped after he looked into Cillin’s eyes. It was as if there was an energy that was controlling him.

“Look at my eyes, Scarlet Wind. Look at my eyes...” Cillin deep voice brought Scarlet Wind into another world amidst the howling sandstorm.

“Scarlet Wind, do you remember what you told me before you joined Vanguard? Tell me your answer again. Do you wish to be a human, or a hellhound?”

Scarlet Wind looked into Cillin’s eyes, but there were no focus behind them. When Scarlet Wind heard Cillin’s question, he paused for a second before saying, “A... human...”

“Good! If you want to become a human, then suppress the animal inside your body and don’t let it control your body. Suppress it, control it!”

“Suppress... control...”

Scarlet Wind repeated Cillin’s words, and when Cillin let go of his claws Scarlet Wind no longer attempted to attack him. His eyes slowly closed as he collapsed onto the ground.

Cillin let out a sigh of relief, “The fact that hypnosis still works a little means that the drug hasn’t completely taken over yet.”

After analysing the drug and combining it with Czedow’s partial findings, Cillin quickly figured out a temporary solution.

He took out a few reagent bottles and mixed some drugs at a calculated ratio before injecting them into Snowball and Scarlet Wind’s body. He finally relaxed after seeing their vitals slowly returning to normal.

“This will have to do for now. We’ll cure them completely once this mission is over. Our choices are limited right now, and we still have a situation in our hands.”

“What happened to them?” the gray cat walked over and asked.

“Part of their genes were excessively activated to the point where their dominant consciousness became weakened. It’s almost like going berserk, but their condition is slightly better than that.” Cillin explained.

“How much longer will this mission last?”

“I don’t know. We’ll see. At least we won’t be alone.”

The research base was destroyed alright, but some of the parasites were still alive. There was also the poisonous gas rolling towards their direction following the blast.