Viltrumite, Is Your Mightiest Chat Group Fake?

"Tell me the location."

At that moment, the system announced the completion of the mission.

[Mission complete. Obtained 1,000 points. Special reward from this world incoming.]

[If you do not voluntarily leave this world, you will be automatically returned after 24 hours.]

Scared to Tears by a Stats Monster

Twenty-four hours should be enough to settle the little bunny.

Leon swept his gaze around and found the Doctor's vehicle.

"Use your car. I'll carry it and fly us over."

"No problem. Bring one more person along. She knows the location better than I do."

Hearing that, Leon looked toward a spot among the sand dunes. He had noticed someone hiding there when he arrived.

Now, that person's heartbeat was accelerating.

"So you were there?"

The Doctor looked over as well.

Babel had assigned her a guard, and she had noticed long ago.

It was just that this guard seemed rather reserved. She had hinted several times for her to show herself, yet received no response.

At the same time, sensing everyone's attention gathering on her, Ascalon shrank farther into her cover.

She had been preparing to strike, but retreated after seeing the change. Had she been discovered now?

Her eyes flickered uncertainly. The Doctor was one thing, but the monster's awareness made cold sweat form on her forehead.

Before this, the strongest person she had ever seen was her teacher, Theresis.

According to Niezsche, the King of the Corpse Eaters, her teacher possessed extraordinary talent and had already reached the level where he could subdue part of the Royal Court with a single sword.

Even so, in many people's eyes, only her teacher with a sword in hand could truly be considered threatening.

How could he compare to this monster, standing less than a hundred meters away from her?

Simply standing there was no different from pressing a sword to her throat!

Thinking of the history Theresa had told her, Ascalon seriously suspected that this was some ancient being revived from before one of Terra's eras.

There had been plenty of individuals with absurd personal strength in those days.

Just as she agonized over whether to make a strategic retreat or a strategic appearance, a voice suddenly came from behind her.

"Hello?"

Whoosh!

As if driven by muscle memory, Ascalon snapped out her sleeve blade and thrust it straight at his ribs.

Logically speaking, without the protection of ribs, that had to be one of this man's weakest points.

Yet her blade, which had always cut through everything, merely scraped a spark off his external oblique muscle and wrinkled his clothes slightly.

Sarkaz damn it, why is he so hard?

Sensing that things were wrong, she had barely begun turning to mist to flee when he grabbed her hood and took off into the air.

"You know what I'm capable of. I'm also curious—if someone like you who can turn into mist is scattered across a kilometer, can you still reform? Want to try?"

Leon said,

"We're just heading back to Babel."

At that, Ascalon instantly behaved herself, obediently watching as her feet left the ground.

Now she could only pray for Her Highness.

Under the same sky, Kal'tsit stood on the top deck of Babel, facing the wind as she gazed into the distance.

That was the direction the Doctor had departed in.

After an unknown amount of time, the Demon King came to stand beside her.

"The Doctor has been gone for quite some time, yet you still come here whenever you have free time. Ascalon will protect her well. What are you worried about?"

"No, it's just..."

Hesitation appeared on Kal'tsit's face.

What should she be worried about?

That the Doctor would blame herself after seeing the suffering caused by Oripathy? That the state of this land would disappoint her?

Or was she worried about her condition... The words the other person had spoken before falling asleep had always left Kal'tsit uneasy.

Seeing this, Theresa did not press the matter. She merely raised her head and looked at the clear sky.

After a long while, she asked,

"Come to think of it, the Doctor left in that new car, right? The one Closure treasures so much."

"Theresa, how do you know?"

"Because it's right above our heads."

Kal'tsit turned toward her friend in confusion, then followed her gaze upward.

There, a figure was holding up a familiar vehicle as he slowly descended toward them. A massive shadow promptly enveloped the two women.

The car window rolled down, and the Doctor poked her head out to wave at them.

Meanwhile, the man holding the car politely asked,

"Can I park here?"

More than ten hours passed.

