“He acts so confident, like he’s some great master,” Wang Li said to the person beside her, “I really want to see what kind of expression he’ll have when he finds out the truth.”
But it was impossible to see that now. When Wei Feng, a fourth-stage, unleashed his most powerful ultimate move, the entire little gorge was no longer as it had been. All the outposts were doomed to be scrapped, and of course, that included the surveillance equipment.
Still, Wang Li could imagine it. At this point, all the blood and flesh covering the ground had turned to dust, only the Legion Commander could last a little longer, but only for a little while.
“Even though we didn’t get to see the live broadcast, it doesn’t matter, there’ll be an even better show in a couple of days.”
Finally, they’d get to see the animal show soon.
She turned off the TV and called to the others, “Let’s go.”
There was no going back to the Conquest Department, so they had to find a place to rest and recover from their injuries.
The Center City plane arrived, carrying the whole expedition group. They left Brussels Airport before nightfall.
Yu Jing sat in the back row, retying her handkerchief and tucking it back into her pocket. Originally, she’d wanted to let it flutter in the wind, but Xu Chuyao had said there were plenty more back in Wang Village, so she kept it for now.
The dying embers were rekindled, and the road ahead became a little brighter, as if it had continued her journey.
This plane was stocked with some medicine. Xiao Si Nuo helped Form Teacher Cheng Chen apply some ointment and re-bandaged his wounds.
“Alright, that’s enough,” Cheng Chen said, “Go back to your seat.”
“Okay, then I’ll stop fussing over you,” Xiao Si Nuo replied with concern.
Mainly, after that earth-shattering battle just now, everyone had fought like their lives depended on it—everyone except him, who hadn’t fired a single shot, just huddled in the corner.
He was no good as a fighting dog, but at least he could be useful in the rear, help raise the average.
“Alright, go do your own thing,” Cheng Chen grunted. He fancied himself a tough guy—no matter the injury, he wouldn’t let anyone see him look weak.
Xiao Si Nuo left him alone to heal in peace. Not long after, a bottle of water appeared on his little table.
“I told you, I’m really fine… Eh, Teacher Yu.”
The bottle was brought over by Yu Jing, who stood beside him and watched, “Really alright?”
“Well, could be something…,” Cheng Chen awkwardly scratched his face, feeling the marks from the wounds on his face and hand, “Well, uh, you—”
Breaking through to fourth stage was definitely something to show off. Most people never saw that day in their lifetime, so him sitting here with this battered look, saying these things, seemed a little absurd.
“I told you to take them out first,” Yu Jing sighed, tightening the bandage around his waist, “Why did you come back?”
“I just… I thought you might need support, so I went back.”
Cheng Chen smiled sheepishly, but couldn’t undo the bandage with one hand for ages. Finally, Yu Jing couldn’t bear to watch and reached over to help him.
He sensed a subtle change about her and couldn’t help but try, “Teacher Yu, maybe when you’re free, we could go to Wu Café…?”
“We’ve already been to Inhos Tower, haven’t we?”
“Come on, that was different—I was waiting for someone at the time. Besides, the coffee in Center City cafés has to be different from Inhos Tower. Hometown coffee is always better…”
A few rows back, Shen Ning was still in her favorite window seat, gazing at her own reflection in the glass.
“Hey, check out those two old folks up there—they’re so noisy,” said the Shadow of Inheritance from her throat, craning its neck, “Can’t stand listening to them.”
Shen Ning tilted her head, not sure why it said that. Weren’t they just talking about whether coffee tasted good? Pretty normal.
Sometimes she also agonized over whether to eat more snacks or not—too much junk food, and she couldn’t finish her meals.
“You’re different… forget it, talking sense to kids like you is useless.”
Mocked by her own parallel world reflection.
I don’t know what you’re talking about. Compared to that, shouldn’t we talk about that woman with the implanted gun? She got away this time, but we’ll definitely meet again.
But Shen Shu waited a long time, and still, the shadow didn’t say anything. Then she realized—it really couldn’t talk about this.
