Chapter 289: Elves, the Evil God, and Old Friends

Elf…

A new alien species?

How long have they been hidden in Pu Erdon?

What relationship do they have with that crazy Kirahani tribe?

Having witnessed the real existence of elves, Leon's mind instantly filled with a series of questions, trying to sort out what the border star sector is actually facing, whether it is linked to the alternate dimension, and so on.

To resolve his confusion, the most convenient plan is to cooperate with the incoming support and capture them alive for interrogation.

But at that moment, the elf who was slightly more mature and older than the others surprisingly spoke fluent human language, first addressing the elf that Leon was tracking:

"Ina, you're still too young; didn't you notice you lured a human who wants to capture us alive?"

He said.

The older elf lifted his head, his gaze meeting the monitor of the 'Ant' robot, and as if through a phone screen, also meeting Leon's eyes.

Then a 'Snap!' rang, and Leon's crystal‑thin phone shattered outright.

!!!

The sudden turn of events made him quickly discard the broken phone, grip his pistol tightly, and sprint away.

But the anticipated wall collapse never occurred.

The six elves did not attack Leon; instead they chose to exit the warehouse through the main door.

Watching the elves slowly approach, Leon raised his gun in confrontation, but to avoid misunderstanding and delay, he likewise refrained from pulling the trigger and loudly asked:

"Who are you? What is your purpose here?"

Hearing this,

the elves gradually halted, ultimately keeping about ten meters from Leon.

"Hehe," the older elf smiled calmly, seeing through Leon's stalling, and said:

"Human, I know what you're thinking; from your perspective, capturing us alive seems like a correct decision.

But that decision would only damage the relationship between my kind and your humans, would not maximize our mutual benefits, and could even fall into the scheming of the evil god Parlas."

"Benefits? The evil god Parlas?" Leon's expression grew solemn, and he replied gravely, "If that's the case, then cooperate with my work—just stay here, okay?"

"We cannot comply," the older elf shook his head with a smile, "We have more important matters to attend to, and now is not the best time for us to discuss cooperation."

His words had just finished.

"Hoo~!" A roar of a small assault boat's engine, designed for the atmosphere, echoed overhead.

Above the dense canopy.

An assault boat with both side doors open, carrying an intelligence emergency squad equipped with light‑powered armor and wielding non‑standard Gauss Rifles, rushed to the area, circled once and began descending so the squad could jump straight out of the cockpit for an airdrop.

Sensing that Leon's called‑in support was arriving, the elves turned and left without lingering.

"Stop..." Leon tried to intercept.

But before the shout of "Hold!" was finished, the elves, with muscle power far surpassing ordinary humans, elites, even the Iron‑blood clan, leapt onto the roofs of low buildings and houses, then scattered at breakneck speed, vanishing from his sight.

Judging purely by physical quality, elves seem more like a combat race, especially the older elf; without needing to guess, Leon knew the other side was also adept at using Spiritual Energy.

"Step! Step!"

Fourteen emergency squad members leapt from the cockpit, smashing through branches, hard‑landing beside Leon, completing a "conventional" airdrop.

The moment they landed and steadied themselves, the squad split into pairs, chasing the elves' fleeing direction.

The squad leader, whose shoulder pads were dark red, led a subordinate to Leon's front, saluted and said, "Supervisor Kennedy, honored to respond to your support request, but until the technicians arrive on site, please stay where you are; hope you understand."

Leon raised his hand in return, "Don't worry, I'm most familiar with the intelligence department's procedures."

He added, "Also, tell your people that if they catch up to a fleeing target, they should try to capture it alive whenever possible."

"Understood."

The alerted squad leader relayed the capture‑alive order to each team.

Leon then waited patiently for a moment.

Technicians riding ground transport, holding various instruments, passed through alleys to inspect the interior of the warehouse where Leon and the elves had gathered.

After the inspection results showed everything was normal, Leon regained his freedom of movement.

He first took a ground vehicle back to the inn, retrieved his travel bag and settled the bill early, then boarded an assault boat to leave.

———————

…

A few minutes later.

