Book 3 7.1
The number of lives that were ended at Su’s hands wasn’t small, but when he was in the wilderness, slaughter was always for the sake of survival. However, inside the Black Dragonriders where most people lived an olden era’s style of living, slaughter was mostly for benefits, for the sake of more resources, wealth, authority, and evolutionary points. The reason dragonriders fought against the outside world was mainly to plunder resources.
Su had read from a book left behind from the olden era that the natural resources of that world could still provide for many, many people. Even though wars never stopped, it was done so in moderation. Even though life was difficult, there was still order. In most places, casual killing was not allowed. When those in the wilderness heard this, they felt as if this was like heaven. However, the final war changed everything. It all began together with the countless devastating mushroom clouds that buried everything deeply within ruins.
The location to turn in the mission was a small tavern at the edge of a city. This place where chaos and sex was prevalent also suited the style of this mission. After handing over the bag carrying Steel Kahli to the individual designated at the very bottom of the mission statement, he finally released a breath of relief. He didn’t want to stay here for a second longer, turning a deaf ear even to that individual’s proposed toast to success before leaving the tavern in an almost rude manner and heading towards Dragon City.
Su felt extremely conflicted inwardly. That’s why he didn’t want any trouble and came here wearing a mask that covered most of his face. However, it was clear that there were still some people who recognized him from his light blonde hair and single eye. These people were all strong and robust, purposely exposing their bodies that were covered in sinister-looking scars. Most of them were equipped with one or two levels of Combat Domain abilities as well. In the surroundings of Dragon City, one could forget about surviving without a few levels of Combat Domain ability.
However, what surprised Su and even put him between laughter and tears was that those that recognized him not only didn’t come looking for trouble, but even put on smiles while lowering their bodies and hiding into the dark corners.
Su couldn’t help but smile, understanding that this should be the result of what Li and Li Gaolei accomplished on gray street, especially after Li seriously injured a private first ranked dragonrider and beat up half of gray street’s robust men.
The rewards for the assassination this time was unexpectedly abundant, bringing Su a total of 300 thousand, as well as enough merit to promote himself to lieutenant colonel. General headquarters even showed a humane side to them for the first time, considerately allowing Su to postpone his promotion for three months but allowing him to have all of a lieutenant colonel’s level of authority first. Su’s lightning fast advance in ranking would bring him many unnecessary troubles; this was definitely not something general headquarters’ senior officers wouldn’t understand.
Before he had time to decide what to do with the 300 thousand, Su received a message from Helen, requiring him to immediately pay the hospital a visit. As soon as he thought about that completely joyless physical examination, Su immediately replied, “Not going.”
“Persephone is here.” Helen unexpectedly threw out seemingly tempting bait.
“Impossible. You already used this reason last time.” Su immediately foiled Helen’s schemes.
“Come now, or else you will regret it.” Helen saw that her trick didn’t work, so she immediately tossed aside her warm expression impatiently and revealed her true ice-cold appearance.
“Probably won’t regret it.” Su’s voice became a bit gentler. Helen seemed quite serious, and only when there were extremely important matters would she act like this. However, Su truly didn’t wish to see Helen, didn’t wish to go to her hospital. Every single meticulous instrument had repeatedly appeared in his nightmares before.
Helen didn’t respond and instead directly cut off communications.
Su shook his head, changing his direction and heading towards Persephone’s private hospital.
An hour later, the completely naked Su was lying flat on the ice-cold laboratory platform, silently watching Helen’s hand personally apply sensors to every part of his body. Even though Helen looked exactly the same as in the past without any changes, for some reason, Su just had this feeling that she was extremely tired and her mood was incredibly sullen. Her beautiful face that normally didn’t have a hint of emotion seemed to be covered in a dark shadow.
Following Helen’s push of a button, the laboratory platform slowly carried Su towards a light blue circular device. Clattering sounds continuously sounded, and then the laboratory platform was completely sealed. A strand of anesthetic gas entered the circular device. Su cooperatively relaxed his body as well, from there on entering a state of sleep.
What followed was a peaceful and warm darkness.
When he woke up from the darkness, Su unexpectedly found that he was a bit reluctant to leave that peaceful darkness. The data he received from his body told him that an hour and eleven minutes had passed. A few seconds later, all of the data converged, and from which Su learned that apart from a few pinholes, as well as having a few rays of light, Helen didn’t do anything too different. The amounts of tests that were carried out seemed to be even less than before as well.
