Bone Sculptor - Chapter 3

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Chapter 3 – Chi Hu Bone Pendant

Just then, the watches on Milos and Omar’s wrists sounded an alarm simultaneously.

Something had occurred at the base camp! The two of them turned around and sped towards the camp at a high speed. Similarly in the camp, the soldiers were on high alert and their weapons raised as they looked around nervously. In the center were a group of researchers, all of whom were looking at something, but it was unknown what they were looking at, and only a soft crying sound could be heard.

Milos and Omar walked over quickly to the group, and saw a human skeleton lying next to the equipment box. From his outfit and the identity tag clipped on his chest, he was one of the participating researchers.

“Did the monitor capture it?” Milos asked.

A researcher replied, “Yes, but only for 3 seconds.”

Three seconds? Milos had a grave expression as he walked into the tent to check on the surveillance. On the screen, a green light shot over and instantly engulfed the researcher. Two seconds later, the green light disappeared, and left only a clean set of white bones. The equipment and accessories were not broken, but a living person turned into white bones in a matter of 3 seconds.

White bones? Milos recalled the skeleton creature he had just shot at. Is there any connection between it and that green light? Just as he was deep in thought and contemplating the connection between those two, the display on the surveillance screen suddenly shook in an unusual manner. The original clear picture on the screen became blurred.

Milos looked aghast and rushed out of the tent, immediately sending out orders, “All researchers to the tent to take cover, soldiers ready for battle!”

The main reason why the survey was progressing slowly and full of difficulty was because the signals on this planet were very unstable. Not only was the magnetic field here abnormal, many creatures that resided here were able to transmit sound waves that interfered with the signals. From Milos’ experience, once the electronic signal was chaotic or was cut off, it meant that a dangerous creature had emerged nearby.

Right after the orders were given out, everyone could hear a sharp screech coming from above them. A featherless large bird with a long, sharp beak shot straight up into the sky. After a few seconds of silence, hundreds of similar birds swooped out of the woods and, like the first one, shot up into the sky in unison. Their movements were like a line of fighter jets, moving in a neat and orderly fashion, and giving off an imposing feeling.

All the soldiers lifted their heads and looked at this scene in amazement. While they were sighing, the flock of birds that had originally flown high into the sky suddenly turned around, retracted their wings, and shot down like sharp arrows at a ninety degree angle from above.

“Watch out!” Milos shouted.

The soldiers quickly raised their weapons and fired rapidly at the flock of birds overhead. Only crackling sounds filled the atmosphere followed by a heavy rain of blood.

The birds were undaunted, and barrelled through the barrage of bullets. A part of them were headed towards the soldiers, while a portion broke away from the formation and smashed into the tents. The soldiers howled in agony and their formation was instantly broken. Their sharp beaks, combined with the huge force of momentum, was enough for the birds to penetrate the human body. Even the sophisticated defense devices were unable to resist the birds’ attack. The tent’s energy circle also loomed precariously under the big bird’s attack, and it was estimated that the defense would fall in less than two minutes.

Milos fiercely drew out two Shadow Knives, then bent his legs in a half crouch, and leaped high like a spring induced jump to intercept the big bird in mid-air. He was nimble, and wherever his knives passed, several birds were bound to be killed.

Under Milos’ leadership, the soldiers joined in blocking off the birds’ attacks, and gradually turned the unfavorable situation around.

Not far away, An Yi came back from pretending to be dead and observed the camp through another skeleton beast. She did not expect to see such a gruesome battle. As someone who grew up in peaceful times, she had never seen such a bloody scene. Although she knew that there were many powerful creatures in the forest, the extent to which they were powerful was vague until now.

The Totasians were more powerful than the Earth she lived on, both in terms of physical fitness and technology advancement. However, they still paid a steep price in the face of these fierce creatures.

An Yi was once again glad that she was now a skeleton, or else she would probably not have survived even one day.

The battle at the camp was over, and Milos ordered a tally of the aftermath and cleanup. The researchers who had been hiding in the tent came out one by one, and when they saw the flesh and blood, several of them couldn’t help but run to the side and vomit, while the others began to collect the corpses of the big birds.

“Pack up your equipment immediately, we will return in ten minutes.” Milos gave another order to the crowd.

Encountering this kind of change and ending the expedition earlier than the expected two months – no one had any objection.

When An Yi saw that they seemed to be leaving, she felt both relieved and a bit frustrated. It was so depressing to have finally met humans, yet she was not able to communicate with them.

At that moment, she caught sight of a green flash in the bushes not far away – it was the Green Demon. It appeared once again!

According to her observation during this period of time, the Green Demon does not appear consecutively in the same area after devouring a creature. However, what was going on now? Could it be that it was attracted by the scent of blood in the camp?

Seeing the Green Demon flying straight towards Milos, An Yi didn’t have time to think about it carefully. She quickly took out the Scornful Tiger bone pendant from her own skull and threw it towards the Green Demon with great force.

Milos’ ears twitched at the sound, and swiftly turned around to grab the bone pendant thrown by An Yi with a stretch of his arm.

