Disclaimer: I do not own ½ Prince though I've found out that people like my version of it better then the original... laugh
A/N I like apologize greatly for the long wait, but I won't bore you with details as you're dying to read so...
READ!
Chapter 66
"Fifty-one...fifty-two..." I grunted as I concentrated on lifting a weight bar. It has been almost two days since I stormed out of Second Life's main headquarters in an absolute fury, but I didn't regret doing so. I was Long Yun Yin, daughter to Long Dian, creator of the online game Second Life and I would always be that person born with an incurable disease that made me who I was now.
I'm not ashamed of it anymore. Father had known what I had been going through even though I tried to hide it from him—he still knew! He loved me despite of it so why couldn't I have friends and close companions who cared for me despite of it?
I would eventually deal with my two suitors, but their stupid and childish fights weren't doing anyone any good; least of all me!
"Sixty-eight..." I snarled softly, still bench pressing. "Sixty-nine... Seventy!"
With a grunt of effort, I put the bar back onto its stand before sitting up to wipe my forehead.
"Are you absolutely sure you don't want to tell Shui Han that you're currently waiting on everyone?" Loli's father, now my new uncle, asked with a sad smile as he entered the room where I was.
I laughed softly before looking at him.
"Thanks, but no thanks, Uncle." I said as I got to my feet. "Once everyone gets their heads out of their rears, straightened up, and focus on what's really important right now, they'll come here."
"In fact, I've already been contacted by my two friends Huan and Mei saying that they'll leave everything up to me and wish me the best luck. At least everyone else still have a couple days to think about it properly," I added as I moved to look out the window at the street below. "Right?"
Uncle sighed before nodding. "I got the government to agreed to Long Dian's conditions. They have handed over the people he wants and the equipment he demands. According to their estimations, making an artificial body might only take two weeks. The fusion plan will probably start after that."
"They better hurry up then!" I said, my hands turning into fists. "I can only wait so long for them..."
-line-
"Don't you understand, Dad?!" Lolidragon yelled with everyone from Old Squad and the major keys players in Execution Squad, standing behind her. "We have to do something!"
Hearing this, Lolidragon's father looked the group over carefully before saying, "You sure decided quickly when you were so indecisive just days ago. Why the sudden change in heart?"
"That was then. Right now, there isn't any time for hesitation!" Lolidragon desperately shouted with everyone nodding in agreement.
"And also Prince-sis wouldn't ever forgive us if we didn't do something." Doll added with a few people grimacing.
"Even if you've decided to try, you still won't be able to save him. Even the government can't handle Ying Bin, so what could you possibly do?" Lolidragon's father coldly asked, breaking several people's confidence apart.
"...Regardless, I have to go," Gui suddenly spoke up, making people turn to look at him. "Otherwise, I will regret it for the rest of my life!"
"Yeah, there's no doubt in my mind." Wolf-bro added with a courageous nod. "I definitely couldn't wait here blindly. If I did, I would definitely be tortured for the rest of my life by my conscience!"
"Father, please let us use the Training Room!" Lolidragon once again begged.
Long Kien huffed slightly in relief before, saying, "You really are, what Prince said you would be, given time."
"What?"
"Follow me." Once again, Long Kien revealed an enigmatic smile, greatly confusing the group as they all followed after the man.
After going through many twists and turns, they finally made it to a steel door. Lolidragon's father smiled before gesturing for Lolidragon to open it and enter who did so and with some strength and pushed open the door…
"Ah, you all finally came. I thought you all had decided to be an obedient and compliant little children," I said wearing my customed gear with Taste of Death on my shoulder.
"PRINCE?!" Everyone shouted in shock upon seeing me.
"W-what are you doing here?!" Loli asked me, her jaw on the ground.
"Isn't it obvious?" I asked with one eyebrow raised. "I'm waiting on you guys."
"Waiting for...?"
"I knew you guys would eventually get your heads out of your rears and think up some sort of plan to capture Ying Bin, so it was just a matter of waiting for you all to do so!" I said with a smirk. "So why don't we try to make well-made, foolproof preparations and greatly increase our success rate instead?"
"Prince..." Everyone whispered before tightening their resolve and nodding.
Then, once again, my expression turned stern. "However, this time's operation will be severely dangerous. There is a high possibility that we will encounter even stronger robots than the one we ran into before. Therefore, the only ones who can go on the mission to capture Ying Bin are the ones that can pass the test."
