Chapter 61 Human Hunting

Yuki heard the sound of tires.

He pressed himself tightly against the rock wall, closed his eyes, and lowered his heart rate.

His artificial heart slowed its flow rate. At the same time, his diaphragm stopped moving, and the air sacs on both sides of his "Dragon's Breath" respirator expanded and contracted at the minimal possible amplitude, allowing him to breathe at the slowest speed.

A voice came through.

"Deputy squad leader, that woman turned over here... This fork in the road—wait?"

"What is it?"

"She seems to have turned back."

"Is that path a dead end? I remember it being a clear route, don't I?"

"Was she too panicked, running around like a headless fly?"

"By the way, is it really a good idea for us to talk like this? Echoes can travel a long way, can't they?"

"You don't understand, Third," the second voice—the one belonging to the leader—said in a lowered tone. "If we don't keep chasing after her, that woman will probably assume she's out of danger and start strolling along slowly. We have to make just enough vague noise to let her know 'someone is chasing from behind,' and only then will she run for her life. That's the only way to speed up the game!"

"Brilliant! Deputy leader, absolutely brilliant!"

"Hahaha, and there's another benefit to this," the leader chuckled in a low voice. "Isn't she still carrying a brat? That brat weighs around twenty kilograms, which is going to heavily drain her stamina! By putting this kind of pressure on her, she'll be forced to push past her absolute limits. Imagine this: pushing with all her might, heart and lungs feeling like they're about to burst, vision turning black, and in that state, finally seeing the light, taking a breath, thinking she's escaped, only for hope to light up in her eyes—and then, bam! We appear!"

"Hahahaha! Marvelous! Simply marvelous!"

Yuki couldn't help but tremble.

This was what a "brute" was—these were martial artists addicted to "violence" and "trampling others"!

The sound of tires faintly faded into the distance.

Yuki's muscles relaxed all at once, and he couldn't help sinking to his knees.

His hands and feet shook. But strangely, as the feeling of "fear" continuously surged within him, another emotion was growing in his heart.

It was "shame."

He was ashamed of his own fear.

"I am a 'swordsman,'" the boy told himself. "I am a 'swordsman'... I am a swordsman."

—I have engraved that pain in my heart... I cannot let it be inflicted upon anyone else.

Yuki said to himself in his heart.

He quietly stood up from his hiding spot around the corner, then stealthily poked his head out.

He was terrified that a face might be waiting right around the corner, ready to shout, "Got you!"

Or worse, a gun barrel pointed straight at him.

Looking at the empty tunnel, Yuki let out a slight sigh of relief.

Then, he struck his thigh just above his knee hard with his fist.

—I am a swordsman...

Even though his rational mind told him he shouldn't follow them, some deep-seated emotion drove his actions.

Inch by inch...

With extreme caution...

—I must at least maintain the distance of one corner...

**************************************************

When Little Edward saw the blood on the ground, he couldn't help but smile.

Generally speaking, this meant two things.

First, he hadn't lost her trail.

Of course, that wasn't a major issue anyway. There were surveillance cameras inside the tunnel, and even if the target were lucky enough to precisely navigate through the unmonitored sections, it still wouldn't matter.

Because the exit leading out of the tunnel would definitely be monitored.

At that point, the brothers in the surveillance room would surely send out an alert.

And then came the second thing—that woman was reaching her limit.

When she collapsed onto the ground, she couldn't even make a protective movement to cushion her fall.

"Good..." Little Edward remarked.

He was even contemplating whether he should slow the pace down just a little bit, giving that woman some time to rest.

While watching someone run themselves to death from sheer exhaustion was quite entertaining, it ultimately couldn't compare to the thrill of crushing someone's hope with his own hands.

Just then, someone at the tail end of the group suddenly tilted his head to listen to the rear.

"What is it?" Little Edward asked.

"Sounds like an alarm bell?" the man said uncertainly.

They were already several kilometers away from the main stronghold. No matter how prominent the echo effect was, the sound shouldn't carry clearly over such a great distance.

Another man asked doubtfully, "An alarm bell? Surely not? We didn't receive any signal to pull back."

"Indeed..." Little Edward nodded. "Although I gave the others a heads-up earlier, telling them to intentionally create the illusion of a 'vulnerability in the stronghold's defense'... they shouldn't actually trigger the alarm system, right? That would be far too loyal of them!"

"Should we go back and ch—"

With a sharp slap, Little Edward slammed his hand down, interrupting his subordinate. "Are you out of your mind? The second-in-command is still back at the stronghold, what kind of enemy could possibly break in? The government? The government's bandit suppression units don't make that kind of noise."