An Yi was secretly annoyed at that outcome. Just why did the bone pendant get caught outright by the man?

When Milos grabbed the bone pendant, he also saw the Green Demon that was only five meters away from him. He heaved a sigh of relief and was about to retreat when he suddenly felt a warmth in his hand. A beast-shaped shadow emerged from the bone pendant and charged straight into the approaching green mass of light.

With a loud roar, the Green Demon exploded like fireworks and dissipated into nothingness midair. The beast-shaped shadow circled around Milos majestically a few times, and then reentered the bone pendant.

Everyone who saw this scene was dumbstruck, and no one knew how to react to the scene…

A trace of surprise flashed in Milos’s golden orbs as he looked at the object in his hand. Sculpted from bone, the texture was warm and moist, and most importantly the Scornful Tiger on it had rounded eyes and gave off an imposing aura, as if it would jump out at any moment.

Not only that, he could also faintly sense the flourishing life force contained in this bone pendant.

Milos raised his head, his sharp eyesight shot straight to the direction where the bone pendant came from. His feet were quick on the move as well when he rushed into the woods with a high speed.

With a swish, An Yi’s bones were scattered in the pit again, which she hastily covered with leaves.

Milos darted by, bringing a whirlwind of leaves floating in his trail thus exposing her bones again.

‘Tsk, really as fast as the wind.’ She hissed in her mind.

An Yi watched Milos intensely with hawk-like eyes while controlling her skeleton hand to move out quietly. She carefully pinched the piece of large leaf she used to cover the pit and dragged it little by little towards the location of the pit.

At this time, Milos, who had already run tens of meters away, suddenly stopped and turned towards her. An Yi also immediately stopped moving, and quietly acted as a pile of dead bones as she should be.

Milos’s line of sight was blocked by the surrounding foliage, and did not see An Yi in the mound. He surveyed his surroundings once again. Based on the strength and direction of the bone pendant being thrown out, he could estimate the location of its owner. It should be just around here, but he could not sense the aura of a living person. Could it be that they had already left?

He looked down at the bone pendant in his hand again, and secretly speculated about the other party’s identity. Judging from the craftsmanship of the bone pendant, the owner of the pendant, even if they were not a human, should possess intelligence no less than that of a human. Otherwise, it would be impossible to make such a fine creation.

If there was such a human-like intelligent being on this planet, then it might be a major breakthrough for their exploration.

Milos pondered while walking back toward the camp.

An Yi was relieved to see him walk past the mound she was in unblinkingly and with his gaze set straight ahead. Alas, who could’ve guessed his next actions. Milos had only walked about ten steps away, before he abruptly turned around and his gaze landed directly on An Yi’s… bones.

‘F*ck, I got found out! Just a pile of white bones, nothing beautiful here to see! Hurry up and go away, okay?!’ An Yi frantically thought to herself while praying that the man would leave.

Unfortunately, contrary to expectations, Milos not only did not leave, but came towards her. He squatted down, and reached out a hand only to pick up her… head.

As a result, An Yi came face to face with him without any prior warning.

She did not have time to admire the man’s “beauty” and quickly hid her soul eyes. By doing this, she was trying to make herself look no different from an ordinary skeleton, and hoped that he was only looking at her casually and had no intention of studying her bones in depth.

“Strange.” Milos whispered as he gave a general overview of An Yi’s bones.

‘What’s so strange about it?! A pile of white bones in a beast-infested forest, it couldn’t be more normal, okay?!’ An Yi’s inner voice was yelling, frustrated at this point.

“This skeleton is complete and clean. It should have also died from that green light’s attack. But…” Milos wondered aloud, “How come there is no clothing on this body?”

‘Oh, I’m so sorry, I just love running around naked.’ She responded sarcastically within her mind.

“Could it be that someone else had tampered with it?” Milos had a thoughtful look on his face. At that moment, he caught a sudden glimpse of something like a small knife embedded in one forearm bone.

He tried to pick it out, but ended up failing. This thing was obviously made from some kind of animal bone, but it was unclear how this thing was embedded in the skeleton.

Milos took out the bone pendant that had just saved his life and looked at it again. All his doubts and suspicions seemed to be related to bones, thus he felt the need to bring it back to study.

Therefore, he gathered An Yi’s bones into a small pile and packed them into a small carrier using his coat. Oh, he did not forget to include the stray lone hand outside of the pit that had the mission to pull the leaf over.

An Yi wanted to cry even if there were no tears. Does this guy not know that this heap of bones had an owner? Simply taking it away, did he even ask for the owner’s permission?

Even though such thoughts ran inside her head, An Yi did not dare to move, and obediently let Milos take her back to the camp, put her into a box, and then enter the city base with them.

Although she wanted to learn about this world and the humans of this world, it was definitely not in this manner. She could already foresee her future; it was either to be laid out in a research room or to be made into a bone specimen.

If they accidentally find out that she was alive, the consequences would be even more unimaginable.

Hopefully, that human base is not too heavily guarded and will give her a chance to escape…

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This translation is presented by Nocturne Translations.

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