I walked toward a gigantic machine that had a similar shape to a birdcage. It had a circular pedestal and a clear outer shell wrapped around it. It looked like one of those virtual combat games that I'd once seen in electrically controlled amusement parks, except this one was much, much larger.
"Loli's father told me that this is a battle simulator that the military uses to train their soldiers' combative abilities. Fighting inside here is exactly the same as fighting in the real world and, of course, the degree of pain felt can be manually controlled and adjusted. But all of you should be prepared for more than that. In my case, I will definitely set the pain level at one hundred percent," I said blood thirstily, causing several to pale heavily or shake their heads knowingly.
"All of you will have to become familiar with the equipment we used in the previous battle within two weeks. In addition, you will have to fight using this equipment in the simulator. Only those who achieve level B are allowed to participate in the actual operation," I strictly said as I moved back to the group, not noticing a single figure move away from the group and into the simulator. "Anyone who does not reach level B or higher, will not be allowed to go."
Everyone revealed an expression of determination to achieve this no matter what.
"Everyone, work hard!" Loli said, sighing. "Level B isn't something normal people can achieve. However, my dad insisted that unless we reach level B, he won't allow us to leave this room."
Beep Beep Beep! Level A; your level is A!
… Everyone stood their mouths agape, staring at the simulator while I turned towards it, very impressed.
"Arctic Fox?" said Loli, amazed, as she looked into the shadows inside the simulator. Even more frightening was that Arctic Fox was only holding a small knife similar to letter-openers and had no other gear at all!
"Level A… How could that be possible? Even I could only reach level B. A is a level that only elite military personnel can achieve…" Zui said slowly, dumbstruck for as a policeman, he was most familiar with the machine.
'It seems that the most terrifying terrorist is actually a student wearing a high school uniform!' I couldn't help thinking as I held down my snickers.
Arctic Fox turned around and scanned everyone with her eyes. Upon seeing her cold eyes, we started to suspect whether Arctic Fox's face had actually appeared on the ten most wanted criminals list before.
"In these two weeks, allow me to train you all." As usual, Arctic Fox was a woman of few words. However, these few words were enough to make our hearts tighten at the thought.
And in reality, although this woman might not actually be on the ten most wanted criminals list, her cold-bloodiness could definitely match up to that of the ten most wanted criminals in the world.
"Wake up at four every day and run fifty laps around the room. The women, run thirty laps."
Everyone's faces paled. People these days lack exercise and thus running fifty laps was definitely something outside of our imagination.
Arctic Fox coldly shot a glance at me, "Besides Prince. You have to run the fifty laps also."
"Afterwards, wear your protective gear and we will do different types of battle training. Then it will be one versus one matches." After speaking up to this point, Arctic Fox once again icily shot a glance at me for some unknown reason. "Your opponent will be me."
"Ooohhhh...?" I said slowly drawing the word out, happily. "How lovely!"
I got a few dirty looks...
"Individually pick a sword or a gun as your weapon," Arctic Fox dictated, gesturing toward the weapon wall. "Those who choose swords, go to the test performance machine and practice swinging the sword five thousand times. Only swings with a power above one hundred fifty will count. Those who choose guns, go to the shooting range and practice. You must hit bull's eye at least five hundred times."
After her speech, everyone chose their own weapons while Arctic Fox once again shot a glance at me. "Come here!"
I obeyed as I casually headed towards her.
"I know you are best at using the dao," said Arctic Fox simply and eyed Taste of Death.
"Of course..." I said with a smirk as I drew my blade out and held it out for Arctic Fox to look over.
"Prince, you have a lot of potential. I could tell from Second Life. That game is one that is real beyond imagination, which is also why I decided to play it." Arctic Fox said. "Magic and abilities may not be possible in real life; however, if you are capable of exerting your fighting skills in the game, then you are capable of them in reality." After Arctic Fox finished her unprecedented long speech, she reverted back to her silent and wordless self as she quietly left to go supervised everyone's practice.
"...It would seem, Quick Fox," I said softly as I watched Arctic Fox leave. "That you have no clue as to who I am yet. Oh! This is going to be SO fun!"
-line-
"B****** Arctic Fox, idiot Arctic Fox, you have no blood, no tears, no heart and no liver… Huff, huff…" I heard many of my companions curse as they were forced to practice and exercise beyond their comfort zones.
Running laps, push ups, squats, lifting weights, sword and gun practice were, but few of the things that Arctic Fox forced us to do in those first five days.
Seeing their expressions, Zhou's and Gui's especially, I knew that everyone was extremely tired, but their determination and will power kept them from giving up.