"Anyway, we're only about a minute's walk from the exit now. Once we're done toying with that woman, we'll go back and check!"

**************************************************

Emiko had reached her absolute limit.

Her heart was about to give out. Her lungs as well. Her primitive pulmonary structure was never meant to sustain this level of intense exertion.

Even her vision was blurring. Despite the dim lighting in the tunnel, she could barely see anything.

The originally gloomy tunnel seemed to have transformed into some kind of demonic realm—belonging to those... those long-abandoned "fantasies" created by humanity... the dwelling place of impossible monsters... flesh-eating fiends... realities defying all reason.

The exit ahead seemed completely out of reach. To Emiko, the ground felt as soft and mushy as cotton... no, it was just that she was running out of strength.

The child in her arms seemed to sense something, crying desperately and kicking against Emiko in protest.

"Quiet... Be quiet!" Emiko screamed, covering the infant's voice amplifier with her hand. She almost wanted to crush the sound-emitting organ. But as a non-augmented human, she lacked that kind of strength.

Several times, she felt the urge to simply toss the girl away on the side of the road. But the vague sounds echoing from behind extinguished that thought each time.

—This little brat, so utterly ungrateful...

Such a thought flashed through Emiko's fading consciousness.

—If it weren't for the fact that my sister likes you, I would choke you to death right now...

She stumbled forward as she ran.

**************************************************

She had no idea how much time had passed—the dying woman seemed to have completely lost any sense of time. She didn't even remember how she managed to run through the final stretch of the path.

When she regained consciousness, she found herself lying on a soft layer of moss.

Emiko's lungs were the first to register the scent of the "outside" world. Plant photosynthesis yielded a higher oxygen concentration than the tunnel air. She was finally breathing air filled with "vitality"!

Next came her eyes.

Sunlight... the warm light of the sun, filtering through her slightly metallic-toned eyelids, gently caressed her retina.

"I... I made it out..." Emiko regained a sliver of awareness, though she dared not believe whether she was still dreaming.

As far as her eyes could see, it was a vast black tundra.

Perhaps due to an underground river flowing beneath, the soil was much more humid here than elsewhere, allowing for a modest patch of vegetation. Black moss blanketed her entire field of vision, occasionally marked by pale red veins. Additionally, there were some half-meter-tall white fungal nutrient structures.

Without a doubt, this was the "outside"!

"Thank goodness..." Emiko wept tears of joy. "We can both make it back alive... Thank goodness..."

"Little one, we can live together now. Really... I can go to the gene bank and register a name for you... We can become a family... Once we get... Once we get to the city..." Emiko panted as she spoke. "Once we reach the city, the lords will... will... we..."

"Hahahahahahahahaha... The Protector lords couldn't care less about the lives of individuals!"

Right at that moment, a rough male voice echoed out from the toddler's mouth amplifier.

Emiko felt a wave of dizziness wash over her.

This vocal print... she knew it very well. It belonged to the one who occasionally came to torment her...

"How could this be..."

"Take a look behind you!"

The toddler's voice amplifier continued speaking.

The little girl seemed somewhat aware of what was happening; tears streaming down her face, she frantically thrashed her head to shake the large speaker on her mouth, as if trying to cut off the words spilling from it. But her actions were entirely beyond her own control.

And from behind them came the sound of tires crushing the earth.

Emiko screamed and bolted upright to run. But she had already completely exhausted her physical stamina just moments ago. After taking barely two steps, she collapsed onto the ground.

Little Edward emerged from the tunnel exit, grinning maliciously. "Let me share some good news with you... That little thing in your arms is the very culprit who betrayed you!"

Emiko stared blankly at the toddler in her arms.

"She, hehehehe..." Little Edward snapped his fingers. At that instant, the toddler seemed to be granted permission to use her voice organ once more. She wailed miserably, her cries exceptionally piercing.

Emiko felt a sharp pain in her eardrums.

So painful.

It hurt enough to make her want to cry.

"She's a recorder, a camera, a tracker..." The man chuckled evilly. "For over a year now, three fools have tried to escape with her, and you're the third. Her eyes recorded the expressions of the previous two fools quite clearly. I still pull up the footage to reminisce sometimes—want to take a look?"

"You..." Tears streamed down Emiko's face. "This little bastard, she..."

"She might very well be a bastard. Could be the genetic offspring of some brother back in the stronghold. Think about it, even if we don't care much for 'obligations,' accidents still happen." Little Edward laughed lightly. "So, what are you going to do now? Are you going to strangle this little bastard?"

The toddler wailed in sheer despair, as if she could already foresee what was about to happen next.

Emiko stared blankly at the infant.