Star Hunter.

Chapter 273 How Could It Be Her?

As dusk approached, Dantu was brought out to the control room again.

When Dantu saw Xilin and the others again, he no longer had the fear and surprise he had at the beginning. Except for being a little overly cautious when looking at the gray cat, he was much calmer.

It must be said that this young boy has a very good mental fortitude. Perhaps it is due to his living environment that he is more mature and calm than his peers on some of the more privileged planets. However, Dantu's composure crumbled after he saw the projection in the center of the control room.

In the center of the control room was a table with a projection showing the entire city map that Nikki had just scanned with a miniature detector sent in while a patrol team was returning to the city.

After entering the city, the miniature detectors broke into several smaller parts, scanning the metal city from multiple directions. The scanned data was then transmitted to the spacecraft, creating a comprehensive image. The metal city's rudimentary defense system was completely unaware that an external detector had infiltrated and was transmitting information.

Having lived in this city for over a decade, Dantu had never seen its entirety, but now he had, in the presence of these strange aliens, he could still recognize several of the city's iconic buildings at a glance, even though they had been shrunk to such a great scale.

Dantu feared that Xilin and his group might actually harm the people in the city. The difference in skill between the two sides was too great, and once war broke out, even if they ultimately won, they would pay a heavy price. Those who would become cannon fodder would undoubtedly be the relatively isolated people living at the bottom of the city's society, such as Dantu himself, or the lonely old man, Grandpa An, next door.

Niki smiled when she saw Dantu's reaction. "We're not particularly interested in this city. We're just looking for someone hidden within it. This person possesses the same technology as us, and he's the one who sent us here. Otherwise, we wouldn't have paid attention to this impoverished little planet in the far reaches of the empire."

Hearing Niki's words, Dantu felt a little relieved, but he was also very curious about the person Niki mentioned. What kind of person would infiltrate their city and do such a thing? At the same time, Dantu also gained some understanding of Niki's purpose.

"I don't know the person you're talking about, nor have I heard of anyone in the city who possesses such advanced skills," Dantu said.

"I didn't expect you to know anyway." Nikki pointed to the city-wide projection spinning on the table. "We'll find it ourselves, but we hope you can do us a favor."

"What kind of help?"

"We need to use your place for a bit." Nikki stopped the spinning image and moved it in front of Dantu.

Dantu pursed his lips, remained silent for a moment, then glanced at the people around him: "Won't you harm the people in the city?"

Hearing this, Serdiye chuckled. "Boy, we're not begging you. Even without your help, we can find other solutions, but that might hurt other people in the city. You don't want your fellow citizens to be harmed, do you? Hurry up, we don't have that much patience. There's a cunning fox hiding in the city waiting for us to catch it."

"Don't worry, we're not executioners. We won't kill innocent people indiscriminately." Chi Lafang emphasized "indiscriminate killing" in particular. As for the people they encounter who aren't "innocent," they can't be blamed. When it comes to Black Viper, they have to be careful, otherwise they'll be the ones who die.

After hesitating for a moment, Dantu stepped forward and pointed to his living area on the city-wide image. It was a poor area in the city, mostly inhabited by the elderly and widowed. Dantu lived in a six-story metal building. Each apartment there was very small, the largest being no more than thirty square meters. Dantu's living area was only about ten square meters, less than a third the size of their control room.

Rent is a big problem. Dantu and his group can only afford the rent there; for more upscale, sturdy buildings with better security measures, the rent would be astronomical.

Dantu gave his exact address, and then the surveillance cameras hidden in the city quietly flew towards that direction. Before long, they arrived at the residential building that Dantu had mentioned and clearly reflected the situation of the entire building.

The neighbor to the left of Dantu's house was drying meat and talking to other people standing in the corridor. The conversation could be heard clearly from here.

As for the neighbor to the right of Dantu's house, the door was closed, and no one knew who it was. However, Xilin could tell from Dantu's eyes that the person living there was very important to him. Dantu didn't seem to care about the other people appearing in the image, but at the moment the image appeared, the first thing Dantu looked at was not his own house, but the neighbor's house to the right.

Fortunately, there aren't many patrols there. Because it's a slum, patrols don't appear very often. They're more often seen around upscale residential areas to ensure the safety of the residents and prevent attacks from stray flying creatures.

After investigating the situation there, Niqi stopped asking Dantu questions and instead watched Chilafang and Sediye study the so-called upscale residential area in the city. Their operation would have to wait until it was completely dark. Due to the environment, people in the city rarely went out at night; only patrols roamed the city.

No one paid any attention to Dantu, but Dantu did not run away, because he knew that he had no chance of escaping from these people.

call--

A model flying car flew in from outside, with a cat standing on it, holding a box in its mouth.