However as I finished my last lap for that morning and moved to where Gui was slumped against the wall, I deeply believed that Gui's complexion was much more terrible than anyone in the building.
As I caught my breath, I couldn't help but say to Gui, "Gui, if you really can't do it, then don't force yourself. Look at your face; it looks so horrible!"
Gui actually revealed a weak smile as he looked over at me, "I can't! Though I have to say, Your Highness, you're not as out of breath as some of us are...why's that?"
"Because of my constant urges to fight, I needed to have some sort of control over it..." I said casually, making Gui looked it me in concern, obviously remembering what I had said before.
"That and," I grinned evilly up at Gui before adding, "I hated losing all the time while I was younger."
I patted Gui on the shoulder, encouraging him. Since I knew that he wouldn't give up, there was no point in trying to convince him to give up.
Meanwhile on my other side, Wicked didn't say anything. Clearly, his physical endurance was a little better then the others. It was possible that running had become one of his daily exercise.
"Seems you took my advice and exercised more, Zee-Zee." I said as I gently nudged his shoulder. "You're not as winded as the others."
At first, Zhuo was shocked that I had noticed before he nodded and smiled my way.
It felt like only a fleeting moment had passed as I rested between my two suitors that Arctic Fox's frosty voice sounded once again, "Prince,you've rested enough! Come spar with me."
'We can finally spar!' I thought in eagerness, my very being lightening eyes couldn't help but sparkle and shine as I looked toward Arctic Fox. It didn't matter whether it was the thought of fighting against the third best player from the game or the fact that I would be sparring against an opponent in real life that possessed the capabilities of an A level soldier in the military simulation machine; both of these ideas rendered me equally excited.
A rare smile surfaced on Arctic Fox's face. "As expected of one who loves combat."
I grinned at Arctic Fox who faced me without any armor on and in her hand, she still held her letter opener of a knife.
Feeling more then seeing, everyone stopping what they were doing to watch the fight as I raised Taste of Death; my stance was the same as when I was in the game; my blade raised in line with my body at an angle of thirty degrees. This was the best stance that could adjust to changing circumstances.
Arctic Fox's eyes revealed a hint of admiration. However, she didn't go easy on me because of that. The speed at which she rushed toward me made me feel overly excited, but I didn't let it consume me as I lunged forward in return.
In an instant, she appeared in front of my face. I dodge her attack easily, while slamming my blade hilt into her gut, knocking her off balance for a second.
I used that sliver of a second to knock her over my hip while bring my blade around to swipe at her.
However, Arctic Fox had already changed directions as she came up at me from under my arm while I was turning, bumping it so that the blade went high over her.
Seeing instantly that Taste of Death would be a hindrance in this close combat, I slammed Arctic Fox's wrist with my left hand and as I continued my turning movement towards Arctic, I released my blade, grabbed the back of her head with my right and yanked her past me.
Extremely off balanced, Arctic Fox staggered badly, but I didn't allow her to regain her balance as I kick her in the side with my left leg, knocking her completely on her back, knife going flying.
Seeing an opening to end the fight, I lunged after her flying body, landing on her with my knees pinning her arms down, caught the whirling knife before bring it down to rest on her throat.
Looking down at her astonished face, I couldn't help grinning at her.
"W-what..?!" Was all Arctic Fox could stutter out as I got off her, still grinning.
"Next time you are out and about, Arctic," I said casually as I looked at her. "Go back to your Ice Emperor Syndicate members and ask them about The Phantom."
"Phantom...?!" Arctic Fox gasped out as she slowly sat up, realization dawning. "Y-you're...?"
"Quite." I said with a smile. "But a lost is a lost, no?"
"Yeah, I lost. But that's all right, there's still a lot of days left for me to defeat you." Arctic Fox said though her eyes revealed her admiration before she got to her feet.
After getting to her feet, Arctic Fox's eyes left me to inspect everyone and said, "Everyone the time for dinner passed long ago. Let's go and eat. Then you can go and familiarize yourself with how you should be using the equipment. After dinner, I will correct your fighting techniques." With that, Arctic Fox walked to the door and casually took a boxed meal from the ones that were delivered and began eating without a care for the others.
I grinned at Arctic Fox's in amusement before turning to see that everyone was staring wide eyed at me.
"What?"
Chapter 67
"Everyone, come here for a moment." I suddenly said, interrupting people's practice—though I think many were thankful.
The dead line was almost up being only three days till we all headed out to fight Ying Bin... well, those who could pass Level B that is.
