There's No Love In the Deathzone (BL) novel Chapter 509

Chapter 509: Chapter 502. “Rest”

The seventh shard, however, only came to their possession after almost a year.

To be exact, it was ten months and three weeks.

Right after obtaining the sixth shard, they were focused on building the third base more than anything. But this time, they planned to make the base bigger than the mountain one. After looking at the location, Radia agreed to turn it into a hub to prepare for the future eastern expansion, which meant they had to clean a large area around the Castle enough for an assembly.

Most of their forces were thus concentrated in that area; sterilizing the area from any beasts, checking for dungeon appearances, and leveling the field around the Castle. They did it while waiting for the construction materials from the outside. Since they wanted to make a higher and bigger watchtower, more materials than usual were needed, and the transport time was getting longer.

This time, they even came with a proper construction worker and magic engineer. Familiar faces for Zein, since some of them were the people who built his lakehouse.

Thanks to the workers, the espers could focus on the ’hunting’. While the shards were hunting for some signal from other shards, the espers were hunting for more fragments. Han Shin had come back from his vacation with a truckload of newly developed uniforms by SavAsh. They were armed with a defense mechanism against the Fragments’ poison, so even those without bio-shields like Bassena could face the Fragments.

Naturally, the uniforms were in limited quantity, so the only ones who got them were the official hunting team consisting of chosen Trinity members, House Ishtera’s Iron Shield, and the House Mallarc’s agents.

With them focusing on the third base and Fragment hunting, the finding of the seventh shards was pushed away for months. Especially because none of the shards could detect anything. The fact that the shards got more clever in hiding meant that the other shards and Zein also found it harder to locate them.

Funnily enough, the one who found a hint for the shard’s location was Zhan; simply because he was getting too playful in the wide plains and rode his bike too far and...lost.

He lost and got further and further away, out of the beacon’s range. Luck had it that the spearman had a cautious friend who put a tracker on the bike. Gus realized the man was in trouble when the tracker beeped out of the radar and immediately called Kei and Naoya to drag the spearman back.

After looking for a while, they found the spearman on the edge of a jungle, fighting a Specter. And well...Specter usually stayed near a shard’s location. Kei, who held one of the compasses, saw the needle pointing deeper into the jungle behind the Specter and the rest was history.

When the third base was finally established and the seventh shard had been obtained, Senan reminded Zein of what he said about taking a rest and did not stop until he saw Zein’s name in the list of the second period’s returnees.

And so, Zein found himself breathing fresh air again in the summer, a year after marching into the Deathzone.

"Mm...it’s not too bad," he nodded as he looked at the blue sky and inhaled deeply.

And then he got to work.

"Shouldn’t we be on a vacation?" Bassena chuckled as he drove the guide across Rexon’s street.

"The fresh air and sunlight are enough for a vacation," Zein fresh. "If a rest is to put my mind at ease, then checking on my stuff is a rest."

Bassena could only laugh and take Zein around like the good boyfriend that he was; to the guide academy that had started to operate, to the bureau that the Temple established, and even a quick visit to the orphanage in the Araka. Senan would have such a long sigh if he knew what Zein was using his rest for.

But then again, the blue eyes did sparkle brighter after he found out everything was fine and running well. It would help him focus better on the operation in the Deathzone.

But of course, no home visit would be complete without a meeting with the Big Brother. It was a nice day when the sun wasn’t sweltering yet and the weather was very comfortable for an outdoor picnic. They had lunch in Radia’s mansion after Zein spent the morning talking to the Temple and Bassena had a nostalgic morning talk show in Rexon as a PR stunt.

"How disappointing--I thought you would stumble after almost two years of absence from showbiz," Radia smirked as he watched the recording.

"What’s so hard about it that would warrant a stumble?" Bassena shrugged smugly.

Zein scoffed and flicked the esper’s temple. It had been two years since he saw that fake, charming smile Bassena used for the general public, and he still hated it. "Is it not hard dancing around their question about ’key’ and ’creature’?"

"What’s so hard? It’s not like they knew about them from a reputable source," Bassena smirked. "Once I asked them about the source, they clammed up."

"And so, it kept swirling as a rumor," Radia curled his eyes. "Isn’t it perfect?"

"So you won’t let any journalist come for now?"

"No--not until we found a way through the desert," Radia tapped on his armrest in contemplation. "In the meantime, let’s clear the plains and jungle, as well as find a way through the mountain. I’ll send more materials to build the bridge."

Radia smiled and pointed the golden embers to the guide. "Exactly," he turned toward the window office which conveniently faced in the direction of the Tower far away. "Isn’t Gus and Zhan going into the Tower a proof of that? Many espers gained more proficiency in the skills they already have, and their battle reflexes hounded more with more confrontations." _{frёewebnoѵēl.com}