CHAPTER 674: CHAPTER 79: ON THE ROAD

In the crowd, Ankarena looked at Bal, who had spotted her, and met his gaze calmly.

Although she was a bit surprised to encounter Bal, that was the extent of it.

After Richard’s appearance, Bal’s value was gone. After being brainwashed by the Control Bureau, Bal’s memories of that night and of the Control Bureau were deleted.

Ankarena still had great trust in the Control Bureau’s technology. If they couldn’t even cleanly delete an ordinary person’s memory, then all the Memory Department officers might as well commit suicide.

"Miss, have we met before?"

Just as Ankarena was feeling confident, Bal walked towards her and asked somewhat uncertainly.

"No." Ankarena replied crisply and swiftly, then feigned a slight look of disgust on her face, "This kind of pick-up line is so outdated."

"Is that so? Then I must have been mistaken."

Noticing Ankarena’s expression, Bal couldn’t help but smile wryly to himself.

He had been mistaken for a guy trying to hit on someone.

Not lingering, Bal returned to the camp after being rejected. But Ankarena’s figure lingered in his mind. His intuition told him he had definitely seen this woman before. Yet such a beautiful woman, how could he have no memory of her at all?

Ankarena was the kind of timeless beauty who would stand out even without makeup. He believed he wasn’t a book-obsessed academic, surely he would remember seeing such a pretty woman.

"Could it be because of the previous amnesia?" Bal pondered inwardly.

After briefly washing his face, Bal ate while searching through his memories. As he wondered if he had lost any other memories, the leader of the expedition team approached him.

"Professor Bal, are you finished eating?"

Bal swiftly finished off the rations in his hands.

"Yes, what’s going on?"

"Nothing really. If you’re done eating, we should set off."

"In such a hurry?" Bal said with some surprise.

The leader smiled as he approached Bal, then whispered, "Professor, this team and our destination are quite the same. If we don’t hurry, we might not even get a taste of the soup."

"Quite the same?"

Bal was slightly startled. Their destination this time was an ancient ruin from before the Great Catastrophe. The address had been found by the expedition’s sponsors, who had spent an unknown amount of effort to locate it from the remnants of ancient records.

Normally, they wouldn’t even encounter fellow travelers, let alone another expedition with the same destination.

"Are you sure you didn’t see it wrong?" Bal whispered.

The leader shook his head slightly, "No mistake, I saw that team’s map, it matches our location exactly."

"... Okay, let’s hurry then."

A hint of anxiety flashed in Bal’s heart; he had a feeling something remarkable was about to happen on this journey.

...

"You’re saying this team’s destination is the same as ours?"

In the Control Bureau’s expedition team, Ankarena listened to her subordinate’s report with a trace of astonishment on her face.

"Yes, Captain." The subordinate confirmed, "I saw their map, the destination is exactly the same as ours."

Ankarena rubbed her fingertip against the corner of her left eye, feeling a bit of a headache. Why had the recent missions never gone smoothly?

"This is a bit troublesome, can we identify the supporter of this expedition team?"

Every expedition team would have a patron, responsible for providing funding and resources. As long as they could find the patron, controlling the expedition team wouldn’t be a problem.

The subordinate shook his head, "Can’t find them. This team is tight-lipped, couldn’t get anything out of them. Moreover, all the guards of this team are Awakeners. The only ones who can hire these people are probably the Monastery."

The world of the four-eyed wasn’t solely dominated by the Control Bureau. The central government, which was visible on the surface, administered the Invasion Processing Bureau and the Invasion Processing Corps. In the shadows, there were also Monasteries established by Hermits who didn’t want to accept the Control Bureau’s management.

The founders of these organizations mostly had some ties with Control Bureau veterans like Avery, Stassin, and Gregor. Thus, the Control Bureau tacitly acknowledged these organizations’ existence.

As long as these organizations didn’t cross the red line, the bases under the Control Bureau had no way to deal with them.

"Then just ignore them." Ankarena gestured with her hand, replying somewhat helplessly, "It’s not the first day the Monastery has been exploring ruins, let them go."

The paths of the Kro Mountain Range were difficult to traverse.

Without flying, the dense shrubs and vines acted like barriers, hindering the expedition team’s entry. Not to mention the thin mist pervading the mountains, the various uneven terrains, and the poisonous insects everywhere.

"Huff—huff—Professor, your physical fitness is quite something."

In the expedition team, Bal held a trekking pole, striding briskly.

"It’s alright." Bal modestly smiled at the guard, "I’m not carrying anything, just barely keeping up with you all."

