Czedow sat down at another table to avoid disturbing Cillin and Er Cheng. Wheeze was going to take a walk along the counter but was caught by Czedow before it could do so.
Cillin had rented the restaurant to Er Cheng the first time he departed Brown Earth. The restaurant was still doing okay at the time, and Er Cheng’s living conditions were much better as well. That wasn’t the case anymore. The counter looked clean enough that he could tell that someone wiped it down everyday. The glass bottles and glasses were pretty clean as well. However, there were dust at inconspicuous corners that revealed the truth of the matter.
“You’re not doing well, are you?” Cillin began.
“Is… Is it really you? Cillin?” It took Er Cheng a long time to react. Even now, he couldn’t quite believe that the young man before him was Cillin. After all, Cillin had left Brown Earth some years ago, and he never asked how the restaurant was doing whether it was profitable or hemorrhaging money like the past two years or so.
Er Cheng chuckled when Cillin nodded in confirmation. “You didn’t change much!”
Er Cheng wasn’t only a few years older than Cillin, but they looked so different that they could’ve fooled people into thinking that they were father and son. The age disparity was caused by the difference in living environment, gene rank and more.
Cillin and Er Cheng talked about everything that had happened for the past few years. Er Cheng had a family now, and his life was no different from his father’s and those before him. While they were talking, Er Cheng’s wife came out and greeted Cillin cordially. She was your classic commoner woman, but Cillin could tell that she was an honest woman who loved her husband and her children very much. Her son was holding a rag and following behind his mother.
“Would you like to live in the city?” Cillin asked.
“Nah, the city life doesn’t suit me.” Er Cheng’s wrinkled face scrunched up in embarrassment as he scratched his head. “I prefer it here.”
Er Cheng then pulled his son into his lap and said, “Come, Little Kang. Greet your Uncle Cillin.” Cillin and Er Cheng were peers, so of course his son should address Cillin as uncle.
“Nice to meet you, Uncle Cillin!” The boy greeted obediently. Personally, the boy thought he should address Cillin as an older brother because he looked way younger than his dad. However, the thought had just passed through his mind when his eyes became affixed to the yawning fat cat sitting on the table next to theirs. Its eyes were darting all over the place as well. It’s so fat!
“Nice to meet you too, Little Kang. Please accept this gift,” Cillin replied while producing some of the snacks he had bought while purchasing Wheeze’s cat food. Wheeze loved to grind his teeth on them.
“Cillin, you don’t have to…” Er Cheng was embarrassed. Logically, there was no reason for him to turn down a friend’s gift for his son. However, one look was all he needed to tell that the snacks were incredibly expensive. Cillin could not have purchased it from nearby.
“Don’t worry about it,” Cillin assured before pushing the pile of snacks over to Little Kang and rubbing his head.
“Thank you, Uncle Cillin!” Little Kang replied happily. He immediately opened the wrappings and chowed down like no tomorrow.
Meanwhile, Wheeze had looked over to glare daggers at Little Kang. You little! That’s my snacks! I need them to grind my teeth when my claws are itchy!
Sensing Wheeze’s gaze, Little Kang handed over a biscuit and said, “You want one, kitty?”
Wheeze looked away. No! I’m angry right now!
“It’s okay, Little Kang. It has its own food,” Cillin said.
It was at this moment Er Cheng’s wife brought over a case of beer and a tray of food. Cillin grabbed a bottle of beer and said, “Thank you, sister-in-law.”
It tasted like home; cheap but extremely strong. It made him recall the time he worked at this restaurant.
Er Cheng’s wife also brought Czedow some beer, but instead of turning it down the robot thanked the woman and took a few sips. Wheeze’s eyes bulged when it saw this. Czedow, you’re a robot! You can’t drink beer!
It was at that moment Wheeze noticed that Czedow’s body was releasing some sort of vapor.
“Excuse me, sister-in-law! Do you have a napkin?” Cillin called out.
“Of course. Give me a moment.” Er Cheng’s wife smiled apologetically before heading to the kitchen to grab a bunch of napkins for Cillin. After she returned with the napkins, she smiled again and said, “Please enjoy the meal. I should head back to the kitchen and prepare some dishes.”
She also took Little Kang with her so that the boy wouldn’t disturb their conversation. She knew that Cillin was the restaurant’s owner, and that he was the one who gave Er Cheng a better future. She wondered if he had come back to take back the restaurant, but that was for the two men to discuss.
