Star Rank Hunter

Pole Feng did not appear overly surprised by Blue Butterfly's suggestion.

“You can’t handle them yourselves?”

“Oh no,” Blue Butterfly crossed his fingers together while wearing a smirk on his face. “Given enough time, I can take them all out of the picture including Blumar.”

Blumar, Blue Butterfly, Ji Feng and Tamar (Navigator) were Star Rank Hunters and the biggest giants in the world of Hunters. It was because they were the ones who had blazed a trail for all Hunters behind them to follow. Without exaggeration, the Great Four was the unifying symbol that represented all Hunters in GAL.

However, Blue Butterfly had confidently declared that he only needed time to take out Blumar.

“You must have set up everything nicely then,” Ji Feng replied without emotion.

“I did, thanks to a certain hunter regiment drawing all the attention to themselves. Who would’ve thought that the three most difficult forces in GAL would interfere with your war with the Navigators all at the same time? You’re really lucky you’re still able to speak, you know that?” Blue Butterfly said.

The man was referring to the Grim Reapers, Mist and Merciless. Any one of these forces would’ve been a pain in the ass to deal with, much less all of them.

Blue Butterfly did not know that Merciless had interfered not for Vanguard’s sake, but for Cillin’s sake though. Regardless, it was undeniable that Vanguard had sustained less losses thanks to their interference. Without Merciless keeping some of their enemies at bay, they would’ve lost a couple more higher-ups at the very least. Despite their best preparation, Vanguard was hardpressed to handle three forces at the same time. If it wasn’t for the Grim Reapers and Mist’s interference, Ji Feng would not be lying in a medical capsule right now.

“Did Nebelah show himself personally?” Blue Butterfly asked.

Ji Feng did not answer, but yes, he had had to fight Nebelah and Tamar at the same time. If Yin Wushe hadn’t shown up to block Nebelah afterward, this war would not have ended as quickly as it had.

Blue Butterfly did not mind that Ji Feng was keeping him in suspense. That wasn’t his goal for contacting the leader anyway.

“Let’s cooperate,” Blue Butterfly repeated his earlier sentence.

“Why?”

“Because there doesn’t need to be four symbols on the banner.”

Ji Feng’s pupils abruptly centered on Blue Butterfly’s face. That was not the answer he was expecting to hear!

“Who do you want to remove?”

There was no need for four leading hunter regiments in GAL, but there couldn’t be just two either. There would be no end to the strife if that happened. They could only eliminate one of the two.

“Heaven’s Birth. I would tell you my reason, but I’m sure you already know why I chose them.”

Ji Feng did know why Blue Butterfly had chosen them. Heaven’s Birth was less a hunter regiment and more a coalition of several killer organizations, while the Navigators were backed by those forces from the Upper Three Sectors. The reason they knew this was because some of the weapons and technologies they used weren’t something they could have produced on their own. Specifically, they were new tech that had just been developed by the military. There weren’t many like them out there as a matter of course, but Ji Feng had still recognized their origins.

Both sides had sustained massive casualties in this war, but there was no telling if the Navigators would put up greater numbers and weapons in their next conflict. In fact, it was entirely possible that the Navigators had undergone a reorganization without anyone knowing until now as most of the faces Ji Feng had seen during the negotiation were completely unfamiliar to him. If he wasn’t mistaken, the Navigators had not been the Navigators he knew a long time ago. They were no longer pure Hunters either. No, the stench he picked up was that of a hunting dog!

“They’re trying to pit hunter regiment against hunter regiment?” Ji Feng narrowed his eyes for a bit before continuing in a chilly tone, “Very well. We’ll take out Heaven’s Birth first!”

While Ji Feng and Blue Butterfly were scheming to turn the Great Four to the Great Three, Cillin was receiving his own secret transmission.

“Long time no see, Cillin.”

The face on the screen ws just as familiar as ever. It was a girl whose smile was pure, cute, and naughty at the same time.

“Long time no see, Linglung.”

Cillin was alone in his room right now. He didn’t even let Wheeze into the room because there were some secrets in life that could not be shared even with one’s closest. Also, he was sure that the gray cat would nag his ears off if it knew about this conversation.

“How are you doing? Did the Eleventh Squad suffer much damage in this war? Is everyone alright?”

Cillin could tell from her questions alone that she knew a lot about the ins and outs of this war.

“We’re fine. We took some damage, but there are no casualties.”

“That’s good,” Yu Linglung replied with a sweet smile.

“I’ve spoken with Yin Wushe.”

Yu Linglung’s smile thinned immediately after she heard this. “Is that so? What have you learned?”

“I learned some things including why you were on a wheelchair back then.”

