Gu Hai’s spice garden, Somalia:
Not long after Gu Hai left, many helicopters landed at the ruined manor. The corpses were all gathered at a plaza.
A group of forensic doctors carefully checked the corpses, showing shocked expressions as they did so.
“Sir, there are stone fragments in the heads of these people. They died in one hit!” one of the forensic doctors reported to a man in military uniform.
“Sir, that’s right. That armored vehicle flew over. There are no drag marks. This armored vehicle is a BvS 10 all-terrain armored vehicle. It weighs fourteen and a half tons plus four passengers,” an infantry soldier at the side reported respectfully.
[TL Note: Here is a Wikipedia entry on the BvS 10: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BvS_10.]
[TL Note: We use metric measurements in this novel, so the ton here refers to one thousand kilograms, rather than the imperial ton, which is approximately nine hundred seven kilograms.]
“About fifteen tons? And it was tossed one kilometer away?” The commander’s eyelids twitched wildly.
All the forensic doctors and soldiers appeared confused. Such a conclusion was very hard to accept.
“Record all this. We will immediately report this upwards!” the commander barked.
“Yes!” everyone answered.
“Sir, a phone call for you!” an infantry soldier at the side respectfully handed over a satellite phone.
“Hello? Ah?! General, yes! We are currently investigating the manor. Yes, we have not reported it yet. Yes, someone is coming to take over, and we are to cooperate fully? But, Sir, it was the director who sent me to…yes!” The commander repeatedly answered the person on the other side of the phone.
After a while, the commander showed a bitter expression, saying, “Yes! However, General, they have not arrived yet.”
“Who is it?!” Loud shouts suddenly came from the surrounding soldiers.
At some point in time, three men wearing black trench coats had arrived among the corpses.
These three wore sunglasses and appeared to be inspecting these corpses.
The many soldiers immediately trained their guns on the three black-clad men. However, the three men did not show any fear as they continued their examination.
“Who are you?” The commander glared.
“I am the person taking over this matter, the one mentioned in the phone call. Please call all your men over here,” the leader of the three said seriously.
At this moment, the general on the other side of the commander’s phone call verified what the black-clad man said.
“Yes, General! I will fully cooperate.” The commander hung up, feeling confused.
“How should I address the three of you?” the commander asked with a frown.
“I am called Leo. However, you won’t remember it,” the black-clad leader replied indifferently.
The commander frowned slightly. This black-clad man was quite rude.
“Where did your information come from?” Leo asked as he looked at the commander.
“It was an order from my superiors. I do not know the details.” The commander shook his head.
“Alright, then. Everyone, please step over here!” Leo pointed to a clearing.
Then, everyone walked over.
“The general told me to cooperate with you. What do you need us to do?” the commander asked out of curiosity.
“Look at the pen in my hand. Look carefully!” Leo smiled.
All the soldiers looked over.
Bang!
The pen in Leo’s hand seemed to give off a flash of light like a flashbang. When that happened, the pupils of all the soldiers suddenly constricted. They seemed to have frozen, simply standing there stiffly.
“Clean the place up!” Leo said indifferently.
“Yes!”
The other two black-clad men behind waved their hands.
Buzz!
Suddenly, the sky above the manor darkened, exposing a large flying saucer.
A white fog hung above the flying saucer, covering it. Even satellites could not see what was below.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The armored vehicle, corpses, and all the evidence on the ground suddenly flew up, sucked into a large opening in the center of the flying saucer.
All the evidence below disappeared in the blink of an eye.
Leo walked in front of the soldiers and said, “Forget about today’s mission. You did not see anything today. The military sent you here for an emergency field exercise. The exercise has concluded. Immediately return and report.”
“We were here for an emergency exercise,” the earlier commander echoed stiffly.
Leo smiled faintly.
Then, the flying saucer sucked up Leo and his two subordinates.
There was a group of black-trench-coat-clad men in the flying saucer, all continuously tapping on precision instruments.
“Sir, there is a cell phone among the evidence. Someone used it to make a call three hours ago. According to our investigation, this should be the person called.” A black-clad man typed on a keyboard, then pointed to a large screen.
Director Zhang’s appearance showed up on the large screen.
“Oh? Director Zhang?” Leo narrowed his eyes slightly.
Director Zhang’s history appeared at the side.
“There is only an old Chinese satellite overhead. It is incapable of recording images. It looks like this was all recorded at this Director Zhang’s place. Go find him!” Leo instructed.
“Yes!”
“These rats finally showed themselves again? Hah!” Leo revealed a cold smile.
Whoosh!
The flying saucer shot into the distance, disappearing over the horizon in the blink of an eye.
Ever since Director Zhang sent up the information, he had been staring at the satellite feed. He kept the satellite locked on to Gu Hai’s manor, even sending the military over to investigate. However, a white cloud quickly covered everything.
“We can’t see anything anymore?” a subordinate said.
“The arrival of this cloud is too strange.” Everyone nodded.
Director Zhang’s expression changed. “Keep watch here. I’m going out for a while.”
