Caelus casually tossed Oleg down next to Seele. He clapped his hands, took out a block, placed it in front of them, and sat down.
"I ask, you answer."
"I'm not telling you anything!" Seele retorted stubbornly, pouting.
This person was absolutely detestable. No matter what he wanted to know, she wouldn't say a word!
"For that sentence alone, you deserve the electric chair. It's a shame I don't have the materials right now, or I'd be sure to set you up."
Caelus grumbled at Seele before turning his gaze to Oleg. Seele was just a grunt; she probably didn't know anything anyway. It was better to question the leader of Wildfire directly.
"You're Oleg, right?"
Seeing that Caelus knew his name, Oleg's eyes narrowed.
"Did you learn my name from Seele? Or did you already know… Am I to assume you're specifically targeting Wildfire?"
"I've already told you: I ask, you answer. But I'll be nice and answer your question. Before I ran into you, I didn't even know what Wildfire was."
"Then why did you attack us?"
"You attacked me first."
Oleg wanted to ask more, but Caelus cut him off with a raised hand. "If you ask another question, I'm stripping Seele and using her clothes to smelt iron."
Oleg immediately fell silent, closing his mouth to await Caelus's interrogation.
Seeing that Oleg had finally settled down, Caelus began. "Were you trying to rescue Cocolia when you came for me?"
Oleg nodded. Caelus followed up with another question.
"Did Bronya send you?"
Oleg shook his head and explained, "We received a tip from someone that a person was holding a suspected Supreme Guardian hostage and had come to the Underworld. Although no one in the Underworld is fond of the Supreme Guardian, we decided to rescue Cocolia and send her back to prevent the Overworld from causing trouble for us."
Caelus nodded. If that was the case, it meant Bronya hadn't broken their agreement yet.
"Second question. Have you seen a man and a woman wearing a ticket like mine?"
Oleg and Seele looked at the ticket pinned to Caelus's chest and were stunned. They both spoke at almost the same time. "You're Dan Heng and March 7th's companion?"
Hearing his companions' names from their mouths, Caelus's eyes lit up. It seemed holding back had paid off.
"Where are they?"
---o---
Five minutes later, March 7th and Dan Heng arrived on the scene, only to be greeted by the sight of Wildfire members lying all over the place, stripped down to their shorts. Only Oleg and Seele were still fully clothed.
And the culprit was sitting on a block, waving at them cheerfully.
"Dan Heng, March."
March 7th froze for a moment, then covered her face with both hands and let out a piercing shriek.
"Caelus! What did you do?!"
Even Dan Heng's mouth couldn't help but twitch at the sight.
The two of them rushed forward to help untie Seele and the others. March, busy with her hands, didn't forget to turn back and shoot Caelus a dirty look.
"You! How could you do this the moment we're not around…"
Caelus spread his hands helplessly. "What would you do if a group of people suddenly surrounded you with hostile intent in a place where you don't know anyone?"
March's untying motions paused for a second. She thought for a moment. "Strike first?"
"Exactly. You get me, March."
Beside them, Dan Heng also stopped untying the Wildfire members and turned a wary eye toward Oleg. "Mr. Oleg, why did you attack my companion?"
Oleg wished he could cry. How were they supposed to know Caelus was Dan Heng and March 7th's companion? If they had known it was a misunderstanding from the start, they wouldn't have done this!
Seele, on the other hand, was so aggrieved her lip was practically trembling.
"I didn't even finish talking before he smashed me with his bat!"
Dan Heng and March 7th looked at Caelus in unison. Caelus just shrugged.
"What could I do? I was carrying someone. Just giving her a whack with the bat without killing her was the greatest mercy I could show."
Dan Heng and March 7th recalled Caelus's previous battles on the space station and nodded in unison.
Indeed, arriving to find Seele without a chopstick sticking out of her head was already quite fortunate.
"Wait a second," March and Dan Heng suddenly realized. What did Caelus just say? He was carrying someone?
"Who were you carrying?"
"Her." Caelus stepped aside, allowing March and Dan Heng to see the unconscious Cocolia lying on the ground behind him. "I brought her."
March blinked, then once again covered the sides of her face and let out a sharp shriek.
"Isn't that Cocolia?! Why did you bring the final BOSS with you?!"
Caelus grinned and squatted down, patting Cocolia's face.
"Isn't this more efficient? Instead of asking around, we can just ask her directly. And if she's stubborn and refuses to talk…" Caelus raised a hand and made a slicing motion across his neck, winking at March and Dan Heng.
"…it solves the problem once and for all."
The corners of March and Dan Heng's mouths twitched. March gulped and walked over to Caelus, placing a hand on his shoulder with great earnestness.
"Ahem, Caelus… we Nameless are the good guys, you know…"
"You should've said so earlier… Well, what do we do now? I've already tied them up. Doesn't this ruin our reputation as Nameless? How about we just go all the way and get rid of all the witnesses? That way, we're still the good guys."
March was so exasperated she could have laughed, and she rolled her eyes dramatically.
"Stop making those kinds of jokes! You're scaring us!"
Caelus chuckled and said no more. He grabbed Cocolia and lifted her up, then looked at the group. "Let's go. We'll find a quiet place to talk."
Everyone nodded in agreement and moved to Natasha's clinic.
Just as Caelus's group arrived, they saw a woman standing outside the clinic. The aura she exuded was completely different from the people around her.
[Wildfire Leader · Natasha]
Natasha saw Caelus's group return and was about to step forward to greet them when she noticed the large crowd of clothes-less Wildfire members following Oleg. The smile she was about to form froze on her face.
"You're all…"
Seele shot Caelus a venomous glare, while Oleg looked up at the ceiling.
"It's a… long story."
Natasha's gaze fell on Caelus, the only unfamiliar face in the group. She thought for a moment and knew it had to be some kind of misunderstanding. She offered a helpless smile. "Come in. There are some spare clothes in the back. Get them dressed first."
Oleg nodded and led the Wildfire members away, while Seele stayed behind.
Natasha then looked at Caelus's group, her eyes lingering on Caelus and Cocolia, before turning to walk back into the clinic.
"Come in, you all."
Caelus and the others followed her inside. Natasha thoughtfully prepared a private room for them. Caelus placed Cocolia on the bed and glanced at her status bar.
Cocolia would wake up in a few minutes. He decided to just sit and wait. March 7th and Dan Heng stood by nervously.
Natasha simply said she would go make them some tea and left, giving them some privacy.
A few minutes later, Cocolia, lying on the bed, woke up. She stared blankly at the unfamiliar ceiling. Just as she was about to sit up and survey her surroundings, Caelus's voice reached her, and a vaguely familiar hand once again clamped around her throat.
"You're awake? Good, start talking, Cocolia. Were you bewitched by the Stellaron?"
The feeling of suffocation from being choked right after waking up caused two unnatural blushes to appear on Cocolia's face.
"You don't understand… The Stellaron… it gave Belobog the hope it needed most…"