Seed of Titan-Chapter 57: Does Crying Make Me More Powerful?

Today, the usually serene forest below Mount Zelen was rather bustling. Several large hovercars built like vans were zooming around in the air above the forest. Several search teams were also moving on the ground.

Bismar was currently standing in one of the hovercars that were specially used by the SAR team for this rescue. He was watching the forest below silently while keeping tabs on the rescue progress.

Last night, after Bismar’s group discovered the strange disappearance of the mission site, they decided to camp at the clearing, only exiting the forest early this morning to meet with the rescue team sent by the local government.

The SAR team consisted of roughly twenty people, a bit less than Bismar’s own group. Around a third of them were in the hovercars while the rest were conducting a ground search with the members of Valiant Ventures. Each search team was led by a SAR member.

"Hawk One to Team A, there are two people lying on the ground fifty yards away from your position. Proceed to 12 degrees," the operator beside the pilot communicated through her comm.

"Roger. We’re heading there," said Team A’s leader. He then gestured the rest to follow and promptly walked toward the targets.

Selis and Muzie were two of Valiant Ventures’ members that were in Team A. They quietly followed behind the team leader. Selis’ expression wasn’t looking too good since there hadn’t been any good news despite the fact that they had been searching the forest for quite some time.

As the team approached the location, they could finally see two pairs of feet lying on the ground behind a bush.

Ignoring the leader, Selis’ quickly sprinted forward with Muzie following her closely. Selis was desperate to know what had happened to the whole venture party, and why their mission site was missing.

However, when the two arrived behind the bush, they fell quiet.

"Who are you?!" a middle-aged man exclaimed in shock. His ass was bare as he was in the middle of doing something fun with the lady who was lying right beneath him.

"What’s the matter, honey?" the lady asked.

"There’s people here!"

"What?! Get off me!"

The pair frantically tidied themselves up, but Selis and Muzie had left the couple.

"They’re not our members," Selis said to the team leader who had just arrived.

"Apparently so," the team leader said awkwardly as he watched the couple with messy hair emerge from behind the bush.

"Team A reporting to Hawk One. Our targets were just normal visitors. Please mark the individuals," the team leader said through his comm.

"Excuse me, but can you tell us what’s happening?" the middle-aged man asked as he and his lover approached the search team.

"We’re in the middle of a search for six missing students, three males and three females. Have you perhaps met any of these people or people that looked similar to them?" asked the team leader as he projected Mango Seekers members’ faces from his comm.

The couple looked at the projection briefly before shaking their heads.

"We’ve only passed by another couple since entering the forest, and they looked much older than us," the lady said.

"I see. Well, please contact us immediately if you spot anyone resembling these students," the team leader said as he forwarded his contact number along with the facial images.

As the team was leaving, Selis turned to the couple and said, "Sorry for interrupting you earlier. Those missing students are my juniors, so I couldn’t help but act rashly."

"It’s fine, young lady. I hope your juniors are okay. We pray that you find them soon," the lady replied amicably. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

Selis nodded appreciatively before turning around.

"Let’s go, Muzie."

Muzie who was standing quietly at the side turned toward the couple and gave them a thumbs-up before going on her way, leaving the two speechless.

***

Back in the forest, Christo and the others were making their way in a hurry.

Jian was still responsible for cutting open their path, but his sword slashes were so fast now that the other members could only see fluttering blurs shredding the obstructing vegetation.

Meanwhile, Natalia was carrying Auri on her back. Flo was walking behind her while Christo was at the rear.

"These f**king plants keep getting in my way!" Jian shouted in frustration after slashing off a thick set of vines. His vexation was understandable since Auri’s condition was only getting worse by the minute.

"Hang on there, Auri..." Natalia encouraged her barely conscious friend on her back.

Due to the dour mood and their hasty pace, the members weren’t looking too well. Their lack of sleep also affected their stamina.

"Flo, how’s her condition?" Christo asked.

"It doesn’t look good. All of her symptoms have worsened, and cyanosis has even started to set in. I’ve applied emergency treatments but they will only slow down her worsening, not stopping it completely," Flo said as she glanced at the bluish color that had began to spread throughout Auri’s body.