"Prince, what's wrong?" Wolf-bro asked as everyone moved closer to where I was standing next to a large screen.
"I have a surprise for you all." I said mysteriously before I leaned back against the computer console, pressed a few buttons before folding my arms as I looked at the large screen which displayed...an excited Sunshine and an exasperated Kenshin.
"Fairsky!" With incomparable excitement, Sunshine gazed down at Fairsky, recognizing her instantly.
"Sunshine!" Immediately, Fairsky rushed to the front of the screen, almost pressing her entire body against it. Rapidly, she fired off like a machine gun, "Sunshine, are you alright in the game? You haven't been bullied by players or NPCs, have you? Do you have enough to eat? When you're cold, remember to wear more clothes; you don't want to get sick."
"Okay, I'll remember to wear more clothes." Sunshine smiled idiotically in his overwhelming happiness though everyone was sweatdropping at the pair.
He's an AI... They don't get sick!
Since Sunshine already had someone asking after him, I chuckled a little before asking Kenshin. "Kenshin, how have you been?"
"Not too good." Kenshin furrowed his brows.
Originally, I had only asked in afterthought. I didn't think Kenshin would actually answer "not good." I blanked out for a moment before I hurriedly asked in worry, with others now paying attention in worry too. "Has something happened?"
His only response was jerking a thumb at Sunshine and adding, "Caelus is just as bad."
"Kenshin! Have the NPCs done anything violent since everyone was able to re-log on?" Loli asked loudly over my laughter and the sound of people falling over in surprise.
"Strangely enough, no," Kenshin said seriously before folding his arms. "Well, actually, a little."
"What do you mean?" Loli asked, nervously; Kenshin's answer getting everyone's attention.
"It seems that no one and I mean no one can enter Infinite City without getting killed. Seems that the Dictator of Life has made it his new base instead of the Northern Lands."
"What?!"
"In contrast, there are a lot of NPCs running about now." Sunshine said, adding his two cents.
"But what's so strange about it is that we ran into the Dictator." Kenshin said.
"What did he want?" Artic Fox piped up.
"Nothing."
"Nothing? What do you mean 'nothing'?" Loli asked in confusion.
"Literally, nothing, Lolidragon." Sunshine said before saying, "He greeted us before telling me to treat Fairsky well. Said that a girl like Fairsky was very rare to find."
Fairsky couldn't help but blush. "That's not true, I'm so overbearing…"
Sunshine revealed a passionate expression. "Fairsky is lively and honest. I love Fairsky the most."
Hearing this, Fairsky's face looked even more like a cooked crab, with how red it was.
"Alright, if you want to profess your love to each other, do that later off to the side. Right now, can you two help us pinpoint Ying Bin's current location?" Loli asked urgently.
"Already done." Sunshine said with a bright smile.
"The Dictator gave the information to us." Kenshin added.
"What?!"
"Huh?!"
"Why?!"
"Where?" I asked before pressing a few buttons. "Put it on screen."
"Prince, don't you want to know why the Dictator is helping us?" Loli asked me as she grabbed my arm. "It could be a trap!"
"I don't think so." I said with a grin. "But I'll explain why I'm so sure later, we've got a mass murder to stop!"
Loli looked into my eyes as if searching for something before slowly nodding. "I'll hold you to that."
"He's on an island." After Sunshine spoke, a world map suddenly appeared on the screen. Slowly, the map locked onto a specific area before zooming in.
"An island! That makes things difficult. How are we going to escape Ying Bin's notice and reach that island?" Loli furrowed her brows.
"Simple." Kenshin said, "In two days, the government will send supplies to Ying Bin. All you have to do is sneak onto that airship. Sunshine and I will help you avoid detection."
"Whoa, you can even do something like that?" Wolf-bro stared at Kenshin in shock.
Kenshin fell silent for a while before he said, "...We can try."
I caught the meaningful glance that Kenshin shot me and I nodded slightly.
'So Eric's lending a hand in this as well, huh?'
"Okay, then let's decide on who will go." Loli said, clapping her hands before revealing a cruel smile. "Artic Fox goes without saying. Nan Gong Zui has also reached level B for some time. Prince has passed as well. Wicked also has no problems. Feng Wu Qing has also passed, and of course, so did Wolf-bro. Lastly, there's also me. I've successfully passed!"
"Boo, can't Doll go?" Doll's two eyes filled with tears. "Doll also passed."
"No!" Everyone yelled at the same time.
"Princess, if something were to happen to you, it would cause a grave foreign affair problem." Yulian furrowed her brows.