The laboratory platform had already reseted. Su sat up on the laboratory platform. He found that his uniform had been folded neatly and placed on a portable surface. Helen was holding a thin plate intelligence system, and right now, she was completely focused on the sea of data that poured down the screen. With his level of comprehension, Su could only understand a portion of the data’s meaning. He had no idea what most of it meant. With the passage of every second, the data on the screen would refresh 15 times. Su could keep up with this type of speed, only, it would make him a bit tired unlike how relaxed Helen looked.
“Are there any problems?” Su asked customarily. He naturally knew that there was nothing wrong with himself. However, not having any problems was a huge problem in itself. After experiencing the tremendous explosion at Kahli’s house, Su broke a few small bones, but after a few days worth of time, these bones had already basically healed. In the past, Su never felt that this was a problem, but now, he knew that this type of recovery speed was definitely not something a normal person should have. At the very least, it wasn’t something most people associated with the definition of human. Based on the value general headquarters placed on mutated creatures, Su reckoned that his own price would be enough to make most dragonriders go mad. As for who could stop this from happening, apart from Persephone, there might not be many others.
“Your body doesn’t have any problems. This time, apart from a routine inspection, I also needed to obtain data on your body’s sizes to order a set of formal attire for you.” Helen didn’t move her eyes from her screen as she spoke indifferently.
“Formal attire?” Su felt that it was quite strange. If it was a normal combat suit, then that would be nothing special. He had never worn a formal attire in his entire life, and he almost never made contact with this side’s knowledge, to the extent where he didn’t even know what parts formal attire included. Fine, he did skip one class in the dragonrider training, the etiquette class.
“This is mandatory for the day after tomorrow’s evening banquet. Could it be that you wish to wear your dragonrider uniform or maybe even your combat suit to participate in Persephone’s evening banquet?”
Su recalled the message Persephone sent him a few days ago, telling him that she was going to hold a birthday evening party and that Su had to attend. At that time, he didn’t think too much about it, only agreeing to her request and mechanically recording it into his schedule.
Su knew the definition of evening party, but he had never participated in one. Evening parties were things people in the olden era who didn’t lack basic necessities had. In this era where everyone was constantly struggling for survival, the term evening party was extremely out of place. However, since Persephone who was always fighting in the northern front was going to suddenly return and prepare what was supposedly an extremely grand evening party, she likely had some ulterior motive.
Su could almost smell a hint of gunpowder and conspiracy.
The entire examination process had been completed. Right when Su was going to bid Helen goodbye, his head suddenly felt dizzy and his body swayed back and forth.
“What is wrong?” Helen noticed the abnormality in Su’s behavior and reached out a hand to support him.
Even though he was in a state of dizziness, Su’s sharp perception strength still instinctively conducted a simple analysis of Helen’s strength. From her arm, Su only felt strength that was slightly greater than that of a normal woman, and he didn’t detect any potential for other special abilities. Helen clearly didn’t have a single level of strengthened power. This amount of power could only barely support Su, preventing him from falling.
“I’m fine.” Su steadied his body in a somewhat difficult manner. The world in his eyes was covered in a layer of shadows, as if everything was an illusion.
In the void world, Helen’s figure became somewhat indistinct as welL. Behind her was a large and tall black man with an overcast expression that was staring coldly at Su with snake-like eyes. His gaze couldn’t be considered to contain hostility, but it was definitely not kindness. In addition, he seemed to be stuck closely behind Helen, with a portion of the void figure’s body overlapping with her’s.
This black man’s face was one Su recognized. He was Lynch, one of the three dragonriders that wanted to kill him in the past, but for some reason, later on, this most dangerous sniper never appeared on the battlefield. This allowed Su to smoothly deal with Kafen and Maria.
However, what did this scene mean? Could it be that there was some relationship between Lynch and Helen?
“Su, what exactly is going on with you? Do you need another examination?” Helen revealed a rare trace of concern. However, the weight of the word examination was too much, and it easily shattered the void world, returning Su back to reality. Those strange sensations naturally disappeared as well.
“I’m fine. It’s nothing, really.” Su’s green eye lit up once again, and his smile seemed just as natural as well.
Helen carefully looked at Su, but she didn’t mention the requirement to carry out another examination. Su inwardly breathed a sigh of relief before hurriedly leaving.