“Cillin? Cillin?” Eudy waved his hand in front of Cillin’s eyes because the latter didn’t react to his calls.
“What’s wrong?” Cillin asked, but his eyes were still trained on the young man in front of the building.
“Do you know them?” Eudy asked.
Cillin shook his head before replying, “Only one of them. Do you know who that young man wearing a brown windbreaker is?”
“No, I’ve never seen him before. Who is the guy next to him?”
“He’s the young master of ‘Lavish’, Fen Yuzuo.”
“Oh, a rich young master! In that case, that young man must be pretty important too, right?”
Cillin shot a glance at the non-humans rolling around the grass and teasing the tamed alien beasts and shook his head. He would be better off entrusting this task to someone else.
“Run a check on that person, Czedow,” said Cillin to Czedow in secret.
The reason Cillin thought the young man looked familiar wasn’t because he saw him before, but because his features reminded him of Genya. Back at the Gen Family’s residence, he had seen photos of Genya when he was younger, and noted that they looked a bit similar to one another.
Of course, the galaxy was huge, and there were countless people who shared similar or even identical appearances. Moreover, this young man didn’t look especially similar to Genya, meaning that even if they were really related they might be a generation or two apart. However, Cillin felt that there was something special about the young man, and he didn’t believe that it was a case of misperception. His own intuition was telling him to take this seriously, and Cillin had always believed in his intuition.
His next move would be to find a way to procure the young man’s DNA. If his suspicions were proven correct, then Genya’s gifts would find their recipients very soon.
At the building, Fen Yuzuo asked, “Do you know that guy, Xingfu?”
The young man named Xingfu shot another glance at Cillin’s direction before answering, “Of course not. You know I haven’t even been out of Sector S until this trip. Most of my time is spent loitering around my place and being surrounded by bodyguards who gave me zero privacy.”
“That’s strange.”
After accepting a cup of mild tea from his servant, Fen Yuzuo called over his bodyguard and instructed, “Find out who those people are.”
“Yes sir!” The bodyguard withdrew after responding affirmatively.
To be honest, Fen Yuzuo preferred beer over tea, and the tea he was drinking now was usually catered to the elderly. To say that it was not a palette he normally enjoyed would be a massive understatement. However, Xingfu was a special person, and he didn’t mind exerting himself a little if it meant remaining in his good books. He even pretended that he was savoring its taste.
But Xingfu saw through him and frowned. “Cut the crap, you don’t have to force yourself to drink it if you don’t want to.”
After ordering the servant to bring over a different type of tea, he took a sip from his own cup and frowned again. “I wouldn’t be drinking this shit myself if it wasn’t for this useless body!”
“Ahem. Did your father forbid you from undergoing the surgery for genetic treatment or something?” Fen Yuzuo asked curiously. Knowing Xingfu’s kind of wealth and background, the thought that the young man might not be able to afford a genetic surgery that suited his needs never crossed his mind. No matter how bad Xingfu’s genes were, surely they weren’t so bad that he couldn’t even endure a genetic surgery, right?
Xingfu shot him a glare before replying, “My grandmother said no.”
Fen Yuzuo nodded in realization. “It was the Lady’s decision? No wonder.”
“If it wasn’t because of her, we wouldn’t be stuck with our pathetic bodies. At the very least, we would be able to run and fight to our heart’s content instead of sitting around all day doing girlish shit like a cripple! For fuck’s sake, we drank tea—mild tea no less!—while everyone else drank wine! Isn’t she afraid that this shit would turn me into a real sissy one day!?”
The bodyguards standing behind Xingfu tuned out their charge’s rants immediately. One of them—probably the bodyguard captain—let out a small cough, but the young man pretended that he didn’t hear him. It was an awkward situation to say the least.
“How can she stand this? My grandmother is a smart, powerful, and daring woman. She wouldn’t be nicknamed ‘the Queen’ otherwise. So why would she allow her grandchildren to remain pathetic as we were?” Xingfu continued ranting.
Fen Yuzuo hurriedly brought his cup to his mouth. Xingfu could complain about the Lady all he liked, but he couldn’t. If he did, she might not deign to take offense from a child like him, but his father would most certainly flay him alive.
