Blood Nemesis
Chapter 143: Fishy

Chapter 143: Fishy

Five hours later.

Root retrieved two VR helmets from his bag, offering one to Oliver.

Oliver gave him a questioning look. "Hm. What do you want me to do with this?"

"Just put it on," Root replied, already wearing his own.

The black, heavy VR headset encased his face, covering his eyes. Oliver paused for a second but put it on anyway.

Immediately, his surroundings flashed into view. Once his eyes adjusted, he looked at Root. The VR headset was in pass-through mode, mirroring the environment, allowing him to see what was happening outside.

"Hey, Root. What should I do next?" he asked, the purpose of the VR headset still unclear to Oliver.

Meanwhile, Root glanced over, activating some software within his headset. "Just wait and watch." He smirked.

The moment he spoke, Oliver saw blue lines appear in his vision. The surroundings dimmed, highlighting the blue, thread-like lines moving across their campsite. When he turned to look around, hundreds of them floated in space all around them. Near the boat, behind the campfire, far away on the mountain, near the shrubs, and even where the silver crabs were kept – he saw the blue lines everywhere.

Finally, everything clicked for Oliver. His lips curled into a smile. "You crazy kid," he muttered, following a blue line. "These are the paths the fish took, right?"

Root giggled and nodded, clearly pleased with Oliver’s reaction.

"You did well," Oliver said, giving him a thumbs-up.

Now, he could clearly see the exact paths the mythical beast had taken around the camp.

Root appeared to have used information from the cameras to create a 3D map and display it through the VR headset. Normally, someone wouldn’t be able to accomplish this within five hours. But this was Root, a person who lived and breathed computers. With his uncanny ability, he achieved the impossible, genuinely surprising Oliver.

This further validated Oliver’s decision to recruit the young man. Despite Root being young, he was undeniably capable of providing significant help.

He smiled heartily and continued observing the blue lines.

"What are the dotted grey lines connecting certain regions?" he asked.

"That... It’s the algorithmically deduced path," Root replied, taking a deep breath.

He then positioned himself between the grey dotted line and Oliver and continued his explanation.

"Most of the time, the camera could capture vague distortions in light, but there were moments when the fish moved very slowly, perhaps due to our nearby presence. At those times, the distortions were minimal. I could find them if I pixel-peeped, but it would be impossible to detect using the computer vision technique I’m employing. So, I took the moment it disappeared and reappeared and connected the paths with a grey line. It might not be the exact path it took, but it’s close enough."

"That’s awesome," Oliver said, genuinely happy.

Despite some minor issues, the displayed information was sufficient to deduce the mythical beast’s preferred paths through the camp. He observed thick bundles of blue lines concentrated in specific parts of the camp, indicating its favoritism for certain areas over others. This information was critical for setting a trap.

"But that’s not all." While Oliver was immersed in his thoughts, Root pointed to the headset. "Do you know the real reason I used the headset?" he asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Why?"

"Because its other function is to show real-time data." Root performed an action, and some of the blue lines around them became darker. "The line brightness now corresponds to the recency of detection. The moment the beast appears around the camp, we will know."

He giggled, wearing a proud expression.

Oliver clapped from the side. "You truly are a genius."

"Of course. This is child’s play."

"Well done."

"Uh. Thank you, boss," he said bashfully.

"Don’t be shy. You deserve the praise. For creating this ingenious software, I’m rewarding you 200,000 creds."

The mention of money made Root’s eyes twinkle. Like Oliver, he too had a fondness for money.

Oliver, watching from the side, smiled. Two hundred thousand creds were a small sum compared to the help Root provided. He was happy to reward the young man. Furthermore, another purpose was to motivate him. After all, hard work should be acknowledged. Only by doing so would they be motivated to perform better in the future.

After that, both of them walked around the camp wearing the headsets, quietly observing the paths the fish took. Two of the fish’s favorite spots were near the silver crab pit. The other important choke point they discovered was near the boat’s rear door.

To access the cargo hold where the dragon meat was, the mythical beast was using this specific path.

