The moment Jin Shangyu's ability invaded Dou Heng's body, he tightened his back and pressed down his desire to attack the other side. If he was a beast right now, he would be standing with all its fur upright and growling nonstop. Jin Shangyu also sensed the reluctance from the man. She immediately increased her power output and healed the man's injury as soon as possible.
"It's done." Jin Shangyu wiped a drop of cold sweat on her forehead and moved away from Dou Heng. She was a psychic ability user and was sensitive to emotional changes of others. Just at a glance, she knew that Dou Heng was no less dangerous than her brother from how he occasionally flashed a wild, animal-like alertness and fierceness in his eyes.
However, in front of Gong Lixin, this fierce male was gentle and calm. Gong Lixin must definitely be an animal trainer! Jin Shangyu shook her fist when she saw her older brother being cute and quiet.
"So fast." Gong Lixin said in a low voice as he let out a breath of relief. He stepped forward and stroked the man's smooth skin.
Dou Heng's back muscles were tightening up again, but not because of alertness, but because of the sudden urge to shiver brought about the teenager's warm fingers. He looked down so that the emotions in his eyes weren't leaked out. When the teenager was done touching him, he lowered his shirt and stood silently beside the teenager.
"Let's go." Gong Lixin smiled and touched Jin Shanghui's head before leaving.
"Ah, wait!" Jin Shangyu stopped the two and hurriedly said, "Are you just letting him go? Didn't we agree on it? That it was okay to bring a wounded, but I have to erase their memories. What would I do if he tells my secret? I'll become a price to be won? Not only would it be horrible for me, but also, the whole Long Snake Island will fall into chaos!"
Hearing the words 'erase memory', Dou Heng suddenly turned back to glare at Jin Shangyu. His violet eyes radiated a chill and a slight crackling sound came from his trembling fingers. When one looked at his finger, they could see a surging current crackling in between. He didn't care about his unbearable past, but to forget the memory of Gong Lixin who was the most cherished thing in his heart? He couldn't allow such a thing.
"Don't attack. I just have something to say." Jin Shangyu took two steps back and spoke with a trembling voice. This man's mental strength was very strong. Compared to Gong Lixin, her suggestions couldn't even penetrate him.
Jin Shanghui felt Dou Heng's aggression and stood in front of Jin Shangyu, roaring at the man before him with his hands in front of him, showing his sharp nails. He showed that he was ready to attack at any second.
"Xiaohui, stand back." Gong Lixin scolded.
Jin Shanghui snarled reluctantly and retreated. Jin Shangyu gritted her teeth even as tears ran down her heart. Elder brother, now that you've been taught by Gong Lixin, how can I expect you to protect me from him in the future?
"I believe in Dou Heng. His memory can't be touched." Gong Lixin spoke lightly and broke Dou Heng's body's defensive posture with those words.
"I won't say anything. You can rest assured." Dou Heng whispered even as his violet eyes softly looked at the young man. He thought that this was the third time he said these same words in front of the teenager and each time, he kept the secret between him and the teenager.
Gong Lixin nodded with a smile, turned to Jin Shangyu and cautiously said, "Hiding is not the right way to be free in the end. Train well and later, when you're stronger, see who dares to try to capture you. Anyways, three mutant pythons appeared on Long Snake Island. Go to the infirmary later to see if there's any accidental infectious bite or scratch and go and help them. Erasing their memory is fine too, but this method is still not useful. If you're strong enough, you can reveal your abilities. And you don't need to be afraid. There's Xiaohui behind you and many other companions on Long Snake Island."
'Erasing one’s memory' was one of her most proud skills, how come its 'useless'? Jin Shangyu's heart burst into flames but when she heard his last sentence, her eyes were hot and she was almost moved to tears. This little devil, for a while, he made her grind her teeth yet the next instant, he was gentle and considerate to the point of moving her! This contradictory character was very charming, no wonder everyone was set on following him.
After being convinced by Gong Lixin's few words, Jin Shangyu immediately forgot her original intention and didn't mention the matter of erasing Dou Heng's memory. She put on a coat and smiled, "Now, let's go to the infirmary to see. The time for the poisoned person to react is variable. Whether its fast or slow, it needs to be dealt with immediately."
