Chapter 363

Chapter 363

Jake didn’t want to kill Rajan. He knew that Felix was in charge of the mission, so he needed to make sure Felix survived long enough to complete it. However, it wasn’t just about completing the mission. They had to secure the legendary shotgun, and to do that, they had to finish the mission within a tight time frame. To achieve this, he needed to keep as many team members alive as possible.

So he wasn’t willing to kill Rajan. However, at the same time, he knew he couldn’t let the bandit shoot him because it would blow his cover. He needed to rush in and disarm Rajan without killing him. With that in mind, Jake was about to dash toward the bandit.

However, before Rajan could fire or Jake could make his move, a shout rang out from the side: “What do you two think you are doing?”

Since human eyes were inferior to his, with a narrower field of vision, Jake had to turn his head to the right to see where the shout had come from. He spotted Felix and Kira standing a short distance away, having obviously emerged from the room they had just been in.

Rajan kept his weapon trained on Jake, but he didn’t fire. Since Jake couldn’t speak, he decided to give Rajan a chance to explain the situation. As expected, his opponent refused to take any responsibility for what was happening.

“Mute punched me in the gut!” Rajan exclaimed to Felix, his voice dripping with resentment.

Jake had actually hit his solar plexus, not his gut, but he figured the specifics didn’t matter much.

Felix shot Jake an assessing look.

“Why did you hit him, Mute?” he asked.

Jake knew he needed to clarify things. He took out Aaron’s PDA, unlocked it, and typed, “He started it.” Though writing was still challenging for him, forming short messages like that was now much easier than it had been before.

Felix and Kira walked over to Jake. After reading the text he had just written, Felix turned his head toward Rajan and said, “Mute says you started it.”

While Rajan still wore an annoyed expression, he clearly no longer wanted to spill Jake’s blood. The arrival of Felix and Kira had visibly cooled his temperament. He even lowered the barrel of his assault rifle, no longer aiming it at Jake.

“I just wanted to check a few more rooms for loot,” Rajan said, his voice laced with resentment but no longer filled with rage. “But he stopped me.”

“By punching you?”

Rajan went silent for a moment. Then he replied, “Well, I wanted to punch him first. He needed to learn a lesson.”

At least, he was being honest.

“You said we had some time, so I just wanted to go look for more loot,” Rajan continued, casting an angry glance at Jake. “But he claimed we didn’t have time for that. He grabbed me by the shoulder and spun me around, nearly making me fall. That’s why I wanted to punch him. So really, he started it.”

At that moment, he looked like a teenager who was being scolded by his father for getting into a fight at school.

“Alright, I don’t care who started it, but I’m the one who’s going to end it,” Felix said, his stern eyes darting between Rajan and Jake. “We don’t have time for petty fights. What are you two, fourteen-year-olds? We need to focus on the mission. So let’s stay on task. We still have to clear out the last floor and take out the boss on the roof. The next floor’s going to be the hardest, so let’s not get distracted by personal grudges, alright? Rex is counting on us. We have to get him that damned legendary shotgun.”

Jake nodded in agreement. After a moment, Rajan followed suit.

“Great,” Felix said. “Now let’s head to the platform.”

Rajan and Kira made their way toward the shaft that housed the magical platform. Just as Jake was about to follow them, Felix stopped him.

“What’s gotten into you, Mute?” Felix asked.

Having examined the memories of each of these humans, Jake knew that Aaron had always been docile, never getting into conflicts with others. His punching Rajan was definitely out of character.

“Anyway, you better make peace with Rajan,” Felix said. “You don’t want someone like him as your enemy. He can easily cut your dick off. So once this mission is over, I expect you to make amends for—”

Felix abruptly stopped speaking. He frowned, looking at Jake with a blend of surprise and disapproval in his eyes.

“What the fuck are you grinning about, Mute?” he asked.

Jake realized he was indeed grinning. Human faces were incredibly expressive, unlike his own armored visage, which lacked the ability to show any emotion whatsoever.

Even though he had once been human, he had become so accustomed to his mutant form that being in a human body now felt completely alien and unfamiliar to him. He seemed unable to control his facial expressions, at least when he wasn’t making a conscious effort to keep his emotions from showing on his face.

“Did I say something funny just now?” Felix asked, still frowning at Jake.

Jake shook his head, making an effort to erase the grin from his face. Felix continued to silently scrutinize him for a few more moments.

“You’re acting really strange right now,” Felix commented, sounding like he was just thinking out loud instead of actually speaking to Jake.

Jake worried he might have compromised his cover. He certainly wasn’t behaving like Aaron normally had. Felix continued to stare at him, a confused expression on his face, clearly sensing that something was off, though he couldn’t quite put his finger on what it was.

“Hey, are you guys coming or what?” Kira called out as she peered at them from the shaft.

“Yeah, we’re on our way,” Felix replied.

He then cast one more thoughtful look at Jake before saying, “Come on, Mute. The job ain’t done yet.”

And Jake followed him into the shaft. Once all four of them were on the platform, it started to rise toward the final floor.