"Whoa… don't tell me you saw this coming? You were prepared for this specific situation?"
"Don't be ridiculous. This was just my precise grasp of firepower! Before it transformed, I had no idea this thing could turn into some budget Rathian Ethereal."
Anby turned around to see a creature of unknown origin appear behind her.
"An... an Ethereal! The Ethereal is talking!"
Hearing this, Andrew, who had been joking around with Belle, couldn't hold it in any longer.
"What Ethereal?! I'm human! Human!! This is just the style of my gear!"
Hearing this person—who, if not a spitting image of an Ethereal, was at least incredibly similar—Anby had to stare for a long moment before confirming that he was, indeed, human.
But the appearance of a human, even more than an Ethereal, caught Anby completely off guard.
According to her orders, Anby had to permanently silence any unauthorized personnel who witnessed the existence of the Silver Squad. No information about the Silver Squad's real existence was allowed to leak.
And death was often the most surefire way.
But Anby didn't want to carry out that order. From the very beginning, the researchers had taught them that the Silver Squad was a force to fight Ethereals; they had never said humans were also the enemy.
Yet, orders were absolute. So, in past operations, she had always done her best to avoid being seen by others.
Even if someone saw them by accident, as long as they didn't appear directly in front of her, Anby would pretend she hadn't seen them and ignore it.
Fortunately, her teammates shared her sentiments. Together, they had maintained this unspoken, mutual understanding to this day.
So, whether it was the result of their efforts or just sheer luck, not a single human had died at the hands of the Silver Squad so far.
At least, not yet.
Gazing at the man who had swaggered onto the scene—this man in Ethereal-like gear who had just saved the entire Silver Squad's life—orders and emotions clashed within Anby's heart.
In the end, unable to make a decision, Anby chose silence, quietly watching the man's confident face.
"How about that? My unique secret technique: interrupting a dragon's breath with a Stink Bomb! It's a shame there are no materials to make them here, and Ethereals don't have a sense of smell or taste. Otherwise, I'd have definitely given them an extra course to savor."
Belle looked at the smug Andrew, recalling his precise throw just now, and had to admit that his move was genuinely impressive.
After all, a split-second earlier and it would have just exploded outside. A split-second later and the breath attack would have already been unleashed, and the explosive pellet, detonated by the breath, would have at most left a few scorch marks on its scales.
"Amazing. Really, really amazing. But what's a Stink Bomb? Is it made from some special material only found where you used to be?"
Looking at Belle's untainted, innocent eyes, our Stink Bomb master hesitated for a rare moment, debating whether he should open her eyes to a whole new world.
However, what little conscience he had left made Andrew ultimately decide against revealing that the so-called Stink Bomb was nothing more than packaged... well, feces. He protected the innocence in Belle's eyes.
"It's... it's just a normal projectile with a strong smell, that's all. But yeah, the special materials are only found in that one place, so I can't make any here..."
'Some truths are better left unknown. You'll thank me for this, Belle.'
Completely unaware that she had just been spared a perception-shattering revelation, Belle was merely feeling disappointed. But Twiggy, who had overheard their conversation, was completely frozen.
From the subtle clues in Andrew's words, Twiggy had already deduced the true nature of the so-called "special material," and couldn't help but let a strange expression cross her face.
But faced with her respected captain's probing gaze, Twiggy, also unwilling to reveal the raw material, instantly reached a silent agreement with Andrew without a single word exchanged.
Without a hint of hesitation, she immediately suppressed the weird look on her face. Twiggy put on an expression of naive confusion and then shook her head at Anby.
Seeing that even Twiggy, the smartest member of the squad, didn't seem to get it, Anby had no choice but to drop her investigation into the raw materials of this unknown armament.
Having finished bantering with Belle, Andrew ignored the injured Ethereal lying motionless on the ground and turned to the squad leader he had temporarily overlooked.
"Hello. You're military personnel, right? I'm just a passing-through Kamen Rider, so don't mind me... I..."
Andrew looked at the two pale faces before him, both clearly the identical face of a Soldier 11. The words he had intended to say trailed off.
Looking at their matching uniforms, Andrew turned, about to ask the local, Belle, if there was some special unit made up of undecaplets, when he suddenly recalled what Zhu Yuan had asked him about that very morning: an organization illegally researching human cloning.
White hair, orange eyes—the descriptions matched. It all added up. He had a sinking feeling he'd just stumbled upon something he wasn't supposed to know, and his teeth started to ache.
It wasn't that he was worried about being in danger himself, but being targeted by someone was like a mosquito buzzing around your ear after turning off the lights in summer. You can hear it when the lights are off, but the moment you turn them on, it's gone.
As the old saying goes, a thief can be a thief for a thousand days, but you can't be on guard for a thousand days.
He wasn't afraid for himself, but he couldn't say the same for Belle and Wise, who had no combat abilities.
Things had already come to this; running away was pointless. For the safety of his exclusive Proxy and good friend, rather than wasting effort hiding, it would be better to try and drag the mastermind out into the open and hand them over to Zhu Yuan.
Of course, the more important thing was to first figure out what these clones were all about.
Just as Andrew made up his mind, he heard Belle's voice, feigning fear:
"So many identical people! Did we wander into a horror movie or something?! I'm so scared!"
Her tone was so fake it couldn't possibly be faker. Andrew felt a dark line form on his forehead and couldn't help but facepalm.
"Could you be any more fake when you say that?"
Caught, Belle wasn't annoyed at all. She stuck out her tongue and playfully chided him:
"You're such a blockhead! When a girl is pretending to be scared, instead of showing some concern, you're worried about whether it's fake or not! Serves you right for being single!"
Belle's sudden playful interruption successfully eased the tension that had been building from Andrew's brief silence. She turned to the Silver Squad and introduced herself:
"I'm a Hollow Investigator with the Association, Phaethon. This is my Proxy. We were just passing by when we saw you were in danger and decided to help."
Her official-sounding introduction, combined with the carefree way she sidled up to Anby, helped the girls, who had also been tense, relax quite a bit.
As the squad leader, Anby nodded to Belle before introducing herself to Andrew:
"Attached to the Silver Squad, Silver Squad Captain, Number Zero Anby. They are my family and my squadmates."
"Andrew. Proxy. Blacksmith by trade, doing this part-time."
With the brief introductions over, Andrew turned back to the Ethereal, which was now struggling to its feet.
"We can talk about everything else later. First, I'll take care of this lizard Ethereal. Here, take these two potions. With your current injuries, one bottle each should be more than enough."
As he spoke, Andrew pulled two potions from the ten on his belt and tossed them to Number Nine, who was tending to the wounded. And these were, indeed, recovery potions made from herbs.
-
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