The boy was clever and continued, "You’re from the Black Wolf rcenary Corps, aren’t you? I’ve seen your wanted posters in the black market. They have this sa rcenary uniform insignia. You’ve got a lot of enemies here. It’ll be hard to get out on your own."
The boy paused, a cunning smile on his face. "Besides, the Eastern Highlands just fought with you during the day. I heard their Lord died. Those people aren’t going to let you walk out of here alive..."
Due to malnutrition, he wasn’t very tall, but his eyes were bright, revealing a sharp wit.
Alvin Morgan watched him for a mont before chuckling. "What makes you so sure we’re with the Black Wolves?"
He pulled aside his rcenary coat, revealing Aurora Sinclair’s hair.
"We could also be Eastern Highlanders."
The boy froze. Fear flashed in his eyes, and he instinctively took a few steps back.
"The East... Eastern Highlanders..."
Alvin Morgan covered Aurora Sinclair’s hair again, lowered his head slightly, and asked coolly, "Do you still want the dicine?"
The boy stopped backing away. As if suppressing the terror in his heart, he gritted his teeth and said, "Yes. What are your terms?"
Alvin Morgan glanced at his ho—a few tattered tents—and tossed him a bullet. "Get us two sets of local clothes and buy so food."
The boy settled the two of them into a simple tent and brought them a few roasted sweet potatoes.
He looked nervous, wringing his hands, his tone cautious. "This is all the food we have."
Alvin Morgan nodded, pulled another bullet from his pocket, and tossed it to him. "We’ll be staying here for a few days."
***
「The next day.」
Alvin Morgan noticed the silver in Aurora Sinclair’s irises had deepened, seemingly transitioning to black.
He lowered his head and smoothed her silver hair. "Are you awake?"
Aurora Sinclair blinked, her lips moved. "Alvin..."
"It’s . Are you in any discomfort?"
"Hungry..." A wronged look appeared in Aurora Sinclair’s eyes as she stared at him.
Alvin Morgan smiled, picked up a roasted sweet potato from nearby, peeled off the skin, and fed it to her.
Aurora Sinclair seed to love them, devouring several in a row until the girl nad Mia returned with a troubled look on her face. "We really don’t have any more."
Alvin Morgan picked up Aurora Sinclair’s limp body and tapped her on the nose. "You can eat more later."
Looking wronged, Aurora Sinclair nipped at his finger, apparently displeased.
Mia peeked at them from outside before running back to her own tent and gossiping in a low voice, "Ahm, I think those two people who ca yesterday might be lovers who eloped."
The old woman’s complexion had improved slightly thanks to the dicine. She asked in amusent, "Why do you say that?"
"The girl is an Eastern Highlander, and the man is wearing a rcenary uniform. Their statuses are too different."
As she said this, the girl seed to rember sothing, and her mood dampened.
The old woman reached out and stroked her head, her eyes filled with heartache.
Her daughter was born here, but she fell in love with a rcenary who ca here on a mission and beca pregnant with Arthur.
After the rcenary completed his mission and left, he never returned. Her daughter, unwilling to accept being abandoned, went to find him, only to return dejectedly two years later. The rcenary had long forgotten her and was with another woman.
Later, her daughter married a la blacksmith from the slums and gave birth to Mia.
The blacksmith, unhappy that she had a girl, often beat her. Eventually, her daughter succumbed to her injuries and died.
The blacksmith then married another woman, had a son, and his life steadily improved. He even managed to move out of the slums with his new wife and child.
Her poor daughter never had a single day of happiness.
Now it was Mia’s turn. The blacksmith had been swindled while gambling on mines and was deep in debt. He rembered Mia back in the slums and wanted to sell her to his vicious creditors to settle his debt.
She had desperately fled the slums with her two grandchildren, coming to this deserted mining area. But during their escape, her leg was injured, forcing Arthur to work in illegal mines just to earn money for her dicine.
"Ahm, I’m back."
The light returned to the old woman’s somber eyes, and Mia had already run outside.
Arthur was carrying a heavy load on his back.
Mia’s eyes lit up. Her brother had said he was going to the black market today to trade the bullet for food and dicine.
Here, weapons were very valuable, especially unused bullets. A single one could be exchanged for a lot of food. That’s why many people from the slums would risk their lives to go to war-torn areas and scavenge for bullet casings or live rounds to trade for food and Maso Coins at the black market.
