Otherworld Advance Team
Chapter 82 - 78: The Secret of Baiyue

Chapter 82: Chapter 78: The Secret of Baiyue

All eyes were focused on Baiyue’s head, finally understanding why Baiyue loved to wear hats.

Baiyue looked at the elderly man in front of her, who also had rabbit ears like her. For some reason, she couldn’t contain her emotions which welled up within her and started sobbing uncontrollably.

Luo’er quietly watched Baiyue and the Sub-beastman elder in front of her. He was surprised to find an uncanny similarity between the two, not knowing if he was just imagining things.

Out of the five of them, Baiyue looked the most like a native of Otherworld. Even Luo’er, who inherited his mother’s Elven features, had jet-black hair; and, even Cheng Ziang, who looked like he fully inherited the features of the Aud people, had dark eyes.

However, Baiyue was different. Her facial features were deep and delicate, her eyes light. Most importantly, she had nearly silver, blonde hair. This completely did not fit the characteristics of people from Earth, let alone the Yellow Race.

So sometimes Luor even doubted if Baiyue was actually from Otherworld, and for some reason, managed to grow up on Earth.

"You are..." Seeing Baiyue, the old man suddenly became excited, crying out, "You are Aniya!!"

"Aniya?" Luo’er and Cheng Ziang exchanged looks, puzzled. Baiyue was clearly a test tube baby born from the Origin Project, so how could this old man recognize her?

"What’s going on?" Hu Daoke quietly asked Luo’er.

The sight of the Half-beastman Hu Daoke immediately startled the old man, who then quickly embraced the Sub-beastman hiding behind him out of fear.

"He seems to have misunderstood something about you." Luo’er said to him.

"What should I do?" Hu Daoke scratched his head.

Just as Luo’er was about to explain, he heard a commotion in the distance. He was about to raise his gun when he realized it was Taran, the Sub-beastman they had met. Upon seeing the Sub-beastmen by the fire, he shouted excitedly, "Grandpa Feron!"

"Taran!" Seeing the safe return of Taran, the old man called Feron immediately burst into tears.

"Grandpa!" Taran launched himself into Feron’s arms and also began to cry excitedly.

Seeing the happy reunion of the family, Luo’er felt awkward about their presence. He whistled to Hu Daoke, gesturing at his cooled machine gun, hinting for him to reload and keep vigil.

Hu Daoke understood Luo’er’s concern about scaring these people, nodded and turned away.

After a heartfelt embrace, Taran finally let go of Feron and thanked Luo’er’s group, saying, "Thank you for your help, if it wasn’t for you..."

Taran’s voice became choked with emotion. Feron came up to him, patting him on the head and asked, "Taran, are these the people you sought help from?"

"Yes, Grandpa Feron. It was thanks to them that we were saved!" Taran, wiping away his tears, said.

"Please excuse us!" Luo’er saluted.

"Thank you for your help. We have no way to repay your great kindness, so we can only pray that the God of Light grants you endless wealth and health," Feron said, kneeling before Luo’er, tears streaming down his face.

"Ah, you are too kind. We don’t worship the God of Light", Luo’er said in response, lifting his hand with a speechless expression.

"Oh, are you Southerners? I’m truly sorry. May Besson guide you to paradise," Feron continued.

"Er..." Luo’er did not know what to say, he could only manage an awkward smile.

Besson was the supreme god of the Ancient States religion. His comment was meant as high praise, but Luo’er didn’t enjoy it at all - it felt like a curse to him. After all, he was raised in an atheistic country, with no interest in religious beliefs.

"Hold the thanks for now. Beastmen could reclaim this area at any moment. Gather the remaining villagers now. We will help protect you, at least for the rest of the night," said Luo’er, waving his hand.

"Yes, we will follow your instructions, Sir!" Feron nodded, then starting to gather the remaining villagers along with Taran.

After he turned and left, Luo’er finally paid attention to Baiyue, who had been standing there all this time. Although he had many questions, this was not the time to ask. He walked up to her, sighed softly, and put her hood back on.

Baiyue turned to look at Luo’er, a look of apology in her eyes. She bowed her head and softly said, "I’m sorry..."

"We can talk about everything when the daylight breaks," Luo’er reassured her.

"Hmm!" She nodded.

After Chief Feron’s mobilization and tally, the entire village originally had 502 people in total, but now only 235 remained. The population had decreased by exactly half, a truly horrific loss. Those who remained gathered around the bonfire. Remembering what had just happened, they couldn’t help but burst into tears, grieving together by the fire.

Feeling a yawn escaping him, Luo’er reloaded his magazine with bullets and leaned against the wall of a house facing the mountainside, keeping a vigilant watch for the village. Not too far away was Hu Daoke, his light machine gun was far more deadly than Luo’er’s automatic rifle.

