Chapter 1584: A Land in Ruined

Lory took out her phone and dialed the familiar number. As the call connected, she spoke without wasting time.

"Hello, Luc, are you alone?"

"I wish..." Lucas let out a long, helpless sigh, his voice heavy with exhaustion. "I’m putting you on speaker."

"Fargo and I are here too, Princess," Fredhardt’s voice chimed in from the other end.

"Oh, you’re still here. Anyway, I’m already at the contaminated area." Lory lifted her gaze and slowly scanned the blackened land before her, her heart growing heavier with every passing second. "...and my power didn’t work. I can’t purify the infected land."

"Oh, that’s... disappointing." Lucas’ tone was calm but contained a hint of disappointment and worry

"Yeah, you and me, brother," Lory replied dejectedly. "I was once able to purify Mirror Creek that infected by the Cartabera Bael, so I thought I might be able to do something about this as well. Funny, though I already had a feeling it might not gonna be so easy, since Bael’s power has long increased from the first one, and this isn’t the work of just one Bael, but dozens of them have spewed so much poison to this land."

Lucas fell silent for a moment, clearly pondering her words before speaking again. "If the power of the Bael has increased, then it only makes sense that their poison has become more lethal than before. That also means the Bael we captured previously might not provide accurate data anymore."

"No, it’s not," Lory muttered with a tired sigh. "These things keep upgrading themselves. Every day they grow stronger and stronger, which makes all of this even more annoying. Who knows how this is going to end?"

"The only way to end it is to kill the source of their power—Zalchana," Fredhardt’s voice chimed in calmly. "If Zalchana dies, the Bael might stop increasing their power."

"That makes sense, but you forgot something—," Fargo added, his tone steady. "The location we believed to be Zalchana’s hiding place was sealed off after the explosion caused by Jay during the rescue of Miss Boyd and the other healers. Somehow, the S.A.I.N.T. organization claimed they discovered a holy relic in that area, and they are now working together with Luxemborough’s scientists to preserve the site. The entire place has been sealed off, so attacking them would essentially mean we are declaring war on them," Fargo explained.

"That’s why we pushed the healers to make a public statement," Fredhardt continued. "We needed a legitimate reason to confront Luxemborough and the S.A.I.N.T. organization. But with Bael attacks happening everywhere and toxic lands spreading across different regions, no one cares about a group of healers anymore."

"Well, when their existence is threatened, humans’ natural instinct is to put their own survival first," Lucas said quietly. "And our enemies know exactly how to stir that natural instinct."

"You know what, I say we forget all this diplomatic nonsense and confront them directly, clearly and openly," Fargo said, his impatience finally spilling over.

"We can’t go to war against another country without a proper reason, you idiot," Fredhardt snapped back immediately. "What do you think that would do to the prestige of the Lucient family?"

"If people knew what was really going on there, no one would say a word," Fargo retorted stubbornly.

"Well, that’s only if everything goes well," Fredhardt shot back, his voice rising with frustration.

"What if it doesn’t? What if the situation gets worse and they pin the blame on us again? They already blamed us for Lazarus’s rampage. Do you really think they wouldn’t twist the story again? In the end, our King and Princess would be painted as villains responsible for all the destruction, and just like that—" Fredhardt snapped his fingers sharply, "—our enemies would get exactly what they want: our reputation ruined and the world handed over to them on a silver platter."

Fargo clicked his tongue in irritation. "Tsk, I hate politics."

The bitter realization settled heavily in the air. He knew Fredhardt was right. Charging in recklessly would only play into the enemy’s hands, and the ones who would suffer the most would be Lory and Lucas, forced once again into a corner by a situation they did not create.

"Alright, alright, calm down, gentlemen. The situation isn’t that bad yet." Lucas let out a quiet sigh, trying to ease the rising tension between them. "I understand how you feel, Fargo. Honestly, I also want to attack them right now without worrying about trivial matters like reputation and diplomacy. But Fredhardt is right, we can’t afford to be impatient."

Lucas’s voice grew more serious as he continued. "The enemy has always been trying to destroy our reputation so they can gain public support. Once that happens, no one will question their actions anymore, no matter how cruel or unreasonable they are."

Soon, a brief silence followed before Lucas spoke again, his tone steady and calculated.

"We have to be careful with every decision we make. Right now, we still have the support of several major countries, including Xiya. But if we fail to resolve the Contaminated Land issue quickly, their trust in us will begin to waver."

He paused for a moment, then added quietly, "Though it doesn’t really matter, because I believe we are strong enough to face the whole world," he continued calmly. "But being isolated by the world would limit our every move, and more importantly, it would bring nothing good to our people. In the end, they would be the ones who suffer the consequences of our isolation."

