Solflare: The Painter's Secret-Chapter 139: Birth of the Oculus Devourer
As the early afternoon sun’s glow danced across the front of the workshop, shadows stretched long as the main gate of the workshop swung open.
"Leon, here are the documents containing all the details you’ll need before you embark on your mission at the Lunaris." Hei Luo handed him a folder with the name Ruins of Lunaris embedded on it.
"Ruins of Lunaris." Leon read the name out loud, then turned a confused gaze to Hei Luo. "How do I go there on my own without any transport?"
A short laugh escaped Longwei as he joined Leon and Hei Luo outside the workshop. "Don’t worry about how you’ll get there..." he wrapped his arms around Leon’s shoulder. "Worry about how you’ll return."
’Worry about how I will return?’ Thoughts reeled in Leon’s head as he gazed at Longwei.
"I will personally help you in selecting the vehicle you may need and who to drive you there." Longwei turned a comforting gaze at the boy, then shifted his gaze to Hei Luo.
"But he needs to train on how to use one of your flying objects, if he will be doing more of the solo missions."
"Oh, yeah. It’s a must for him to learn that." Hei Luo confirmed, then tilted his gaze and began walking toward the Luo apartment.
After a ten-minute walk, Hei Luo called onto one soldier.
The soldier slammed his boots on the ground, then saluted. "Sir!"
"Mark... you will be Leon’s personal driver for the meantime." Hei Luo turned slightly, then drew an invisible line as he gestured at Leon.
’Personal driver? Why?’ Mark stood there, his face slightly pale as thoughts reeled in his head. "Okay, sir!"
Immediately the soldier got dismissed, Hei Luo tapped on Leon’s shoulder. "You can go and have a look at the details in the document. But..."
Leon paused a step, then focused on Hei Luo’s lips.
"Be here at dawn." Hei Luo and Longwei turned, then walked toward the Luo’s apartment.
The moment Leon returned to the madhouse, Liu Yan crossed his path, then threw herself on him, wrapping her arms around him.
"When did you return?" She released the boy but kept a close distance as if Leon would vanish.
Leon answered all her questions, then walked back to his bed and slept.
As soon as the darkness filled the sky, the Black Ops MRAP appeared, stopping at the front of the already packed vehicles.
Tiger got down, smiling. The Yanluos got down, blood staining their arms, a satisfied expression filling their faces.
Samir got down, his head lowered, eyes locked on the stone floor.
Inside the MRAP, Bao Xiong sat there, tears dripping from his eyes. "Why did I even choose to join this group in the first place?! I feel useless every time we go on a mission."
A loud banging sound erupted as he slammed his hand on the side, then rushed out of the MRAP.
Being the last to exit, Bao Xiong ran past all four people, then entered into the cylinder building where their rooms were located.
Loud thudding sounds echoed as he paraded the hallway. Then he pushed their door open without unlocking it.
Chilled and calm wind moved across Bao Xiong, but he felt neither warmth nor peace.
Meanwhile, inside the madhouse, Leon lay on his bed, his eyes locked on the pages of the book in his hands.
"Ruins of Lunaris?"
He read the words in the book, from the first page to the twentieth page. "Let me walk for a while, I’m kinda feeling drowsy."
Leon placed the opened book by his side, then stood from the bed. "Since everyone is asleep, then let me use this opportunity to have a night walk."
He placed soft steps, then exited from the madhouse. He entered into the hallway, got down to the ground floor, then exited from the square building he was assigned in with his colleagues.
Outside, the evening hums of night birds, bats, and howling welcomed him.
Watching the tiny drizzle of ice fall, Leon placed his hands in his pocket, then inhaled deeply. "How I wish Mom, or Lily could experience this."
He walked calmly toward the vehicles. "This MRAP feels hot." Leon drew his hand quickly after sliding it on the driver’s door.
He crouched down, gave the base of the vehicle a thought scan, then moved to the next. For thirty minutes, Leon moved from MRAP to other versions of the vehicles packed at the bay.
Lily’s smiling voice and amber eyes flashed behind his vision as soon as Leon stopped and sat on a large root that had risen from the ground.
