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Chapter 242 Threat
……

After another long flight and a chartered plane transfer, nearly twenty hours later, Chen Xuan arrived at the Mount Everest Base Camp again.

However, the atmosphere at the scene was clearly unusual this time.

The colorful tents on the open ground had all been cleared away, replaced by rows of dark green standard tents. The tourists who used to be everywhere were gone, and armed soldiers occupied every corner. As soon as the helicopter landed, a squad of soldiers surrounded it, making the pilot tremble with fear, and his gaze toward Chen Xuan became timid and hesitant.

"Don't worry, I'm not a bad person." Chen Xuan patted him on the shoulder kindly and stepped off the plane first.

This time, he didn't let Lin Qing come with him, but left her in Nepal.

So that in case of any unexpected event, he could immediately teleport himself and Elori away.

Lin Qing's accompaniment during the first half was to prevent triggering the store's special teleportation mechanism—it would be a bit awkward if the store thought he was slacking off and forcibly sent him back to the store halfway through.

The blond man leading the group extended his hand to him. "Hello, my name is Morgan, and I am a high-ranking angel from the Angel Alliance."

He was speaking in Chinese.

This saves us the trouble of using a translation machine.

Chen Xuan shook hands with him, saying, "Chen Xuan."

"I have long admired your name." He gestured for you to enter to the largest tent in the center of the open space. "Your friends are already waiting for you inside."

"Your Chinese is pretty good," Chen Xuan teased on the way.

“Didn’t Miss Elori tell you? Every newly appointed angel must undergo a complete education before they can take up their post, so even the lowest-ranking angel must be proficient in at least four languages. This is also for the needs of our global operations.”

It seems that this tradition has been completely forgotten a hundred years later.

"I see. So how did you advance?"

“Just like ordinary people getting promoted at work, those who make great contributions to the Angel Alliance have the opportunity to be promoted,” Morgan said calmly. “However, this involves internal affairs of the Alliance and the rules are quite complicated, so please forgive me for not disclosing them to you.”

Accompanied by him, Chen Xuan entered the tent and found that quite a few people were gathered inside. A standard long conference table was placed in the center of the tent, dividing the group into two distinct groups.

“Mr. Chen!” Elori waved excitedly as soon as she saw him.

The side where she was sitting was rather deserted, with only her and Liuli present.

The latter looked exactly as she had when they first met, her straw hat pulled low, the white veil almost touching the ground. However, when Chen Xuan entered, she slightly raised her head, even using the hilt of her sword to adjust the brim of her hat, revealing half of her red lips.

There were quite a lot of people on the other end.

Aside from Professor Yulen, whom they had met once before, they didn't recognize the other five people. The leader was a woman over thirty years old, wearing a dark blue Western-style uniform and gold-rimmed glasses. Even in the extremely cold Everest Base Camp, her attire was no different from that of a white-collar worker in a temperature-controlled office.

Morgan leaned down and whispered a few words in her ear before she spoke, “Mr. Chen, welcome to the Angel Alliance’s temporary headquarters. I am Leila Doolittle, the head of the European region.”

Despite the welcoming words, Chen Xuan felt no warmth whatsoever.

Even her gaze when looking at people was slightly downward, as if she were looking down from above.

"What kind of base? It's just occupying the Mount Everest climbing camp." Chen Xuan nodded, pretending not to feel her scrutinizing gaze, and politely replied, "Hello, hello, I'm here to pick up my guests. There's no need for dinner; I'll take them away now."

“There’s no need to be in such a hurry. We have a few things we’d like to ask you.” Lyra adjusted her glasses. “Mr. Chen, how did you meet Elori? And why did you get involved in this rescue operation?”

Chen Xuan had long anticipated that things would escalate to this point—if the previous reports about Elori hadn't been taken seriously because they sounded too absurd, now that the prophecy had come true, they would be no different from fools if they didn't take it seriously. "In that case, I'd like to ask first, what's the current situation with that building on the mountain?" he countered.

“According to aerial observations, the temple is severely damaged and almost impossible to repair.” Lyra didn’t try to hide anything. “Elori said she saw radiation markings on the bomb before she fled, and the actual situation should be similar—its power is slightly less than that of a tactical nuclear weapon, but fortunately the detonation point is far from the city.”

That means the house that was supposed to collapse still collapsed.

From a phenomenological perspective, history seems to be continuing on its original trajectory.

“If you had listened to Elori’s warning earlier, it wouldn’t have been completely destroyed.” Chen Xuan shrugged. “As for me… Elori and I are friends. She asked me for a favor, so of course I couldn’t refuse.”

“That’s right. Since you’re unwilling to believe me, I have no choice but to turn to capable people outside the circle for help,” Elori said indignantly.

"Friends? That sounds like a perfunctory answer. But it's alright, we'll find out your background." Lyra said dismissively. "The demons' actions are also suspicious. Why would Miss Elori notice such a rare act of banding together? As a newly promoted angel... she has shown some special talent for a long time. Does Mr. Chen know the reason?"

"I don't know. But didn't she say that these were all future events she foresaw?" Chen Xuan paused, then said with a hint of sarcasm, "So you still don't truly believe her?"

“I’m sorry, we’d rather find out the truth,” Leila said regretfully. “How about this… I can send you back to our European headquarters first. There are some excellent estates there for you two to stay in. Once we’ve investigated what happened on the snow mountain, we can talk about your matter again.”

“No, I have to leave today,” Chen Xuan said bluntly. “And it’s not just Elori, Liuli will leave with us too.”

"what are you saying?"

"N21 is an asset of the Angel Alliance. What right do you have to take her away?"

The other two angels immediately retorted.

“Mr. Chen, have you misunderstood something?” Leila Doolittle couldn’t help but shake her head. “N21 is essentially a marvel, not a living person. She belongs to the Angel Alliance, and you have no right to decide her fate.”

"I didn't say she was human, but there are special beings among the strange creatures. She has hands and feet. Have you considered what she herself thinks?" Chen Xuan looked at Liuli. "So, where do you want to go?"

“Anywhere is fine,” Liuli said with a smile, “as long as I don’t stay in the Angel Alliance any longer.”

Did everyone hear that?

"Can a single answer really be accurate?" someone scoffed. "That's just a fleeting thought of hers."

“Mr. Chen, you know nothing about artifacts, so it’s best not to offer your opinion.” Leila’s expression darkened slightly. “Many artifacts are unimaginably destructive, and letting them flow into society is an extremely irresponsible thing to do. N21, you should know that this Mr. Chen will never truly accept you, especially after he understands your nature. If you go out, you will only bring him endless trouble, or even death.”

Liuli remained silent, simply watching Chen Xuan quietly.

Chen Xuan instantly understood her thoughts and turned to Leila, saying, "I think you may have misunderstood me, thinking that I coveted the treasures of the Angel Alliance and used sweet words to deceive her."

"Isn't that how it is..." A whisper came from the other end of the line. If he hadn't had such excellent hearing, he wouldn't have caught the sarcastic remark.

Chen Xuan sneered and said to himself, "But the truth is, I am protecting you."

Upon hearing this, everyone on the other side was taken aback.

Then everyone gave them a "you're crazy" look.

“Do you know what you’re saying, Mr. Chen?” Leila frowned.

"Of course... Let's put it this way, if I don't take Liuli away, you only have one choice left: either kill her here, or she kills you all." Chen Xuan said emotionlessly, "Her thinking is actually simpler than you think. If she can solve the problem with her own hands, she won't waste a single word. So you should be glad I came, otherwise the camp would probably be littered with corpses by now."

(End of this chapter)