The World of Beasts: She's Got Their Hearts

"Why bother putting that device on a flimsy old metal gate? It'll fall apart if someone kicks it anyway." Analise entered the garbage dump with young Gideon.

"Yeah, it used to be like that. Those bullies often stopped by to do some damage. The door had been torn down many times."

He lowered his gaze and quietly pushed a tiny button behind the door. "But things are different now. They learned their lesson last time."

"How did they learn their lesson?"

Her gaze traveled with the movement of his fingers. The ground behind the door vanished, and a complicated-looking mechanical doll ascended to floor level.

He pushed another button again. The doll slowly lifted its arm and unfurled its fist. Every single finger was equipped with a weapon, ranging from knives, arrows, to guns.

After the initial shock, Analise regained her composure. "That's great."

After they stepped into the yard, she exclaimed, "Oh, do you plant flowers too?"

"Yeah," he replied truthfully with a nod. "The garbage dump is just next to this place. When the wind blows, it carries the stench around. That's why I grew different flowers here."

"The yard smells more like flowers," she commented.

Then, she walked over to a pot of jasmine flowers. She checked them out and bent over to sniff them.

"Ana, do you like jasmine?" He came up to her.

"Yeah. Jasmine has a light and comfortable fragrance." She picked one of the flowers. "You don't mind, do you?"

"It's fine. And it so happens the flowers are in full bloom." He bent over and picked another jasmine flower. "I'll put this flower in your hair."

"Sure."

Without warning, the house behind them exploded. Thankfully, they moved fast and jumped over the outer wall of the garbage dump.

"I can't believe you have the time to be dating here." Ophir moved his left arm with an irritated expression. "Both of you are ticking time bombs."

"I understand you wanting to kill me, but why Gideon too?" Analise shielded the young Gideon behind her.

"That guy?" Ophir glanced at the young Gideon behind Analise. The look in his eyes darkened. "He's invented an antidote to the prion virus. Why would I want him alive? And there's the pocket drive..."

Ophir was reminded of that time it attempted to gain control of Sean's body- Gideon was able to plant that pocket drive without it knowing.

Gideon was regarded as an esteemed and intelligent scientist in the Interstellar therian world. But to Ophir, Gideon was an obstacle to his ambition of conquering this world. Gideon would become Analise's right-hand man.

Since Analise was under the protection of the system, Ophir could only get rid of Gideon, nipping it in the bud.noveldrama

Analise furrowed her brows. Had she not offered the Purification Potion to Gideon, Ophir might not want Gideon dead.

Perhaps Gideon was Ophir's target before Analise traveled through the time machine. Did it intentionally make Gideon take that stab on her behalf being aware of Gideon's feelings for her and her feelings for Fintay?

"Analise, do not be manipulated by Ophir. Even in your absence, it will still murder

Gideon. Its ultimate goal is to conquer this world, after all."

The leaders in the alliance would definitely disagree with Ophir's move. In that

case, it would have to get rid of Gideon.

"If you do not offer Gideon the Purification Rotion, there will be more trouble down the road. Not only will we fail to treat the poison, but Gideon might risk getting infected, too," Echo immediately warned Analise when it sensed her emotional turmoil.

Analise drew her Purification Bow in the air. "Since you've made yourself clear, I can't let you have your way."

"Do you really think you can take me down?" Ophir raised a brow doubtfully. "Before this, I was struck by the Purification Arrow in a moment of negligence. Do you really believe you could hurt me again?"

"It's always a possibility."

Turning serious, the young Gideon assessed Ophir's position and pulled out a transparent board from his shirt pocket.