"Oh…" Doll pouted, but she also knew the severity of the situation, so she did not argue any further.
I reached over and ruffled her hair in a silently apology.
"Fairsky and Ice Phoenix are out too. As expected, asking women to train and reach level B in two short weeks is a bit too much." Loli shook her head and sighed, forgetting that there were three women who trained and passed level B in two short weeks, and once of them was even herself.
Fairsky and Ice Phoenix glared at Loli till I smacked Loli upside the head before smiled helplessly at the others.
"Let me go!" An incomparably mournful and unrelenting sound arose. Yes, Gui was currently pulling on the corner of my shirt as if his life depended on it, and he kept repeating, "Let me go, let me go, let me go…"
I slowly closed my eyes helplessly in response to his pleading.
"I know I haven't passed." Gui dispiritedly let his shoulders drop.
"Then don't go and be a burden!" said Wicked, mercilessly.
Gui's shoulders shuddered, but he still persevered. "I want to go."
"Based on what abilities?" Wicked went as far as roaring, "Do you want to drag Prince down? Do you want her to lose her focus in dangerous moments to protect you?"
"I…" In pain, Gui used both hands to cover his face. "I want to go with Prince."
I didn't say anything as I was conflicted as well as I wanted Gui to go with us so I knew where he was at all times, but like Zhuo said it was too dangerous, and I did not want to see anyone get hurt.
"Gui-bro, you can wait for Prince with me." Doll said comfortingly. "It's alright even if you don't go."
"I…" After Gui barely managed to squeeze this word out, he slowly lowered his head and said no more.
Even though I knew Gui was very disappointed, I could do nothing about it.
"How are you two planning on getting us secretly stowed away on the airship?" I asked, trying to move the plans forward.
"We can help you avoid all detection from machines, but you will have to avoid human eyes by yourself," Kenshin stated.
"Really," I said with a large grin while everyone groaned slightly at my excited expression.
In reality even though someone like Ying Bin had appeared and caused the entire world to begin worrying about the usage of computers, humans had been dependent on computers and the internet for such a long time already. Humans became unable to step away from technology ages ago. Even with Ying Bin's appearance, people were still depending mostly on computers for surveillance.
"Lolidragon, remember to download me into a small computer that you can bring along with you. This way, I can help control the situation on the scene, and I can also keep in contact with Sunshine in case we need to change tactics." For the first time, Kenshin lengthily rambled on, "The two of us cannot be in too many places at the same time. This is the most we can do."
"That is enough." I nodded my head. "Let's move out!"
-line-
After stowing away on the government ship, I could only call the experience a thrilling and most exciting activity.
Thankfully, with Arctic Fox's expertise in stealth, along with Kenshin and Sunshine's guidance, we were on board secretly…though some weren't as happy about that fact.
"Ah, I'm actually knowingly committing a crime. This is bad!" Even though Nan Gong Zui had protested before our departure, he still obediently accompanied us in breaking the law because our current situation left us with no choice. He even utilized his position as a police officer to help us avoid many dangerous traps.
However, once we stepped onto the ship, we discovered that the situation was kind of bad. The ship's cargo capacity truly wasn't very large, so there wasn't enough space for all of us to hide in. The moment the government began transporting supplies onto the ship, they would discover the lot of us for sure.
Thinking quickly, I clenched my teeth and then yelled at the tablet pc Loli held in her hands, "Kenshin, start up this airship and head toward Ying Bin's location, then seal off the government's communication with Ying Bin. Don't let them use computers to contact Ying Bin to alert him about the ship being seized."
"Are you planning on directly impersonating government workers to head over there?" Loli was stunned.
By the time I finished instructing Kenshin, the airship had already begun launching. Kenshin also straightforwardly said, "The government workers are pressing closer. There's no time for hesitation. I will start the ship. Everyone, please stay seated and buckle your seat belts."
Hearing this, we immediately found seats and sat down. We almost didn't have time to buckle our seat belts when all of a sudden the airship's main body shook and then we took off, rising into the sky in an instant.
"Sunshine, have you opened the gate?" Kenshin's face appeared on the airship's screen. Next to his face there was a small image of Sunshine, like Kenshin was communicating with him.
"I am in the process of opening it, but we're too pressed for time, so there's no way for me to open it wide." Very professionally, Sunshine said, "Kenshin, it would be best if you tilt the airship vertically to fly through."
"Understood." Kenshin still had no expression on his face, but in an instant, the airship went from a horizontal state to a vertical state.