He sat there for thirty minutes, thinking about what his mother and sister would be going through. Leon locked his gaze to the Orion constellation.
Meanwhile, in Thule country, Li Mei sat in her wheelchair, her hands resting on the stool of the opened window.
"Leon," the word escaped her mouth as she turned her blind eyes to the exact same direction she stared at every night before bed.
Soft wind blew past her, rattled through her hair, then tickled her as they entered into her loose shirt.
The three middle stars of the Orion began to pulse as soon as Li Mei’s hums filled the entire Qing’s safe house.
Inside Lily’s room, she held onto a photo she and Leon had taken. "Look at his eye." She brushed her fingers on the brown eyes in the photo, then teased.
"As if he’s a good boy." A saddened laughter escaped her when her eyes closed, followed by two drops of tears.
"Leon will come back. He’ll..." Lily turned, curled herself and both the white pillow lying freely at her side, then cubed herself.
The white curtain covering her window rattled against the walls as the soft wind filled the room. Her mother’s hums danced in her room.
In the ground-floor hall of the mansion, Darian sat on the long couch, the maid by his side.
"When are they leaving this place, sir?" Lilith—the maid—turned a dissatisfied expression at Darian, then lowered her head.
"Don’t worry, they will leave soon." Darian cupped the lady under his arms, then cuddled her on the couch.
Outside the safe house, dried leaves danced along the long road leading to the gate.
Red roses’ leaves screeched on the ground, shoved through the gate by the push of the wind, then exited through the black gate.
On the high-arching bridge separating Dusthollow from the city, vehicles moved hastily. Smoke filled the side of the bridge where the ruins of Dusthollow were.
"Help! Help!! Help!!!" A pregnant woman dressed in blood and holding the hands of two kids—a five-year-old and a seven-year-old—stood by the pedestrian side of the road.
A far distance from them, snarling sounds whipped the air as men in black suits closed in on the woman and her kids.
"Woman, what did you see when you moved past us?!" A man holding a butcher’s knife slammed the blade of the knife on the metal pipe separating the pedestrian side from the main street.
"Please, I didn’t see anything. Please..." The woman pulled her kids closer, tears falling from her eyes.
A young guy with a scar on his cheeks leaned in on the left ear of the man holding the butcher. "She’s saying the truth, let’s leave her."
"That’s what they all do when you catch them." The man ignored the boy’s words, then moved forward, clicking sounds echoing as the blade bounced on the pipe.
"Hold the kids!" The man gestured at two men behind him—the young guy with the scar and a broad-shouldered boy.
"Please! Don’t kill them, please, they are innocent." The woman slammed her knees on the ground, the tears increasing.
The man stared at the woman, then turned toward the young boy with the scar. "Throw the kid in the sea."
"What! No!"
"ARE YOU CHALLENGING ME NOW, cousin?!"
All the other men standing beside the one holding the butcher knife shifted a shocked expression from the young guy, then to the small girl.
"No... I’m not."
"THEN DO AS I HAVE STATED!"
The young boy breathed deeply, raised the little girl, then moved to the edge of the bridge. He turned, glanced at the crying mother, then closed her eyes.
Stone-crushing-with-water sound echoed the moment the girl slammed into the sea from fifty kilometers above.
"Please! Please!! Please!!!" The pregnant woman slammed her forehead on the ground.
"You too," the man gestured at the guy holding the little boy captive. Without hesitation, the guy threw the boy as if he were garbage.
The moment the crashing sound echoed, the crying pregnant woman’s sobbing voice turned to an eerie laughter.
"Move back!" the man holding the butcher instructed, but the young boy with the scar didn’t follow the order.
With slow steps, he moved forward, then placed a hand on the woman’s shoulder.
In a flash, the woman transformed into a huge demonic creature with many eyes, then swallowed the young boy.
The man and his colleagues began to run when the young boy’s bones exited from the lower mouth of the creature.
"RUN FROM THE OCULUS DEVOURER!!!"
As the creature moved forward, every eye that it opened became a window to hell... and every mouth it opened became a gateway to the depth of the ocean.
