Chapter Fifty-Four: Pilates’ Guest

"Ah... finally home. What a relief!"
"These past few days have truly exhausted me..."

Guiding two Star Tail 7 hovercars, the group made their way back to Ye Hai's collapsed villa.

Ye Hai, sprawled lazily in the back of one of the vehicles, rested with arms and legs splayed, while Javier wore an unmistakable scowl as he cleared away the rubble. He had little choice, considering it was his handiwork that had reduced the villa to ruins just days before.

Ye Hai had originally intended to use the zombies in the pickup truck for this task. After all, with Liana’s abilities, ordinary zombies were excellent labor. Unfortunately, upon his return, Ye Hai discovered the pickup had been stolen.

Liana could only manage an awkward, embarrassed smile beside him. She knew all too well it must have been her two companions who had abandoned her and fled in panic. She could only hope that once they stopped the truck, they wouldn’t be too terrified by the bed packed to the brim with zombies.

With their zombie workforce gone, the job fell to those present. Although Liana had brought back ten perfectly intact phase-eight mutants, their massive size made them ill-suited for clearing debris—Ye Hai feared a single misstep from them would flatten the remaining half of the villa.

Thus, the culprits of the explosion—Javier, and Zera who had sparked the incident—naturally became the main laborers.

On the way back, Ye Hai and Liana shared a car. From their idle chatter, Ye Hai learned that Liana’s infection range only covered a fifty-kilometer radius, a far cry from the Veronica in his memories. Moreover, any mutants that left this range would gradually slip from her control.

Ye Hai had expected as much. After all, the original Veronica had been cultivated from fragments of the "ancient queen ant’s" genes. Using a queen ant’s genetic material was bound to yield diminished results. Otherwise, Liana would never have survived Veronica’s frenzied mutations.

Still, a fifty-kilometer range was nothing to scoff at. It was enough to establish a safe base—next time, if troublemakers like Zera or Javier came barging in, it wouldn’t be his villa that paid the price.

After most of the day’s labor, they finally cleared the entryway. At last, everyone could enter the villa for a well-earned rest.

"Tomorrow morning, we’ll set out for the Plati black market..."

"I plan to withdraw our core personnel from the black market, leaving only a handful to hold the fort, and then establish a secure zone near the villa," Ye Hai continued, reclining lazily on a salvaged leather sofa. "With Liana here, at the very least, we can ensure that any aircraft landing in this area won’t be attacked by mutants. Her ten phase-eight mutants can guard the territory, guaranteeing the Corpse Hunters a safe and steady base from which to grow."

"We can use the channels on Giant Tree Star to buy enough food and lab equipment from Chaos Star. I need some time to process our recent gains."

He stretched and addressed Zera, "Also, Zera, tomorrow you’ll join us to hand over Liana’s family. If you’re willing, your slaver squad could become an auxiliary force for the Corpse Hunters."

"On the way back, I heard you know something about Liana’s birth parents. You could send someone south to confirm the news."

Watching Ye Hai’s boneless sprawl, Javier couldn’t help but ask Qiao with curiosity, "Is he always like this? He’s nothing like the person I saw in battle."

Qiao rolled his eyes and replied, "When there’s no threat, the boss is always this lazy. But as soon as he senses danger, he’s on edge, completely transformed. Sometimes, when we go out hunting, we gauge our luck by watching his mood."

With that, Qiao focused wholly on the glass petri dish in his hand, cultivating a new batch of Bloodborne Virus to reinject into his system.

So it was that the leader of the Corpse Hunters made arrangements for the organization’s future, all in the most languid of manners. One officer ignored him completely, fiddling with his virus cultures. Another, upon hearing her family would be returned the next day, beamed and massaged the leader’s legs, clearly daydreaming and not listening at all.

Javier sighed inwardly, thinking, "This Corpse Hunter lot is a bunch of oddballs. And their officers are the strangest of the lot. Am I really going to mix with this crew from now on? The outlook is... bleak."

He too drifted off into a trance, leaving only Zera to sit obediently, nodding along to Ye Hai’s words and quietly responding with affirmations. Yet in her heart, Zera couldn’t help but mock herself: "No wonder I can’t fit in with the Corpse Hunters. Maybe I’m just not strange enough to belong among these misfits."

As Ye Hai’s words trailed off into snores, Zera’s suspicions were only confirmed.

And so, the group sprawled out in the ruined open hall, soon snoring in unison—despite two guest rooms with soft beds just behind them.

Rubbing her aching arm, Zera wondered, if they were just going to sleep on the ground, why had she bothered clearing all that rubble?

In the middle of the night, Liana awoke with a start, her eyes glowing a dark red as she stared into the distance. Ye Hai, still half-asleep, patted her shoulder to calm her.

"My ravens told me—it’s someone from the Plati black market... subordinates of Gluttonous Bell. I’ve met them a few times," he murmured. "For a long time, the Corpse Hunters had to buy overpriced grain from Bell, the food monger. He’s made quite a bit off me... Tell your ‘little darlings’ not to frighten my guests. They’ve come a long way."

With that, Ye Hai rose, rubbing his sore shoulders, and shuffled toward the guest rooms.

"The bed’s still more comfortable..." he muttered. "Wake Zera to receive our guests. If there’s anything important, it can wait until I’ve slept enough."

Pausing in the doorway for a yawn, he added, "Tell Zera to keep our guests far away... Don’t let them disturb Qiao and Javier’s rest. Plati black market guests never bring good news. If they refuse to listen, break their legs and toss them far away. We’ll pick them up in the morning."

With that, he disappeared into the guest room without a backward glance.

Liana stared after him in a daze... Was this truly how the Corpse Hunters treated their guests?