Star Rank Hunter

Chapter 289: Those Whose Souls Were Eaten by The Devil [Part 2]

Sometime later, Freeman somehow detonated a part of the palace and got himself listed as a dangerous person. Since then, many people thought that he had a communication disorder and avoided him like the plague. He even offended his oldest brother, the successor to the throne, although it was possible that Freeman wasn’t aware that such a thing had ever happened. Since he only lived in his own world, he was completely unconscious to the fact that his actions could be offensive to others.

Left with no choice, the Mist Bodhisattva Emperor had to send Freeman away from the palace in order to raise his oldest son into a better successor. When a star map was presented in front of him, Freeman chose a nameless planet—the very planet Cillin was at right now.

Freeman was still a prince of the empire, so the emperor provided him everything he wanted. Maybe it was his way to compensate his son for his lack of presence.

When Freeman was seventeen years old, a huge civil unrest broke out within the empire. Several high level nobles had joined hands and started a rebellion, and for a time uneasiness lurked in every corner of the empire.

Every member of the royal family had to be protected, even if they were someone who was “kicked” out of the capital like Freeman. On that day, when a squad of royal guards landed on the planet Freeman lived in, the captain accidentally discovered that a gun Freeman had casually tossed aside like a toy. It looked very similar to some of the average weaponry the captain had seen, and in a fit of idleness he decided to give the gun a shot. The result was a smoking pit over a hundred meters wide and a circle of fire that refused to fade for a very long time. The soil and stone that were struck didn’t look like they how they should during an explosion either; it looked as if they had melted away in a burst of incredible temperature.

The recoil had caused the web between the thumb and forefinger of the captain’s hand to split apart. It was the same as when Cillin had used the PTS S for the first time. No one except the captain knew if his hand was shaking because of the wound, of shock.

After that, the captain discovered many more improved weapons on Freeman’s planet and reported it to his superiors. Since it was a time of turmoil, the report was incredibly welcomed by the Mist Bodhisattva Emperor.

The biggest factor that turned things around in favor of the empire wasn’t the modified weapons, but the discovery of high density compressed energy storage and stable performance-enhancing drugs. Both had been created by Freeman, and they left a profound and long-lasting mark in the empire’s history at the time. This version of the empire’s history Cillin was reading was different from the official, public version. In the public version, it was said that both inventions had come up during the war, and Freeman’s name was never mentioned.

The news that Freeman were behind the decisive inventions were ultimately leaked to the rebels, and so an assassination attempt was mounted. The assassins successfully broke through all the obstacles and fired a shot at Freeman, but the black-spotted viper emerged in the nick of time and saved his life. The shot had severed the viper into several pieces—no one had any doubt that the dangerous shot would’ve claimed Freeman’s life.

Freeman didn’t pay attention to the people around him, the assassins, or the captain who was shouting for him to hide. He simply went back to his room while holding the broken viper with both hands.

Freeman’s room also doubled as his lab. By the time Freeman came out again, the broken viper was joined back into normal. However, its appearance was also much changed.

Cillin finally understood why the Black Viper was able to grow this big and live over a thousand years. Freeman was the person behind it all. After watching all of MB. Freeman’s recordings, he also understood what Gu Changan meant by “this type of people”.

After realizing Freeman’s potential, the Mist Bodhisattva Emperor decided to build an organization consisting of people like Freeman. When he asked Freeman to give it a name, the latter only said two words, “Black Viper.”

That was how the first Black Viper came to be.

As time passed and the organization grew bigger and bigger, and the emperor was starting to realize more and more just how extraordinary their abilities really were. In fact, they were often better than the members of the RAS in many areas. They might be born with regrettable qualities, but in exchange they were talented in some areas unlike any other.

They were like a double-edged blade that were effective as a weapon, but also dangerous if used unwisely. There was also the danger of them falling into the enemy’s hands. Therefore, the Mist Bodhisattva Emperor gave the order to shift the existence of Black Viper into the dark completely.

The people wouldn’t remember those short-lived days, but Black Viper’s technology had spread to every corner of the empire since.

These people couldn’t assimilate into a normal society. Unconsciously or not, they were always pushed away by the people around them. Not even the latest technology could turn them into a “normal” person, change their specialized central nervous system, or fix their strange behavior and temper.