After Er Cheng’s wife and son were gone, Cillin took another sip of beer before saying, “Both you and Little Kang can upgrade your gene rank to increase your lifespan. Of the three of you, you have the highest chance to succeed. Little Kang’s success rate is a little lower, but it’s still between seventy to eighty percent.”
Er Cheng set down his bottle and asked, “What about his mother?”
“Her constitution is a little unique, so I’m afraid her chance to modify her genes is ten percent at most.”
Cillin had analyzed Little Kang’s genes when he rubbed his head, and his mother’s when he accepted the napkins and touched her fingers earlier. There were some things in life that could not be changed even with the most advanced medical technology. Once upon a time, Genya called this phenomenon “fate”.
“Never mind then.” Er Cheng smiled. “Thanks anyway.”
Er Cheng knew that Cillin wanted to help him, but if it meant outliving his wife, well… he would rather not accept this gift.
Undeterred, Cillin produced a beaker and a box of syringes.
“There are enough here for five people. Just in case you change your mind in the future.” Cillin had synthesized the drug himself. It didn’t stress the body as badly and had slightly less side effects. It was useless to most Hunters because the average Hunter gene rank was B or higher, but the same could not be said for those with low gene rank.
Er Cheng’s hands were shaking when he saw the medicine. He knew that it was a treasure their family could never obtain by their own capabilities.
Cillin then produced a card and pushed it across the table as well. It contained all the rent money Er Cheng had paid him until now.
“The restaurant is yours,” Cillin said, “I’ve already completed the procedures, so you don’t need to worry about anything.”
The second half of his sentence was technically a lie. He had skipped the procedures entirely by hacking into the system. No one would find anything wrong with it, and no one would bother looking into it.
Old David had seized the opportunity to migrate out of Brown Earth when the opportunity showed up, so Er Cheng was literally the only close friend he had left on this planet.
After bidding Er Cheng goodbye, Cillin went back to Genya’s old residence to check out the Fuji Tree in the courtyard. Once upon a time, it was flourishing and very healthy. The last time he came over to check it, it had barely grown at all. Now, it was clearly sick and didn’t have years or even months left to live.
He already had a feeling, but the Fuji Tree could not grow without people or the Gen Family after all.
Cillin caressed its cracked bark and said, “Hang on a little longer. I’ll take you back to the Gen Family soon.”
For a time, Cillin simply stood at the courtyard and remembered the old days. Then, he sat down beside the wooden recliner that had nearly rotted completely and dozed off for a bit.
Suddenly, he and Czedow looked up and turned toward a certain direction. As if on cue, a humanoid figure nimbly leaped over the walls—none of the defenses on the walls were effective against them—and landed firmly on the ground. It was a pretty cool landing all things considered.
The intruder was a man with a thick mustache and beard. He was also wearing a commoner’s clothes. It should not need to be said, but he was completely dumbfounded when he looked up and found two men and even a fat cat sitting on a piece of rotting wood staring at him.
Huh?
Huh?!
The man’s face twitched violently as if he was chewing on lemon. The way the fat cat was staring at him especially made him squirm. But instead of tensing up for a potential conflict, the man actually relaxed a little and coughed, “Ahem. Sorry. It seems that I’ve entered the wrong courtyard. I’ll be out right away.”
The man turned around and tried to leave, but Cillin said, “Where do you think you’re going, Little Stache?”
The man nearly sprained his hip as he was just about to leap over the wall again. He—no, she turned around and complained in a helpless voice, “Are you serious? How did you recognize me this time?”
Wheeze yawned and dozed off again. The woman wasn’t an enemy, so there wasn’t going to be a fight. Boring!
“What are you doing here? Sector X is a long way from Sector S, no?” Cillin asked.
The bearded “man” in front of him was none other than Pian Huo, disciple of the current person-in-charge of Fire Phoenix. Fire Phoenix was one of the three greatest factions in Sector S.
“You’re always disguised as a man when I see you. Do you actually have a crossdressing fetish, or?” Cillin threw another question.
“Screw you! It’s just more effective to disguise myself as a man, okay?” Pian Huo complained.
Cillin thought there was a story behind this, but he didn’t press the question as Pian Huo wasn’t willing to answer. “Anyway, back to my first question. What are you doing here? You’re even climbing walls and trespassing and stuff.”
Pian Huo walked up to him while looking a little disgruntled. “It’s nothing. I was just curious since this place looked abandoned is all.”
