Mai Sakatoku glanced at him and shook her head. "When I got here, there was only the boat left. I didn't see a single person."
Finn's expression was grim as well. He walked over to the speedboat, crouched down, and touched the Yggdrasil emblem on its hull with a finger. "The Academy had Executive Department agents keeping watch over this area—these were probably left behind by them."
Only the equipment remained, but there was no sign of anyone. In Nibelungen, no one needed to explain what that meant.
Mai Sakatoku had already leaped onto the speedboat, as light as a cat. She sat before the controls, her fingers deftly sweeping over the gauges and buttons. The engine gave a deep, powerful roar, and the propeller churned up a sheet of white foam beneath the water.
"Get on," she said.
Su Enxi stepped aboard in high heels, yet moved with surprising agility.
Everyone got on board.
The speedboat cleaved through the river, its bow tilting slightly upward while its stern left a long white wake behind it, like a slash cut across green satin.
Chen Motong stood at the stern, holding the railing as she looked toward the woods along the bank. "Is it just me? Why do I feel like someone's been watching us this whole time?"
"It's not your imagination," Caesar replied. "Those things have been following us all along."
Su Enxi followed his gaze. Countless golden eyes filled the forest by the shore, dense as though someone had scattered a box of gold coins beneath the shade of the trees.
Those bird-beaked creatures stood behind tree trunks, crouched on branches, and hung among the vines, silently watching the white speedboat pass through their territory.
"Holy crap, there are that many of those things?" Su Enxi jumped.
"Don't worry