Chapter 73: The Broken Snake Team Takes Action

The alchemical energy explosion detonated deep underground with tremendous force.Even through thick rock layers and hundreds of meters of distance, Lin Jie and the others could still clearly feel the violent tremors coming from behind them, along with the overwhelmed groaning of the escape tunnel beneath their feet from the shockwave.

They did not look back.

Driven by survival instinct, they supported each other, dragging their long-exhausted and battered bodies as they struggled along the unknown escape route that the Eternal Serpent had prepared for themselves.

This secret escape passage was longer and more winding than they had imagined.

It wasn't merely a man-made structure, but a hidden passage formed by the cult's modification of natural underground caves and rivers.

They waded through icy cold underground rivers, and climbed steep rock walls covered with slippery moss and strangely glowing fungi.

If not for Julian, their "walking encyclopedia," who repeatedly identified the correct forks at critical moments by recognizing rock types and water flow directions, they would likely have been lost long ago in this uncharted territory not marked on any map.

After what felt like an eternity, when all three of them were nearing their physical and mental limits, a cool breeze carrying the mixed scents of coal smoke and damp earth finally blew from the far end of the passage ahead.

Then a small section of ancient brick wall on the surface, illuminated by moonlight and covered in ivy, appeared at the edge of their weary, blurred vision.

They had finally made it out.

When Julian used his last ounce of strength to push open the rotten hidden door concealed behind a massive ivy waterfall, a wave of fresh air belonging to Paris's summer night after rain—filled with the scent of grass—flooded into their lungs, which had grown accustomed to the foul underground air, causing them all to cough violently in unison.

They now found themselves in the rear garden of a long-abandoned Gothic-style ancient monastery.

In the distance, the silhouettes of old buildings in the Saint-Germain-des-Prés district stood under the quiet moonlight.

Further away, the Eiffel Tower, which had just completed its main structural topping-out, shimmered with a hazy glow in the night.

This was still Paris.

But for the three who had just crawled out from a hell of death and madness, this place was already heaven.

Sergeant William could hold on no longer;he was the first to collapse onto the soft, dew-covered grass.

The wound on his left arm had reopened during the long trek, and blood stained the grass beneath him.

Julian was also completely exhausted, leaning against a broken angel statue, his shattered glasses no longer able to hide the deep fatigue in his azure eyes.

Only Lin Jie remained somewhat standing.

He knew they hadn't reached the moment when they could truly relax.

"We must immediately report everything that happened here to the Paris branch," Lin Jie's voice was slightly hoarse.

"That Golden-Faced Bishop escaped. Although the altar and modification workshop are destroyed, those factories extracting Memory Essence, and the cult's other strongholds in Paris still remain. The threat hasn't been eradicated."

Julian understood this too.

Struggling, he retrieved a peculiarly shaped brass device from his nearly empty canvas backpack.

"This is the Association's highest-level emergency communicator. As long as we activate it here, all 'sleeper' intelligence points within a five-kilometer radius will receive our distress signal within ten minutes."

After speaking, he loaded a red "Alchemical Signal Flare" that glowed with faint runic light into the device, then aimed it at the dark Parisian night sky and pulled the trigger!

"Whoosh—Bang!"

A not-loud but conspicuous red firework exploded in mid-air.

It silently bloomed in the night sky into a circular emblem composed of red and yellow colors.

At first glance, it didn't differ much from ordinary fireworks.

But this signal, only lit in critical moments, was like a bomb for all I.A.R.C. members lurking in Paris.

Less than ten minutes after the signal was sent, several ordinary-looking carriages emerged from the shadows of neighborhoods like Saint-Germain, the Latin Quarter, and Bastille, silently converging toward the abandoned monastery.

Then over a dozen members of the Paris branch's "Night Patrol" squads, dressed in various casual clothes, appeared. Their eyes were sharp and their steps efficient.

These members professionally sealed off all exits and high points around the monastery within thirty seconds, moving with seamless precision and without a single wasted motion.

When they found the three signal-senders on the verge of collapse in the dew-covered rear garden—the "headquarters special envoys"—even these Paris hunters known for their ruthless efficiency showed a trace of respect in their eyes.

They certainly recognized these three.

