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Chapter 243 - 242: Intuitive Warning

"Nonsense!"

"Then she’s just looking for death herself!"

With that shout, all the Angels except Leila unfolded their Light Wings. Compared to Elorie’s white wings, theirs were far more dazzling, ranging in color from white to blue, or from blue to violet.

This was probably proof of their strength.

What surprised Chen Xuan was that Elorie also refused to back down and spread her Light Wings, and their color had changed slightly from before—the tips were now dyed an orange-red, like highlighted strands.

The atmosphere in the tent instantly became taut as drawn bows.

"What do you mean by this?" Leila narrowed her eyes at Elorie. "As an Angel, are you actually going to oppose the Angel Alliance’s position?"

"If I hadn’t opposed your arrangements, I’d probably still be obediently staying in Paris right now, watching the news about the Holy Temple Treasure Vault being destroyed by Demons!" Elorie flared up the moment she brought it up. "I treated you as people I could trust, and what about you? You just treated me like an idiot!"

"Want to give it a try?" Chen Xuan curled his lips into a smirk and provocatively walked to the Little Angel’s side. "See whether it’s you who walk out of here alive in the end, or us stepping over your corpses to leave this place?"

He had already swept his gaze over everyone present.

Aside from Leila Doolittle, whose Fusion points had reached about half of Liuli’s, the other Angels were all between ten and twenty. In other words, with his current reserves, he could at least take out three High-tier Angels in one go.

Liuli also placed her hand on her sword hilt; her meaning was obvious.

Just as the conflict was about to explode, Leila raised her right hand. "Enough, all of you, stop! The Alliance’s losses are already big enough; there’s no need to lose more people in a place like this."

"But... Angel General..."

"Mr. Chen is a contributor to the eradication of the Demons. Although we have our differences, he doesn’t qualify as a mortal enemy we must kill." Leila abruptly changed her hardline tone, as if she had forgotten how she had behaved a few minutes ago. "If you want to leave, then leave. But Miss Ailoli, I also ask you to understand our caution. Before we obtain reliable evidence, it’s very hard for us to invest large numbers of personnel and resources into passive defense."

"So does this count as evidence now?" Elorie retorted unhappily.

"Of course it does. So after we finish investigating this attack, I still hope to discuss the matter of the future omens with you in more depth."

"I’ll leave you a mailbox address." she said, pouting.

Elorie’s goal had never changed—to alter that apocalyptic future and prevent the tragic disaster that would kill tens of billions.

The other Angels could only watch as the three of them walked out of the tent.

"Angel General!" Morgan bent over, bracing his hands on the table as he shouted at Leila. "How can you just let them walk away? This isn’t the same as our plan!"

"Plans are dead things; people are alive." Leila took off her glasses and let out a long sigh. "That brat wasn’t telling the whole truth. If it really came down to a fight, our chances of winning wouldn’t even be ten percent."

Everyone couldn’t help but look at each other.

"How is that possible!?" Morgan said in disbelief. "The power of N21 is indeed terrifying, but that’s against people who are completely defenseless. She’s a strange artifact, and we’re the ones holding the key that restrains her. If she can bring out even a tenth of her full power, that would already be impressive!"

"Exactly! Even if Elorie has grown, assigning just one High-tier Angel is enough to keep her in check—"

"Enough, are you teaching me how to do my job now?" Leila cut him off impatiently. "You think there’s anything you know that I don’t?"

The scene went solemn.

Since they had ways to deal with both N21 and Elorie, that meant there was only one variable left...

So many High-tier Angels, and yet the Angel General thought they couldn’t even handle a single Ability User?

"I killed my first Demon alone when I was fourteen. After that, Demons or enemies of the organization, I’ve fought them countless times, and I’ve been through more near-death situations than I can count. The reason I’m alive and sitting in this position today is because my judgment of the enemy has never been wrong." Leila said coldly.

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t tested him.

During the standoff, she had used lightning speed to change the position of her hands, only to find Chen Xuan’s eyes tracking the movement. That meant they would have no opening advantage whatsoever.

