Chapter 479: Gathering and Not Gathering

"This is it."

The girl spoke softly, her voice was cold yet strangely gentle.

"Are they here to greet us?"

The boy sitting in the back seat gestured outside the window with his eyes.

The attacker in a black suit quickly walked over from the driver's seat and opened the door. He bowed slightly and glanced at the two people in the car out of the corner of his eyes.

The man, or boy, had some iconic short black hair, and his three-piece suit was neatly worn, slightly wrinkled. The driver certainly didn't think it was the negligence of the cleaning staff, but that his driving skills were not good enough and he disturbed the customer while driving. Although he couldn't see the label or logo on the collar of the other party's suit, at least the expensive fabric was enough to explain something.

Of course, the most confident factor for the driver came from the person accompanying the boy.

If a suit is a man's armor, then a woman is the best label of a man's value.

The girl has long, light golden silk-like hair, and a tight black outfit that outlines her slender waist. Her long, light golden hair is tied into a ponytail and tied high behind her head, which sways gently as she gets off the car. She raises her head, revealing a face as transparent as ice and snow, and her azure blue eyes are quiet and cold. She is a woman... or more accurately, a girl. Her clear eyes are like an ice mirror, her young face cannot hide her coldness, and her figure is exquisite and protruding, with alluring curves.

After taking about an hour's drive from where they got off the plane, the two of them arrived at this uninhabited wilderness area northwest of Chicago.

As expected, the people here had arrived earlier than them, but they were not the only two left.

"A lot of people came, but some people still didn't make it."

"correct."

"Zhuo, don't get lost. I will be on the lookout and we all have communicators with us, so it won't be hard to get in touch even if we're separated, but it's better to go and come back quickly."

"Ok."

Ling, who was familiar with the situation, had much more experience in this area than him, and was more mature than Zhuo. Although she was following the crowd this time, and the mission she was carrying out might change, it was probably nothing to her, or it might be easier for her. Therefore, Zhuo accepted Ling's suggestion completely.

Although not everyone is waiting for the last two people to arrive, there are still many people waiting here early, so they have to pay more attention.

"Then let's go."

Zero took the lead and went into the woods, first passing through a small patch of dense, dark woods, and then joined a dozen men who were also wearing black combat uniforms.

As expected, Zero attracted a lot of people's attention.

There were also quite a few female mixed-race people there. As mixed-race people, they were all beautiful, and Zero, wearing a black tights, shouldn't be too conspicuous... However, that wasn't the case.

Even if Ling was just wearing a black outfit and not making any makeup at all, she would still be attractive enough.

Then once the cool and orthodox beautiful girl puts on the tight combat uniform, it is impossible for her not to become the focus of attention.

Even her walking movements were so beautiful that they attracted the attention of others.

"...what's wrong?"

"fine."

Ling took Zhuo to an open lawn and sat down. Perhaps because they thought they would have to wait for a long time, the people who came here prepared their own lunch and dinner. Zhuo also prepared some after Ling reminded him.

Their location was relatively remote, which gave Zhuo some time to observe his 'companions' who had arrived with him.

In Zhuo's imagination, "hunter" should be a shady profession that is not allowed to be seen in the light. While everyone is running for money, they will also carefully hide their identities... However, the reality is very different from what he imagined.

Although Ling did not insist, Zhuo still chose to follow her advice and came in a suit that he thought would be very abrupt. Only now did he realize that even so, he did not attract the attention of others.

There were about 20 people, both men and women, with different skin colors and strange clothes, but no one chose to cover their faces - this practice made Zhuo, who had thought about wearing a mask to conceal his identity, a little embarrassed. Because he had heard Ling's advice beforehand, Zhuo did not plan to talk to these people. Zhuo had also heard that most people in this kind of employment business could not be trusted, and although he had not experienced it personally, he thought it would not be wrong.

And Zero, who looked as imagined and was wearing combat uniform, still kept his eyes on her even after he sat down in the corner.

Zhuo felt a little uncomfortable, but did not say it out loud. Instead, he washed his hands and rinsed his mouth like Ling and sat down.

