Chapter 1686: The Dark Side

Translated by XephiZ

Edited by Aelryinth

“The others are all dead, but you two are fine!” Gu Ying remained biased against Lu Zhuo.

“Gu Ying, I used to be your old captain. When did you see me not obeying the protocols of the Hunters? It’s not as simple as you think. I barely escaped too! Do you seriously think I should get myself killed against something that we didn’t stand a chance against? Besides, Li Yumei was the closest to me when it happened. It made sense for me to save her first. It was already too late by the time I wanted to go into the cave again,” Lu Zhuo replied seriously.

Gu Ying did not speak any further. As a matter of fact, she was not too sure of Lu Zhuo’s character. Somehow, her instincts were telling him that he was a hypocrite, but that did not necessarily mean he was immoral. She would have to wait until Wu Dong was awake to find out what had happened.

Lu Zhuo indicated that he wanted to check on Wu Dong since Gu Ying was not asking any more questions.

Gu Ying agreed, but she did not allow Lu Zhuo to touch him.

Lu Zhuo was relieved when he saw Wu Dong was still unconscious.

Luckily, the man was mentally unstable. Otherwise, he might be in great trouble if the Foehn Hunter Squad knew what had happened.

However, he would be exposed if the Foehn Hunter Squad brought Wu Dong to the Seven Star Hunter Master. He had to find a way to get rid of Wu Dong!

—

Lu Zhuo relocated his tent to near the Foehn Hunter Squad. Gu Ying was still suspicious of him, so she made sure Wu Dong was well-protected.

Gu Ying knew that Lu Zhuo was a Poison Mage. She knew something was not right when she noticed Li Yumei was extremely quiet, even though the woman would always pick a fight with her normally.

“Keep an eye on Wu Dong, don’t let anything happen to him,” Gu Ying told Big Nose.

“What’s wrong? Are you worried that something might happen to him?

“Mm, I’ve heard some things about Lu Zhuo from other places, but there wasn’t enough evidence to prove them…” Gu Ying said softly.

“Oh, alright, I understand,” Big Nose nodded shortly.

—

In the other tent, Li Yumei was holding it in with a blank face.

“How many times did I tell you not to lose your composure? You will only make Gu Ying more suspicious of us!” Lu Zhuo was utterly displeased and disgusted by Li Yumei’s behavior.

Li Yumei was very stupid at times. Lu Zhuo was actually quite annoyed by how dumb she was. She was eventually going to be a burden for him!

“I…I didn’t know what to do. Should we just turn ourselves in? I don’t think leaving our post is a serious offense, right?” Li Yumei said uneasily.

“Are you kidding me? As a Hunter Master, a single mistake is enough to stop you from being able to recruit people to your team forever! Besides, do you really think the Hunter Union is full of idiots? Do you think they won’t investigate us? It’s better to rule it an accident. If the Hunter Union starts investigating, they are going to dig everything out, including the things I’ve done in the past!” Lu Zhuo said.

“What did you do?” Li Yumei asked with a confused look.

“I did Luo Mian a few favors,” Lu Zhuo said.

“Luo Mian? Do you mean Councilman Luo Mian, the person responsible for the blood serums that caused the plague?” Li Yumei exclaimed.

“How do you think I managed to become a Hunter Master?” Lu Zhuo harrumphed coldly.

“You were involved too?” Li Yumei blurted out in surprise.

“Not much, but I did benefit from it. I went to the West Ridge with a group of Hunters. One of our members was bleeding to death, so an Old Hunter among us decided to replenish his blood with the blood of an Epidemic Rat. He accidentally discovered that the blood of the Epidemic Rats is similar to the Mutated Blood needed to produce blood serums. We were desperate to make some quick money, so the old Hunter found a pharmacist to produce a batch of fake blood serums. We only knew the fake blood serums have weak side effects at first, and that they were not as effective as the real blood serums. The pharmacist was only mixing the fake blood serums with the real ones to save some money.

“However, Luo Mian managed to find out the truth. We initially thought Councilman Luo Mian would destroy the fake blood serums right away, but to our surprise, he had an even wilder ambition than us. He began to mass-produce the fake blood serums and mix them with the real blood serums with his connections to cover for the money he had embezzled from the government. It ended up resulting in the plague,” Lu Zhuo admitted.

Li Yumei stared at Lu Zhuo in astonishment.

The plague at Hangzhou had gotten so much attention. Li Yumei never thought Lu Zhuo was one of the first people that had discovered the formula of the fake blood serums!

“Luo Mian gave us some benefits to shut our mouths. I also became a Hunter Master after that year. We weren’t involved in the things he did after that, so we weren’t caught during the investigation,” Luo Mian went on.

Li Yumei recalled that Lu Zhuo did indeed become a Hunter Master not long after the plague. His rank had been improving a lot since then!