They severely lacked emotional contact with others. They didn’t realize that their unusual behavior only drew the rejection of others. Some people were so silent that they were nigh unapproachable.

However, they were gifted with extraordinary skill or memory in exchange for a narrower view of life. Take Ah Shou and Neo for example, their abilities were a sharp contrast to their inability to their deficiency in other areas.

Some people were born without the ability to smile or cry, but that didn’t mean that they were without emotions. For example, Freeman never cried when the viper had broken into several shreds. He looked just the same as before. However, Cillin was sure that Freeman was very hurt on the inside at the time. In fact, he might even be close to despair. The fact that he had spent five days and nights to rescue his best friend from death was proof that his pain was very real.

These people all had unique wavelengths. They were different only because most people couldn’t get onto that wavelength. They weren’t sick, they weren’t strange, their souls weren’t devoured by the devil. They were just different. There were many flaws and regretful things in this world, but that was no reason to believe that some flowers were born without a reason to live.

As Cillin watched the technology that slowly permeated to every fabric of the empire across several millenniums, he finally understood what Gu Changan and Guan Feng meant when they told him not to judge Black Viper with his previous lens.

This, was why.

This was what Guan Feng and Gu Changan felt so strongly about.

Guan Feng might not be “one of them”, but Gu Changan definitely was. Cillin now had the ability to differentiate them after seeing everything.

Why did Gu Changan love to sit on a wheelchair even though his legs were perfectly fine? It was because it was the only thing that made him feel grounded. It might be an inexplicably strange behavior to others, but this was just who Gu Changan was, a man who loved sitting on a wheelchair and live in a small, dim room. His focus was at its sharpest when he was in his element.

And then there’s White Night. There was a person similar to White Night in the records. They had dual-colored pupils just like him, and the world they saw seemed different from a normal person’s. Cillin didn’t know how the world looked to White Night, but he finally understood why Guan Feng had given him the chance to fight for this seat.

Black Viper was no longer the small organization it used to be during its conception. They had become a lot bigger and more powerful than they used to be. This was the blade the Mist Bodhisattva Emperor had gifted to his invisible son; a “blade” he hoped would be used to defend the empire.

The Mist Bodhisattva Emperor went to great lengths to choose the people that would lead Black Viper. In the end, he settled on three leaders who would manage this special organization together. That choice had slowly developed into what it was today.

All successors were required to visit the giant snake who had outlived many, many Mist Bodhisattva Emperors in the past. If it wasn’t for the giant snake—no, it was just a tiny viper back then—if the tiny viper hadn’t saved Freeman back then, all those technological advancements and Black Viper wouldn’t have existed in the first place.

The sight of the giant viper gave the royal family strength. It wouldn’t be wrong to call it their… faith. That’s right. Black Viper would suffer great damage if their faith was gone.

The trio continued to do their own thing, exploring this mysterious organization by way of clarifying their doubts and searching for answers.

The giant viper waited quietly on the side. It had experienced many, many candidates in the past, and most of them only made an “OK” impression on it, not “good”.

If the giant viper said “OK”, it meant that the chosen candidates were qualified to succeed Black Viper. However, almost no one made it past that and got a “good” out of it.

The giant viper’s gaze on White Night and Cillin—especially Cillin—grew a bit warmer. Nothing they looked through escaped its attention, and through their catalogue of study the giant viper was able to identify their nature.

Very few people had the patience to watch all of Freeman’s recordings, and Cillin was one of them. The giant viper approved of it.

Meanwhile, Wheeze had jumped onto the giant viper’s body after rolling several times across the grass. Then, it narrowed its eyes and took a short nap.

“You have a good master,” the giant viper said.

Wheeze’s ears flicked as it replied, “He’s not my master, and I’m not his pet!”

“Alright, you’re not his pet,” the giant viper’s tone made it seemed like it was smiling.

“It’s true that Cillin is great… no, wait, that’s not right! You don’t know how cunning he is! Back then he made me signed an unfair agreement…”

Wheeze angrily told the giant viper all about the unfair contract and debt agreement Cillin made it sign back then. The giant viper did nothing but listen, but warmth was entering its normally cold, abyssal eyes.

