The salty sea breeze carried a chill as it blew across the rugged coastline.
A camouflaged vertical take-off and landing aircraft, bearing the emblem of Thanatos Academy, landed silently on the shore like a phantom.
The hatch slid open, and fully armed team members filed out.
According to the predetermined plan, they split into three teams and began fanning out toward the inland and coastal areas in a search formation.
Lin Yu was in the Second Team, with Christina serving as the captain.
Tangris briskly signaled a series of tactical hand signs, and the team members immediately dispersed with practiced coordination to form a search perimeter.
Lin Yu followed closely behind Christina’s flank.
This was his first time participating in a live combat mission.
Both his temperament and his slightly oversized combat uniform felt out of place among the lean, elite soldiers surrounding him.
“Stay alert. Watch for any energy residue, unnatural traces, or… bloodstains,” Tangris’s voice transmitted into every member’s ear through the encrypted channel.
“Tang Rou’s Niying ability is very strong, but she should be injured. It is impossible for her to leave no trace at all. Prioritize searching caves, rocky crevices, or abandoned buildings where someone could hide.”
The three teams began to advance slowly and carefully along the coastline.
Moving in pairs, one member held an energy fluctuation detector to capture abnormal divine radiation or life signals, while the other used high-powered binoculars to scan the distant sea and rocky reefs.
Disconnected from the tense atmosphere of the search and rescue operation, Lin Yu walked aimlessly, holding the energy fluctuation detector Christina had given him.
Before this mission, he had never seen the ocean.
His impression of the sea was stuck on the scene from the anime *Attack on Titan*, where the protagonist points at the vast ocean and asks what lies on the other side.
‘What is on the other side of the ocean?’
The boundless sea truly made one feel that possibilities were infinite.
He saw various shapes of seaweed and shells washed ashore by the waves, holes in the reefs eroded by wind and frost, and even a half-rotten jellyfish that had been stranded on the sand.
Time slipped away in the silent, tense search.
The only sounds were the wind and waves, footsteps, and the occasional brief reports from other teams coming through the communicator, translated by Vigus.
“First Team, no target found in Area A.”
“Third Team, no abnormal energy reactions in Area C.”
An oppressive atmosphere began to spread like a thick mist. Everyone knew that the window for Tang Rou’s survival was rapidly closing.
Christina stopped on a high reef and raised her binoculars, staring long and hard at the stretch of sea that had swallowed the transport plane.
Her brow furrowed deeply.
She pressed her communicator.
“Command Center, Second Team has completed the search of Area B. No target found. Requesting to expand the search radius and extend it further inland.”
“Command Center acknowledges. Request approved. Be advised: weather forecasts show that the wind over the sea will intensify in 1 hour, which may affect subsequent search efforts.”
The wind intensifying… that meant the waves would grow larger.
If Tang Rou was still clinging to a reef somewhere at sea, her situation would become even more perilous.
Lin Yu looked at Christina’s solemn profile and then toward the vast, seemingly calm yet treacherous ocean.
He felt a strange sense of melancholy.
‘Maybe this girl named Tang Rou has already died in the sea, like a forgotten symbol, vanishing silently while carrying a so-called Divine Artifact.’
***
“Ri, the Thanatos support teams have arrived. Three groups, standard search formation.”
At an observation point along the Mediterranean Coast, Yue put down her high-powered binoculars and rubbed the bridge of her nose, which was sore from focusing for too long.
Her short silver hair fluttered slightly in the breeze.
Her voice carried a hint of subtle fatigue.
“Those maniacs moved faster than expected.”
Ri did not look up.
He was almost entirely surrounded by several floating light screens, his slender fingers dancing across a virtual keyboard and leaving afterimages.
The encrypted data streams and real-time energy maps of the coastline reflected a faint blue glow in his eyes.
“I know,” he said, his tone equally solemn.
“The moment the bounty was posted, the black market channels exploded.
Many Fishermen have already moved, smelling blood.
But the Thanatos people… they came too fast. They’ve disrupted our rhythm.”
Yue crossed her arms and leaned against the window frame, her fingertips unconsciously tapping her elbow—a habit when she was thinking.
“What do we do next, Ri?”
She threw the question to the brains of the team.
“What do we do, Ri?”
