The Highest Bounty

Inside one of the Witch Tribe’s tents, a tiny mechanical insect was seen probing around without being noticed by anyone. In the primitive jungle, it was normal for all kinds of insects to be around. Hence, no one would suspect a thing since insects had never brought much trouble.

Nevertheless, it was not a typical insect nor was it a typical situation.

As long as Neptune managed to lock onto an item that was within his detection radius, the mechanical insect only had to land on the object and it could remotely store the item in the Inventory. In under just a few hours, Neptune got those mechanical insects to steal dozens of items that he thought would be useful.

After checking many of the tents, Neptune shifted his focus to targeting the treasures of the Witch Tribe. He did this because he had detected that there were many valuable items in the tribe earlier on.

“Neptune, how’s it going?” Gu Ding asked in a whisper as he refined the medicine.

“Very successful, the people of the Witch Tribe aren’t that concerned about bugs. It’s probably because they’re used to it. I’ve swept through all of their tents, including Oldman’s tent. I took all of the valuable items and two more insect robots are infiltrating their treasure troves as we speak,” Neptune brought good news.

“Have you found anything that could improve our strength? Be it weapons, medicine, or anything,” Gu Ding asked. He had not thought of how he would escape from the Level 12 Gene Body. However, anything he could use to increase his strength would increase his chances of escaping.

“They always carry their weapons with them. As for medicine, I haven’t found any yet. Even though this ethnic group has its own pharmacologists, their levels aren’t very high. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have allowed you to help them in refining purification medicine.” Neptune had not yet found their medicine troves. “Nonetheless, it’s possible that they might have some medicine inside their treasure troves. I’ll get the robots to check it out.”

“Forget about merely checking it out, sweep clean their treasure troves!” Gu Ding made a bold decision. “Perhaps it’ll buy us a little more time.”

When Neptune heard Gu Ding’s decision, he was stunned. However, he could guess why Gu Ding wanted him to do so. “Got it. I’ll start the looting process.”

In the Witch Tribe’s treasure trove, two insects that were smaller than the size of a thumb flapped their wings as they flew around. Each time they landed on an item, the item would disappear into thin air.

After a while, half of the items in the Witch Tribe’s treasure troves were gone.

At that moment, Neptune saw a tube of medicine that was black all over. Normally, black medicines were taboo. When Neptune saw the energy seal on the medicine bottle, it further confirmed his speculation.

Neptune took the bottle of medicine and contacted Gu Ding.

“Black medicine? With an energy seal?” Gu Ding immediately guessed what kind of medicine it was, “It has to be taboo medicine, the kind that gives the user forbidden power.”

“Even though one can gain forbidden power by successfully absorbing it, the mortality rate of such kinds of medicine is very high. According to historical data I have, taboo medicine has only been mentioned about thirty-seven times dating from the olden days. Moreover, there’s only one record of a user surviving after using it. Thirty-five people were pronounced dead due to broken gene chains, and the strongest one of them was a Level 14 Gene Body,” Neptune read the data he had found pertaining to taboo medicine.

“I’m guessing the person who survived was merely a Level 2 Gene Body, right?” Gu Ding knew about the matter. “Perhaps the lower one’s gene level, the higher chances of surviving.”

“The thirty-five people who died ranged from Level 1 to Level 14 Gene Bodies.” Neptune added, “There were also individual differences amongst the thirty-five such as luck and other factors. We can’t rush to conclusions yet.”

“Neptune, did the person who survived at that time gain energy immunity from the taboo energy?” Gu Ding asked as he was a little uncertain. This was because it had once been a rumor. Neptune was probably the only one able to confirm the truth with his records in his database.

“Yes. Energy immunity, the ability to be immune to damage caused by all sorts of energy. The ability is extremely terrifying, and at its matured state, the person can become immune to aging. According to my database, the person who obtained this power four billion years ago is still alive until now…” What Neptune said gave Gu Ding goosebumps. “The terrifying part of taboo energy is that even gods cannot resist it. That was how the name ‘taboo energy’ got coined.”

“Neptune, help me unlock the seal on that bottle of medicine.” Gu Ding made his decision. “This is perhaps the only chance we have to escape from this place.”

“I refuse!” Neptune had never denied Gu Ding’s request before with such straightforwardness. “The probability of death is too high. Don’t risk it. We’ll find another way.”

“You said that the guy survived because he had luck and his body was different, right?” Gu Ding tried to persuade Neptune, “We already know that my body is very different from other people. Even though I’m only a Level 3 Gene Body, my Cell Index is already comparable to that of a Level 5 Gene Body. Not to mention, I’ve always been lucky. I met you, Lili, Biggie, got the Grey-faced Buzzard, and even got away from Planet Constlac right under the nose of two federal generals…”

“Don’t bring it up again! I will never agree to such a thing!” Neptune refused.

“You know, we won’t have a chance tomorrow. Oldman is a Level 12 Gene Body. He can kill all three of us with the slightest move of his finger. He’s not stupid. He won’t let us escape via space-time backtracking. I mean, the whole thing was planned by them.” Gu Ding’s tone was calm. He had already run through all the possibilities in his mind. There was no way of escaping their situation because their opponent was too powerful.

“Just give me a little more time…” Neptune fell silent for a moment before he finally said, “If I still can’t think of a way by tomorrow noon, I’ll open the seal for you.”

Neptune’s voice sounded weak. He had finally found something beyond his control, and he did not know what to do. Neptune knew that Gu Ding was right. He had simulated every possible event based on their current situation as well. No matter how he calculated the matter, the current probability of the three of them successfully escaping was zero. Even though he did not want to give up that easily, he did not want to put all their hope on a bottle of medicine with unknown properties.

“Fine. Tomorrow noon it is, then.” Gu Ding fell silent for a moment before he clenched his fists. “Trust me, I’ll definitely survive and bring everyone out of this hellhole!”