Chapter 172: Chapter 160: It’s Already Your Master?
Gu Ning turned the key, cutting the motorcycle’s engine.
Hearing the voice from the communicator in her ear, she scanned her surroundings. The fog was too thick; she couldn’t see a thing.
She pressed her communicator and replied in a low voice to Cyril on the other end, "Okay."
Feeling the familiar vibration from the terminal on her wrist, Gu Ning pulled up her sleeve to reveal it.
Inside the car.
Mingxi and the other two stared motionlessly at the familiar figure of the little Mixed Breed outside the car, all of them subconsciously holding their breath.
Belial’s eyes widened. "Is that..."
Mingxi clamped a hand over his mouth.
Leighton recognized Gu Ning at a glance. He frowned slightly, thinking, ’What the hell is Alex doing? How did he fail to keep an eye on it again?’
’A time like this, and he’s letting it run around loose? Doesn’t he know how dangerous it is out here right now?’
He stared at the little Mixed Breed, who was looking down and fiddling with its terminal. Just as he was considering whether to grab it and have someone take it back to the police station for safekeeping, he saw it pull down the scarf that covered half its face.
"It’s just me."
"..."
Leighton looked as if he’d been struck by lightning.
He watched the delicate features of her profile outside the window and listened to the strangely accented, yet soft and gentle voice coming from its... her mouth. It was as if a tangled mess of threads in his brain had suddenly been unraveled.
Belial was just as shocked.
’Even though I was mentally prepared, I never got a clear look at what it looked like last time. Seeing it for real now, and with that voice... isn’t that... a female?’
Mingxi, however, was much calmer than the other two. He was just wondering why she had appeared here.
Mingxi suspected that "W" might have led her here to hand her over to them.
With that thought, Mingxi gestured to Belial. Belial’s eyes darted back and forth between the little Mixed Breed outside and Mingxi, then he nodded.
’This mission with Leighton is a tedious drag. Let’s just grab this Mimic Mixed Species first!’
Gu Ning shut off her terminal, cupped her hands to her mouth to breathe some warmth into them, and pulled her gloves back on. She then hopped off the motorcycle and started walking toward the other side of the street.
The snow on the ground was thick, but there were tracks showing that Mutant Species had been here. She walked easily by stepping in their footprints.
Behind her, the three men in the car stared at the departing back of the young female Mixed Breed. They were about to get out when Leighton sensed the approach of a Beastman and stopped them. "Wait."
Gu Ning entered the residential area.
She looked up. The massive high-rises loomed in and out of the fog like monsters lurking within, sending a chill through her heart.
Although she had been living in Zone 19 all this time and had experienced her fair share of dangers, big and small, to the point where she was almost numb to the sight of Mutant Species corpses, in a situation like this, she couldn’t help but feel a sense of panic.
"I can see you."
Cyril’s calm voice came through her earpiece, breaking through the unease that had been spreading in Gu Ning’s heart.
"Keep moving forward," Cyril said. "If you’re scared, you can stop at any time."
Gu Ning didn’t stop. She continued forward, following the route Cyril had given her.
"Obstacle on your left," Cyril warned.
Gu Ning caught her breath and skirted around it to the right.
"They’re comi—" Cyril’s voice became intermittent. Then, as if something was jamming it, Gu Ning’s earpiece emitted a long, piercing shriek.
Feeling like her eardrums were about to burst, Gu Ning quickly ripped out the earpiece.
FWOOSH...
Gu Ning heard the soft flap of wings, and a gust of wind swirled snow past her face.
In the blink of an eye, several dark figures landed lightly three or four meters around her.
Gu Ning’s breath hitched. She slowly tightened her grip on the communicator in her hand.
Her gaze swept over the surrounding Beastmen. The fog was too thick to see their faces, but she knew they weren’t Kuinan.
Not seeing Kuinan, Gu Ning’s thoughts raced. ’He must be worried I brought people with me, so he doesn’t dare show himself.’
’Someone like him can feel fear?’
Gu Ning opened her mouth slightly and said to the Beastman in front of her, "Take..."
Before she could finish, the heavy, shuffling sound of footsteps interrupted her.
As if by some instinct, the hairs on her arms stood on end. Her body reacted with the urge to flee, and she stumbled backward.
She forced down the fear in her heart and stared at the nightmarish, towering figure that had appeared in her line of sight, her body stiffening.
"Coming to find me... Are you here to eat me, or to save that fox, Barto?"
Kuinan’s face emerged from the fog. He stopped two meters in front of Gu Ning, one of his wings hanging limply at his side, dragging a deep line in the snow.
Gu Ning didn’t dare look directly at his terrifying face, but she knew she couldn’t show weakness now. Clenching her jaw, she looked up at him and said, "Where is Barto?"
Kuinan’s single remaining left eye stared grimly at the little Mixed Breed, trying to find any trace of "pretense" in its expression. But all he could smell was the scent of its fear—the same scent he remembered from before.
And yet, it was this same creature, feigning fear and weakness, that had blinded him in one eye.
"Has he become your master now? To think you’d come to save him." Kuinan let out a sound of amazement. "That he could actually tame you."
"No wonder you’re so small." Kuinan seemed to have an epiphany as he sized Gu Ning up. "Is this appearance to his liking? He’s got some taste, I’ll give him that."
Gu Ning: "..."
From the moment he had first captured her, Kuinan had never once doubted her identity as a Mimic Mixed Species.
This was the deepest source of her fear, and now she had to face him again.
Gu Ning subtly glanced into the fog, swallowed, and looked at him with a slight smile playing on her lips. "You want to be... my master?"
A glint flashed in Kuinan’s eye, and he sneered. "Your level is indeed high. Trying to use this trick to eat me... I can’t tell if you’re smart or just stupid."
Gu Ning: "..."
Kuinan continued, "Or are you trying to break away from that fox? Do you want to eat him?"
A tamed Mimic Mixed Species might appear to obey its tamer, but in reality, the tamer is also their chosen source of energy. Once their energy runs low, or they simply grow bored, they will kill or devour their "master."
Gu Ning thought for a moment and said, "Eat the fox."
The smile on Kuinan’s lips widened, then vanished. His figure flashed in front of Gu Ning, his hand reaching for her neck. "Then I’ll take you to eat—"
Before Kuinan’s hand could touch Gu Ning, THWAP! A muffled crack sounded as a bullet, appearing from nowhere, struck his wrist.
His subordinates immediately closed in, forming a protective circle around him and Gu Ning.
The next second, one of his men fell to the ground with a grunt.
Kuinan reacted in a flash, raising his one wing to block the next bullet aimed at his head.
"You brought people from the Military Department?!" Kuinan reached for Gu Ning, but several giant wolf-like shadows lunged out of the fog, knocking him and his subordinates aside.
Seeing Seth and the others move in, Gu Ning quickly ran to the side, getting clear of the battle.
The fog was thick and disorienting. She couldn’t tell east from west, so she could only try to get as far away from Kuinan and his men as possible.
Seeing that no one was chasing her, Gu Ning put the earpiece back in her ear, trying to contact Cyril and the others.
Just then, a hand reached out from nowhere, grabbed her by the waist, and lifted her up.
