Shortly after Lin Yu’s figure vanished into the shadows of the cave, Alexandre Duval rushed over.
Adrenaline was still surging through his veins, and his body—covered in a mixture of seawater and sweat—trembled slightly from the intense sprint.
He had expected to see the aftermath of a tragic, large-scale battle.
He was even prepared to face a god.
However, the sight before him made him skid to a sudden halt, his breath catching in his throat.
Silence.
A deathly silence.
Before him, the hawk-headed avatar that had once radiated a pressure capable of making his soul shiver was now kneeling on the ground.
It looked like a piece of glass art that had been violently smashed and then clumsily pieced back together, its entire body covered in shocking cracks.
The light composing the divine body was not being drawn inward but was instead scattering and flickering, as if it would be completely extinguished in the next moment.
The lowered hawk head and the withered Sacred Snake all spoke of the miserable end of a hero.
At its chest, the Eye of Ra gemstone was slowly and weakly detaching itself, its glow as dull as a piece of low-quality citrine.
Alexandre was no fool.
The scene before him indicated only one thing—before his arrival, someone or something else had destroyed this god in a way he could not fathom.
They had drained its power and then… left.
That entity had not even deigned to take this Divine Artifact, a symbol of supreme power.
A cold mixture of humiliation and relief instantly overwhelmed him.
He was relieved to be alive and relieved that this terrifying power seemed to have departed.
But following that was an immense sense of humiliation.
He, Alexandre Duval, a self-proclaimed genius, had ended up as a… scavenger?
He was picking up the spoils of war that someone else had discarded at will.
This was not the victory he desired.
It was not the glorious moment he had envisioned, where he would use his own strength, wisdom, and courage to slay a god after a hard-fought battle.
This felt more like… charity.
Or worse, it was a battlefield that the unknown existence had been too lazy to deal with, leaving it for him to sweep up.
He clenched his fists tightly, his nails nearly digging into his palms.
His gray-blue eyes had long since been replaced by an indescribable shame and fury.
He stared fixedly at the dying avatar and the floating gemstone as if they were both silently mocking his incompetence.
But… the Eye of Ra was right there.
Even if its light was dim, it was still one of the Seven Artifacts recorded in The Fragmented Scroll, and it still contained power unimaginable to mortals.
A moment later, he composed himself and raised his gun.
*Bang! Bang! Bang!*
Three crisp, decisive gunshots ended the lingering echoes of the god that should have already vanished.
The divine body completely disintegrated into meaningless dust.
He leaned over, picked up the still-warm Eye of Ra gemstone, and held it in his palm.
The sensation of power was still present, but it felt as though it were behind a thin film—no longer as heart-stopping, and no longer as… pure.
X’s figure appeared silently.
He had originally expected a bitter struggle, but to his surprise, he arrived only to see the man before him use a gun to kill the crumbling Ra and obtain the usage rights of the Eye of Ra.
X was no stranger to Alexandre Duval, the blonde Canadian man.
This man had repeatedly claimed to his face that he would surpass him and become a hero, and he had frequently applied to participate in missions on his own initiative.
He had even relied on his family’s wealth to establish the largest club within The School…
Although he seemed like nothing more than a rich kid with a hero complex, X found it impossible not to be impressed by him.
X scanned the area and the gemstone in Alexandre’s hand.
“Command Center, this is X. The Eye of Ra threat has been neutralized. The Divine Artifact has been recovered by Alexandre Duval.”
To Alexandre’s ears, that calm report sounded like the sharpest irony.
“Though I hate to admit it, I wasn’t the one who dealt with this thing,” Alexandre explained, meeting X’s calm, waveless gaze.
“But you were indeed the one who finished Ra, and you are the one who obtained the usage rights for the Eye of Ra…”
“By the time I arrived, Ra was already half-dead.”
“We can report the details of the mission process after we return. According to the Director, three members are still missing. Although communications have returned to normal, those three have yet to show any signs of attempting to make contact.”
“The current mission is to find them and evacuate safely.”
***
After a brief search, X and Alexandre found the three missing people in the cave.
The state of the three was equally bizarre.
Their combat uniforms showed clear signs of being burned, and their bodies—along with the ground around them—were covered in blood.
However, their bodies were completely intact, with not a single visible wound.
Finally, X’s gaze fell upon Lin Yu, who was closest to the cave entrance.
He was slumped on the ground in an extremely unnatural posture.
X knelt down and placed his fingers lightly on Lin Yu’s neck.
The pulse was normal, as if he were simply in a deep sleep.
“What’s wrong with them…?”
Alexandre also noticed the anomaly and asked in confusion.
“It looks as though they were completely healed by some power after being injured.”
X finished Alexandre’s thought, providing a reasonable deduction based on experience.
“This situation isn’t rare. Most likely, a potent healing-type Divine Sense took effect after they were wounded.”
Alexandre nodded slightly, accepting X’s viewpoint, though a trace of doubt remained in his heart.
X stood up silently.
He first carefully hoisted Christina onto his back and then easily lifted the unconscious Lin Yu with one hand.
Seeing this, Alexandre stepped forward and picked up the unconscious Asian girl.
“Reporting, the three missing individuals have been found. They are all unconscious, but their vital signs are stable. Mission complete. Requesting evacuation,” X’s voice transmitted through the encrypted channel.
At the observation point along the coast, at nearly the same time.
Thud!
The door to the observation point was pushed open rather roughly.
Yue entered, smelling of seawater, while Ri was covered in the scent of charred remains.
Both of them rushed inside in a hurry.
“Night!”
“Night, are you okay?”
The two spoke in unison, their voices filled with unmistakable anxiety and concern.
Their gazes were like sharp blades, quickly scanning every corner of the room.
However, the expected scene of a little girl being injured or anxious did not appear.
At the very back of the room, on a makeshift temporary bed, Night was curled up in a blanket, with only her head and hair visible.
Her eyes were tightly shut, her long eyelashes trembling slightly with her steady breathing.
Her cheeks were flush, and there even seemed to be a faint, satisfied curve at the corner of her mouth.
She was fast asleep.
The room was so quiet that only her even, shallow breathing could be heard, along with the faint sound of the waves gradually calming outside the window.
It was as if the earth-shaking battle of gods and the life-and-death crisis outside had nothing to do with this room or this girl.
Yue and Ri froze where they stood, looking at each other.
Although they were still wearing the burlap bags they hadn’t had time to remove, they could both see the astonishment, confusion, and a sense of… relief as their hearts finally settled back into place.
“Good grief, what are you guys doing?”
Night woke up under their startled shouting.
Seeing the two people in burlap bags before her, she immediately sprang up from the blanket like she had seen a ghost, her sleepy eyes snapping wide.
“It’s us.”
“Sister Yue… Why are you guys wearing those things?”
Recognizing her brother and sister, Night instantly breathed a sigh of relief and sat back down on the blanket.
“Wasn’t it because of your gluttony? we didn’t have enough money to buy proper masks, so we had to use bags to keep ourselves from being recognized,” Ri grumbled while pulling off the burlap bag.
“You guys look…”
Night blinked, looking at Yue, who was soaked through with multiple burn marks on her tactical suit, and then at Ri, who was equally disheveled with holes in his clothes.
Yue did not answer.
She walked to the bedside and reached out to stroke Night’s head, confirming that she had indeed just been sleeping and was in perfect condition.
“Where’s the Divine Artifact? Where is it? Did the mission fail without me?”
Night guessed with a hint of smugness.
An indescribable mixture of relief and wry amusement surged into their hearts.
“Yeah,” Yue said softly.
“We really can’t do it without you.”