"I have this feeling like I'm riding a clam…" Yang Ming's face was pale as he recalled the frightening memories of riding AnRui.
"Here's some barf bags." I said helpfully, passing several to him.
"Kenshin, there are small airships chasing you from behind." After Sunshine said this, a radar image appeared on the screen. There were truly some small airships chasing us from behind.
"They seem hostile." Sunshine wrinkled his brows. "Should we retaliate?"
I had a sudden flash of inspiration. "Sunshine, you can pretend to be Ying Bin and issue them a warning, telling them not to chase us, or else we'll launch nuclear weapons."
Happily, Sunshine smiled and said, "Okay, this way we won't have to attack them."
It only took a moment for the small airships behind us to stop. They no longer dared to take any action, and they let us swagger through the gates in our departure.
After all this, we finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Well then, I'm going to focus all of my efforts on stopping the government from releasing a public statement. Kenshin, I'm going to leave it to you to help them avoid Ying Bin's detection." Sunshine's happily smiling face slowly disappeared from the screen.
Under Kenshin's control, the airship flew very smoothly.
"You know, if someone had told me that I would steal a government airship, I would definitely have scolded him for being an idiot." Yang Ming piped up, apparently having recovered.
Hearing his words, Nan Gong Zui smiled wryly. "I had the same thought."
"Prince, would probably have looked at the person, smiled evilly before attempting it!" Loli added, grinning, causing everyone to glance at me.
"Yep!"
Everyone started laughing.
"Say, that reminds me, Arctic Fox, just how did you gain such a strong fighting ability?" Yang Ming asked curiously.
Once the words left his mouth, everyone stared curiously at Arctic Fox. It looked like they had been harboring the same question for quite a while.
"My family is part of the criminal underworld," said Arctic Fox simply.
Everyone fell silent for a bit until Nan Gong Zui couldn't help but ask, "Even if crime syndicates know how to use a dao, it's still only used under circumstances with no other alternatives. They will definitely use guns if guns are available. A crime syndicate member like you using flying daggers for all situations, I really haven't seen before…" As Nan Gong Zui trailed off, Arctic Fox remained silent. Instead, it was Nan Gong Zui himself who stopped as if he was thinking about something.
Finally, Nan Gong Zui carefully asked, "You can't be… someone from the Guan Dong Group?"
I snorted faintly in humor at the food sounding gang name.
"No." Arctic Fox glanced at Nan Gong Zui. Just as Nan Gong Zui started relaxing visibly, Arctic Fox wore an extremely rare smile as he said, "I am a member of the Ice Emperor Syndicate."
I fought harder to hold my laughter back as Nan Gong Zui's mouth dropped wide open, making me very worried that his jaw might fall off at any time. After a moment, he finally collected himself enough to shout, "Silver-Masked Quick Fox from the Ice Emperor Syndicate! My g**! How come I didn't make the connection!?"
I glanced over to see many people were confused though Yang Ming's was an expression full of worship. Touched, he said, "Who knew that I was guided by Silver-Masked Quick Fox in martial arts? Sniff, my life is complete."
Obviously confused now, Wicked cut in, "What's going on? What's the Ice Emperor Syndicate? Silver-Masked Quick Fox?"
"Oh please," Yang Ming said with a sigh, turning to him. "The righteous syndicate of the criminal underworld, Ice Emperor Syndicate. You don't know about them? The Ice Emperor Syndicate has a famous assassin—Silver-Masked Quick Fox. You don't know about him? He was rumored to be a fierce person who killed the prime ministers of two countries." Yang Ming revealed an expression that implied Wicked and anyone else who was clueless, to truly be ignorant and inexperienced, but he suddenly thought of something else and loudly exclaimed, "My g**! Prince was actually able to defeat the Silver-Masked Quick Fox in combat!"
I was suddenly pinned on by many astonished, shocked, and awe at this new information.
"Of course, the mysterious Phantom or as she's also been known as The Thirsty Blood Demon," Arctic Fox said with pride and awe in her voice, spoke up. "Would be able to put me in my place. Most of my training consisted of others learning from her!"
Everyone's eyes widened in more awe and shock at this.
"Are you in the The Ice Emperor Syndicate too?" Yang Ming asked excitedly.
"No, The Thirsty Blood Demon is said to be a wandering Master of War." Arctic Fox said softly, voice lost in her memories. "To meet and learn from him was always considered a great honor. Many of my more honored Teachers have come back wise and blooded from the experience."
"Blooded?!" Wicked asked in horror before he looked at me with eyes that were slowly turning to fear.