The reason the Queen was usually addressed as “the Lady” or “the Queen” instead of the more apt “Her Majesty”, was because her title was just a nickname, not an actual symbol of royalty. It wasn’t a particular popular nickname before the chaos, but nowadays almost everyone in AGL knew who it referred to.
When chaos had descended upon GAL, a battle for power had broken out between all the forces in every Sector. Sector S was no exception. At the end of the conflict, only three major forces remained on Sector S: Flying Snake, Fire Phoenix and Golden Beginning. And Xin. Angenia, the Queen, the Lady, was the head and the ruler of Golden Beginning.
However, if this the extent of Xingfu’s background, then Fen Yuzuo wouldn’t have treated the young man as courteously as he did. In fact, his friends had complained him about his excessively subservient behavior before Xingfu, to which he only responded with a wordless smile.
Many people knew that Xingfu was the Queen’s grandson, but they didn’t know that his aunt, Xin. Prisa, was a Star Rank Hunter and the only female hunter among the Six Stars of Hunt.
Every Star Rank Hunter in the world possessed a great number of connections. Even the most independent of them all, Oskulos was connected to many forces. The chaos that descended in the wake of his death wouldn’t have been as big as it was otherwise.
Xin. Prisa was connected to various armies, governments, hunter regiments and big families. Her network was what really intimidated Fen Yuzuo and kept him nice and easy in front of Xingfu.
Back to the present, Xingfu was still ranting to the discomfort of everyone around him. Even if they didn’t respond to it, just being in vicinity of someone who was criticizing the Queen could land them in trouble, not that the young man cared about that in the slightest.
Fen Yuzuo was trying to think of a way to change the topic when the bodyguard he sent to investigate Cillin’s group returned.
“Young master, they are the the hunters of the Eleventh B Squadron of Vanguard. They are here to trade away their game.”
“Vanguard? Eleventh B Squadron?”
Xingfu was the one who asked the question, not Fen Yuzuo. Although Xingfu was useless as a fighter, his hearing was pretty good, and the bodyguard hadn’t lowered his voice too much. Fen Yuzuo wasn’t planning to hide this from him anyway.
Xingfu wasn’t too well-informed regarding the other Sectors, but he did know some basics about the Great Four. It was why he knew that Vanguard had ten B Squadrons, not eleven.
Fen Yuzuo was just as puzzled as he was. The bodyguard hurriedly added, “They’re a establishment, and their numbers are few.”
When the young master saw that the bodyguard was still holding back something, he got angry. “Just speak your mind already!”
“Well, I asked for a name list from the trader while I was investigating, and… I saw the name that young master Lung was looking for.”
“COUGH COUGH—COUGH COUGH COUGH—”
Fen Yuzuo choked. He looked so excited that his entire face was red.
Xingfu gave Fen Yuzuo a hard slap to the back and said, “Calm down, you.”
Like fuck I can! Fen Yuzuo swore inside his head.
“You mean that—cough cough—Cillin is on the list?” Fen Yuzuo rushed out the question even before he recovered completely, and the bodyguard nodded.
“I also investigated some of the crew and found a couple former Sixth B Squadron members among them. One problem though. This Cillin looks different from the image young master Lung showed us.”
After Fen Yuzuo finally calmed down, he took in a couple of deep breaths before turning toward Cillin’s direction. However, Eudy had pulled Cillin away to negotiate with the trader, and he couldn’t see the hunter from where he was.
Not long after the chaos began, young master Lung had contacted various friends to look for a guy named “Cillin”. However, no one—not even the former members of the Sixth B Squadron—were aware of his location at the time. That was why Fen Yuzuo was as excited as he was. It wasn’t because he was a close acquaintance to Cillin, but because he could finally do a favor to young master Lung. If this Cillin really turned out to be the Cillin young master Lung was looking for, the latter would definitely help him with the difficult test his father had dropped in his lap not long ago.
“Should I continue the investigation, young master?” the bodyguard asked.
“Do it! It’s most likely him!”
“Should we contact young master Lung then?”
“No, that can wait until we get an actual confirmation. Tell the trader to delay them for as long as humanly possible.”
“Understood!”
