Chapter 403 - 402: Eavesdropping

By now, the sun had set, and the light was fading.

Worried she might have the wrong person, Jiang Qingli pulled Qin Muye into a corner. She stared at Green Hair for a moment, and with 030’s confirmation, she was sure it was him.

Back then, she had sensed that Green Hair’s Superpower Level was quite high and assumed he was one of Ye Linyuan’s local subordinates. She never expected him to be part of the military.

And such an important sentry, at that.

But this also explained why those two had been able to move freely through the forest without being discovered. A sentry’s status certainly made things more convenient.

Jiang Qingli stared at Green Hair a little too long, and Qin Muye sensed something was amiss. She gave him a brief explanation.

Qin Muye’s expression darkened instantly. "They actually dared to target the sentries."

The Prince, his sense of justice flaring, was about to go and arrest him.

But before he could take a step, Green Hair and another man with brown hair finished their handover, grabbed their weapons, and headed into the forest, apparently to go on patrol.

Jiang Qingli tugged his sleeve. "We’ll deal with this later. Let’s follow them and see what’s going on."

The area they were patrolling was Sector X-09-7. They might even need our help once we’re inside.

Qin Muye suppressed his frustration and went to the checkpoint with Jiang Qingli.

Two sentries had just taken their positions when they saw the pair approaching. They greeted them in unison, "Prince, Advisor Jiang."

"Good evening."

Qin Muye nodded. In front of outsiders, he was all business, carrying the air of a high-ranking official.

The sentry advised, "You two, please don’t get too close to the border without an assignment. If you linger for more than ten minutes, surveillance will automatically report it to the disciplinary office, and you’ll be penalized."

"We’re here on business," Qin Muye said. "Marshal Yuan sent me."

The sentry asked, "And that would be regarding...?"

Qin Muye replied flatly, "It’s classified."

The sentry heard this and nodded. "Understood. Please step forward. We’ll use the iris scanner to confirm whether you and Advisor Jiang have clearance."

He smiled politely at Jiang Qingli. "Please don’t take it personally. There was a case involving a missing High Level male and female at the end of June, so security for Sector X-09-7 is especially tight now."

Jiang Qingli smiled. "Perfectly understandable."

The two of them stepped forward. A red light flashed briefly before turning green, granting them passage.

-

After the end of the Old Era, the entire planet was ravaged by severe pollution. Humans mutated, gaining Superpowers, and males, in particular, developed beast-like characteristics.

In addition to humans, many animals also mutated, gaining a variety of Superpowers and becoming abnormally aggressive.

Humans gathered in the unpolluted regions and established the Empire.

In the beginning, the Empire frequently suffered attacks from Mutant Beasts, and its territory was small.

But as the Empire grew, humanity’s mastery of Superpowers and technology surged. Its territory steadily expanded until it occupied nearly all of the unpolluted regions.

The Mutant Beasts congregated in the heavily polluted Roaring Forest. Though their numbers gradually decreased, the annual beast tides still posed a major threat to the Empire.

A dense jungle stretched from the Empire’s border to the edge of the Roaring Forest. This area required constant patrols to prevent surprise attacks from Mutant Beasts.

Investigations have shown that in recent decades, Mutant Beasts have developed more diverse attack methods and significantly higher intelligence than their predecessors. It is suspected to be a form of secondary evolution, but the exact cause remains unknown.

This was Jiang Qingli’s first time in the Roaring Forest. She mentally reviewed what she had learned from her textbooks as she kept pace with Qin Muye.

After a few steps, Qin Muye suddenly stopped.

Jiang Qingli asked, puzzled, "What’s wrong?"

"Get on my back." Qin Muye moved in front of her, crouched down, and held out a hand. "Your footsteps are too loud. You’ll be heard. Besides, this place is huge. If I carry you, you’ll save your strength."

’He has a point,’ Jiang Qingli thought, letting him help her onto his back.

As he walked, Qin Muye adjusted her weight on his back. A thought seemed to cross his mind, and the corner of his mouth curled into a faint smile.

"What are you laughing at?" Jiang Qingli wrapped an arm around his neck, whispering a playful threat in his ear. "You don’t think I’m heavy, do you? Dare to say ’yes’ and you’re dead meat!"

"Not at all," Qin Muye said. "You’re just so light. This is almost too easy."

’This guy is such a sweet-talker,’ Jiang Qingli thought. But just as she was about to reply, she saw the snow leopard ears on Qin Muye’s head twitch.

Qin Muye stopped and lowered his voice. "Be quiet. I hear something."

He closed his eyes, listening for a moment, then pinpointed a direction. He leaped into a tree and began to move nimbly through the forest canopy.

Truly an S-rank Snow Leopard Beastman. Despite his tall frame and carrying a passenger, Qin Muye’s movements were weightless. As he leaped between branches, the leaves barely trembled.

In about half a minute, Qin Muye had caught up to the two sentries, perching on a branch directly above them.

Below, the two men—one with red hair, the other with green—had been there for some time. But instead of getting to work, they were leaning against a tree trunk, talking.

The red-haired man scanned the area, his tone suspicious. "...You really don’t know where that guy went?"

’That guy?’

Jiang Qingli and Qin Muye had originally intended to stop Green Hair and ask if he’d noticed anything unusual on his patrols.

But before Qin Muye could move, Jiang Qingli gently tugged a lock of his hair, signaling him to wait and observe.

Green Hair, completely unaware of the two people above, was squatting on the ground. He scratched his hair in frustration. "Dude, just tell your boss, I really don’t know! The last time I saw him was last night, right here... but he wouldn’t let me get close. Just told me to stand guard. I have no idea what he was doing, and now he’s not at the Snake Barrel either."

’Snake Barrel?’

Jiang Qingli tilted her head, exchanging a look with Qin Muye.

’If we’re not mistaken,’ she thought, ’the ’guy’ they’re talking about must be Ye Linyuan.’

’Even his own subordinate, Green Hair, doesn’t know where Ye Linyuan went?’

’And who is Red Hair’s boss?’

’Looks like he’s also looking for Ye Linyuan.’

Seeing that Green Hair didn’t seem to be lying, Red Hair rubbed his chin. "Alright, then what about before that? I got a tip that he came to the forest twice before. He couldn’t have been scouting our base, could he? Does he know where it is now?"

"No way," Green Hair said. "I think you’re overthinking it. The last time he came here, it was for a female."

Red Hair raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"That Jiang Qingli. She needed a Weaving Nightmare Beast, so he dragged us out of bed in the middle of the night to catch one. We beat it half to death and left it for her to finish off, and he even made us stand guard," Green Hair complained. "I thought we were supposed to be luring Jiang Qingli into a trap to kill her, but it turned out he was just setting her up to get all the credit... One of my buddies saw Ye Linyuan getting mauled by a pack of Mutant Beasts and thought it was his chance to move up. But Ye—that guy—offed him."

Green Hair swiped a hand across his neck.

He hunched his shoulders and lowered his voice. "We shouldn’t be on the same shift anymore. We should switch. I’m afraid if he finds out, he’ll do the same to me. I just want to make some extra cash, not die for it."

Red Hair clapped him on the shoulder. "I get it, man. We’re all just trying to make it out here. No one’s doing this willingly. I’m grateful enough that you’re giving us his location..."

He slung an arm around Green Hair’s shoulders, acting like they were the best of friends.

With his other hand, however, he drew a dagger from behind his back.

He pressed the sharp blade gently against Green Hair’s lower back.

Red Hair steeled himself, and just as he was about to thrust the dagger in, a hand suddenly clamped down on his wrist.