Yama Reborn

Chapter Two Hundred and Twenty-One [Playing a Role]

The Professor had indeed woken up, but it was as if he hadn't; there was no real difference.

When Chen Nuo followed Vanel into the medical tent, the others had already arrived. The Sea Monster was also present.

Chen Nuo noticed a detail: The Sea Monster stood by the window, deliberately or not, keeping Bonfrey behind him and preventing him from getting close to the Professor.

Bonfrey sighed. "Mr. Sea Monster, you really don't need to do this. If you suspect I'm a bad person, worried I might kill the Professor to silence him—I wouldn't have bothered saving him in the first place."

The Sea Monster glanced at Bonfrey and offered a faint smile but said nothing. He remained standing there, a barrier between Bonfrey and the Professor on the sickbed.

"He's awake, but for some reason, it seems he's lost the ability to move and speak."

This was the diagnosis from the team's doctor.

The Professor lay on the camp bed. There were no tubes inserted into his body, and the needles from his previous treatment had been removed.

The old man just lay there, eyes open, quietly observing everything in the tent.

The Professor's gaze, initially somewhat vacant, gradually sharpened as he regained full consciousness, and a flicker of emotion showed in his eyes. He opened his mouth, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't utter a single word.

Then, the Professor visibly grew anxious, his gaze becoming more and more restless.

Yet, there he lay, completely immobile.

Chen Nuo didn't rush forward; instead, he stood further back.

He observed carefully as the Professor's gaze passed over everyone in the room, including Bonfrey.

When the Professor's eyes landed on Bonfrey, there was no discernible change in his expression, no hint of hostility or alarm.

Perhaps this at least proves Bonfrey wasn't lying?

The Professor wasn't harmed by him?

The Professor couldn't speak or convey any useful information. The only part of his body he could move was his eyelids.

Vanel considered getting paper and a pen so the Professor could write to communicate, but the Professor's hands were immobile.

Moreover, everyone clearly realized a significant problem: the Professor's spiritual power seemed to have been sealed by some unknown force!

As an Ability User, even if his limbs were paralyzed, he should have been able to use Telekinesis to control a pen and write.

But the Professor...

"His spiritual power fluctuations are very weak, hardly different from an ordinary person's," the Sea Monster said, shaking his head.

Chen Nuo's expression remained calm. After observing the room for a moment, he turned and walked out of the tent.

Outside, Selena stood gazing coldly at the jungle sky, where the morning sun had already risen.

"Good morning, Captain Selena."

"..." Selena coldly glanced at Chen Nuo. "Please keep your distance from me, Mr. Harvey."

Chen Nuo smiled but didn't walk away. Instead, he took out a pack of cigarettes, placed one between his own lips, and offered another to Selena.

Selena glanced at Chen Nuo but didn't take it.

"We've all had a tough night," Chen Nuo said. "The rest of us just got some sleep, but you've been busy leading your people to organize the camp. You've worked hard enough. Come on, don't look at me like that. Smoking one cigarette won't get you pregnant."

Selena silently accepted the cigarette, and Chen Nuo even lit it for her.

After taking a couple of drags, Chen Nuo looked at Selena. "Still angry about last night?"

Selena remained silent.

"Feeling angry? Defeated?" Chen Nuo pressed.

"I've led many military missions, and I've never suffered such a heavy loss before," Selena said, shaking her head. "Twenty-nine casualties in the camp, and all fifteen stationed with the fleet are dead. In one night, we lost half our personnel."

Chen Nuo smiled and said softly in Spanish, "El que la sigue, la consigue."

"???" Selena looked at Chen Nuo, puzzled.

Chen Nuo said gravely, "Perseverance is victory!"

Selena fell silent for a moment, took a deep drag from her cigarette, then stubbed it out. She said coldly, "Mr. Harvey, are you still trying to hit on me? Let me be clear: I have absolutely no interest! Especially not under these circumstances!"

"No, no, no, no, Selena," Chen Nuo replied, shaking his head with a smile. "I harbor no such contemptible intentions towards you. We're comrades-in-arms right now; I'm merely expressing a bit of goodwill between comrades."

Then, Chen Nuo's smile vanished. He said slowly, "Don't be too hard on yourself. Last night's attack was an abnormal event. From a command perspective, and in terms of the camp's defensive arrangements, you made no mistakes."

Selena fell silent again but quickly shook her head. "I never trust unprovoked goodwill, Mr. Harvey."