When Wheeze grew tired, it jumped to the pond and drank a bit of water. When it saw that Cillin was still checking through the files, it ran over to his side and peed right next to him. Grinning after it gave its own pee a sniff, it returned to the top of the giant viper’s nose and talked shit about Cillin again.

There was a warm breeze inside this cave that made one feel comfortable and serene. It was why the giant viper loved this place. Even when there was no sunlight, it was warm just like when he was still alive.

When their time limit was up, the holograms disappeared and broke all three people from their concentrated state. When Cillin set his eyes on the black viper again, his feelings were different from before.

A familiar stench quickly grabbed his full attention, however.

Wheeze might be a half-cyborg, but that didn’t mean that its pee didn’t smell terrible!

“Wheeze—” Cillin called out through gritted teeth.

Wheeze swayed its curled tail once and flicked its ears, ignoring Cillin and pretending as if it had no idea what was happening.

A smile entered the giant viper’s eyes again, surprising both White Night and Hadar. They didn’t think that it was capable of such easygoing attitude.

How did Cillin manage to win such affection from the giant snake when it didn’t even give face to a member of the royal family? It couldn’t be because he had a pet cat, right? White Night and Hadar couldn’t understand at all.

Still, it was hardly the time to worry about Cillin’s special treatment now that they had a better understanding of the black viper. They waited for it to give its evaluation of them, and the giant viper knew it. It replied slowly, “This generation’s successors aren’t bad.”

With that comment, everyone knew that they had passed. Hadar let out a sigh of relief. He never felt this pressured even when he was facing his grandfather.

A gigantic light screen appeared above their heads, and a small hole appeared on the mountain walls after the giant viper tapped on it several times with its tail. A small flying robot emerged from it.

“You may leave now. This robot will lead you to the exit, and a spaceplane will be waiting for you after you’ve exited the mountain range. You may use it to leave the planet.” The giant viper looked away after saying that.

The trio exchanged a glance with each other and saluted the giant viper. Finally, they acted to leave the place.

“Well, goodbye. We’ll come see you again when we’re free!” Wheeze said while patting the giant snake’s scales. The scales were finally starting to grow a little warmer.

Wheeze leaped off the giant snake’s nose and climbed onto Cillin’s shoulder in familiar fashion. The giant snake’s eyes became tinged with a bit of sorrow, regret, but also happiness as it watched the duo with its lidless eyes. It seemed to be reminiscing about the past.

Cillin once said that people blinked when they were smiling because they recalled something happy from the past. However, the giant viper couldn’t do that because it had no eyelids. All people could see from its eyes was the cold, and very, very few people could see past the mask and discover the true emotion hidden behind it.

The trio followed the small robot through a much smaller passage compared to the one they came from. Obviously, this exit passage was meant for human travel.

No one said a thing while they walked because they were reflecting on everything they had seen just now. Maybe they weren’t all reflecting about the same thing, but their viewpoint of Black Viper—even for a local like Hadar—had definitely changed.

It was understandable considering that everything they had learned today. Even the most trivial of what they learned today could shock anyone for a very long time.

Cillin also realized one thing while he was watching the records. The robots’ emergence in Black Viper’s ranks had also happened a couple millenniums ago, but nothing more in-depth than that was recorded. He supposed he would’ve to seek out those who were truly involved in this matter to find out more.

“Wheeze, I suddenly remembered something,” Cillin said.

“What is it?” Wheeze asked in a lazy tone. It was so busy criticizing Cillin in front of the giant snake just now that it didn’t have the time to take a nap.

“Did you wash your paws after you take a piss just now?”

“...” Wheeze pulled its ears backward and pretended not to hear the question.

Not long after the trio had left, a sound came from inside the cave. It was the giant snake. But unlike the hissing sounds made by most snakes, this one was beautiful, solemn, clean and emotional in a way that couldn’t be described. Anyone who heard it couldn’t help but be moved and recall their past memories.

After looking upward and singing for a moment, the giant snake moved toward the little house in the middle of the pond.

The modified viper had changed a lot with the passage of time. For example, it could actually speak now. However, the person it wished to speak to was long gone.

There was a person inside the wooden house lying quietly on his resting place like he was in a deep sleep. He was old and wrinkled, but he had a well defined face, and the way he slept was as beautiful as it was back then, like a child.