Somewhere in a secluded seaside hideout near the Akamas Peninsula, Republic of Cyprus, in the Mediterranean Sea, the salty sea breeze drifted through an open terrace.
Upon an old wooden table sat several local snacks: several sizzling, greasy grilled meat skewers, a plate of halloumi cheese drizzled with olive oil and lemon juice, and a small basket of pita bread redolent with the scent of herbs.
On the terrace, a muscular man remained indifferent to the food right in front of him.
He was practically welded to a high-powered pair of binoculars, his brow furrowed as he scanned the ink-blue waters again and again.
Occasionally, he would quickly record the direction of ocean currents and suspicious points of light on an electronic notebook beside him, fully immersed in his search.
“We successfully diverted X by triggering a ‘Ghost Tide’ in Mexico,” the man reported without looking back, his voice slightly raspy from long hours of concentration.
“Then, as planned, we used a Directed Energy Pulse to remotely stimulate the ‘Eye of Ra,’ inducing a Divine Calamity within a controlled range… Finally, a lurking unit fired an armor-piercing shell that successfully hit the engine. The target is confirmed to have crashed in our pre-designated search-and-rescue zone, 20 nautical miles west of the Akamas Peninsula.”
He paused, a hint of frustration in his tone.
“However, Lady Yue, I’ve exhausted all detection methods… I haven’t found Tang Rou, nor have I captured any energy fluctuations from the ‘Eye of Ra.’ She and the Divine Artifact seem to have just evaporated.”
“Tsk!”
An annoyed huff came from the table behind the man.
“I really don’t get why we have to be so wary of someone who doesn’t even have a name. If I get the chance, I really want to have a fight with that X.”
A girl less than 5 feet tall wearing Pikachu pajamas pouted, her face full of defiance.
“I want to see for myself just how powerful he actually is.”
Sitting opposite her, Lady Yue appeared much more composed.
She elegantly used a fork to cut a small piece of perfectly fried halloumi cheese and placed it in her mouth.
“Xiaoye, our goal is the Divine Artifact. Stop thinking about fighting all the time.”
Yue’s voice was calm as she turned her gaze toward the man still fixed to the binoculars.
“Ri, are you certain that all conventional and unconventional search methods have been exhausted? Including scans for underwater anomalous spatial structures?”
Ri finally looked up from the binoculars, rubbed his aching temples, and turned to pick up a piece of pita bread.
He chewed it somewhat listlessly as he nodded.
“Yes, Lady Yue. Energy scans, life detection, sonar imaging, and we even tried to capture microscopic spatial folds… all yielded nothing. That girl either sank into some rift we can’t detect with the Divine Artifact, or her methods of concealment far exceed our estimations. Searching this sea on our own will likely be futile.”
Yue listened and picked up a glass of local *Commandaria* sweet wine, taking a sip.
Her gaze returned to the sea horizon, now dyed by the dusk, her eyes cold and deep.
“Since we can’t find her,” she said, setting down her glass and lightly tapping her fingertip on the wooden table, “then we’ll let more people help us search. Issue a bounty through our black market channels — a high price for the whereabouts of that Eastern girl.”
Her lips curled into a faint smile, as if she were savoring another meticulously prepared dish.
“Under a heavy reward, all the ‘fishermen’ and ‘vultures’ along this Mediterranean coast will find our hidden prey… and drag her out for us.”
Ri’s mouth twitched.
He finally couldn’t help himself, pointing at the mess on the table with a touch of helplessness and a butler-like grumble.
“Lady Yue, Xiaoye, allow me to remind you. The budget for this operation did not include your ‘Cyprus-style afternoon tea.’ Just renting that disguised fishing boat and bribing those officials to ‘keep one eye open and one eye shut’ has already left our funds bleeding. With you two eating and drinking like this, have either of you considered our funding for the next quarter?”
“Pfft — ”
Xiaoye nearly spat out the meat in her mouth.