As she spoke, words issued coldly from her vivid red lips, "I've encountered too many men who have shown me 'goodwill.' They either want to strip my clothes off and throw me onto a bed! Or, they're thinking of pulling out a knife and stabbing it into my throat when I'm not paying attention! Mr. Harvey, which type are you?"

Chen Nuo looked at Selena, his gaze suddenly softening with compassion.

"It must be very difficult for you, living like this, mustn't it? Stay strong!"

With that, Chen Nuo stubbed out his cigarette and turned to leave.

This woman should be alright.

That was Chen Nuo's judgment after testing her. Throughout their conversation, he had been using his spiritual power to sense her heart rate, pulse, and other subtle physiological changes.

Her self-reproach, distress, and anger all seemed genuine.

Something about last night's raid still felt off to Chen Nuo.

Yesterday, when they arrived at the outpost, its personnel were missing. Selena had immediately led a search party.

She and her team hadn't returned until evening!

When the attack occurred, she wasn't in the camp!

For that reason alone, Chen Nuo thought it prudent to maintain some caution and suspicion regarding her.

There was another medical tent, though its conditions were much poorer than the one housing the Professor.

When Chen Nuo entered, two Steel Fire Mercenaries were on guard duty inside.

Chen Nuo nodded to them and walked directly to the camp bed in the tent.

An unconscious man lay on it.

This was the sniper from the previous night's raid, the one Chen Nuo had captured.

Vanel had already identified him from his dog tags.

He was a mercenary belonging to "Desert Fox."

One of the missing members from the Octopus Monster organization's first exploration team.

He was also the only captive taken alive during last night's raid. Vanel considered this highly important, arranging for doctors to treat him and posting two mercenaries as guards.

Unfortunately, the sniper still hadn't regained consciousness.

His condition looked... just like that of the native guide's brother, whom they had rescued from the pit earlier.

Hmm, what was it that native guide had said? That his soul was sucked away by a demon?

Chen Nuo stood by the window, carefully scrutinizing the sniper.

The man was tall with a large-boned frame—clearly the build of an excellent soldier.

However, he was also very thin.

Lean and wiry.

After a moment's thought, Chen Nuo suddenly bent down, grabbed the man's chin, and pried his mouth open. Then, he unclipped a flashlight from his tactical vest and shone it into the man's mouth, inspecting it carefully.

Afterward, Chen Nuo switched off the flashlight, released the man's jaw, and reached for his hair. He carefully parted the strands, examining the man's scalp as if searching for something. Then he checked the ears, the nostrils…

The two Steel Fire Mercenaries behind him wore strange expressions, but knowing that Chen Nuo and his companions were crucial to the mission, they didn't intervene.

A few moments later, Chen Nuo released the man, smiled at the two mercenaries, then turned and left the tent.

He casually picked up his canteen, unscrewed the cap, took a couple of swigs, then used some of the remaining water to rinse his hands.

This action was witnessed by a few Ability Users who were just emerging from the other medical tent, the one occupied by the Professor.

"Mr. Harvey, it's not good to waste water like that. Our fresh water supply is low," remarked Gray Cat Black.

Chen Nuo ignored Gray Cat and looked at Vanel. "Any luck? Did you manage to communicate with the Professor?"

Vanel silently shook his head.

Chen Nuo asked no more questions. He said coldly to Sato Ryoko, who was standing beside Vanel, "Go to the tent, rest, and wait for me. Don't wander off."

Then, ignoring everyone's puzzled stares, Chen Nuo turned and left again.

「Chen Nuo left the camp, heading north, to a spot about a hundred meters away.」

Several mercenaries were there, vigorously digging with entrenching tools.

They had been at it all morning and were panting with exhaustion. Some sat by mounds of excavated earth, resting and smoking.

These men were tasked with digging pits to bury corpses.

"Hey!" Chen Nuo called out as he approached.

The mercenary who had been sitting and resting instantly raised his rifle, only relaxing when he recognized Harvey.

"You need something?" the mercenary asked, frowning at Chen Nuo.

In fact, Vanel's announcement—that they would not evacuate but would instead hold their position, await rescue, and continue the exploration mission—had caused considerable discontent among the mercenaries.

It wasn't that these mercenaries were cowards afraid of death.

Rather, according to basic military common sense, after suffering such substantial losses, they should have retreated.

Vanel's decision, which seemed almost reckless, greatly worried the mercenaries.

