Chapter 141 Sharp Is Not Dead
“Sharp is not dead!” Gu Ding typed out the message but did not send it to Bart.
Gu Ding was not on familiar terms with Bart. He had been giving Bart reminders just to take revenge on the Army. Nevertheless, judging from the video"s content earlier, Bart did not seem like the same type of person as him. Like how it was always said, those with different beliefs should not work together. Gu Ding did not feel the need to be friends with someone like him.
There seemed to be only one crazy idea in Bart"s mind and that was increasing his bounty. Bart would do whatever it took to achieve that purpose. Although Gu Ding also hoped that his bounty would keep on increasing, unlike Bart, he would not take the initiative to stir up trouble.
Bart"s actions in the mall earlier were extremely provocative. Bart might have managed to manipulate a strong Army general. However, if he had not chosen to pierce his heart and instead beheaded him, his plan might have succeeded.
The large increase in their bounties might have resulted in them attracting many powerhouses to join their crew, significantly increasing their overall strength. Nevertheless, man proposes, but G.o.d disposes. Bart"s plan had failed. Sharp did not die-it meant that his plan to a.s.sa.s.sinate an Army general had failed.
However, Bart was unaware of this. He had left the mall right after thrusting the saber through Sharp"s heart. In his opinion, there was no way Sharp would have been able to survive anyway.
Their hiding place was a slum. The toilets were all open-air and right on the streets. Forget about surveillance, even though there was supposed to be at least one tavern in each block, there was none there.
Their accommodation was a pretty decent guesthouse which month"s rental was only one Star Credit. Truth be told, Bart was stunned when he heard the price.
Hence, he generously threw a bunch of Star Credits at the landlord. “Don"t tell anyone that we"re staying here, including your friends and family. You can"t tell anyone, especially the Federal Government. If you can keep it a secret, we"ll pay you a generous reward before we leave.”
Seeing that Bart had returned, his crew members who had been holding back for half the night gathered around him. “Boss, how did the plan go? Did you meet an Army general? Did you guys fight?”
Bart took Sharp"s saber out from his Inventory. “Any idea to whom this saber belongs to?”
“Could that be Sharp"s saber?” a young man with a somewhat keen eye stared said hesitantly after staring at the saber for a long time. “I saw it in a video and it seems like the saber Sharp uses.”
“Seems? This is the saber Sharp once used!” Bart raised the saber with pride. A dreadful ray of light shone from the saber, and one could see that it was not an ordinary item.
Everybody believed it to a certain extent.
“It looks like some of you still don"t believe me. However, this time, I did not forget to record everything that happened with my intelligent smart.w.a.tch,” Bart said as he projected the video he had recorded.
The length of the video was more than twenty minutes. It was a little overwhelming because it had been shot from Bart"s angle. Everybody could see from Bart"s point of view that Sharp was indeed terrifying.
Nevertheless, when they saw Bart finally thrust the saber into Sharp"s chest, a moment of silence ensued before the room went bananas-many shouted in excitement. They had no idea that the boss they followed was so strong-he managed to kill an Army general on his own. Such a feat was unprecedented in Dragon Soar Cosmic Nation-no other newcomer could have done such a thing.
“It seems like Sharp didn"t pull his saber out from the start…” a weak voice rang from among the crowd.
Everyone who heard this fell silent.
“It just means that our boss is so strong that Sharp didn"t even have a chance to pull his saber out before he died,” someone said unconvincingly.
Nevertheless, the crowd roared in excitement once again.
Bart himself knew that he had been really lucky this time. If Sharp had taken the battle seriously from the beginning and pulled out his sword to attack with full force, he would not have had stood a chance. Sharp"s attacks were already terrifying even when he had his sheath on. One could only imagine how terrifying it would be if Sharp unsheathed his saber. Sharp had been defeated completely by his own carelessness.
Nevertheless, Bart was very satisfied with his performance. He believed that the video would get out soon, and his net worth would soon skyrocket.
On the other hand, Gu Ding"s crew was discussing about ways to handle the Army.
“Based on the current situation, the Army shouldn"t be able to find us anytime soon. However, once a majority of the others are caught, they will focus on hunting us down. The moment they see that there are fewer people, they will immediately issue wanted posters. A lot of people who have seen us might provide them with clues, and they won"t be too far from arresting us.” Neptune was very clear about the Army"s manhunt procedure. When a lot of people still remained, it was unlikely they would issue wanted orders because they would not work well. It was improbable that ordinary citizens had seen all of them, and many citizens would have forgotten that they had seen them before. However, once there were fewer people left, the wanted posters could be put to good use-just one glance and one would have an impression of it.
