Everyone left the tower once the sweep through the residential area was mostly complete.
Ye Muo trailed behind Elias with Theodore in his arms. Brian brought up the rear.
Elias made a beeline for a man standing nearby. “How are things going, Arval?”
Arval inclined his head this way. A small scratch on his cheek gave him a travelworn look. He seemed weary and distant. “The cleanup’s almost done.”
Brian scoffed, “Why are you back so soon?”
This was far ahead of the expected timeline.
Arval remained silent. His eyes swept over the child beside Elias before landing on Theodore. Such a clean, beautiful cat did not belong here.
Brian noticed his gaze. “This is Ye Muo. He’s an offworlder dumped here just like you, but a lot more well-adjusted. He certainly has potential.”
Elias sighed, “Brian, could you escort Ye Muo to Belinda’s place?”
Brian frowned but eventually relented. “Fine. Come on, Ye Muo.”
Ye Muo made a sound of acknowledgement and obediently followed after him.
When they were a fair distance out.
Elias finally asked, “How are things over there?”
Arval looked up. “It was a trap. The galactic pirates were successfully lured to the designated location. We managed to acquire 16 starships, but came under fire as soon as the transfer process started. Ambrose was supposed to leave the battlefield to the other Grantz and not use any psychic power if possible. He was supposed to retreat with us and the starships, but the ships had been tampered with.”
Arval paused and simply stated, “The other Grantz are very worked up. Ambrose has always led them, but now…”
Elias raised his head. “How is Ambrose holding up?”
The Grantz’s superior physique meant that any injury would heal with a couple days of rest even with no medical interventions.
Arval remained expressionless. He seemed more numb than indifferent. “Not well. We were planning to try and get our hands on an advanced treatment pod. That might be of some help.”
“Where are the Grantz headed to next?”
“Here. It’s relatively close to all the other districts. Ethan will be bringing Ambrose back shortly. The other Grantz will come later.”
Elias’ brows were tightly knitted. “Then I’ll go make the necessary preparations. With the amount of people you’ve brought back, cleanup should be a breeze.”
Arval made a sound of acknowledgement as he turned away. A few seconds later, when Elias prepared to leave, he called out, “That child–“
Elias looked at him with a little surprise. Arval rarely cared about anything unrelated to him.
Arval met his gaze head on. “It’s best to have that offworlder child examined, then placed somewhere safe. The Grantz and the people around them are stirred up.”
Tensions were too high right now for them to accept an offworlder popping up. Even people like Arval, who had basically integrated with the locals, were being suspected by the most fervent of Grantz followers once more.
If that wasn’t the case, he would still be by their side right now.
Elias understood immediately. “Okay, but the Grantz will probably want to confirm for themselves upon their return. That’s unavoidable. After that, though, I’ll arrange for him to stay somewhere out of sight from them. Belinda and Brian should be willing to take care of him.”
Arval nodded and turned to leave.
The Grantz were proficient at using psychic power to secure every inch of their territory. Arval was in the same situation when he first arrived.
The Grantz patrolled their territory like wild beasts, marking every corner and sporadically scanning with psychic power
Arval was fortunate enough to be in the safest district at the time, but another scan would happen whenever a Grantz dropped by. Every time, their first instinct upon noticing him was to psychically investigate every inch of him.
What would be extremely offensive anywhere else was commonplace here. Arval had come to feel the same way. If he ran into an offworlder or another suspicious person, his first reaction would be to bring them before the Grantz for them to check.
……
Brian led Ye Muo deeper into the settlement. Ye Muo surveyed his surroundings as he walked. The buildings were almost all intact. There weren’t many wreckages along the way, but insect carcasses were a dime a dozen.
Brian stopped before a wooden house. “What are you looking at?”
Ye Muo quickened his pace to join him. “Just the houses around here. The insects barely touched them.”
Brian opened the door. “The insects don’t like to gnaw on this kind of wood cut from the forest over there. Since the forest’s still around with the Rift so close by, it’s clearly adapted to repel insects in some way. Come here, you can share a house with me. I’ll go find you some clothes. You’re drowning in the set you’re wearing right now.”
Ye Muo had been wearing clothes from him and Elias these past couple of days.
Brian set up the spare bed in the room before leaving. “This one’s yours. Wait here for me.”
He looked back once he was at the door. “Keep the cat off the bed.”
Ye Muo immediately brought Theodore into his arms again.
Once Brian was long gone. he set Theodore down on the desk by the bed. “I’ll lay out my clothes here to make a bed for you from now on.”