"F**k, Christo, can’t you get us through a shortcut!? I know we’ve been taking roundabout paths since yesterday!" Jian shouted amidst his slashing.

"I can, but that will put us at risk," Christo said, objecting the idea.

Hearing Christo’s reply, Jian immediately stopped and turned around. He quickly walked toward Christo and stopped right before him.

"What now?" Christo calmly asked.

"You’re really asking that!? Look at Auri! She’s dying, but you keep insisting on avoiding danger! Are you really that heartless, Christo!?"

Natalia and Flo kept quiet at the side. They too had actually wanted to ask about the matter, but Flo was too meek to confront Christo whereas Natalia was more rational about it, thinking that if Christo could pick a shorter route, he would have done that already—why make things more difficult for himself? After all, if anything happened to Auri, he would be the one who would likely take the most blame as the party leader, not to mention Natalia’s powerful family that would definitely seek justice later.

"You’re saying that I’m heartless, but I’m just acting with a clear head, Jian," Christo replied.

"What’s the use of your clear ass head if Auri dies because of it!?" Jian loudly rebuked.

Hearing this, Christo looked at Jian sternly. Their faces were now only a few inches apart.

"Let me give it to you straight. First, you’ve already assumed that the venom is lethal despite Flo’s statement that we can’t know for sure about its type and lethality. Perhaps she’ll die, or perhaps she’ll recover soon. Nobody here knows, including you.

"Second, the risks of taking shortcuts may even render the shortcuts meaningless. If we meet aggressive beasts, we’ll waste time fighting them. If we get caught in a trap, we’ll waste time breaking ourselves out. And this is not even considering the injuries that we may incur during the process.

"And if we stumble into something we can’t handle, then not only Auri, but every one of us will be in jeopardy. Remember that we don’t have Drai here to protect Flo. And although there’s a small chance we may just be lucky avoid all these scenarios, I’m not willing to bet on it since I’m the one who’s most responsible for your safety.

"Third, you’re underestimating my class. Although we’re taking a roundabout route, it doesn’t mean that we’re increasing our travel time by a lot. Even if we were to take shortcuts, the time we would save would be too marginal to justify the risks. My class isn’t called Pathfinder for nothing.

"And fourth, just because I’m not panicking or worrying, you’ve assumed that I don’t care so much about Auri. Then let me ask you, Jian. What’s the use of panicking? Why do I have to be in constant worry when I can calmly choose the best actions to take under our unfortunate circumstances?

"Does worrying make me think clearer? Does panicking make me go faster? Does crying make me more powerful? If not, then stop assuming. I’m just doing my best to get us all out safely.

"Now, do you want to waste more time arguing with me or do you want us to continue finding our way out?"

Jian, who had been listening closely to Christo’s explanation, looked straight into his friend’s eyes. He had long known that he couldn’t hold a candle to Christo when it came to arguing, but that was mainly because he thought that he couldn’t beat Christo’s knowledge and logic.

When Jian decided to confront Christo, he truly felt that he was in the right and that Christo was being unreasonable. But after listening to his explanation, Jian couldn’t find a single thing to refute unless Christo was lying. So even if Jian decided to continue arguing, he would just be spouting some nonsense and excuses.

Having made up his mind, Jian retracted his gaze and turned around.

"Sorry," Jian said as he walked back to the front and resumed his slashing.

"Sure," Christo replied, not looking too bothered by the matter.

Jian being emotional and rash was something Christo had known since their first meeting, so this sort of conflict was to be expected. It were things outside of his calculations that worried Christo, not obvious matters such as this.

Meanwhile, Christo’s explanation also settled the concerns of Flo and Natalia who were listening from the side.

Flo felt relieved that she wasn’t the one questioning Christo’s decisions, and Natalia felt that her thoughts were reaffirmed.

The group continued their journey, but this time Jian kept his mouth shut. Perhaps he had finally realized that often times, silence is golden. Or maybe he was just too embarrassed about his outburst.

***