Although Zhuo was deliberately blocking the path of the gaze, the source of the gaze was not from one direction after all, and it was difficult for his body to block the line of sight in three directions. In addition, there were so many people around, so Zhuo's self-deceiving action became slower and slower.

Maybe it was a psychological effect, or maybe it was because he had been away for so long that he chose to show his edge again.

Today's zero gives the impression of being more colorful than usual.

To be precise, the lips appear slightly redder.

Ling's lips usually have a natural red color, and even if she puts on something, the color is not too obvious. She should have put on a darker lipstick or something today.

On the one hand, Zhuo thought it was rare, on the other hand, he felt that it made him look sexier and sharper than usual, and on the other hand, it was more of a factor that attracted attention rather than the taste - just as he thought of this, when Zero was about to lean past him, he suddenly changed his direction and lightly bumped into him.

She might be trying to reach over me to get something from her backpack.

Zhuo immediately supported Ling to prevent her from falling, while Ling murmured in his arms: "I'm holding it in my heart again."

"……Are you OK?"

"I'm fine... Zhuo."

Although she was hardly hit, Zhuo was still worried that she might have hit her nose. Ling said that she was fine, but for some reason she repeated his name.

Zhuo didn't understand what was going on, so he looked down at her and found that she was lowering her eyes in thought.

Zhuoyi and her eyes met, and Ling looked at him intently for some reason.

“…That’ll do.”

"Eh?"

Seeing that Zhuo didn't understand why Ling suddenly said such confusing words, Ling also realized that he didn't explain it clearly, so he immediately raised his finger and pointed at a position just below Zhuo's chin.

"how?"

"Because you just caught my...shirt..."

"Shirt? Ah."

Zhuo didn't know what was wrong with the shirt. After following Ling's gaze, he finally understood what Ling wanted to express.

Although it was called a shirt, he was actually wearing a black suit today so it was just a white shirt lining it. Even so, there was a lip print right near the neckline which served as a collar, and the shape could be clearly seen.

Zhuo thought that she might feel that this was inappropriate and was about to take off her clothes, but Ling quickly placed his hand on Zhuo's hand to stop him, then raised his eyes and stared at him.

Zhuo didn't understand what she meant, so he looked back.

After the two looked into each other's eyes for a while, Ling looked away first and held Zhuo's hand tightly. Ling quickly took out the food from the backpack she brought. Zhuo didn't even have time to think about the coldness in her eyes. He could only clearly feel the touch of the hand he was holding while burying this little question in his heart.

……

"People are coming."

Zhuo couldn't tell who said this, but after someone muttered this to himself like a signal, almost everyone looked up in unison with him.

"Come with me."

The charming voice spoke softly, inadvertently revealing the dominance of a queen.

As expected, the person who came was none other than Jude Mai. She was wearing the same black combat uniform as Zero, and her long dark hair was also tied into a high ponytail. She stepped out of the bushes with her long, straight legs, raised her body and glanced at the people gathered here with her beautiful eyes. She paused for a moment at the back of the Russian girl who was bending over to pack up the picnic blanket with her back to her, and then said so.

There was a rustling sound of grass, and the hunters all stood up.

I don't know why these people didn't question the identity of the "employer". Aren't they afraid that the cops would come in disguise and lead them into the police's encirclement?

Zhuo didn't have the energy to think about all these things. Maybe it was because it was his first time doing something like this. He was curious about everything, but at the same time he was trying hard to suppress his nervousness and pretend to be calm.

If I have to make an analogy, it's probably like a boy going to a foot massage parlor for the first time. He's obviously timid as hell, but he still has this exaggerated feeling of "I'm going home".

Ling, on the other hand, was completely different from him. When Zhuo looked back, she could even see that after folding the picnic blanket into squares, she was still in the mood to sort the post-meal garbage and put them into different plastic bags.

"What's wrong?"

"Well, don't you need to say hello?"

After hearing Zhuo's hesitant words, Ling seemed to have realized something belatedly and looked at the group of people who had already begun to move further into the mountains. She looked at the front, but it was only for about two seconds before she retracted her gaze and shook her head gently.

"Well then... Speaking of which, scenes like this really give me a sense of déjà vu."

If you are watching from the sidelines, you will probably be asked, "What's going on with this lipstick mark?"

