Transcendent Gene
Chapter 132: Unresolved Grudge [4]

Chapter 132: Unresolved Grudge [4]

"Hmm..."

There were several people huddled over a piece of cloth draped over the sand. On that cloth was the same leech Gio captured. The difference was that it was now being completely restrained by Natalia’s power.

"So you’re saying this..."

She pointed at the leech.

"Came out of there?"

Her finger moved to Mother Baba’s corpse. Gio knew she wanted a better explanation out of him, but there wasn’t one he could give her.

She was already thinking the same thing as him, anyway.

"Captain, you think it is as it appears?" She asked, turning to Raymond.

He was rubbing his chin while looking at the leech. It squirmed violently as it tried to escape the ensnaring darkness around it. The task was an impossible one, but it never seemed to give up.

"It would make sense if this was her true form. I’ve always thought she looked like a bug."

Hisss!

The leech hissed violently as if it could understand his words. Its struggles became fiercer, but there was still nothing it could do.

It was so powerless that even Gio could kill it by stepping on it.

"Well," Raymond said with a sly smile.

"That confirms it, doesn’t it?"

Natalia and Gio both nodded. A beast so small couldn’t be sentient. A monster so small simply didn’t exist. There was only one explanation left for this situation.

Natalia shook her head with a sigh.

"All these years, we believed she was a lone djinn. That is why her connections never made sense."

"Right," Raymond agreed.

"I don’t understand how it was never revealed. They usually don’t have similar auras or act similarly in the slightest, but it has to be true. It also explains her ability to get in contact with people so far above her level..."

’Mother Baba wasn’t a djinn, but an Asura.’

Gio shook his head, sighing a similar sigh to Natalia.

"Captain, this is getting out of control. It might be time for you guys to withdraw as well," Gio chimed in.

Raymond shook his head.

"No. VNGRD, the Apocalypse Church, Bloodrend, and the Asuras are all somehow involved in this plot. If forces with that kind of strength cooperate, it won’t end with just the stuff we found."

Raymond was right. They’d found hints about the Apocalypse Church’s plan. They were developing several new technologies at an extremely fast pace with the sole purpose of fighting their fellow humans.

But why did VNGRD want to involve itself?

Why did Bloodrend latch onto the cult?

And why were the Asuras, servants and envoys of the Monster Race, joining the cooperation?

’For VNGRD, it must be related to those.’

They had certain plans that had become public at a later point in time. The "Starbearer" Gio mentioned was one of them.

’When Project Starbearer was truly revealed to the world for the first time, it was already complete. They’d created something inhuman...or maybe it would be better to call it a superhuman.’

Their years of effort coalesced into the form of a single super soldier that put all Sequencers below the Lunar Class to shame. The effort it took to finally end its reign of terror was equivalent to what it took to face a Disaster.

Every Disaster created at least tens of millions of casualties.

’They aren’t anywhere near that completion stage now. There’s still time to do something about it.’

That time also had to be used to understand what the forces one or two levels below them were moving as well.

Raymond’s safest option would always be to withdraw.

However, he lived by a clear code; a code quite similar to the one Gio based his every action on.

In other words, Raymond understood that he and his team were the closest to this situation and the only ones who could continue to approach it without forcing the pot to boil over.

Retreating and sending someone else gave their enemies too much time.

More importantly, there was no guarantee that the next team’s approach would be able to change anything.

’And if that team ends up being sent by the corrupted parts of the military...’

Anyway, there was too much at stake to take more risks.

Risking their own lives was more than enough.

"We don’t need to discuss this further," Raymond finally said, stepping forward and opening his hand. A drop of flame fell onto the cloth below, turning both it and the leech it contained into a ball of flames.

"Let’s regather and return first. We can go over everything at once when we’re safe on the ship."

They were still in the middle of an enemy camp, after all. Even if those present now were taken care of, there was no guarantee that others wouldn’t come in the future.

All of the work they needed to do had already been taken care of. It only took a few more minutes for Jax to return with news that he’d scoped the entire area.

"There isn’t much here at all. I think this place only existed as a medium for all of them to meet."

It made sense. This wasn’t necessarily a camp of the Apocalypse Church. They merely provided it to a potential ally.

Nevertheless, there wasn’t anything worth investigating. The raid officially came to an end like that.

On Raymond’s call, the zephyr revealed itself and descended from the clouds. Soon after, they were within its walls again, safe from the dangers of the world outside.

"It was a good raid, everyone," Raymond said with a grin.

"You weren’t so bad yourself, Boss! How’d you get your hoverpack to stay on for so long, though? I don’t think any of them had that much energy left."

Raymond shrugged. At this point, he was already back in a wheelchair.

"I gave it my own energy instead. It was taxing, but it worked out in the end. Plus, it was a little fun."

He was even having thoughts of designing some sort of hybrid between a wheelchair and a hoverpack, but that didn’t need to be brought up.

The other team members offered their praise after Jax. It was enough that Raymond was still able to fight properly and participate. The fine details could be tuned later.

"Let’s get some rest for now. Is Mirei doing well?"

"She hasn’t transformed back yet," Jason said as he returned to the cargo bay where the rest of the team was. He had just dropped her off in her own room, so he was naturally the one who could speak with the most certainty.

"Is she awake?"

"She woke up for a bit, but she went right back to sleep. The sandworm must have been strong if it took this much energy from her."

"Hmmm..."

They didn’t have time to properly understand the strength of the worm before it died, but Mirei felt it directly.

If it truly was at her level exactly or even a bit higher, it was natural for her to experience backlash.

"Well, it’s pointless to hold a team meeting without all members of the team present. Let’s rest for tonight and convene tomorrow. We have a lot to go over."

It was a large mission but also a quick one. More than one person on the team needed to rest properly. Gio was included among them. His body needed time to get rid of the aftereffects of the drugs he took, after all.

He glanced at Raymond for a second before deciding not to speak and following the rest as they made their way to the dorms.

As Raymond said, everything they wanted to talk about could be discussed tomorrow.

For today, sleep was more important than anything else.

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