Chapter 278: What a Formidable Cat! [Part 1]
Cillin didn’t contribute much to the effective extraction of the Tricolor Beans’ toxin. Most of the time, he was simply observing Neo from the sidelines. He had experience in restoring an imperfect toxin molecules after extraction, so he knew that this line of work required a lot of analysing and calculating, as well as a higher knowledge ceiling from its workers. Normally, it would take more than half a day to complete the extract process from start to the end.
However, Neo was used to working alone. He singlehandedly completed all the work in just two hours’ time, and he had even performed a second restoration to the toxin’s molecules based on its effectiveness against a cyborg. It was skill that even Cillin had to be impressed by.
Technically speaking, Cillin could complete all the work within this period as well, but the main force behind his speed would be his unique constitution, not his skill. At the very least, Cillin hadn’t seen anyone else who was able to do so much work in such a short time frame. Even the students in the affiliated schools were slightly lacking compared to Neo.
Neo was like a precise machine who possessed an extraordinary amount of instinctive intelligence and predictive power whenever he was researching something. The moment he started working, he was already planning the next step, the next next step or more and calculating the result of his work. Ignoring the fact that this “machine” didn’t run quite as you expected it to be sometimes, Neo definitely deserved to be called a genius.
Neo was very demanding and strict when he performed his experiments, just like how he couldn’t help but convert elements of the normal life into data like he had OCD.
After two hours of concentrated work, Neo held up a small bottle with orange yellow liquid in it and cried our excitedly, “It’s finally done!”
This toxin was slightly different from the Tricolored Bean’s natural toxin, but theoretically speaking it should work even better on the cyborgs.
“Here you go. Go use them on some cyborgs — preferably nearby, since I’d be able to observe and record all the data from here — and inspect its effects.” said Neo after handing Cillin three bottles of toxin.
Cillin had gotten used to Neo’s self-centered way of speaking by now. Because Neo seemed to have no idea about the word “tactful”, those who didn’t know him well would probably mistake his tone as an order. He was so direct that sometimes one just felt like slapping him in the face.
Incidentally, Gu Xin had almost recovered to full, although the main contributing factor behind his recovery was his own body. Just like Neo had said earlier, Gu Xin ‘s constitution was pretty impressive, and his body was already starting to adapt to the toxin after the initial poisoning. He’d probably be safe even if he came into contact with the same poisonous meat again.
“Aren’t you worried about being poisoned yourself?” asked Cillin to Neo.
Although Black Viper members had safe bases they could enter and cook their food, the method couldn’t possibly work for every type of food, right? Considering how picky Neo’s stomach was and how Ah Shou hadn’t managed to stop burping and reduce the swelling in her teary eyes even now, there was just no way their constitution was better than Gu Xin’s, right?
“Oh that? We’d been injected with vaccines, compound serum and antibodies before we came here, so we were always going to fare better than you no matter what happens. Also, we’d also been given a bunch of antidotes and backup medicines just in case of an emergency. Speaking of which, why are you still staying here, Ah Shou? Don’t you have your own base to return to?” Neo was very displeased with Ah Shou’s actions so far.
Cillin and Guxin facepalmed themselves. Ah Shou was starting to cry (and burp, though that hadn’t stopped since the start) again.
“My base… burp… was stolen… by some bad people burp…” It was like a water tap behind her eyes had been turned on.
Earlier today, Ah Shou had gone out of her base to inhale some fresh air and have a bit of fun in the mountains, but when she returned to her base she discovered that it had already been invaded by strangers. Those people had even tried to capture Ah Shou, so she ran away like the wind and escaped. Unfortunately, she escaped the frying pan only to land right in the fire that was Gu Xin, and that was how she eventually ended up in Neo’s base. It was why Ah Shou was feeling extremely aggrieved today.
The fact that she was able to come all the way here proved that Ah Shou had her own life saving skills. She was an even faster runner than Neo was because her bones were much lighter than the average human being, and her small and delicate frame only added to that advantage. Neo wasn’t exaggerating when he said that Ah Shou could almost run as fast as a tornado, and his claim was further supported by first hand experience from Gu Xin. If he hadn’t played a trick or two on Ah Shou, he wouldn’t have been able to capture her at all.
“Why didn’t you lure him to your place and let them fight each other to the death!?” asked Neo.
Gu Xin looked back at forth between Neo and the crying, burping Ah Shou. Ah Shou was a better companion, he thought.
Ah Shou paused for a second before crying even harder after hearing that.
“Uu, he said to burp… bring him to a safe burp… place, but burp… my place burp isn’t safe anymore.”
Neo stared at her disdainfully. “I’m seriously starting to suspect your intelligence!”
Wheeze’s ears suddenly perked up while it was sitting on the floor and licking its paws. It shot Neo a glance, but merely returned to its paws a second later.
