# 257
Chapter 257
Trust
All of them were photos of Team 136.
Snapshots of them picnicking in the park, laughing and chatting;
of them in the office, welcoming Lin Qiye back after his graduation;
of New Year’s Eve, when they’d drunk themselves silly while vowing to meet again next year;
of the three of them—Lin Qiye, Si Xiaonan, and Hongying—striding out of campus after the Nanda Snake-Demon mission;
of Zhao Kongcheng’s burial, Hongying carving the tombstone while the others hid in the hills and watched;
of Si Xiaonan’s first day reporting to Team 136;
of her first completed mission, face glowing with happiness, jumping for joy…
Si Xiaonan stared blankly at the photos drifting through the air, fragments of memory flooding her mind.
All the joy, the warmth, the contentment she had once felt… scenes flickered past like a movie.
These…
were her memories.
Her memories of this city, of these people.
Tears brimmed in her eyes before she even realized it.
A warm body leaned against her back. Leng Xuan, blood still at the corner of his mouth, wrapped his only remaining arm gently around her from behind.
A soft voice sounded beside her ear.
“Carrying all this alone… must hurt, doesn’t it?”
Si Xiaonan’s body trembled; the hot tears she’d held back finally slid free. Like a girl who’d suffered every injustice, she sobbed uncontrollably.
“Take me away.” Leng Xuan’s hand stroked her hair. “Whatever comes next, I’ll face it with you.”
She turned, meeting his eyes—eyes more serious than she had ever seen them.
Pressing her lips together, red from crying, she stared at him, drew a deep breath, and—resolve flashing in her gaze—spoke.
“Leng Xuan,” she said earnestly, “do you trust me?”
Without the slightest hesitation: “I trust you.”
She turned back toward the Chaos-torn sky and began slowly,
“I have a plan… a big one, and very dangerous.”
…
Rooftop.
Chen Muye groaned in his unconsciousness, then opened his eyes.
The seal on his psyche had been undone; the terrible pressure was gone. He struggled to his feet, and only after a long moment did the memories before his blackout return.
He gazed at the turmoil in the distance, silent.
Suddenly he sensed something.
He slipped a hand inside his shirt and drew out an ancient sheepskin scroll.
This time, when the scroll left his body, not a wisp of aura leaked—as though something had sealed it completely.
He ran a finger across its surface, puzzled.
A gossamer veil lay over the parchment…
He knew it well; every member of Team 136 had once been protected by it.
Si Xiaonan’s 【Causeless Cause】.
He lifted his head, stunned.
If the real 【Shiva’s Wrath】 was still on him… what had Si Xiaonan taken?
…
Outside the city.
Lin Qiye, maintaining the magical seal, paled; the mana around him wavered.
Crack—!
A hair-thin fissure appeared on the vast ice pyramid, then spider-webbed outward. Frost hissed into the air, the fractures multiplying before his eyes.
“At its limit…” he murmured as the pyramid began to crumble.
A triple top-tier seal cast at the “Boundless” realm could only stall Kraken this long; the gap between realms, especially the higher ones, was an unbridgeable chasm.
“He can’t hold it.” Xia Simeng, still besieging Garm, noticed and grew frantic. She glanced at the bloodied yet fiercer hound and cursed,
“Damn—why is this thing so strong?!”
“It’s almost a god,” Kong Shang frowned. “The watchdog of the underworld isn’t easy.”
“But we’re out of time.” Resolve flashed in Xia Simeng’s eyes. “If we don’t kill it soon, Kraken breaks free. Against both beasts, we don’t stand a chance.”
Kong Shang caught her meaning. He stared at her, then gave a bitter smile.
“So the day has come after all…”
She asked, “Any regrets?”
“None.” He slid his Straight Blade back into its sheath, face solemn. “This is our mission.”
Xia Simeng nodded, drew a deep breath, and shouted:
“Team Phoenix!!”
“Present!!”
Whoosh—whoosh—whoosh—!
The eight battling members tore away from Garm, dropped from the sky, and lined up beside her.
Eight golden cloaks snapped in the gale.
Eyes closed, Xia Simeng asked, “Will you stake everything with me?”
Each wore a faint smile. A Coat of Arms flashed between every fingertip. Facing the howling hound of hell, their gazes were graver than ever.
“We will.”
…
The colossal iceberg shattered; the severed space snapped back. The black Rashōmon gates around Kraken were blasted to splinters by surging dark light.
The sea monster burst free, serpentine tentacles whipping, its low roar shaking the heavens.
Moooo—!!
Lin Qiye, deep-blue mage robes billowing, eyes blazing, finally steeled himself.
He had no choice left.
He reached inside his robe and drew out a gleaming Coat of Arms. A flick of its edge produced a slender needle.
He studied the insignia, then gave a wry smile.
“In the end, I’m walking the same road you did…”
Raising his eyes to the onrushing leviathan, he drew a breath and spoke, word by word:
“If the dark night finally falls—”
ROAR—!!!
Before he could finish, a thunderous bellow rolled across the plain, a visible shock-wave sweeping the earth. Both Garm and Kraken froze.
Lin Qiye stared.
Team Phoenix froze mid-motion and turned.
Beyond the horizon, beneath the gloomy sky, a gigantic black hound raced across the void toward them!
Lin Qiye’s jaw dropped—then shock flooded his eyes!