She gave Ri a nasty glare.
“Hey, Ri, can you not be such a buzzkill? You have to have a full stomach before a fight; that’s basic common sense.”
“You little glutton, of course you aren’t heartbroken. You aren’t the one making the money anyway; you’re just responsible for spending it,” Ri sighed softly.
“Xiaoye,” Yue said, gently setting down her wine glass.
She looked at Ri, her face still composed, but with a hint of understanding in her eyes.
“Ri is right; the budget does need to be managed carefully.”
Then she shifted the subject, her finger lightly tapping the table.
“But the ‘Eye of Ra’ is the most important thing right now. The few dinars and euros we consumed today are a mere pittance compared to the value of a Divine Artifact. Issue the bounty first.”
“Understood… Lady Yue,” Ri responded immediately.
Though his voice sounded reluctant, his fingers moved rapidly across his tablet.
***
Along the Mediterranean coast.
Tang Rou had almost crawled ashore.
As she neared the beach, a wave slammed her heavily onto the cold, coarse gravel.
The impact hit the wound on her ribs, making her vision go black as she nearly fainted.
She lay on the shore now, gasping for breath, the salty seawater dripping continuously from her hair and the hem of her clothes.
She forced herself to look up and survey her surroundings.
This seemed to be the outskirts of a small fishing village.
Several dilapidated wooden fishing boats were stranded on the sand, and in the distance, a few low, white-walled houses looked quiet and peaceful in the dawn light.
The air was thick with the smell of fish and the sea.
She had to seek help.
She needed freshwater, food, and… a place to hide for a while.
But she also knew how suspicious she looked right now — a drenched woman with obvious injuries wearing strange tactical gear.
Tang Rou took a deep breath and activated her Divine Sense once more.
Divine Sense — Niying.
It could achieve camouflage by distorting light, absorbing specific sound frequencies, and even slightly interfering with the perceptual focus of nearby living beings.
It was through this Divine Sense that she had escaped the pursuit of the Scarabs and the unknown enemies.
Through her Divine Sense, she subtly adjusted her aura and presence, altering the appearance of her clothing to make herself look less “threatening” and more like an ordinary tourist who had suffered a shipwreck or an accident.
She scanned the coast and finally chose an old man mending fishing nets as her target.
He looked relatively kind.
The man’s face was etched with weather-beaten wrinkles, and his eyes were cloudy yet carried the simple honesty typical of fishermen.
Tang Rou stumbled closer.
Using the gentlest, most fragile, and pleading tone she could manage, she mixed simple English words with gestures to try and communicate.
“Excuse me… Help… Water? Please…”
She pointed to her cracked lips and then to the wound on her body, making a pained expression.
The old man stopped his work and looked up, responding with a few sentences in heavily accented Greek.
He scrutinized Tang Rou with eyes full of confusion and wariness.
Without Vigus’s assistance, and since she had not happened to take Greek as an elective, the language barrier stood like an invisible wall blocking her path to survival.
Anxiety filled Tang Rou’s heart, but she didn’t dare let it show on her face.
She tried taking out the only thing she had that looked “harmless” and potentially valuable — that Ancient Spanish Silver Coin given to her by X.
She held the coin in her palm and showed it to the old man, hoping to trade it for basic help.
The old man leaned in to look at the coin, then back at Tang Rou’s pale, earnest face.
A flash of hesitation and calculation crossed his cloudy eyes.
He seemed to be weighing the trouble this strange woman might bring against the potential reward.
A few seconds of silence passed, or perhaps it felt like centuries.
Finally, the old man slowly nodded.
He took the coin and then beckoned to Tang Rou, signaling her to follow him toward the simplest-looking white cottage not far away.
Tang Rou’s heart eased slightly, but her vigilance did not diminish in the slightest.
She didn’t know what this decision would bring: a brief respite, or a new crisis.
Having no other choice, she could only follow the old man’s silhouette with unsteady steps, betting her fate on his back.
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