***
[Anyone die?]
Emir sat in a lotus position on top of his APC, his eyes trained on a Twin-Headed Cannonjaw Crocodile in the distance.
In front of the construct was a cruiser belonging to Evan, moving as fast as it could away from the chasing Cub.
On top of that cruiser were the remains of what appeared to be chs, strapped to it with chains.
[No, but if we don't move quick enough, Arthur just might.]
Even though such a scenario would be a hard blow to his cranium, Emir didn't react, choosing to clown on him instead:
[Then move quick enough.]
Jake's sigh echoed in his mind and he chuckled, proud of himself.
[Anyways HQ got us a few coupons as a reward for killing a Cannonjaw but they want us to sign an NDA.]
Emir closed his eyes for a mont, then reopened them.
[Does it stack with Black Cards?]
[...]
After a few seconds of silence, presumably to ask the agent, Jake answered:
[Yes, no issues there.]
[Then sign the binding contract. They'll take that kill off your hunter history as well but don't mind it. You won't be bragging about a Cub.]
[Wait, you an they'll delete our records? He didn't ntion that.]
Emir snickered.
[Of course not, you think they sent him for no reason? Their tongues are shrewd.]
[...I guess. Alright, that's all, good luck with the Corpos!]
[Thanks.]
Ending the call, Emir returned his attention to their surroundings, his eyes scanning the dunes around them as they had done a thousand tis in the past hour.
Usually, that job would be left to the vehicle's information-gathering device, but they had them turned off.
As they reached the halfway point to Corp Plaza more than an hour ago, a cruiser, undetected on their radar, sped past them.
That signaled two things to the cohort.
First, that cruiser was in ghost mode, which ant that they didn't want to be detected.
That showed that they were either afraid of sothing or wanted to surprise sothing or
soone.
But the second point indicated the forr.
They had the peddle to the tal, abusing the engine to go as fast as it could, escaping from death.
So Emir didn't even question it.
Without hesitation, he commanded everyone to shut off their devices and turn on ghost mode, so their vehicles wouldn't produce any signals either.
No neural signals would be detected.
It all went well, at least until Jake called.
As the bossman of many, Emir couldn't have his terminal off, ergencies could happen at any ti.
So he did the next best thing, by having it turn on only when an important person in his contacts called.
That person ended up being Jake.
And his short call, which in essence wasn't that important, had brought the attention of a Cub.
An evolved version of the Cannonjaw that his little brother fought.
Now that construct thankfully didn't call its friends over, so they simply watched as it chased after them for no reason other than entertainnt.
But that eventually got boring.
Emir wanted to ride his motorcycle again.
Cultivating on top of the APC simply didn't compare to when it was done on his chanical steed.
The APC was too safe and sturdy; it lessened the feeling of speed.
His Z5, however?
There would co a point where everything just faded.
The machine would beco weightless, almost disappearing.
Most of his mind would be too preoccupied with cultivation, leaving only a body moving through space and ti.
10,000 RPM.
That was where he always encountered it.
He would feel it approaching, creeping up on him, closing in on his ears...
And it would ask a question-the only question that mattered.
"Are you free?"
No... no, Emir wasn't.
The noose was still tight around his neck.
Ticked off, he stood up and eyed the Twin-head Cannonjaw.
He then brandished his twin swords, and his body glowed with Aether.
Whoosh!
Before the others could even register his movents, he disappeared, reappearing before the construct in an instant.
"Die."
...It did.
His body tore through it like a spear, slicing a hole from the top of its mouth to the base of its tail, killing it before it could react.
A monster many tis stronger than the ones the students had killed was done in by him in
re monts.
Such disparity wasn't unusual, not at all...
The others knew that very well.
So when they finally noticed what happened, seeing Emir return to his APC with blood
dripping off his Aetheric Shield, they remained silent.
It wasn't as if they could telepathically communicate in the first place, preventing them from
making their usual quips.
'I forgot how loud they were...'
With a chuckle, Emir retrieved his motorbike from the back of the APC and weaved through his cohort's vehicles, reaching the front and leaving the onboard AI to drive the APC.
Ti passed, and they kept up the incognito situation, relaxing and training till they reached
their destination.
***
"I'm Maria, a doctor from Second Life; may I know your na?"
"Sir Hunter, please do tell your na; I need it to continue."
The voice repeated.
And I, for so reason, found myself compelled to quickly answer, despite how sluggish I
felt:
"...Elijah."
An approving sound reached my ears alongside a lot of clutter in the near background. "While you were unconscious, we healed you to full health. Now your body simply needs to wake up, and the grogginess will disappear. Do you want that?"
As if talking to a child, the doctor asked a question that she knew I would say yes to, but I didn't fault her for it, not that I wanted to, because I knew that she ant well and that this
was a part of the process.
"...Yes."
Another approving hum resounded as she asked:
"Then... Sir Elijah, can you look at ?"
Groggily blinking my eyes open, my vision finally saw sothing other than the dark, as I had
been in a state of near consciousness for quite a while.
"That 'sothing' was the doctor.
Maria, unlike the many hunters around , had average looks, black hair, and eyes, wearing a
white lab coat above an E-10 augnted suit.
She held a tablet-sized terminal, noting down words as she scanned from top to bottom, presumably checking on my stats.
Once she picked up on my gaze, it held her focus for a mont, as she appeared to scrutinize
my blue eyes.
"Hm... You're fine. Go to your cohort, they're waiting for you near the second exit."
||||
Not knowing what to say, I nodded and stood up, feeling as if I hadn't moved in years, my joints creaking, in need of lubricant, WX-40 perhaps.
My feet moved through gri, dried blood, and wounded hunters, screaming for dical
attention.
"Help ! I can't see, oh lord, I can't see!"
"My arm! Where's my arm? Sobody, please!" "dic! We need a dic over here! He's bleeding out!"
"Please, I'm begging you, it hurts so much! My ear... I can't hear anything!"
"The pills...no! They're gone! What do I do? What do I do?"
A chaotic scene that I wanted no part in.
As I approached the exit she ntioned, I saw my cohort in the distance, and they did ,
waving in my direction.
"C'mon, you lazy shit!"
"Glad you got up, but you really took your ti!"
"Get a move on!"
"Good morning, bro~."
"...You're late."
Maybe I should have stayed knocked out.
***
They spoke one by one, with Jake going first, followed by Emma, Aria, Xavier, and Sofia, who
surprisingly spoke her mind, getting accustod to their group of whipped-up hunters.
"How long did you guys wait?"
Junior and Elijah half-hugged each other, as he scanned the rest, looking for Quinn.
"Not more than ten minutes. Also, she's not here, Maria couldn't heal her."
Stepping back and raising his brow at Emma, he asked:
"Why not? And did that Maria heal all of us?"
Emma shook her head.
"Dunno, but yeah, that one is from the Hub. They brought her for you students. Just as we
arrived here, she healed Aria, Junior, and now you, taking only a few minutes, almost as if she
was deleting your wounds from having ever happened."
Jake gestured for them to move while nodding.
"Wild analogy, but I agree. I guess that's what you get from the professors in the Academy,
only the best."
Aria crossed her arms and tried to mask a giggle.
"Right, like Ava's ever going to catch up."
Elijah shrugged his shoulders and asked:
"So are we leaving Quinn behind?" Junior answered while bumping his shoulder:
"No, we sent her out. Hopefully, her Ripper cos soon and fixes her back up."
Looking away, Elijah let out an exacerbated sigh, calming his mind. 'Hope huh... Well, I can only hope that bastard Arthur is still alive.'
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