I know you're in a hurry, but don't be in a hurry yet

Thump.

Thump-thump.

Thump-thump-thump!

"Damn it, knocking on the door in the middle of the night! Can't a guy get any sleep? Who is it!?"

Brian climbed out of bed, eyes bleary with sleep, and grumbled his way to the door. He glanced through the peephole, but the moment he saw who it was, he felt as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over him. A jolt went through his body, and his drowsiness vanished instantly.

He scrambled to unlock the door, and standing there was Liao Ji, carrying a young girl in his arms.

"Get in here, quick!"

"Irin. What happened to Irin!!"

Brian stared at the unconscious Irin, his voice tight with panic. Fortunately, Liao Ji handed the girl over immediately, allowing him to catch her before explaining that Irin had simply fallen into a deep sleep.

At first, Brian didn't believe him. He had recognized the Kalleva uniform Irin was still wearing at a glance, and it was riddled with signs of a struggle—including three glaring bullet holes!

But after a quick examination, he found no actual wounds on the girl, and her breathing was steady. If he had to say anything, it was that she looked utterly exhausted. Only then did he confirm Liao Ji's words: Irin really had just fallen asleep.

Relief washed over him, but Brian's anxiety remained undiminished.

"What the hell happened? Weren't you supposed to pick up Nolan and get out of the Black Cave!?"

Liao Ji didn't answer. He gestured toward Irin, signaling for Brian to take the girl inside and get her settled before they talked.

After moving to the spare bedroom, removing Irin's coat, and carefully tucking the sleeping girl into bed, Brian closed the door softly and stepped out.

Liao Ji: "After we split up at the bar, we went to the Dane Clinic, but we couldn't find Aunt Nolan."

"What!? Impossible! I sent someone to check on Nolan just yesterday!"

"Well, I captured the director there afterward. After interrogating him, I found out that they took advantage of the time this afternoon when Irin went into the Relic Cave with the Kalleva people. They assumed Irin wouldn't be coming back, so they sold your aunt to the Scavengers."

Brian stood frozen, the sheer volume of information leaving him unable to react.

"Irin? Kalleva? The Relic Cave?"

"Yes. To raise money for her mother's surgery, she accepted a high-paying exploration commission from the gang. But looking at it now, it was clearly a trap. Kalleva never intended for Irin to come back alive."

Hearing this, the veins on Brian's forehead throbbed, his blood boiling with rage.

"Idiot! Moron! That damn girl! Was she kicked in the head by a donkey!? Just how stupid do you have to be to do something so reckless!!"

Liao Ji finally understood who Irin had learned her way of speaking from.

After his outburst, Brian hurried back to the point. He pressed, "What about Nolan? Where did those Scavengers take her? Don't tell me!!"

"Yes, Kalleva."

The young man's nod confirmed his worst-case scenario. It hit him like a bolt of lightning, and Brian felt his head spin as the world turned upside down.

Kalleva.

It was over. It was all over.

If it had been any other faction, he might have had a sliver of hope for a rescue, but if it was Kalleva...

Brian clenched his fists so hard his nails dug into his palms.

The bearded man turned, grabbed a submachine gun from under the sofa, strapped five grenades to his waist, and made for the door with bloodshot eyes.

"Forget it, uncle. It's already too late." Liao Ji shook his head.

"Late? I know it's damn late! But if I can't save Nolan, I'm going to make those bastards, those scumbags, those pieces of trash pay the price!!"

Losing control, Brian dragged a large canister of gasoline out from the room, likely intending to turn his car into a bomb.

Liao Ji's eyelid twitched at the sight.

"Hold on, calm down. Don't be hasty. Listen to what I have to say first."

"Calm down? How the hell do you expect me to be calm!! You don't understand, you don't understand at all!! Nolan is the only woman I've ever loved in my life; I'd give my life for her! I've already lost her once, and I won't go through it again! Don't talk to me about reason, I'm past that! I'm going to take those bastards down with me! I'm going to make them pay for Nolan with their lives!!!"

"That's exactly why I said you're too late. Because the person you're planning to take down with you—the Kalleva leader, Falmu—has already been killed by Irin."

Liao Ji's words finally pulled Brian back from the brink of madness.

He stared at the young man, eyes wide, wondering if he had misheard. He asked in disbelief:

"You... what did you just say? Falmu? The King of the Black Cave, the supreme leader of Kalleva... is dead?"

"Yes. And his doctor, along with the entire Corrupt Calamity Factory where they were kidnapping people for experiments, were all wiped out by Irin."

"You... you've lost your mind, haven't you?"