Upon seeing the gray cat, Dantu reflexively tried to avoid it, but was instead drawn to the flying car model. The technological difference made Dantu very curious about such flying objects.

Gray Cat piloted the flying car model to Xilin and put the box down: "Xilin, assemble this too!"

Inside the box was one of the prizes Xilin received for participating in the racing competition. It was one of two racing car models made by Fleka based on the "Cai Bing" design; the other was with Naimi. While it couldn't possibly have the complex and diverse internal structure of "Cai Bing," it was still quite luxurious for a toy model. This small toy model alone was enough to buy a similar racing car. Of course, luxury racing cars and racing cars are excluded.

  

Since there was still some time before the operation, Xilin took the box over, sat down, and began assembling the flying car model.

The gray cat perched on the model flying car, swishing its tail as it watched, occasionally glancing smugly at Ruble and Amadeo, who were perched on the other side of the control room. This infuriated Ruble and Amadeo, who gritted their teeth: "So what if you have a toy!"

Dantu was very curious about the flying object. It must be the flying car they talked about on TV. Although they looked a little different, they were similar. He never expected there to be such a small toy.

Dantu wanted to get a closer look at Xilin's assembly. However, he was wary of the gray cat there. After hesitating for a while, curiosity finally overcame his fear, and he slowly moved closer. The gray cat only glanced at him and then ignored him. Dantu breathed a sigh of relief.

Xilin's assembly speed wasn't fast, but it was rhythmic and skillful; each part was precisely assembled. Dantu watched as the round, disc-shaped object gradually took shape in Xilin's hands. He became increasingly engrossed, as if a vortex was drawing all his attention in, and he was happy to be drawn into it.

"Do you have your own flying car?" Xilin asked in a low, gentle voice.

Dantu kept his gaze fixed on the model that was gradually taking shape in Xilin's hand, and shook his head.

"I'm assembling a flying car model. These kinds of cars were despised for a long time, but after a race, everyone's opinion changed..." Xilin explained as he assembled the car. Then he asked, "What would you do if you had a flying car?"

Dantu looked puzzled, then began to think. "I'll take Grandpa An for a flight around the city so he can see how developed it is now. The city has doubled in size and a lot of new buildings have been constructed."

"Grandpa An?"

"Yes, without Grandpa An, I wouldn't be alive today."

Dantu's mother had passed away long ago, and his father had gone hunting when he was seven and never returned. Less than a fifth of the hunting party survived their journey back to town because they had encountered Garas, a top-tier species among the clawed beasts. Dantu was simply not capable of hunting alone, and no one around him helped him. Such cases were far too common in the town; everyone had become numb to them. When Dantu was on the verge of starvation, his rarely venturing-out Grandpa An, who wasn't particularly close to anyone, gave him food. Grandpa An's savings were left to him by his children, but after their passing, the old man seemed much quieter, rarely leaving his house. And because of his physical disability, he was confined to a wheelchair, with no one to care for him.

The people in the control room listened to Dantu's words. Chi Lafang and Sediye exchanged a glance. If they were not mistaken, Xilin had hypnotized that little guy Dantu! Otherwise, how could this wary little guy have said so much?

When talking about what happened after meeting Grandpa An, Dantu's expression softened considerably. However, as he spoke, when he mentioned that Xilin and the others wanted to go into the city to borrow Dantu's house, Dantu's face contorted as if he were resisting something. Large beads of sweat rolled down his forehead. Then, Dantu suddenly raised his head and looked at Xilin. The anger and madness in his eyes made Xilin feel that the little guy would turn on him with a knife at any moment.

"What did you do to me?!" Dantu gasped for breath, his fingers clenched into a fist but trembling uncontrollably. He had said too much; too much talk leads to mistakes!

Xilin smiled, assembled the last part, and handed it to the gray cat so it could go play nearby.

"Good willpower," Xilin commented.

"You...you can't hurt Grandpa An, you can't!" Dantu shouted at Xilin.

"I didn't say I wanted to hurt him." Xilin stood up, patted his legs, and walked towards the control room. After taking two steps, he stopped and turned back to Dantu, saying, "You smiled when you were telling me about you and that Grandpa An. Someone once told me that blinking when you smile means you're really thinking about something happy."

Dantu loosened his clenched fist, then clenched it again.

For a time, Dantu did feel very happy. Although he was now a true orphan, he had Grandpa An by his side, the old man who always sat peacefully in his wheelchair, telling Dantu stories he had never heard before, teaching him how to hunt and how to protect himself.

Dantu's wish is to one day hunt enough things to exchange for enough currency in the city, then bring Grandpa Ann from next door to live with him in those fortified, spacious high-rises, and live a better life...

