Chapter 666: Hello 14

Moira Lynch’s plan was to open the Subspace again and toss a ball of Healing Flame inside before the purple bead within could react.

Truth be told, she was still reluctant to give up the energy contained within that purple bead.

Besides, when Super delicious orange had eaten the bead before, its body first turned purple. Then, after it let out a fart, the purple color vanished, leaving behind only the purest energy.

This was proof enough that the contaminants in the purple bead could be cleansed.

‘I’ll just try this one time,’ she silently told herself. ‘If it doesn’t work, I’ll have to let it go.’

They had just finished killing most of the black shadow monsters in the area, and it would take some time for others to arrive.

Taking advantage of this lull, they could rest for a bit.

For sustenance, they just drank nutrient liquid.

After absentmindedly drinking a bottle of nutrient liquid, Moira Lynch focused all her attention on the Subspace containing the purple bead.

White flames filled every corner of the Subspace.

The purple bead struggled and thrashed within the flames. If the bead could make a sound, it would certainly be screaming in agony right now.

The sharp-eyed Moira Lynch noticed that as the white Healing Flame burned it, wisps of black smoke drifted out of the bead, only to be completely purified by the flame.

‘It’s actually working!’

Moira Lynch’s eyes lit up.

After confirming the method was effective, Moira Lynch added more fuel to the fire, making the flames in the Subspace burn even more fiercely to speed up the purification process.

「Meanwhile.」

After parting ways with Moira Lynch and Kai York, Shane Rhodes and Hugh Finch continued onward in a set direction with Carole Underwood.

The deeper they went, the more severe the pollution levels became. However, whenever they were near Carole Underwood, the contamination in the surrounding air would plummet.

This phenomenon hadn’t been very obvious before, but as the pollution worsened, the contrast became increasingly stark.

On top of that, they made an even greater discovery.

Shane Rhodes glanced at Carole Underwood, then at the ground behind her.

Wherever she walked, every step she took left a distinct white footprint on the ground.

According to the Intelligent Brain’s analysis, this was because the surrounding area was so heavily polluted that the soil had turned a blackish-brown and gave off a foul odor.

But in the places Carole Underwood had stepped, the soil was purified, which was why its color was different from the surrounding earth.

Upon receiving this answer, the two men were simply stunned.

Besides this, there was also the change in Carole Underwood herself.

They had been walking for so long that even with their excellent physical conditioning, Shane Rhodes and Hugh Finch were starting to feel the strain—not to mention they were wearing armor that weighed dozens of pounds.

In contrast, Carole Underwood was clearly doing better and better. Her face was rosy, her breathing was steady, and she didn’t seem tired in the slightest.

Just then, Carole Underwood, who was walking ahead, seemed to sense something was wrong. She looked back and was surprised to find that a considerable distance had opened up between her and the two men.

Seeing this, she quickly jogged back. “Are you guys okay? Why did you suddenly slow down? Did you spot some kind of danger?”

Carole Underwood asked worriedly. She didn’t think she was walking too fast for them to keep up; she just assumed they had spotted a threat and deliberately stopped.

Hearing her question, the two men were momentarily at a loss for words.

Telling the truth would be a bit embarrassing, but if they didn’t, they weren’t sure what excuse they could use to gloss over it.

Finally, Hugh Finch had a flash of inspiration and asked, “Song, you’ve been walking for so long. Are you feeling any discomfort?”

“Discomfort? No, I feel great.” Carole Underwood checked herself over but found nothing wrong.

Then she looked at the sky. It was clear for miles. Below her feet was golden earth, and the air carried the faint scent of soil mixed with fresh grass. It didn’t seem at all like the heavily polluted place they described.

Carole Underwood even began to suspect they were lying to her. From her perspective, there was no pollution here at all. In fact, she felt the environment here was much better than at the base where she used to live.

‘Compared to this, the environment back at the base is what really seems polluted.’

Luckily, neither Shane Rhodes nor Hugh Finch knew the Mind Reading Technique. Otherwise, if they heard what Carole Underwood was thinking right now, they’d probably cough up three liters of blood.

‘Seriously? If you don’t need your eyes, donate them to someone who does! A cloudless sky? Golden earth? The scent of soil mixed with grass?’

‘Just look at the sky! It’s so dark and oppressive you can’t even see the sun. And look at the ground beneath your feet! It’s just as black—so polluted that not even viruses can survive. Then there’s the air, which is just a laundry list of pollutants exceeding every limit.’

‘This isn’t air anymore. It’s straight-up poison gas.’

Unfortunately, at that moment, neither side knew what the other was thinking.

After the two men repeatedly urged her to, Carole Underwood agreed to rest for a while, even though she didn’t feel tired at all.

But after hearing Shane’s words of concern, she readily agreed. At the same time, she couldn’t help but feel a flutter of excitement, thinking, ‘He’s worried about me! Does that mean he cares about me, too?’

With this thought in mind, Carole Underwood frequently glanced at Shane Rhodes’s profile.

As for Shane Rhodes, it was unclear whether he genuinely didn’t notice or was just pretending not to, but he remained completely unmoved by Carole Underwood’s practically scorching gaze.

In fact, Shane Rhodes’s attention was currently focused entirely on the Intelligent Brain.

Kai York: Boss, how are things on your end?

Shane Rhodes: Everything’s fine. What about you?

Kai York: We’re all good over here, too.

Moira Lynch: @Hugh Finch, do a divination for us. We need to know which direction to go. We haven’t run into any black shadow monsters for a while now. Instead, we’ve come across a swarm of bugs.

Moira Lynch pulled her gaze away from the Intelligent Brain’s screen and glanced around, a hint of irritation on her face.

Not far from her, Kai York was relentlessly unleashing Wind Blades, slicing in half all the bugs that burrowed up from the ground.

However, the bugs seemed to be endless. For every one he killed, two more would burrow out of the ground in its place.

Moreover, Moira Lynch’s spiritual power couldn’t detect the bugs’ movements underground at all. It was as if they were appearing out of thin air.