Chapter 135 135: The Price of Arrogance
The rock began to shake, cracks spreading across its surface as if it would split apart at any moment. Yet a trace of pain appeared on Skye's delicate face. She lowered her hands, and the violently shaking rock instantly fell still.
"Hiss~~ That hurts."
Skye sucked in a cold breath, gripping her right wrist with her left hand and her left wrist with her right.
After increasing her power just now, she felt as if she had heard the bones in her hands cracking.
That stabbing pain had nearly made her jump.
"I need to go find Sister Needy," Skye muttered with a bitter face.
"I don't think that's necessary." Matthew suddenly appeared in front of Skye.
Skye was startled, her whole body trembling. Once she clearly saw it was Matthew, her mouth opened.
Before she could speak, Matthew stretched out his hand toward her arms. "Don't move."
Skye did not move. It was not because she was obedient, but because she had not reacted yet.
Buzz!
A brilliant golden magic circle appeared in front of Matthew's palm. Then, one emerald-green particle of light after another emerged and sank into her arms.
The vigorous life force restored the cracked bones in Skye's arms.
It felt numb and tingling, but very comfortable.
Soon, the stabbing pain in her arms completely disappeared. She lowered her hands, then looked at Matthew, who had also lowered his hand, with sparkling eyes.
"Thank you, BOSS."
"No need to thank me."
Matthew shook his head and led Skye away from the spot, heading for the beach. The two walked along the shoreline as the sea breeze blew around them.
On the transport ship anchored in the distance, the crew members who had been monitoring Skye were somewhat surprised.
"BOSS came?"
"Wow, that's quite romantic."
"Yeah. BOSS doesn't seem to be twenty yet."
"Shut up. Who told you to discuss the BOSS?"
The captain cut off the crew's gossip with a sharp reprimand.
They were not soldiers of the two warbands. They belonged to the logistics department, responsible for transport and maintenance.
Of course, even though they were logistics personnel, after seeing the inhuman training intensity of the soldiers from the two warbands, who would not long for it?
Everyone wanted to improve.
Fortunately, they knew that the selection mechanism for the second phase of the two warbands also included the logistics department. As long as they applied and passed the follow-up observation and review, they could be selected in the second phase.
Even if they failed, there would still be a third phase.
Everyone knew their leader's ambition was not small.
After all, with the individual combat power of the two warbands, any one of them could be sent out and sweep through an entire modern army.
What about more than a thousand of them? And if there were even more in the future, what country could resist?
Although the original purpose was said to be forming an Earth Defense Force to resist external threats, when that time truly came, resisting outside threats and founding a nation would not conflict, would it?
On the contrary, founding a nation would be even more beneficial for later construction.
A regular army was still a regular army. It was not something some wild, unorganized force could compare to.
Gathering people's hearts and establishing order were both important.
And as their leader, was the BOSS someone they could casually discuss? Did they have a death wish?
Matthew, walking along the beach, naturally heard the commotion, but he did not take it to heart.
He was talking with Skye.
The conversation was not dry or awkward.
On the contrary, he guided Skye into talking about some of her past experiences.
Because of Matthew's status, Skye was a little nervous at first. But as they slowly talked, she found that Matthew's attitude was gentle and sunny.
Setting aside his identity, she felt that Matthew was no different from someone her own age. He was simply more mature.
So Skye gradually relaxed and began pouring everything out to Matthew.
This was a heart-to-heart conversation.
It was also Matthew's way of understanding Skye, because Skye was different from the soldiers of the two warbands.
She was very young.
After being influenced by America for so many years, her way of thinking and values were actually somewhat skewed in many areas.
Fortunately, her foundation was kind, and she was smart enough.
Correcting her would not take much effort.
What he feared were certain stubborn individuals who simply lacked a screw in their heads and could not change direction. Their thinking was rigid—either ultra-macho, perverted, or outright insane. No amount of correction worked.
Although the two warbands had been established for quite some time, Matthew had still not opened the second-phase selection.
He had clearly required a long observation period.
Why? Because he was afraid of selecting a psychopath. Once someone joined the two warbands and received training, they could transform in a short period of time and gain the strength to oppose a modern human army.
With all kinds of training and skill learning combined, they could overthrow a country in a short time.
If someone like that truly did evil, the consequences would be extremely severe.
Therefore Matthew would rather wait longer than allow any mistake in this step.
The same principle applied to Skye.
He was not afraid of the girl having power. He was afraid that, because of obsession, she might go astray like that idiot Kaecilius.
Matthew would never rely on information from memories of his previous life and arrogantly use it to define someone's personality.
Take Natasha, for example.
His former understanding of Natasha was based on the period when she appeared and had already joined S.H.I.E.L.D.
But the Natasha he met had not yet betrayed the Red Room and had not joined S.H.I.E.L.D. either. He would not view her through his understanding of the later Natasha from S.H.I.E.L.D., or even from the Avengers period.
After all, a person's personality often changed with their experiences and with time.
He had to interact with them himself, observe them, and then make his own judgment.
Matthew was different from the lone wolf he had once been. Now, he was a leader, and many things had to be considered carefully.
In this conversation, Matthew played the role of listener.
He patiently listened to Skye's past and observed the emotional changes she showed when speaking about certain periods of time.
In the end, he reached a conclusion in his heart.
But he would not say any of that to Skye directly. Instead, after Skye finished speaking, Matthew casually beckoned with his hand.
A streak of light and shadow flashed past, and a bottle of mineral water suddenly appeared in his hand. He handed it to Skye.
"Thank you."
Skye happened to be thirsty from talking so much. She did not stand on ceremony, taking it, twisting the cap open, and drinking in large gulps.
"Skye, if you found your parents and discovered they were different from what you imagined, what would you do?" Matthew asked after a moment of thought.
"Different?"
Hearing that, Skye tightened the cap on the water bottle and tilted her head in thought. "It depends on what kind of different. Actually, what I want to know more is why they chose to abandon me back then."
"Was there some other hardship behind it? If there was, I would forgive them. Maybe I'd accept them too."
As she spoke, she seemed to think of something and looked at Matthew with anticipation.
"BOSS, is there news about my mom and dad?"
"There is, but I can't tell you right now."
"Why?"
"Because right now, you still aren't mature enough, and you don't know how to solve certain problems. Some things need to be solved by you yourself, and you don't yet have that ability."
Matthew did not hide or dodge the issue. He told Skye the reason clearly.
Skye frowned slightly, somewhat confused in her heart, but she did not question Matthew, nor did she keep pressing him.
What she had seen and heard over these past few days had made her understand that Matthew was a good leader. Since he did not plan to tell her, then he must have his reasons.
...
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