1516 Hidden Wind

Planet 1135…

A skinny old man with a gloomy expression on his face had arrived alone on this planet, taking a shuttle. He was Hidden Wind, Hidden Water’s grandfather.

Upon learning that she had gone missing, the elders who wielded great power in the Four Great Clans had suggested sending elite warriors out for a search effort, but it was to nobody’s surprise that Hidden Wind rejected them.

There were plenty of peculiar people in the Hidden Clan, and Hidden Wind was one such person. He was known to be a maverick, calling none of his relatives his friend, nor did he think there was a need to be making friends.

Ever since he was young, Hidden Wind had always eaten, slept, and trained alone. This had continued on for a very long time, and since the lifespan of apex special ability users were practically infinite, people began to believe that this was the life that Hidden Wind would lead forever. Then suddenly one day, he brought back a woman from outside God Metropolis.

!!

The woman was dirty all over, dressed in coarse rags. Her hair was in matted locks because she had not washed them for a very long time, and she exuded a musty smell from her body.

Hidden Wind had brought this woman that he most likely had picked up off the street home, and they led a life as husband and wife. In no time, his neighbors discovered that the woman was actually very pretty, and she had a head of beautiful black hair and fair skin, along with exquisite facial features.

The neighbors all congratulated Hidden Wind for having found such a treasure, but Hidden Wind ignored them all. Meanwhile, the woman would just chuckle awkwardly, nor would she say a word. In the beginning, the neighbors thought it was because she was shy, until she became pregnant and needed to visit a doctor to get a body checkup. Only then did the neighbors learn from the doctor that the woman was actually mute.

Their medical technology was advanced, and even someone who was born a mute could be treated. However, this woman had been made mute after being poisoned. The doctor said that he had never seen such a frightening poison in his entire life; not only was the woman rendered mute because of the poison, it had also heavily damaged her body. Had Hidden Wind not used some secret technique to save the woman’s life, she might already be dead.

Some time later, the woman gave birth to a girl, and died soon after. Even Hidden Wind, a peak expert of God Metropolis, was unable to save that woman’s life.

For many years, his neighbors saw no sign of Hidden Wind, and had no idea where he had gone. They had no idea where he buried the woman either, as there was no funeral or gravestone; nothing.

Several years later, when Hidden Wind reappeared in public again, he had a little girl by his side. The girl had a head of silky black hair, and looked very much like his deceased wife. Also, just like her, this new girl was also a mute.

Hidden Wind and the girl who would subsequently become the mother of Hidden Water led a life together, and as the years passed, the girl gradually grew up and fell in love with a warrior of the lower echelon who did not come from the Four Great Clans.

Hidden Wind did not stop them from getting married, but he did not give them any congratulations, either. He let her pack up a few simple things to move into that warrior’s home. When they were hosting their wedding, nobody saw any sign of Hidden Wind, and there was just an empty chair where he was supposed to be seated.

The warrior who married Hidden Wind’s daughter was very talented. He had endured much hardship, and was widely appreciated by his superiors, so it did not take long for him to become a famous figure in God Metropolis. Neighbors all said that the two were a loving couple, and that they would surely lead a good life in the future.

However, unexpected disaster struck yet again, and the warrior that married Hidden Wind’s daughter went crazy after taking too many crystals during his hard training. In the deep of the night, he murdered Hidden Wind’s daughter. When he later regained his sanity, his guilt and remorse got the better of him and he took his own life as a result.

Doctors discovered that Hidden Wind’s daughter was pregnant at that time; the child was none other than Hidden Water. She was just six months along, the girl found to be so fragile that her chances of survival were slim. Though advanced medical treatment helped to save Hidden Water’s life, she was always sick and frail.

When she was just two, Hidden Wind brought her away from God Metropolis. It was twelve years before they returned.

No one knew where Hidden Wind had brought Hidden Water to, or what they had done. What everyone discovered was that by the time Hidden Water appeared again, they all saw that she had grown into a tall, slim young lady, and unlike her mother and grandmother, Hidden Water could speak and was not a mute.

Perhaps it was because she had inherited Hidden Wind’s withdrawn personality, but while Hidden Water could speak, she did not enjoy doing so. She preferred to observe and study animals. The teachers in charge of teaching Hidden Water all praised her talent, but she did not seem to have much interest in becoming a warrior. Every day she would deal with her training like homework, and would then devote most of her time to studying all kinds of strange animals.

