Volume Two: The Youth of a Thousand Faces, Chapter Sixty-Seven: Pooling Ideas

Ten minutes later, Huo Ye and his companions finally found the regiment commander’s office. Even before reaching the door, they could already hear someone inside ranting furiously, “This is pure nonsense! Do you have any idea what you’ve done? You’ve assigned that mission to Bancroft, to the Reaper Hunter Regiment, do you understand what the Reaper Hunter Regiment is? Any random lieutenant in that regiment could chop off our heads and use them as ashtrays, yet you dared treat students in Hunter uniforms so rudely? Can’t you use that head of yours for something other than storing dung? Students who can wear those uniforms—how could they possibly be ordinary? If headquarters holds us accountable for this, don’t expect me to shield you. In fact, I might have to resign with you to apologize!”

Hearing this, Alice, Shangguan Yudie, and Leilimi all glanced at Huo Ye. Any random lieutenant? As they recalled, Huo Ye’s military merits in the Reaper Hunter Regiment had indeed earned him the rank of lieutenant, though because of his studies, that position was always managed by his deputy.

Huo Ye had no interest in listening to the shouting inside. He stepped forward and knocked on the door. Immediately, a voice roared, “Who is it?”

“Students from Bancroft, lieutenant of the Reaper Hunter Regiment,” Huo Ye replied.

Jiang Feng’s eyelids twitched—wasn’t this a deliberate retort based on the tirade they’d just overheard? As expected, their leader was still the same, no matter the occasion.

Suddenly, there was a loud crash inside, followed by the unmistakable sounds of hurried scrambling before someone finally opened the door.

It was the commander of the Hunter Regiment himself. The moment he saw Huo Ye, he recognized him as the son of Commander Hols—there was no mistaking that aura.

Normally, Huo Ye could be either genial or unpredictable. Speaking with him might feel like basking in a spring breeze, or it might leave you speechless. But when it came to business, his expression turned exceptionally stern.

The commander had seen that very same look on Eddie Hols’ face when he'd gone to report to the Reaper Hunter Regiment.

Huo Ye greeted him, “Hello.”

The commander placed his hands before him with a hint of deference. “Ah, hello. You must be the students sent by Bancroft to assist us. You’re surely all talents of the highest caliber. Please, come in.”

Huo Ye raised an eyebrow, motioned for the others to wait outside, and walked straight to the commander’s desk. He picked up a pen, tore off a blank sheet of paper, wrote down a string of numbers, and handed it to the commander. “We’re just here to introduce ourselves. After a long journey without food or water for ten hours, we’d like to find a place to rest first. Within three hours, please send all mission-related materials and the local satellite maps to this Feixin number.”

With that, he turned to leave. The commander was inwardly impressed—decisive and efficient, truly a successor trained by Eddie Hols.

But just as Huo Ye reached the door, he turned back and added, “One more thing—I don’t smoke, so I have no interest in using your heads as ashtrays. That’s all.”

“Uh…”

Everyone was speechless.

The six of them left the Hunter Regiment headquarters and found the best hotel in town. Though it claimed to be the best, it was, after all, only in a border city of the colony, so at most it barely reached three stars.

They weren’t picky, since it was only for a few days. Six people, three standard rooms—three men, three women. Huo Ye and his sister Alice shared one room, Leilimi and Jiang Feng another, and Kazama Liuli and Shangguan Yudie the last.

They carried only storage boxes, no other luggage. Upon reaching their rooms, everyone collapsed directly onto their beds to recover from the exhaustion of travel. Ten hours without food or water, focused solely on the journey—even for espers, fatigue was inevitable.

“Big brother,” Alice mumbled into her pillow, her face buried deep.

“Yeah, I’m listening,” Huo Ye replied, mirroring her position.

“Are you hungry?”

“I’m alright.”

“I want to eat your cooking.”

“Hold on a bit; wait until we’re home.”

“Alright then.”

Kazama Liuli lay on her bed with a look of bliss, murmuring, “Ah, the bed! Truly humanity’s greatest invention. Unless it’s for food, don’t wake me. Just let me die here.”

Shangguan Yudie looked up at the ceiling, speechless. Waking everyone would be a challenge, and since she wasn’t close enough to Liuli yet, she felt awkward about taking the initiative. Better to let Xiao Ai handle it later.

On the other side, Leilimi and Jiang Feng lay flat on their beds. This was their first time alone together, and for a while, neither knew what to say.

Eventually, Jiang Feng, ever the social one, broke the silence. “Hey, Leilimi?”

“Huh?” Leilimi turned to look at him.

“Do you like Alice?” Jiang Feng asked.

Leilimi blushed furiously, stammering, “Is it… that obvious?”

Jiang Feng sighed. “Of course. You’re too pure and easy to read. I bet our leader figured it out even earlier—weren’t you childhood friends?”

“Yeah.”

“To be honest, I used to like Alice too. Now, though, it wouldn’t be realistic to say I feel nothing at all, but I’m trying to let go. Before, it was because our leader was such an overprotective brother, but after actually spending time together, I realized Alice just isn’t right for me. That’s about it. Still, good luck to you.”

Leilimi fell silent, lost in thought.

They all ordered room service for dinner. Afterward, everyone was called to gather in Huo Ye’s room.

Huo Ye moved the room’s table to stand between the two beds. The group sat on the beds, circling the table.

He used his crystal brain’s holographic projector to display the materials sent by the Hunter Regiment on the table. First up were photos of the destruction caused by the Ultimate Form’s first appearance.

“Take a look at these photos—see if you notice anything,” Huo Ye said.

The images showed overturned transport trucks and human corpses scattered across a desert, blood soaking into the yellow sand. The trucks were riddled with holes, as if pierced by something sharp. All the bodies were missing their heads.

Gathering intelligence was always Jiang Feng’s strength. He immediately pointed out an obvious question, gesturing at the headless corpses, “Where did all their heads go? Were they eaten, or…?”

Huo Ye considered this. “According to a survivor, the Ultimate Form twisted the heads off and sent them flying with the horns growing from its own head. Many victims’ heads were found far from the scene, but some were never recovered—maybe desert wolves carried them off. It seems to be a quirk of his. For example, look here: judging by the clothing, this was an esper mercenary hired by the caravan. The fatal wound was a piercing through the heart, but his head is still missing.”

“Huh… then going by that, dead or alive, the Ultimate Form will always twist off the victim’s head, right? So why are there survivors?” Kazama Liuli yawned as she asked.

“That survivor hid under the chassis of a truck, using the angle of a sand dune for cover. When the Ultimate Form was about to check the truck, the Hunter Regiment arrived. The Ultimate Form didn’t choose to fight. So, you could say the survivor was extremely lucky,” Huo Ye explained.

Leilimi spoke up, “Can you mark the spots where the heads landed? I think I can try to calculate the impact force from the Ultimate Form’s horns. That data could be useful for the fight.”

Calculation was always Leilimi’s forte. With an IQ of 160 and a background in science and engineering, this kind of academic work suited him far better than combat. If he truly wanted to become a Hunter Regiment warrior, his academic personality would require much time and effort to adapt to the brutality and intensity of battle.

“Sure.” Huo Ye switched the data to show a satellite map, marking the landing points of the victims’ heads with red dots and sending them to Leilimi’s Feixin account.

After pondering for some time, Alice finally spoke. “I remember reading that Ultimate Forms sometimes display characteristics from their original animal-type disasters. Since this one has horns, can we try to infer its animal prototype and, from there, deduce its fighting style?”

“Hmm, that’s a very constructive suggestion,” Huo Ye nodded.