’Fortunately, it can’t go through walls yet,’ Oliver thought to himself, sighing. A wave of relief washed over him when he confirmed this fact. If the creature could pass through walls, trapping it would have been difficult.

’This is great. As I predicted, most of its abilities are not yet unlocked. I can catch it if I can trap it inside an enclosed space.’

The creature’s stealthy approach to stealing food indicated its weakness. In a direct confrontation, Oliver felt confident he could defeat it. Thus, he simply needed to be patient and trap it at the opportune moment.

"Boss, what exactly is this fish?" Root asked while they walked through the camp. He still had no idea what creature Oliver was hunting or his reasons for doing so, which prompted his direct question.

"It’s a one-of-a-kind creature. Something mythical and grand. Something beyond your comprehension."

Root lifted his VR headset and squinted. Clearly, he was not satisfied with the explanation. "Can you be any more vague?"

"Let me try...The creature is a fish of forgotten times. Something no one has seen before. How does that sound?"

"Pretty vague," Root replied gloomily.

Oliver giggled and decided to inform him about the creature. He began by explaining its connection to the ancient temple they had seen in the city. Thereafter, he moved on to explaining the creature’s possible abilities and its growth potential. Then he explained in detail his plan for catching and taming it. But with each passing minute, Root’s face grew gloomier and gloomier.

"So, you want to catch the baby beast. Keep it in captivity. Raise and tame it with the help of a mind-controller-type superhuman. Then use it like a tool. You are going to do all that to an S-rank beast, which might also potentially be a mythical beast from legends. Is that correct?" Root asked, wondering if he had heard correctly.

"Basically." Oliver nodded. "Isn’t my plan foolproof?"

"..." Root avoided his eyes.

"Is there something wrong?"

Root turned back to Oliver and said, "I knew you had flexible moral standards, but it’s still a little..."

"What’s the problem?"

Root took a deep breath.

Technically, there was no issue with what Oliver said. Any normal hunter would have done the same.

However, the thought of catching a baby mana beast, keeping it in captivity, and using mind control to tame it all felt somewhat unsettling. At least, that’s what Root thought. As a young man growing up with grand ideals, he didn’t like Oliver’s plan for dealing with the situation. And if he participated, he felt it would leave a bad aftertaste in his mouth.

Oliver perceived his thoughts when he noticed his hesitation. "Do you think I am being cruel?" He asked, getting straight to the point.

From Oliver’s perspective, he didn’t have the luxury of being kind to everyone. Catching and taming the beast through harsh methods was totally acceptable if it could help him achieve his goal.

Although he hid it from Root, the villain he once was still resided deep within him. Despite being a flexible person, his tendency to find the easiest solution didn’t always lead him to make the right choices. And this exact flaw was the reason he became a villain in the first place.

Oliver was aware of this fact. He knew he was selectively kind. And he had no reason to extend his kindness to a beast that could wipe out a significant portion of humanity if left unchecked. After all, the way of nature was survival of the fittest.

"Do you think my way of catching and taming it is wrong?" He asked again.

"Not really. I, too, would do the same if the opportunity arose. I am human. So, I will always be on the side of humans." He paused and looked directly into Oliver’s eyes, stating, "We are more alike than I would like to be." He was serious about what he had just said.

Soon, the smile he wore disappeared, replaced with a frown. "But I want to resist all logic and reason. Just because it’s acceptable doesn’t mean I should blindly follow it."

"And besides that, there is another problem with your plan."

"What do you think will happen if you suddenly lose control of the mana beast? If it’s tamed in a way that will make it hate humans, would it let us live?" Root posed a critical question.

Oliver had considered this. The simple answer was to kill the beast if it went out of control.

But looking at Root, he didn’t want to say it. For some reason, he too wanted to abandon all his hard logic and plans.

Root still possessed a degree of innocence he lacked. Instead of trusting his own instinct, which had been corroded by the world’s darkness, this time, it might be better to trust Root’s.

’Perhaps, it is the right thing to do,’ he told himself.

’Kindness... I might have to relearn how to be kind,’ he thought, sighing.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.