Lory let out a slow breath, her gaze still fixed on the corrupted land stretching endlessly before her.

"Luc is right," she said softly. "So let’s address the issue right on our face first, how to deal with this toxic land? Obviously, we cannot depend on the Saintess if we don’t want to jump right to Theodore’s and Alexander’s mouths, so we’re gonna need a plan...do you guys need an idea?"

"The only thing I can think of right now is to let N.I.M.S. conduct further analysis on the toxic soil," Fredhardt said with a weary sigh.

"We don’t have time for that," Lory cut in firmly.

"No one does," Lucas replied quietly. "That’s exactly why they rushed to make a deal with the S.A.I.N.T. organization, regardless of the consequences later on. After all, winter is approaching, and every country is in urgent need of stable land to secure its winter food supplies. Desperation leaves little room for careful thinking."

"Since you say it that way..." Fredhardt paused, rubbing his temple before speaking in a dejected tone. "Believe it or not, I have no idea."

"Well, that’s not a good sign," Fargo might sound joking, but one could heard genuine worry creeping into his voice.

Silence followed. A heavy, suffocating stillness lingered in the air as everyone on the call understood the gravity of the situation. The predicament was clear, yet no one had a solution.

Then Zhao Li Xin’s calm baritone cut through the tension from beside Lory. "That might not be entirely true."

Lory slowly pulled the phone away from her ear and turned to look at him, surprise flickering across her face.

"You have an idea, honey?" she asked, a faint glimmer of hope returning to her voice before bringing the phone closer again so the others could hear.

"Yes, there might be someone other than the Saintess who could help us... though I’m not entirely sure," Zhao Li Xin said in a low, thoughtful tone, his voice loud enough for the phone to pick up.

"Just tell us who, brother. I’ll do whoever it takes," Fargo interjected with unwavered determination.

Fredhardt frowned immediately. "I think you mean whatever it takes."

"Yeah, that too," Fargo replied with a careless shrug, completely unfazed.

Lory shook her head lightly at their usual bickering and stepped a little closer to Zhao Li Xin.

"Who do you have in mind, honey?" she asked, her voice softer now, filled with quiet anticipation as she waited for his answer while the others listened through the phone.

Zhao Li Xin pinched his chin thoughtfully, his eyes narrowing slightly as he pondered for a moment before speaking.

"If we are talking about Zalchana, then we are talking about Mevissa... and someone who inherited the same power source, correct?" he said calmly, raising his brows meaningfully.

Lory frowned for a few seconds, trying to follow the direction of his thoughts. Her mind ran through every possible name, every person connected to Zalchana, or to be exact, Mevissa.

Then suddenly, realization struck her, Lory’s eyes widened, "JADE?!"

On the other end of the line, Fredhardt and Fargo exchanged confused glances, but Lucas suddenly straightened, his expression lighting up as understanding dawned on him.

Jade was a Scion, and Scions were fragments of Zalchana. That meant he might possess the same purification or corruption power.

He might be the key!

"This... might actually work," Lucas muttered, clenching his fist in sudden excitement.

Zhao Li Xin tilted his head slightly. "We can only test and see."

"Can we really bring him into the real world?" Lory asked hesitantly. Worry crept into her voice. Jade had never truly stepped into the real world before.

The last time he appeared, he had taken the form of a Scion and ended up hurting Lucas. She feared that the innocent boy might revert to that dangerous form again.

If that happened... she did not know what she would do. She had already grown fond of the cheerful little boy.

"Don’t worry," Zhao Li Xin said calmly, understanding her concern without needing further explanation. "I’ll take care of it."

Unlike Lory, he would not hesitate to eliminate anything that threatened her or her world. One can say he was cruel or biased; it did not matter to him.

Lory did not know what was going through his mind, but she trusted him anyway.

"Okay..." she whispered, taking a deep breath to steady herself.

Zhao Li Xin stepped forward and positioned himself in front of her, his tall frame instinctively shielding Lory behind his back. He slowly raised his hand, his expression turning cold and focused as his gaze sharpened.

The air around him began to shift.

A faint ripple spread outward, as if the space itself had been disturbed. The wind stilled, the atmosphere tightening under an invisible pressure while Zhao Li Xin quietly gathered his power. Then, with a slow and deliberate motion, he clenched his fist.

The space in front of him twisted, then a tear opened in midair, like glass cracking without a sound, and from that distorted space a small figure was suddenly forced out and thrown onto the ground with a heavy thud.

"Ouch!"