On the northern outskirts of Budapenny City lies a military base also 'surrounded' by rainforest, large enough to house twenty thousand personnel.

The base belongs to the UNSC 503rd Infantry Division, and the soldiers patrolling within Budapenny are from the 503rd Infantry Division.

Inside the base are comprehensive anti‑aircraft installations, and the perimeter has fortifications; most noticeable are the four corners where rotating prism towers stand atop towers.

The four prism towers, anti‑aircraft systems, and the entire base's power are supplied by a single fusion reactor.

The base houses few heavy armor units, but the northern airfield hosts many transport aircraft, transport boats, and other aerial transport vehicles.

Moreover, the airfield also harbors three black‑painted small assault boats belonging to Umbrella.

At this moment.

Leon's assault boat skimmed low over the rainforest, entered above the base, slowed, and headed toward the airfield.

Inside the cockpit.

Since there were no seats, Leon stretched his legs out of the cockpit, sitting near the pilot's area, letting the breeze ruffle his hair as he looked down over the entire base.

Soon.

The assault boat hovered above the airfield, then a ground crew member holding a glow stick guided it to descend onto the designated area.

However, during the descent, Leon saw a familiar face.

The assault boat finally came to a complete stop.

The "acquaintance" also approached Leon, who had just gotten up, extended a right hand, and with a charming smile said, "Long time no see, Leon."

Leon switched to holding his travel bag in his left hand, freed his right hand to shake hers, and likewise smiled, "Ah, indeed it's been a long time, Aya."

In fact, Aya Buleiya is the full name of Leon's acquaintance.

It was because Leon, while carrying out an investigative mission, dragged Buleiya into the bizarre human‑model incident, that she, a former Venice police officer, resolutely chose to join Umbrella and become an intelligence officer.

At this moment, Buleiya still sports shoulder‑length blond hair and dresses similarly to Leon, both wearing dark work pants and shirts.

But Buleiya's shirt is tailored; after all, she doesn't need the loose style Leon uses to fully conceal weapons and gear at her waist.

After the small talk.

Buleiya released her right hand, turned toward the black‑painted Warthog, and said to Leon walking beside her, "You remain as heroically idealistic as ever."

"It's fine," Leon said, spreading his hands.

The two of them got into the vehicle.

Buleiya took the wheel of the Warthog, shuttling Leon through the base, and continued, "So, besides those six humanoid aberrations, what else did you discover?"

"They seem to have an alliance tendency, but my first impression is that they probably enjoy riddles… Never mind, we'll report the rest to superiors later."

Leon, at that point, turned his head to glance at Buleiya, who was focused on the road, and asked, "I'm curious how you ended up in Puerdon."

"Nothing much." Buleiya steered the Warthog to the right and said, "Back then the border sector needed an experienced intelligence officer, so I came. Aren't you the same, never having stopped traveling until now?"

"Not entirely, because I have plenty of vacation time," Leon joked.

"Alright… you really haven't changed much," Buleiya, who doesn't much enjoy jokes, shook her head helplessly.

The two continued talking.

They then drove into the 503rd Division base, a temporary garrison belonging to Umbrella.

Hong Hou's data and files supplied to Leon and the agents included the heads of intelligence departments for each colony, as well as the garrisons of the reserves, Krig, and UNSC.

Such as Puerdon.

On the ground, nine UNSC division‑level units, four Krig combat groups, and two parent regiments serving as reserve clearance units were deployed.

Excluding the Krig 313th Regiment, which has been stationed long‑term at a quantum communications relay, and one reserve regiment, the remaining forces are scattered around the major cities of Puerdon.

The rainforest of present‑day Puerdon hides hundreds of thousands, perhaps more, of Ghost‑Face Beasts, and with Spiritual Energy reactions, the main forces require intelligence support skilled in analysis.

Leon's luck was indeed good, because the recent situation meant Buleiya happened to be leading a contingent temporarily stationed at the 503rd Division, able to respond to his support immediately.

The Warthog stopped.

The two got out, entered a three‑story Command Center, and proceeded toward the control room on the top floor.

They arrived inside the control room.