In a large hall, half an hour later, Director Zhang looked at an old man in front of him.
“Little Zhang, is what you say true?” the old man asked with a frown.
“Yes. Unexpectedly, it happened so quickly. Chief, who are they? Will they target me?” Director Zhang replied, feeling confused.
“When immortals and deities fight, we ordinary people will suffer calamities. Perhaps that Gu Hai gained an immortal destiny,” that old man sighed.
“Ah? Immortal destiny? I don’t understand,” Director Zhang said in confusion.
“Do you think those ancient myths are all fake?” the old man asked seriously.
“Myths?”
“Indeed. Those mythological people are still alive. Alright, don’t worry too much. When it happens, they will just seal off a portion of your memory. Swallow this Mind Protecting Pill. Your memory will recover after three days. Remember, keep this a secret,” the old man said.
Director Zhang swallowed the pill that the old man handed over.
“Chief, they are that powerful?” Director Zhang said in shock.
“How ever powerful those deities and immortals are in your memory is how ever powerful they are. To put it bluntly, they monitor the entire world at every moment.”
“That can’t be, right?” Director Zhang seemed like he had heard some heavenly secret.
“Just pretend you don’t know about this. Deal with it how you should. If you remain safe and sound after this matter is over, I will bring you into an organization. As for Gu Hai? He has obtained an immortal destiny and is familiar with you. In the future, you will be responsible for connecting with him,” the old man said.
“Yes!” Director Zhang answered.
“Go back quickly. I will wipe out all records of you coming out. Go back immediately. They might be arriving soon,” the old man said seriously.
“Yes!”
One hour later:
Everyone previously in the hall where Director Zhang had been was still there. At this moment, some uninvited guests arrived in the hall: a group of black-trench-coat-clad people.
Some of these people pointed guns at Director Zhang and the others as their companions quickly operated the machines in the hall. Soon, they brought up the image of Gu Hai and Zang Yulian.
“Sir, the image is not clear. Only two people can be seen. This should be it. We have deleted them. At the same time, we have retrieved all the messages sent out,” a black-clad man said respectfully.
Leo looked at Director Zhang and said, “Director Zhang, it looks like you were telling the truth.”
“Who are you? You tricked me by faking the chief’s order?” Director Zhang glared.
“Look at my pen.” Leo smiled.
Bang!
A bright flash came from the pen like a flashbang. This instantly stunned everyone.
“Alright, let’s go!” Leo said.
The black-clad men followed Leo out, leaving Director Zhang and the others stunned.
“Sir, all electronics here are fully controlled by us. There will not be any records of our visit here,” a subordinate said respectfully.
Leo narrowed his eyes slightly and said, “Investigate this Gu Hai. Who exactly is he?”
“Yes!”
“Also, immediately return to Somalia and intercept Gu Hai,” Leo said coldly.
“Yes!”
Whoosh!
The group stepped onto the flying saucer, which then shot into the distance.
One hour later, in a large hall of the Mogadishu International Airport, Somalia’s capital:
Leo looked at the image on a large screen.
“Gu Hai and that woman already went through immigration and boarded the plane?” Leo narrowed his eyes at the image.
“Yes. The plane took off one hour ago,” a subordinate said respectfully.
“Mobilize all the satellites in this airspace and lock on to that plane. Let’s go!” Leo said.
“Yes!”
One hour later, above the Indian Ocean, a plane flew above the clouds. However, a flying saucer hovered over the plane. The flying saucer sent down a beam of blue light that encased the plane. A group of black-clad men flew down, strangely opened the plane’s fuselage door, and entered the plane.
Startled cries immediately came from the plane. However, nothing in the plane flew out from the pressure differential, probably due to the blue light encasing it.
Leo led a group of black-clad men in checking the cabin.
“Not here? Didn’t Gu Hai board the plane?” Leo glared.
“I…I don’t know!” The air stewardesses and pilots goggled.
One of the black-clad men rushed forward. “Sir, I’ve checked the black box and the video recordings. Gu Hai did not board the plane.”
Leo’s expression changed. “Oh no! Gu Hai is still at Mogadishu International Airport! Let’s go back!”
The black-clad men immediately left.
“Look at the pen in my hand!” Leo called out.
Bang!
Everyone forgot what just happened. The black-clad men had also altered all the digital records.
Whoosh!
The flying saucer turned around and flew back to Mogadishu.
The plane continued on its way.
After the flying saucer left, two figures appeared outside, under the plane’s tail.
“What was that earlier?” Zang Yulian asked in surprise.
“Their investigation is really fast. To think that they are already tracking me down? Humph!” Gu Hai snorted coldly as he watched the distant flying saucer.
“Should we chase after them to see?” Zang Yulian asked with a frown.
“There’s no need. We have to return immediately to China. I have to meet someone. Earth? There’s no need to remain here for too long, after all. Time flows differently here compared to the Divine Continent. I need to return quickly to the Divine Continent.” Gu Hai shook his head.
