The Highest Bounty

Chapter 221: Monster Concentration Camp’s Welcome Gift

Biggie and Tagore continued to browse the food market.

At the top of a building not far away, a tall young woman could be seen standing next to a tall, middle-aged man that had a scarred face. The woman had waist-length hair that was dyed in ten different colors at equal intervals.

“What do you think of that big guy, Carole?” Roland asked as he looked at the man and cat in the food market in the distance.

“Rank-11 Gene Body, with demigod combat effectiveness, at least a 2-star monster,” Carole quickly gave her verdict. “What about the cat?”

“I don’t think he’s a cat. His exact Gene Level is unknown, but he certainly hasn’t reach demigod level. Nevertheless, he has the ability to fight 2-star Lower Ranking deities. At least a 2-star monster, I guess,” Roland gave his assessment. “Is this your first mission as a demigod? Knowing you, why didn’t you choose something more challenging?”

“That’s because I’m interested in Gu Ding.” Carole laughed blatantly.

“You’re so honest.” Roland had planned on teasing her, but Carole had openly spoken about her intentions.

“I can’t help it. My master is a burly foot picker. I grew up under such influence. You know, uncle…” Carole felt helpless as she spoke of her master.

“You mean you like to pick your feet too?” Roland stepped back a little warily.

Carole gave Roland a dirty look. “Anyway, there are some really great characters in Gu Ding’s crew. There’s also a Viking girl. Although the combat effectiveness she displayed did not get her a Monster Ranking, she proved that she’s able to challenge people across two ranks. She’s pretty malleable. Personally, I don’t think Viking moves work well for women. If you get her a good teacher, it would be easy to make her a 1-star monster.”

Roland did not comment on this. “The mission is complete, and we’re free now. What are you going to do? Are you going to leave today?”

“Aren’t you leaving today, uncle?” Carole asked in reply.

“Gu Ding is going to meet me over tea tomorrow.” Roland touched his nose.

“Tea? You guys aren’t going to drink alcohol?” Carole thought it was rather strange. She wondered what it would be like to see two men sitting together, not drinking alcohol.

“I’ve quit drinking and Gu Ding can’t drink. That’s why I’m going to drink juice and he’s going to drink milca.” Roland did not see anything wrong with it.

“Uncle, I think you should join their crew,” Carole suggested with a smile.

“Gu Ding invited me to join him yesterday. I said I’d think about it after becoming a deity,” Roland once again told Carole something she could not believe.

“Alright… By the way, could I join you guys tomorrow?” Carole was interested in meeting Gu Ding in person even though she had already met Gu Ding in Monster Paradise.

“Yes, but on one condition.” Roland held out a finger. “No alcoholic drinks!”

Carole was stunned for a while. “Then, I can only drink coffee. Is coffee ok?”

“Coffee is fine.” Roland nodded.

…

Once they were done shopping, both Biggie and Tagore returned to the ship as if nothing had happened.

Lilliath and Elsa were still out shopping for clothes, while Gu Ding had already bought his medicinal materials. Gu Ding returned to his room and began to learn how to make D-grade medicine.

“Biggie and Tagore are back,” Neptune said in Gu Ding’s ear. “Their intelligent wristwatches were disconnected for about forty-three minutes. The food market is less than ten kilometers from here, and during the time they disconnected, I scanned a radius of hundreds of kilometers but found no sign of them. It wasn’t until their signal popped up again half an hour ago that I realized they never left the food market in the first place. I suspect that they were attacked by powerhouses who have personal domains.”

“Were they hurt?” Gu Ding stopped refining his medicine and asked.

“Not at all.” Neptune briefly checked and found no injuries on them.

In fact, what Biggie encountered was a nightmare attack. Each battle he fought in took place in his dreams. Naturally, he did not suffer any injuries. As for Tagore, what he suffered was only ordinary wounds. With his regenerative abilities, he managed to recover completely by the time he left Roland’s personal domain.

“That’s all right then.” Gu Ding continued to refine his medicine. “They can tell us whenever they want to. They must have their own reasons if they choose not to bring it up. I trust their judgment and so should you, Neptune.”

“I’m just a little concerned about everyone’s safety. If they were attacked, there’s a good chance that the others will be attacked as well,” Neptune voiced out his own reasoning.