Suddenly, Fen Yuzuo recalled something and stopped his bodyguard before he could leave. “One more thing. Look around and see if that cat young master Lung mentioned is here. If it is, then he is Cillin for sure!”
“Yes sir.”
After the bodyguard left, Fen Yuzuo finally remembered that he had neglected Xingfu during this time. He was going to apologize when Xingfu surprised him with a question:
“Cillin? That name sounds familiar. I think I heard about it from somewhere.”
Fen Yuzuo thought about it for a moment before smiling. “Oh right, I forgot to tell you that Cillin is acquainted to Fire Phoenix’s Pian Huo, and Flying Snake’s Qi Geyou. Did you hear about Cillin from them?”
“You’re right!” Xingfu clapped his hand in realization. “I was wondering why it sounded so familiar. Both Pian Huo and Qi Geyou had talked to me about him before. What, he’s an acquaintance of young master Lung too?”
“Now that you mention it, he’s acquainted with a lot of people, isn’t he?” Now Fen Yuzuo was curious as well. Cillin wasn’t the type to take the initiative and befriend another person, and he wasn’t particularly cordial either. However, the fact was he knew a lot of people, and some of the stuff he heard from Lung—incomplete as they were—were enough to surprise even him.
“In that case, I would like to meet him in person. It’s rare that I get to get out of my house, and I don’t mind making a new friend,” said Xingfu. The young man was already feeling less bothered by his poor constitution already.
“Well, okay. But I must remind you that Cillin is a member of Vanguard, and last time I checked Golden Beginning and Vanguard aren’t exactly on amiable terms, are they?” Fen Yuzuo said.
Xingfu didn’t care. “This is different. I’m meeting Cillin the person, not the representative of Vanguard. Plus, a newly established B Squadron can’t possibly affect the entire Vanguard, can it?”
Fen Yuzuo thought to himself: maybe. Maybe not.
Cillin received a message from Czedow right after he finished his dealings. The young man did come from Sector S, and his name was Xingfu.
Xing?
Gen Xingming and the other two princes all had the word “Xing” in their name. Is this a coincidence, or…?
Unfortunately, the bodyguards protecting Xingfu was too cautious and too good at their job, so Czedow couldn’t obtain any DNA sample to make a comparison, at least not in such a short amount of time. Cillin’s brain was just going into overdrive trying to think of a way to obtain Xingfu’s sample when he turned around and saw a smiling Fen Yuzuo and Xingfu walking toward him themselves.
The bodyguards had accompanied their young masters as a matter of course, so despite their outward friendliness they couldn’t help but look somewhat intimidating. Everyone in the Eleventh Squad was looking at them warily.
“Is it you, Cillin?” Fen Yuzuo asked before he even got into the appropriate talking distance.
Cillin knew that Fen Yuzuo knew the moment he heard his question.
Not trying to hide anything, Cillin walked over and greeted him, “Long time no see, Fen Yuzuo.”
“It really is you! Why did you change your looks?”
“It’s a long story. Why are you here?” Cillin asked.
“I came here to see if there are any tamed alien beast that is to my liking, and to take a walk while doing so,” answered Fen Yuzuo. That wasn’t the complete truth, however. He was here mainly to accompany Xingfu, or he wouldn’t have bothered to show up himself.
Cillin smiled and looked at Xingfu. Fen Yuzuo immediately introduced, “Oh. This here is Xingfu.” He didn’t elaborate more than that because it might be excessive.
“Hello. Nice to meet you. I’ve heard about you from Pian Huo and Qi Geyou,” said Xingfu.
The mere mention of Pian Huo and Qi “Little Flying Snake” Geyou drew them closer, but every time Cillin tried to approach Xingfu his bodyguards would immediately make their wariness clear. Xingfu himself didn’t stop them.
“Oh right, you should contact young master Lung now, Cillin. He’s been looking for you.” Fen Yuzuo motioned for his subordinate to pass him the communicator Lung gave him. The Andrea Family had their own private communications network; in fact the very property they were standing on belonged to them. It was just that not many people were aware of this.
When Lung received Fen Yuzuo’s call, he was wearing his precious slippers and sleeping on a sea shell bed even bigger than the one Cillin had seen him in before, image be damned.