Now it was Brian's turn to suspect that Liao Ji had lost his grip on reality.

Even when he was acting out of his mind earlier, the "one-for-one" trade he'd hoped for was at best a mid-level lieutenant. As for Falmu? Brian wouldn't have dared to dream of such a thing.

"If you don't believe me, you're welcome to go see for yourself. But I suggest you stay home. For one, I think Irin needs someone to watch over her in her current state. And for another..."

Liao Ji glanced at the wall clock.

"Well, the timing should be about right. The Knights Order should have the place locked down by now, right? You wouldn't even be able to get in."

Brian opened his mouth, but no sound came out.

Reason told him how could this be possible, and what kind of joke was Liao Ji playing, yet the intuition deep within his heart told Brian that the young man across from him was truly not joking.

However, Brian quickly realized that if what the young man said was true, then—

"What about Nolan? Didn't you find Nolan!? Or are you saying, saying she has already... already..."

"Auntie is still alive, but the next part is where it gets troublesome. It is precisely because she successfully endured the experiment that she was sent by Kalleva to The Church."

"The Church?"

"Yes, Kalleva is actually secretly supported by The Church, acting as a puppet to help that priest research the Great Emperor's Relic they dug up from the ruins."

Liao Ji's few understated sentences stirred up a stormy sea in the bottom of Brian's heart; after all, any one of these sentences, if leaked, would likely shock the entire Black Cave and turn everything upside down.

At this moment, Brian deeply felt the sorrow of being a small fry. What had they done wrong? They only wanted to live a decent life, yet even so, they were still being swept up and swallowed by the whirlpools of the upper echelons, and he was completely helpless.

If Brian still had the determination to carry out a grand revenge against Kalleva, that resolve vanished when the target became The Church.

No!

There is still hope! There must be!

Brian cast a pleading gaze at Liao Ji, but the moment he remembered that even Liao Ji had just described The Church as "troublesome," his eyes dimmed once again.

Was there really no way after all?

That's right, that is The Church. In the Holy Kingdom, who could possibly resist The Church?

"Uncle, you might have misunderstood my meaning. The trouble I referred to is because I have an acquaintance inside The Church."

"An acquaintance?"

"Yes, a very, very close one. It is precisely because of her that I am a bit hesitant now, unsure of how exactly to handle The Church, sigh..."

Liao Ji sounded like he was explaining to Brian, but in reality, he was more like he was talking to himself in frustration.

"Forget it, let's just take it one step at a time."

"The time has dragged on long enough. The investigation results from the Knights Order side should be out by now. Uncle, lend me a phone, will you? I need to make another call."

Dragging time? Investigation results? A... a phone call?

Brian couldn't keep up with Liao Ji's train of thought at all and was completely bewildered, but that didn't stop him from rushing to the room to hand his phone to Liao Ji.

"Thanks."

"Then the next step should be... Hmm! Found it! Good thing I didn't lose it."

Liao Ji felt around his clothing pocket, and then, under Brian's confused gaze, pulled out a silver-white... business card?

That is...

The Knights Order's business card! It was from that time!!

Brian recognized it instantly. It was from the "Haisha" Corrupt Calamity incident this afternoon. At that time, Liao Ji had asked the captain of the Knights Order for a business card right in front of all of them. However, Brian remembered that the captain had refused Liao Ji, but Liao Ji had been very persistent, turning around and asking another young knight nearby for a card, and this time, he had succeeded.

So, what exactly is he planning to do now?

"That's it for now, Uncle. I have to go. I'll leave Irin to you. If she wakes up halfway through, tell her not to run around or come looking for me; tell her to just stay put and keep sleeping. Also, the same goes for you, Uncle. In any case, leave Auntie Nolan to me."

As he spoke, Liao Ji began dialing the number on the business card while pushing the door open to leave.

But when he reached the doorway, he stopped as if he had remembered something, then pulled another phone out of his pants pocket and waved it at Brian. This was the one Liao Ji had "borrowed" from Artur, the gangster at the factory, earlier.

"Almost forgot. Uncle, I recorded your speech about Auntie Nolan just now, so... Irin did indeed do some stupid things. You can discipline her, but don't scold her too harshly, and you are absolutely forbidden from laying a hand on her! Otherwise, when the tables turn, if I play this touching speech of yours for the mother and daughter to hear, I can't say for sure how Irin will treat you."

"That's all, I'm off."

Leaving behind a middle-aged, greasy, and pathetic-looking uncle with a twisted expression, Liao Ji had already started down the stairs. At the same time, the call he was dialing finally connected.

"Hello? Hey! Hello there, may I ask... is this Mr. Tamik?"