"High difficulty?" The lady with red hair asked curiously as she twirled her hair with her finger.
"Yes, targets one and two are being escorted by an S-level star beast. And target three is being chased by a horde of star beasts; there's even a possibility of an A-level star beast being among the horde," the boy explained as he typed on the quantum computer at high speed.
"Since when do targets one and two possess a star beast?" the red-haired lady asked, looking surprised.
"It doesn't seem to be a star beast, more like an earth beast, and its level is fluctuating between S, SS, and SSS. Its real level can't be detected," the boy's eyebrows furrowed as he read the information on the quantum computer.
Just as An Ke'an and her teammates were rushing towards Mingyu's location, they encountered a group of fearless B-level star beasts. Xiao Bai released his aura, which frightened the star beasts and also accidentally revealed its real level.
"An earth beast?" the red-haired woman asked, pointing out these exact words.
"Yeah, more like the ancient snakes. Precisely a giant snake, but the difference is that it has a color on it that seems like writing," the boy reported, a little dazed.
"Huh?" The red-haired woman was a little confused and shocked.
An earth snake beast!
That was something that went extinct like five hundred thousand years ago!
"It is a white and gold snake with two horns on it," the boy added. One could feel the excitement in his voice.
"So it is technically not an earth snake since it possesses horns?" the red-haired lady asked, feeling a little disappointed. But thinking about the fact that it has a lot of similarities to an earth snake, she felt excited again.
"That's right, but there was never a creature that had such a great resemblance to an earth snake. Most possess fur, or their lower body is that of a four-legged animal," the boy clicked his tongue in amazement.
"That's interesting. Could it be an ancient dragon?" the red-haired woman gasped in surprise as her eyes lit up.
"Dragons possess wings and certainly do not look like snakes!" the boy instantly disagreed. Why would the mighty dragon look like a snake?!
"But ancient China's dragon had such similarities. And besides, most people in the Xian Empire are descendants of ancient China," the red-haired woman refuted. There were even fish and snakes that became dragons in ancient China. Why can't it be possible?
"Hmph!" The boy didn't respond. Besides, the majority of people in the Xian Empire are descendants of ancient China, so it wasn't really that surprising.
"Fine, we can't just give up because of that. Target one is very important," the red-haired woman changed the topic, seeing the boy was a little angry.
"Is she really related to that tribe?" the boy asked, his lips pursed.
"Who knows? All we have to do is deliver her to our client and receive our rewards," the red-haired woman shrugged nonchalantly.
"Then since they are moving towards target three, let's have them captured all together," the boy suggested, seeing she had no intention of answering his question.
"Oh, make sure to bring the snake with them," the red-haired woman ordered.
"Sure. It could sell for a high price," the boy smiled in agreement, revealing his canine white teeth.
---
"Mingyu!" Gia screamed in horror, seeing Mingyu being pursued by a bunch of star beasts.
They had tried locating Mingyu, but no matter how hard they walked towards him, they couldn't catch up. An Ke'an had suspected that the locator on Mingyu was broken.
But Ayan suggested they go meet him from the front. It was possible he is being chased by someone.
"OMG!" Mingyu, who was almost out of breath, caught sight of Xiao Bai and was almost scared sh*tless. But when he saw An Ke'an and Gia were riding it, it suddenly dawned on him that the huge animal was Xiao Bai.
"What are you doing here?! You should get away from... Huh?" Mingyu shouted at them, remembering he was being chased by star beasts. But he suddenly stopped when he noticed that the star beasts had stopped following him.
"What just happened?" Mingyu said with his eyes wide open in surprise, seeing the star beasts were staring instead of attacking.
"I guess Xiao Bai's presence scared them," Xian Shi concluded, as they descended from Xiao Bai's head.
Before they could register what was going on, one of the star beasts suddenly charged towards Mingyu.
Luo Shiyi, who was closer, managed to kill the star beast before it attacked Mingyu. But the killing seemed to have agitated the rest of the star beasts in front of them.
An Ke'an frowned; from the star beasts' red eyes, she could deduce they had inhaled intoxicated rose. Intoxicated rose is a plant that looks similar to ancient roses, and it is white in color. Though it doesn't smell like a rose, it also has a nice fragrance.
But the downside was that it makes star beasts go crazy for it once they smell it. The intoxicated rose doesn't affect humans because they weren't originally from this galaxy, so it has no effect on them except its real inhabitants.
And this plant was now on Mingyu. An Ke'an was angry, thinking Qiao Yao would use such despicable means. But thinking of how she had done worse in her past life, An Ke'an wasn't surprised.
"What is happening?" Xian Shi asked curiously, but Mingyu backed away cautiously so as not to stain them with the scent.
Even with Xiao Bai here, some of these star beasts look like they want to attack and have no intention of retreating, which is a little unusual.
"It is intoxicated rose," Ayan said, frowning. He has a sharp nose and he had come across this plant a lot.
"Intoxicated rose?!"
Luo Shiyi, Gia, and Xian Shi were shocked by this revelation.
Who was so vicious?!
An Ke'an's frown deepened. She wanted Xiao Bai to release his aura to send away the star beasts, since he can be considered a king in hierarchy to these star beasts. But that is not possible since she noticed someone was tailing them and might have found out Xiao Bai's real strength.
She didn't want to take that risk as that would be a dangerous decision, since she has no idea who the other person is.
"So are you going to forfeit?" Gia asked worriedly.
Mingyu can't possibly go on with this scent for the next few days. That is a suicidal solution.
Before Mingyu could answer, the impatient star beasts began to attack. Even if they could feel that Xiao Bai's level was higher than theirs, they couldn't resist the temptation of the delicious human in front of them.
The five began to fight back while Mingyu retreated so as not to drag them down. But the star beasts' goal was him, so his plan was destined to fail.
An Ke'an frowned; they couldn't go on like this. Before she could come up with a solution, a black figure suddenly flashed by and Gia disappeared from the spot.
The remaining five were stunned before Mingyu reacted.
"Gia!"
That's his twin sister! Who is so bold?!
An Ke'an became angry and worried; she thought the force tailing them was after her, but she was wrong.
An Ke'an hesitated for a moment before she pulled out a long rectangular box. In it was a pair of twin swords. She had wanted to bring a hot weapon, but it is illegal for a minor to be in possession of it. But it doesn't apply to cold weapons, since most of them are attached to minor mechas.
"Mingyu, continue running to the left. You will see a lake. Go wash off the scent on you before we go looking for Gia," An Ke'an commanded, throwing him a small bottle. Mingyu subconsciously obeyed due to the pressure she was emitting.
Once Mingyu was out of sight, An Ke'an commanded Xiao Bai to look after her teammates before she ran towards the direction Gia had disappeared.
---
"How is it?" The red-haired woman asked as she swung herself on a tree while looking at the three men dressed the same way as her.
"Target number two has been abducted; they will be here soon. Target number three is headed for the lake. We can ambush him there," one of the men reported.
"Huh? It seems target number one is coming towards us," the boy suddenly exclaimed, bringing the attention of the three men and the red-haired lady.
"She seems to be following behind the men who are with target number two," the boy added in shock.
"How is that possible? Could she have tracked us?" The red-haired woman frowned, looking worried.
"Quick, remove every gadget from her body! And use that opportunity to capture her," the red-haired woman commanded as she jumped down from the tree.