Before nightfall, the last hunting party to leave the city returned. It was the same hunting party Dantu was in.

The hunting party didn't meet Dantu within the allotted time, and Dantu's communicator was also unreachable. Based on past experience, Dantu was either in grave danger or lost. Either way, the outcome was the same, as the chances of surviving alone were close to zero. Moreover, Dantu was only a fifteen-year-old boy, despite having nearly five years of hunting experience. He still lacked many skills and couldn't compare to seasoned hunters.

When they still couldn't contact Dantu before they were ready to return to the city, the hunting party gave up waiting and headed back to the city with their day's catch.

However, when his hunting party entered the city gate, no one noticed that a person was lurking among the pile of carcasses of the hunted Cro-Beasts. There was a small bulge in an inconspicuous place on the hunting party's armored vehicle.

"Very good, Xilin has successfully entered." Inside the spacecraft, Niki looked at the signal images sent back from the transmitter installed on Xilin and said.

Behind Niki, Rub and Amadeo remained in the control room, not going out like the others. Dantu sat quietly to the side, nervously watching the aliens' actions.

Not far outside the city, Sediye and Chilafang were lurking nearby. Only Xilin and Baiye entered the city. Baiye entered the city with the team that had preceded Xilin's, and Baiye's target was the city lord's residence. Xilin, on the other hand, went to Dantu's residence first, and the group split up.

The equipment inside the city was relatively outdated. Therefore, they couldn't detect Bai Ye and Xilin at all, and as for the Gray Cat, they couldn't detect it either.

After entering the city, Xilin found an opportunity to break away from the hunting party, hid in a secluded place, and waited for nightfall.

After darkness fell completely and everyone was fully indoors, Xilin stealthily made his way towards Dantu's residence.

Most of the people in the city were quite experienced hunters, and hunters are very sensitive to danger and changes in their surroundings, often in ways that cannot be disguised by technology. Therefore, Xilin and Baiye were very cautious in the city.

The layout of the entire city was already deeply imprinted in Xilin's mind, so Xilin quickly arrived at the building where Dantu lived.

With his keen hearing, Xilin overheard several families discussing Dantu's situation. The hunting party had brought news that Dantu hadn't returned to the city, and these people assumed he wouldn't be coming back. However, their tone revealed that they were merely using Dantu's story as a topic to pass the time, without much sympathy or regret.

Because of numbness, there is indifference. The relationships between people here are as cold and metallic as the city itself. In this special environment, no one will judge who is right or wrong. Here, the living are always right.

Xilin arrived at Dantu's apartment floor. No one was left outside in the building now. There were always some unknown dangers lurking in the darkness, and for the people here, staying at home at night was the safest option.

When passing by Grandpa An's house, which Dantu had mentioned, Xilin paused and glanced at the house, which had a tightly closed door and no light coming through. He then stood in front of Dantu's house, took out the key Dantu had given him, and opened the door. But the moment he opened the door, Xilin sensed that someone was inside.

Inside the aircraft, the images displayed on the screen in front of Nikki began to flicker, then disappeared completely. The received signals were being interfered with—electromagnetic interference! How could there be such a technologically advanced level of electromagnetic interference there?!

That person is right there!

This was the first thing Niqi thought of, and she quickly contacted Baiye and Chilafang and Sediye outside the city.

Xilin became highly alert when he sensed someone inside the house. He dodged the oncoming gust of wind, blocked the opponent's punches and kicks, leaned back and pointed his finger at the ground to bounce off the ground, and swayed his body. With his other hand, he drew his long sword and pointed it at the opponent.

The video feed from Xilin to the aircraft was only interrupted for a short while before the electromagnetic interference from the gray cat was eliminated and the video feed was restored.

There was no light inside the room, but Xilin could see the person opposite him clearly with the help of the faint light coming in from outside. The aircraft could also see the person standing opposite Xilin clearly through the night vision filter.

Upon seeing this person, the one with the strongest reaction was not Niki and the others, but Dantu.

Dantu jumped up from his chair, his eyes wide with disbelief. "Impossible! How could it be her... She's already..."

"That woman looks familiar," said Chi Lafang, who was standing somewhere outside the city, after seeing the image Niqi sent them.

Nikki shook her head. "I don't remember."

"I saw her not long ago. Although we didn't speak, I remember that this woman was in the same racing competition as that kid, Xilin," Sediye said, looking at the video.

Inside Dantu's house.

The person opposite Xilin did not continue to attack. In fact, she had not shown any killing intent just now. It was precisely because of this that Xilin did not kill her, otherwise she would have already slashed her down with her sword.

Xilin pointed the tip of his knife at the person in front of him. To be honest, he hadn't expected to see this person here.

"It's nice to see you again, Akio."