At the same time, her instincts were blaring an alarm with an intensity greater than in any previous crisis. The other side was like a pitch-black abyss whose depth she couldn’t fathom. Every time she had the thought to strike, her even fiercer instincts suppressed it, leaving her with an inescapable illusion of being shrouded under a vast shadow.

The roar of helicopter engines came from outside, and everyone just silently listened as the sound faded into the distance.

"Can an ordinary wingless one really possess that kind of power?" Morgan still found it hard to believe.

In this world, aside from Angels, there naturally existed another type of ability bearer. They were few in number and weak in strength; they couldn’t sense Demons, and they neither had the will nor the power to eradicate them. These people were often called wingless ones, or outsiders, by the Angel Alliance.

Because they were such a niche group and had no organization, Angels rarely ever looked at them properly.

For Leila to give someone like that such a high evaluation truly exceeded Morgan’s expectations.

The other High-tier Angels clearly felt the same way.

"It seems from now on we’ll need to pay more attention to that group." Leila said, tapping lightly on the table. "Get in touch with the Asian District. No matter what, we have to figure out that brat’s background. As for the loss of N21... just include it in the total losses of the Holy Temple Treasure Vault. So many strange artifacts are already missing; adding one more won’t make headquarters suspicious. Our top priority now is to clean up the Holy Temple ruins and salvage as much as we can."

"Angel General is right." Once the leader made her decision, the others promptly changed their tune. "As long as N5 is still there, the Holy Temple Treasure Vault wasn’t built in vain."

"We can only say our luck was good. The main body of the mountain didn’t collapse; otherwise, N5 would’ve been doomed as well."

"Do you really think that was just luck?" Leila let out a cold laugh. "The enemy managed to get a nuclear bomb into the Vault but somehow wouldn’t think to detonate it deeper inside for greater destructive power? It’s not that they didn’t want to; they just couldn’t. If I’m not mistaken, the Demons also knew about N21’s existence and had a way to deal with her. That improvised nuclear bomb was ten to one intended to be dragged into Vault 1 for detonation."

If it had exploded at that location, the entire Holy Temple Treasure Vault would have been blasted sky-high. Vault 9 and N5, separated by only a single wall, obviously wouldn’t have survived either.

The scene fell into faint silence.

Everyone understood what this implied.

A newly promoted, nameless Angel had thwarted a coordinated Demon assault and prevented the situation from deteriorating to the worst possible outcome.

On this achievement alone, she was more than qualified to be promoted to High-tier Angel.

"But since Elorie is intent on leaving, this merit won’t fall to her." Leila stood up and took the lead walking out of the tent. "Let’s go search for clues in the ruins of the Holy Temple Treasure Vault. All of you still have plenty of work ahead."

...

Once they landed in Nepal and the three of them regrouped with Lin Qing at a small hotel, Elorie finally hurriedly asked, "Store Manager, how is the mother body Lucy? It should be all right, right? I heard from the support team that the bomb didn’t completely destroy the mountain where Vault 9 was located."

It was obvious she had been holding this in for a long time.

"Uh..." Chen Xuan awkwardly scratched his head. He knew he would have to face this question sooner or later. "Don’t get worked up yet—let me explain slowly."

When she heard that the mother body was about the size of a passenger jet, Elorie couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

And when she learned that the mother body had suddenly rushed at Chen Xuan and fused with him, her jaw nearly dropped.

The Little Angel repeatedly scanned Chen Xuan up and down, and even impulsively reached out to touch his stomach.

"I know it sounds unbelievable, but that’s exactly what happened." Chen Xuan said helplessly. "I don’t even know whether this should count as saving the mother body Lucy, or destroying it."

"Pff-haha..." Liuli, on the other hand, couldn’t hold back anymore. She rarely covered her mouth to laugh. "What’s there to hesitate about? The mother body Lucy has obviously been destroyed; otherwise the restraints on me wouldn’t have been lifted all of a sudden. I was still wondering how you, a creature of flesh and blood, managed to overcome your own instincts and not submit to its control. So that’s what actually happened!"