101: A bird startled by the twang of a bow

Brazil, Manaus International Airport.

The departure hall was bustling with people, the ceiling lights as bright as day, making one's head spin.

Over the speakers, flight information in Portuguese, English, and Spanish intertwined like a meaningless lullaby. In the air, the rich aroma of coffee, the scent of high-end perfume from women, and the weary air of travel unique to travelers mixed into a scent belonging to modern civilization—peaceful to the point of luxury.

All of this was completely out of place for Lin Feng and Wang Dalong in the corner.

The two of them wished they could shrink into the hard plastic seats, turning into two unnoticed shadows. They had changed into the cheapest, most ordinary T-shirts and jeans they could buy in the small town, with their baseball cap brims pulled extremely low, covering almost everything from their brow bones to their chins.

Even disguised like this, they were still like the two most conspicuous fireflies in the night; there were always faint gazes, either curious or scrutinizing, drifting over.

It couldn't be helped; their condition was simply too pathetic.

Although in the small inn, they had scrubbed themselves three times from head to toe with scalding hot water and devoured enough food for five people like a whirlwind, the exhaustion and panic that seeped from the depths of their souls into their bones couldn't be washed away by a full meal and a hot bath.

Lin Feng's eyes always maintained a state of high alertness that only a wild beast in unfamiliar territory would have. He seemed to be spacing out, but the corner of his eye was always monitoring everything within a twenty-meter radius.

Any man in a dark suit with a sharp temperament, or even just a passerby with a standard military gait, would cause his back muscles to tighten instantly within a tenth of a second, and his right hand would subconsciously reach for his waist—which was now empty, with only a thin layer of T-shirt fabric.

This phantom-pain-like sense of loss made him even more irritable.

"Brother Feng, relax, relax..." Wang Dalong lowered his voice, which carried a trace of imperceptible trembling. His lips were somewhat pale; clearly, he was also nervous to the extreme.

"This is an international airport, there are cameras everywhere. Even if those bastards are all-powerful, they wouldn't dare to make a move here. Stay calm, we need to stay calm..."

Despite saying that, a layer of fine cold sweat had already broken out on his forehead. The cup of iced cola in his hand shook as if he had Parkinson's, and the ice cubes inside clinked against the walls, making a crisp "clink-clink" sound that, in this noisy environment, was as clear as a death knell.

Just a moment ago, he had gone to the restroom.

Just at the sink, he had locked eyes with a burly white man wearing sunglasses and a scorpion tattoo on his neck.

It was that one look—the other's cold gaze, like he was inspecting merchandise—that nearly made Wang Dalong's heart jump out of his throat. He had practically scrambled back to his seat, and his calves were still trembling even now.

Startled birds.

No, they were worse off than startled birds now. The bow hadn't even been drawn yet; just seeing the shadow of someone holding a bow made their hair stand on end.

The experience in the Golden City was like a brand seared with a red-hot iron, deeply etched into their souls. That world-destroying structural collapse that reshaped the laws of physics, Osiris's final face, distorted beyond human recognition, and that infinite, all-purifying golden light... As soon as they closed their eyes, these images replayed frantically in their minds, accompanied by deafening auditory hallucinations.

"Boarding now," Lin Feng said, looking at the scrolling flight information on the electronic screen, his voice as raspy as sandpaper.

Swish!

The two of them practically catapulted up at the same time, their movements so fast they startled an old lady dozing nearby.

Mingling with the bustling crowd, they kept their heads down and rushed toward the boarding gate at maximum speed, almost like power-walking. Every step felt like treading on red-hot blades. They didn't dare to talk or look around; all their focus was concentrated on the words "leave here."

Not until they crossed the jet bridge, sat down in the cramped and stifling economy class seats, buckled their seatbelts tightly, heard the engines begin to roar deafeningly, and felt the reassuring slight vibration as the plane started to taxi... did the two of them feel like the bones had been sucked out of their bodies, collapsing heavily against the backrests like piles of mud.

"Phew... phew... phew..." Wang Dalong panted with his mouth open like a dehydrated fish, his chest heaving violently. He felt like he hadn't just walked a few hundred meters, but had finished a full marathon carrying a hundred kilograms of gear.