Cillin reckoned that the “bad people” Ah Shou was referring to were test candidates who were kidnapped to this place just like Gu Xin. However, there was no telling what other forces was involved in this test besides the military.
Gu Xin didn’t hide the fact that he was from the military, but he refused to tell them which army he belonged to. Both Cillin and him had kept a tight lip about their own backgrounds, but luckily for them Neo and Ah Shou had no interest in such matters, so their interactions hadn’t suffered from the secrecy so far.
“Gu Xin” was definitely Gu Xin’s real name, but it seemed like the soldier wasn’t afraid that someone might try to investigate his background through it. Cillin had a feeling that anyone who tried to search the name “Gu Xin” within the military would only come up with a KIA report or something. No one here was an average person, and Gu Xin had to be one of the special types whose profiles were modified for various reasons.
“Enough, go test out my work already, will you?” urged Neo.
The original plan was to shoot the cyborgs through the hidden windows on the cliffside, but unfortunately a flock of birds had recently passed by the area. Neo gave up on the idea immediately after reaching the conclusion that there was a 5.37% chance that their hiding spot might be discovered. Instead, he told Cillin and Gu Xin to climb up to the crown of the tree and wait for an opportunity.
Cillin and Gu Xin arrived at the highest spot of the tree while holding Neo’s modified gun. Every tree branch was thick enough to hold exactly one person. While Cillin and Gu Xin chose their respective hiding spots, Wheeze offered to lure some bio-soldiers over.
“Your army allows you to keep a queue?” asked Cillin. Normally, a military officer wouldn’t like that at all.
“Not at first, but I was given permission later on.” Gu Xin didn’t elaborate on the matter, but Cillin’s question had reminded him about the past.
Gu Xin had had a queue since he was young. The first day he entered the military, an officer had tried to give him a full shave only be knocked flat on the floor. He was a difficult person to deal with, and every military officer who had been his instructor both loved and hated him for countless reasons. In the end he wasn’t able to keep his queue, not until he entered that special place and slow grew it back to what it was.
“Here they come!”
Cillin and Gu Xin held Neo’s gun and watched as five bio-soldiers ran after a certain gray cat. Wheeze was yelling and running in front of the bio-soldiers arrogantly like it was a game, which was exactly what this was in Wheeze’s head.
The tree was about three thousand meters away from the bio-soldiers, and wind occasionally blew over from the direction of the cliff. Therefore, it wasn’t exactly an easy shot to make. At the very least, Neo wouldn’t have been able to scratch the bio-soldiers’ skin, not even if they weren’t moving, and he fired every toxic bullet he had.
When the bio-soldiers reached the spot Cillin had calculated in his mind, he immediately opened fire without hesitation. A bio-soldier got hit right in the stomach, and it collapsed to the ground immediately before passing away in just two seconds flat.
Cillin’s shot was about five centimeters away from a vital spot, but that was something Neo had requested him to do earlier. He had requested Cillin to avoid hitting a vital spot with his first shot so that he would be able to measure the toxin’s effectiveness.
“Very good, now shoot one in the head!”
Neo’s excited voice came through from the communicator. They had to speak with Neo through the latter’s special communicator, or their conversation would be picked up by any passing birds. The equipment was so effective that there was one time a bird had landed on the same branch as Cillin to peck its feathers, and it didn’t notice anything unusual at all.
The second shot was fired by Gu Xin. He hit a bio-soldier squarely in the head, and the result was almost the same as Cillin’s.
“Alright, hit the next one in the vitals,” said Neo.
Cillin fired and hit the third bio-soldier in the vitals, and this time it had died almost immediately. The bullet and the amount of toxin contained inside them wasn’t particularly large, so assuming that a bio-soldier was hit in the vitals with a clean bullet, it still would’ve been able to struggle for about three to five seconds. However, the result was clearly different with the new toxin.
Gu Xin raised an eyebrow at Cillin’s shot, but didn’t say anything. He was astonished that Cillin was able to find the bio-soldier’s vital spot immediately without having to test with a shot to the head.
“Have you gotten the data you need?” asked Cillin. He was planning to shoot another bio-soldier in the vitals if Neo’s data collection wasn’t complete.
“Shoot one more bio-soldier in the vitals just in case.”
“Alright.” Cillin raised his gun and fired again.
Another bio-soldier fell while it was chasing Wheeze around in circles. Now, there was only one bio-soldier left.
“Confirmation is done. Let’s shoot the last one in the arm.”
Neo sounded pleased. It would appear that the toxin was very effective and reaching almost ideal values.
Gu Xin was the one who fired the last shot. He hit the bio-soldier in the right arm, and this time its time before death was extended a couple of seconds longer. Still, this was pretty good results. With this toxin in hand, their life was more secure even if they ran into a group of bio-soldiers.
“Is this all?” asked Cillin.
“This is all for now. Come back in.”