Chapter 323: Chapter 222: Heartache
Paige Summers walked on, and before she knew it, she had crossed another mountain ridge.
Just then, she finally found a clue.
There was a patch of shrubs that looked like they had been pushed down and then propped back up. A closer look revealed where they had been broken. And from them, she caught the faint scent of blood.
Paige Summers’s heart tightened.
’Is it Marcus Monroe? Or Sheldon Reid and his men?’
’Either way, I have to go check it out!’
Following the faint, lingering scent of blood, she found a depression below the mountain peak to her left. She lay flat on the summit and peered down. The area was covered in layers of plants, including several species of highly aggressive mutated vegetation.
It didn’t look like anyone was there, but her nose wouldn’t lie to her.
’The source of the scent must be down there!’
Using her Flying Claw, she quickly descended to one side of the depression. Before she could even get a firm footing, the mutated plants suddenly erupted. Several limp branches shot out like straightened whips, whistling as they lashed toward her!
Paige Summers held onto the Flying Claw’s rope with one hand and swung her blade horizontally with the other.
The branches were surprisingly nimble, dodging several times before finally succumbing to her speed and being cut in half.
Just as she was about to enter, she noticed the severed ends of the branches were regenerating at a visible rate. They were about to grow back completely and launch another wave of attacks!
She immediately understood. There was more to this place—or rather, this depression—than met the eye. A Wood Element Superpower User was hidden inside, controlling these plants!
She immediately switched to her Crossbow and fired several bolts inside, hoping to clear a path.
The bolts flew in, but the area within fell unnaturally silent. The mutated plants stopped regenerating.
An idea struck Paige Summers.
Just then, a voice called out from within, "Is that Miss Summers, Paige Summers?"
She understood at once.
"I am."
A moment later, the plants before her parted like a tide rolling back, revealing a hidden cave entrance. A man in his twenties emerged to greet her.
Her sharp eyes caught a flash of orange on the upturned corner of his clothes. Before he could speak, Paige Summers said, "You’re from Jovitas! Where’s Marcus Monroe?"
The man nodded. "I am. Follow me."
’Marcus... he really is injured after all...’
Just as Paige Summers had feared, he had indeed caught up with Sheldon Reid. But surprisingly, Levi Young and Erin Quinn weren’t there. According to Sheldon Reid, they had already escaped.
Marcus hadn’t believed him, suspecting he had hidden the two somewhere. Besides, his other primary goal, apart from the rescue, was Sheldon Reid himself. He felt that if he didn’t seize this opportunity to finish Reid off while he was vulnerable, he wouldn’t be able to face Paige Summers.
So, the two sides ended up fighting.
"Both sides took losses, but we had the upper hand," the man explained as he led Paige Summers inside. "But then, Boss Monroe was suddenly hit. He started swaying, couldn’t even stand steady, and his eyes went blank. We saw how serious it was and had to retreat. He must have been hit by a Spiritual Ability. His expression was one of extreme pain, but he couldn’t break free. We suspect Sheldon Reid was behind it; he was being heavily guarded by his men the entire fight. We didn’t have any good options, so we were planning to head back to the base. But then, Boss Monroe regained clarity for a few minutes. He told us to find a secluded spot and give him some time, saying he could fight through it himself. We were also worried the bumpy ride in the vehicle would worsen his condition, so we found this place to take shelter for now."
"How is he now?"
The man shook his head. "He’s just inside. It’s been several days. He’s been holding a meditative posture the whole time. He’ll occasionally regain consciousness to drink some water, but otherwise, his eyes are closed and he doesn’t speak. We’re not sure about his exact condition."
Paige Summers hurried to the deepest part of the cave. Several members of the Orange Team were sitting on either side, not far away. Including the man who led her, there were eleven of them in total.
Seeing her, they rose nimbly and gave a slight nod in greeting.
And Marcus Monroe was in the farthest corner, just as the man had said, sitting there like a wooden statue. He didn’t react at all, even to her arrival.
Paige Summers approached on tiptoe, afraid of disturbing him.
Attacks from a Spiritual Ability came in many forms, but in Marcus’s case, it was highly likely his brain had been directly attacked, which would explain his abnormal state.
As a fellow Eighth Rank Superpower User, Paige Summers knew well that as one’s superpower Promotes, their own spiritual power grows stronger too. Moreover, Marcus had an incredibly steadfast character. For even he to find an attack so difficult to resist, one could only imagine how lethal it was!
Wendy Lowell’s worries were clearly well-founded.
She blamed herself for not finding him sooner, for not warning him. Or rather, she wished she could have been the one to face Sheldon Reid herself!
She didn’t dare touch him rashly; all she could do was watch.
He had lost weight; his cheeks were sunken. His brows were slightly furrowed, his complexion was poor, and even his breathing was noticeably weaker than usual. Remembering that he had only drunk a little water for days, Paige Summers felt a crushing tightness in her chest, and her eyes began to well up against her will.
She rarely cried.
She had always believed that crying was a sign of weakness.
It didn’t solve problems; it only wore down one’s confidence and extinguished their will to fight.
But in this moment, she finally understood.
People don’t cry simply because they haven’t been hurt enough to.
When your heart aches for someone so much that you wish you could take on their suffering yourself; when it hurts so much because no amount of regret can undo the ordeal they’ve been through; when even now, all you can do is watch helplessly as they desperately struggle on the brink of life and death...
...the tears will fall uncontrollably. You can’t stop them, just as you can’t stop time, can’t go back to the moment before he was hurt.
Paige Summers crouched in front of him and buried her head in her knees. A moment later, she looked up again, her eyes washed clean by tears that could not wash away the heartache, and gazed at him.
Behind her, the members of the Orange Team watched in silence.
She was of average height and had a slender build. Curled up like that, she looked like a tiny, fragile bundle.
She made no sound, but they could clearly feel the sorrow and grief circulating in the air, along with many other emotions they couldn’t quite define, but which left them feeling deeply uneasy.
They had never met Paige Summers before, but they had heard many rumors.
The rumors were wild and varied, covering all sorts of claims.
In a place like Jovitas, that wasn’t surprising.
Among them, the idea that Paige Summers had latched onto him using her looks and cunning was especially common. Although they didn’t think Marcus Monroe—the man their boss had chosen as his successor—would have such poor judgment, the rumors had still left a mark on them.
Even if Paige Summers had her own accomplishments, the people of Jovitas were intensely proud, especially Superpower Users like them who had been raised there since childhood. They saw Jovitas as their home. No matter how great an outsider was, they could never be better than their own successor—that was a certainty!
They had been surprised enough when Paige Summers found them. But now, they truly and deeply realized that this woman’s feelings were genuine!
The eleven of them exchanged a look, and in perfect unison, they came to an unspoken agreement.
They could accept her.