“I don’t think so. Biggie may look goofy, but he wouldn’t let such things go. If he was attacked, he would’ve contacted us to be careful as soon as he escaped. However, he didn’t do that, so there can only be two reasons: First, he was not attacked; Second, it was likely that the attack was directed at him personally, and he judged that the matter would not involve the other members. Either way, I think we should trust his judgment.” Gu Ding asked, “Are Lili and the rest all right?”

“She’s having a good time with Elsa. They don’t have any problems.” Neptune had been watching over them all this while.

Gu Ding finally finished refining a bottle of D-grade Cell Enhancer. It was orange in color and was of perfect quality. However, the D-grade drug could only be consumed by Rank-6 and Rank-7 Gene Bodies. Hence, it was of little use to Gu Ding’s crew members. Gu Ding might have been a Rank-6 Gene Body, but his constitution was so special that D-grade medicine had little effect on him.

Once he was done refining the Cell Enhancer, Gu Ding began refining other D-grade medicine. It had always been a habit of his to refine all conventional medicine of the same rank until each one of them was of perfect quality before moving on to the next level. That way, he would have a strong foundation.

Gu Ding felt that time moved very fast whenever he was refining medicine. Throughout the span of one whole afternoon, he managed to produce more than twenty different types of D-grade medicine. He only faced a small problem when it came to refining the face-changing agent. He had tried to modify the prescription slightly to increase the duration of the face-changing agent. However, the results of his modification were not ideal and small explosions occurred along with fires. Fortunately, Lilliath was not around, otherwise, Gu Ding would have been told off.

Lilliath and Elsa returned dressed in distinctly different outfits compared to when they had gone out before dinner. Other than clothes, the two girls also bought a lot of snacks and kept them in a cupboard in the living room.

On the other hand, Biggie had prepared a feast and they were to be seated in a circle in the small living room next to the kitchen.

At that moment, Gu Ding’s communicator rang. The number of the caller was still a string of unreadable codes, indicating that it was X who was calling.

“How are you, Gu Ding? Do you like the welcome gift we gave you?” X’s voice sounded cheerful, and it felt a bit like he was the one who had received the welcome gift.

“What welcome gift?” Gu Ding was puzzled. “Didn’t you say that the man who was supposed to pass me the welcome gift won’t arrive for another two days because his ship broke down earlier?”

“Didn’t Biggie tell you? We already delivered our welcome gift to him.” X’s statement made Gu Ding look at Biggie.

“I’ve been busy in my room and only came out for dinner. He hasn’t had time to say anything,” Gu Ding explained.

“Well, I’m sure you and your crew will be pleased with the gift,” X said confidently. “As for what it is, you’ll have to ask Biggie yourself. I won’t reveal it. Moreover, once you’ve made sure that you’re satisfied with the gift, don’t forget to give us a thumbs up in the system. If it’s convenient, leave us a good comment.”

After the call disconnected, Lilliath guessed, “That’s X, right?”

“Yes, he told me that they’ve already sent us our welcome gift and it was received by Biggie.” Gu Ding looked at Biggie. He was curious about what the so-called meeting gift was.

“A gift? No.” Biggie shook his head. There was a puzzled expression on his face.

“Did you receive anything from someone strange?” Gu Ding thought that X was less likely trying to fool him and it was Biggie that had not noticed.

Biggie searched his pockets. They were empty. “No one gave me anything, but I did come across a strange man.”

Only then did Biggie give a brief account of his inexplicable attack.

“If there was a gift, it was the attack that allowed me to overcome my fear. I don’t need to be hypnotized to fight anymore.” Biggie thought about it carefully and realized that there was a chance it was the welcome gift X had mentioned.

“That’s probably what X was talking about.” Gu Ding’s eyes lit up when he heard it. Gu Ding had never doubted Biggie’s combat effectiveness. In fact, whenever Biggie was hypnotized, his combat strength was restrained by a large amount. Now that he no longer had to be hypnotized to fight, he was a stronger fighter. Additionally, Lilliath, who was a gunner, could finally serve her real purpose.

In fact, it was essential for every strong crew to have a gunner that could perform ranged attacks, provide cover fire, and offer support from afar.

“Looks like X wasn’t joking. I’m indeed satisfied with the welcome gift.” Gu Ding grinned with pleasure.

“We’ve received the welcome gift. Shall we leave tomorrow morning or stay another day?” Lilliath asked because she had been cramped up for more than ten days and was hoping that their vacation would last a little longer.

“We’ll stay another day. I still owe an uncle a drink. If I don’t return the favor tomorrow, I don’t know when I’ll be able to return it. Let’s go together tomorrow after lunch,” Gu Ding decided happily.