There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 479

Chapter 479: Chapter 472. Suppression

"Sorry for making you do this," Zein looked at Ron, who was in the middle of wearing his equipment. "You’re supposed to go back today, aren’t you?"

Ron’s role in this Operation should have ended when they arrived in this city ruin. Initially, he should be going back to the headquarters that day with the operation’s physical recording to be given to Trinity’s command post. But now, he had to become a pathfinder again for Zein and Bassena, since Kei had to manage the base.

"Don’t worry about it," Ron smirked while fastening his gloves. "It’s never hurt to stack people’s debt--especially the powerful ones."

Zein chuckled and patted the scout’s back in gratitude, before going to check on his kids. They were huddling on a dining table after finishing their breakfast. Zein could see a notepad in front of Dean, filled with a timetable and list of names.

"How’s your condition?" he asked, and all of them looked up at the same time like it was a reflex.

"Oh, we’re fine, Captain. Everything’s been digested already," Dheera said cheerfully, and despite hearing that they all had nightmares, the guides didn’t have any dark circles, and their eyes didn’t look dull. "We’re dividing the job now."

"Good," Zein nodded. "You know your priorities?"

"Yep--tanks and scouts first," they all nodded. "Are you going to be away for long, Captain?"

"I’m not sure," Zein frowned a little bit when he recalled the fragment inside the tube. They still had no idea how to destroy it, honestly, and had no idea how long it would take for Ron to find a place safe enough for this experimentation. "I hope it won’t take too long."

Dheera turned around in her seat and stretched out her arms with puffed cheeks, prompting Zein to receive the hug with a chuckle. "Be good when I’m gone. Bother Shin from time to time."

"Yessir!"

"I heard that!" the healer yelled from the next table, and Zein left with the sound of laughter behind him.

Just what he needed before tackling the--literal--dark mission.

Zein took a deep breath and, although he was still in the shard’s safe zone, he wore his mask and goggles already. Past the entrance of the stadium, he could see Bassena and Ron on the path that sloped down the hill, a hundred meters from the stadium.

"You’re ready?" Bassena checked once more on top of a ruin that seemed to be a gate a long time ago.

"It’s been a while since I enjoyed Zein’s guiding," Ron moved his shoulder with a satisfied smile. "I think I can do well today."

Bassena chuckled and held out his hand toward Zein, who took it and stayed close to the esper. He turned his head toward the northeast side. "That way?"

"Yeah," Ron nodded. "There’s a mountain range in that place, so it’ll be a good place to start...I think? Well, see you later."

The scout disappeared--or rather, ’absorbed’ into Bassena’s shadow. "How convenient," Bassena chuckled while holding Zein’s hand tighter, before their body completely dispersed into a wisp of dark smoke that traveled fast and far toward the northeast. They appeared two seconds later at a cliff, away from the safety of the shards.

Bassena looked down at the deep ravine beneath them, and then shifted his gaze at the tall mountain range across--just like Ron said. It was an amalgamation of jutting rock formations that would be too dangerous for non-physical types to traverse.

"Seems like you need to stick to me, honey."

Zein flicked the esper’s forehead, but shifted closer nonetheless. As much as he trained his body, there were still things he couldn’t achieve as someone who wasn’t an esper. Bassena laughed softly and pulled Zein’s waist closer, before leaping across the ravine to seek a stable foothold among the jagged rock.

Only after they found a rather flat top did they call Ron out. "You’re okay in there?"

"Quite thrilling," the scout patted his pants as he stood up. "Got to see you being all flirty too, so I don’t have time to get bored."

"Get to work," Zein said dryly, to Bassena’s and Ron’s chuckle.

They started to look for a spot then; Ron went in front to see if there was a cave or a wider flat surface among the rock forest, while Bassena followed behind with Zein in his arms. As expected, it wasn’t easy to find one in the dark, and some of the rocks turned were actually miasmic beasts in disguise. They found a cave one time, but it was a shallow one and had a resident already, so they ended up fighting the creature instead.

"Let’s ignore the caves," Bassena said. "It might collapse anyway. Let’s do it in an open space after all." _{fгeewёbnoѵel.cσm}

They went further into the mountain range, and while the espers were running and jumping around, Zein tried to look around while holding onto Bassena. He tried to remember the map of Deathzone that was made from the ancient map of the Old Day--before the place turned into this deathly place. Together with Radia, he had made a prediction on where the other shards might be, based on the direction where the shards were falling.