Chapter 233: The Inspection
As dusk settled, three boys sprinted toward a changing of the guard, their
chests heaving as if a demonic beast were snapping at their heels.
"Report! Officer! We want to file a report!"
The tall, thin boy in the lead was practically hyperventilating. He raised his
hand high, shouting at the top of his lungs to ensure no passerby missed the
drama. The Skeleton Berserker on duty paused, the blue soulfire in its sockets
flickering with a rhythmic, measured pulse.
"Speak."
"The sewers! There's a monster in the sewers!" The boy in the cap cut in, his
face still pale with a lingering, albeit exaggerated, terror. "She has scars all
over her face! Exactly like the drawing on the 'Most Wanted' board! I swear on
my life!"
The heavy-set boy beside him nodded so vigorously that his jowls wobbled. "Yeah!
She tried to grab us! We barely escaped with our lives!"
The skeleton soldier's jawbone clicked open and shut—a silent, weary sigh. He
tilted his skull toward the crudely drawn bounty poster tacked to the guardhouse
wall.
"Are you certain?"
"One million percent!" the three boys shouted in unison, thumping their chests.
The soldier's soulfire flickered again. Internally, he let out a groan. This is
a disaster. Every high-ranking unit in the sector had been operating under the
unspoken agreement to treat the girl like a ghost—ignoring her presence as long
as she remained passive. How did these little runts manage to trip right over
her?
"Detail the encounter," the skeleton commanded, sticking to the standard
Imperial protocol.
The tall boy immediately launched into a theatrical performance. "We were just
walking home from the Academy, checking if the slimes were getting enough to
eat! Suddenly, that woman lunged out of the pitch-black abyss! Her eyes were
violet—glowing like cursed gems! She started swinging at us!"
The boy in the cap hurried to add more color to the story. "That's right! She
said we looked tender and that she was going to drag us down there to use as
'emergency rations'!"
The heavy-set boy squeezed his eyes shut, trying to force out a tear, but
failed. He settled for a tragic wail. "It was terrifying! Her hand nearly
snapped my ankle! Officer, you have to do something! You have to protect us!"
The Skeleton Berserker listened to the testimony in total silence. A single
thought occupied his mind: These kids missed their calling. They should have
joined a traveling theater troupe.
If a planar-tier infiltrator actually wanted to deal with three human children,
would they be standing here shouting? Furthermore, the only reason the High
Command was letting her roam was because she hadn't released a single thread of
hostile Od. If she had, the entire town would be ringing with the Punishment
Legion's red alerts by now.
But a rule was a rule. A formal report from a citizen—even a minor—required a
documented response.
"Wait here. I will notify my superior," the soldier said.
He stepped aside and initiated a Soul Link with his Centurion. [Sir, we have a
variable. Three juveniles reported an encounter with the Target at the primary
sewer junction.]
There was a heavy, five-second silence from the other end.
[...She came out?] the Centurion's voice echoed in the link, sounding profoundly
annoyed.
[According to the civilians, she initiated an unprovoked assault on them.]
[...]
The Centurion's soul-fluctuations turned jagged and irritable. Why couldn't she
just stay in her hole? Does she have to go out of her way to scare the locals?
Everyone was playing nice, looking the other way... and she can't even maintain
that level of basic cooperation? Now we're forced to actually work.
"Understood," the Centurion's voice returned to a flat, professional drone.
"Organize a sweep according to the standard manual."
"Sir."
"And remember," the Centurion added, his tone sharpening. "This is a formality.
A performance for the townsfolk to show the Punishment Legion is 'on the job.'
We all know she's in there. Our mission is to not find her. Am I making myself
clear, Soldier?"
"Crystal, sir."
The Skeleton Berserker cut the link and turned back to the waiting boys. "Your
report has been logged. The Punishment Legion is mobilizing an extraction team
immediately. Go home and stay indoors. Maintain safety."
"Thanks, Officer! You guys are the coolest!"
The three boys instantly discarded their terror, cheering as they skipped away.
The skeleton watched their retreating backs, his soulfire pulsing rapidly. One
day, their 'cleverness' is going to lead them into a hole they can't shout their
way out of.
Minutes later, a patrol of fifteen Skeleton Berserker gathered at the sewer
entrance. The atmosphere was... delicate. They were divided into five squads of
three. The Centurion in charge stood at the front, his soulfire burning brighter
than usual—a clear sign of his foul mood.
"Listen up!" he commanded through the Soul Link. "This sweep is a stage play. We
go in, we make a lot of noise, we shout some slogans, and then we come out and
report that the target has evaded capture. It is that simple."
"Understood!" the fifteen soldiers responded in a synchronized mental burst.
"Good. And for the love of the Sovereign, act natural!" the Centurion barked.
"Hit the walls, splash in the water, scream into the dark. But if I catch anyone
looking too closely at the ceilings or the deep shadows in the alcoves, you'll
spend a month in the 'Re-education Demonstration Zone' cleaning the
dragon-stalls! Am I understood?!"
"Understood!"
The Centurion gave a satisfied wave. "Move out."
The fifteen skeletons marched into the dark maw of the sewer in a thunderous
display of military might. Clang, stomp, clang.
The heavy, metallic footsteps echoed through the hollow tunnels, reaching deep
into the dark. Lia, who had been meditating in the silence, snapped her eyes
open.
Footsteps. Multiple units. High-tier gear. Aimed at this sector.
Lia's brain switched to Combat Mode. Adrenaline flooded her system. She
performed a lightning-fast sweep of the junction, analyzing every potential
cover. Finally, her gaze locked onto the corner of the ceiling.
The "Lamp's Shadow"—the ultimate blind spot.