“But what about your teammates? Wouldn’t they be investigated too? They might find out that you are related through them!” Li Yumei said.

“They won’t, because they are all dead,” Lu Zhuo grinned coldly.

“Dead?” Li Yumei looked at Lu Zhuo. She realized something by looking at Lu Zhuo’s expression.

“After we gave the fake blood serums away, Luo Mian arranged for us to accept a quest with a huge reward, but that guy is nothing but a cunning fox. He only arranged the quest to silence us…” Luo Mian said.

“Silence you?” Li Yumei’s heart pounded heavily.

“Yeah, he didn’t want anyone to know that he had the formula of the fake blood serums, nor did he want anyone to know what he had done. Therefore, he took out everyone that knew about the fake blood serums with a simple trick. He arranged a private meeting with one of the members and asked him to poison the rest of the team,” Lu Zhuo said.

“You’re lucky that you’re still alive. I didn’t expect that Luo Mian to be so vicious,” Li Yumei said after letting out a relieved sigh.

Lu Zhuo was utterly amused by Li Yumei’s reaction. This Li Yumei was seriously simple-minded!

“The person that Luo Mian met was me! I was the one that agreed to meet him in private,” Luo Mian smiled, the kind of smile that would make a person’s hair stand on end.

Li Yumei was even more shocked, and stared at Lu Zhuo. The man felt even more unfamiliar to her.

Was this guy really the Lu Zhuo she knew?

How many similar deeds had he done in the past!?

“You…you poisoned your teammates?” Li Yumei stammered.

“Mm, Luo Mian showed me that I couldn’t use a deadly poison on them, since many Hunters are very sensitive toward things that are harmful to their bodies. It’s very likely that I’d expose myself if I poisoned their food and water with something deadly. The best way was to use a poison that wasn’t so deadly, for example, something that can help you sleep,” Luo Mian described calmly.

Li Yumei suddenly felt like an evil door had swung open after hearing Lu Zhuo’s words. It turned out that there were a lot of things to learn to become a corrupt person. Lu Zhuo was already quite experienced in those things. Li Yumei had only realized his dark side now. She could not help but tremble in fear.

Anyone would be terrified if they discovered the dark side of their teammate or their lover!

That being said, if Lu Zhuo had hidden it so well before, why did he bother telling her everything? Was it because she was there when he killed Lan Jin, so they were on the same boat now?

But even if the two of them were forced to stick together because they were on the same boat, that was still no reason for Lu Zhuo to tell her everything. He would be consigned to eternal damnation if she turned him in!

Li Yumei asked with a confused look, “Why did you suddenly tell me all this?”

“There’s no particular reason for it. It’s uncomfortable keeping everything inside my mind. I would feel a lot better if I spilled them out to someone,” Lu Zhuo reassured her.

“But aren’t you worried that I might tell someone else? Do you trust me that much?” Li Yumei was a little touched, even though she was afraid.

Lu Zhuo might be a cruel person, but he had been very kind to her. He must have told her everything out of trust!

“I never trusted you,” Lu Zhuo informed her.

Li Yumei was confused. If he did not trust her, why did he bother telling her everything? The things he said were actually worse than what he had done today!

Lu Zhuo leaned closer to Li Yumei and asked gently, “Are you sleepy? You should get some rest. Your worries will no longer be a thing once you fall asleep…”

“My eyes are indeed heavy. Why all of a sudden…” Li Yumei closed her eyes.

“Do you know? I’m actually very fond of your… body. I will never have enough of it, but I’m so disappointed in your intelligence. If you were half as smart as Gu Ying, I wouldn’t have to do this to you, but unfortunately, you are not. Well, if you’re really half as smart as Gu Ying, you wouldn’t be staying close to me, either,” Lu Zhuo went on lightly.

“What do you mean? Why…why do you have to compare me with her? Do you still have thoughts for her?” Li Yumei asked half-consciously.

“There’s no way a man will have no thoughts for a beautiful woman. Get some sleep, I have a lot of things to do still,” Lu Zhuo said.

“Why am I so tired? What…what have you done?” Li Yumei felt her body becoming heavier. She was struggling to even speak properly.

Li Yumei suddenly recalled the words Lu Zhuo had spoken. It was stupid to use a deadly poison on your target. The best poison was the kind that was beneficial, for example, helping a person to go to sleep. It was a lot easier to get rid of the target once they were asleep!

Li Yumei’s soul was immediately surrounded by a strong chill, yet she could no longer move, falling feebly to the ground. She could still hear Lu Zhuo’s deep laughter.

Why?

Li Yumei did not understand. Why did Lu Zhuo poison her!?

Was he afraid that she might turn him in?

But if he did not tell her the truth in the first place, she would never have found out about him. Why did he have to do this?…