Chapter 121: Night, Dense Forest, and Collapse

Chapter 121: Night, Dense Forest, and Collapse

Although the battle had ended, there were still many matters requiring attention in the aftermath.

The Tranquill that had been shot had only received emergency treatment; next, it still needed to be sent back to the Alliance for proper medical care as soon as possible.

Reality, after all, isn't a game; being heavily injured doesn't mean one can just get an injection and immediately jump back into battle.

However, as rangers, the treatment David and his team received in this forest was far better than that afforded to the poacher group.

The Chespin that had been following them all along exerted itself, calling out several times. Subsequently, several wild Pidgeotto and Taillow flew out from the forest, led by an even larger-bodied Swellow.

These wild Pokémon were all willing to proactively help, carrying the heavily injured Tranquill back to Kubfu to receive treatment.

Incidentally, they could also relay the news from here back to Raymond's research institute.

David went there to freeload food every three to five days; now that something had happened to their experimental farm, he had to at least help them pass along a message, right?

After arranging these trivial matters, the next important task they had to complete was to escort these apprehended poachers to the Star Brilliance Alliance.

Within the reserve, rangers possess unlimited rights to counterattack in order to curb poaching, but in principle, they do not hold the judicial power to privately try these poachers.

During wartime, they could open fire freely; if anyone dared to ignore a warning, Kubfu rangers never hesitated to pull out rocket launchers.

But after a battle concluded, according to international conventions, poachers from the Star Brilliance Alliance must be handed back to the Star Brilliance Alliance for their own trial; other alliances have no authority to act as proxy.

The stolen goods, in principle, should also be handed over as evidence for conviction.

However, on the actual operational level, David and his team generally didn't hand them over.

Don't ask why. The reason is simply that Kubfu is behind them!

After all the poachers were controlled and the stolen goods were all packed and sealed, that evening, the group didn't travel far, instead staying near the experimental farm where the firefight had occurred.

There were several small log cabins here, built by Raymond's research institute.

They were originally intended to provide accommodation for research teams occasionally coming to inspect the condition of the experimental fields; now, they conveniently benefited David and his team.

Anyway, David had already gotten used to freeloading meals there; he didn't mind freeloading a room as well.

Having many debts doesn't crush the body.

After night fell, one of the rangers noticed, "Where's that newcomer volunteer? How come he's disappeared?"

Another ranger replied, "About half an hour ago, I think I saw him go into the forest to the west."

"Did he also take one of the poachers in with him?" yet another person spoke up.

David took a drag from a good quality cigarette confiscated from the poacher group, exhaled a puff intoxicatedly, and said nonchalantly.

"That newcomer, he knows his limits. You guys just stop worrying needlessly. Rest quickly; we still have to travel tomorrow."

Actually, during the daytime, he had already seen that what Arthur said wasn't the truth.

But so what?

Who doesn't have a few little secrets?

A young man with such ridiculously formidable skills, coming here out of the blue to volunteer, not for school credits, not for graduation—this was already very abnormal in itself.

However, from what it looked like currently, Arthur's background was clean, and he hadn't shown any malicious intent. David's curiosity wasn't that strong, so he didn't care much about the rest.

He only said, "Just keep a good watch on that 'leader.' Everyone else, get some sleep early."

Aside, Jin, who they had consistently mistaken for the leader, was crying hardship endlessly in his heart, yet he didn't dare utter a single extra word.

Before leaving, Arthur had intentionally met his gaze, silently staring at him from the shadows for a full three seconds.

Although nothing was said, the killing intent in those eyes made him feel like thorns were pricking his back.

Although Jin didn't know what Arthur exactly wanted to do, he at least knew: that killing aura was absolutely not normal!

It was definitely not something a ranger volunteer should possess!

He almost didn't dare to imagine just how many living beings this person had destroyed in the past!

Therefore, even though Arthur had already been gone for half an hour, he surprisingly hadn't dared to say anything.

...

Now, let's turn time back to half an hour earlier—

In the woods west of the experimental farm, Arthur carried the real leader, whose severed hand had already been bandaged and treated, deep into this deserted, dense forest.