Gong Lixin was very satisfied with her positive attitude and led her to the infirmary. Dou Heng and Jin Shanghui kept pace.
The fire crows were black in colour and were difficult to detect in the dark night. Their flight speed was also extremely fast. If they attacked, even a master ability user like Dou Heng could not avoid being injured. As soon as they walked into the infirmary to examine the injured one by one, they found another five or six that were infected. The fire crows had pecked them and left, coming and going like the wind. They hadn't noticed at all until Young Master Gong brought them that news.
After purifying everyone's wounds and erasing their memories one by one, Gong Lixin and Jin Shangyu went infirmary to do a full-body examination. Both of them were busy until the sky became white again. Only then did they sleep.
After a few hours of sleep, the base exploded with noise. Everyone squeezed themselves to the edge of the cliff near North District. They stretched their necks to look down at the beach, showing shocked and anxious expressions on their faces.
They saw dozens of pythons lying on the beach under the cliff. Some were 20 meters long and their black and white scales shone under the light of the sun. It looked frightening, as if time had suddenly gone back by hundreds of millions of years and returned to the prehistoric era in which dinosaurs existed.
The sky wasn't quiet either. A thick cloud of crows huddled together, screeching loud enough to shatter their eardrums. The crows swooped onto the beach, trying to bite the python's eyes, but were often avoided in time. The close-range attack didn't work, so they fired fireballs from their mouths and bombarded the pythons.
They python moved their heads upwards and shot out a stream of water to fight back. Fire and water met in the sky creating screens of smoke. The battle was unprecedentedly fierce. The crowd at the edge of the cliff quickly hid in the woods so as not to be affected, but there was a horrified expression on all their faces. If there were so many tough creatures, could the people on Long Snake Island even be able to live? This was the concern they all had.
The members of Gong Lixin's group, after more than a month after they disbanded to train, had gradually became more resourceful and steadfast, but their courage was still very big. They gathered together and rubbed their hands as they said in an eager tone, "Oh~ With so many pythons here, we can make a lot of armour after killing them all! Let's discuss it with the boss and form a team to take this task. This is a great opportunity to improve the base's equipment!"
The members of the Self-Defense Forces team and other ability users heard their 'confidential talk' spoken in a loud voice and they all wiped the cold sweat on their foreheads. Although the team disbanded, they were still so tough!
"This suggestion will be considered, but let us look at the situation first." The young man's clear voice came from behind them and caused the members of his team to be overjoyed and turn to look at him.
Gong Lixin, dressed in camouflage training uniform, led Jin Shanghui and Jin Shangyu to walk closer to the cliff. His eyes slightly raised up as he glanced at his team members with a light smile on his face.
"Boss! Young Master Gong!" The crowd greeted him and their anxiety disappeared instantly. Young Master Gong was their backbone. As long as they saw Young Master Gong's calm expression, they would feel extremely at ease.
Gong Lixin responded with a smile, looked around the crowd and frowned. He asked, "Where's Major General Song" How could he not be here after such a large fuss?
"Major General Song, Team Leader Lin and Team Leader Dou went to the beach to check the situation." Sun Tiantian pointed to the cliff.
Gong Lixin leaned over to see and really saw Song Haoran's figure hidden in the corner of the dense forest by the beach. The python and crows were fighting fiercely, but he didn't care as long as his people were still safe. Gong Lixin frowned, not eager to go down, before turning his eyes to look at the pair of natural enemies that were still fighting.
Fire crows were small in size which limited their level of their ability. The entire group of fire crows were comprised of second-level mid or high grade, making their strength quite low. The pythons though were different. They were all third-level or lower and most of them were water system users, but there were also several fire system users too. This battle has a huge difference in strength between the two parties, but due to the huge size number of fire crows, they still counted as a large battle force. This was the reason they were able to stubbornly persist for such a long time before being defeated and fall to the ground.