"Here are the clothes. Take them to them."
Mia was still a little afraid of Alvin Morgan, but she braced herself and went to the tent next door.
Alvin Morgan was massaging Aurora Sinclair’s limbs. Without the right herbs for a dicinal bath, he could only let her recover on her own.
He had seen Leigh Miles massaging Aurora Sinclair’s limbs before, so he’d picked up the technique.
He stimulated so of her acupoints, allowing the "Power" in her ridians to circulate on its own, which would aid her recovery.
"I’ve brought the clothes," a timid voice suddenly said.
Alvin Morgan glanced back at her and pointed to the side.
Mia quickly put the clothes down and ran off.
Alvin Morgan felt a bit exasperated.
"Aurora, how about a change of clothes?"
Aurora Sinclair blinked.
"Should I change them for you?"
Aurora Sinclair just blinked again.
Alvin Morgan couldn’t help but laugh.
In the end, he called Mia over to help her change.
***
「anwhile」
Aiden Morgan and the others still hadn’t found Alvin Morgan or Aurora Sinclair. It was as if the two had vanished into thin air.
Beta Morgan guessed that the one who had taken their young master wasn’t an Eastern Highlander, but Aurora Sinclair herself.
He had seen Aurora Sinclair’s eyes change color before, so it wasn’t impossible for her hair to have turned silver as well.
"Are you sure the person who took the young master was Aurora Sinclair?" Aiden Morgan asked, his face a mask of shock.
Beta Morgan nodded, his expression grave. "She’s likely a child born from the Plan A experint."
"Impossible. Plan A was destroyed long ago. How could there still be..."
"Her mother is Noelle Morgan. A participant in Plan A back then."
Aiden Morgan shot to his feet, his face flushed with anger. "Did she really experint on her own daughter?"
Forty years ago, Noelle Morgan was the sole survivor of the massacre that wiped out Professor Young’s family. She was secretly rescued by the Morgan Family and raised by them.
Professor Young was from a branch of the Young Family and was a distinguished figure in the field of biology. In an effort to cure his youngest daughter’s illness, he developed a type of active cell that could boost the human immune system, eliminate various cancer cells, and enhance physical constitution.
It was originally intended only for treatnt, but as the research deepened, it was discovered that these cells could also unlock human potential and enhance one’s aptitude for martial arts.
This was a godsend for the decimated Martial World of Veridia.
Thus, Plan A was born. With the support of the Ten Great Families of Kingsford, Professor Young and his apprentice beca the lead researchers for Plan A.
The Young Family also invested a great deal of manpower and resources into Professor Young’s work. However, as the research progressed, Plan A first benefited the mbers of the Great Families, raising their overall Combat Power by several Levels.
This also gave rise to ambition and selfishness in so families. Coincidentally, the person in power in the Young Family was particularly selfish, leading to a clash with Professor Young’s ideals.
These people wanted to use the active cells to create Super Soldiers to resist hostile forces and eliminate dissenters, but Professor Young refused. So the leader of the Young Family stole the professor’s research and brought it back to the main family to study on their own.
Without Professor Young’s assistance, the research went awry in its third year. The previously stable Super Soldiers suddenly lost control. Their ancestral genes were activated, and they completely devolved into "beasts" of battle.
So the Young Family fitted these Super Soldiers with collars. The mont one lost control, they would be terminated imdiately.
To avoid being terminated, the Super Soldiers planned an uprising. However, only 26 managed to escape; the rest were all eliminated.
Plan A was quickly shut down. The Young Family pushed Professor Young out to take the bla, and overnight, the renowned biology professor beca a pariah, despised by all.
Seeking revenge on Professor Young, the escaped Super Soldiers massacred his entire family of thirty-six, shocking all of Kingsford.
A vast amount of precious research data from Professor Young’s ho, including the three most important volus of the Young Family Notes, all disappeared...
And it’s very likely that Noelle Young, seeking vengeance, used her own daughter to create a Super Soldier to get revenge on everyone who frad and murdered her family.
Beta Morgan glanced at his agitated older brother and shook his head. "She already got her revenge back then when she helped the Morgan Family destroy the Young Family’s underground lab. The young master said we can’t rule out maternal inheritance..."
User Comments
0 comments from readers