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Since the top-grade Mana Stone had been taken out, people could now enter and exit as usual.

A single armored bus was waiting at the entrance of the mine.

It was a bus that regularly traveled between Neo Seoul and the Mana Stone Mine.

In the luggage compartment under the bus, Mana Stones were loaded, and Awakeneds were seated on the roof to protect the armored bus.

Unusually, there were a lot of passengers on the bus.

Because bus services had been completely halted for the past few days, waiting passengers had all rushed to board at once.

As a result, Zeon and his group barely managed to find seats.

Levin looked out the window and said,

“Isn’t Jang Yong-beom’s party going with us?”

“They said they arranged a separate vehicle. Apparently, Mountain’s size is too big to fit in a bus like this.”

“Ah!”

Levin nodded as if he understood.

Mountain, as his name suggested, had a massive build.

No matter how much he tried to squeeze in, he couldn’t even pass through the bus door.

It was better to arrange a separate vehicle for him.

The armored bus, filled with passengers, let out a powerful exhaust sound and started moving.

“We’re off.”

Brielle looked out the window with an excited expression.

Because of her memories of being captured by humans, she didn’t like Neo Seoul. But after spending time with Zeon, Levin, and the others, the place that had once felt like hell now felt like the most comfortable home.

She wanted to return home quickly, lie down on her bed, and sleep deeply.

Levin and Eloy felt the same way.

The thought that Neo Seoul wasn’t far made them feel as if they had found some extra energy.

They looked out the window with excited expressions.

The other passengers had similar looks on their faces.

Miners who had been working at the Mana Stone Mine, dispatched Awakeneds, and merchants alike were all smiling with anticipation at the thought of returning to Neo Seoul.

Zeon leaned back deeply in his seat and closed his eyes.

‘Feels good!’

Returning home is always a pleasant thing.

No matter how dirty and wretched that place might be.

The problem was that Shinchon, where his house was, was half-occupied by Dongdaemun.

‘Johan! As expected, he didn’t miss the opportunity.’

By now, Johan must have heard the news of his return. It was obvious how he would react.

As he pondered what to do, he fell asleep.

He was sleeping well when suddenly he felt a jolt.

When he opened his eyes, the bus was shaking as it passed over a large bump.

“What is it?”

“Why is it shaking like this?”

The others also looked outside in surprise. What they saw was a mess of churned-up sand.

“Stop the bus. It looks like there was a fight here.”

An Awakened sitting on the roof of the bus shouted to the driver.

The driver hurriedly hit the brakes and stopped the bus.

The escorting Awakeneds, along with Zeon’s group, got off the bus.

The remaining passengers stayed on the bus, looking out the windows with curious eyes.

Eloy, who was examining the surroundings, frowned.

“It looks like there was a pretty intense fight here. Look at the footprints.”

As she said, there were countless footprints all around. The chaotic prints proved that there had been a fierce battle in this place.

“Who in the world would fight in the middle of this desert?”

Levin muttered with a puzzled expression.

Neo Seoul was still quite a distance away.

Even if a fierce battle had occurred here, there was no way for Neo Seoul to know.

Eloy spoke with a serious expression.

“Could it be that the Scavengers fought among themselves? There’s nothing left, so we can’t tell.”

“They’ve buried it deep in the sand.”

“Huh?”

“Just a moment.”

Zeon raised his dominion. Then, the objects buried deep in the sand began to slowly rise to the surface.

Thud!

What emerged from the ground was the wreckage of a destroyed armored vehicle and buggy car.

Eloy’s pupils shook.

“This is…?”

“It’s the armored vehicle that left carrying the top-grade Mana Stone. It seems they were ambushed and wiped out here.”

“Are you saying NSSC Team 2 was annihilated?”

“It looks that way.”

Zeon, with a serious expression, looked at the buggy car.

Inside the buggy car was the corpse of NSSC Team 2’s leader, Ji Sang-woo. Half of his neck was severed, leaving his head dangling.

“It seems they were taken down in an instant without even having time to respond.”

“Are you saying the leader of NSSC Team 2 was killed without even having time to react? Who in the world killed them?”

“We’ll have to check from now on. There should definitely be traces left on the bodies.”

An Awakened’s skills always leave traces.

If they could identify the skills, it wouldn’t be hard to deduce who the culprit was.

Eloy gritted her teeth and said,

“If we find out, I won’t let them go. How dare they attack a unit directly under City Hall? We’ll use all of City Hall’s power to exact vengeance.”

At that moment, a chilling voice came from behind them.

“Well! You won’t have that chance.”

“What?”

When they turned around, the Awakeneds who had been sitting on the bus roof had already approached them.

They were smiling, baring their white teeth.

The moment they saw the sinister smiles of the Awakeneds, a foreboding feeling flashed through their minds.

“Could it be you guys?”

“Heh heh!”

It was then.

Boom!

Suddenly, the armored bus they had ridden on exploded.

The powerful explosion instantly vaporized the bus, and the passengers inside disappeared without a trace, not even a chance to scream.

“Ugh!”

“Ah!”

Eloy and Brielle were swept away by the explosion and flung backward, while Levin collapsed to the ground with his eardrums burst.

Only Zeon stood firm, unaffected by the explosion, staring at the Awakeneds.

“Did you hide a bomb in the bus?”

“It’s a bomb developed for large monsters. That kind of bus wouldn’t leave a trace.”

“If you were targeting me, you picked the wrong timing. You should have blown it up when I was on the bus.”

“We know well that you wouldn’t have died even if we did, Sandman!”

“So you knew my identity and targeted me? Who sent you? Lee Ji-ryeong? Johan?”

“Heh heh! Do you think we’d tell you?”

