Chapter 253
"May your military prowess be great." Shinomiyami Nami stepped forward, gently embraced Efnir, and then quickly stepped back.
"Senior, please be extra careful when fighting alone... We'll be here waiting for you to return..."
Shiina Rin stepped forward, stood on tiptoe, and gave Efnir a light hug. Biting her lip, she said goodbye, "Saori, everyone, and I will be here waiting for you. Please come back safely."
After saying that, Canary, Ayse, Elincia, and the others stepped forward and gave Efnir a brief hug.
Anilas saluted Efnir, and Lapith removed her gloves and shook hands with her.
Nishizaki Yuki stubbed out her cigarette and exchanged a hug with Efnir without saying a word.
"I'm leaving Yukina and the others in your care."
"Efnir said, "Nishizaki Yuki smiled and waved her hand.
"She's your sister, go talk to her yourself."
"Um... Ms. Yanase..."
Kanade Kotone stepped forward and gently embraced Efnir. "Shiomi- san will be waiting for you here, so please come back safely..."
Just then, a black dot appeared on the horizon, and the helicopter slowly approached, its rotor blades slicing through the air, the roaring sound growing ever closer.
Efnir looked at Yukina and took the initiative to walk over and hug Yukina.
"Take good care of yourself these next few days, and don't fall behind in training."
Because of the existence of the Shard, Efnir can only act alone, which is a very suitable reason to leave Yukina in Xijing City.
Even without the Shard, Efnir didn't want the still-injured Yukina to join the mission.
"Um..."
She could tell that Yukina was very disappointed, her face full of worry, just like she was two years ago.
Efnir patted her on the back.
"Don't worry, I've been to the Beyond the Boundary Zone more than once before, this is nothing to me. I'll return after the investigation is over."
Yukina hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped herself.
She knew, of course, that with Efnir's strength, she could avoid most dangers by being careful and avoiding any Erosion Entity above Grade A. However, she also knew that this mission was different from the past. The danger lay not only in the ubiquitous Erosion Entity and Dregs, but also in the evil and powerful Apostle Organization and the third mysterious force behind Codename J.
"I'll wait for you to come back..."
"Yukina said softly," Efnir said, releasing her embrace and smiling as he patted her head.
The soldier gripped the baton as the helicopter slowly descended behind Efnir, the oncoming wind whipping up everyone's hair.
Yukina mustered her courage, stood on tiptoe, and kissed Efnir's lips.
Efnir was startled by the sudden kiss, and the others had varying expressions. Elincia silently covered her eyes, Nishizaki Yuki smiled faintly, seemingly unsurprised, and Shinomiyami Nami, unusually serious while working, revealed a sly glint in her eyes...
"Roar?"
Lapith raised an eyebrow with great interest. "So she's from this side?"
Trilice shrugged. "Only you, Captain, didn't notice."
Yukina and Efnir parted their lips, their cheeks flushing a beautiful rosy blush.
"I'll wait for you to come back!"
She shouted, but her voice was drowned out by the noise of the propellers. Efnir pursed her lips, slung her suitcase over her shoulder, and walked toward the helicopter.
Soon, the helicopter slowly took off. Efnir silently watched the helipad until their figures and the headquarters building grew smaller and smaller, and then disappeared from sight as the helicopter turned. Only then did she close the helicopter door.
She turned her gaze to the two boxes in front of her.
"Codename H, Codename J... and the Apostle..."
Her hands clenched unconsciously, and Efnir's gaze seemed to pierce through the helicopter, landing on the distant Hamikawa City.
"Your turn next."
Volume 3: The Crossroads
1. Hezhe Town
The sky was dark, as if it were about to rain. The streets of the long-neglected town were covered with mud and sand, and lush flowers and plants grew in the potholes of the damaged roadbed. Rusty broken cars were piled up in front of convenience stores and houses along the road, and a tree as tall as two people grew out of the middle of the dilapidated wall.
The town has been uninhabited for years, and only this street appears to have been specially cleared, with abandoned vehicles that were blocking the middle of the road pushed to the sides, at least keeping the street clear.