Civilian intelligence officers sat at their workstations, monitoring the rainforest near Budapeni, attempting to track the six elves while continuously watching the Ghost‑Face Beasts' movements.

The footage sent back to the "unmanned reconnaissance drones" on each screen are biomimetic robots unafraid of humidity and heat, almost perfectly blending into the natural environment.

Similar to the "Ant" Leon uses, but mostly medium‑sized birds, also employing living‑skin technology.

At a glance, one cannot tell them apart from real birds; in a complex rainforest, they are an extremely efficient reconnaissance method.

"What are the results?" Buleiya asked.

He heard.

An intelligence officer reported to her, "Chief, whenever our reconnaissance drones successfully capture the silhouette of a humanoid aberration, they are destroyed by the enemy, most likely due to Spiritual Energy attacks."

"Understood," Buleiya walked to the center of the control room and, based on the report, responded:

"Temporarily suspend tracking the humanoid aberrations, have the emergency team recover the damaged drones, and also shift the current focus to assisting the 503rd Division in searching for and eliminating the Kira Hani tribe."

Finally, send a communication request to the Sector Governor, stating that Kennedy has discovered critical intelligence."

"Yes, Chief."

The intelligence officers began processing Buleiya's orders.

Leon, standing beside Buleiya, scanned the holographic screens, waited a moment, then saw numerous blue light points emanate before them, coalescing into OriginalBody John, not wearing powered armor.

The Sector Governor Buleiya mentioned is indeed this OriginalBody of the Second Legion.

John wore a black uniform, a dark‑green tassel hanging from his left shoulder, and a button at the collar bearing a red‑white umbrella and the Sparta "Λ" insignia.

Although the OriginalBodies appear as giants who only know how to slay, in fact most possess extraordinary managerial abilities, and Robert is even at the "human ceiling" level.

If they were to devote themselves to studying sociology, physics, architecture, and the like, their achievements would far surpass those of historical greats.

But the mountain of political and military duties, and understanding humanity's situation, leave these OriginalBodies with almost no leisure to pursue personal hobbies.

John's holographic image formed, looking down at the two normal‑height individuals, and in a cold tone asked, "Any intelligence?"

He heard.

Leon immediately replied, "We discovered six Spiritual Energy‑wielding humanoid aberrations; they have alliance intentions and mentioned the phrase 'evil god Paras,' so the Kira Hani tribe ravaging the Fortress sector may be linked to an alternate dimension."

"Evil god?" John, upon learning this, replied calmly, "I will report this, arrange support, and if there is nothing else, please continue the investigation and provide more intelligence."

"Understood (yes)." Leon and Buleiya nodded in response.

Seeing this.

John merely gave a slight nod, said nothing more, and the hologram dissolved, restoring the control room to its original state.

"Evil god…" Buleiya murmured, then asked Leon, "When did we stop feeling unfamiliarity and awe toward the word god, and instead treat it as commonplace?"

"Since the Chairman, perhaps," Leon said without delving further, then raised his hand to lightly pat Buleiya's left shoulder, reminding her:

"What we need to consider now is how to complete the mission. My intuition tells me those elf‑like humanoid aberrations are also hunting the Kira Hani in the rainforest; if we launch a sweep, we might accidentally run into them."

"Hope so."

…

Soon after.

Within Harvest Star's space, the main force of the Second Legion's fleet is stationed.

Over forty warships and vessels of various classes are scattered in orbit about four hundred kilometers above the ground, matching Harvest Star's rotational speed.

Directly above the ground city of Aldega lies an Olympus-class carrier nearly fifteen kilometers long, sharp in outline and orderly in structure.

This is also the Second Legion's flagship, the Hope Vessel.

The Olympus class was developed by Zhi Yuan Star's shipyard, which absorbed the Holy Covenant Empire's core technology, then combined humanity's cutting-edge techniques, improving upon the original project from fourteen years ago, thereby becoming the flagship equipped for the Legion.

Furthermore, after fourteen years of rapid development, Zhi Yuan Star and many other construction worlds have further enriched humanity's fleet "genealogy".

After all, competition for orders remains fierce.

(End of chapter)