“In that case, he must have told you that your cat was nearly kidnapped because of me as well.” Yu Linglung wrapped her hair around her finger. “Do you believe what he told you?”

“I do. But I’m sure there is more than what he told me behind this incident.”

Yu Linglung dropped her smile completely and said in a serious tone, “I won’t deny that I’m the one who told grandpa about your cat, but I also know that my grandpa would choose Yin Wushe every time if he had to choose between you and him. Coincidentally, it’s partially why I’m contacting you today.”

Cillin simply motioned for Yu Linglung to continue without saying anything.

Seeing that Cillin wasn’t about to get impatient, she continued, “You should know that families like ours would normally select one heir and invest most of their resources on them, and my generation currently has three candidates fighting for that spot. There used to be five, but two of them have been eliminated from the race.”

By eliminated, she meant that they had died or become crippled.

“The three candidates are me, my paternal cousin and his younger brother. The competition between the three of us has always been fierce, and during that incident, once I learned Nebelah and my older paternal cousin are in cahoots, I knew that he would target Yin Wushe instead of you.”

Yin Wushe had protected his half-cyborg very well. That was precisely why Nebelah wanted to destroy him through his half-cyborg. It was the one thing that truly concerned the Merciless leader his whole life. Merciless’ newer recruits such as Judy or those who had failed to earn his full trust despite their long service were never told that his favorite pet was truly a half-cyborg, a creature that was renowned as a miracle lifeform in GAL. They all thought that it was just an expensive, fairly intelligent mouse that could speak.

“Later, Yin Wushe mounted a retaliation against the Yu Family for daring to threaten his pet and nearly killed my father and my two cousins. I myself lost a leg even after the Grim Reapers had interfered to stop his retaliation. Nebelah was supposed to help us as well, but he never did because he was plotting to kill the three of us via Yin Wushe’s hands and create a blood feud between him and our family. Fortunately for everyone except him, his plan ultimately didn’t succeed. My older paternal cousin also lost some support in the family including my grandfather’s.

“Yin Wushe declared that no one was to lay a hand on his half-cyborg or your cat after that, but my older paternal cousin didn’t heed the warning and plotted to kidnap your cat. I was going to tell you about it, but I wasn’t able to contact you no matter what I tried. It was almost as if you had vanished into thin air.”

Cillin and Wheeze had already teleported to the Mist Bodhisattva Empire at the time. It wasn’t intentional, but it would seem that they had avoided a crisis thanks to it. By the time they returned, GAL had fallen into chaos long enough that few people could bother to keep track of Cillin after he returned.

By now, Cillin could guess that the reason he and Wheeze had had an extraordinarily smooth journey so far was thanks to Yin Wushe blocking most of the threats for them. He was very grateful for what the middle-aged man had done. Regardless of whether he had done it for selfish reasons or not, it was a favor he would need to repay in the future.

“As for the incident with Teacher Mo, I’m sorry, but there was nothing I could’ve done to stop it. The best I could do is to imprison him myself so that he wouldn’t suffer too much. My younger paternal cousin would’ve done it if I hadn’t, and trust me when I say that he would’ve suffered much more in that case.”

Cillin stayed silent for a moment before continuing, “So, why have you contacted me this time?”

Yu Linglung stared at Cillin for a moment. It had been several years since they saw each other for the first time, but she still couldn’t figure him out to this day.

Yu Linglung let out a sigh before answering, “My younger paternal cousin is my strongest competitor right now. He’s dispatched assassins to carry out an assassination, and my men won’t get to the location in time to protect the target. I would like you to find the target and protect him until my men are able to reach him. Although the target has retired from his post, his influence is still present. If I can get his help, then my support in Sector A would be that much bigger.”

Yu Linglung’s entire aura changed when she said this. At that moment, she was the quirky and lively girl who would prank the crap out of you if you weren’t looking, but a ruthless and competent administrator who would do what was necessary to get what she desired. Perhaps this was the true face of the princess, and perhaps the princess would ascend to become the queen of the Yu Family in the future!

Cillin watched her for a bit. It wasn’t a side he was familiar with, but he wasn’t surprised by it either. The fact that Yu Linglung could tell him all this was also proof that she trusted him.

“Who is the target?” Cillin asked.

“A former congressman named Samburt.”

Yu Linglung spent the next few minutes telling Cillin everything he needed to know about Samburt. This was a transaction between an employer and a hunter. In this case, the friendship they shared was but the prerequisite of trust.

“Alright. I’ll contact you again when it’s time. Don’t worry, no more than three people in my squad would learn about this information,” Cillin said before deleting the file he received right before Yu Linglung’s eyes.

