Chapter 33: Prison
Edwin and Xi Lian’s aircraft was equipped with Iskan’s newest stealth device.
By the time the two arrived near the ground of the empire’s District One, the imperial military finally detected Iskan’s aircraft.
“Damn it, are these humans insane? It’s like they planted a tracker on us. They actually followed us all the way here.”
Edwin had transformed into a silver wolf and was weaving through the primeval forest outside District One’s capital, constantly complaining to the harpy eagle flying low beside him.
Xi Lian, already irritated because the trees blocked him from properly spreading his wings, grew even more agitated. He flapped his wings forcefully, trying to shake off the mental tendrils following closely behind them.
“They are human guides. They can track our location through the unique mental power on us.”
“Human guides?”
Edwin suddenly reacted and stopped in his tracks, turning around to face the human soldiers coming straight toward them.
His sharp wolf eyes stared directly at the human guides chasing them. He licked his fangs excitedly.
“I didn’t expect the mission to be completed this quickly.”
“What did you say?”
Xi Lian looked at the wolfman beneath him in disbelief. Because of Edwin’s sudden change, he had no choice but to turn around as well.
“We can just catch one and take them back now.”
The silver wolf looked confidently at the approaching guide soldiers. The beastly bloodlust in him made him especially excited for the upcoming fight.
Then an energy-gun bullet shot through the trees toward him.
Edwin instantly kicked off the ground and leaped away, flashing behind one of the guides. With his sharp fangs, he bit down on the other party’s shoulder.
The sudden intense pain made that guide cry out and collapse to the ground. His defensive tendrils activated automatically and rushed all at once toward Edwin’s consciousness cloud.
The moment the other party’s tendrils entered the silver wolf’s mind, a solid mental barrier blocked every one of the powerful attacks.
The guide’s mental tendrils also snapped in half from the impact of the collision, causing the guide, who had already suffered physical injury, to instantly lose consciousness.
The fall of one of their own made the guide unit, which had retreated dozens of meters away, instantly raise their guard.
The leading man gripped the energy rifle in his hand tightly and ordered the team members beside him, “The target is a beastman. Mental attacks are ineffective against him. Use physical attacks as much as possible to restrain him.”
As soon as the man finished speaking, a sharp pain reached the lower part of his neck.
Relying on the beastman’s high mobility, Edwin appeared beside him in an instant and pinned him beneath his claws.
Facing Edwin’s sudden attack at close range, the human guide unit immediately fell into disarray and fired their energy-gun bullets wildly in the silver wolf’s direction.
As the ammunition in the energy guns ran out, Edwin, who had dodged every attack, curled his lips and was about to knock the remaining guides to the ground.
Xi Lian, who had been circling above, had no choice but to join the fight. He dove toward the guides on the ground and used his powerful talons to drag away a guide who was about to ambush Edwin.
For a moment, the two’s fierce assault instantly wiped out the tracking guide unit.
Just as Edwin looked at the unconscious guide soldiers scattered across the ground and tried to carefully sniff their scents, intending to pick out the guide most to his liking, a mental force far stronger than all the guides from earlier suddenly attacked.
Countless extended mental tendrils attacked the two’s consciousness clouds, cracking open a gap in their solid mental barriers, then drilling inside and destroying one mental pathway.
The instant the mental pathway was severed, the two froze in place. Their brains could not send commands to their bodies for a long while.
Soon, a giant net equipped with a weakening device spread down and wrapped around the two of them.
A moment later, Edwin, whose consciousness cloud had recovered, twisted his body, trying to escape the giant net’s restraint.
Unexpectedly, an energy current transmitted through his entire body, instantly stripping him of strength. Helpless, he could only grind his teeth inside the net.
Immediately after that, an anesthetic needle shot into their bodies, causing the already weakened two to collapse unconscious onto the ground.
After confirming that they had completely lost the ability to move, a figure walked out from the forest and signaled for the surrounding soldiers to capture them.
Amelie’s extremely cold voice was heard commanding, “Lock them in the military’s high-security prison. Have sentinels who did not participate in the Allied Forces operation guard them.”
When Edwin woke again, the glaring white light above him stung his eyes.
In his blurred vision, he saw Xi Lian, now in human form, sitting calmly in a corner nearby, looking at him with a disdainful expression.
“Xi Lian, what’s with that expression?”
“I remember your family doesn’t have the habit of marrying into canine breeds. How did it get to your parents’ generation…”
From the meaning between his words, Edwin felt an unprecedented level of mockery. He bared his teeth and cursed, “You’re calling me a dog?”
“No. There are intelligent canine species too, such as border collies.”
Xi Lian shifted his leaning posture and looked down at the silver wolf lying on the ground, his expression sincere.
“Are you mixed with husky?”
“Damn it, I’m a purebred wolf. You stupid bird. If you hadn’t kept flapping your wings over there, we would have completed the mission already.”
“If a certain stupid dog hadn’t acted on his own, we wouldn’t have been locked up here.”
“…”
As their argument grew louder, the soldier stationed outside suddenly kicked the iron door and looked impatiently at the two of them.
“Shut up. If you keep arguing, neither of you gets dinner tonight.”
“He’s telling you to shut up, stupid dog. I don’t want to miss dinner.”
Xi Lian forced the argument to end with an arrogant expression.
He turned his head away, trying to block the image of the silver wolf’s stupidity from his mind.
The peace between the two did not last long before the sound of the prison gate being pushed open broke it.
