CHAPTER 355: CHAPTER 352 [TWO PEOPLE]

Chapter Three Hundred and Fifty-Two [Two People]

Chen Nuo sighed, "What should I do?"

"Just follow me, and I’ll tell you," came Corot’s voice from the space of consciousness. As soon as he finished speaking, the monster in front of them suddenly bent down, crawling low against the ground.

Chen Nuo immediately understood the meaning of this posture.

"It seems like... it wants us to get on?" the Captain said uncertainly. "What exactly is going on here?"

"Not us, just me," Chen Nuo said with a bitter smile. "Look at this creature; there’s only so much space on its back, it can’t possibly accommodate three people."

"You... what exactly is going on here?" the Captain asked, his face pale.

Chen Nuo took a deep breath and looked seriously at the Captain. Right now, he couldn’t concern himself with the presence of a Neon man and spoke in a stern tone, "Listen, do as I say! Every minute now is critical."

"You... can communicate with these monsters?" the Captain considered a possibility.

"...Sort of. But there’s no time to explain," Chen Nuo shook his head. "There’s something I need you two to do."

After a pause, Chen Nuo quickly continued, "I’ll follow this creature. You stay on the ground!

"Then, find a way to collect some items and weapons, something explosive, the more powerful, the better!

"I remember there was an armory under the collapsed shelters in the storage area. Even though it’s collapsed, there should still be usable stuff in there.

"If there’s nothing there, there’s also an armory in the command center’s shelter. Remember?

"Gather as much as you can, then, you set it up..."

"Is that all?"

"No, there’s more! Go to the place where Nolan and the others are hiding. The blast doors on the ground are closed, but I remember there’s a communication device on top. You should be able to contact the people hiding in the underground bunker. Find a way to tell them it’s not safe down there and it would be best for them to come up."

"What if they don’t listen?"

"They will listen," Chen Nuo said, frowning. "If they face danger when they come out, provide support from above. Try to save as many lives as you can, alright?

"That’s it."

No sooner had Chen Nuo finished instructing the Captain than Kamisou Ichiro suddenly spoke up. The Neon man looked at Chen Nuo with a stern and rigid gaze, "Mr. Anderson, where are you going?"

"I have an important task to do," Chen Nuo replied indifferently. "You stay here and help the Captain."

"I can go with you," said Kamisou Ichiro with a frown. "Finding weapons and contacting the people in the underground bunker, I believe the Captain alone can accomplish these tasks. There’s no need for two people."

Chen Nuo looked deeply at the Neon man.

Despite a multitude of troubling issues at hand, Chen Nuo wouldn’t overlook the exceptional calmness this Neon man displayed, nor his somewhat peculiar reactions to certain things.

And now he was volunteering to accompany Chen Nuo?

"Aren’t you even going to ask where I’m going and what I’m going to do?" Chen Nuo deliberately frowned and looked coldly at Kamisou Ichiro.

"I guess, you are going to kill these creatures, right?"

"...Why would you think that?"

"These creatures are formidable, and there are many of them. If they escape from here, biologically speaking, it would be a huge disaster. You’ve asked the Captain to collect and prepare weapons, including bombs..." Kamisou Ichiro spoke rapidly up to this point, then showed a stiff and peculiar smile. "Don’t forget, I am a Neon man.

"We Neon people are naturally sensitive to issues with monsters."

Well, indeed, issues about monsters have a natural closeness and sensitivity to Neon people.

After all, this is the nation that invented Ultraman and Godzilla.

But this guy’s behavior is still a little too strange.

"I’ve realized that among the two members of the Abyss Organization, you, Mr. Anderson, are actually in charge.

"Although the Captain is also a Controller, since he’s willing to follow your lead, you must be a Controller as well!

"As a fellow Controller, I’d prefer to act alongside you.

"I feel that, being by your side, my chances of survival would seem to be higher!"

As Kamisou Ichiro said this, he bowed solemnly.

Now, the Captain’s face did not look too good. It might be the truth, but saying it to my face like that, doesn’t it affect my dignity at all?! Actually, I too would prefer to follow Lord Yanluo...

***

The slopes of the ice plains, in some respects, are similar to the hills on the grassland: They seem close, but when you actually start running towards them, they are quite far away.

Seed was unwilling to use his abilities, and instead relied entirely on walking on foot to gauge the ground. Although Fox was somewhat reluctant, it was, after all, the girl’s first time on the Antarctic continent, and she had been transported here with such a marvelous ability. Filled with curiosity about everything around her, she walked cheerfully.

