New Eden: Live to Play, Play to Live

Chapter 1042: Tired Group

Jonathan was the first one to crash, his mana deprivation catching up to him now that the constant threat abated a little. Through the wobbling and shaking of the truck's movements, he was lulled to sleep and fell over Jin-Sil's lap.

The child suddenly tilting over her legs made her jump a bit in surprise, but she didn't push him away. Instead, a warm smile appeared over her lips as she draped her arm over him and caressed his hair.

Rì-Chū felt slightly jealous that he wasn't the one lying in her lap but said nothing, given the circumstances. It wasn't like the kid had been making moves on her or anything like that.

Rì-Chū realized the thoughts he was having and shook them out of his head.

'Why am I thinking like this? He's just a kid... An exhausted kid. It's not like he chose which side to fall, either,' he mentally scolded himself.

Although a few of them entertained some basic conversation, the adrenaline of the chase had tapered out, and most were on the verge of collapsing, too. Alex's gaze washed over the group, and a warm smile appeared on his lips.

'This was only a small taste of what's to come. Yet, all of them stuck with it, and we prevailed. It may not be the strongest group in the world, but it's as tightly knit as they come,' he mused.

Then his eyes stopped on Liu Yan, and his emotions wavered a bit.

His mind went from pride to anger and then to sadness as he remembered the course of the last day.

Although Liu Yan had volunteered into something he knew nothing about, aside from its elevated danger level, was it ok to judge him on his cowardly reaction when shit started going sideways for him?

After all, what was being human if not being scared for your life in a threatening situation?

Alex mulled over his rebuttal of the young man, his eyes still stuck to his disheartened figure. He could tell that Liu Yan was disappointed with how things turned out and was beating himself over it.

Liu Yan felt the heavy gaze linger on him but didn't dare look up to meet Alexander's eyes, thinking they would be resentful. He didn't want to deal with that, not if he was to keep the possibility of joining them alive.

This continued until Alex's train of thought wandered away from the young man, and his eyes trailed off him.

Liu Yan sighed in relief as the weight of his cowardly actions loosened with Alexander's gaze shifting. He couldn't stop thinking about what had happened and felt guilty.

'What if I end up causing someone's death because the American can't resurrect them? What if I took away from them a possibility that they would need whatever they are going to do?' he beat himself up mentally.

As his thoughts lingered on that, the vehicle came to a stop with a screech of its brakes.

They had reached the airport's entrance, and it was time for them to get off.

Alexander jumped off last, as he was leaning against the cab during the trip, and he looked over his shoulder, making sure no one was left behind.

With them in the clear, he gave a thumb up to the driver in his side-view mirror, and the man grinned and bolted away.

Looking up at the massive airport sign over the entrance, Alex sighed.

"Last hurdle before we can rest a little..." he mumbled.

But as they filed into the building, David curved to the left, calling out to the others.

"Follow me."

Neither Alex nor Kary was in the mood to ask why he suddenly took charge, so everyone just went with it, following behind the necromancer.

They filed over to a desk to the left, where two people were looking down at screens, their gazes sharp.

"Hi. I'm here to board a plane sent by Jack Boudreau," David said, stopping at the desk and leaning over it.

Jin-Sil frowned at his behaviour.

"This is a security desk, David. They won't-" she started saying before the men looked up, and one extended his hand at David.

David grinned at the gesture and pulled a small card from his pocket.n/ô/vel/b//jn dot c//om

Alex recognized the business card with Jack's name and personal number on it, and his

eyebrow cocked up.

The security officer took the card, read the name and the number, looked down at his screen for a moment, and stood up.

And in perfect English, he addressed the group.

"Follow me."

His tone was low, but Alex could tell it was forced, as it sounded strained.

But no one pointed out the obvious, as the security officer walked to a side door next to his desk and opened it, looking at them expectantly.

David didn't hesitate to go through the door, looking over his shoulder and calling out to the others again.

"Come on, guys. Don't leave the good man waiting," he said mockingly.

Alexander shrugged before walking toward the door and pushing through it, gazing at the

security guard as he did.

The man barely returned his gaze before looking at the others, and once everyone was through, he closed the door behind them.

Once the door was closed, they were left alone in a small room for a few minutes, wondering what was happening.

Only David seemed carefree about suddenly being enclosed in a room with only one door that had clicked as it closed.

"Are you sure this was a smart move?" Alex asked, confused about the situation.

"Just shut up and wait," David replied, looking at the clock hanging above the door frame.

A few more minutes passed before David heard a distinct knock coming from the back wall, and a grin appeared on his lips.

He walked over to the wall, giving it two knocks, pausing, one more, another pause, and two stronger knocks. A few seconds passed before the wall suddenly slid to the side, a small- figured woman glaring at David.

"It was supposed to be two taps, one tap, and then three taps. Three! Not two! You are lucky I can access the cameras in the room and knew it was you, asshole!" the woman growled. "Pleasure to meet you, too," David replied, chuckling as he pushed past her into a dimly lit

corridor.

"Fucking Americans..." the woman growled.

"Canadian, but sure. Fuck you too!" David echoed as he pushed down the corridor, ignoring

her growling.

A single thought passed through everyone else's mind.

'What the fuck is going on?'