Wheeze’s nose twitched. “Do you need a place to stay? You’re going to have to pay rent if you want us to accommodate you and everyone you’ve brought with you though. Per person, of course.”
Pian Huo’s eyes flashed, but she chuckled. “The heck you’re talking about? I’m alone. By the way, what are you guys doing here?”
“This is my birthplace. This courtyard belongs to my master,” Cillin replied.
“Oh, I see… WHAT? You were born here? This was your home?” It was no wonder that Pian Huo was surprised. She didn’t know much about Cillin, but she at least knew how strong he was. It was hard to believe that someone like him would be born on a planet like this, much less the slums.
“Does that mean you’re only here to reminisce about the good old days?” Pian Huo asked.
Cillin asked, “What are you trying to say?”
“… It’s nothing.” Pian Huo hesitated.
“Samburt,” Cillin whispered.
Pian Huo abruptly looked up when she heard the name. She gave up trying to conceal her business when she saw Cillin’s expression, “Yes, yes, I’ve made contact with Samburt.”
Cillin didn’t actually know if Pian Huo was here for Samburt. He was just making a guess. Of course, the moment Pian Huo looked up like someone had shot her with a taser, they both knew that there was no hiding this anymore.
“You’re such a… cunning man!” Pian Huo muttered while sitting down next to the rotten wood Wheeze was sleeping on. She then tried to flick the gray cat’s ear but was thwarted repeatedly by the very ear she was trying to flick.
“How did you and Samburt come to be together?”
“I ran into him by accident on my way to somewhere, so I thought: why not? Samburt is pretty popular among the people, and he was even spoken of in the prison—you know, the one we explored back then. Later, I came to learn that he was extremely respected by the people and especially those from Sector M.”
Cillin offered, “I received a mission to protect Samburt until he is safe with his handler, but I could not find his exact location since he has refused to make contact with me.”
Pian Huo exclaimed in surprise, “So you’re the one Samburt was talking about! If you’re the helper, then I don’t mind persuading Samburt to change his mind. He’ll be safer with you around anyway. Unfortunately for him, his pursuers will locate him very soon. They have a unique tracker that can track him down very easily.”
Pian Huo rose to her feet and patted away the dust on her pants. “So? What do you say?”
“I’m fine with this arrangement. Bring Samburt to this place if he’s okay with this arrangement,” Cillin said and gave her the address of his newly built residence.
“Huh? You have a house on this planet? That’s surprising.”
“I do, and I don’t like people trespassing into my place.”
“Yes, yes, sorry for jumping into your old haunt without asking for your permission,” Piano Huo rolled her eyes. She went away after memorizing the address.
“I’m going to beef up the security system a little,” Czedow said after Pian Huo was gone.
Cillin nodded and turned to look at the near leafless Fuji Tree again, frowning.
Wheeze stretched a little and instinctively scratched the rotten recliner. Of course, the recliner looked even worse than before.
“What are you thinking now, Cillin?” Wheeze asked while leaping over to Cillin’s shoulder.
It snuck some rotten wood chips and even a tiny mushroom into Cillin’s collar while grinning like the Chesire cat, but the Hunter immediately grabbed it by the nape and lifted it into the air. He then patted away the rubbish and said, “You realize I know what you’re plotting the second you curl your tail, right?”
On the other side, Czedow stepped out of the house and said, “Done. I’ve upgraded the residence’s security system. Sorry it took so long, there are just too many flaws.”
A programmer would’ve flown into a flying rant if they heard this. The robot had done half-a-day’s work in less than two minutes, and he was apologizing for “taking too long”? Is this a joke?
Still holding Wheeze by the nape, Cillin glanced at the withering Fuji Tree one last time before heading toward the exit. “Let’s go.”
Cillin went to his new residence and waited until the sky had turned dark. It was only then Pian Huo finally showed up with Samburt and five bodyguards. The bodyguards weren’t doing too well, however. One of them was seriously injured, and two lightly injured. The other two who weren’t hurt looked very tired as well. Pian Huo was the only person in the group who was brimming with energy.
“I know you, Cillin. You saved my life once,” A tired Samburt started. He would not have agreed to meet Cillin so quickly if he was anyone else. As for why he had waited until night to show up at Cillin’s place, it was to avoid his pursuers, of course.
“I’m glad to meet you as well, sir,” Cillin replied.