“... Thanks, Cillin,” the young woman said after a moment of silence.

“You don’t have to thank me. I’ve received a lot of help from you.”

“Do you know? Since the first day I met you in Seven Lights, I had the feeling that it is only a matter of time before I control not just the Yu Family, but GAL itself if I have you on my side. That feeling has not changed to this day.”

“My apologies, but I only want to be a Hunter,” Cillin replied smilingly.

“Fair enough. The Cillin I know isn’t someone who will subordinate himself to anyone,” Yu Linglung also broke into a grin that smoothed out the hard lines on her face. “Be careful. Our killers may not compare to Mist or Merciless, but they’re no slouches either.”

Cillin gave her an OK hand signal before ending the call.

Silence enveloped his room as Cillin lay down on his chair and replayed his conversation with Yu Linglung in his mind. He decided that he believed her explanations and everything. A lot of people had helped him when he and Wheeze still weak and vulnerable. Yu Linglung was one, and Yin Wushe was another. There was also Jiada, who for some reason never showed up again after that day. He knew why Yin Wushe had helped him, but what about Jiada? Why had that man chosen to help him?

A short while later, Cillin rubbed his forehead and decided to stop thinking about it. He would rely on his intuition when the time came.

As it turned out, Cillin recognized the congressman Yu Linglung wanted him to protect. Samburt was none other than the old man Hua Xiao (refer to chapter 337) had desperately tried to protect back then.

He had suspected that the old man was a VIP, but he wasn’t expecting Yu Linglung to pay him so much importance either. It was clear that the old man was seriously influential.

He then recalled the address Yu Linglung gave him and smiled. By a twist of fate, after his spaceplane was attacked by the Yu Family’s men, Samburt had decided to escape to planet XC362 in Sector X to avoid being intercepted by the enemy. The planet was none other than Cillin’s birthplace, Brown Earth.

I suppose it’s time I pay my home planet a visit.

When Cillin rose to his feet and left his room, he immediately saw Wheeze running toward him with light footsteps. It was obviously in a great mood right now.

“You took your time, Cillin!” Wheeze yelled from far away before leaping onto Cillin’s shoulder once it was close enough. “The A Squad had paid us our due, and I can tell you right now it’s more than worth the damages! Hehe!”

Cillin had a feeling even before the gray cat had spilled the beans. There were only a handful things in life that could brighten its day, and money was one of them.

“Okaay. Is there anything else?” Cillin asked while removing Wheeze from his shoulder. It was because there were food crumbs stuck between its paws. If he had to guess, the gray cat was in the middle of licking them clean when it suddenly heard the news that the money had come in. It was so happy that it forgot what it was doing and ran straight to him to tell him the good news.

“The repairs are almost all done, and we have a surplus of funds even after accounting for everything. What do you think we should buy with that cash?” Wheeze said excitedly while walking in front of Cillin with its tail curled into a happy shape. It would continue to ramble until they arrived at the bridge.

Cillin did not interrupt it because he knew it would be pointless. The gray cat wasn’t the type who could hold itself in.

After arriving at the bridge, Cillin called Czedow over and told him about their new operation. As he had promised Yu Linglung, he was only going to bring Czedow and Wheeze with him on this mission.

Meanwhile, Wheeze finally stopped rambling and noticed that Cillin and Czedow were discussing some serious business.

“Another mission already?” The gray cat whined while pulling its ears back in a clear sign of reluctance. It had been planning to sleep like a pig for the next couple of days, maybe even weeks. This mission would obviously get in the way of its plans.

That said…

“Where are we going this time?” Wheeze asked. It didn’t mind visiting the Trade Sectors. It would be able to buy some high class cat food on the way. Unfortunately, it was immensely disappointed when it learned that their destination was the ludicrously poor Sector X.

Wheeze had accompanied Cillin to Sector X once, so it could declare with absolute certainty that there was nothing fun in that place at all. Plus, the current state of the galaxy meant that the Tourism Sectors were half-closed, and countless businesses had folded up for one reason or another. It could already imagine how boring this trip would be.

“It’s true that Sector X is a simple place, but our mission isn’t nearly as simple,” Cillin said slowly.

Wheeze’s ears twitched, but it didn’t give him a reply.

“We would probably run into a lot of killers,” Cillin added.

Now the gray cat’s ears were fully erect.

“It would be a complicated mission,” Cillin concluded.

Wheeze scratched an ear before asking, “How good is the pay?”

“Pretty good.”

“What are we waiting then? Let’s go already!” Wheeze replied cheerfully while shaking its fur. Money, money, money!

“...” At the side, Czedow thought to himself: This cat deserved to be kidnapped by Cillin!