TTAETSC Chapter 22.3 - Yuan Ye, Yuan Ye

Translator: Deyonna

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The little octopus extended its head a bit, carefully observing the other party.

The other party appeared to be a heavily built man, around forty years old. His skin was dark and his muscles bulged. However, his breath was weak, his lips were pale, and the bandages on his body were soaked through with large patches of red, showing that he was severely injured.

"Officer Hu..."

The man made a move to get up and salute, but the next moment, Officer Hu hurried to help him, saying, "Aiyo, aiyo."

"Brother* Liang Kun, you're really... What kind of relationship do we have? Why are you still calling me officer..."

*Affectionate form of address for a male who is not much younger than oneself.

Snap—

A long knife was dropped on the tabletop, making neither a loud nor a soft sound.

Hu Changchuan's warm and polite words came to an abrupt stop. His expression immediately became solemn, and he spoke with a sense of patriotic fervor, as if he were ready to sacrifice himself for the country.

"The situation is urgent, and the responsibility is on our shoulders. Let's not waste any more words and get straight to the point!"

Jon and Chen Xinyue: "..."

Even Ye Yunfan couldn't help but sigh at the speed of this uncle's change in expression.

The corner of Liang Kun's mouth twitched slightly. "Alright, then."

He sat back down in the chair, looking furtively at Yuan Ye with a hint of wariness. Chen Xinyue, on the other hand, was completely at ease and spoke up directly.

"In that case, I'll just ask directly. Team Leader Liang, yesterday there was an outbreak of mutation at the clinic, and coincidentally, all the military investigators had just withdrawn half an hour before the mutation occurred?"

Liang Kun coughed weakly a couple of times.

"I was seriously injured the night the reinforcements arrived, and since then, He Li has been handling everything..."

At this point, he paused for a moment, raising his voice slightly.

"—He Li."

The gentle-mannered man standing to the side immediately stepped forward.

"Then let me share some information with all of you."

He said self-consciously, then looked directly at Chen Xinyue.

"At the time, the lighthouse's alarm happened to go off, warning that otherworldly creatures were attacking. I left Bard's team to guard the clinic, and the rest of us rushed over to provide support. As you know, that night we suffered heavy losses, and our manpower was limited..."

He suddenly changed the subject.

"But I've heard that Captain Chen was also present at the time. Could you share the specific situation? Bard's team was considered an elite team, so their complete annihilation is a major loss for us."

"By asking this, it seems that Officer He is not fully aware of the situation."

Chen Xinyue smiled.

"Bard's team colluded with rebel forces. They even dispatched a gifted person who tried to kill me and seize the corpse of the king creature. Mm, the body of that gifted person is in my trunk. How about I let Officer He take a look?"

No matter what forces were involved, calling it rebellion was accurate.

"A gifted person... A mere corpse cannot be used to verify whether they were truly gifted or not."

He Li did not seem surprised by her statement.

"Moreover, the supply station has not been short of corpses these past few days."

In just a few words, Ye Yunfan understood that both sides were trying to test each other. To put it bluntly, they were beating around the bush.

Because Chen Xinyue had no concrete evidence of Bard's betrayal, and He Li had no solid evidence that Bard had not betrayed them.

In this kind of situation, both sides would probably talk first, trying to gauge how much the other knew before deciding on their next move.

But why would the support investigation team collude with an unknown force?

For benefits?

Money? Power? Or something else?

The little octopus racked his brain, and even his little tentacles started to get tangled up.

At that moment, his gaze suddenly fell on the identity tag on Chen Xinyue's chest.

At the same time, Yuan Ye's words from earlier unexpectedly echoed in his mind.

[It seems your team's strength was not enough, since even dealing with some remnants, you achieved a casualty rate of over sixty percent.]

The unusually high and excessive casualty rate.

Immediately after that came Chen Xinyue's self-deprecating sigh.

[They died on a highly dangerous mission against the king creature, which is still better than some ordinary exploration missions.]

[At least the death gratuity will be several times higher.]

The high death gratuity…

Numerous deaths, combined with an individual's high death gratuity, amounted to—a massive sum of money.

Crack!

The little octopus's drooping ears suddenly perked up, as if a bolt of lightning had abruptly connected these two points.

If the military investigators died on an ordinary mission, the compensation would be small. But if they died during the king creature's attack, then their originally cheap lives would become more valuable.

Ye Yunfan didn't know exactly how much higher the compensation was that Chen Xinyue had mentioned.

But if the difference in compensation between an ordinary mission and a special mission against the king creature was high enough, it could be substantial enough to outweigh dozens of lives. Then the unusually high death rate would make sense, and the motives for He Li or Liang Kun taking risks to cover for Bard would also become clear.

