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Chapter 242 - 241: Threat

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Another long-haul flight plus a rental transfer, nearly twenty hours later, Chen Xuan once again arrived at the Everest base camp.

However, the atmosphere this time was clearly unusual.

The colorful tents were all cleared away and replaced with dark green standard tents. The tourists usually seen everywhere were gone, and soldiers armed occupied each corner. Immediately after the helicopter landed, a team of soldiers surrounded them, causing the pilot to look frozen with fear and glance at Chen Xuan timidly.

"Don’t worry, I’m not a bad guy." Chen Xuan kindly patted his shoulder and was the first to step off the plane.

This time, he didn’t let Lin Qing follow all the way but left her behind in Nepal.

The reason was that in case of any accidents, he could immediately transport himself and Elorie away.

Lin Qing’s company in the first half was to prevent triggering the shop’s special teleport mechanism—if the shop thought he was slacking and forcefully sent him back halfway, that would be awkward.

A blond man leading the group extended his hand to him, "Hello, I’m Morgan, a high-tier Angel of the Angel Alliance."

He spoke in Chinese.

It saved the effort of using a translator.

Chen Xuan shook hands with him, "Chen Xuan."

"I’ve heard a lot about you." He gestured towards the largest tent in the center of the clearing, "Your friends are waiting for you inside."

"Your Chinese is quite good." Chen Xuan quipped on the way.

"Didn’t Miss Elorie tell you? Every new Angel must undergo a complete education before taking office, so even the lowest-tier Angel is fluent in at least four languages. This is necessary for our global operations."

It seems this tradition has been completely forgotten a hundred years later.

"I see. So how do you get promoted?"

"Just like an ordinary person advancing in their career, those who make great contributions to the Angel Alliance have the opportunity for elevation," Morgan said flatly, "But this involves internal alliance matters, and the rules are quite complex, so I won’t elaborate to you."

With his accompaniment, Chen Xuan entered the tent to find quite a few people gathered inside. A standard conference table was placed in the center of the tent, dividing the people into two distinct groups.

"Mr. Chen!" Elorie saw him and immediately waved excitedly.

The end she sat at was relatively sparse, with only her and Liuli.

The latter still looked the same as they first met, her hat pressed low, the white veil dangling down almost touching the ground. However, upon Chen Xuan’s arrival, she slightly lifted her head and used the sword hilt to tip up the brim of her hat, revealing half of her red lips.

The other side had quite a few more people.

Aside from Professor Yuren, whom he had met once before, the other five were unfamiliar faces. Leading them was a woman over thirty, dressed in a dark blue Western-style suit, with gold-rimmed glasses perched on her face, even in the frigid Everest base camp, her attire resembled a white-collar worker in a temperature-controlled office.

After Morgan whispered a few words in her ear, she finally spoke, "Mr. Chen, welcome to the Angel Alliance’s temporary base. I am Laila Doolittle, the head of the European district."

Despite the welcoming words, Chen Xuan felt not a trace of warmth.

Even her gaze was slightly condescending, as if looking down from a height.

What base, it was merely occupying an Everest climbing campsite. Chen Xuan nodded, pretending not to notice her scrutinizing gaze, and politely replied, "Hello, hello, I’m here to fetch my guests, no need for dinner, I’ll take them now."

"There’s no need to rush; we still want to learn a few things from you." Laila adjusted her glasses, "I would like to ask how did you come to know Elorie? And why did you get involved in this rescue mission?"

Chen Xuan had long expected things to blow up to this extent—if Elorie’s previous warnings were ignored because they sounded too absurd, now that the prophecy has become reality, they would be foolish not to be alert.

"If that’s the case, I’d like to first ask, what’s the status of the building on the mountain now?" he retorted.

"From aerial observation, the Holy Temple’s damage is quite severe, almost impossible to repair," Laila wasn’t withholding information, "Elorie said she saw radiation symbols on the bombs before fleeing, and the situation shouldn’t be much different—it was slightly less potent than a tactical nuke, fortunately, the detonation point was far from urban areas."

That means the buildings that were meant to collapse still collapsed.

Looking at it externally, history still seemed to be on its original track.

"If you had heeded Elorie’s warning earlier, it wouldn’t have been completely destroyed." Chen Xuan shrugged, "As for myself... Elorie is a friend, she asked for my help, and of course, I couldn’t bear to refuse."

"Exactly, since you wouldn’t believe me, I could only seek help from capable people outside the circle," Elorie said indignantly.

"Friends, huh? Sounds like a perfunctory answer. But that’s okay, we’ll get to the bottom of your background." Laila responded indifferently, "The Demons’ actions are also suspicious; how did such rare group behavior get discovered by Miss Elorie? As a newly appointed Angel... she hasn’t shown any special talents for a long time, does Mr. Chen know why?"

"I don’t know. But didn’t she say it was all the future she foresaw?" Chen Xuan paused, then added with a hint of sarcasm, "So you still don’t truly believe her words even now?"

"I’m sorry, we’re more interested in uncovering the truth." Laila regretfully said, "How about this... I can send you back to Europe’s headquarters first, where there’s an excellent estate for you both to live in, and when we have investigated the events on the snowy mountain, we can talk about your matters."

"No, I must leave today." Chen Xuan stated bluntly, "And not just Elorie, Liuli will also be leaving with us."

"What are you talking about?"

"N21 is Angel Alliance’s asset; what makes you think you can take her away?"

Two other angels instantly retorted.

"Mr. Chen, do you misunderstand something?" Laila Doolittle couldn’t help but shake her head, "N21 is essentially an artifact, not a living person; she belongs to the Angel Alliance, and you have no authority over her fate."

"I didn’t say she was human, but even within artifacts, there are special beings. She has arms and legs; haven’t you considered her thoughts?" Chen Xuan looked at Liuli, "What do you say, where do you want to go?"

"Anywhere is fine," Liuli smiled, "as long as I don’t remain with the Angel Alliance."

"You all heard that?"

"Is a single answer enough to make it final?" Someone sneered, "It’s just a temporary thought."

"Mr. Chen, you know nothing about artifacts, it’s better not to comment." Laila’s expression slightly darkened, "Many artifacts have unimaginably destructive power, allowing them into society irresponsibly. N21, you should be aware this Mr. Chen cannot truly accept you, especially after understanding your nature. You’ll only bring him endless trouble, maybe even deadly harm."

Liuli didn’t state her stance, just quietly observed Chen Xuan.

Chen Xuan immediately understood her thoughts, turning to Laila, "I think you might have misunderstood me, thinking I’m coveting the Angel Alliance’s treasures and using sweet words to deceive her."

"Isn’t that it..." a low voice from the other side came, barely audible to anyone with lesser hearing.

Chen Xuan chuckled coldly, speaking to himself, "But the fact is, I’m protecting you all."

Upon hearing this, everyone on the opposite side was stunned.

Then they all showed expressions of "you’re crazy."

"Do you know what you’re saying, Mr. Chen?" Laila frowned.

"Of course... let me put it this way, if I don’t take Liuli, you’ll be left with only one choice: either kill her here or be killed by her." Chen Xuan said unemotionally, "Her thoughts are actually simpler than you think; if it could be resolved by action, she wouldn’t waste a word. So, you should be grateful I’m here; otherwise, the camp would likely already be a field of corpses."