Chapter 67: The Path - [Equilibrium]

"He can no longer be saved."

Stumbling as he fell to the ground, Carmen no longer even had his head, yet the wounds all over his body continued to wriggle, flesh tentacles attempting to adhere and mend together.

"His consciousness has been forcibly usurped and shattered into pieces, combined with the irreversible changes brought to his body by the 'Marsh Fiend'."

Looking at Harold, Song Shi shook his head slightly. "At this point, he is merely relying on the still-active 'Marsh Fiend' to barely maintain his physiological state—there's no need to torture him like this any further."

"...I understand."

Gazing at Carmen's horrifying corpse, Harold fell silent for a moment. "Fucking hell."

But soon, he adjusted his emotions.

"Right, Jade Pharmaceuticals' armed forces are about to arrive. We've already taken over the nearby surveillance and silenced the communications. What are your plans next? I suggest you retreat with us first."

"Very well."

"Mm."

In the distance on the private harbor's surface, a beam of light suddenly flashed. A figure completely shrouded in a cloak emerged piloting a speedboat, swinging around to dock neatly.

"That's 'Snipe-eye', my teammate."

Harold gave a brief introduction.

Without saying anything further, he quickly planted a series of explosives at several key points around the private harbor.

Finally casting one last glance back at the roaring, blazing private harbor, he jumped onto the speedboat alongside Song Shi, sailing away into the distant darkness.

· · ·

One hour later.

By the secluded bank of a reservoir in the High Grid District, three figures emerged from the water and crawled onto the shore.

That speedboat had only served to ensure they distanced themselves from the scene, but they couldn't stay on it indefinitely—otherwise, tracking them would be far too easy.

Therefore, once they reached a certain expanse of the sea, Harold had set the explosives to sink the yacht, and the three of them swam toward the shore for over half an hour—"Snipe-eye" had been carrying an extra set of backup underwater solo infiltration gear.

"We scouted this place out in advance; it's remote, deserted, and safe for the time being. So, buddy, shall we chat?"

Harold gestured to the surroundings, then looked toward the other person.

"My codename is 'Impact', and his is 'Snipe-eye'."

Following that, he scratched his head and sighed. "Though I guess you've probably looked at our wanted posters; they've practically stripped us bare on there. My name is Harold, and this is Dusung—but if you don't mind, please continue to address us by our codenames."

"Snipe-eye", or rather Dusung, remained entirely silent. Shrouded head-to-toe in a cloak with his appearance obscured, he cradled a sniper rifle wrapped in waterproof canvas, standing quietly off to the side.

"Freelance bounty hunter, 'Southern Dipper'."

Song Shi lightly tapped his Steel Crow, but did not remove his mask.

Harold nodded, his expression turning a fraction more serious. "Buddy, our positions are within an operations squad; certain intelligence is not cleared for disclosure. If you're asking about things like the 'Tri-Phase Foundation Project', I'm sorry, but I have no right to reveal that at the moment."

He hesitated for a brief beat, then added a supplementary remark: "Well... but one thing can be confirmed: this is an important project deployed by Jade Pharmaceuticals in Palosse."

——An important project.

The very first time he heard the name 'Tri-Phase Foundation Project', Song Shi had tried to search his memories.

He could then confirm that he had never heard the name 'Tri-Phase Foundation Project' in his past life.

Either it was merely a "regional incident", or "the information blackout was airtight", or "the project failed to materialize in the past life".

Song Shi leaned toward the first possibility.

"I have some understanding of the organizational structure of the 'Enlightened'. Well, 'no right to disclose' is understandable, therefore—"

Song Shi spoke up, "There are some matters I'd like to discuss with your commander."

"...You want to see the commander."

"This... is fine. We welcome anyone who wishes to cooperate or join us."

Hearing these words, Harold and Dusung exchanged glances, and the former nodded. "I'll give you a one-time communication link, and we'll notify you when the time comes..."

Watching the other party pull out a mobile phone, Harold wore a look of astonishment. "Uh, wait, you haven't implanted a neural interface?"

"Personal choice."

Song Shi casually replied.

"Then you're quite trendy, buddy."

"So, you intend to sabotage this project?"

"Mm."

Harold nodded. "Based on the intelligence we've gathered, this project is very likely to cause large-scale casualties—we're going to stop it."

"Buddy, it's been quite pleasant chatting with you, but time is tight right now, and we still have to head back to report in."

After exchanging a few more remarks, Harold smiled as he locked eyes with Song Shi, while secretly tensing his muscles without a sound. "So... let's chat again next time we meet?"

With that, the two parties departed in opposite directions.

· · ·

"Phew—"

While continuously moving, Harold let out a breath.

*[Impact, what are your thoughts...]*

"The pressure back there was a bit intense."

Harold rubbed his eyes. "Mainly because the distance was too close. As you saw, that 'Southern Dipper' literally chopped a 'Marsh Fiend' into sashimi! Neither Snipe-eye nor I are very good at close-quarters combat; it would have gotten very troublesome if things had turned physical."

*[What if the combat had been dragged out to medium-long range?]*

"Well... then there probably wouldn't be much of a problem."

Immediately afterward, he glanced toward Snipe-eye beside him.

"Speaking of which, that guy is an esper too, right? Snipe-eye, did you pick up on anything?"

"...He probably isn't from the Path of [Truth]."

Snipe-eye paused, speaking for the first time, his voice low and hoarse: "He didn't give me a sense of familiarity. However, based on that performance, I deduce it's 'Transcendence', 'Great Source', or 'Balance'... But I am only a First-Ring 'Truth', so this guess is likely inaccurate."

*[It's probably not 'Balance' either.]*

Flashstar's voice sounded in the communication channel.

*[Though he didn't display any psionic arts, but... you can just take it as my intuition.]*

"The intuition of a Second-Ring 'Balance' toward one of her own kind?"

Harold sighed. "Though I've said it many times already, I still can't help wanting to say: you 'espers' are really completely unscientific!"

Snipe-eye cradled his sniper rifle and remained silent.

*[Then is this envy you're feeling?]*

"Hey! That's not it!"

Harold gave a dry laugh, patting the twin pistols hanging at his waist. "Flashstar, just as you said, you [Balance] understand and adjust 'the laws of the world', seeking 'the balance of all phenomena', making it the most reasonable path."

"So your First-Ring psionic art allows your body to maintain a 'steady state', making it difficult to be disturbed by external factors. And your Second-Ring psionic art allows you to interfere with 'electromagnetic waves' to a certain extent, assisting in network electronic warfare."

"It's magical indeed, and truly powerful too."

"However—"

Harold spread his hands. "Can't these things actually be accomplished just as well with implants? Look at that buddy just now, he also has two powered armors. So when you ask me if I'm envious, Flashstar, I am a little bit, but it's also mostly fine."

"Right! What did the boss say?"

*[The commander already knows about this. Since this 'Southern Dipper' currently shares our stance and has expressed a certain amount of goodwill, he will meet with him first.]*

*[As for you two, just to be safe, return as soon as possible.]*

"Understood—no problem!"