And if this assumption holds, then deliberately inducing the king creature's attack on the supply station would be a necessary step in the plan.

It would even completely align with Chen Xinyue's previous speculation.

However, all of the above is just Ye Yunfan's speculation. If he wants to confirm it, he must find crucial evidence along this line of thinking.

The next moment, Yuan Ye suddenly felt his shoulder lighten, and the familiar sensation of crawling spread from his chest, down his abdomen, then along his thigh to his military boot.

Followed closely by a dense, tickling sensation spreading along the same path. The young man's breathing became disordered for a moment, and he subconsciously clenched his fist.

In those brief seconds, the little octopus had already raised his six little tentacles and scurried over to Chen Xinyue's legs.

He skillfully and swiftly attached himself to the woman's pant leg and climbed up without hesitation.

Chen Xinyue had been engaged in a battle of words with He Li, covertly competing, when she suddenly felt her calf tighten. Instinctively reaching for her gun, she froze in place upon seeing it was Yuan Ye's "little jellyfish."

"Mr. Yuan... Yuan Ye?"

She tentatively spoke up, but noticed the young man's complexion had darkened like still water, as if he were about to draw his knife and strike someone down at any moment.

This familiar expression, this terrifying aura…

Hu Changchuan, who had been silently observing until now, suddenly couldn't sit still. He quietly pulled Jon back, his gaze fixed intently on Yuan Ye.

It seemed that if Yuan Ye made any slight movement, Hu Changchuan was already prepared to recreate the scene, promptly pulling Jon along to run away.

Team Leader Liang Kun and He Li, beside them, also found themselves unusually tense. They had heard some rumors about Yuan Ye, or they would not have let him come along.

However, at that moment, the little octopus was completely oblivious to the ominous atmosphere. He quickly climbed up to Chen Xinyue's shoulder and grabbed the chain with the identity tag hanging around her neck.

The two tentacles were like tangled balls of yarn, pulling the chain loop by loop.

Chen Xinyue quickly realized the little jellyfish's goal.

It... wanted her identity tag?

How strange.

Why?

Do jellyfish like metal?

No, she hadn't heard of jellyfish liking metal tags before.

Chen Xinyue was puzzled, but after a moment's consideration, she reached out, took off the identity tag, and handed it to this strangely behaving "little jellyfish."

"Do you want this?"

The little octopus, understood by someone for the first time: "!!!"

He stupidly blinked his eyes, then suddenly became incredibly excited.

She understood!

She actually understood so quickly!!!

At that moment, the little octopus became so excited that he could hardly contain himself, and his tentacles couldn't help but patter up and down on the woman's shoulder.

[Wawa]

[Wawawa!]

The little tentacles didn't understand why Ye Yunfan was so excited, but they could feel and share the joy, so they followed suit and loudly screamed.

Yuan Ye stared expressionlessly, his gaze intense. If his stare could materialize, perhaps Chen Xinyue would have been reduced to countless tiny pieces by now.

The woman unconsciously lowered her head and remained silent. She didn't look at the "little jellyfish" again, nor did she meet Mr. Yuan Ye's gaze.

Because she had an intuition that something bad would happen immediately if she did.

Ye Yunfan was still immersed in the joy of finally being understood by someone, instantly.

So awesome!

Captain Chen indeed lives up to being a smart and brave investigation officer!

Her understanding is truly incredible!

Ye Yunfan inwardly praised Chen Xinyue over and over again.

Although an investigator's identity tag is just a small metal plate about half a finger's width for a human, for a palm-sized little octopus, it was like a huge tile.

But it did not matter.

In short, Ye Yunfan was very happy, and after getting what he wanted, he immediately latched onto the woman's clothes and went down.

Then everyone's gaze focused on the pink "little jellyfish" on the ground.

They could see that it was using six small tentacles to hold the metal tag high, while the other two tentacles, clad in black leather shoes, happily ran toward Yuan Ye.

At that moment, Jon, who was watching for some reason, suddenly gave the "little jellyfish" a voice in his mind—

[Yuan Ye, Yuan Ye, I stole Captain Chen's tag to give it to you~]

"Pfff, hahaha..."

The curly-haired puppy was amused by his own imagination, but the next second, he felt the cold, sharp gazes of his captain and Mr. Yuan Ye settle on him at once.

"Mmmph—"

Beside him, Hu Changchuan's hand was quick to act, covering Jon's mouth immediately, and he let out a dry laugh twice.

"You, this child! What's wrong with you? Why are you laughing?! Why are you laughing without rhyme or reason?!"

Jon's eyes suddenly opened wide: "???"

He turned his head and looked at Hu Changchuan in disbelief, struggling desperately.

"Mmmph... mmmph, mmmph, mmmph!!!"

Fuck! Uncle, you didn't wash your hands!!!

☰