I coolly met his eyes before looking away.
'Judging from the way you're reacting to this news, your father never told you why he got that "sudden promotion" from work, Zhuo.'
"Oh, True Master, grant us your wisdom!" Yang Ming said, looking like he wanted to come gravel at my feet in his hero worship.
"...' The Thirsty Blood Demon', huh?" I repeated slowly before saying cheerfully. "Hm, that's a new one!"
"You really get rid of the prime ministers of two countries?" I asked Arctic Fox while ignoring everyone anime falling to the sides in exasperation.
"They don't count as prime ministers. They were merely the military leaders of rebellions from small countries," explained Arctic Fox indifferently, though I could see that she was blushing slightly.
"We have arrived above the island." Kenshin calmly interrupted, "Prepare for landing."
Quietly, we sat in our seats to wait for landing, but when the airship finally rocked slightly once we landed, all of us impatiently undid our seat belts.
"I can't help you with what follows." Kenshin straightforwardly said, "I will remain here to look after the airship and wait for your return. Sunshine will be responsible for shielding all of you from here on out, but we don't know how effective Sunshine will be. Be careful."
I nodded my head. "Got it."
One after another, everyone got off the ship. When I abruptly turned my head to look, Arctic Fox had her gaze fixed on the screen on Kenshin. In a cool voice, she asked, "When everything's over, come to my place? I can guarantee your safety."
Kenshin fell silent for a good while. "We'll speak later. For now… Help me protect Prince."
"Got it." Arctic Fox didn't pursue the matter further, and turned to leave.
Once I left the airship, I surveyed our surroundings. Other than the aircraft parking lot where we parked the airship, the other areas made me feel like I had arrived at a primitive forest, but this was fine. This way, we didn't have to be worried about not being able to find Ying Bin on this small island. The entire island only had one building.
But I couldn't help thinking that it was a little too easy.
"Everyone, hide. Something's coming," Arctic Fox warned suddenly. We quickly hid in the thickets surrounding us, and then we peered through the small openings between the leaves.
Two robots were walking toward our direction. One was a humanoid robot while the other was a horse-shaped robot, and it was even pulling along a horse carriage that I had only ever seen in my history textbooks.
The two robots stopped in front of the airship, and the humanoid robot even walked into the airship. It didn't take long for him to walk out and broadcast, "The inside of the airship contains no supplies; the inside of the airship contains no supplies… Airship, the airship has not landed yet… The airship has crashed." Once he said this, the humanoid robot led the horse-shaped robot and left.
Loli walked out of the thickets and called out to us. "Come over quickly. Sunshine has already helped us in confusing that robot."
"Are we heading to the building now?" Wolf-bro asked, gesturing towards the building in the distance.
"Wait for a moment. Sunshine said that this place is strange. He wants to look into it first." Loli wrinkled her brows in apparent worry.
After a while, Sunshine's warm voice came out of the tablet pc in Loli's hand. "Phew, I spent a lot of effort deactivating the building's security system so that it won't react to you, but be careful everyone. My control against robots isn't great. Inside that building, there are a few robots that I was unable to hack into."
"Got it. When we see robots, we will try to evade as many as we can." Loli nodded before turning to lead the others towards the building, but I was more fixed on the landing platform.
I looked at it from different angles, not understanding what my gut was telling me concerning it. I got down on my stomach and cupped my hands around an ear as I tried to listen.
"Prince? What are you do-?"
"Shhh!" I interrupted harshly before pressing my ear flat on the landing platform before taking one of my knives and smacking the hilt on the ground.
I jerked to face Arctic Fox before saying, "I think it's hollow."
"What?" Loli asked in confusion, but Arctic Fox didn't question me as she rushed over, got on the ground, and listened.
"It's hollow." Arctic Fox reconfirmed before she started looking around.
"I think under this platform is where Ying Bin is really hiding, not that too obvious building in the distance." I said in explanation to the others.
"So we had already stepped on Ying Bin's head just now, but we didn't realize it?" muttered Loli to herself.
"That building could have been meant to delay us," concluded Arctic Fox.
"How do we get in?" I asked as I and everyone looked everywhere for a button or lever to open it, but our efforts were in vain. No matter how we looked at it, this appeared to be a normal aircraft parking ground. The cement floor was hexagonal in shape, and a metal fence surrounded the entire place. There was even a metal signboard which had the words "Danger! Living people may not enter" written on it.
"Want to ask Gui?" asked Kenshin suddenly as he looked at our troubled appearances.
