[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-solflare-the-painter-s-secret":3,"chapter-solflare-the-painter-s-secret-solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-42":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"english","Solflare: The Painter's Secret",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},1322870,1757,"Chapter 42: Eyes In The Shadows","solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-42",42,"\u003Cp>Entering through the dark fog, Leon’s eyes caught sight of something moving in the clouds above them.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At that instant, he gritted his teeth as his eyes caught faces reeling above the clouds: the face of the lizard lady, the four sentinels, and lastly, the faceless being.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a mind-blowing and unstable heart, he shook his head. Then, when he tilted his head upward again, they were gone. Not even a single trace remained.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>’What am I?’ he whispered in his thoughts, but the reaction that followed shocked his soul.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Around his right arm, tiny sparks of gold light moved in sync with the lightning strike reeling above in the sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Smoke, leaves, and a loud screeching sound burst out, causing the black fog to part sideways like the sea as the MRAP came to a halt.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the front of the MRAP, the gate of Alchemania remained etched against the night sky.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Through the glass at his front, Leon didn’t see a school.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Instead, he saw the site of his next battlefield, and the fragile first line of defense against the storm he himself would one day unleash.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Leon,\" Hayes’s voice echoed like a needle, pulling Leon back to reality.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"You can go.\" A smile tore on Hayes’s face the moment Leon bowed in gratitude and then alighted from the truck.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Leon, your new room,\" Hayes called out the moment he saw and picked up the black key with the initials LS inscribed on it.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He threw the key at the boy and smiled when he saw the boy grab it mid-air.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The headlight of the truck stretched forward like a guide when Leon moved past it and stood by the side of the large gate.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the truck, Hayes’s smile faltered as he locked his eyes on the boy until he entered through the pedestrian walkway on the left side of the main entrance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His eyes narrowed the moment the boy vanished into the walls of the academy.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hayes’s body remained static for a couple of minutes until his right arm loosened its grip from the steer and grabbed the AN\u002FPRC-148D IMBITR.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It felt heavier than it should have when he moved it to his mouth. A static hiss echoed softly when he placed it at the side of his right ear.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a steady intake of breath, he pressed the transmit key. A low click answered him, followed by a slow, measured breath on the other end.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hayes didn’t waste it, even as his eyes naturally closed and opened.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Lord Luo Fang,\" he said in a voice that echoed in a tone that sounded as if the warmth in it had been stripped away by something devilish.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"This is Lieutenant Hayes.\" He paused, letting the static whisper like a distant rain.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"I have delivered the asset to the Academy.\" His grip tightened around the AN\u002FPRC-148D IMBITR almost as if wanting to crush it under his palm.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>With a slow heartbeat, Hayes released the transmit key, straightened his head toward the front, and smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The engine of the MRAP hummed in the air, followed by two blinks of the bright headlight.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Hayes’s smile faded and turned into a grin the moment he drove off the ground of the academy and set out into the street, where the dark fog was.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>...\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A silent screeching echoed from the side of the first building, the very one closer to the wall.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Bright light shot up when two of the windows spun open. Inside the open window, four faces leaned on the window.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Huh!\" Leon gasped heavily as he pulled the hood over his head and doubled his steps.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At every building or window he moved past, light flickered on, followed by a swing of the window itself.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Inside the open windows, countless young people, both male and female, stood with pale faces, staring at the boy in a hoodie walking in the large courtyard.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Their eyes glowed with joy, almost as if they knew something, or someone, would arrive at that designated time.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Shadows stretched long toward the door Leon stopped at.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"What do they want?\" Dissatisfaction swallowed Leon’s voice as he grabbed the handle of the door and swung it open.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though his walk in the courtyard was not satisfying, inside was like hell.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Eyes turned to him like the holes in a fishing net, while the bulbs hanging on the ceilings glowed harshly, promising to blind him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Cold fingers traced across his shoulder as he lowered his head and made the hood cover his entire face, and began walking in a fast motion.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the side right hallway, where the elevator was, Leon gasped, seeing no shadow on the way.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But his face tensed when he saw the elevator already crowded as he approached and pressed the door button.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Whispers clung around him like his own skin.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...Is he the boy who passed out in the arena seven months ago?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...Naa, I’m not sure, he wasn’t this tall.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...It’s him. Check his boots.\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...What are you saying? Was he the only person wearing a boot of that color?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"...If he’s not that boy, who is he? And what happened to that boy?\"\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>A soft metallic clunk echoed, swallowing the whispers as the elevator halted at the third floor of the building.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>HHHHHhew!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After taking two steps away from the elevator, Leon sighed, then tilted slightly toward the boys and girls he’d left behind.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Though he didn’t hear their last statement, the manner in which their faces turned extra pale gave him only one meaning: They had seen him.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Thudding sound echoed in the hallway as Leon walked, his head bowed, his hands shoved in the pockets of the hood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Numbers flashed in his eyes, yet he never stopped.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>\"Oh shit!\" Leon pulled out the key from his pocket and scanned the number 7 written boldly on the metallic handle on which the actual key hung.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>His mouth curled inward as he turned and walked back from the seventeenth door to the seventh in a flash.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He waited for two minutes, then removed the hood from his head. The door opened after he inserted the key and tilted it with two clicks on the right.\u003C\u002Fp>",1037,"2026-06-05T19:15:29.303Z",1,"novelbin.me","455adc428c583c1fcd4c32c2203bb6a1cf0f2dca013c9fd074b071bcb540bb06","solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-43","solflare-the-painter-s-secret-chapter-41",272,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fsolflare-the-painter-s-secret-cover.jpg"]