Chapter 141: The Five Skull Zone

Only after Gecko accepted that Chen Zhong had indeed told him everything willingly did Lu Xin continue his account:

“This time they came to Qinggang specifically to steal that painting,” Lu Xin explained. “But Chen Zhong didn’t know who commissioned it or who would receive the payment. Apparently that’s their squad’s rule complete trust in Qin Ran and don’t ask unnecessary questions.”

“Besides stealing the painting they seemed to have two secondary objectives.”

“One objective involved the weapon they bought from some organization for this mission—the ‘Crying Little Boy Mental Pollution Bomb’ rated at ten thousand magnitude. Apparently it’s still experimental so they were also tasked with recording its performance data. Delivering that data to the bomb’s supplier would fulfill a separate commission.”

“But since Qin Ran handled the contact with that organization Chen Zhong didn’t know any details.”

…

“Mental Pollution Bomb?”

Gecko pondered the name for a moment. “Was that the one we dealt with back then?”

Lu Xin nodded. “That’s the one. But we disarmed it early so he said that mission counts as a failure. According to Qin Ran this bomb… only counts as successful if detonated when the psychic magnitude reaches ten thousand…”

He paused here his voice heavy. “Only then does it count as successful.”

Gecko understood the shift in tone. Both remembered the piles of bodies beneath the South Wall back then.

“Damn bastards!”

Gecko cursed.

Lu Xin nodded. “Definitely bastards!”

“Those bastards are even worse than those marauding Knight Orders in the wasteland…”

Gecko cursed again before asking “What about the third mission?”

This time it was Lu Xin’s turn to fall silent. After a moment he shook his head. “Couldn’t get it out of him.”

“Huh?”

Gecko looked at Lu Xin surprised.

Lu Xin explained “It was the last thing he mentioned but he couldn’t hold on any longer by then.”

As he said this Lu Xin glanced at Mom and Sister in the rearview mirror.

Mom and Sister showed no unusual reaction as if they hadn’t heard…

This confirmed Lu Xin’s suspicion. An unusual reaction from them would have been normal.

Their lack of reaction meant something was abnormal so…

…Did Sister intentionally not ask?

…

…

It was a family matter. Lu Xin didn’t elaborate further to Gecko.

He continued “He broke down too fast it’s a pity. According to him their squad has three Ability Users and four highly experienced mercenaries. We can confirm the Rose incident was caused by a member named Big Head Ghost. But they have an agreement not to actively inquire about each other’s abilities.”

“As for Qin Ran he only revealed one word…”

Lu Xin looked up slightly seemingly puzzled himself “‘Unkillable.'”

“Unkillable?”

Gecko was stunned by the word.

After a moment he said “The Research Department speculated his ability might be related to Rebirth back then. Could it really be that uncanny?”

Lu Xin didn’t answer.

He too was thinking about Qin Ran from the Sifang Transport Company and that Human-shaped Fruit Tree at the bottom of the lake.

“Are you sure he told the truth?”

Gecko frowned. “Didn’t he say he’d fought Qin Ran before?”

Lu Xin shook his head. “His exact words were that *because* he fought Qin Ran he didn’t understand his ability. When they fought he was defeated before Qin Ran even fully revealed his power…”

…

Gecko nodded saying nothing more but a shadow crossed his face.

Fights between Ability Users were incredibly dangerous.

Especially against those with unknown abilities you never knew what you might face.

“But luckily I managed to find out something else…”

Lu Xin sighed softly his expression relaxing slightly.

Hearing this Gecko quickly turned to look at him his expression tense. Lu Xin offered a smile:

“I found out where Qin Ran might be.”

Gecko immediately tensed his expression becoming extremely serious.

“According to Chen Zhong Qin Ran split from him temporarily because he worried Chen Zhong was being watched. So he didn’t tell him where he was going nor where he planned to meet the client receiving the painting. They only agreed that if nothing happened to anyone they’d meet up after three months at a High-wall City in the south.”

…

“Ah this…”

Gecko was so surprised he subconsciously slowed the car.

His expression was genuinely conflicted now. “Doesn’t that mean the trail’s gone cold again?”

Although he’d anticipated that tracking them wouldn’t be easy he only now realized just how cunning and vigilant Qin Ran’s group truly was making the pursuit incredibly difficult.

“Not quite.”

Lu Xin shook his head speaking slowly “Once he decided to talk he became very cooperative. Although Qin Ran didn’t tell him his destination he thought hard and remembered one of Qin Ran’s habits. He said whenever their boss faces a risky situation he first goes to a specific place to lie low for a few days. Once the heat dies down he continues his activities.”

“And since the place they need to trade the item is also in the south it’s highly likely he’ll go hide there again for a few days.”

…

“That works too…”

Gecko seemed momentarily stunned then asked nervously “Where is it?”

“Near the end of Highway 85 not far from the Cigarette Market. He said the place is called…”

Lu Xin thought for a moment “Happy Town?”

…

…

*Screech!*

Suddenly the off-road vehicle let out a harsh braking sound throwing Lu Xin forward sharply.

Luckily Lu Xin was wearing his seatbelt.

Glancing at Mom in the back seat Lu Xin saw she remained perfectly steady completely unaffected. But Sister who had been on the roof was flung off with a *whoosh*. She was now perched fiercely on the hood baring her teeth at Gecko.

He looked at Gecko puzzled wondering what had made him so tense.

“Brother…”

Gecko’s voice trembled slightly. “Are you sure it’s that place?”

Lu Xin nodded. “What’s wrong?”

Gecko seemed about to say something but held back. Instead he quickly leaned down rummaged through the car’s storage compartment pulled out a map spread it over the steering wheel and slowly traced his finger across it stopping at one spot. “Here?”

Lu Xin looked where he pointed and slowly nodded.

Now he understood Gecko’s intense reaction.

This map didn’t just show which roads were easy or difficult which ended abruptly or held dangers it also marked the locations of human settlements using different symbols to indicate their danger level.

For instance Blackwater Town was marked with “Market” “Oil” and a single skull symbol.

This meant Blackwater Town had a certain level of danger requiring caution.

There were other places on the map marked with different symbols too.

One place had two skulls representing a notoriously vicious Knight Order stronghold.

Another spot marked with three skulls was also a human settlement. They had previously robbed a Qinggang City transport convoy and suffered retaliation from Qinggang’s Army which killed their leader at the time. Now under a new leader they remained hostile towards Qinggang City fiercely attacking anyone from Qinggang they encountered…

But the place Gecko pointed to was marked with *five* skulls followed by a prominent question mark.

That entire area was colored black covering a space about the size of a fingernail on the map.

And on the map fingernail-sized translated to an area roughly the size of two Satellite Cities in reality.

…

…

“What does this represent?”

Lu Xin frowned asking Gecko.

“It means stay away. Go in and you don’t come out.”