She turned to see what her girlfriend was doing, and found she was just resting with her eyes closed. Looks like she’d fallen asleep.
So Shen Shu closed her own eyes and rested too.
The girl didn’t know that, in fact, Xu Chuyao hadn’t been resting at all. She was running her Milestone System at full speed, going over everything that happened in her mind like flipping through a book.
Now the story was completely off-track. The School of Excellence’s undercover came out early, the Equator Defense Line was in trouble, Penguin Lu was exposed, even the old Class Advisor broke through to the fourth stage.
All she could say was, thank goodness there’s at least one version more awesome than the rest. A pretty good script change, all things considered.
As for what happens next…
“Officer Yao, Officer Yao,” Xiao Si Nuo crept over and whispered, “Now that our group’s back, what should we do next?”
“Nothing,” Xu Chuyao said seriously, “This has gotten way too big—it’s not for us to decide.”
She also glanced out the window. In the sky, directions were meaningless, so she just picked a random spot and pretended to be looking at Indonesia below.
If Penguin Wang Li’s plan succeeded, and Monrose was delivered to the island where the Defense Line stood, and clashed with the stationed troops—there would be no one who could stop him. The entire Defense Line would be wiped out. Besides people, all the technological installations against mutated animals would be destroyed as well.
When that happens, even Australia will have something to say about it.
“Don’t think too much. Now that the flight’s smooth, try to catch some sleep while you can,” she advised.
“Okay…” Xiao Si Nuo’s face was still full of worry, “I wasn’t thinking much.”
“No one asked you to,” she muttered.
Yao Yao muttering to herself again.
On a remote island in southern Indonesia, the defensive island had become nothing but a speck of sand floating on the ocean, unrecognizable from what it once was.
The sand gathered to form a floating platform. Standing atop it, Monrose looked slightly dazed.
After a while, the tricks Barfu left in his body faded away, and he finally noticed what was wrong.
The sensory difference between the crystal world and the real world, between spirit form and physical form, was just too great. One felt like a light, ethereal dream, and the other—well, it just was reality.
So, even though he’d been to the other side, experienced its transcendent freedom, why did he now feel like he’d plummeted back to this battered shell of a body?
And what exactly was this place, surrounded by the sea on all sides?
“Salier Lord,” he heard a faint voice nearby, “why did you do this?”
That familiar timbre matched the memories in his mind. For some reason, Monrose shuddered. “You are… Little Jack?”
He remembered Old MacHeng, once his subordinate. Little Jack was his son, and their families used to be close. Later, due to a job transfer, Old Jack’s family moved far away from Inhos Tower, so contact dwindled.
But right now, Little Jack stood before him, body battered beyond recognition, blood nearly drained. Only the spirit power in his body barely kept him clinging to life, but even that wouldn’t last long.
“How did you end up like this…”
Monrose’s words stopped abruptly. How could he not see that Little Jack’s miserable state was caused by his own ultimate move? As for why he hadn’t run, well, with water on all sides, where could he go?
At this moment, he suddenly realized another question: “Weren’t you supposed to be stationed at the British defense line? Why are you here…”
Little Jack didn’t answer, just stood quietly in the sand, letting the rolling sands swallow him.
Monrose’s body shuddered. He understood many things in that instant.
“School of Excellence, you played me!”
In the pitch-black night, on an empty island, no matter how loud he shouted, the sea would simply swallow the sound. He turned, facing the open ocean.
If this island was the Defense Line, and now all the countermeasures and peacekeeping techniques were useless, that meant…
The ocean stretched cold and silent, a chilling wind brushed past his ear, carrying with it a bone-chilling wail.
In this era, no one paid attention to the terrifying things at the bottom of the southern hemisphere’s black ocean. Even if the king of the dead wanted to come, he wouldn’t do it himself.
Monrose’s hands were icy cold. At this moment, he felt more weary and aged than ever before.
He knew he wouldn’t survive this night.