“If you won’t speak, I’ll make you open your mouth myself.”

“You won’t have that chance.”

“What?”

At that moment, the necklaces around the Awakeneds’ necks emitted a bright light.

Feeling a sense of impending danger, Zeon quickly erected a sand barrier.

Boom! Bang!

In an instant, the Awakeneds’ bodies exploded.

The necklaces had been self-destruct items.

The intense heat and shockwave swept through the area.

The sand barrier that Zeon had erected was blown away without a trace due to the sheer power. Because of that, even Zeon was quite shocked.

If it hadn’t been for the robe made from Leviathan’s skin, he would have been seriously injured.

“Ugh!”

Zeon, brushing back his disheveled hair, looked at the place where the explosion had occurred.

Everything was gone.

The Awakeneds, as well as the armored vehicle and buggy car that Zeon had pulled up, were all gone.

The only thing left was the thickest steel plate from the armored vehicle. Everything else had vanished.

“Did they self-destruct to erase all traces?”

With this, all clues to identify the attackers of the NSSC were gone.

Of all times, this had to happen when Zeon and his group were passing by.

“Was it a coincidence? No, this was a meticulously planned ambush. It can’t possibly be a coincidence.”

The problem was the attackers’ objective.

It was strange to think they targeted only the top-grade Mana Stone. It didn’t quite add up.

It’s true that the top-grade Mana Stone was a highly valuable item worth risking one’s life for. But considering the dangers after stealing it, it would be a reckless attempt.

Neo Seoul would undoubtedly mobilize all its resources to retrieve it.

A single mistake could lead to the destruction of the entire organization. Yet, they carried out this operation without any hesitation.

This implied they were confident either that their identity wouldn’t be discovered or that they could evade Neo Seoul’s pursuit.

“Ugh! My ears…”

“Is everyone okay?”

“It hurts!”

At that moment, Levin, Eloy, and Brielle got to their feet.

Brielle quickly poured a potion into Levin’s ears, which had burst eardrums, making it hard for him to maintain his balance.

Eloy, shaking her head, looked at the place where the Awakeneds had self-destructed.

“What are these people? They self-destructed to erase the evidence? Can people so easily throw away their lives?”

“Normally, they can’t.”

“Then what were these guys? They definitely smiled right before they died, didn’t they?”

“Yes, they smiled. As if they were people being embraced by a god.”

“A god? Could they be fanatics?”

“Yes! That’s what those who follow Johan are like.”

“Damn it! Did Johan really pull off something like this?”

“He’s the one who would have the most trouble if I returned to Shinchon.”

Johan had already taken control of half of Shinchon.

If Zeon returned to Shinchon, there would be a war. So it was possible that Johan was trying to eliminate him in advance.

“The problem is that he also knows very well that this isn’t enough to kill me…”

Zeon furrowed his brow as he looked ahead.

All that was left were the traces of the explosion, with everything else completely gone.

Even the remaining traces would soon be buried and erased by the blowing sand.

The only ones who knew that something significant had happened here were Zeon and his group.

At that moment, a loud engine noise echoed from a distance.

“What’s that?”

“A vehicle?”

From afar, buggies were speeding toward them at a terrifying pace.

In no time, the buggies surrounded Zeon and his group.

Dozens of Awakeneds got out of the buggies.

Eloy recognized them immediately.

“NSSC?”

They were Awakeneds from NSSC Team 1 and Team 3, excluding Team 2, which had been wiped out here.

Eloy approached them and said,

“Hey! I’m Mandy, a supervisor from City Hall. You know me, right?”

Of course, they didn’t know that Eloy had a split personality, so she used the name Mandy.

“You damn bitch, how dare you kill my subordinates?”

At that moment, an unexpected attack flew toward Eloy.

The leader of the NSSC, a man wielding a massive sword, had swung it at her.

Eloy hurriedly drew her weapon, the Mad Gumiho, to block the leader’s attack.

Boom!

“Ugh!”

With a thunderous sound, Eloy was pushed back, sliding across the ground.

Blood trickled from the corner of her mouth.

The surprise attack had caused her significant harm.

Wiping the blood with her sleeve, Eloy cursed.

“Damn it! What the hell are you doing?”

“You really don’t know? You fucking bitch! You ambushed and killed my subordinates!”

NSSC leader Kevin pointed his massive sword at Eloy as he spoke.

An immense killing intent radiated from Kevin’s entire body.

An hour earlier, he had received a distress signal from Team 2.

“We’ve been ambushed. Requesting backup. The attackers are… Aagh!”

The transmission was cut off with Ji Sang-woo’s scream.

Immediately afterward, Kevin had rushed to this location with the entire NSSC.

Eloy desperately tried to explain.

“We didn’t kill anyone.”

“Then what do you call this?”

Kevin pointed to the torn remains of the armored vehicle.

It was the wreckage of the armored vehicle that NSSC Team 2 had been riding in.

Eloy’s face hardened.

She realized that no matter what she said, it wouldn’t get through to him.

Everything pointed to them as the culprits.

There was no way her explanation would convince someone who was already convinced they were the enemy.

Zeon spoke to Eloy.

“It seems this is their true trap.”

“Their true trap?”

“If we kill them, we’ll have to go to war with Neo Seoul. We can’t afford that.”

“Johan! That bastard…”

Eloy ground her teeth in frustration.

Just as she was about to lash out in fury, Zeon placed a hand on her shoulder, restraining her from swinging the Mad Gumiho.

Instead, Zeon spoke on her behalf.

“We surrender.”

“After killing our men, you want to surrender?”

“Yes, we surrender.”

“You think this is a joke, you bastard?”

“Surely, you won’t attack someone who’s surrendering, right?”

Zeon raised both arms high in the air.

———