Blanche went over to treat Memphis first, but Memphis kept his gaze firmly fixed on Mars.
Even though Mr. Aisen had joined the squad under a new identity, in his eyes, everyone in the group except Karen was just a kid like Richard.
Without the slightest hesitation, Blanche immediately turned to treat Mars instead.
Richard scrambled to his feet. He had lost so much blood that he previously needed someone to support him, but now he had unexpectedly become one of the healthiest people around.
He walked over to Memphis, wanting to check on his condition, but Memphis closed his eyes and ignored him.
Richard bent down to inspect the wound on Memphis's back. The flesh had already begun to rot. Holding his hands opposite one another, top and bottom, he shot out strands of white silk that quickly wove into a white ball of thread.
Richard then shot another thread directly into Memphis's wound. Soon, black toxins were drawn out along the silk.
When it came to corruption, the most critical thing was early treatment; it could never be delayed.
Memphis felt a strange itch across his back and turned his head to look at Richard. He hadn't expected his son to actually be useful, and a warm sense of gratification welled up inside him.
Richard, however, completely misread Memphis's expression and preened smugly. "Heh-heh. My dad was always beating me at home, but honestly, it really worked wonders! I found this method was great for clearing my own bruises, and back then I wondered if it had other uses. Never thought it actually would."
Memphis said, "It seems your father's beatings were not in vain."
Richard nodded. "Yeah. Once I grow up, I'll beat him every three or five days too. Who knows, maybe I can help him develop some new abilities—or at the very least, keep him fit and healthy!"
Memphis: "..."
Once the ball of thread had turned almost entirely black and no more black liquid seeped from the wound on Memphis's back, it meant the detoxification was essentially complete.
Richard pulled out a bottle of energy potion, downed it, stood up, and walked over to Mars. He condensed another ball of thread to draw out Mars's toxins.
By this point, Blanche had already administered a first round of treatment to Mars, so not much toxin was extracted.
Mars lay on the ground, breathing with some difficulty. He pointed at his chest and asked Richard, "Feels like there's internal damage."
Richard pulled back Mars's clothes and carefully inspected him. "The good news is that while the wound is very deep, it doesn't seem to have hit any vital organs. Based on my experience, after initial field treatment and a few days in the church hospital, you should be fine."
"And the bad news?" Mars asked. Formation masters were symmetry obsessives.
"The cut was a bit odd. The horizontal slice went a little too far, and both of your nipples got sheared off."
Mars: "..."
Richard continued, "When you go to the church hospital for restorative treatment, remember to remind the doctor to pay extra attention when rebuilding those two spots. Give them plenty of feedback—don't just stay passive and act like it doesn't matter, or they won't put their heart into restoring them properly."
Mars said helplessly, "Why does that even matter?"
"How could it not matter? Those are sensitive spots! What a waste to lose them."
Mars: "..."
Richard unsteadily got to his feet and headed toward Alfred. He was exhausted, but he was persevering.
Being a freeloader in an elite team seemed comfortable on the surface, but in reality, it came with immense psychological pressure. Taking advantage of the fact that he was finally useful, Richard wanted to pull his weight as much as possible.
The thread connected to the wound on Alfred's arm, swiftly drawing out the black toxin.
The Light Worm personally bred by Mr. Philias had originally carried the faith of Philias and his people toward the light. Although it had been turned into a curse worm against the Dark Moon clan for a very long time, its essence had never truly changed.
"Thank you. Good work," Alfred said.
"Haha, don't mention it." Richard stood up, shook his head, and then stumbled, plopping straight onto the ground.
Blanche walked over to help Alfred perform a thorough, deep cleansing.
After resting for a moment, Richard immediately got up and headed toward Karen.
Karen stood up around this time as well.
"Are you hurt?" Richard asked with concern.
Karen shook his head. "I'm fine."
Although he had taken a heavy blow from Kulisha, there had been no direct contact, and Karen had never worried about this kind of corruption anyway.
"Go check on Ashley," Karen said.
