Miss Suko 'assisted' Lon in carrying the boy to the Eastern bank. Lon didn't dare to protest. Her relationship with the Boss was rather ambiguous. He wouldn't try to protest even if she took the credit for apprehending the boy and snatched the major share of their reward for herself.

Using the raft, Lon carried Zimu over to the Eastern bank too and the three of them surrounded their hostage, who was still tied and wrapped up inside the coiled Hundredfold Python.

"Let the boy breathe, Lon. He's of no use to us dead."

Lon quickly complied with the order from Miss Suko. Up close, they finally got a proper look at the boy's face. Behind the plastic cover of his jacket, he looked a bit older than the photographs they had received for identification. But still, Lon was impressed by the tenacity this young fellow had shown during their chase. As an ordinary mortal, evading two Transcenders for so long was something one could brag about.

As the boy heaved and greedily sucked in fresh air, Lon searched the bags on the raft. Aside from the miscellaneous stuff, the only thing worth checking there was a red diary, a discovery that made Lon's heart speed up for a second.

Didn't the boss say that the diary is with the older brother?

What the hell is this, then?

"A decoy?" Miss Suko said from behind, making him yelp in surprise. But when her words registered in his mind, his heart calmed down. Of course, it made sense now. Both brothers knew that they would be chased. Using a decoy to fool the pursuers was a good strategy...until they got caught. The older brother, the more experienced one between the two, had naturally taken the real thing with him. The younger brother only needed to act as the diversion, holding an identical diary to confuse their pursuers.

Lon quickly opened the diary and saw the first page covered with recently written words. Miss Suko giggled behind him.

"Wow, you put so much effort into creating a decoy, but didn't even bother to make it more realistic? The original diary is an ancient treasure, with many written pages. It doesn't have much more space left in it for a new owner to write on. This one looks like someone purchased it yesterday and wrote some lines on the first page hastily. Who are you trying to fool, kid?"

Lon looked at the boy who had been watching them anxiously. But hearing Miss Suko's disdainful remark, the tension seemed to slip out of his body.

"It's not like we had the time to forge something better," he mumbled, sounding disinterested.

"Even the wishes made here are so hilarious! Better clarity of mind, Love for studying, higher focus? Hahaha! What in the world could you achieve by these?" Miss Suko continued to laugh as she read the contents of the first page.

The boy sent her an odd look, appearing tempted to say something.

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"Have something to say, do ya?" Miss Suko prodded him with a foot curiously before Lon could ask the question.

"No."

The boy decided not to speak his mind. Neither Lon, nor Miss Suko were interested in interrogating him forcefully. They chose to keep him tied up and wait for their Boss to send new instructions.

"Hey, Brother. Bro with the ugly scar. Oi, your name is Lon, right?" the boy called out after a minute or so.

Lon turned to look at him scathingly. "What?"

"What's this snake called?"

"Why do you need to know that?"

"It's cool, kind of. Would love to know what got me killed," he said in a deadpan tone.

Lon answered him with a sour expression.

"It's a Hundredfold Python. You can guess its mutation from the name."

The boy nodded contemplatively.

"How much Soulslot space does it occupy?"

"Four."

"...Wow. That's a lot. How high is your Soulslot reserve, bro?"

Lon decided to ignore him. After trying to goad him into talking for a few minutes, the boy fell silent as well.

Time passed by slowly, uneventfully. There was no news from their Boss or anyone else from the main team. The older brother must have been as much a pain in the ass as the younger one. It was taking them too long to catch him and earn the diary.

Almost half an hour later, just as Lon was taking out his rations to put something in his stomach, Miss Suko suddenly jumped up, looking cautious. Lon and Zimu were puzzled, but their confusion lasted for a very brief moment.

The source of a dull buzzing sound was approaching them, fast. The sound got louder and louder until it became apparent to them what the source might be.

"Bees!" All three of them gasped. Sure enough, from the bend of the stream they were standing by, a giant swarm of purple and gold insects appeared, rushing towards them in a frenzy.

At least tens of thousands of bees, flying over the waterway, above the jungle canopy, and even through the dense woods, the bees left no space for them to hide. The only option was to run.

Without a second thought, Lon rushed into the water and dived in. His plan was simple. He'd come up with his Mazinian Chameleon on top, hiding his body from the sight of the bees. He could float and breathe easily even under the swarm if they didn't notice that he was there.

Zimu had a different plan of defense when it came to fighting mutant creatures. He summoned his other companion creature, the Timeless Snail, and used its large shell to cover his body. The bees were too far away to notice them yet. As long as he could hide in time, they'd ignore his existence...hopefully.

A few seconds later, Lon's invisible body under his active Chameleon surfaced above the water. Making sure that all of his limbs were well inside the invisibility zone, Lon looked at the bank and found Zimu completely buried under several bags and his Snail shell.

Miss Suko was nowhere to be seen. She must have used a companion creature to turn invisible as well.

Wait a minute...the boy!

Panicking, Lon realized that they had neglected to protect the boy due to their professional habit. They had never worked to protect someone. Their abilities and experiences were directed toward hunting, tracking, and close combat. Their reaction to the sight of the rampaging bees was instinctive.

But now, it was too late to do anything. The swarm was already a mere hundred meters away, getting closer every second. Lon couldn't protect him even if he wanted to.

But the rewards...if the boy died, Lon would end up taking the blame since he was the one who was responsible for immobilizing the kid.

Clenching his teeth, Lon canceled the summon of his Hundredfold Python, hoping that the boy could hide somewhere as fast as possible.

The moment his snake disappeared from the boy's body, he leaped up and rushed towards his raft.

Kicking it towards deeper waters, the boy dived behind it and...

Where did he go? He wasn't coming up above the surface!

Lon watched in dumbfounded silence as the unoccupied raft continued to float toward the middle of the stream again, carrying two bags on top.

Was he hiding UNDER the raft? Lon felt tempted to applaud the quick thinking, but if the bees didn't pass by this area fast enough, the boy would probably run out of air.

Just as he decided to stealthily swim near the raft to assist him, the communicator in his pocket vibrated. Lon dived underwater to check the Boss's message. If the main team had the diary in their hand by now, there was no need for him to help the kid here. He could die for all Lon cared. Why would he risk his own life when it was unnecessary?

However, the dull display of the communicator showed a message that he had never expected to see.

"We fatally injured the target a while ago. But since then, he's been missing. And the trace of the diary has disappeared too! Don't let your target escape under any circumstances."

Lon quickly swam back to the surface with his chameleon on top, only to find thousands of bees above his head, circling the raft like a tornado of golden sand.