Chapter 83: Wood Space Hearts Obtained
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The captain’s mind was racing. Looking at how things were a moment ago, this teenager was definitely very wary towards them. There were no hopes of him revealing anything unless they used forceful methods to get answers out of him.
It was a pity for them that they were found out so quickly. They now lost the element of surprise. If they failed in their attempt to capture the teenager, they would be making a new enemy out of him for nothing.
Furthermore, despite Gao Peng’s young age, he possessed quite a few Familiars.
Even though Gao Peng had secretly instructed Da Zi to hide within the leaf litter, they who were secretly observing him had seen all of it clearly.
A total of three Familiars.
The captain saw even the useless looking jellyfish with zero combat ability as a possible threat.
To be able to raise three Familiars at the same time at such a young age meant that Gao Peng must either have the money or the skills to do so.
Either way, it meant that he was not to be trifled with.
To make things worse, the black-robed Familiar was giving off an aura that made Tutu rather uncomfortable.
The captain’s many years of experience told him that unless he could thoroughly eliminate the problem, it would be unwise to make enemies.
Those who made many enemies usually only had two outcomes.
They either silenced all their enemies by being more powerful than any of them, or they died a horrible death.
The latter was especially likely in this dog-eat-dog world. Who knew if there was some newly discovered Familiar that could easily take his life without him realizing?
He called for Deng Sen and Yao Huan and the three of them left together.
After the three of them left, Yao Huan’s tense expression relaxed quite a bit, and he secretly heaved a sigh of relief. Although he used to do underground boxing, he only did it to earn money to pay for his younger sister’s school fees. When his sister was still very young, they had lost their parents in an unfortunate car accident, leaving the two of them to fend for themselves.
Although he did underground boxing, smoked, drank, had tattoos, and would frequent pubs, he knew that he was still a good person at heart.
He had never committed any crimes such as robbing, kidnapping or killing. The situation earlier had really made him very nervous.
Deng Sen however had a really dark expression on his face – despite how dark he already was.
After keeping it in for a long time, he could bear it no longer and said, “Boss, why didn’t we take action just now? That guy probably just had a Familiar with very keen senses. If we did end up fighting, he might not have been a match for us.”
The captain shook his head. “Not everything can be resolved with violence. Later on, we’ll go back there after he leaves and see if we can find anything there. If he can break trees, then so can we. There are so many trees in this jungle anyway, why fight with him over a few trees?” Saying that, an enigmatic smile spread across the captain’s face.
There was fundamentally no real conflict between him and Gao Peng. If Gao Peng had been holding on to some very obvious treasure instead, then things might have been different. He might then have chosen risky possible conflict in order to get his hands on the treasure, and then eliminate all traces of what happened.
To put things simply, it was nothing complicated.
It was all down to whether or not the possible benefits were big enough.
“Understood,” said Deng Sen with a nod of his head.
After another while of silence, Deng Sen hesitantly spoke again. “But boss, it’s just that I’m really curious to know what’s in those trees.”
“…I’m curious too. But that’s enough. Let’s not forget our mission today. We’ve wasted quite some time just now, let’s hurry,” the captain said.
After the few of them left, Gao Peng’s high strung nerves finally began to relax.
To be honest, he was not sure what he whould do if those three men resorted to violence.
Would he straightaway aim to kill them? Gao Peng was not sure.
But thankfully, they did not continue to give him trouble. This was the best outcome.
Afterwards, he had Dumby pick up the pace. Gao Peng did not wish to stay for too long in case he ran into more people.
After another two hours, practically all the Bottle Trees in the area had fallen victim to Dumby, leaving behind a ground full of debris. Gao Peng had collected all the Wood Space Hearts, a total of 2.1 pounds of them.
Gao Peng sighed when he saw all the broken trees. Practically all of them were broken in the middle. It was a little too obvious. Right now, the sky was getting darker and they had to make good use of the remaining time.
Gao Peng called for Da Zi to search around the surrounding area. Very quickly, they managed to find a type of black fruit, which was around the size of a walnut. Prying apart the outer shell with both hands, the brittle shell split apart. Sticky white strands appeared between the cracks in the shell. Underneath the tough black shell was plenty of red fluffy fur.
Gao Peng pulled the fur out, rolled it into a ball, and placed it on top of a pile of leaves. He then called Da Zi over.
Da Zi tottered over and Gao Peng grabbed hold of its pair of antennae. Just like playing with two wires, an arc of electricity appeared when he placed the ends of the antennae together. Da Zi saw its master playing with its antennae and even create sparks with it. It felt extremely curious.
Gao Peng nodded his head in satisfaction. It was indeed feasible.
With Da Zi’s current abilities, it was still unable to release electricity. Being able to release electricity after level 20 was simply a matter of course for Da Zi, and not a new ability that would be developed after advancing in tier. For now, being able to create an arc of electricity was sufficient.
Positioning the red fur in the middle of the arc, Gao Peng carefully tried to set it alight. After a few attempts, a fire was started. The red fur was like cotton from before the cataclysm.
The flames rose up, and using the leaves below as fuel, and the fire grew bigger and bigger.
How many years could one be sentenced to for starting a fire in a forest? Gao Peng started thinking.
Before the cataclysm this was definitely a chargeable offense, but they seemed to have done away with this law after the cataclysm.
Firstly, the Earth’s surface had expanded by multiple times and the forest areas had multiplied as well.
Secondly, the life force and the resistances possessed by plants had become a lot more resilient than ever imagined. For a simple flame to create a huge forest fire was practically impossible.
But the resilience of the broken Bottle Trees was evidently greatly reduced. They were all helplessly swallowed up by the flames. The light from the fire shone on Gao Peng’s face, flickering from the inconsistent intensity.
After personally witnessing that the Bottle Trees had all been burnt down, Gao Peng finally left.
The fire would not spread any further. There were so many fire-type monsters that existed naturally. If they could start a forest fire just by spitting a few fireballs on a whim, these forests would be too pathetic.
Later that night, a group of three reached this place. The air was still filled with the smell of smoke. There were still bits of ember giving off light, like stars in the sky amidst the thick layer of ash on the ground.
The fire had only managed to burn this one area. Any further out, it seemed unable to keep burning, as though some invisible force stopped it.
Deng Sen was speechless as he looked at the ash-covered ground. What could possibly be left for them to find after being burnt down like this? What a cunning kid.
In contrast to Deng Sen’s speechlessness, the captain’s expression became dark and serious. He looked at the ashes covering the ground and simply sighed. “Forget it. Let’s just take it as though nothing happened today. Let’s go home.”
“Ah? Captain, we’re just going to leave this matter alone?” Deng Sen scratched his head.
“Just let it rest. Listen to me.” The captain trusted what he saw with his own eyes. Even the boy who set the fire might not have seen it himself. There was this decisive ruthlessness embedded within his nature.
When Gao Peng arrived home, he had opened his door to find over a dozen discarded cans strewn across the floor.
Stripey was comfortably lying on the floor with its eight limbs up in the air. Next to its body was a pile of shed exoskeleton. Stripey’s body had grown much bigger since Gao Peng left the house in the morning.
Noticing that its owner had returned, Stripey lazily twitched its legs, then continued to sleep comfortably.