Xiaoye immediately mimicked from the side.
she had just finished devouring some Halloumi cheese, and food crumbs still clung to the corner of her mouth.
Ri finally looked up from the screens and gave the two of them a helpless look.
He suddenly reached out and pulled Xiaoye toward him with his arm, accurately pinching her cheek, which still had a bit of baby fat.
“Is ‘Ri’ what you’re supposed to call me?”
Ri said, intentionally putting on a stern face, though he didn’t use much force.
“Ahhh! Ow, ow! Brother Ri, Brother Ri! My mistake! Let go!”
Xiaoye immediately wailed with exaggeration, struggling with all her limbs like a cat being held by the scruff of its neck.
Ri let go.
He watched Xiaoye rub her face—even though there wasn’t a mark on it—while glaring at him with what she thought was a fierce expression.
He couldn’t help but laugh and shake his head.
However, the smile quickly faded, and his gaze returned to the light screens, his expression becoming serious once more.
“We must get the Divine Artifact before those Thanatos maniacs.”
His finger tapped a point on one of the screens, and a weak but persistent flickering energy signal was magnified and highlighted in red.
“Found it. A Fisherman reported via vague code that they glimpsed a mysterious Asian woman matching the description near 7th Bay. Her movements were secretive. Although the intel is as rough as footprints in the sand, the time, location, and the weak fluctuations that the Eye of Ra might leak all match… Tang Rou and the Divine Artifact are most likely hiding in some corner of that bay.”
His tone held no joy; instead, it grew heavier.
“At the same time, I’ve been monitoring Thanatos’s encrypted communications…”
He paused, a hint of unbelievable frustration—and even a trace of awe he didn’t want to admit—creeping into his voice.
“…Over in Mexico, we carefully planned a Ghost Tide that caused more than twenty God-thought Users to go into a frenzy simultaneously. Yet… it didn’t even stall him for a single day. X has already cleared the aftermath and is heading toward us at full speed. At his pace, we don’t have much time left.”
“Is he really that amazing?”
Xiaoye rubbed her face, her eyes wide.
They didn’t reflect fear, but rather an excited light.
“Brother Ri, how about letting me go stop him? I’ve been feeling like I’m in great form lately!”
She shook her small fist, eager to try.
“You?”
Ri reached out and gave her forehead a firm flick with his knuckle.
“You are going to stay right here. As for X…”
He pushed up his glasses, the gaze behind the lenses turning sharp.
“I’ll go meet him. Sister Yue, the Divine Artifact and that Tang Rou are in your hands.”
“Why don’t you ever let me play?”
Xiaoye pouted, her face full of reluctance and grievance.
“It’s always like this! I want to go with you guys too!”
Ri sighed, trying to comfort her.
“Xiaoye, it’s not that we won’t let you play. But you are our last line of defense, our most critical power. You cannot be exposed easily, understand?”
“Hmph! You say that every time! It’s just an excuse!”
Filled with resentment, Xiaoye stomped her foot and ran out of the observation point like a gust of wind, slamming the door so hard it rattled.
“Xiaoye…”
Yue looked in the direction she had gone and sighed softly, her eyes complicated.
“She’s almost an adult, but she still thinks like a child.”
“Yeah, and her power is becoming increasingly unstable,” Ri added with concern.
“Until we find a solution, we can’t let her take risks, especially against an opponent of X’s level.”
He took a deep breath, forcing himself to focus, and quickly issued the final orders.
“That’s the plan. I will guide the bounty hunters to strike the Thanatos formation, creating maximum chaos to pin down their search teams. Then, I’ll intercept X to buy you as much time as possible. Sister Yue, seize the opportunity to slip into the bay, find Tang Rou, and take the Eye of Ra. We must complete the seizure and evacuate before X breaks through my interception.”
Yue said no more and simply nodded.
The last trace of gentleness vanished from her eyes, replaced by the cold focus of a cheetah before a hunt.
She took one last look at the red dot on the screen representing Tang Rou’s possible location.
In a flash, she merged into the shadows outside the observation point, silently heading toward the bay where the dark undercurrents were surging.
Ri watched the direction where Yue had disappeared, then looked at the cursor on the screen representing X’s high-speed approach.
He whispered to himself:
“All right, let me see if the legendary X is truly as… unstoppable as the reports say.”