The man beside the bed was carefully adjusting the position of the humidifier so that it would be more effective when suddenly, his hand suddenly froze in mid-movement. The next moment, he had aimed his gun at a certain spot of the cabin and squeezed the trigger three times in a row.
The bullets contained incredible penetrating power. Not only did they pass through the steel wall with ease, the bullet holes they left behind widened to the size of a fist in less than a breath’s time. The entire sequence of movements was completed in less than a fraction of a second as well.
The doctor had also stopped whatever he was doing, pulled out his gun, and stared in the direction of the bullet hole warily. He could sense that there was someone on the other side of the wall, and he was certain that it wasn’t one of theirs. They had already cleared out all the rooms around the cabin before moving inside, and they had posted guards specifically to prevent anyone from trying anything sneaky. Therefore, there shouldn’t be anyone in the room at all.
As for the possibility that the person might be one of their subordinates, the thought never even crossed the doctor’s mind. Everyone in this group was aware of their boss’ legendary temper. They wouldn’t dare to cross him even if they had a death wish. Naturally, it could only be an enemy!
The bullet holes were huge enough that they could see the person in the next room. They didn’t recognize him, but it only heightened their wariness even more.
The unknown person stabbed a finger into the wall. Then, he carved out a door big enough to fit his entire person as if the wall was made of butter, not alloy. The man holding the humidifier narrowed his eyes. This display of abnormal strength was strange enough, but he was certain that all three of his shots hit the unknown person squarely. Otherwise, his bullets would’ve penetrated the wall on the other side of the other room as well. What on earth was this man?
Czedow walked through the hole he carved but did not attempt to approach the two men. It would only increase their hostility unduly, which was not his intention.
Seeing that Cezdow was just standing there and doing nothing, the man holding the humidifier asked, “Are you the Sixth? Or are you the Fifth, the Eighth, or maybe even the Second Army?”
“We are neither.”
The reply had not come from Czedow. Cillin stepped out from behind the robot, looked at the man directly in the eye and asked, “Are you Blood Eye Aiken?”
After Cillin had slipped away from the passenger’s cabin, he had climbed into the room next to Aiken’s through the vents. It was then he received a message from Lung.
As it turned out, the reason martial law had been declared on the entire Sector H was because an infamous figure had entered the Sector and hijacked a luxury spaceplane a while ago. He was the leader of the Free Army, Aikenseth. The Free Army was one of the major forces that had risen to power during the revolt of Sector V. Aikenseth was nicknamed Blood Eye Aiken because his eyes were literally blood red in color.
No one knew why he had come in Sector H, only that he absolutely deserved his reputation. He was hot-tempered, tyrannical, and incredibly powerful. He also possessed incredible senses. Czedow was just trying to touch the wall to install a surveillance device, but he took three bullets to the torso almost immediately after his fingers made contact with it. Obviously, Aikenseth’s reaction speed was top-notch as well.
Cillin could see that something was wrong with Aikenseth’s eyes. His eye movements were unusually stiff, and it wasn’t nearly as red as his reputation suggested. It was because Aikenseth had applied a drug to cover up his eye color. He knew he could be spotted a mile away if he didn’t conceal it, but his eyes were so special that most methods were completely useless. Reysen, his doctor and the other man who was preparing some sort of drug a while ago was the only one who managed to create a drug that could conceal them. It wasn’t perfect though. Applying the drug weakened his eyesight enough that it couldn’t catch up with his body. Even so, it was clear that Aikenseth’s other senses were more than enough to make up for the artificial weakness.
Aikenseth’s eyes were brown-colored and almost glassy when they were under the drug’s effects. But after Cillin had exposed his identity, they abruptly began to change color almost as if blood was flooding into his eyes. The red spread from the edges of the eyes until they overwhelmed not just the iris, but also the entire pupil.
Some people described Blood Eye Aiken as a man who bore hell in his eyes, and it turned out it wasn’t an exaggeration. When the unnatural red covered Aikenseth’s pupils completely, Cillin felt as if he had suddenly fallen into a sea of blood. Of course, it was really a hallucination caused by the mental pressure of Aikenseth’s gaze, but there weren’t many people who could withstand it. Most people would feel as if the entire world had become dyed in red.
Aikenseth saw no point in concealing his identity further since Cillin had already figured out who it was. Moreover, the drug would limit his eye movement, and it was clear that neither Czedow nor Cillin were slouches. At the very least, he did not think his subordinates could do much against them. That was why he chose to cancel the drug’s effects and regain his full strength.
If Aikenseth emanated the aura of a murderous killer when he was disguised, now he looked like a blood-drenched tyrant ready to unleash hell upon his enemies at any moment.
Cillin said calmly, “We’re just passing through. We’re not with the military, and we have no intention of tangling with you.”
Aikenseth didn’t believe him, though to be fair the number of people he trusted could be counted on one hand. He and his people were born in Sector V after all. That there was anyone they could trust was in itself a minor miracle.
Originally, Cillin wasn’t planning to get involved in this mess. Unless they were planning to blow up the entire ship or something, he was just planning to keep an eye on the hijackers until they were gone. However, Aikenseth had surprised them with his exceptional senses, so he had no choice but to abandon his original plan. From what Lung told him about Aikenseth, he wasn’t the type to let them go without exacting a terrible price.
Cillin wasn’t afraid of going toe-to-toe against Aikenseth, but he didn’t want to expose themselves more than they already had. They were operating undercover just like Aikenseth after all.
As Cillin had guessed, Aikenseth was planning to end them here. Although he was aware that his opponents were formidable, this was hardly the first time he had fought against bullet-proof opponents. Right before he was about to launch his attack though, Cillin said something that caused him to freeze like a statue.
“She won’t last much longer. At most, she has fifteen minutes left.”
The woman on the bed was incredibly weakened. He could tell by the rhythm and sound of her breathing alone that she was drawing closer to death with every breath.
“It’s bad enough she’s poisoned, but her health isn’t very good to begin with. It made things worse,” Cilin continued.
If Cillin’s first words only halted Aikenseth’s movement, his second words extinguished the Free Army leader’s decision to kill his opponents temporarily. Before this, he had tried everything to improve the patient’s condition to no avail. To say he was desperate enough to grasp at straws would be an understatement.
Sector E was their best hope of treating the patient, but they couldn’t go there because the military kept a close eye on that Sector. Sector H was a very prosperous Sector thanks to the presence of big families like the Andrea, and other smaller but equally old families. Sector H might not be the master of a particular field, but it was certainly the jack of all trades. Its clothing, food, housing, transportation, healthcare, culture, education and more were all very well-developed. That was why they had come to Sector H in search of medical aid. Unfortunately, they had committed a couple of mistakes on their way here and exposed their tracks, which caused martial law to be declared on the entire Sector.
The patient was afflicted with a poison that prevented her from ingesting any water. She was so dehydrated that she was incapable of swallowing any food, and liquid food would only hasten her water loss rate. IV was out of the question either. Not long ago, they had reached the point where they could only feed her super small nutrient pills to keep her alive.
Suddenly, the woman’s fingers twitched a little. There was a clear layer of dead skin flakes on her dry skin. Her eyes twitched, but she did not attempt to open them.
“Aiken… I see… it…” she said. Her voice sounded unbelievably hoarse. It was a miracle she managed to say anything at all. She fell into a coma right after she said those incomprehensible words.
“You have ten minutes,” Cillin said again.
Aikenseth’s eyes turned even redder as he spun toward Cillin. “Can you save her? I’ll do anything if you can save her! I’ll even fight the Eight Armies if that is your wish!”
Cillin shook his head. “I can’t save her, but I can buy her some time.”