"Click click..."
A figure limped across the muddy ground, swaying slowly, his cloudy gray eyes moving dryly as if searching for something.
It is Dregs, having lost its human form, with its entire body covered in a strange grayish-black skin.
A breeze swept in from the end of the street, bringing with it a very faint sound.
It twitched its shoulders and stiffly turned its neck. In its murky vision, a girl in a white hooded long coat had appeared, which was also the reason it had wandered here.
The moment it saw the girl, all the muscles in its body trembled, and its previously stiff body suddenly burst forth with a power more agile and swift than that of an ordinary person. It let out a low roar and then immediately rushed towards the girl.
The girl simply stared at it silently, then raised the crossbow in her hand.
Puff--
With a short, dull thud, a crossbow bolt, as long as an arm, pierced precisely into the eyeball of the Dregs, protruding half of its sharp metal arrowhead from the back of its head. The powerful impact of the arrow caused it to tilt its head back, splattering grayish blood, before collapsing to the ground in the posture of running towards the girl.
Efnir gently plucked the crossbow string, walked over, and knelt down in front of the Dregs.
Rest in peace.
"Efnir said softly, then forcefully pulled out the crossbow bolt that had pierced through the Dregs head, bringing with it a pool of grayish-white brain matter and blood foam."
To conserve Order Force energy and maintain peak physical condition and combat readiness, Efnir doesn't deliberately enter Exile Form when dealing with low-risk ordinary Dregs. Instead, she uses the weapons prepared for her by Shinomiyami Nami. These weapons are far more robust than standard military weapons currently in service, and their lethality has been enhanced and adjusted to suit the agent's wrist strength. Most importantly, the crossbow bolts are almost silent when fired, avoiding the danger of attracting more Dregs and Erosion Entity.
The Erosion Entity searches for humans guided by a special biosignal fluctuation, much like a snake hunting its prey.
The sensory organs of the Dregs are much simpler, relying mainly on sight and hearing to find prey.
Therefore, a weapon that can guarantee not to produce too much noise is essential for missions Beyond the Boundary. Weapons that can be equipped with subsonic bullets, melee weapons, bows and crossbows are all suitable choices. When dealing with lone Dregs, crossbows that can retrieve arrows become the best choice.
Turning the Dregs over, Efnir wiped the grayish-blood-stained crossbow bolts clean on the Dregs's clothes, then tucked them back into the quick-draw quiver at her waist, observing the Dregs before her.
"It looks like it's been dead for a long time..."
Judging from his tattered yet bulky clothes, this person must have been reduced to Dregs at least in the first half of this year, before the temperature rose again.
This was not what Efnir was looking for.
Without lingering there, Efnir dragged the Dregs corpse to the side of the road, pushed it into a house, and then turned and left.
Doing this step can reduce the likelihood of later individuals discovering Efnir's existence.
Whether this newcomer is an agent of Hamikawa City, or... Codename J.
Efnir left the town's central street and headed towards the sunrise, checking the map as she went.
On the map, this is a long-abandoned, dilapidated town.
The name marked on the map is "River Rudder," a name I've never heard before. It's clearly a name left over from the old century. Now it's a Dead City devoid of any sign of life, with buildings and streets overgrown with vegetation.
Efnir marked several large and small red crosses on the town's map, indicating that these areas had been basically investigated.
However, no Trace of anyone having visited the place has been found so far.
Efnir frowned, pulled a chocolate bar from his pocket and chewed it, then took out a pen, bit the cap, and marked it on the map.
"Time Records."
Efnir tilted her head and mumbled into the recorder on her shoulder, "Thirty-ninth investigation, no anomalies found."
She glanced at her watch; it was already evening, and the gloomy sky made the air feel damp.
It could rain at any time.
"Next, we will proceed to investigate the old warehouse in Zone C. (Completed)"
She walked in one direction.
After leaving Xijing City, Efnir followed the map coordinates and rode along the road until she arrived at this small town. This town was only a few kilometers away from Hamikawa City. Standing on the town's tallest water tower, she could easily see the outline of Hamikawa City to the southeast.
