novelraw Chapter 395 395: The Life Saver’s Warning
Chapter 395 395: The Life Saver’s Warning
Ethan sat behind the wheel, his eyes fixed on the road, while Anne Blackwood leaned back in the passenger seat, her gaze lost in the passing blur of gray monuments.
"The situation was more complicated than I anticipated," Anne said, breaking the silence. "I couldn't make my move."
Ethan glanced at her. "Too many people? Or were the 'Old Friends' you mentioned more troublesome than expected?"
"Not exactly." Anne reached into the neckline of her dress and pulled out a small, intricate pendant. It was made of a pale, pulsing crystal encased in blackened silver. "This is a gift my father gave me on my birthday. It's called the Life Saver. It's tuned to my life force; whenever a lethal threat is directed at me, it vibrates. It's how I've avoided every major disaster in my life."
Ethan reached out, taking the pendant between his fingers. It felt cold, yet it thrummed with a rhythmic heartbeat.
"Crul, scan this," Ethan commanded mentally.
[Initiating structural analysis... 1%... 5%... Estimated time: 60 seconds.]
Ethan lingered, rolling the crystal between his thumb and forefinger to buy time. "If you had this, Anne, how did they manage to poison you back then? Why didn't it warn you?"
Anne let out a bitter, soft laugh. "The Life Saver detects lethal intent. The poison they used wasn't meant to kill me—at least not immediately. It was a debilitating neurotoxin designed to strip my power and leave me helpless. By the time I realized someone had found a loophole in the pendant's logic, it was too late. I still don't know who discovered that secret, but it's the reason I'm still breathing... and the reason my family isn't."
[Analysis Complete,] Crul's voice echoed. [The device utilizes a high-frequency spiritual resonance to detect fluctuations in the surrounding 'Killing Intent' field. It is a masterpiece of sensory engineering.]
Ethan handed the pendant back. "So, you felt something back there in the hall?"
"A signal," Anne whispered, tucking the crystal back into her dress. "Incredibly strong. If it hadn't been for that warning, I would have slit the Deacon's throat the moment he took the podium. My blood was screaming for it."
"You hate him that much?" Ethan asked.
"He organized it all, Ethan," she said, her voice turning into a jagged edge. "The poison, the betrayal, the massacre of my kin. I won't rest until his head is on a spike."
"I have my own accounts to settle with the Union," Ethan said, his grip tightening on the steering wheel. "If you want, I can help you end him."
Anne shook her head slowly. "No, not yet. I'll take my time. I'm in no hurry. The Outsiders will weaken them, and when the Deacon is desperate and looking for a way out... that's when I'll take my pound of flesh."
She shifted in her seat, changing the subject. "But enough about my ghosts. You're heading toward the Colorado Canyon to pick something up? What could possibly be worth entering the 'Tri-Border' zone between Celestial, the Sea King Army, and the Desert Oasis?"
"I found a powerful spiritual beast and a very interesting matrix node," Ethan said, a mysterious glint in his eyes. "I'm not entirely sure what's inside yet, but my curiosity is piqued. My scouts are already on their way; we should arrive just as they set up the perimeter."
"Interesting..." Anne smirked. "I'll go with you. I have nothing better to do, and I might be able to help you navigate those three vipers' territories."
"I'd appreciate that, Matriarch."
They arrived at a high-end hotel, passing through the lobby with a stride that made the staff bow instinctively. On the roof, a sleek, black Royal helicopter was already idling. Ethan had sent his previous escort to ensure Chloe and her father were extracted safely from the danger zone.
Far below, in the shadows of the surrounding buildings, pairs of greedy eyes watched the helicopter's ascent.
"Is that the Royal bird?" whispered a scout into a radio. "The one with the 'R' on the tail?"
"Yeah," a gravelly voice responded. "Five soldiers on the ground, fully geared. Should we move?"
"Are you insane? Did you see what happened at the meeting? The kid just annexed the whole coast. If we touch his people, he won't just kill us—he'll erase our entire zip code. Let them go."
The prestige of Royal had grown into a mountain. Even those who didn't know the specifics of the meeting understood that Ethan was a man who walked among giants and didn't blink. As the helicopter banked toward the west, leaving the capital behind, the whispers followed them like a wake.
"There goes the new King of the East," a bystander muttered, watching the lights fade into the clouds. "God help whoever is waiting for him."
"Hurry! We don't have twenty-four hours, we have minutes!" shouted Chloe's father, his voice cracking as he shoved a stack of decrypted hard drives into a reinforced briefcase. "The Scavenger scouts they'll be here before the sun sets!"
The hallways were a blur of motion. Servants and loyal guards collided with one another, dragging heavy trunks and crates of specialized equipment toward the idling transport trucks. Outside, the rhythmic *thud-thud-thud* of a Royal helicopter—the one Ethan had sent—vibrated through the glass windows, a dark sentinel waiting to carry them to safety.
Chloe ran through the chaos, her breath coming in ragged gasps. "Leo! Leo, where are you?" she screamed, pushing past a valet carrying a mountain of furs.
She burst into the library, finding her younger brother frantically trying to shove a collection of ancient star charts into a backpack. "Leave the paper, Leo! Just take the crystals and go to the roof! The Royal guards won't wait forever!" She grabbed his arm, her eyes wide with a terror she couldn't hide. The prestige of Ethan's name was their only shield, but even that felt thin against the encroaching shadows of the Scavenger territory.
In the midst of the shouting and the sound of breaking porcelain, Chloe's father slipped away from the main hall. He navigated a hidden corridor, his footsteps heavy as he descended a narrow stone staircase into the sub-basement.