Consequently, the mercenaries didn't have a very favorable impression of Chen Nuo and the others either.

Chen Nuo paid no mind to the mercenary's cold stare. He walked over, took out his cigarettes, offered one to the resting mercenary, and then gave one to each of the men digging the pit.

They were all part of the same exploration team, after all. So, despite their sour expressions, they accepted the cigarettes.

"I want to take a look at these bodies," Chen Nuo stated his purpose.

"Huh?"

The request seemed strange to the mercenaries tasked with burying the corpses.

The bodies these men were interring belonged to the enemy night raiders.

The remains of the fallen Steel Fire Mercenaries had already been placed in body bags and sent back on the hovercraft.

"Our men have already checked these bastards' bodies," one of the mercenaries said with a frown. "You..."

"I'm looking for something else," Chen Nuo replied, not bothering to argue.

Given his special status, he didn't need their permission anyway; he was merely informing them as a courtesy.

Then, Chen Nuo took out a surgical mask and put it on, followed by a pair of medical-grade plastic gloves he retrieved from his pocket.

He had casually picked these up from the medical tent earlier.

As the mercenaries watched in confusion, Chen Nuo took a few steps forward and jumped into the large, freshly dug pit.

Numerous bodies of the night raiders had already been thrown into its bottom.

Chen Nuo scanned the corpses for a moment before selecting one that appeared relatively intact.

He turned to look at the nearest Steel Fire Mercenary and smiled. "Are you sure you want to watch? What follows might not be very pretty."

「Less than a minute later...」

The two Steel Fire Mercenaries, who had remained in the pit wanting to see exactly what Chen Nuo was up to, hastily scrambled out of the corpse-filled hole. One of them rushed to the side, bent over, and began to vomit.

The other quickly grabbed his canteen and vigorously rinsed his mouth.

"Damn it! Is this guy a pervert?!"

The remaining mercenaries instinctively backed away further from the corpse pit. They all stared at Chen Nuo's back as he squatted in the pit, busy with something. Their expressions were a mixture of emotions, tinged with a faint wariness.

A moment later, Chen Nuo stood up.

His hands and clothes were stained with a considerable amount of blood.

Chen Nuo exhaled, gently placed whatever he had found into a plastic specimen bag, carefully sealed it, and then leaped out of the corpse pit.

Seeing Chen Nuo, his clothes and hands covered in blood, the mercenaries instinctively took another step back.

It wasn't that these men hadn't seen blood or dead bodies before.

But to do it in broad daylight, with such a calm expression, even humming a tune while squatting in a pit full of corpses...

Casually wielding a dagger to carve up bodies and perform on-the-spot dissections of internal organs, all while being watched...

That was just too grotesque!

Chen Nuo quickly pulled off his medical gloves, tossed them into the corpse pit, then turned to the nearest mercenary and gestured with his eyes towards the canteen on the soldier's hip.

"Help me out."

"Uh... huh?"

Chen Nuo held out his bloodied hands, simultaneously rolling up his sleeves. "Help me rinse my hands with some water."

"...Huh? Oh! Right! Sure!"

After his hands were rinsed clean, Chen Nuo stretched lazily, then smiled at the mercenary holding the canteen, whose face was pale and who still looked a bit flustered.

"Thanks."

With that, Chen Nuo walked away.

Behind him, the mercenaries couldn't help but start talking.

"My God! Is that guy a pervert?"

"No, he's more like a coroner examining a body."

"Damn, that was too disgusting!"

「Chen Nuo returned to the camp and went straight to his tent.」

Sato Ryoko was indeed there, waiting as instructed, and hadn't wandered off.

Chen Nuo initially ignored the Japanese woman. He took out a clean mercenary field jacket and changed out of his blood-soaked outerwear.

"Where did you go?" Sato Ryoko asked.

"Just went to play coroner for a bit," Chen Nuo replied with a faint smile.

He didn't need to hide it; several mercenaries had seen him dissecting the corpses. Word would spread throughout the camp soon enough.

"Did you discover anything?" Sato Ryoko asked.

"Yes."

"...What did you find?"

A somewhat sinister smile touched Chen Nuo's lips. When he grinned, he deliberately bared his white teeth.

"Those things that attacked us last night... they might not be human at all!"

"Not human?" Sato Ryoko's eyes widened, and her voice trembled. "Then... then what are they?"

"Demons."