The woman's words crashed straight into them like a towering wave at sea.
However, each of them was shaken to a different degree.
Ventura and Richard were the most shocked.
They were the only two in the entire squad who had always firmly believed in Kallen's "identity": he had grown up in an orphanage, studied under several teachers, shown his talent, revealed it step by step, and finally reached where he was today.
Ventura felt that his captain was genuine. From his first visit to Ventura's home, chatting with his grandfather and praising his grandmother's pastries, he had given Ventura a sense of genuine peace.
This made Ventura subconsciously believe that his captain had a past like his own, or at least similar experiences, so he had been willing to get close to him from the very beginning.
Then, as they spent more time together, his captain's attitude toward him time and again, especially his volunteering to take Ventura's place on the mission to welcome the "great one" back, had won Ventura's wholehearted approval.
However, there was another hidden aspect to this. Somewhere beyond their awareness, there was actually a connection.
Dis had treated Ventura's parents, giving Ventura the chance to be born, and Kallen was Dis's grandson. Although Kallen had never told Ventura about this, that hidden thread had actually been at work all along, naturally drawing them closer in mutual trust.
As for Richard, it was even simpler and more direct. The day the Church Administration Building collapsed was the first time he and Kallen met, and the moment they met, he had felt close to Kallen because of the Alt Family bloodline.
In relationships between people, regardless of gender, once there was a favorable impression, everything else became simple.
Coupled with Richard's own personality, he could readily