"Can you contact Gui?" Loli asked hopefully.
"There is no need to contact him." Kenshin said something very strange, making my head shoot up in realization.
"No need to contact him?" The moment Loli asked this question, Gui walked out of the airship.
In front of everyone's shocked, exasperated, and anger (Zhou) faces, the fully equipped Gui made an embarrassed expression. He stuttered as he explained, "S-Sorry, but because I really wanted to come with Prince, I hid in the airship a day earlier. The engine room is just big enough for one person to hide in…"
"Gui, you really are an idiot." Wolf-bro sighed as he rubbed his forehead.
"I'm sorry, I just wanted…to follow you here. If I did anything more, I would just become a burden," said Gui. The more he said, the gloomier his eyes became, and the weaker his voice.
"You're still alive and in one piece, that's the most important thing," I said softly, feeling slightly lightened to see Gui.
"Gui, hurry up and help us, how will we be able to enter Ying Bin's base?" demanded Loli hastily, as though she could not wait any longer.
Gui muttered to himself in a low voice, then walked in front of the metal signboard and said, "...'Living humans may not enter'? Interesting. Lolidragon, Sunshine is inside your tablet pc, right?"
Loli nodded earnestly.
"Sunshine, let's see if you can invade this signboard," said Gui, smiling mysteriously. "If my guess is correct, the reason living people may not enter is because only NPCs can approach this signboard."
"Okay, I will try it," said Sunshine. After that, he paused for a moment. Only one or two seconds had passed when he happily spoke again, saying, "It's fine, there's an AI inside this signboard. I have already opened the entrance."
Faster than you could blink, the entire hexagonal, cement floor started to sink, causing me to immediately pulled out Taste of Death as a precaution and everyone seeing my action, mimicked.
"The door has opened, the door has opened!" A few panicked voices shouted, as if they were very happy at being saved.
Those did not sound like voices of robots, but it was better to be careful. I pulled Gui close to me and said, "Gui, you are not very strong in battle, so you should stay behind me as much as possible. Here's an extra gun for you."
"Okay," said Gui in a happy but slightly sorrowful voice, happy to be cared for by the person he liked, but depressed that he had to let his beloved woman protect him.
The hexagonal floor finally landed on the ground. To summarize the situation, about twenty "people" looked at us with fear and expectation, leaving us extremely confused, wondering what was going on. Are they people or robots?
"Are you robots?" Someone on their side asked, first in surprise and then in fear.
"No, of course not," answered, Nan Gong Zui shocked. "We are definitely human."
"That's great!" They actually started to hug each other in joy. One of them said, "Are you here to rescue us? Has the government finally found a way to control 'him'?"
Filled with suspicion, I asked, "Just who are you people?"
"They are the world's most talented people," said Zhuo suddenly. He then walked toward an old man with a white beard. The old man's eyes had nearly popped out in astonishment.
"Professor, I have been very worried for your safety. It looks like you're okay," said Zhuo as he held the white-bearded old man's hands, face filled with emotion.
"Ling Bin? Why are you here?" The white-bearded old man was so surprised that he stuttered.
"There is something I must do," said Zhuo, smiling. "On the contrary, Professor, why are you people allowed to wander around freely? Won't Ying Bin restrict your movements?"
The white-bearded old man shook his head, saying, "Previously, he kept threatening us by saying that he would launch a nuclear weapon and destroy the world unless we helped him. Thus, we had no choice but to help him successfully create an artificial body. Also, we performed some strange brain surgery on him."
"Did you guys take the opportunity to kill him during the operation?" asked Loli, worried.
"Of course not!" yelled a doctor in a white coat. "He said that he had already set a time for the launch of the nuclear weapon, and if the surgery failed, causing him to die, no one would be able to stop it." The doctor's face was so pale it was almost white. He continued, "That was the first time I'd ever heard about that kind of surgery. I did not expect it to be successful… Luckily, we succeeded in the end."
"Oh my...! This lunatic actually wants the whole world to die with him," said the old man, who could not help but shudder at the thought.
However, I felt like I had been struck by lightning and ran over by a truck.
'Now I know why Father and my old house had been ransacked!'
A/N AAAANNNNDDD that's it! :D R&R please. The more I get the more I'll want to update the next chapters! I also want to apologize to my readers for taking so long in updating. I literally had no kind of internet access in a while. I've been writing, but no computer to update it on.
But as you can see I've found a workable computer! :D Please R&R and tell me what you think! Its hard to believe that in a few chapter this will be done!