Chapter Fifteen: The Mysterious Team

“Chirp! Chirp, chirp, chirp!”
The massive boulder blocking the cave entrance was lifted and flung aside with one hand by Xiang Jiuxi, crashing heavily onto the ground some distance away. Startled by this, the grinning-faced monkey let out a terrified screech, and before its shadow had fully emerged, it darted away like a streak of smoke.

Xiang Jiuxi stared in bewilderment at his own arm, unable to believe he could unleash such overwhelming strength. No wonder the spear’s wooden shaft had been crushed to splinters in his grasp...

Recalling what the skeleton had said, he was now wholly convinced that the crystal stone did indeed endow a person with mysterious power.

Suddenly, a crisp, abrupt sound rang out from the distance.

The grinning-faced monkey collapsed instantly, letting out a feeble whimper as it struggled to rise, then fell silent forever.

Curiosity etched across his face, Xiang Jiuxi was about to peer out to investigate when an unpleasant, sharp and hoarse human voice sounded not far off:

“Damn thing, thought you could run? Run, then!”

What? Someone’s here?

Xiang Jiuxi furrowed his brows and dared not make a move, only peeking stealthily through a narrow gap.

A tall, gaunt man came into view, holding a strangely shaped rifle. He was dragging the grinning-faced monkey by its hind leg, swinging it playfully in midair.

“Pretty fat, too. Hey! What do you suppose this critter’s been eating to get this big?”

A rifle? So the grinning-faced monkey was shot?

Just then, a young man in crisp military attire approached slowly, a bulging rucksack slung over his back. He glanced sidelong at the monkey’s hideous face, stiffened his expression to conceal his disgust, and said,

“We’re here. Let’s get on with our real business.”

“Tch,” the tall man sneered, rolling his eyes. He spat contemptuously, muttering under his breath, “You’ve got some nerve. All the real business was delayed because of you, and now you want to lecture me?”

“You—!”

“What about me? Am I wrong? If it weren’t for you, would we have provoked the Winged Tiger? Would my thirty-odd Thousand Mechanism Guards all be dead?”

The young man was about to flare up, but the tall man cut him off, leaving him speechless. All he could do was shake his sleeve in anger.

“I could have taken the Winged Tiger down with a single sniper shot—ten chances out of ten! But who knows why the rifle jammed? I checked it right before we left the city.”

At these words, the tall man’s eyes flickered, then he deliberately avoided the youth’s gaze, grumbling, “Who can say?”

Xiang Jiuxi noticed this subtle gesture. He had a feeling the tall man was far from simple; with his sharp, monkey-like features, he looked every bit the wily old fox. If he wanted to play any tricks, that young man probably wouldn’t even know how he died.

Now, the tall man slung the rifle over his shoulder, drew a dagger from his belt, and crouched down to gut the grinning-faced monkey.

He worked with practiced efficiency, soon peeling off the hide in one perfect piece. He set it aside, then scooped out the steaming organs with his bare hands, bringing them to his mouth and gnawing greedily.

The young man watched this scene with unconcealed disdain, but said nothing more, simply waiting for him to finish.

Before long, the entrails were reduced to a pool of bloody water. Satisfied, the tall man licked the scraps from his fingers, then leaned back and sighed contentedly.

“Damn! That hits the spot!”

Hidden in the cave, Xiang Jiuxi watched the bloodstained man devouring raw flesh, and for some reason, the image brought to mind the countless starved corpses in the city. Their fates were much the same as this grinning-faced monkey.

The young man now began to survey the surrounding terrain, while Xiang Jiuxi carefully concealed himself, thankful for the cave’s excellent cover.

“Are you full now? Can we get to the real business?” The young man pressed.

“What’s the rush? The last patrol team had more than twenty men—not one made it back alive. What do you think the two of us can accomplish? Hmph, and you expected the Thousand Mechanism Guards to win renown! Look at us now—didn’t even touch a hair, and the whole squad’s wiped out!”

The tall man replied indifferently, his words full of blame for the decimation of their unit.

The young man’s lips turned white with fury, his body trembling. He clenched his fists, striving to control his anger.

After a while, he forced a laugh. “Well, perhaps it’s just as well. We’d better replenish our strength—there’s a tough fight ahead.”

He drew a short knife from his leg, chopped off a hind leg from the monkey, and took out a pot and a bucket of clear water from his pack.

He rinsed the meat, cut it into uniform chunks, salted it to draw out the blood, added spices, and finally poured in more water before covering the pot with satisfaction.

Such refinement in eating made Xiang Jiuxi feel like nothing more than a wild monkey scavenging for scraps.

Having finished, the young man began to gather dry twigs for the fire.

The tall man watched his fussing, visibly uncomfortable, scratching at his skin as if he could scrape away his goosebumps.

Meanwhile, the youth moved at a leisurely pace, unbothered and composed.

The more relaxed the young man appeared, the more agitated the tall man became, until at last he could stand it no longer and got up to leave.

“Of all the rotten luck, why did I have to team up with you for this mission? You fuss worse than an old woman—enough to drive a man mad!”

With a clatter, whether by accident or design, he kicked over the pot of meat the youth had so carefully prepared, tripping himself in the process.

“Damn! What a nuisance!”

The tall man picked himself up, set the pot upright again, and strode off without a backward glance.

When the youth returned with an armful of firewood, the tall man was already gone. Yet, seeing the mess, he did not seem angry. On the contrary, a look of vengeful satisfaction spread across his face.

He quietly set the pot back up, poured in more water, and slowly began to cook the meat once more.

Xiang Jiuxi watched all this, torn with indecision.

He saw the tall man, when righting the pot, surreptitiously add a pinch of white powder to it. It wasn’t hard to guess what that might be.

“Sharp-tongued, sly as a monkey—my instincts weren’t wrong about him,” Xiang Jiuxi muttered inwardly.

Soon, a savory aroma rose from the young man’s pot.

Xiang Jiuxi swallowed, hesitating whether to warn the unsuspecting youth. If he did, he’d risk exposing his hiding place; if he stayed silent, he’d be complicit in the man’s death.

His worries extended further. Thanks to his privileged background as the governor’s son, he’d been familiar with firearms since childhood, and had seen many genuine guns from the previous era.

But no matter how he rifled through his memories, he couldn’t match the tall man’s rifle to any known model. The crisp sound at the shot didn’t resemble the percussion of a firing pin on powder at all... Could it be an air gun?

But even an air gun shouldn’t have such power, killing the monkey with a single shot.

What kind of weapon was it, then? Surely not some newly forged model that had just been developed?

From the men’s conversation, Xiang Jiuxi learned that their group was on a mission; the team had been large, but danger had reduced their numbers to just these two by the time they arrived.

According to the youth, their target was this very place. Could it be that their true goal was the crystal stone?

If so... then most likely, this was Eden.

After piecing everything together, Xiang Jiuxi made a decision: He would keep one of them alive to find out what he needed to know.

Clearly, the best choice was the inexperienced young man.