"I'm fine..." Ashley stood up as well. She was somewhat overdrawn, currently downing an energy potion by herself.
In truth, she wasn't weak at all. For her age group, her overall capabilities were exceptional—after all, she had emerged victorious in the York City Region selection. It was just that the summoner profession required years of accumulation; one had not only to study and advance oneself, but also to spend sufficient time cultivating bonds with powerful monster beasts. What Ashley needed right now was time.
Karen walked forward until he reached Philomena.
Philomena was lying quietly on the ground. Her right hand had been reduced entirely to bare bone, though she had managed to stop the bleeding herself.
"Well done," Karen said.
Philomena looked at Karen without speaking. She wasn't used to this kind of interaction; by comparison, she seemed far more accustomed to Karen's cold and unyielding attitude.
Karen placed his palm above Philomena, letting a healing spell descend.
He didn't know high-tier healing spells; systematic recovery still required a church hospital paired with specialized medicine to produce real results.
What he was doing now was merely making her slightly more comfortable.
To be fair, when she put her life on the line, she truly gave everything. Her performance this time was enough to erase the last lingering shred of resentment Karen had harbored toward her over past events.
In truth, she was just a pitiful girl suffering from severe social anxiety.
In his previous life, she would have been the kind of client he treated with meticulous psychological care.
Richard staggered over as well. Sitting down, water cup in hand, he whispered, "Be a good girl, open wide. Let me give you some water. I mixed in some tonic my grandma made for me."
Philomena opened her mouth and let Richard feed her some water. Soon, she noticed the medicine's unique properties; a faint tingling spread through her body, and her vitality, which had been on the verge of collapsing, showed signs of stirring back to life.
Puzzled, she asked, "Why didn't you drink it earlier?"
"Ah, I just spat up a little blood. It wasn't going to kill me anyway, so I couldn't bear to waste it on myself. Figured I'd save it for you guys—after all, you're stronger than me."
Karen looked at Richard.
Richard offered the cup toward Karen. "Want some too?"
Karen shook his head and asked, "Did you give any to Memphis?"
"Nope. Ladies first."
"Good. Don't tell him."
Karen stood up and walked over to Muri. Muri sat there, his arms cramping slightly.
"How are you holding up?" Karen asked.
"No big deal." Muri smiled.
"Good." Karen patted him on the shoulder.
Muri was the one in the squad who could take a beating best. As for Richard, he just took beatings. The two were entirely different.
Bart was bare-chested, still panting heavily. Seeing Karen approach, he waved his hand hastily to indicate he was fine.
Karen walked toward Ventura.
Well...
Ventura wasn't lying on the ground. Instead, he was crouching beside Sains's corpse. Hearing familiar footsteps, he turned around, revealing half of a charred face, and shouted excitedly:
"Captain, big fish! A big catch!"
The sight left Karen momentarily dazed. What a pure, innocent kid he had been, yet Karen's influence had turned him into this.
With half his body charred black, instead of lying on the ground groaning and enduring the agony, he had gritted his teeth through the excruciating pain just to loot the corpse first.
Ache blooming in his heart, Karen crouched down beside Ventura and asked, "Find anything good?"
"This, this, and this, and all of these..."
Ventura first showed Karen the wand. The socket where a gem had once been embedded was now empty, and the black crescent that had temporarily replaced the gem had long since dispersed.
Yet the wand felt remarkably light in the hand, filled with countless dense, intricate engravings. Even without a gem mounted, its value was enormous.
Additionally, there was Sains's torn garment. The material was finer than high-end divine robes; though the magic arrays woven within were partially damaged, there was still a chance to repair them, making it worth a fortune.
Scattered around were various accessories, all low-grade sacred relic decorations.
All told, these items were worth at least seventy to eighty thousand Order coupons. If they could be restored, the value would rise even further.
Ventura said with some regret, "Only he had anything on him. The others were completely cleaned out."
"They were afraid of leaving behind bodies and personal belongings as evidence."