Lia seized the small wooden stool Amy had brought her. Without a second of
hesitation, she sprinted toward the corner of the tunnel.
Approach. Jump.
Her left foot slammed into the left wall, providing upward momentum. She kicked
off the right wall, spinning her body in mid-air. Her legs snapped into a
perfect horizontal split, her boots wedged firmly against the two perpendicular
walls. She hoisted the stool above her head, jamming it into the higher corner
to act as an additional anchor and balance weight.
She hung there like a gecko, merged perfectly with the shadows four meters above
the floor.
It was an elementary infiltration technique. In a cramped, dim environment,
searchers naturally focus on eye-level and the floor. Rarely does a soldier look
vertically into a corner directly above them. As long as she remained silent and
avoided a direct Mana-pulse, her detection probability was zero.
Lia slowed her heart rate and thinned her breathing until it was a mere ghost of
a sound. She remained motionless, a part of the stone itself.
The footsteps drew closer.
"Squad One, sweep the left channel!" "Squad Two, the right!" "Squad Three,
center!" "Squad Four, seal the exits!" "Squad Five, with me!"
The skeletons dispersed. Lia tracked them by sound. One squad turned into her
tunnel. Three of them, carrying Lights of Evernight that turned the tunnel into
a glare of artificial day.
"Search thoroughly! Do not leave a single stone unturned!" the lead skeleton
shouted.
The three began a search that Lia found... confusing.
One skeleton walked to a puddle, knelt, and began stirring the stagnant water
with his greatsword. "Report! Water is clear! No hostiles detected!"
Another skeleton trotted over, peered into the same puddle, and nodded with
grave solemnity. "Confirmed! The water is indeed unoccupied! Continue the
sweep!"
They moved further down the line to a cluster of slimes. One skeleton bent over
and began lifting the gelatinous blobs one by one, turning them over to inspect
their "under-carriages."
"Report! No fugitives hiding beneath the slimes!" "Confirmed! Move to the next
sector!"
Lia, hanging from the ceiling, nearly forgot to breathe. They are so thorough.
Yet... why is this so strange?
They checked every inch of the floor. They checked the puddles. They even
checked the slimes. But they perfectly avoided every logical hiding spot. Most
absurd of all: not once did a single skeleton tilt its skull upward.
Lia's pupils contracted. Are they... slacking? On duty?
Just then, one of the skeletons stopped. He looked bored. He stared down at a
slime undulated slowly past his boot. His soulfire flickered, and the slime
seemingly sensed its impending doom, trying to speed up.
Suddenly, the skeleton extended his foot and gave the slime a playful, gentle
kick. The creature went boing, bouncing into the air before landing back in the
water. Finding this entertaining, the soldier kicked it again.
The slime bounced higher.
"Hey, Soldier 10086, what are you doing?" a teammate asked.
"Testing the structural elasticity of the local fauna. Ensuring the ecosystem is
healthy," 10086 replied in a deadpan tone, his foot not stopping.
One, two, three kicks. He was treating the slime like a kickball.
On the fourth kick, 10086 put a bit more power behind it. The poor slime
transformed into a blue parabola, sailing toward the ceiling.
10086 instinctively tilted his head back to see how high his "projectile" would
go.
And then, he saw her.
A woman. Legs splayed in a perfect split, wedged firmly into the corner. Hands
holding a wooden stool. Face a map of jagged scars.
A pair of piercing violet eyes were staring directly down at him, devoid of all
emotion.
Eyes met. The atmosphere became impossibly awkward.
The slime, having completed its ballistic trajectory, reached its apex and began
its freefall. Splat. It landed squarely on 10086's bare skull, bounced off, and
used the momentum to flee the scene at maximum speed.
10086 froze. The entire skeleton seemed to turn to stone.
Lia remained jammed in the corner, maintaining her high-difficulty pose.
The two watched each other in a heavy, echoing silence.
Suddenly, the Centurion's voice barked through the tunnel. "10086! What's the
delay? Report in! You're the last unit!"
10086's soulfire jolted. He snapped out of his stupor and shouted at the empty
air with every ounce of his being.
"N-NOTHING! NO ANOMALIES DETECTED! SECTOR IS SECURE! NOTHING HERE BUT SLIMES!"
He spun around and bolted, his legs moving in a frantic, disorganized blur. He
vanished down the tunnel without looking back, his composure as a member of the
elite Punishment Legion utterly shattered.
The other two soldiers exchanged a glance.
"What's up with him?" "I don't know. Maybe he got a cramp from kicking the
slimes." "Fair. Slimes are quite addictive." "Let's move to the next sector."
The three skeletons exited the channel. Their footsteps faded into the distance.
Lia remained in her position, her brain running at a total system overload. That
skeleton saw me. He looked me in the eye. And then he chose to lie. Why? Is it a
trap? A new psychological warfare tactic?
From the distance, the reports of the other squads echoed back.
"Left channel clear! No anomalies!" "Right channel clear! No anomalies!" "Center
channel clear! No anomalies!"
Finally, the Centurion's voice rang out, sounding profoundly relieved.
"Excellent! The target has evaded our search! All units, consolidate! We are
withdrawing!"
Clang, stomp, clang.
The synchronized footsteps resumed, heading toward the surface. Soon, the sewer
was returned to absolute, ringing silence.
Lia slowly lowered herself from the ceiling, her boots touching the stones
without a sound. She set the stool down and sat on it.
She looked at her hands. They were damp with cold sweat. It had been a lifetime
since she had experienced the variable known as "tension."
I cannot remain here.
She had to leave tonight. As for Amy... as long as the child practiced the
techniques Lia had taught her, she would be more than capable of handling the
local bullies.
Orlando had become too "loud." It was time to return to the grey.
☆☆☆
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