I Start with a Mysterious Island

Chapter 364: Chapter 276: One Glance, Identified as Fake

WHOOSH...

RUSTLE... RUSTLE... RUSTLE...

RUMBLE, RUMBLE...

CRASH, BOOM...

Dark clouds gathered in the sky as a fierce wind howled.

From within the ink-black clouds, a brilliant silver-white bolt of lightning would occasionally flash, followed by an earth-shattering clap of thunder that echoed in all directions.

A torrential downpour descended from the heavens. The great trees swayed back and forth in the gale, their dense branches and leaves crashing against each other with a cacophony of rustling sounds.

In such harsh weather, it seemed as if the fierce winds would snap the trees in half at any moment.

As the storm arrived, the Mutant Beasts that roamed this wilderness, far from human civilization, began to seek shelter from the rain. freewebnøvel.com

One such creature, a recently awakened rabbit-type Mutant Beast of the First Rank Initial Stage, braved the downpour and scurried toward a distant cave.

Just as it was about to enter the cave, it suddenly sensed something, screeched to a halt, and turned to flee.

But it was too late. The moment the white Mutant Beast turned to run, an arrow shimmering with a faint golden Spiritual Light shot out from the cave.

SWOOSH.

The arrow cut through the curtain of rain, moving so fast it became a blur.

THWACK.

The arrow, shimmering with faint golden Spiritual Light, pierced the Mutant Beast’s head, killing it in a single blow.

Its nimble body collapsed. Blood flowed from the wound, but before it could even stain the grass red, the falling rain washed it completely clean.

"What luck! Weren’t we just saying how nice it would be to roast some meat on a rainy day like this? And then this Mutant Beast just had to run right into our crosshairs."

"Alright, enough nonsense. Hurry up and bring that Mutant Beast into the cave."

"Don’t rush me..."

The rabbit-type Mutant Beast, lying in the rain with an arrow in its head, suddenly floated up from the ground and flew toward the cave.

Inside the cave—not spacious, but large enough for three or four people—two men in rain-soaked clothes were warming themselves by a fire.

Both of them wore a badge on their chest bearing the two characters for ’Cyan Blue’.

"Rabbit’s here..." the man in the white t-shirt said to his companion with a smile, using his awakened Superpower to pull the Mutant Beast into the cave.

"You should hurry and prepare that Mutant Beast!" said the man in the black t-shirt, who was sitting to the side and adding a few pieces of firewood to the flames.

"I don’t really want to do it! How about we play rock-paper-scissors? Loser has to deal with the Mutant Beast," said the man in the white t-shirt.

"I’m the one who killed the Mutant Beast, so it’s only right that you prepare it," said the man in the black t-shirt.

"Uh... fine!"

A short while later, the prepared rabbit was placed over the fire to roast slowly, its tantalizing aroma gradually filling the cave.

"Sigh, this base of ours is built in such a remote place. No one ever comes out here. There’s really no need to post sentries on the perimeter..." said the man in the white t-shirt as he turned the roasting rabbit.

"Better safe than sorry. The Canglan Society has grown to its current state precisely because we are methodical, execute every task with strict discipline, and act with caution.

It’s true that this base is established deep in the wilderness, and basically no one ever comes here.

But since the higher-ups have assigned us to sentry duty, we should just follow our orders without overthinking it," said the man in the black t-shirt.

"Yeah." The man in the white t-shirt nodded, then gave the roasting rabbit meat another few turns.

He was clearly the talkative type. After a moment of silence, he couldn’t help but strike up another conversation with his companion.

"I heard from the auntie in the cafeteria that the rescue mission in Rongcheng, the one Steward Zhang was leading, seems to have failed. Do you think that’s true?"

The man in the black t-shirt was poking the fire with a stick. When he heard his companion’s question, his brow furrowed.

He didn’t answer right away, instead asking a question of his own, "How would the cafeteria auntie know about that?"

"You don’t know about the cafeteria auntie? She’s been in charge of our meals in the cafeteria since this base was first established. She’s a real old-timer.

She knows people from every department, so she’s incredibly well-informed.

But a lot of the news that comes from her isn’t one hundred percent accurate. There are always some discrepancies," the man in the white t-shirt said.

"..." The man in the black t-shirt nodded silently after hearing his companion’s explanation, then spoke.

"The rescue plan led by Steward Zhang did indeed fail. A friend of mine in the intelligence department told me. Now that you know, don’t go spreading it around!"

"Don’t worry! I won’t go blabbing to anyone. Did your friend in intelligence tell you the specifics of why it failed?

Steward Zhang was leading this mission, after all. Logically, it shouldn’t have failed!"

"My friend in intelligence doesn’t know the exact reason for the failure either, but he did tell me that Steward Zhang is furious about it..."

The two Canglan Society members sat in the cave, eating roasted rabbit meat and idly chatting about the rumors they’d heard.

「Several kilometers away, in an underground base built beside a swamp.」