“What you mean is no matter how we hide, they"ll find us sooner or later. It"s inevitable that we fight.” Gu Ding had some theoretical knowledge about hunting wanted criminals from the military academy. He somewhat understood Neptune"s deduction.
“That"s right. However, seeing Sharp"s situation, the Army should not make any big movements soon.” Neptune then continued, “If they do make any big movements, they"ll be forced to operate with only two of their top combatants.”
“Therefore, they will do things step by step and hunt us slowly to diminish our patience.” Gu Ding nodded.
“Indeed. It may prove to be time-consuming and a waste of money for the Army, but Interstellar Pirates are often reluctant to be trapped in a single place for a long time. They"ve caught on to our mentality. Besides, with the opening of the new route, everyone is eager to enter the Cosmic Seno one wants to be left behind.” Liliath could also understand what the Army had in mind. “The main thing right now is that they have our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps under control. The port"s skydome is also closed. All civilian and commercial s.h.i.+ps are prohibited from entering and leaving. The only way to leave this planet is to kill the Army"s men. It is only a matter of time until a battle breaks out.”
“The Army"s operation tonight can"t be considered an actual failure. They managed to recapture forty-eight bounty criminals.” Neptune had managed to obtain the latest data. “Only less than 10% of them managed to escape. Walter is still cross-checking their appearances, but from the looks of it, those people did not manage to get very far. Everyone else was more cautious.”
“They"ll start searching the areas with little to no surveillance tomorrow morning. A small-scale battle will probably occur.” Gu Ding speculated that besides themselves, a large majority of the rest would probably adopt the same method to avoid being tracked down.
“There are a few crews with people who have camouflage abilities. They should be able to get away with it,” Liliath added.
“If you need to camouflage yourselves, I can make camouflage masks to make you look like a completely different person.” No one doubted Robert"s craftsmans.h.i.+p.
However, Liliath looked at Biggie who was beside her. “With Biggie"s physique, he will still attract other people"s attention even if he were to change his face.”
“Physique isn"t really a big problem. I can refine body shaping medicine to contract muscles and bones. However, it might cause great pain to the user after the medicine is injected. I don"t think we need to escape being tracked down. After all, the Army will keep on standing guard if we continue to be absent. You probably heard it earlier too. Biggie is Sharp"s biggest target in this mission. He won"t leave so easily without seeing Biggie.” Gu Ding was well aware of the obsession such martial arts powerhouses had. The most important thing was that the longer they went into hiding, the later they would enter the Cosmic Sea. Hence, Gu Ding would rather take a simple and direct battle. The worst outcome that could come of it would be nothing but him being put in Federation Prison. With Neptune around, escaping Federation Prison would not be too hard. Not to mention, he had done something similar once.
While everybody was still discussing amongst themselves, Gu Ding"s communicator rang. He looked at the number and saw that it was Bart"s. He did not quite understand why Bart would contact him.
After answering the call, Bart"s voice was heard from the other side. “Gu Ding, you must be looking for a way to escape this planet too, right?”
“Any bright ideas?” Gu Ding had not expected Bart to think about something else other than ways to increase his own bounty.
“Here"s what I think, we will launch a strike on the port alongside Mi En and An Luo. We"ll each get our s.p.a.ces.h.i.+ps back and escape. However, it won"t work without your cooperation. That"s because only you can activate the port"s skydome, and only you can destroy the port"s armor-piercing cannon system. Without your help, the mission is only empty talk. That"s why I had the cheek to dial your number that appears as non-existent.” Bart"s idea was alright but in Gu Ding"s opinion, it would not work. “I thought about it. After the mission, I"ll give you Sharp"s saber for free. I don"t think Mi En and An Luo would mind paying you some remuneration as well. If you agree, I"ll go and talk to them.”
“The main problem is neither the port"s Sky s.h.i.+eld nor the armor-piercing cannon. The biggest problem is the three Baby Dragon interceptors hovering outside this planet.” The other crews were obviously unaware of the Baby Dragons, but Gu Ding did not plan on hiding anything. “It"s because of the two incidents on Fengyuan and Constlac that the Army is wary of me.”
“It can"t be! Are you sure there are three Baby Dragons?” Bart"s voice was clearly not as confident as before after hearing the information Gu Ding had.
“I"m very sure. Three humongous boys. If you want to see them, I can send you the video I shot later.” Gu Ding smiled wryly.
Bart fell silent for a moment. “If that won"t work, why don"t we just join forces and get rid of those Army people. Sharp"s dead anyway. The Army is left with only one Rank-10 Gene Body. Biggie only has to pin down the woman. Once we kill off the other people from the Army, the port will be ours.”
“Your idea is pretty good. However, Sharp did not die. Not only did he not die, but he was also promoted to a Rank-11 Gene Body because of the fight he had with you.” Gu Ding could not help but tell Bart the bad news.