Chapter 209: The Trial of Louis
The fur on Alita’s tail suddenly stood on end.
Memories stabbed into her mind like daggers.
Last month, when she had a meeting with the Mother Empress, classified documents had been tampered with.
Two weeks ago, her personal handmaiden secretly told her that Louis had entered her study late at night.
And then there was this necklace!
Alita violently ripped off the sapphire necklace. With a squeeze of her fingertips, she crushed the gem. A miniature surveillance device, flashing with a red light, rolled onto the floor.
"So that’s how it is."
Alita’s voice was terrifyingly soft.
"Louis, every time I fell into a deep sleep after drinking the Star Dew Milk you gave me, was this how you stole military intelligence for the Rebel Army?"
A crack finally appeared in Louis’s expression. "Alita, this is a frame-up!"
"A frame-up?"
Alita suddenly let out a soft laugh as crystalline tears fell onto the marble floor.
"Then tell me, why are there fluctuations of your spiritual power inside my personal necklace?!"
SLAP! A sharp slap landed hard across Louis’s face.
The fur on Alita’s cat ears stood completely on end, and tears fell like pearls from a broken string.
"You lied to me! You’ve been lying to me all this time!"
Her voice was choked and broken, her spiritual power running rampant from the intense emotional turmoil.
Her face turned deathly pale, and a trickle of blood slowly flowed from the corner of her mouth.
Louis finally tore away his gentle and refined facade, the veins on his neck bulging. "Alita!"
His frantic spiritual power coiled around her like a venomous snake. "Even if I die, you’re coming down to Hell with me!"
"Louis! Don’t you dare touch Alita—"
Su An’an’s butterfly wings erupted in a blinding Golden Light as she prepared to act.
FZZT!
The Light Brain’s signal indicator flickered violently, and the image began to distort and warp.
"Princess! The signal is about to be lost!"
Little Pink’s voice came in fits and starts.
The Light Brain suddenly erupted in a shower of sparks, and the screen instantly went black.
"The Divine Army installed a self-destruct system. It’s completely useless now."
Seville examined the remains of the Light Brain; all the internal wiring was completely scorched.
He looked up, only to see Su An’an still staring intently at the dark Light Screen.
The Phosphorus Powder on her butterfly wings crackled with her fury.
He grabbed her by the wrist. "Snap out of it! Jin Zhu and the others are still waiting for you outside."
"I know!"
Su An’an violently shook him off, her voice hoarse.
"But Louis almost killed Alita! I was supposed to protect her."
"Then let’s get out of here first."
Seville’s amber eyes locked onto hers, his tone holding an unquestionable calm.
"Or would you rather have Jin Zhu and the others die in the acid rain too?"
Su An’an’s butterfly wings suddenly froze.
From outside the cave, Jin Zhu’s hoarse roar could be faintly heard.
"Dig! Keep digging! The Princess is still inside."
She squeezed her eyes shut. When she opened them again, they were ice-cold. "Let’s go."
The moment the two of them rushed out of the cave, acid rain came crashing down on them.
Jin Zhu was dragging her mangled body, using hands scraped down to the bone to claw at the rocks.
Behind her, several hundred Beastman Warriors, their fur corroded away by the venomous rain, were still digging at the earth.
"Jin Zhu!"
Su An’an beat her butterfly wings, and a pink, phosphorescent light poured down like a torrential rain.
Wherever it passed, the rotting flesh of the Beastman Warriors began to writhe and heal.
Seville suddenly put a hand on her shoulder.
"Don’t push yourself. Your body can’t handle healing so many Beastmen at once."
"Shut up!"
Su An’an shook off his hand, grabbed Jin Zhu’s bone-white arm, and desperately poured green healing light into her body.
"I said it, no one is allowed to die!"
The green light flowed from her palm into the gorilla’s back, which was almost stripped to the bone.
Jin Zhu’s lost fur regenerated at a visible rate.
The once-gruesome wounds were slowly being covered by new flesh.