Initially, the leader failed to recognize the situation and was still yelling empty threats, "Got the guts to kill me?! You think I'll cooperate with you?! Scram, little brat who hasn't even fully grown his hair!!"

Arthur made no reply whatsoever, merely letting him sit leaning against a tree trunk, then calmly rolled up the sleeve of the leader's left arm.

"What do you want to do?!"

The leader gradually began to panic slightly.

Because Arthur's demeanor was too calm; he wasn't provoked into anger, nor did he anxiously press for answers. He just calmly and unhurriedly completed his actions.

Until the leader's posture was arranged properly. The next moment, a length of ribbon climbed onto the leader's left arm like a slithering snake.

Then it suddenly tightened!

"You—Uh..."

An immense wave of dizziness struck him.

In that instant, the leader felt as if he had just pulled an all-nighter for three consecutive days and nights. Fatigue washed over him like a tide, and everything before his eyes started to become blurry.

His consciousness drifted between dreaming and waking; worse still, all connection to his hands and feet was severed, leaving them without sensation.

Subsequently, Honedge satisfyingly withdrew its ribbon.

This mouthful... finally sucked its fill.

Comfortable~

However, perhaps even it itself didn't notice at that moment: when sucking this leader's life essence, it had only used its ribbon to attach itself. For some reason, it had begun to become unwilling to let others grasp its own hilt anymore.

Perhaps this was just an extremely subtle change.

But who would dare say this wasn't the beginning of a solid bond?

After a long time, which also felt like just an instant...

The true leader of the poacher group finally awoke groggily.

His entire body still felt terribly weak; he didn't want to move even a single bit. Even his eyelids felt as though they weighed a thousand ton.

However, after a little while, he finally couldn't endure sitting powerlessly like this any longer.

Because he saw that beside his feet, a small puddle of water had been dug out at some unknown time, and both his feet were completely soaked inside it.

That young person's Lapras (Little Lapras) was casually spraying freezing qi into the puddle every now and then.

That small puddle was already covered in floating pieces of ice at this moment; his feet had long been frozen to the point of near complete numbness.

Annoyingly, at this moment, he was entirely powerless, unable to even perform the simple action of lifting his leg to pull his feet out.

"You... what exactly do you want to do?!"

His tone finally began to fill with panic.

Arthur kindly offered an explanation, his tone as always, like an ancient well, without ripples.

"When a person's life essence is heavily drained by a Ghost-type Pokémon, the blood circulation within the body slows down. The extremities, being far from the heart, suffer from insufficient blood supply. If severe frostbite is encountered at this time, it only takes about ten minutes for your feet to suffer permanent necrosis in the future."

"You!! You!! You!! You people are rangers?! How can you employ this kind of private punishment?! You are exceeding your authority! You are committing a crime!!"

Arthur let out a scoff.

Ironically, a criminal was now using "you are committing a crime" to threaten a good person.

Reality often stages such absurd scenarios.

Unfortunately for the leader, Arthur had never been the type of overly scrupulous, conflicted, saintly mother protagonist found in dramas.

He chuckled softly, then slowly and methodically stated, "You won't have any evidence."

"After you return, there won't be any external injuries on your body. The loss of life force can be normally explained away as fatigue or insomnia after a few days. Frostbite on the hands and feet isn't considered rare in this damp rainforest; it won't count as evidence."

"As for the necrosis of the feet, that requires time; it won't worsen immediately. By the time you're in jail and require amputation, we will most likely have already handed over this case and returned to Kubfu."

"When you appear in court, you are destined to be unable to produce any evidence accusing me of using private punishment. So, you need to think clearly. Ten more minutes of freezing, and the possibility of you requiring amputation in the future will exceed eighty percent."

Waiting until Arthur had calmly finished speaking, the leader let out a great cry and completely collapsed.

"I'll talk! I'll talk!! Whatever you ask, I'll say it all!! Please, I beg you, let me go!"

Arthur gave a slight shrug of his shoulders.

So, wouldn't it have been fine if you had just cooperated like this earlier?

(End of Chapter)

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