Going by a normal trajectory, Hidden Water ought to have been the most normal person in Hidden Wind’s family. That was, until today, when a catastrophe had come out of nowhere and struck Hidden Water, causing her to suddenly disappear. It was like a curse, that any woman in Hidden Wind’s family would end up suffering from the worst luck.

Hidden Wind walked on planet 1135 with a gloomy expression on his face. He made his way to the Stargate that was ruined by the Ferocibeast and shook his head slightly the moment he saw the wreckage, his face expressionless. It looked like he was not in the least bit worried that his granddaughter was lost.

Hidden Wind finished examining the Stargate and headed off alone toward the forested mountains.

—

When Hidden Wind’s figure disappeared, several shocked faces appeared from a distant corpse of trees.

There were four men in that group. Aside from Moon Dongsheng and his two pals, there was also a middle-aged man wearing a Moon battlesuit. That person went by the name of Moon Wanhe; he was the father of Moon Dongsheng and Moon Dongchen.

After learning about the hand they had played in this disaster, Moon Dongsheng decided to tell what had happened to his father after an intense internal debate. His father had decided to help his two sons to the end, all for the sake of protecting his offspring.

“That was so scary. The expressionless face on Hidden Wind was absolutely frightening!”

“To think he’s not even in the least bit anxious makes me wonder if Hidden Water is even Hidden Wind’s granddaughter at all…” Rocklin and Zhou Xun added.

Moon Wanhe let out a cold snort. “You two don’t know anything. That is Hidden Wind’s temperament. When his wife and daughter died, he was also expressionless like that, not even arranging a funeral. No one has any clue if their bodies were just randomly disposed of, or whatever.”

“We’re fortunate that he’s like that; if Hidden Wind were to go crazy, the Four Great Clans would surely have to send plenty of experts here, and that would be troublesome,” Zhou Xun remarked.

Moon Wanhe knitted hisbrow. “A dog that doesn’t bark is the most fearsome. No matter what, we must ensure that Dragon Dou and Hidden Water are both already dead. Dragon Dou has always been fooling around, and it is common for him not to return home for several days. His father’s a coward, but Dragon Dou’s mother is a ruthless one. The moment they realize what happened, the clan would surely investigate!”

The four men advanced rapidly. The monstrous pangolin was huge, and it was not hard to find its tracks. It was just that for some unknown reason, Hidden Wind had not investigated the beast’s tracks, but he actually went the other way. The direction he seemed to be headed toward looked to be the cave of said monster.

No longer paying any attention to the ever-strange Hidden Wind, Moon Wanhe and the others followed the tracks, finding the way to that metal mountain.

Studying the traces of battle left behind, they deduced the beast must have slammed itself against the mountain hard, and even breathed fire into the cave, causing the cave opening to melt and fuse into a slagged mass of metal.

“Are you certain that Hidden Water ran this way back then?” Moon Wanhe asked as he gazed at the signs of battle around that metal mountain.

Rocklin and Zhou Xun nodded repeatedly.

Moon Wanhe frowned and muttered to himself, “I can tell the traces here are very new, and it most likely has been left recently. Perhaps Hidden Water hid herself in the cave and the beast was infuriated it was unable to give chase, which was why it decided to ruin the cave with flames.”

Moon Dongsheng remarked, “If that’s the case, father, does that mean Dragon Dou and Hidden Water are both already dead?”

Moon Wanhe shook his head, “That’s hard to say. Didn’t you mention there was a Speed expert with them? Perhaps they managed to escape from the other end of this cave. In any case, we need to see their bodies to affirm they are still alive, or at least their corpses if they are dead. We must never leave behind anything that a crazed madman like Hidden Wind could exploit.”

The expression on Moon Dongsheng’s face was ugly, “This is a metal mountain, and seeing as how the cave entrance had been melted, I doubt we’ll be able to get in and have a look, right?”

Moon Wanhe let out a mirthless laugh, “Aren’t you looking down on your father a bit too much? It’s true that we have no way of getting in, but someone else does.”

With that, Moon Wanhe pushed a button on his wrist communicator, sending out a secret signal.