In the corridor outside the medical room, Leon was chatting with the group members.

After hearing some movement, he typed:

[Viltrumite Honor Student: Amiya has woken up, but her parents' condition isn't looking optimistic. She's talking to them right now.]

Amid the group's sighs and regrets, two adults also sent him private messages.

[Kansas Farm Boy: Well done, friend. You did everything you could. Don't put too much pressure on yourself.]

[Yellow Weasel, Neither Man nor God: Listen, you can't make everything perfect.]

DC's little sun and the superhuman emperor trying to comfort someone—now that was more like it.

Leon immediately sent another message.

[Viltrumite Honor Student: Wait until I finish. The couple's vital signs can still be maintained for a long time. We still have hope.

Once Amiya comes back, let's discuss it together.]

[West China Tiger: Why didn't you say so earlier?]

[Orange-Haired, Golden-Eyed Evil Human: Bad line breaks are bad civilization.]

Ignoring the group members' complaints, Leon went offline.

In his view, even if things ended here, it would still be a decent ending.

He would not regret it, nor would he be deeply moved by it.

After all, his views on family had already been thoroughly shattered by his Viltrumite birth family. Now, experiencing these partings of life and death felt as though there were a steel plate between him and them.

Still, having hope was always a good thing.

Leon looked up at the Doctor slowly walking over.

She had just taken part in the rescue. Dark circles had surfaced beneath her eyes, and dried sweat had glued strands of hair to her face.

She sat beside Leon. The bloody scene from earlier made her instinctively leave a space between them.

"Um, well, sir—"

She suddenly remembered that she still did not know his name.

"Leon. Just call me Leon."

"My name is Felicia. Thank you for helping us."

After talking for a while, the atmosphere between them returned to silence.

Leon remained as steady as a mountain, while Felicia sat on pins and needles, the tips of her high heels continually scraping against the floor.

From time to time, she stole glances at the person beside her, her eyes brimming with curiosity.

Just who was he?

He can't be some product catalyzed by Originium, can he? As the creator, I'm still traveling around in this frail body. Does that make any sense?

No, that was wrong.

Felicia knew that the information contained within Originium could allow Terra's creatures to evolve toward humans, develop human cognition, and even use Originium to become rare and powerful beings.

But becoming like this? Don't joke around.

Even if the civilization before civilization had resurrected on the spot, it could not achieve this. They might be able to move planets and interfere with space-time, but this was an entirely different path.

So similar to humans, yet unimaginably stronger—what a perfect biological miracle!

If he was not a unique case and could reproduce...

A moment later, faint footsteps sounded as Amiya entered the corridor.

Her eyes were red-rimmed. The tears she had nearly cried dry began to well up again upon seeing the figure in the combat suit.

"Mr. Leon, Miss Felicia..."

She cautiously approached. Once she discovered that neither of them rejected her, she slipped into the gap between them and leaned her head against Leon's side.

He smelled faintly of rust.

Leon held his hand over Amiya's head, recalling some unpleasant memories, but he eventually rested it there.

He said,

"Little Amiya, you should have seen those messages. There's still room to keep trying."

There was no comfort, no euphemism—only a conclusion.

But that was precisely what reassured her. Accompanied by his stiff caress, the Cautus gradually fell asleep.

By then, it was also time for Leon to leave.

Felicia was still lost in thought when she realized that, at some point, Amiya's head had tilted to the side.

When she looked over, there was no one there anymore. Only a sentence lingered in the corridor.

"We'll meet again."

She sighed.

"What a strange guy. I suppose he counts as a good person?"

Letting the Cautus rest her head on her lap, she leaned back in her chair and prepared to sleep as well.

"I'll look forward to our next meeting."

Retracting a Doubt

As the white light faded, Leon returned to the rooftop.

At last, the wind no longer carried the smell of Originium dust, but the heavy industrial stench of the city was hardly pleasant either.

He planned to find somewhere to stay, but first, he needed to check his reward.

[Ding. Special reward delivered.]

A line of text flashed across the screen.