It wasn’t that Cillin was being overly sensitive. It was just that the connection between the surname, the max security prison in Sector S, and some of the information Cillin knew back then was simply too much for him to ignore.
“I’ve always thought that your eyes resemble hers, and I’m only more certain of my impression.”
Samburt stared at Pian Huo, but not really. He was really recalling a certain someone through Pian Huo. He quickly shook his head and said regretfully, “It’s a shame she didn’t leave behind a descendant.”
Pian Huo might have disguised her outer appearance, but she had done nothing to mask her eyes.
It was folly to underestimate or deny the instinct of a longtime politician. His belief in his own instincts had diminished after he was betrayed by the people he trusted, but having experienced an assassination and a treatment, that belief had grown stronger again, and the basis on that belief was founded atop an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
Although Samburt did not believe that Pian Huo was his late friend’s descendant, he suspected that she was a blood relative or something.
Pian Huo put away the medicinal bottles and sat down on a chair with her legs crossed. “There are countless people in GAL who share the same eyes. Heck, there are a lot of people who look identical to one another.”
Cillin was going to stay behind and listen to their conversation further, but then he felt something from his communicator.
“Don’t mind me. I’m going to catch some rest,” Cillin said before leaving for his room on the second floor.
Wheeze went up with Cillin, and Czedow wisely left the room as well. No one liked a third wheel after all. Plus, it wasn’t like they couldn’t eavesdrop on the conversation just because they weren’t present at the scene, not unless the speakers did something to block out the sound waves.
Cillin turned on his communicator after he went to his room.
“Where are you now?” Yin Wushe’s projection said while staring at him with a helpless expression.
“What’s wrong? Did something happen?” Cillin was curious why Yin Wushe had contacted him so soon. It hadn’t been long since they last spoke.
“You’re the kind of guy who can’t sit still, can you? Where are you now?”
“I accepted a mission,” Cillin replied vaguely. There was no reason to tell Yin Wushe anything specific.
“Oh? It’s that much of a secret?” Yin Wushe shot him a strange look before saying, “Never mind. Whatever it is, it has to have something to do with the three Sectors. Your Hunter regiment just wrapped up a war with another Hunter regiment, so your mission can’t be related to them. Even if Vanguard has a top secret mission they want carried out, Ji Feng wouldn’t choose you to handle it.”
Yin Wushe had gotten it exactly right. Cillin did not deny the allegations either. He asked again, “What is your business?”
Yin Wushe raised two fingers. “I have two things I need to tell you about. One, I believe that one or more members of the Great Four are about to change names, so expect something massive to happen in the near future.”
“Massive, huh?”
“Yep. Two, watch out for Miracle. I have good reason to believe that those madmen might try something in the near future as well.”
“Miracle?” Cillin thought for a moment before pointing three fingers upward. “Did something happen?”
“It’s mostly the Armies. Their conflict has been escalating on a daily basis, and I expect Miracle to suffer the brunt of the consequences when all is said and done. You know how those crazies are. Once they’re abandoned, they could do anything.”
Cillin frowned. It looked like many things were going to happen in rapid succession, if not at the same time.
“That’s all I want to say. Feel free to return to your mission.”
“Wait!” Cillin called out before Yin Wushe could hang up.
“What is it? Just so you know, we have no intentions of getting involved in those messes,” Yin Wushe warned.
“It’s not that. I want to ask you about something.”
“Oh yeah? What is it?”
“Do you know Si Fang?” Cillin asked.
Yi Wushe accidentally bit his ice-cream spoon into two.
“Why do you want to know?”
Instead of answering Yin Wushe’s question, Cillin asked again, “Do you know Pian Huo?”
Yin Wushe tossed aside the broken half of the spoon and said seriously, “You didn’t fuck her, did you?”
Cillin: “…”
“Good, good.” Yin Wushe chuckled when Cillin responded with a wordless stare. “It looks like you’ve figured out some things.”
“… Back in that level one prison in Sector S, Pian Huo and I were both at the entrance. Why did you pull only me and not Pian Huo?”
“Ahem. I didn’t know about your relationship with that cat back then.” If I did, I wouldn’t have left you behind, would I? Yin Wushe thought to himself.
At the time, Yin Wushe had not killed Cillin outright because of Pian Huo. He didn’t pay him much heed after dragging him into his conflict with Mist either. He had left Cillin right after he hypnotized him.
It was after that that Ice Cream noticed Wheeze’s existence, though the gray cat was too concerned to find Cillin instead of looking out for a “peer” at the time. Besides, Yin Wushe did not know that Wheeze was together with Cillin.
“So, you do know Pain Huo,” Cillin confirmed.
“Fine. If you really want to know, then I’ll tell you about it.” Yin Wushe shrugged to show that he didn’t mind before launching into an explanation. “Si Fang is Si Huang’s younger blood sister, and Pian Huo is Si Fang’s daughter. She had given birth to her while she was still imprisoned in the max security prison of Sector S. She passed away not long after.”
From an ordinary person’s perspective, Si Fang was quite old. However, her high genetic rank meant that her natural lifespan was much longer than the ordinary person. Therefore, she technically wasn’t in her advanced maternal age. Besides, considering how strong Si Huang was, there was no way Si Huang, his younger blood sister, could be too far behind. It didn’t make sense for her to die after labor even considering that it was a max security prison.
Seemingly noticed Cillin’s puzzlement, Yin Wushe continued, “A fire broke out in the prison where Si Fang was kept after she gave birth to Pian Huo. Over seventy percent of the prisoners of the prison had perished in the fire.”
That made even less sense. How was it possible for a fire to break out in a heavily guarded, max security prison? How could an ordinary fire burn down a max security prison for that matter?
Yi Wushe brought up a picture. “This is a picture I took back then.”
Cillin examined it closely. The prison was naught but a pile of ruins, and even the reinforced metal walls had completely melted. He could tell from the layer of congealed alloy on the ground. Just how hot had the fire burned to melt even alloy walls that were specifically made to withstand all kinds of punishment to melt into puddles? It was no wonder that most of the prisoners were killed.
Clearly, the fire was premeditated. Despite this, it was buried in the annals of history. Not even the government databases revealed anything about the incident, and after so many years, only those who knew the necessary secrets would know about it.
“Did you know why Si Fang was discharged and thrown into a maximum security prison?” Yin Wushe rubbed his fingers together. “It’s because she slaughtered an entire planet’s worth of people and before bombing the planet itself into space dust. That planet was Miracle’s most important research base back then.”