Although he had never experienced it, Zhuo had roughly heard that when a woman leaves her mark on a man and takes it back, it is a way of announcing her existence to the wife of the man's family - although for Ling and Zhuo, there was no third party who needed to publicize their status, so this was probably just an accident.

"...I think you will never have an affair."

"It's so heavy. Besides you, what other blind girl would like me? And if you changed your mind, you should have said it clearly and ended the relationship in a way that both parties can accept before taking action."

"Very much like you."

"Is that wrong?"

"No, I think it shows your character, it's very endearing."

"Thank you for the compliment... So was this intentional?"

The reason why I said 'this time' was probably because of that experience after the drinking party when Yurina left a lip print on him, which turned Zero into a hedgehog.

No matter how careless he was, Zhuo also sensed Ling's feelings. Perhaps it was to let him relax while letting her feel relieved and not be "careless". So he left this lip print.

Of course, Zhuo didn't feel any sense of conspiracy about this. Instead, he felt quite satisfied with the act of both parties labeling each other as "their own".

"So that's it, we're going to catch up."

"...Please be careful about the excessive words you use before you skip the topic."

"Kassel College is a long way away..."

Ling seemed to have no answer to his thoughts. After picking up the backpack, he stood on tiptoe and was about to help Zhuo hang it up. Zhuo complained, hoping that she would consider not using such a blunt and rough statement that could not be concealed. She turned around and immediately felt the shoulder straps of the backpack hanging on her shoulders. Her delicate palms gently stroked along the place where the shoulder straps overlapped with her shoulders. Finally, she lifted it lightly and made the final arrangement.

"In the past, even during missions, we would communicate via headsets and rarely meet before a mission."

Zhuo understood that Ling was explaining the previous greeting.

Even after hearing this, Zhuo couldn't understand why he didn't just say hello.

"If the potato chips are there, things can go on smoothly."

"So this is ah."

Is that so... Although Zhuo was very skeptical, seeing that Ling himself was used to it, he did not say anything, but took the hand of Ling, who had a gentle look in his eyes.

Because they had not yet completely passed through the sparsely populated suburbs, and the crowd had already walked a little further ahead. Zhuo did not want them to get lost on the way, so he wanted to speed up and catch up.

Although Zhuo held Ling's hand in front of so many people because of this angle, Ling blinked slightly, then looked at the place where the two overlapped in a daze, and held Zhuo's hand back.

"The guy who's secretly dating in the back, come over here--"

Jude Mai's voice is very charming and helpless, and it is easy to identify.

Zhuo and Ling were both stunned for a moment, as they didn't seem to expect that Jude Mai had been paying attention to them. After looking at each other, Zhuo could clearly see from Ling's eyes that she was in a much better mood.

The two of them walked towards where the crowd was as if they were being urged.

...

...

Night falls.

Outside the crowd.

Finally, someone arrived at this place where no one stayed.

The shadow turned off the Black Widow's engine and pulled out a black shotgun with a sawn-off barrel from the back pocket of his motorcycle. This was a very intimidating weapon. The shadow stroked the handle of the gun with a little pride. He had a great sense of honor in holding the power of life and death.

He turned on his phone and dialed a number. A recorded message came back: "No. 13, your destination is Valhalla. Use the ID card you prepared to pass the access control. After entering, look for the entrance to the central computer room. Then listen for new instructions."

He was number 13 in the team, the last number. It didn't sound auspicious, but it made him feel like the god of death. This was not his first mission, and he had always been a person who paid attention to his feelings. Everyone in the team would act according to different instructions and finally meet up to avoid being ambushed and wiped out.

"Valhalla." No. 13 silently recited the place name.

"Oops!" He was stunned. He had brought all his equipment, but no map. The campus in the distance was full of buildings that looked similar. Which one was Valhalla?
He is a person with poor sense of direction, which he considers to be his only shortcoming.

"There's no other way. As a man, I can fight my way out with my gun, right?" No. 13 gripped the gun handle tightly to encourage himself.

"But experts don't resort to violence easily." No. 13 thought again, "If we can send Shadow to drop a nuclear bomb, we don't need to use a cruiser to bombard head-on."

(End of this chapter)