Chapter 200: Man or Woman

The bounty hunters quickly packed up. They were all dressed in black cloaks and then dispersed.

Yang Bo followed behind the bald guild leader. These people were moving swiftly through the Redstone Mountains, seemingly relying on physical strength rather than superpowers.

However, they all carried electromagnetic guns and similar weapons.

“Not heading to Alma City?” Yang Bo, following the bald guild leader, noticed they weren’t heading towards his city.

The bald guild leader had excellent stamina, running without pause until noon the next day. They passed out of the mountains and crossed a desert. Even in broad daylight, the guild leader moved swiftly in his cloak, showing no fear of the aerial monitoring system.

“This cloak seems suspicious.” Yang Bo eyed the guild leader’s cloak, sensing it was a valuable item.

It wasn’t until the afternoon of the second day that the bald guild leader found a place to rest for a few hours, then continued moving. By the early hours of the third day, they reached another city.

This city was over 2,200 kilometers away from Yang Bo’s own city.

“Hot Spring City!” Yang Bo recognized the city’s name.

Hot Spring City was one of the best cities in the Eastern Continent, over 400 kilometers away from the coastline, located on a plateau basin around 1,500 meters above sea level.

This basin was among the best cities on this planet because of its many hot springs, and a river originated here that flowed over 600 kilometers to the sea.

The basin was shaped like a duck egg, about 60 kilometers long and over 40 kilometers wide.

“Farmer?” The bald guild leader arrived at a farm dozens of kilometers away from Hot Spring City. This farm was in a small basin, around 20 square kilometers.

The bald guild leader stopped a kilometer from the outskirts of the farm and pushed on a rock wall, revealing a door.

He looked around, then went inside.

Yang Bo slipped in as well, discovering it was a tunnel.

The bald guild leader went down some stairs, then opened a room. The inside was covered with silver-white metal, and Yang Bo knew this was an anti-jamming measure.

The guild leader put away his electromagnetic gun and cloak before heading to a room similar to a bathroom. He retrieved a box from a mechanical safe and injected himself with a syringe.

The next scene left Yang Bo stunned: the bald middle-aged man suddenly began transforming into a woman. The muscles on his face twitched, reshaping into a blue-eyed, white-skinned woman.

The woman rubbed her face hard and then injected another syringe into her arm.

The woman’s hair began growing, turning into thick, black curls.

“It’s really a woman?” Yang Bo, knowing how strange this world could be, was still amazed by how bizarre it truly was.

Rapid hair growth gene serum was actually quite simple to Yang Bo now. As long as the gene serum didn’t conflict with the body’s internal energy, growing hair was extremely easy.

In less than 30 minutes, the bald guild leader had transformed from a middle-aged man into a woman in her twenties.

The woman took off her armor and placed it in a cabinet. Yang Bo felt as if he were looking at a monkey. Perhaps due to the gene serum, the woman’s body had very lush hair, but there were clear feminine traits.

The woman took a laser device and began using it on her skin, causing the hair to fall off.

She tidied up the bathroom, then took a shower without closing the door.

After washing up, she changed into regular women’s clothes and left the room, continuing down the tunnel.

Yang Bo shivered, watching the elegantly walking woman. “Is this a man or a woman?”

After about ten minutes of walking, the woman didn’t reach the end of the tunnel but pressed a button halfway and a door appeared. She entered what seemed like a basement.

The woman glanced around the basement before closing the door behind her.

It was a regular basement with barrels and other stored items.

There was also a staircase leading upwards. Yang Bo followed the woman up the stairs, and they entered a normal living room.

Through a window, Yang Bo realized they were inside a building on a hillside of the farm.

From here, you could overlook the whole small basin, and there were some other buildings nearby, along with a road leading out.

The woman stepped outside onto the terrace. There were steps leading down and a wooden railing surrounding the terrace, seemingly made of natural wood.

To one side of the terrace was a long wooden table, its surface weathered, likely from prolonged exposure to the elements.

On both sides of the table were wooden benches, each long enough for the table, roughly five meters long.

“Father.” A middle-aged man in long-sleeved work clothes was sitting by the table. The woman approached and respectfully called out.

There was a cup of what looked like green fruit wine in front of the middle-aged man.

“Any unexpected incidents?” The middle-aged man, with his silver short hair, black eyes, and sturdy figure, didn’t look at the woman, instead gazing out over the farm.

“Father, someone breached our base’s perimeter. Two sentries couldn’t take care of it; Light was killed instead. The intruder made it into our base…” The woman sat down and began recounting how Yang Bo had broken in.

The more the middle-aged man listened, the grimmer his expression became, losing all his earlier composure.

“Are you sure that person is A-rank?” the middle-aged man finally asked.

“Father, Bobby and I were both in energy suits. One flame from the intruder sent Bobby flying, and I was pushed back several steps,” the woman said gravely.

“There aren’t many A-rank superhumans on March Planet. I know all of them,” the middle-aged man replied.

“A stranger with A-rank power… Could they have also discovered this planet’s secret?” the middle-aged man asked, frowning.

“I don’t know. The intruder seemed to be gathering something. They had a backpack, but it was burned later, and we found no information. Plus, the planetary security system was alerted. We had to evacuate urgently,” the woman added.

The middle-aged man took a sip of wine. “The planetary security system isn’t much of a problem. Even if there’s a brief energy fluctuation, as long as there’s no sustained energy signature, the system won’t continue its intervention.”