A tall man dressed in noble clothing walked to the iron bars that imprisoned the two of them. He looked down at the bowing prison guard beside him from above.
“You may leave. I want to speak with them alone.”
Hearing Qin Hua’s unfriendly tone, the soldier assigned to monitor the two remembered the banquet tragedy from a few days ago and automatically categorized him as someone here for revenge. Very consciously, he left the prison gate and gave Qin Hua space to carry out private punishment.
Watching the heavy gate close, Qin Hua, who had been pretending to look fierce, instantly changed expression. He walked up opposite Xi Lian, crouched down, and said, “Brother Lian, why did you suddenly attack District One soldiers? Are you hurt?”
“No.”
Xi Lian responded blandly.
“No? But the mark you left on me hurt. Are you really not injured?”
Qin Hua looked at Xi Lian with puppy-dog eyes, feeling somewhat dissatisfied with the other party’s cold attitude.
Clearly, Xi Lian did not buy his attentive attitude at all. He only glanced at him lightly.
“That’s your illusion. This is a one-way brand. It won’t affect you in any way.”
“How would it not affect me?”
Qin Hua suddenly raised his voice.
“Ever since you were locked in here, that mark has been glowing red nonstop. You were the one who left it without my consent. And now you’re trying to deny it.”
Qin Hua’s ears were red. Although he deliberately sounded like he was complaining, Little Gray, who had secretly run out on its own, had long since exposed his true feelings.
A Siberian wolf appeared inside the iron bars and affectionately rubbed against Xi Lian’s neck, opening its mouth as if it wanted to bite his head.
Xi Lian, who had just been harshly insulting wolves, immediately changed his attitude. Helplessly, he stroked the fur on Little Gray’s back, occasionally pinching the wolf’s neck, trying to pull away that mouth aimed at his head.
Qin Hua, sharing senses with his mental body, made a comfortable sound and looked at Xi Lian with anticipation, waiting for his next move.
At that moment, Edwin, who was also a wolf, cautiously approached Little Gray and sniffed the scent on it with his nose.
“Xi Lian’s and Qin Hua’s? Why are there only two scents?”
Edwin looked in confusion at Xi Lian’s deliberately calm gaze.
As he gradually approached Little Gray, Xi Lian finally shot him an unhappy glare.
“Stay away, stupid dog.”
Xi Lian’s sudden words interrupted the little theater in Qin Hua’s mind and drew his attention to the silver wolf sharing the same prison.
“Who is this?”
Qin Hua looked excitedly at the silver wolf before him, whose fur was bright and whose physique was strong.
Little Gray, who had been in Xi Lian’s arms, also abandoned its attack and curiously approached Edwin.
Just as Little Gray sniffed and drew closer to Edwin, Xi Lian reached out, grabbed its mouth, and pulled it back a little from not far away.
“Stop sniffing. That’s Edwin.”
“So this is Adjutant Edwin’s beast form?”
Driven by curiosity, Qin Hua moved a little closer to the iron bars. Immediately afterward, the sound of electric current reached his ears. The iron bars, which had originally seemed calm, were instantly charged with electricity, forcing Qin Hua back.
Faced with the prison system’s high security, Qin Hua, who had originally been excited, instantly drooped his head. Like a puppy who had done something wrong, he said pitifully, “It’s all my fault. If I had stayed in the military, maybe I could have let you out.”
Xi Lian looked at the equally downcast Siberian wolf and finally sighed, stroking its fluffy head.
“This isn’t your fault. If you want to blame someone, blame this—”
“Let us out?”
Catching the key phrase, Edwin suddenly leaned close in front of Qin Hua, interrupting Xi Lian’s words halfway.
“If you enter the military, you can let us out?”
“Of course. The prison gate permissions are only held by the soldiers guarding the prison. If I were in the military, I could apply for a transfer and come guard the prison.”
“No need for all that trouble.”
Having found a breakthrough point, Edwin’s eyes instantly lit up. He looked at Qin Hua as if he were looking at a lifesaving straw.
“We were caught because we were controlled by that human guide or whatever and couldn’t move.”
“Mm.”
“So those human guides of yours can control movement.”
“Mm.”
“Then do this. Go prepare an aircraft, then go kidnap a military guide. Control this guard’s movements, and that will let us out, won’t it?”
“Mm!”
Qin Hua echoed Edwin’s words, his eyes sparkling as if he had seen an idol. He put on an obedient, devoted expression.
“Okay. I’ll definitely get you out.”
“Exactly. All right, you can act immediately.”
Edwin flicked his tail and issued the order in a commander’s tone.
But before Qin Hua could respond, a hand grabbed Edwin’s exposed ear, and Xi Lian cursed angrily, “Stupid dog, are you insane? You want him to kidnap a guide alone inside this heavily guarded military department and then release us? Are you trying to send him to his death?”
“Then what else can we do? Right now, only he can get us out.”
“You…”
Xi Lian was rendered speechless by his righteous tone. Then a fluffy sensation reached his hand.
Little Gray affectionately rubbed against his palm, and Qin Hua’s comforting words entered his ears.
“Don’t worry, Brother Lian. I know what that mark means. I won’t act recklessly, and I won’t let you die.”
“That’s not what I…”
Before he could say the word “mean,” the soldier at the entrance opened the gate and gave Qin Hua a look.
Immediately afterward, Qin Hua changed from his obedient appearance and once again put on the posture of a noble, leaving the prison with the soldier who was seeing him out.
