Chapter 238: Chapter 238 - Buried Information
A while later, Theo and Owen found themselves back on the private jet.
Theo quietly watched the clouds below, his head resting against the window.
Beside him, Owen stretched his arms before letting out a yawn.
’’Still can’t believe we actually agreed to that,’’ he said loudly.
A loud scoff rang out from the other side of the aisle.
’’Neither can I,’’ Adrian said, shaking his head disapprovingly.
Owen’s head snapped toward him.
’’Come on,’’ he said. ’’It can’t be that bad, right?’’
Adrian let out another quiet scoff before leaning back in his seat.
’’That sentence alone tells me you have no idea what you signed up for.’’
’’Meh,’’ Owen shrugged. ’’Old man Harold was pretty detailed with his description. I think we’ll be more than fine, right Theo?’’
Shaking his head lightly, Theo snapped out of his thoughts and turned toward him.
’’What did you say?’’ he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Owen stared at him for a moment before letting out an exaggerated sigh.
’’Never mind,’’ he said, turning away. ’’You can go back to zoning out.’’
Theo smiled awkwardly before leaning back in his seat once more.
He turned back to the window, his thoughts returning to the team.
’Best case, we’ll go with all five of us,’ he thought. ’But I’m not sure if Iris and Jim would be allowed to go.’
Both came from incredibly wealthy and strict families.
Most of the time, a decision like this wouldn’t even be up to them.
’Lyra shouldn’t be a problem,’ he thought, smiling faintly.
From what he’d seen, she’d follow Owen to hell and back if it meant getting another chance to complain about him.
’Finally... we’ll need to recruit a local guide once we get there,’ he thought, nodding slowly.
For a moment, Theo fell silent.
His gaze landed on the puffy white clouds drifting past below.
’Sandstorms, huh,’ he thought, tilting his head slightly. ’It’ll certainly be something interesting.’
Time slowly ticked by aboard the private jet.
Owen continued messing around and bothering Adrian.
After several hours had passed, they finally touched back down at a familiar airport.
As the doors lowered, Adrian walked out first, a bright smile on his face.
A moment later, Owen stumbled down the stairs, one of his eyes black and swollen shut.
’’Bastard,’’ he cursed under his breath.
Theo followed after him, chuckling lightly.
The moment his feet touched the ground, he couldn’t help but glance up at the moon high in the sky.
’So much time has passed already,’ he thought, letting out a sigh. ’Let’s hope the others will agree tomorrow morning.’
Theo felt a faint sense of urgency.
He’d rather be in Jordan as soon as possible since the sandstorms could be so unpredictable.
And the longer they had to wait, the greater the chance became that someone else would claim the lotus flower or that the person in question would pass away.
Theo slowly shook his head.
’No point in worrying about that right now,’ he thought. ’I just need to prepare.’
It didn’t take long before all three were back on the road inside Adrian’s SUV.
For a while, the car remained completely silent.
Only as they began to slow down in front of Theo’s mansion did Adrian turn toward the back seats.
’’Well,’’ he said with a faint smile. ’’I wish the two of you the best of luck.’’
Theo smiled faintly before giving a respectful nod.
’’Thank you, Instructor.’’
Owen gave Adrian a lazy salute.
’’Don’t worry,’’ he said with a grin. ’’We’ll come back in one piece.’’
Adrian simply shook his head before bringing the SUV to a stop.
’’See that you do.’’
The two stepped out onto the quiet street.
After exchanging a final wave with Adrian, they watched the SUV disappear into the night.
’’See you tomorrow morning,’’ Owen said, still rubbing his swollen eye before heading toward his own house.
Theo nodded once before turning around as well.
Once inside his mansion, he immediately made his way straight up to his room.
Without even changing clothes, he flicked on his computer and pulled back his chair.
’’Let’s see what I can find...’’ he muttered.
One search quickly became ten, then slowly turned into a hundred.
Many reports showed up each time.
Some were old research papers, expedition reports, or mysterious stories. Most, however, were nothing more than shallow media articles that wasted his time.
’Oho?’ he thought, clicking on a simple article. ’What’s this?’
Unlike the countless media reports before it, this one had been written by a retired hunter who claimed to have survived Petra over twenty years ago.
Theo immediately began reading.
Most of it described things he already knew, such as the sandstorms and the creatures.
But one paragraph instantly stood out to him.
’’No matter what happens, do not destroy anything inside the ruins.’’
Theo couldn’t help but tilt his head slightly.
’What kind of warning is that?’ he thought.
As he continued reading, his expression only grew stranger.
According to the hunter, every local he’d spoken to had explicitly shared that one rule.
’I’ll keep that in mind,’ he thought, nodding once. ’There has to be reason for that rule after all.’
Glancing at the time, he noticed it had long since reached four in the morning.
He let out a quiet sigh before shutting his computer off.
’Really need to get some sleep,’ he thought, yawning. ’Only five hours left until I need to meet up with the others.’
Theo stood up from his chair and glanced back at the monitor one last time.
Despite spending the entire night searching, he’d learned surprisingly little.
Almost everything about Petra was either heavily censored, buried beneath decades-old expedition reports, or contradicted by another source entirely.
’It’s almost like it’s been buried beneath useless crap on purpose.’
That meant they could only learn more through the locals there.
With that final thought, Theo turned off the lights and headed toward his bed.
The moment his head touched his pillow, sheer exhaustion pulled him under.
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