Under Soma’s guidance, Fang Li and Alisa bypassed the hellish scene and arrived at a mountain path, ascending it.
Throughout the journey, no one spoke a word. Neither Alisa nor Soma were the type to engage in small talk or initiate conversations. In terms of being solitary, the two of them shared some similarities. Fang Li, on the other hand, was extremely laid-back and didn’t really care about making any small talk.
If the companion was talkative, Fang Li didn’t mind engaging in casual conversations with them. But if his companion had the same disposition as Alisa and Soma, Fang Li wouldn’t go out of his way to trouble them. Thus, the three of them traveled in complete silence.
Eventually, they reached the end of the mountain path and came across a cave entrance. At the mouth of the cave, a person stood on guard.
“Soma,” Sakuya Tachibana, the orange-haired girl, was the first to notice Soma, their guide. Shortly afterward, she noticed Fang Li and Alisa, and her surprise froze her in place. “What are you doing here?”
Alisa didn’t answer; she simply averted her gaze. After all, she had no connection with the people present here. They hadn’t even exchanged a word before, so there was nothing to say.
Only Fang Li stepped forward and addressed Sakuya, “We encountered a little trouble on our side, and it seems like things aren’t going well for you either.”
Upon hearing this, a bitter expression appeared on Sakuya’s face. It was clear that Fang Li had guessed correctly.
And it wasn’t difficult to guess.
Although Aphrodite had already left, the members of the First Unit remained here. They had even found a hiding place, with one person on patrol and another scouting the area. It was easy to deduce what had happened.
As for the specifics, Fang Li didn’t know, but it wasn’t hard to guess either.
After all, among the three God Eaters from the First Unit, Sakuya and Soma were perfectly fine, but Amamiya Rindou was nowhere to be seen.
So, it wasn’t difficult to guess who had encountered the most trouble.
In response, Fang Li asked directly, “What happened to Captain Amamiya?”
“Don’t worry, he’s still alive,” Sakuya sighed and said, “You’ll understand once you go inside.”
With that, Sakuya turned and walked into the cave. Fang Li and Alisa exchanged a glance before immediately averting their gazes and following her into the cave, leaving Soma alone against the wall. He took over Sakuya’s position and stood guard.
As the entire group entered the cave, the surrounding light gradually diminished, becoming dim.
However, the cave wasn’t very deep, and before long, they reached the end.
In the next moment, Fang Li stopped in his tracks and looked ahead. There, leaning against the rock wall, was Amamiya Rindou.
“Hey, kid, didn’t expect you to come to a place like this. Not bad for someone with courage,” Amamiya Rindou greeted Fang Li casually, smoking a cigarette as if nothing had happened.
However, not only Fang Li but even Alisa, who had no connection to the situation, was left speechless upon seeing Amamiya Rindou’s condition.
Amamiya Rindou’s situation was far from good. He had taken off his upper garments, and his body below the neck was covered in bandages and the bandages were stained with fresh blood.
Moreover, his chest had slightly caved in.
No matter how you looked at it, it was a severe injury.
It was enough to kill an average person, rendering even a God Eater immobile, a debilitating injury from which they could never stand up again.
Despite bearing such injuries, Amamiya Rindou leisurely smoked a cigarette, but the hand holding the cigarette trembled incessantly, unable to steady itself.
The sight of such a pitiful state caused Fang Li’s eyes to shimmer involuntarily.
One must know that the God Eater before him was no ordinary God Eater.
This was the same God Eater who, a year later, would be able to single-handedly hunt down Ouroboros, a Deusphage Species. And yet, now, they had fallen to such a state, leaving him unsure of how to express his emotions.
“What happened?” Fang Li couldn’t help but ask Sakuya, “How did Amamiya Taicho (Captain) sustain such serious injuries?”
Aphrodite was indeed terrifying however, considering Amamiya Rindou’s cautious nature, when they sensed danger, they should have immediately organized a retreat without the slightest hesitation. How did they end up in this sorry state?
In fact, Fang Li’s thoughts were not unfounded.
As soon as the matter was mentioned, Sakuya took a deep breath, as if suppressing her inner anger, and spoke in a low voice, uttering a single line.
“We’ve been manipulated.”
With those words, both Fang Li and Alisa shifted their gaze onto Sakuya.
Observing Fang Li and Alisa’s expressions, Sakuya slowly began to explain.
Three days ago, three members of the First Unit, along with elite members from the Russian Branch, went to subjugate Aphrodite.
According to the intelligence, there was a large gathering of Aragami around Aphrodite and the Russian Branch God Eaters’ mission was to intercept those Aragami, separate them and isolate Aphrodite, and then have the First Unit from the Far East Branch undertake the subjugation mission.
However, during this process, the Russian Branch God Eaters suddenly withdrew altogether. Furthermore, they abandoned the three members of the First Unit, leaving them to deal with Aphrodite and the large number of Aragami.
Realizing the unfavorable situation, Amamiya Rindou immediately ordered a retreat.
However, before they could retreat and board the helicopter to leave, the Russian Branch God Eaters, unexpectedly, began shooting below with their most powerful Blast bullets, enclosing both Aphrodite and the members of the First Unit within the shooting range.
In the end, Aphrodite was not eliminated; instead, it became completely enraged.
When Fang Li and Alisa heard the terrifying roar of Aphrodite in the wilderness, it was precisely when Aphrodite was provoked.
At that moment, Aphrodite went completely berserk. Not only did it shoot down most of the helicopters flying in the air, but it also leveled the surrounding area, leaving only a handful of helicopters to escape.
“In that situation, Rindou was hit directly by Aphrodite while trying to cover our retreat,” Sakuya tightly gripped her God Arc, speaking with a mix of relief and anger, “If it weren’t for Aphrodite continuing to advance in the direction of the Russian Branch, completely disregarding us, perhaps we would have already been dead.”
“Impossible!” Alisa couldn’t help but speak, sounding somewhat incredulous, “Why would the Russian Branch do such a thing?”
“We’ll have to ask that Captain about it,” Fang Li smirked as he spoke. “To conceal their own secret, they went so far as to ruin even the most important mission. I’m genuinely curious about what enormous secret they’re hiding.”
……
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