After discovering that the Control Bureau’s team had the same destination as theirs, the expedition team Bal was part of started to fast-track their progress. Bal, being a professor, naturally went light on the journey, with the guards carrying everything.

But even so, being able to move in the mountains for four or five hours, merely breaking a slight sweat, Bal’s physical condition was already on par with most of the guards.

Upon hearing this, the guard didn’t ask much and simply smiled at Bal, "Professor, remember to go to the hospital for a check-up later, your physical fitness seems off. Check, maybe you have awakened source energy."

"Haha, thanks for the good wishes."

The small team that Bal was part of was very familiar with the Kro Mountain Range; their map was even more detailed than the Control Bureau’s.

After confirming the Control Bureau team’s route, they chose not to follow, but instead took an almost unknown path.

By taking this path, they could shorten their journey by a third compared to the Control Bureau.

"Stop."

The leader’s command brought the entire expedition team to a halt.

He looked at the map in his hand, then jumped onto a nearby tree to carefully observe the surrounding terrain. They were now in a mountain hollow, and directly in front of them was a dangerous peak about three thousand meters high.

The location they needed to explore was behind this peak.

"This way."

The leader confirmed the direction, jumped down from the tree, and led the team toward the mountain peak.

Their shortcut was simple, which was to cross over the peak.

...

"That team disappeared?"

Ankarena listened to her subordinate’s report, her expression somewhat surprised.

"Do they have a shortcut?"

"That’s unclear, but our understanding of the Kro Mountain Range is indeed not detailed."

Ankarena frowned, tapped her toes, and her body flew into the air. Blue lights appeared in her eyes, and the surrounding scenery became vividly clear to her.

Suddenly, her gaze stopped at a location about ten kilometers northeast of the team. There, she could faintly see some figures moving.

"It seems there really is a shortcut."

Ankarena descended from the sky and marked a spot on the map. Then she connected the mark to the location of the expedition team and estimated the distance.

"Straight ahead."

Ankarena murmured, tracing her finger on the map, extending along the line of the Bal Expedition Team’s route...

"Is there anything special about this place?"

Ankarena’s finger stopped on a marked location on the map, exactly on the straight line extending from the Bal Expedition Team’s route.

"This is a warning of geologic instability. A few years ago, a major earthquake occurred here, causing severe landslides on the mountain."

"Has no one from the bureau checked it out?"

The subordinate said with some helplessness: "Captain, we’re the Control Bureau, not the Geological Bureau. Since nothing significant has happened here, why would our people go there?"

"...Alright."

Ankarena felt a bit blue, as a senior ops officer, her intelligence tasks are always very thorough, leading her to habitually view this mission through past missions’ perspectives.

However, her danger rating for this mission was only Third Level, far lower compared to her usual Fifth-Level missions. The reason she was sent here was mainly due to recent heavy losses among lower-ranking officers, causing a manpower shortage at the base.

"Notify the team to speed up; their personnel quality can’t possibly match ours."

"Yes, Captain."

...

In the pitch-black ravine, a shining "worm" was slowly advancing.

After two and a half days of travel, the expedition team led by Bal finally entered their shortcut—a narrow crevice formed by the earthquake.

Through this crevice, they could travel straight through the mountain peak and reach the ruins behind it.

The space in the ravine was limited, and many places could only allow a person to squeeze through sideways. Due to the earthquake, the structure of the ravine was actually unstable, though theoretically, as long as nothing notable happened, they would be safe. But if something did happen, it would be a deadly affair.

If it weren’t for the need to save time, the leader would never have chosen this route.

"Come, here, up!"

With the guards pulling up the last team member, the expedition team made it safely through the ravine and arrived behind the peak.

According to the map’s guidance, they needed to walk another two or three kilometers to find the ruins marked on the map.

"Whew, we finally made it through."

The leader stood beside Bal, a slight trace of relief on his face. He looked at the direction marked on the map and said somewhat emotionally:

"We’ve taken this road a few times, but we didn’t realize that just a few kilometers away lies an ancient ruin."

"Haha, sometimes it’s just like that," Bal laughed in response, "Opportunities can sometimes be just a step away from us."

The leader glanced at the sky; although the ravine’s environment was pitch black, it was only around three in the afternoon. The sun, though drifting toward the horizon, still kept the environment quite bright.

"Professor, are you still keeping up physically?" the leader asked, "Our travel pace these past two days has been a bit intense. We don’t mind, but you scholars shouldn’t push yourselves too hard.

Loren is already being carried; do you want..."

Bal patted his chest and said: "No worries, I’m feeling great."

Nobody noticed that as Bal spoke, a blue light flickered beneath his skin.