Chapter 130: A Gift For You

Her brain crashed as she stood there dumbfounded while he stepped away.

Aisha’s hand quickly flew to her lips. Her expression turned frosty as she stared menacingly into his eyes.

Nykos gave her a casual glance as he dropped into his chair, raised his eyebrows slightly, and rubbed the same lips that had kissed her with his thumb in a teasing fashion as he stared back at her.

Faced with this smugness, Aisha furrowed her eyebrows. This man was not only a lunatic, but a pervert! But she couldn’t continue being enraged after having her kiss stolen. After all, he’d said she didn’t need to repay him for his assistance. Still, the warmth crawling up her neck refused to be reasoned away no matter how she scolded herself.

"When do we go to the contaminated zone?"

Nykos faintly smiled at her and lifted the scarf, wrapping his neck with it. The fabric still carried the faint warmth of her skin, feeling comfortable with it. "Don’t be impatient. I still have some matters to tend to before I can join you at the contamination zone."

"What?" Aisha narrowed her eyes. "This wasn’t what you said earlier. You said you’d get my brother."

"I did say that. But I’m afraid I have a prior arrangement in an hour. Don’t glare at me like that, little bird. My hands are tied here. I can’t postpone what I’ve already planned. I will naturally get your brother for you. After I’m done with what I need to do, I will definitely make sure that not even the Association, Federation, and the Imperial Palace can hear about your involvement in this. I can assure you, I will make true of my promise and protect you." Nykos said with a smile.

Infiltrating the contaminated zone wasn’t easy. Especially one that was located inside the Association’s floating island. Even his men tread carefully so that they wouldn’t get found. Though Nykos didn’t care about being discovered and found it thrilling, Aisha was different.

By name and status, she was still a student with a rank of D as a Guide. Entering a privately owned contaminated zone without a permit from the owner and the Association was punishable by law, and she could be sentenced to 30 years. It was that serious that even if she successfully infiltrated and rescued Zenick, she might end up captured by the military factions governing the Gaia star system and imprisoned for a long time.

"You won’t go back on your word, will you?"

Nykos took on a look of disappointment and pain. Then, he stared back into her gaze, saying in a low voice full of conviction, "I swear upon my life."

Having gotten his word, Aisha didn’t see any reason why she must stay in Sector Nine. She reluctantly gave her scarf a glance, wondering if she should take it back from him, but didn’t take it from him in the end.

"Alright," Aisha nodded, turning around to leave. She didn’t want to waste more time staying there.

She looked at her terminal and creased her eyebrows. Theon had sent her several messages already. Thinking it was about Zenick, she opened it, only to end up seeing at least a dozen of messages asking her where she was or begging her to wait for him and not recklessly find Zenick’s crewmates.

But he was already too late. Theon didn’t even know who she ended up meeting, forced to visit each crewmate to see if she was still there. By the time he’d come around Sector Nine, Aisha would no longer be there.

Aisha walked down the corridor and paused. Tendrils of snake-like shadows stretched from behind her, wrapping around her loosely without restraining her movement. Then they merged to form a ball in front of her.

The shadows thinned out just as she creased her eyebrows.

A ring of twisted black thorns holding a blood-red gemstone with swirls of black marks engraved inside appeared before her eyes. The gem pulsed faintly, like something breathing beneath the surface of the stone.

Aisha didn’t know the purpose of that ring or why it appeared before her. It seemed that her hesitation had been expected already as the shadows suddenly moved in the air, forming words that made her blink.

[A gift for you.]

Aisha stared at the ring for a moment and showed no intention of accepting it.

The shadows moved to form words again.

[It has the power to store a fraction of my power. It can help you on your way to your brother.]

Reading this, Aisha no longer hesitated and took the ring from the shadows. It was bigger than any of her fingers, so she could only slip it inside her pocket.

"Thank you," she told him, uncertain if Nykos could hear her.

The shadows also faded into nothing once the ring was taken from them.

Aisha continued on her journey. Her next destination was the Association’s floating island!

"Damn it, Boss." Vince slid into Nykos’ line of sight, which had been glued to the door Aisha had just left. "You should at least warn us if you’re going to be intimate with her!"

They all saw how their Commander placed a featherlight kiss on her lips. But because they had been warned once, no one dared to speak or even breathe! Actually, the moment they saw Nykos leaning in to her face, they were so afraid they would get caught looking that they had to whip their heads in the other direction!

To be honest, they didn’t know what they should feel seeing their boss being so close to a woman. Even in their fleet, no one has come too close to him. The Guides who were in their fleet dared not think about it. They were incompatible with him being an SS-ranked Sentinel with a time bomb inside his body being someone who couldn’t be guided by anybody. It was a fact everyone in the fleet had long accepted, even if none of them spoke of it openly.

As for the courtesans and women who approached Nykos, they were either captivated by his handsome appearance and power. But they could never hide their fear of him. That fear always won out in the end, driving them away before their attraction to him.

Thus, Nykos’ subordinates have already doomed him as a forever-single man.

"How is Amar doing? Has he woken up?" Nykos asked and ignored Vince’s nonsense.

Vince wanted to complain some more, but he was reminded of something after hearing Nykos’ question.

He reported, "He’s fine and already woke up. But... he was acting strange when I left him alone."

"Hm?" Nykos looked at him.

"He refused to be guided by one of our Guides."