Chapter : 719

Princess Iris stepped over a smashed metal door. The underground laboratory was a complete mess. The 4th Prince left nothing intact. Broken glass covered the white floor tiles. Twisted steel pipes hung from the ceiling. The bright lights flickered randomly. Sparks jumped from ruined computer screens.

The giant sludge monster was gone. The holy magic turned the beast into harmless dust yesterday. The toxic yellow mist cleared out of this specific room. The air smelled like burnt plastic and old wires.

The 13th Unit walked slowly through the wreckage. They returned to the facility to finish their job. The Emperor gave them a secondary objective. He wanted evidence. He wanted proof of the illegal research.

Ken Eliot walked at the very back of the group. He wore his navy blue sweatpants. His white dress shirt hung completely untucked over his belt. He drooped his shoulders as far as they could possibly go. He dragged his cheap shoes across the broken floor. Scuff. Scuff. Scuff.

He held a large bag of sour cream and onion potato crisps. He reached into the bag. He pulled out a crisp. He tossed it into his mouth. He chewed it slowly. Crunch. Crunch.

"This is terrible game design," Ken complained lazily. He swallowed his food. He looked around the empty, broken room. "We already cleared this dungeon. We beat the final boss. We should not be here right now. The developers are making us backtrack."

Naomi walked right in front of him. She wore her dark combat pants and a sleek green shirt. Her bright red hair was tied back in a neat ponytail. She stepped over a pile of concrete rubble. She turned her head. She looked at Ken. She smiled a very bright, warm smile.

"Watch your step, Ken," Naomi instructed gently. She pointed at a sharp piece of twisted metal on the floor. "Do not trip over that pipe. It will ruin your shoes."

Ken looked down. He casually stepped around the metal pipe.

"Thank you, Naomi," Ken smiled a goofy, relaxed smile. "You are an excellent navigator. I am blind without you. I am too busy looking at my potato crisps. I have to make sure they do not break inside the bag. Broken crisps are a massive tragedy."

"You are ridiculous," Naomi chuckled softly. Her green eyes sparkled with genuine amusement. She did not act strict. She did not yell at him for slouching. She just made sure his path was clear.

"I am just speaking the absolute truth," Ken reasoned smoothly. He put his free hand deep into his pocket. "Backtracking through an empty level is very boring. There are no enemies left. There is no loot. We are just walking through a giant trash can. The game should give us a fast travel point. We should be able to teleport straight back to the living room sofa."

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Zinia stomped her tough combat boots onto the floor. The strong earth mage crossed her muscular arms. She looked at a pile of smashed computers.

"Ares really did a number on this place," Zinia noted firmly. "He punched every single screen in the room. He smashed the keyboards. He broke the desks. Finding any working technology in this mess is going to be difficult."

Laxmi kicked a loose piece of metal. The metal skittered across the floor. The fire user wore bright orange pants. She let out a loud sigh.

"I wish we could just burn the rest of the room," Laxmi complained happily. She tossed a tiny orange spark of fire between her fingers. "We could melt the broken computers. It would make a very cool puddle of liquid metal."

"We are not melting anything, Laxmi," Princess Iris commanded smoothly. She walked past a broken glass containment tube. "We need to find digital records. We need to find data files. If you burn the room, you will destroy the evidence. We must search carefully."

Luna walked over to a smashed metal desk. The gray-haired girl rubbed her sleepy eyes. She let out a massive, dramatic yawn. She placed her hands on the desk. She tried to clear away the broken glass.

"I just want to find a clean spot to sit down," Luna mumbled lazily. She brushed some dust off the desk. "Walking around is very exhausting. My feet are officially on strike. I need to take a nap."

Risa stayed very close to Naomi. The sweet pink-haired healer hugged her brown teddy bear. She looked at the broken room. She felt much safer today. The scary monsters were gone. The toxic magic was gone. She smiled a small, brave smile.

"I will help you look for computers, Princess," Risa offered sweetly. "I have very good eyes."

"Thank you, Risa," Princess Iris smiled a gentle, proud smile. "Just be careful of the sharp edges."

Sayma walked into the center of the ruined laboratory. The intelligent Vice-Captain pushed her thick glasses up the bridge of her nose. She held her neat notebook. She clicked her silver pen rapidly. Click. Click. Click.

Her dark eyes scanned the destruction. She analyzed the layout of the room. She looked at the broken wires on the floor. She traced the wires with her eyes. She calculated the electrical flow.

"The 4th Prince destroyed all the superficial terminals," Sayma reported politely. She pointed her silver pen at the broken screens. "These computers were just basic workstations. They did not hold the core data. A facility of this massive magnitude requires a centralized server. It requires a secure mainframe."

Sayma followed a thick bundle of black cables. The cables ran across the floor. They disappeared under a massive pile of concrete rubble.

"Zinia," Sayma called out clearly. "Can you please remove this concrete? I believe the primary data cables lead directly behind this wall."

Zinia cracked her knuckles. Pop. Pop. "Absolutely. Step back, Sayma."

Sayma took three steps backward. Zinia walked up to the pile of rubble. She slammed her large hands onto the biggest concrete block. She channeled her earth magic. She lifted the massive block effortlessly. She tossed it to the side. The concrete crashed onto the floor.

Ken stopped walking. He looked around the room. He did not want to search for wires. He did not want to lift heavy rocks. He wanted to sit down.

His sleepy dark eyes spotted something perfect in the corner of the room.

It was a black office chair. The chair looked mostly intact. It had a soft cushion. It had armrests. However, it was missing one wheel on the bottom. It sat near a broken metal cabinet.

Ken smiled a goofy grin. He dragged his shoes across the floor. Scuff. Scuff. He walked straight over to the broken chair.

He spun the chair around. He sat down heavily onto the cushion. The chair wobbled significantly because of the missing wheel. Ken did not care. He sagged his shoulders until his spine curved . He rested his bag of potato crisps on his lap.

He leaned his head back. He let out a long, happy sigh.