Both of them were power users, and they moved quickly when running at full strength, soon reaching the slope.

With the small barrier Seed had created with his power, which blocked the ferocious wind and severe cold, Fox was spared a lot of suffering as she followed Seed closely up the mountain.

But as they neared the summit, suddenly, Fox shouted in the characteristic high-pitched voice of a little girl, "Seed, look, there’s somebody here!"

Indeed, on the snowy ground, there was faintly a figure lying there.

Luckily, the weather was fairly clear that day. Even though the wind was strong, it wasn’t snowing. Otherwise, someone lying on the slope in the ice field would’ve been buried by snow long ago.

Seed had already seen the figure, but his expression remained undisturbed as he shook his head and walked over with Fox.

The little girl immediately bent down and rapidly pulled up the person dressed in a red cold-weather suit from the ground.

"It’s a woman! Huh? Why isn’t she frozen stiff?"

This was indeed strange—at least for Fox.

In her understanding, in such severe cold, a person who faints on an ice field would quickly freeze to death, their body should be stiff.

But upon lifting the person, she felt that the body was not stiff, and although she could touch the cold outer skin of the face, the breath that was coming out of the nose still carried a trace of warmth.

Even the heartbeat was steady.

"The Controller," Seed glanced and then looked away. "Only Controllers, even in a coma, can naturally use their instinct to manipulate their powers, maintaining the minimal living standards for their flesh—like animals in hibernation. Only, Controllers have access to much more power than animals, which allows them to resist the cold here.

"However," he continued, shaking his head, "if she continues to be unconscious like this, she won’t last much longer. Controllers are still human, after all. In such weather and temperature, she can hold on for a few more hours at most before she would freeze to death."

Fox looked at the woman curiously. She had golden-red short hair and didn’t look very old...

Yet Seed simply walked over and sat down beside the woman, with half his body behind the slope, revealing only his head as he quietly watched the other side of the slope.

With his presence, the barrier he created to fend off the cold also encompassed Fox and the unconscious woman.

Fox put down the unconscious woman and climbed next to Seed, rubbing her hands and feet vigorously—although someone was blocking the wind and cold, the ground in the ice field was still ice-cold.

For Fox, who lived in the warm climate of South America, her hands and feet were still cold, but within the range she could tolerate.

"What’s that place down there?" the little fox asked, her eyes wide with curiosity as she looked down the slope.

"Hmm, a human base," Seed said indifferently.

"...I know it’s a human base, what I mean is, what is this place, who set it up here?"

"Believe it or not, it’s actually my first time here today as well," Seed said with a grin.

"You came here to find someone, right? Are we going down now?"

"No, we’ll just sit here and watch, quietly watching is fine."

As he spoke, Seed adjusted his sitting position and sat cross-legged on the ground.

Fox frowned, for sitting on such bitterly cold ground, although bearable, wasn’t exactly pleasant.

However, the little fox was clever and didn’t say anything, simply sitting next to the unconscious woman, then quietly looked at her. She picked up a handful of ice and snow, carefully melted it with the warmth of her breath, and gently wiped it on the woman’s face, then pinched the woman’s mouth open...

"What are you doing?"

"Waking her up. She’s unconscious here; she must know something.

"Such a bizarre occurrence, of course we should try to wake her up and ask! Aren’t you curious at all?"

Seed didn’t answer, shaking his head, he continued to watch quietly the base at the bottom of the slope.

As he watched, his eyes narrowed into slits.

***

Chen Nuo ultimately brought Kamisou Ichiro with him.

There were three reasons. The first reason: the monster’s back couldn’t fit three people, but it could accommodate two.

The second reason, even though he also had his suspicions about Kamisou Ichiro’s behavior, if he left him behind with the Captain, Chen Nuo would be even more worried! The Captain alone might not be able to handle this peculiar Neon person.

As for the third reason...

It was possibly time for a desperate struggle. Taking Kamisou Ichiro with him equaled bringing a "human head."

If it came to a crucial moment and he lacked strength, with Kamisou Ichiro there, Chen Nuo could always adjust his state from 16/17 to 17/17!

This wouldn’t work with the Captain. That human head, Chen Nuo had already used.

After the two jumped onto the monster’s back, the creature immediately opened its eight tentacles and crawled rapidly, soon reaching the big pit in the warehouse area.

Then, skimming the ground like a spider, it tilted its body and crawled down the edge of the pit and plunged into the bottomless tunnel beneath...

"Hold tight!" Chen Nuo cautioned, bending down to lie on the monster’s back and grabbing a few protruding parts of the monster’s dorsal surface.