“You have ten seconds,” Lung said while yawning on the screen. He hadn’t even bothered to open his eyes.
“Young master, I think it’s better if I let Cillin speak with you directly.”
“Sure, you do tha… fuck!? Who did you say?!” Lung’s sleepiness was blown away immediately. He rose to a sitting position and… fell down his bed unceremoniously.
Fen Yuzo didn’t reply to that. He simply passed the communicator to Cillin.
“Your taste is as unique as usual,” Cillin started after spotting the shell bed behind the screen.
After Lung crawled back to his feet and saw Cillin’s face, his features twitched visibly before he swore, “Fuck you!”
“That’s the first thing you say after all these years? Really?”
“Why did you change your appearance? Did you fake your death again?”
“This is my real appearance, and no, I wasn’t faking my death. I had to leave because I had to deal with something at the time, and now I’m finally back. I also established a new B Squadron recently, the Eleventh B Squadron of Vanguard to be exact. Don’t forget to invest in us when you’re free.”
Lung was silent for several seconds before he swore, “Fuck you again!”
Suddenly, the old butler, Bezett said from behind Lung, “Do mind your manners, young master!”
Lung paused for a second before exploding toward his study at top speed. Once he was in, he slammed the door shut and locked the butler outside.
“That old man always gets on my nerves. Now we continue.”
Cillin and Lung made some small chit-chat before Lung asked, “Where’s Wheeze, Cillin? Tell it to show its face, will you? I’ve procured a ton of excellent cats while you were gone, and I want to see if there’s anyone that it fancies!”
Cillin: “…”
Lung wanted to speak with Wheeze, so Cillin went to the field to search for it. However, Wheeze wasn’t playing with the others.
“Wheeze said it was sleepy and left just a while ago,” said Snowball.
“Well, I’ll look around for a bit. Continue whatever you guys are doing, but don’t frighten the beasts too… why is that alien beast bald?”
Snowball, Dough, Scarlet Wind and even Moon and Sigma looked away at once. Nobody dared to answer his question.
Ah well, whatever.
Cillin dived into his senses and learned of Wheeze’s rough location quickly. While he was walking toward the gray cat, Czedow sent him a message.
“I’ve gotten his DNA sample. It’s just as you suspected, they are most likely grandfather and grandson,” Czedow said.
His suspicions were proven correct. Cillin had been thinking of the best timing to visit Sector S, search for Genya’s logbook and seek out the person he mentioned, but he didn’t expect to run into Xingfu here.
Xingfu’s full name was probably Gen Xingfu. He also mentioned just now that he had a younger sister called Xingji. Fu and Ji, Fuji. How many people in this world truly understood meaning behind their name?
Czedow continued, “However, I noticed some problems with his genes. He had far too many repressed genes compared to the normal person, and it severely affected his appearance and performance.”
Cillin was aware of Xingfu’s condition. The Gen Family was unique in the sense that they were born with naturally repressed genes. It was only after they were injected with the natural plant hormones extracted from the Fuji Tree would they undergo a transformation. The injection process was separated into two stages. The first injection was given when the baby was first born. The second injection was given after they became a mature adult. Only then would their genes complete its transformation and unlock their repressed genes completely. Back when Genya became stranded in GAL, he wasn’t old enough to receive his second injection. That was why his genes turned out to be incredibly flawed, and why he aged as quickly as he did.
Xingfu was clearly facing the same problem—worse, because he didn’t even get his first injection when he was born. It was no wonder than he looked as weak as he did. Now that he thought about it, Xingfu’s father or Genya’s son hadn’t received an injection either. Cillin wondered how the man was faring.
While thinking of a way to break the news of Genya to Xingfu, Cillin walked to a patch of grass not far away from the pen. There, Wheeze was sleeping on its side and basking in the warm sunlight, its paws hugging a bag of fish biscuits even now.
The footsteps walking toward it was familiar, so Wheeze’s ears fell still after the initial twitch. It didn’t wake up. Maybe it was because its subconscious knew that Cillin was close, but the half-asleep, half-awake cat rolled over and rubbed against the grass a little.
Cillin was about to talk to it about Lung when he suddenly paused in his tracks. A strange expression appeared on his face as he asked,
“What is that thing behind your back, Wheeze?”