Ventura pointed toward Sains's missing head. "When I faced him earlier, I felt the bronze mask on his face had to be the most valuable thing."
Hearing this, Karen reexamined the headless corpse and quickly noticed something amiss. The internal structure of the body was remarkably simplistic... several organs were missing, and the skin texture and bone structure were far too uniform, as if they had been deliberately trimmed into shape.
Ventura continued, "So blowing his head off was a pity—the mask is gone too."
"She did the right thing." Karen clearly meant Philomena. "This was an avatar puppet."
Ventura's eyes went wide. "He was that strong, and it was only an avatar puppet?"
"Yes. If he had the ability to transmit information back to his true body, destroying the head first was the most effective way to stop it."
"Oh, so that's how it is. Guess I lacked the experience." Ventura looked over at Philomena, who was still lying there being fed water by Richard, and praised her sincerely, "She's really amazing, Captain. In our squad, I think you're the strongest, and she's second."
"I know that."
During the regional selection, she was the only one who could stand her ground against him at the mountain peak.
"Our squad almost lost someone so incredible all because of me."
Ventura had always believed Karen initially rejected Philomena from the squad just to stand up for him.
Karen smiled at the remark and rubbed Ventura's singed hair.
"It wasn't because of you. Don't blame yourself for nothing."
Certain steps couldn't be skipped. Without the initial friction and opposition to take down her arrogance a notch, she would probably have charged forward on her own from the very start given the recent situation, completely disregarding coordination and orders.
The final outcome would likely have been him and her fighting side by side at the front. They might still have survived the crisis, but at least half the squad would have died.
***
Once everyone's injuries had undergone preliminary treatment, Karen immediately ordered them to move out. They couldn't linger in this place for long, lest an unexpected accident occur.
Aseroth had been anxiously awaiting Karen's transmission so it could use the distress scroll. Having waited all this time in agony, just as its anxiety peaked, it received Karen's summons to dive.
Bubbles were spat out one after another, enveloping everyone and pulling them into Aseroth's body.
Once inside, everyone was temporarily safe.
Karen walked over, picked up the soundly sleeping Pu'er, found a relatively flat spot to sit down, and closed his eyes to doze off for a bit.
In her sleep, Pu'er reached out a paw, patted the person beside her, adjusted herself into a more comfortable pillowing position, and kept right on sleeping.
***
After returning to shore, they soon spotted a sentry post—it was Sensi's men.
Before long, Sensi arrived with his subordinates. Seeing that many members of Karen's squad were heavily injured, he asked no questions, immediately arranging for Karen and the others to be sent to the church hospital in Sangpu City.
When handling the admission procedures, Sensi used his connections to conceal the patients' identities, changing the injured parties from Karen's squad to members of Sensi's own squad. Naturally, the medical bills had to be paid in full, along with extra grease money.
Taking on private jobs came with one major downside: when you got hurt, you couldn't receive church-funded treatment. After all, you couldn't submit an expense report claiming you got injured while robbing a tomb, could you?
Fortunately, medical costs weren't exorbitant.
Karen had calculated it before and found that among all the expenses requiring point coupons, healthcare was the most cost-effective.
After settling all the squad members, Karen held Pu'er and walked to the nurse's station, dialing the phone number for the hospital where Captain Neo was staying. Soon enough, the nurse on the other end fetched Neo.
"Heh, the nurse told me this call came from the church hospital in the neighboring city. Looks like we've become hospital buddies, eh, Karen?"
"I thought you would ask whether things went smoothly first. After all, you invested fifty thousand point coupons."
"No need to ask. You ended up in the hospital and paid such a heavy price—the haul is bound to be substantial. I won't lose money; it's just a matter of how much I profit."
"A lot of people in the squad were injured."
"Any fatalities?"
"None."
"Then that's fine. It's no big deal as long as nobody died," Neo consoled him.
"Yeah."
Both sides of the line fell silent for a moment until Neo couldn't hold back anymore. "Hey, I said I'm confident, but are you really not going to report anything to me?"