Su An’an retracted her arm as a sharp pain suddenly shot through her abdomen.
She couldn’t help but stagger, her breathing becoming erratic.
"That’s enough!"
Seville, a hint of anger in his expression, grabbed Su An’an by the waist.
"Divine Lady, please don’t waste any more of your Divine Power."
Jin Zhu’s voice was thick with suppressed sobs.
Five hundred Beastman Warriors dropped to one knee, their faces filled with the relief of survival and adoration for Su An’an.
Suddenly, a drop of water landed on Jin Zhu’s newly grown fur.
It wasn’t acid rain.
"The sky is clearing!"
A young Wolf Clan warrior tremblingly held out his hand. Through a crack in the clouds, sunlight poured down like shattered gold.
The moment a rainbow stretched across the scorched earth, the Beastmen burst into heart-wrenching howls.
The acid rain, which hadn’t stopped for ten years, had finally ceased at this very moment.
Celebration erupted throughout the Gray Stone Tribe.
In the distance, a bonfire CRACKLED and POPPED. The Beastmen began to sing, beating their Bone Knives against their shields.
Seville turned to look at Su An’an’s profile, illuminated by the firelight.
She was watching Qiuqiu play with a little wolf cub that was missing half an ear.
"The Gang Vine and Crystal Meat here are things you might not see once in a hundred years in the outside world."
Seville toyed with some Gang Vine Seeds between his fingertips, his pupils reflecting the leaping flames of the bonfire.
"I’ve locked the spatial coordinates. We can come back to collect them anytime."
He glanced at the Beastman Warriors who were using Bone Knives to split rocks, and lowered his voice.
"They’re naturally resistant to acid rain corrosion, and their muscles and bones are harder than Profound Iron. With a little training, they would make top-tier Death Warriors."
"And besides, they recognize you alone as their master."
Su An’an gently shook her head, her gaze soft as she watched the Wolf Clan cubs chasing fireflies.
A little wolf cub was clumsily pouncing about, its fluffy fur still dotted with sparkling dewdrops.
"There’s no need. Let them freely choose whether to stay or go."
Her voice was as light as the night wind.
"This land gave birth to them; they should be the ones to decide their future path."
She looked at the shimmering Toad King Crystal Flesh in her hand and added,
"But we must take the Two-headed Toad’s eggs. This Crystal Meat can repair Alita’s genes. It’s the key to saving her."
Before her voice had faded, the Old Wolf, along with Manda and the chiefs of the Seven Great Tribes, had all knelt down.
The bone ornaments on their bodies clinked in the night wind like an ancient war song.
"Divine Lady,"
The Old Wolf’s hoarse voice was filled with piety.
"You are the one who snatched our lives back from the acid rain."
"From this day forward, wherever you point will be the battlefield where we charge."
Manda stepped forward, a determined light shining in her eyes.
"Even if it costs us our lives, we will not hesitate."
A wave of warmth washed over Su An’an’s heart as she looked at these battle-scarred warriors who still stood with their backs straight.
She nodded solemnly. "Alright. If I need you, I will call on you."
The night wind swept through the camp, the light of the fireflies mingling with the green glow of the Crystal Meat.
It illuminated the loyalty and hope in every Beastman’s eyes.
After the other Beastmen had withdrawn, Manda remained.
She opened a bundle of animal hide and took out a red infant’s jumpsuit, which was surprisingly made of a high-tech fabric unique to the outside world.
"Eighteen years ago, I found Jin Zhu in a meteor crater in the forest. This was the outfit she was wearing."
Manda’s beast-like eyes flickered in the firelight as she stroked the infant’s jumpsuit, which felt as smooth as new.
"She doesn’t belong here. Just like you."
"King Jin Hai!"
Seville’s gaze darkened as he thought of the female president of the Iron Blood Federation.
Eighteen years ago, she had just given birth when she was ambushed by the Divine Army. Her infant’s whereabouts had been a mystery ever since.
’Could Jin Zhu be that missing infant?!’