“This person came to the Redstone Mountains stealthily, so they surely have a reason. Keep a close watch and see if there’s a chance to cooperate. From their style, they don’t seem to be from any of our old enemies,” the middle-aged man said, swirling his wine glass.

“Father, I was thinking the same. No matter what this person needs from this planet, we can provide it.”

“Could this unknown superhuman be a part of the new organizations?” the woman asked.

“Most likely not. Our guild has been on March Planet for over 200 years and never found anything useful. Other organizations won’t risk venturing here without reason.”

“Do you have a recording of their voice?” the middle-aged man asked.

“Of course!” the woman nodded.

“Send the audio to headquarters, see if they have any information on this person.”

Yang Bo, listening to their conversation, breathed a sigh of relief, thinking he got lucky. It was a good thing he had changed his appearance during the operation.

“For now, stay away from the base. Just communicate with others online.” the middle-aged man instructed.

“Understood, Father,” the woman nodded.

They then switched to discussing farm matters, and Yang Bo realized that the farm still used old-style machines, ones that required manual operation.

“Turns out I’ve bought vegetables from their brand before,” Yang Bo mused, listening.

Not staying put, he quickly traced his steps back and returned to his house. He headed to the underground bunker, placed the sand mice in a cage, and put the collected plant samples to the side to cultivate.

He picked two healthy female sand mice and housed them next to the invisibility-capable male mouse, separated by special glass that let them see each other.

Then he left it alone, allowing the new arrivals to get familiar with the environment.

“It’s a shame I lost the plant samples from Redstone Mountain,” Yang Bo muttered as he entered his bedroom. Picking up his wristwatch, he noticed the Fat Boss had sent him an email informing him that the purified experimental materials had arrived.

Yang Bo opened his browser, searching for the vegetable brand mentioned by the bounty hunter guild leader.

“Over 200 years old, one of March Planet’s first immigrant pioneers.” Yang Bo finally found information about their farm. The land was allocated for free as an incentive to settlers, with very little tax.

“Bounty Hunter Guild,” Yang Bo murmured to himself.

He really envied their cloaks, allowing them to move freely across inland areas.

“And they seem to be familiar with the planetary security system’s workings.”

“Should I attempt contact?”

“The problem is I don’t have a valid identity to reach out to them.”

“Oh right, once I go on vacation next month, I can meet Robert’s contact. For now, it’s best not to engage with the Bounty Hunter Guild.” Yang Bo had a few fake identities, but none for this planet.

“What kind of gene serum was that woman using to change her appearance?”

“Would it affect other areas of her body too?”

“What secret has the Bounty Hunter Guild been searching for here for over 200 years?” A flood of questions ran through Yang Bo’s mind.

That night, Yang Bo took a good rest, knowing that prolonged use of his superpowers strained his mental state.

“Boss,” Yang Bo arrived at the company, greeted by the Fat Boss, who was alone at the office.

“Yang Bo, you’re here.” The Fat Boss warmly greeted him.

“Did you watch the video on material purification?” The Fat Boss asked.

“I watched it once. It seems complicated, but I’m not sure how I’ll do in practice.”

“You have the talent. Here’s 20 batches of purification materials.” The Fat Boss pointed to a box beside him.

“Are you going to experiment here, or take it home?” The Fat Boss asked.

“I’ll take it home. I’m not confident enough yet.”

“I’ll give you a few sets of equipment to take back. Once you use it all, come get more here,” the Fat Boss said, not minding as purification was a complex process.

Yang Bo nodded. The Fat Boss handed him several large boxes, each containing a set of equipment.

He brought the materials and boxes home, with about a week left before work resumed.

The underground bunker had a dedicated lab designed with comprehensive protective measures.

“I’m really too soft-hearted, wandering the inland without killing a single small animal,” Yang Bo mused, glancing at the sand mice he’d caught.

The timid little creatures had been hiding in the dark corner of their cage since their arrival the day before.

“Time to test my network infiltration skills.” Yang Bo looked at the local area network system he’d set up and prepared to run some experiments.

“Beep beep beep!” As Yang Bo’s Optical Ability infiltrated a nearby computer, there was no initial reaction, but once he began browsing the computer’s data the alarm went off.

“An alarm, but it didn’t affect me?” Yang Bo noted the computer alerting, but it didn’t seem to stop or block his intrusion.

He probed the computer’s security system and thought, “Looks like I need to deal with the security system first.”

Carefully observing how the security system worked, Yang Bo also took out the software manual to study.

“Uninstall the security system,” Yang Bo found a straightforward method.

Apparently, personal computers and Central AI Systems’ security systems here could be uninstalled, unlike the stubborn systems on Earth.

However, uninstalling the security system also triggered alarms.

“Seems like I made an error in my approach.” Yang Bo stroked his chin, trying to figure out what went wrong.

Without solving the alarm issue, it would be impossible to access others’ data.

After thinking for a while, it gave him a headache, so he decided to make dinner while also catching up on the news.

While cooking, Yang Bo kept pondering the issue. After eating, he grabbed a deck chair and headed to the roof.

Enjoying the sea breeze as he looked out over the distant ocean, Yang Bo held the security system manual in hand.

“This is giving me a big headache.” The security manual was full of professional terms that he couldn’t understand.

“So is it only good for tracking someone, but not for accessing their data?”

“That can’t be right!”