Baiyue and Tangmo, the two girls, were told to rest by Luo’er. They snuggled up next to the bonfire. However, Baiyue’s gaze was always fixed on Feron and Taran, who was standing next to him.

The night passed without words. It wasn’t until the sky began to lighten up that they could finally see clearly. The bonfire had finally gone out. The sub-beastmen emerged from their sorrow of last night, pairing off in twos and threes to start cleaning up the mess left by the carnage in the village.

At this point, Luo’er and Hu Daoke, having kept night watch, went to sleep after their shift. They were now deeply asleep.

The cleanup continued until noon. All together, the sub-beastmen had carried out over fifty beastmen bodies from the chaos and piled them up in the square at the village center. The strong smell of blood woke Luo’er and Hu Daoke. Amid the villagers’ gritted teeth and swearings, they set the bodies on fire, and the air filled with the scent of charred flesh. Tangmo couldn’t help but gag at the thought of the burning bodies.

After the cleanup was finished, Feron, supported by Taran, approached Luo’er to thank him and his team again. Despite it being the same old speech, Luo’er found it quite gratifying.

Feron was the chief of Meila Village and the most respected person in the entire village. Taran was his grandson. The sub-beastman girl Luo’er had first rescued was his granddaughter, Tara.

In the chief’s house, facing the three members of Feron’s family, Luo’er asked the question that had been bothering him all night: "Chief Feron, could you tell me about Aniya?"

"Aniya," Feron began, glancing at Baiyue next to Luo’er before saying with a sigh, "Aniya is my daughter, but she’s been missing for over twenty years."

"Does she look a lot like Aniya?" Luo’er asked, pointing at Baiyue.

"Well, she doesn’t look exactly alike, but she has a similar aura about her that reminds me of Aniya. I was so taken aback at first, I mistook her for Aniya. I sincerely apologise for that," Feron said with a tone of regret.

Luo’er furrowed his brows. He turned to glance at Cheng Ziang, then said to himself: "If I’m not mistaken, the Academy may have collected genes here to initiate the Origin Project."

With that in mind, Luo’er asked: "Chief Feron, have you always lived in the village?"

"Of course, I’ve been the chief for many years. The previous chief died in the Otherworld during the Prophetic War over thirty years ago, so I took up the mantle."

The Prophetic War was the First Otherworld War in the history of Earth. In that war, sub-beastmen were responsible for carrying supplies for the troops, while some also directly took part in the fighting. As could be expected, the invasion force from the Otherworld that had attacked Australia was completely wiped out by the U.S. military without even seeing a single soldier.

"Did anybody with black hair and black eyes come to the village and do anything more than twenty years ago?" Luo’er asked hopefully.

"No!" Feron thought for a moment, then shook his head.

"Are you certain?"

"Very certain," Feron nodded affirmatively. "People with black hair and black eyes are very rare in this continent. If they had come here, I would have remembered clearly."

"That is strange!" Luo’er muttered. He turned to look at Baiyue, then at Cheng Ziang.

If the people from the headquarters never came here, then where did Baiyue’s sub-beastman genes come from? Could it be that they were extracted by United Nations investigators? That’s not convincing either. The Origin Project was of such importance that the Ministry of Defense would never allow outsiders to interfere. And besides, the investigators from the United Nations are actually from various countries. If the United States found out about it, the plan would fall apart.

Could the Academy have commissioned the Blaiqi people to do the sampling? That is also very unlikely. This is not a simple task like grocery shopping; without adequate skills and technology, it is impossible to complete gene sampling.

Luo’er contemplated for a moment before asking another question: "May I ask, are there others like you, with such ears, in other parts of the continent?"

"Oh," Feron paused, touching Tara’s ear, and then said, "You mean this. Our race does have several branches, but our rabbit-ear tribe is unique to this village. We are not originally from this continent."

Feron proceeded, but couldn’t help sighing at the thought of the hundreds of villagers massacred by the beastmen.

"Not from..." Luo’er’s brow furrowed. He felt like he had stumbled onto something big, but he was too preoccupied with Baiyue’s situation for it to register fully. If the Academy’s personnel had never collected genes here, then where did Baiyue’s genes come from?

Could it be the sub-beastmen who were captured during the First Otherworld War? That’s not right either. Those people were captured by the U.S. military, and there’s no way the Americans would hand the prisoners over to them.

At the Haiya Academy, there were other sub-beastmen with mixed blood. Categorized by the shape of their ears, they belonged to the "dog-ear" and "cat-ear" tribes. However, Baiyue was a rare member of the "rabbit-ear" tribe. She seemed to be a unique presence at the Academy, just like Luo’er.