Theodore replied without blinking an eye. “It’s fine. I have plenty of fur.”
“But–“
Ye Muo’s head snapped towards the door. He could hear a series of neat footsteps.
Instinct drove him to take shelter behind the door.
The footsteps became clearer and clearer as they drew near. They also slowed down from a sprint to a brisk walk.
Nonetheless, they soon arrived at their destination. Ye Muo subconsciously held his breath.
The footsteps came to a stop in front of the door.
The door was pushed completely open seconds later.
Ye Muo instinctively stepped back. The person who pushed the door open looked at him before glancing back at his squad and shaking his head. The motion caused hair to fall onto his shoulder.
Ye Muo followed his gaze. Sharply dressed men and women wearing cloaks standing in place looked back at him.
Ye Muo’s attention was drawn to the man leading the squad.
The man happened to be glancing this way as well. His eyes locked onto Ye Muo. There was a person slung over his shoulder, their arms dangling limp. Ye Muo could see blood dripping from his fingertips to dye the man’s clothes and the ground below.
He was a sight for sore eyes, his clothes mottled with blood and his cloak ripped to shreds. Despite this, his gaze was forebodingly razor sharp, just like an unsheathed blade.
Ye Muo neither averted his eyes nor backed away.
The stare off lasted a few seconds.
Then, the intense psychic power of a Grantz erupted from the man to encompass the entire base.
With that, the man withdrew his gaze and continued on with his squad.
The person who opened the door also followed suit.
Ye Muo couldn’t help but keep an eye on them until they entered a building up ahead. He was still reeling a bit when they were out of sight.
Brian hurried over several minutes later, carrying a basket. He asked before even catching his footing, “What happened just now?”
He looked Ye Muo up and down. “You okay?”
Ye Muo hesitated, “A group of people passed by. Nothing happened after they left.”
Brian breathed a sigh of relief. “Good. Those were the Grantz. If they didn’t say anything, you can stay here where it’s safe from now on.”
He said, stuffing the basket into Ye Muo’s arms while staring straight ahead. “There are some clothes, food and water here. Eat something first.”
Brian ducked out before even finishing his sentence.
Ye Muo watched him enter the same building in the distance before examining the basket’s contents. He set the clothes aside before laying out the food on the desk. Unlike the food atop the tower, there were quite a few unlabelled cans. It was impossible to tell what was inside. They almost seemed to be half-finished products from some factory.
Ye Muo sat down and set the cans out in front of them just like at mealtimes back home. “These look like they’ll taste better than cookies.”
He opened the first can. His eye lit up before the lid so much as moved. “I smelled something sweet! This is a fruit salad jar.”
Ye Muo used the included spoon to take a taste. “Mmm. Now you try, Theodore.”
He set some fruits out on the can lid and slid it over to Theodore.
Theodore sat in front of the lid and meowed. They had agreed before that Theodore would not speak or use psychic power to communicate after the Grantz came back.
Ye Muo smiled after a moment’s pause. “Let’s eat. Just like we did at home.”
“I wonder what the next one will taste like.”
Ye Muo picked up the can, but his thoughts were occupied by the person just now, that Grantz.
Ye Muo slurped up a piece of soft fruit. A sweetness spread across his tongue.
Who was that on the man’s shoulder? Another Grantz?
He had been restraining his psychic power since the initial squad’s arrival out of an abundance of caution. Unfortunately, it also meant he was far less aware of his surroundings.
……
Brian unabashedly headed inside the centermost building, the one they had agreed to set aside for the Grantz from the start.
When he entered the main hall, the troops brought back by the Grantz were spread out across the room in small groups. They leaned against the wall or sat on the floor.
Brian headed straight to a strong-looking young man standing alone. “Who came back this time? It’s so sudden. We didn’t even finish cleaning up here.”
The person leaning against the support had shoulder-length hair and handsome features that somewhat resembled Elias. He glanced up at Brian. Despite his thoughtless remark, most in the room knew who he was referring to. “Ambrose and Ethan.”
Brian subconsciously frowned as he picked up on the strange atmosphere in the room. People weren’t so tense when they came back before. “What happened?”
The young man straightened up before he could answer. Elias came in, causing the young man to relax a little. “Big Brother.”
Elias glanced at an inner corridor. “How are things going, Alanson?”
Alanson frowned and quietly admitted, “Not well.”
He followed Elias’ gaze and lowered his voice further, “Things are getting dangerous.”