"It's hard to explain over the phone, and it isn't convenient. There's a lot involved, and the implications are huge."
"Oh, I see. Then we'll talk when you get back."
"I'll hang up now, Squadron Captain."
"Alright. Get some good rest."
After hanging up, Karen gently stretched his neck. He had his own hospital room, though it wasn't for medical treatment, but simply for rest.
The conditions in the church hospital were far better than those in ordinary hospitals; every room had its own private washroom. Karen took a bath first, then lay down on the bed, placed the still-sleeping Pu'er beside his pillow, closed his eyes, and drifted to sleep.
That sleep carried him straight into the afternoon of the following day.
When he woke, Karen felt like he could sleep a little longer, but he was starving.
He reached out and stroked Pu'er by his pillow. The cat was still sleeping soundly. It seemed the tonics she had eaten over the past few days were genuinely effective, providing more than enough nourishment to burn through while she slumbered.
Holding Pu'er, Karen stepped out of the room, running straight into Richard, who was walking down the hallway carrying a mountain of food.
"Let's eat together, Karen!" Richard said with a grin.
"Sure."
To Karen's surprise, everyone had gathered in Philomena's hospital room. The moment Karen walked in, he could clearly feel the awkward tension in the air.
Philomena lay in the hospital bed, her right hand encased in plaster, her brow slightly furrowed. She was visibly uncomfortable with this "warm and enthusiastic" atmosphere.
Yet everyone had stubbornly come over to express their concern anyway, ignoring her discomfort entirely as they laid out the purchased food and began eating.
Ashley took the initiative to feed Philomena. Philomena initially wanted to decline—she still had one good hand and could feed herself—but seeing Karen enter, she had no choice but to accept Ashley's spoon-feeding.
"Good girl, eat more. That'll help you recover faster," Ashley said with a smile as she fed her.
In truth, Ashley had looked down on Philomena the most previously. Being a woman herself, she naturally hadn't felt much fondness for another woman who liked to put on airs.
But respect was earned through strength. Just like when Karen had been in the Hound Squad, as long as you were strong enough to help your teammates survive, everyone's attitude toward you would naturally change.
Once everyone had finished eating, Karen spoke up: "The haul from this mission is substantial. Once we get back and fence it through the black market, the proceeds will be distributed to everyone."
Alfred, his arm wrapped in bandages, stood up. "Please rest assured, everyone. I will handle it as quickly as possible."
Karen continued, "As for what happened this time, we will follow the original rule—absolute secrecy. I know the presence of Moon God Church operatives there was unusual, but they are all dead now. Furthermore, our Church of Order is currently in negotiations with the Moon God Church. Even if we report this incident, higher-ups will only suppress it. However, I will not drop the investigation. Once there are results, I will inform everyone."
Everyone nodded.
Just then, a knock came at the door. A nurse stood in the doorway. "Mr. Karen? Someone is looking for you."
Karen stepped out of the hospital room and walked to the nurse's station, where he saw Neo sitting in a wheelchair, being pushed by Fanny.
"Captain, why are you here?"
Karen was both surprised and pleased.
Neo sighed. "Terrible. Did you take a hit to the head?"
Fanny chimed in, "The squadron captain was worried about you, Karen, but you don't seem injured at all?"
"I'm fine."
"Fanny, leave Karen and me to talk privately."
"Understood."
Karen walked over to Neo, took the wheelchair handles from Fanny, and wheeled Neo out into the courtyard of the inpatient building.
Almost simultaneously, both of them spoke: "There's something I want to tell you first..."
Neo laughed. "Go ahead, you first."
Karen said, "The ones who leaked the intelligence to use people as bait were from the Moon God Church. They ambushed us when we exited the tomb, but we killed them all."
"Isn't that a coincidence? I just received notice that the Holy Child of the Moon God Church will personally lead a delegation visiting York City—and your squad has been specifically designated as their close-protection security team."
Chapter 419