The pythons opened their mouths to catch the falling fire crows like trying to catch falling raindrops, before swallowing them whole. Their huge body's wriggled as they swallowed before laying prone on the beach to digest. Not too long after, they would open their mouths to spit out red crystal nuclei towards the pythons with similar properties. Several fire system pythons saw them and their tongues rolled out and swallowed the crystal nuclei spat out by the water-system pythons.
The group of fire crows suffered a heavy loss and finally, their flag fell as they fled to the rocks protruding from the cliff to rest. Jin Shangyu was lying on the edge of the cliff, observing the nest made of grass stems and dead branches. Her brows furrowed tighter.
"Did you know? Animals are pretty much the same as us. Because of the different levels of radiation, some animals have turned to zombies while some have the ability to reproduce." She stood up and looked dignified as she explained.
Gong Lixin was confused about what she saw and didn't quite understand what the other said. Jin Shangyu dragged him to the edge of the cliff and pointed to the rock protrusion. "Look at their nests. They contain so many bird eggs. These crows will multiply generation after generation." After her words fell, she then pointed at the giant python on the beach, "Look at that python, isn't it bigger than the rest?"
Gong Lixin nodded.
Jin Shangyu continued, "All the pythons surround it and keep it at the center. If my guess is correct, that is a female python. It's on her period and needs a lot of food, so the pythons were attracted by the fire crows. In the future, the pheromone released from her body will attract those male pythons. After that, it will eventually become pregnant and lay eggs. This time next year, Long Snake Island will become a world covered with fire crows and pythons. This is a biological invasion." After her words fell, she sighed.
Gong Lixin looked down at the bird's next on the cliff and sorted through Jin Shangyu's words. Understanding what she meant, he said in a grave voice, "That's to say, one year later, there will be no more place for us on Long Snake Island? Can't we just kill these pythons?"
"After killing the pythons, the fire crows will have no natural enemies and will continue to multiply exponentially. The island will turn into a black hell." Jin Shangyu waved her hand and rejected his idea.
"What if the pythons and fire crows are all killed?" Gong Lixin pondered a bit before opening his mouth again.
"The fire crows are inexhaustible. Look, there's another group of them. There are countless man-eating fish in the waters around Long Snake Island. Man-eating fish is the favorite food of fire crows. This island is undoubtedly their paradise. Even if you kill them, there will be another group. With a new group of fire crows, the nearby giant pythons will also come and would not want to leave. This is an endless food chain." Jin Shangyu pointed to the group of fire crows approaching from the distance. There was a lot of frustration in her words. The power of mother nature was irresistible after all.
"Then let's prepare to move. I'll give you one month to prepare the necessary medicines, so make them as soon as possible. Also, about your strength, it's too weak." Because Gong Lixin had not received modern education, he cannot fully understand Jin Shangyu's words, but this did not prevent him from making a quick decision.
Was a third-level high-grade still considered weak? Jin Shangyu gritted her teeth and stared at the back of the teenager who was striding away as she thought angrily.
"Let's go back and train! We have to move in one month and we can't drag our legs!" Hearing the conversation between the two, the members of Gong Lixin's team quickly left with their team members. Their faces were sad, but there was no despair or unease in their expression. As long as they followed Gong Lixin, they had nothing to fear.
Seeing these colourful and deep coloured eyes, Jin Shangyu secretly panicked. When meeting them one by one, she only felt that there were quite a lot of master ability users on Long Snake Island. But when a crowd of them are gathered, the visual impact and sensory oppression shocked her. These were actually Gong Lixin's people and all of them were above third-level mid-grade. Most of them had already reached the peak of third-level high-grade and would be promoted to fourth-level at any time. Thinking of Lin Wenbo, Song Haoran and Dou Heng who were promoted to fourth-level low-grade and then looking at this group of people next to Gong Lixin, Jin Shangyu's expression dimmed. Following Gong Lixin's logic, her level was still weak. If this continued, she would soon be thrown away!
Shaking her fist, Jin Shangyu cheered herself up and walked to her laboratory quickly. She still had a lot to do in a month.
CrazedCookies: All this mention colourful “eyes” and “irises” always reminds me of this old manga called Iris Zero. I ended up re-reading it not too long ago because translating LEW(D) kepts reminding me of it. lol