Chapter 2030

The burly man wearing the mechanical exoskeleton walked into the room. As he passed the severely injured girl, he stepped on her head.

Crack.

The girl's body twitched, and she lost all signs of life.

The burly man blocked the doorway. This guy with a thick neck tried hard to adjust his expression, eventually grinning at Su Xiao, looking somewhat foolish and honest.

"Sir, this is our greeting gift. Please, you must accept it."

The burly man pulled a metal tube, 20 centimeters long and 5 centimeters thick, from his bosom and bowed as he handed it to Su Xiao.

The ends of the metal tube were sealed. The short blade inside Su Xiao's sleeve disappeared; if things developed in a certain way, he would definitely kill to silence them.

Su Xiao glanced at the metal tube, flicked his finger, and one end of the tube opened, sliding out a yellowed blueprint.

【You have obtained the 'Magnetic Burst Hunter' design.】

Su Xiao opened the cylindrical blueprint. The paper of this blueprint had a black background, with white lines outlining over a dozen patterns, each with text annotations nearby.

Seeing Su Xiao accept the Magnetic Burst Hunter design, the burly man seemed to heave a sigh of relief.

"Broken Tooth, come closer, I have something to say to you."

The burly man narrowed his eyes, looking coldly at Broken Tooth.

Broken Tooth hesitated for a moment, eventually putting down his metal gun and walking toward the burly man with his head lowered.

Just as Broken Tooth reached the burly man, he was met with a punch to the face.

Bang!

Broken Tooth crashed directly into a pile of broken furniture. It took him a few seconds to crawl out, shake his head, and slap himself twice before he barely managed to regain his senses.

"What are you thinking in that head of yours? Are you stupid? Do you really think that as long as you die, your brother can live?"

After Su Xiao accepted the Magnetic Burst Hunter design, the burly man's tone clearly became meaningful.

"He's too weak, it won't be his turn."

Broken Tooth wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, still keeping his head low, because he knew he had been betrayed by that girl.

Broken Tooth's goal was actually very simple: to hide the fact that Su Xiao could cure 'Blood Burning' so that Su Xiao would treat his brother first.

On this planet where combat technology was advanced but medical care was backward, Blood Burning was almost incurable. Over sixty percent of superhumans eventually died from it.

In reality, even with advanced medical care, Blood Burning couldn't be cured. It wasn't a conventional disease, but a mystical-side ailment—the erosion of internal organs by energy.

Alchemy was a knowledge-based ability on the mystical side. In Su Xiao's view, Blood Burning was about as threatening as a bad cold and wasn't difficult to cure.

As a mystical-side disease, Blood Burning was almost unsolvable on Siren Star. It was like a wizard dying of appendicitis—it sounded absurd, but due to the different nature of the world, such things had indeed happened, and not infrequently.

Broken Tooth's concealment had already put one of his feet into the grave; or rather, this was a choice made out of helplessness. Once the leader of Shelter No. 9 knew someone could cure Blood Burning, it likely wouldn't be Broken Tooth's brother's turn to be treated, as there were simply too many hunters suffering from Blood Burning.

As for the credit for discovering the Holy Flame Pharmacist, Broken Tooth never believed that the selfish leader would reward him with even a single Shock coin, let alone reward him with a chance for treatment.

Clearly, the girl in the green grass-clothing who had been with Broken Tooth had betrayed him. She ignored Broken Tooth's bribery, wanting to convey the news to the leader to profit from it. However, she wasn't qualified to see the leader directly, and since the matter was of great importance, she might end up dying inexplicably because of it.

So, the girl in the green grass-clothing sought out the hunter squad leader, Iron-Armored Bear Naga—her squad leader.

This girl didn't know one very important thing: Broken Tooth and Iron-Armored Bear had once been in the same squad. Moreover, this girl didn't believe anyone would abide by morality.

However, Iron-Armored Bear was one of the few 'anomalies'. Broken Tooth's eye was half-blind because of him; if the other party hadn't blocked that blow, he wouldn't be alive today.

Although Iron-Armored Bear looked rugged, he was meticulous. After learning the gist of it, he immediately pacified the girl and let her lead the way.

That led to the scene just now. Iron-Armored Bear wasn't stupid; although he wanted to repay Broken Tooth's favor, he didn't want to get himself killed in the process.

Therefore, as soon as he appeared, he said, "Sir, our leader requests your presence." This was insurance—insurance to conveniently shift the blame.

And the second thing Iron-Armored Bear did was to silence the girl, killing her. The third thing was observation. After feeling that things were about right, he took out a treasure he always carried to bribe Su Xiao. His previous sentence was also very interesting: "Sir, this is our greeting gift."

Note, it was "our," not "our leader's." There was a world of difference in that, and after Su Xiao accepted the "Magnetic Burst Hunter," Iron-Armored Bear knew he had succeeded for the most part.

Small characters had their own ways of survival. At least based on Su Xiao's experience, he really hadn't encountered those mindless small-fry; even guys with very weak combat power knew how to assess the situation.

"Naga, thank you... but don't get in my way."

Broken Tooth's words were contradictory, showing his conflicted mood.

Iron-Armored Bear Naga ignored Broken Tooth entirely, instead looking at Su Xiao and smiling politely.

"How should we address you, sir?"

"Holy Flame."

Su Xiao sat on a dilapidated wooden chair, tossing the cylindrical blueprint in his hand. He had previously prepared to kill all three of these guys, but now it seemed unnecessary. On the contrary, these three might play an unexpected role, especially Broken Tooth.

"Mr. Holy Flame, Broken Tooth's brain, um~, you should have noticed."

Iron-Armored Bear rubbed his hands. The implication was clear: as long as they could keep it secret, they were willing to offer good things.

"My purpose in coming here is just to find a place to live."

"Yes, yes, yes, a residence is no problem. I have a residence in District A, well-ventilated."

Iron-Armored Bear dragged the chair he was sitting on closer to Su Xiao.

"Mr. Holy Flame, about today's matter..."

"I'm not interested in your personal grievances."

"Hahaha, of course. Small characters like us, although we don't know when we might die in the wilderness, no one knows what good things we might accidentally obtain."

Iron-Armored Bear just didn't have a cigarette; otherwise, he would definitely have taken one out and complimented, "Mr. Holy Flame, please have a smoke."

It could be said that Iron-Armored Bear's method of handling this matter was quite seasoned; he had saved Broken Tooth, who was destined to die.

"Mr. Holy Flame, please this way."

Iron-Armored Bear stood up and made a gesture of invitation. Su Xiao walked out of the room. His purpose in coming here was to make contact with the high-level figures of Shelter No. 9.

Seeing this, Broken Tooth's mouth opened and closed. Iron-Armored Bear glared at him, and when he reached the doorway, he whispered:

"This time, I don't owe you anything. Two days, maybe longer, it'll be your brother's turn."

Leaving these words behind, Iron-Armored Bear walked out of the room.

For some reason, Broken Tooth also stood up and walked outside, which made Iron-Armored Bear frown.

"My brain was a bit unclear just now. Take me to see the leader. This matter must be resolved thoroughly. It seems I'll have to pay something this time."

"That's the Broken Tooth I know."

Iron-Armored Bear slapped Broken Tooth on the back. Broken Tooth, whose physique was like a hemp stalk, was nearly slapped against the wall.

The off-road combat vehicle started. Iron-Armored Bear drove, Su Xiao sat in the passenger seat, and Broken Tooth was in the back row. As for Broken Tooth's brother, the youth just watched without saying a word, because he knew he might say the wrong thing, so he said nothing at all.