According to the information obtained by Codename J from the deciphering of the Boundary Stele code, Codename J's target is this area. It has been twenty hours since Efnir arrived here, and she has not made any noteworthy discoveries.
Her plan was simple: to seize this single lead and investigate.
If there are results, follow up.
If not, then wait and see—according to Masaki Hina's intelligence, Codename J controls at least 7 clones simultaneously, and each clone seems to be carrying out some kind of purposeful activity. Codename J obtained the coordinates of this area at the cost of two clones, so it's impossible for her to remain indifferent; she will likely come personally or send one of her clones.
In addition, Hamikawa City had already received the contact and strengthened its defenses in the city area, promising to send a support team if necessary, or to request Efnir's assistance if faced with an insurmountable danger— Efnir's signal flare was prepared for this purpose.
A torrential downpour began, and the howling night wind rattled the rusty rooftops and made the trees rustle as they leaned to the side.
In the eastern part of the town, in the old waterworks left over from the last century, stands an old water tower covered with ivy. The water tower is wider at the top and narrower at the bottom, with a reinforced concrete structure and a covered platform at the top.
Efnir came to the platform alone and squeezed through the narrow window.
She blocked the openings on both sides with dismantled iron plates, creating a five-square-meter enclosed space.
The water tower had long since fallen into disrepair and lost its ability to store water, but the torrential rain outside did not seep into the small platform. Efnir took off her rain hood, casually leaned against a long, narrow metal box, and took out a map and pen to mark the area.
She didn't carry a flashlight, but that didn't affect the agent's night vision.
"Today is the second day..."
Efnir drew a line on the map and spoke to the combat recorder on her shoulder.
"But there's been no progress. Perhaps Codename J hasn't arrived yet, but I've felt uneasy ever since I got here yesterday... because there isn't even a single Erosion Entity around here."
There's hardly any Erosion Entity left, not even Dregs.
This is very unnatural.
2. The Vanishing White Fog
After a night of heavy rain, the morning air was filled with the sticky smell of mud and grass.
Efnir sat atop the damp platform, a dry biscuit dangling from her mouth. She rested a map on her right knee, sketching the view of the town from her vantage point, while her left foot dangled over the edge of the platform, swinging back and forth casually.
"Fifty-first record..."
She tilted her head toward the recorder on her shoulder.
"We've been here for thirty-two hours, but still haven't found Trace of the Erosion Entity... However, I've discovered some even stranger phenomena..."
She put down the biscuit, unscrewed the filtered water she had collected that night, brought it to her lips, and looked in the direction of Hamikawa City in the distance, where the border Garrison District of the satellite city and the towering Boundary Stele were clearly visible.
Efnir frowned slightly, her eyes unblinking.
--Last night it rained heavily, and Efnir stopped her investigation and rested for the night. But when she woke up this morning, she noticed a very strange phenomenon that bothered her: the white fog surrounding the town had thinned out, and Hamikawa City, which could only be seen in a sliver of its outline yesterday, was now crystal clear.
She had never seen or heard of anything like it before.
The absence of even a single Erosion Entity was already strange, but now even the white mist has vanished. -- Could it be that the Corruption Energy that covered the entire Earth's surface due to the White Hole Erosion has completely dissipated?
She shook her head in denial.
Efnir turned her gaze elsewhere. From the top of the water tower, she could clearly see vast expanses of lush green land beyond the town. The dilapidated town roads stretched into the distance, finally disappearing into the white mist in the far distance.
In the distance, there was still an endless expanse of misty white fog; at the horizon, everything below was a vast expanse of white.
The white mist spreading from the White Hole Erosion is a state of Corruption Energy, completely different from the fog that naturally forms during rain or smog. It is clearly visible even at night. As the chief agent of Xijing City, Efnir wouldn't confuse these two completely different things. She was quite certain that only the mist near the town area had dissipated, while the white mist in the distance still remained.
"The Corruption Mist is still there, but it has become much, much thinner."
This allowed Efnir to see things at distances that she shouldn't have been able to see.