Chapter 155: The Failed Mission And The Impossible Task!
As soon as Maren left the hut, Popi walked in carrying a wooden bowl filled with fresh water.
"I think he hates us," she muttered, her voice filled with disappointment and resignation.
She had stood outside when she saw Maren in the hut, too scared to step inside. She had witnessed the entire cold interaction between Neve and the shark chief. She had seen how harshly Maren had rejected Neve’s apology.
Neve did not even need anyone to tell him that Maren hated him. He already knew. The negative favorability meter made that abundantly clear.
He sighed heavily, his hand dragging down his face. He tried to take Maren off his mind for one second and walked back to Maren’s mother on the straw mat.
He washed his hand clean with the water Popi had brought and took the silver needle. It was time to start the treatment for the day.
Popi stood by his side like a guard and a nurse combined. Even though she did not fully understand what Neve was doing or the medical knowledge behind it, she wanted to be a part of it. She wanted to support him. She wanted to help however she could.
Neve performed the acupuncture treatment for two hours before stopping for the day.
Because of his deliberate slow treatment plan, he was not in a hurry to rush Maren’s mother’s healing process. He wanted to stretch out the treatment over a week to buy them time. To give Cael and the others time to organize a rescue.
But apart from the strategy, there was something else that bothered him.
He still wanted to figure out what was truly wrong with Maren’s mother. He knew it was something similar to what had happened with Soren. The symptoms were similar. The poisoning was similar. The damage was similar.
But what he did not understand was why it felt different.
According to what Gideon had told him, most people who suffered from this kind of poison did not survive for long. They died within two years or three at most. But Maren’s mother had been alive for ten years. A full decade. She had been suffering from this poison for ten years and yet she was still alive.
That did not make sense.
There had to be something else. Something that was keeping her alive. Something that was sustaining her despite the poison ravaging her body.
He did not understand anything about that mystery. He wished he could ask Maren what he had been using to sustain his mother’s life all these years, but he doubted Maren would even answer him. Maren barely tolerated his existence. Maren certainly would not share secrets with him.
"Is there a problem?" Popi asked beside Neve, noticing his troubled expression.
He looked at her and shook his head.
"Nothing," he said, standing up from where he had been kneeling. "Nothing’s wrong. We’re done for today. Let’s go back to the cave."
Popi followed him as they gathered their things and prepared to leave.
"How long do you think we can keep this up?" Popi asked as they walked. "How long until she opens her eyes and starts to recover? How long do we have before Maren realizes that you’re slowing down her treatment on purpose?"
"I don’t know," Neve said honestly. "A week maybe? If I keep the treatment slow enough, I can stretch it to about a week before she shows obvious signs of recovery. That should give us enough time."
Popi nodded, thinking about the situation.
"Within that week, you have to get in good grace with Maren," she said seriously, looking back toward the hut where Maren had disappeared to. "But considering how mean he is to you, how cold he is, I doubt it’ll be easy to get in his good grace. It might be impossible."
Neve sighed heavily.
"That’s so true, Popi, but what should I do?" Neve asked, frustration clear in his voice. "He hates me. He won’t even let me use his name. How am I supposed to build any kind of relationship with someone like that?"
Popi’s expression suddenly changed. Her eyes lit up with an idea.
"I’ll gather information about him," Popi said confidently.
"What?" Neve frowned as he pulled his brows together, concern crossing his face. "Popi, no! These people are dangerous and I can’t let you get close to them. These are outcasts. They’re unpredictable. They could hurt you."
"Who said anything about meeting with them directly?" Popi grinned, clearly pleased with her own idea.
"Have you forgotten that there’s someone in this territory that has eyes for me?"
Neve suddenly understood what she was suggesting.
Varek. She was right.
If Varek wanted to hurt Popi, he would have done it already. He had been visiting her repeatedly for the past week. He had been begging her to hit him. He had been showing a level of restraint that was shocking for someone with his reputation.
All the rumors about how he tortured females and did terrible things to them, he was never like that when it came to Popi. He seemed almost obsessed with her. Almost protective in his own perverted way.
Neve smirked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
’Varek probably has a thing for Popi. I wonder what Gideon would do if he found out about this,’ Neve thought to himself with dark amusement.
.
.
They finally left the hut and went back to the cave.
Just as Zyreth had promised, he gave them fruits to eat. Sometimes, he even sent raw meat which Popi ate alone because it only made Neve gag. The red panda could not stomach the idea of eating raw flesh. He just could not do it.
Popi kept reminding him that meat was good for the cubs. She kept insisting that he needed the protein and nutrients for his pregnancy. But Neve refused to listen. There was no way he was putting raw meat inside his body until it was cooked, fried, or roasted properly.
Just when he was eating the last fruit... the same sour fruit that Gideon had said was rare and could only be found in the outcast territory... he heard a ding in his head.
The system. It had been silent for days after giving him the mission about Maren’s mother. But now it was coming back online.
Neve lowered the fruit from his mouth and waited to see what was about to appear in front of him.
A notification materialized in his vision.
[Mission status loading...]
[Mission 1 failed]
[Mission 2 completed]
Neve’s heart sank as he read the messages.
Mission 1 had failed. The mission about building houses for the villagers to survive the winter. He was not able to complete it. He could not get Soren to agree to help the villagers. And now people had died. Probably many people had died because of the failed housing project.
He remembered planning to build shelter. He remembered how everything had fallen apart when Soren refused to cooperate.
Because of Soren’s selfishness and cruelty, Neve had lost the chance to complete that mission. He had lost the reward. He had lost the chance to level up.
He clenched his fist, angry at the injustice of it all.
But then he read the next line.
Mission 2 completed.
The mission about bonding with his mates and mates to be. That was the first mission that had completed since it was easy. It was when he shared his secret with every single one of them and told them that he was from another world.
Even though there wasn’t many bonding moment and conversations, the mission was at least completed and he had leveled up one time.
He exhaled deeply through his teeth, still feeling the hurt of failing the first mission. Maybe it was because this was the first time he had ever failed a mission given to him by the system.
Suddenly, a new notification appeared, snapping him out of his thoughts.
[A substitute Mission loading...]
A substitute? Something to make it for the one he had failed. Maybe the system really wants him to level up and open market. Maybe it’s those people that see him as entertainment that gave him a chance. He didn’t know and he as well couldn’t tell.
[Mission: Steal a kiss from Maren]
[Difficulty: Extreme]
[Time: 11:59:59]
What?!
Neve almost screamed aloud as the fruit dropped from his hand to the floor. It rolled across the stone ground and disappeared into a crack.
He could not believe his eyes.
A kiss? From Maren? That cold, heartless Maren? The shark chief who would not even let Neve use his name? The man who had coldly rejected Neve’s apology without so much as acknowledging his pain?
How was that even possible?
And the time limit. Eleven hours and fifty-nine minutes and fifty-nine seconds. He had just twelve hours to complete this mission.
Twelve hours to somehow get close enough to Maren to kiss him without getting killed in the process.
Neve grabbed his hair, almost yanking it out of his head in frustration and panic.
His mind was spinning. His heart was racing. His entire body was shaking with the impossibility of the task.
’How the hell am I supposed to do that?!’