Sweet Hunting Ground [GB] - Chapter 3.2

His laughter halted, though amusement still lingered in his expression, mixed with a sudden surge of sheer coldeness, “Kid, you have guts, I’ll give you that.”

Ani was unfazed. Standing in front of Lin, she tightened her grip on the high-end weapon, she’d only ever seen on the dark web. She let the barrel slide up his spine until it rested against his carotid artery.

“Is your brain cybernetic?” she asked methodically. “Throat, bl00d vessels, are these original?”

Otherwise she couldn’t think of any reasons for this man to still be as arrogant under the tip of a gun.

“Boss!” The idiots, who were still robbing passengers, at the otherside finally noticed the commotion at the end of the carriage.

The floor shook with his every step as he ran over.

The leader raised his arm, and impatiently said, “Get lost.” Then, as if he intended to play with Ani even more, he rested his chin upon the gun barrel, letting the gun press against his skin, and smiled “Other than this eye? Everything’s original. Now, tell me. Who’s that behind you? Some runaway cargo? Go on, tell me, and I’ll even let you shoot me once. Good deal, right?”

“Cargo?” Ani echoed blankly, then, quite seriously, responded, “He might be the father of my child.”

The pirate leader blinked. Then burst into laughter. “Ha! Hahaha! Oh, this is gold, Sweetheart, you have enlightened me—”

A low bang. A laser gun fired, followed by a muffled groan, crimson bloom splattered across their faces.

Too close. Ani’s cheek was speckled with bl00d.

Too close. And yet, through the bl00d, his eyes still glowed.

He lifted his head, revealing the hole in his throat. The wound rapidly knitted itself back together.

Ani hesitated.

He wasn’t interstellar type one human? …No, he was. He’s just… mutant, or had been genetically altered.

The man grinned smugly, reaching out to grab Ani’s wrist, the one holding the gun. “Still going to shoot? Babe, step aside. If you’re really looking for a father for that child in your belly, I could do the job too.”

Ani stared at him for a few seconds before suddenly saying, “Now you might actually be the father of my child. What’s your name?”

“Huh?”

Even the ruthless pirate leader was momentarily stunned. He wiped the bl00d off his face, hesitated for less than a second, then rather straightforwardly said, “Sure. You’re not bad-looking, and if I can be a dad without putting in any effort, that’s a win.”

His subordinates nearby twitched at his words.

“I’m Ani. What’s your name?” she stubbornly asked again.

“Zero-One-Three,” he answered with a grin. “Alright, sweetheart, let your husband deal with your old lover first.”

Zero-One-Three slid his hand into Ani’s palm, attempting to pry the laser gun from her grip. But after realizing it had no effect on him, Ani no longer seemed to care too much. However, she still didn’t step aside. Instead, she stared at him intently, her posture unusually serious. “I need to inspect the goods before I consider letting you handle him. If you don’t pass, I might just keep him.”

Zero-One-Three raised a brow, his smirk deepening, taking her words as flirtation. “Inspect the goods? So eager?”

Ani nodded. “Right now.”

For once, he frowned slightly, studying her delicate face. The girl was fixated on the wound at his neck, where a bullet hole was rapidly healing, as if entranced.

She was the one who had shot him.

The thought made something stir inside Zero-One-Three. The sharp pain from earlier had been exhilarating. He let out a low chuckle and, in a rare move, scooped Ani up in his arms. Pressing his bl00d-streaked cheek against her clean one, he smeared red across her face.

The metallic scent filled the air. The mess he made turned her skin a blotchy crimson.

“Alright then. Let’s go somewhere private and take our time with the inspection. As for time—” the countdown on his cybernetic eye ticked down, “—will two hours be enough to leave you speechless?”

As he carried Ani away, the metal components on his body clanked noisily. Holding her in his arms, he turned and strode straight into the only sealed cockpit.

“How much time do you think she has to live? Will she make it past two hours?” The remaining pirates chatted idly as the door shut.

“You’re overestimating her. Boss kills them in minutes, not hours. He’s not looking for a lover—just another corpse. Cold-blooded bastard… ack, I didn’t say that.”

“Hey, hey, stop saying what you’re thinking. So, what about this guy?” One of them gestured at the man Ani had been protecting.

“Check his ID, then kill him. You really think that girl’s coming back? If she does, we sure as hell can’t let her find her old flame still alive…”

—

The cockpit door slid shut. Inside, the original pilot lay motionless on the ground, obviously dead for quite some time.

The control panel was completely dark, manually shut down. Next to the activation switch sat a jet-black briefcase.

Zero-One-Three placed Ani onto the smooth console screen. She sat right over the glowing words: “No Signal.”

His face loomed close.

He inhaled the scent of bl00d on her body, eyes crinkling with amusement. With a casual motion, he tugged open her black jacket, lifting her tight-fitting top just above her waist.

The moment his palm made contact, Ani’s slender, pale hand broke free from his grip and abruptly clamped around his throat.

A flash of suffocation flickered through his mind.

Zero-One-Three wasn’t angry. If anything, the sheer audacity thrilled him. The tighter Ani squeezed, the more force she used, the more excited he became. A husky chuckle escaped him. “Sweetheart, why so fierce?”

Ani’s fingers dug into the half-healed wound on his neck.

A wound that should have been fatal was already closing. This wasn’t something an ordinary human could do. Peeling back the forming flesh, she murmured, “Mutant…”

“Yeah, mutant.” Zero-One-Three didn’t care. “Never seen one before? Of course, you haven’t. Mutants break interstellar laws. We’re different from those who evolve with gene serums. My kind is meant to be eliminated. Born criminals, you see… Ah—”

He cut off, hissing in pain.

Ani was trying to tear open his newly regenerated skin.

A delicious kind of agony made Zero-One-Three suck in a sharp breath. He bent over, pinning Ani against the screen. His shoulders trembled slightly, unclear if it was from the pain or his laugh..

He wrapped an arm around her waist, voice unsteady from the pain but still laced with laughter. “Damn, you’re wild.”

Ani suddenly hugged him tight. She didn’t understand his compliment, but her body language revealed an eager excitement, like she had found a fascinating new specimen.

From beneath her tight-fitting top, slick, writhing tentacles slithered out. They emerged through a slit at her waist, breaking free from her human skin.