Chapter 464 - 461: Investigation Team Member

Chapter 464: Chapter 461: Investigation Team Member

A human, fighting a bush...

It was a scene you’d have to see to believe.

Mo Ling was completely engrossed in the somewhat comical brawl.

Li Luo’s hand froze in mid-air, poised to pull the end of the rope.

The man hadn’t noticed Li Luo at the edge of the Sky Island at all, still relentlessly hacking at the bush with a crude stone Longsword...

Only after he had hacked the bush to pieces and broken all its branches did he let out a sigh of relief.

"Finally took care of it."

He stomped on the broken branches a few times, and his whole body sagged.

Bracing the stone Longsword on the ground, the man gripped its hilt. The earlier fighting fervor was gone, leaving him utterly lifeless.

Stepping on the branches on the ground, he muttered, "How did it get to a place so close to the edge."

He looked in the direction the bush had charged from and finally saw the motionless Li Luo, and the Block floating in the sky.

"Huh?" The man was stunned, his eyes meeting Li Luo’s.

"A human?"

Upon seeing Li Luo, he seemed to come back to life. He dashed over to her, then screeched to a halt.

"How did you get here?"

"Did you come down from the third level?"

"Do you have any identification?"

He kept a safe distance from Li Luo and gestured animatedly. It was as if he hadn’t spoken to anyone in a very long time, and his words stumbled out.

"I’m a member of the Sky Island Investigation Team, responsible for monitoring this Sky Island. This is my ID... and, this is my proof of membership."

Li Luo hadn’t even asked, but the man had already blurted out his identity, pulling various blurry documents from his worn-out protective suit, seemingly without a shred of caution.

"Zhou Dynasty?" Li Luo read his name from the blurry ID, a questioning tone in her voice.

"That’s right," the man answered readily. "My mom’s surname is Ji, so my dad gave me this name."

As if they were old friends, he started complaining about the story behind his name.

But at that moment, Li Luo’s attention wasn’t on his overly familiar chatter, but on the dog tag hanging around his neck.

Perhaps because he had moved too vigorously while pulling out his IDs, a worn-looking dog tag had slipped out from under Zhou Dynasty’s clothes and was now swinging back and forth on his chest.

Li Luo’s eyes widened as she read the characters on it.

"Fourth-rank Hunter, Deserter Zhou Dynasty."

...

Seeing Li Luo staring at his chest, Zhou Dynasty looked down in confusion, only to find his dog tag was hanging out in plain sight.

He froze for a moment, then hastily tucked the dog tag away.

However, he was too embarrassed to say another word.

"Deserter? What’s that supposed to mean?"

"It’s always been like that," Zhou Dynasty answered sheepishly, clutching his chest.

Li Luo didn’t press further. Instead, she took out her own dog tag, walked up, and held it out to him.

"My name is Li Luo..."

After a brief conversation, they confirmed each other’s identities.

"Are you monitoring this Sky Island by yourself?"

"Yes."

"Then this island should be on record. Why isn’t there any information about it in the database?" Li Luo asked, pulling out an electronic screen.

"I don’t know." Zhou Dynasty scratched his head. "My electronic screen is broken, so I’m not sure either."

"Why are you on this Sky Island by yourself? Where are the other team members?"

"The captain took the other team members to report to the monitoring station and left me here... to deal with the trouble on this island."

As Zhou Dynasty spoke, Li Luo watched him with a skeptical expression.

"Deserter?"

"I’m not a deserter! I was entrusted with a great responsibility! The captain left me here because he trusts me!"

The moment the title on his dog tag was mentioned, Zhou Dynasty got agitated again.

He suddenly ran back, picked up a scattered branch from the bush, and rushed in front of Li Luo.

"You saw this thing just now, right?"

Li Luo looked at the branch and nodded.

"This is an activated bush. It’s caused by the contamination on this Sky Island. If no one stands guard here, this contamination will get out. Contamination from the fourth level can easily spread to the upper parts, and it will be very difficult to suppress then!"

Zhou Dynasty waved the branch back and forth in front of Li Luo, his tone very serious.

"Contamination?"

"Yeah, activated contamination."

Zhou Dynasty turned and pointed at the scattered branches on the ground with his stone Longsword.

"That was originally just a common roadside bush. But after being hit with activated contamination, it becomes like that—like some kind of wild animal. It attacks any moving target to obtain ’activity’."

"The activated bush is the most common activated object around here. There are also activated rocks, activated soil, activated leaves... The simpler something is, the easier it is to activate. The captain said that if they get out, they’ll contaminate other places, which is why he left me here to stand guard."

Listening to Zhou Dynasty’s words, Li Luo was still skeptical.

"Why did the captain leave only you behind?"

"Because I’m strong."

Zhou Dynasty hoisted the stone Longsword onto his shoulder, looking very proud.

"Did you see that activated bush just now? It was no match for me at all."

Speaking of the battle, Zhou Dynasty perked up again and began to brag to Li Luo.

He was clearly an official member of the Investigation Team, but he lacked any sense of composure.

Li Luo let his words go in one ear and out the other, paying him no mind.

She slowly walked over to the remains of the bush and carefully picked up a leaf.

’Activated contamination?’

Li Luo took out her electronic screen and searched for related information, but the database had nothing on it.

"That’s a newly discovered contamination, unique to this Sky Island. You probably won’t be able to find anything on it," Zhou Dynasty explained from behind her.

"Mm." Li Luo put away the electronic screen and turned to ask, "Where is the nearest monitoring station?"

"Don’t know. This is an unknown Sky Island; it’s always moving. I don’t even know where I am. But..." Zhou Dynasty reached into his pocket and took out a cylindrical piece of metal.

"I have a locator. The captain will come find me."

"When did the captain say he would come for you?" Li Luo asked curiously.

Zhou Dynasty shook his head. "He didn’t. Just told me to stand guard."

"He also said if I get tired of waiting, I can go to the beacon in the center of the island and send a signal. Someone will come rescue me."

Zhou Dynasty pointed toward the depths of the forest, his expression serious.

"A beacon?"

"Yes. They set up a beacon in the center of the Sky Island. That thing can mark the island’s trajectory, determine its position, and also be used as a signal transmitter. They already set it up the last time they were on this island."

"How long have you been on this Sky Island?"

Zhou Dynasty thought for a moment before replying, "About half a year, I guess... All my equipment is broken, and the captain still hasn’t come back for me."

"I’m starting to wonder... do you think they’ve forgotten about me?"