Ever since the Geneva Headquarters sent the top-secret telegram authorizing the formation of the "Serpent Breaker" task force to the Paris branch, the portraits and information of Lin Jie and William had been memorized by all core operational members.

Without excessive questioning, after the leader—a man wearing a half silver mask—confirmed the spiritual emblem on Julian through a special runic device, Lin Jie and the other two were quickly evacuated.

They were helped into a specially modified carriage whose interior space was far more spacious than its exterior suggested, furnished as a small mobile medical room.

A "Alchemical Physician" carrying strong scents of holy water and herbs immediately began providing emergency treatment.

He first cleansed William's gruesome shoulder wound with a green potion, the moisturizing effect of which restored the somewhat blackened flesh to a vibrant red.

Then he evenly applied a mass of dark red resin mixture to the wound, causing William's tightly furrowed brow to finally relax gradually.

Meanwhile, Lin Jie and Julian were made to drink an entire bottle of "Tranquil Holy Water" that could quickly restore mental energy and soothe the soul;its taste was more bitter than a hundred herbs mixed together.

The bitter liquid slid down their throats, instantly extinguishing the burning pain and weakness in their minds.

"I am the leader of the Seventh Team of the Paris branch's 'Night Patrol' squad, codename 'Hunchback of Notre Dame'."

The man wearing the half silver mask only spoke to the three "headquarters special envoys" in a respectful tone after confirming they were all out of danger.

"We have recorded all the operational details you just mentioned."

"Rest assured, gentlemen. From now on, all subsequent cleanup and crisis management work in the Paris underworld will be fully taken over by all seven of our Paris branch's 'Night Patrol' squads."

"You can rest now."

The Hunchback of Notre Dame looked at the three exhausted heroes before him.

"In fact," his voice carried weariness, "while you three were striking directly at the enemy's heart, fighting desperately against cult factory members in that unknown underground world, our ground Night Patrol squads and other Serpent Breaker teams haven't been idle either."

He began to briefly inform the three about the situations at several other equally intense "secondary battlefields" occurring in different parts of the city.

"First," he pointed toward the Seine River flowing under peaceful moonlight, "two days ago, Serpent Breaker Team Four successfully intercepted a disguised coal barge attempting to smuggle 'Holy Blood' into central Paris near Notre Dame!"

"The battle there," the Hunchback of Notre Dame's voice turned grave, "was far more brutal than you might imagine."

"The personnel escorting the shipment weren't ordinary cult members, but an elite leader called 'Water Ghost,' along with fifteen 'Frogmen' under his command who were familiar with Paris's waterways."

"The entire Team Four paid the price of half their members dying in action before they finally managed to kill that 'Water Ghost' on the ship's bow, just as he was about to detonate all the Alchemical Explosives on board to take everyone down with him!"

"That 'Holy Blood,' sealed within a 'living alchemical container,' has also been successfully recovered by us."

A story both tragic and glorious plunged Lin Jie and the other two into silence.

"And on the other side of the city," the Hunchback of Notre Dame continued, his gaze turning toward the distant Eiffel Tower, "our Second Infiltration Team, responsible for round-the-clock surveillance of the World's Fair construction site, also detected anomalies last night."

"A group of cult members disguised as Italian Futurist artists attempted to transport the core energy components of a massive device into the unfinished Machinery Hall ahead of schedule under the pretext of 'participating in the Future Art Exhibition'."

"After confirming the enemy's intentions, our infiltration team decisively used an 'accidental' small fire to successfully delay and ultimately thwart their scheme."

"Although we didn't capture the mastermind, we did slow down their overall plan to deploy the final weapon to the fair's core area."

In this massive shadow war sweeping across all of Paris, they were not fighting alone.

In every corner of the city that they couldn't see, countless "colleagues" like them, equally unknown, were bleeding and sacrificing to protect this city's peace.

Finally, when the morning sunlight pierced through Paris's thick clouds, the carriage returned to their safe house in the Le Marais district.

After confirming that subsequent crises would be handled by the organization's larger forces, their nerves, stretched to the limit, finally relaxed.

The moment they stepped into the room, they collapsed onto their respective beds almost simultaneously, falling into a deep, heavy sleep.