Lin Feng slowly turned his head to look out the cabin window.

Manaus, the city built in the heart of the Amazon Rainforest, was rapidly shrinking in his field of vision. The thousands of lights on the ground eventually turned into a blurry speck of light, completely disappearing beneath the thick clouds.

Goodbye, Amazon.

Goodbye, El Dorado.

He slowly closed his eyes. This time, his mind was no longer filled with those images of blood, violence, and destruction.

In their place was the Golden Warrior powered by the Blue Core, who, in the second before being completely swallowed by billions of tons of rock, had made that ancient "please" gesture to him through the endless dust.

And its final words, which had echoed directly in his soul.

The faint, needle-like stinging pain brought by those words still lingered deep in his mind.

[Good luck... Witness...]

Lin Feng's fist resting on his knee clenched silently, his knuckles turning white... The thirty-odd hours of intercontinental flight were spent almost entirely in a cycle of deep sleep, nightmares, and startling awake.

When the plane landed smoothly on the runway of the domestic airport, when the incredibly familiar Mandarin with various regional accents reached his ears, and when he breathed in the air that carried a hint of familiar smog but was incredibly reassuring... Wang Dalong, a man over 1.8 meters tall weighing 180 pounds, suddenly found his eyes turning red.

Home.

Damn, I really made it home alive.

The two of them practically fled the terminal, hailed a ride-share car, and headed straight for their tiny rental apartment in the urban village.

Opening the peeling security door with a key, a familiar "breath of life"—a mix of takeout grease and instant noodle seasoning—wafted toward them. The narrow living room, the balcony piled with clutter, the dirty clothes tossed haphazardly on the sofa... everything was exactly as it was when they left.

It felt like a lifetime ago.

Just a few hours ago, they were discussing the rise and fall of an interstellar alien civilization.

A few hours later, they were back in this rental apartment that cost three thousand a month, less than sixty square meters, and where the toilet drain often clogged.

This intense contrast brought about a nearly schizophrenic, extremely surreal sense of fragmentation.

"Fuck!"

Wang Dalong threw his backpack on the floor and sprawled out in the shape of a star, throwing himself with all his might into the creaky old sofa. He stared blankly at the yellowed water stain on the ceiling for a long while before squeezing out a sentence.

"Brother Feng, I suddenly feel like... our current setup doesn't quite match the word 'billionaire.' Does anyone understand, folks? This contrast is just too ridiculous."

The gold in El Dorado—never mind a single brick, if they could have scraped a handful of gold dust off the walls back then, it would have been enough to buy a luxury penthouse in the best area of this first-tier city. But now, they were still squeezed into this dump, their pockets cleaner than their faces.

Lin Feng didn't speak.

He walked to the window, pulled back the faded curtain, and looked at the busy street below and the neon lights of the CBD in the distance.

His gaze was calm. He had never cared about money.

But Wang Dalong's words were like a needle, precisely piercing the layer of false security in his heart.

This place was no longer safe.

Osiris might be dead, but the organization behind "them" was still there. The coordinates of El Dorado had been exposed, and as the only two survivors to walk out of there alive, they were two moving, living targets.

Continuing to live here was equivalent to completely exposing their backs to the unknown enemies lurking in the shadows.

It was time to move.

A place that was safer, more hidden, and would allow them to peacefully digest the "gains" from this trip.

But before that... there was something more important and more interesting to do.

Lin Feng slowly turned around, his deep gaze falling on Wang Dalong like two deep, ancient wells.

"Fatty, organize the stuff in the camera."

!"

Wang Dalong sat up from the sofa as if hit by an electric current. On his exhausted face, his eyes instantly erupted with a terrifying glint, and all his fatigue vanished.

"Brother Feng, you mean...?" His voice trembled slightly with excitement.

"Yeah."

Lin Feng nodded, the corner of his mouth curling into a very faint, cold, and playful arc.

"Don't they want to find El Dorado?"

"Then we'll... show the whole world something good."

His voice wasn't loud, but it was powerful, stirring up a silent storm in this small rental apartment.

"It's time to make this game a little more interesting."