Long-term salvation

"That's the bad intention I'm talking about!"

Abigail's cheeks puffed up, and she suddenly took off the black cat Pickman, who was lying on her head. The latter was also depressed, but as soon as it was caught by its owner, the cat felt that something bad might happen next.

"Pickman, bite her!"

"Meow!"/"Meow?!"

Ignoring the two evil god's offspring who were playing around, Rhodes rubbed his brow, hoping that Shub-Niggurath would not interfere again. There had been enough bad luck on this unfortunate planet.

Throwing those messy thoughts behind his mind, Rhodes walked over to the still unconscious James Bond and half-knelt down. He reached out to open his tightly closed eyelids and saw that his pupils were trembling. It was obvious that "the agent's faith was being tested." He just didn't know whether it would be "virtue" or "torture" in the end.

It now seems that the latter is more likely.

After seeing Rhodes's actions, Dr. Flett reached out to put away the videotape and film, and asked with a bit of helplessness:

"What should we do with this agent? It's not appropriate to keep him here, right? Do we really need to find a place to bury him?"

"...If I remember correctly, you should be a highly respected doctor and a scholar."

"I am also a trustee of the Cogito Foundation. I will never hesitate when it is time to shoot."

The old doctor took a breath, pressing his aching head, and glanced at the two descendants of the evil god who had already begun to blend (Nyako was bewitching Abigail), and said with a sigh:

"Damn it! I'm afraid I won't be able to attend the next council meeting. I need to rest. I'm planning to go on vacation to the Argos Panoptos family in Greece. Please take Laura on an adventure so she can gain some experience."

"That's exactly what I meant. As for this agent—I've already planned to slowly reveal the existence of the other world to governments around the world or to those who possess the necessary willpower and character."

Rhodes nodded, reached out and lifted Bond up from the ground, ready to find a random place to throw him away. The rest would depend on his own luck... But given his legendary status, Rhodes estimated that he would see him again in the future.

Just as everyone left the murky cellar and arrived at the Exum Hermitage above, Nayako strolled over with a malicious smile on her face:

"Rod, I have a gift for you that will just solve your little problem."

"No need," Rhodes refused immediately. He lifted Bond onto his shoulder again, freed his right hand to curl up Nayako's silver hair, and said unhappily, "Let's not talk about what you and Abigail are planning, but it's definitely not a good thing for me - what are you planning?"

"Oh, this is so sad," the silver-haired beauty said, her hands on her hips, her cheeks puffed up into cute puffs like Abigail's when she's angry. "Even I know the principle of playing the long game! Hehe, a portable device that can erase the memories of irrelevant people, I'm sure Rhode really needs it, right?"

A memory-erasing device?

Rhodes stopped abruptly. Turning around, he saw the descendant of the evil god wearing sunglasses he had pulled out from somewhere, holding a small silver stick... It looked exactly like the "memory eraser" in the "Men in Black" series. Wait, it seemed to be that thing.

It’s okay, at least this guy didn’t take out a beta magic wand.

"Rhode, you know how to use this, right?" Nayako slowly pushed the amnesiac back, raised her head and chest, and circled around Rhode with her hands behind her back. "You want it? Of course I do! So what kind of reward should I ask Rhode for?"

"…What do you want me to do?"

"Kiss me, but I decide the location and timing," Nayako said, grabbing Rhodes' arm with a grin. Under Abigail's murderous gaze, she showed an expression that wanted to cause trouble. "Of course, it's just a normal kiss, without those weird additional conditions."

Facing Rhode's incredulous gaze, Nayako shrugged and said with a smile:

"There was already a bad kid, so I decided to be a good kid."

Abigail: "...my fist is hard."

"Sounds like a good fit," Rhode thought for a moment before agreeing. "Sorry, Yaozi, you're going to suffer in the future." After selling his organs, Rhode took the memory eraser from Nyako's hand. The system then promptly popped up a notification indicating the side quest was complete.

[Side Quest: Twelve Trials: Rat in the Wall (Completed)]

【Transaction Completed】

【Task rewards begin to be distributed】

[Pollution points in the other world have been collected]

[Memory Eraser Manufacturing Blueprint Received]

[Equipment·Memory Eraser·Exchange Function Now Available]

Rhodes carefully looked at the instructions on the memory eraser and found that this thing is most effective on ordinary humans. Those with clairvoyance will lose their memories at the time, but will slowly recover later.

Poor Mr. Delapore would certainly need it, as he would probably still be lying on the cold ground, trapped in a terrible nightmare.

After thinking about the current situation in his mind, Rhode turned to Abigail and Nayako and said:

"My two lovely ladies, could you please just wipe out this Exum Priory? Just let it become an ancient ruin, and no one will care about it anymore."

"That's no problem... Do you want to set it on fire now?"

"What are you thinking about?" Rhodes threw Bond to the ground and flicked Nayako's forehead. "We need to pack up the materials and books passed down by the Delapore family first. We also need to send Mr. Delapore to Arkham Asylum."

"Then—"

"Rod, this is news about the two angel girls following you," Dr. Flett suddenly called out to Rod. He was holding a satellite phone with a message stored in it:

[Sensei, we went to visit Colonel Faulkner, whom you mentioned. We also met Captain John Price there. They have been invited to Crawford Manor! The colonel is willing to recruit some mercenaries to help!]

Rhodes: “…”

This sudden joy immediately diluted the sadness that was entangled with Nyako.

Chapter 178: The Girls' Visit (3.5K)

While Lord and Dr. Flyte travel to Exham Priory in northern England, Mary, Gina, and Laura continue to wander around London.

Unlike the rainy northern England, the sky in London appears blue and clear at this time, with occasional cream-colored clouds lazily drifting by. The not-so-strong sunlight shines between the city's skyscrapers, tempting the British who are suffering from the cold weather to go out of their homes and come to the parks and rivers to enjoy this hard-earned light.

Amid the bustling crowd, Mary had changed into the young girl's clothes that were popular in the early 90s. Holding the hand of Hina, who was dressed similarly, she followed Lara Croft to look at the glittering goods in the shop windows.

"Didn't Mr. Rhodes give you any gifts?" Laura asked with a hint of joking. "Just giving money isn't enough, especially for girls—the thought behind the gift is also important! Even if the gifts aren't expensive."

"Sensei usually focuses more on work, so we don't need to seek more. Having affection and love is enough," Mary whispered. "There are those who are greedy all day long, while the righteous give without being stingy."

"Indeed," Hinata nodded as well, a look of deep agreement on her face.

“…I’m going to call the police.”

Laura pressed her hand to her forehead and sighed. Although she knew from her mentor and the two girls how great she was doing, the leader who walked ahead of everyone seemed a little unreliable, especially in personal matters. Laura didn't want to hear a news headline saying that the savior of mankind was beaten into the hospital by his lovers, or worse.

Putting these little things behind her, Laura took out the note from her mentor, Dr. Timothy Flyte, glanced at the address on it, and then prepared to take Mary and Gina to visit Colonel Allen Faulkner of the British Army, who had retired for several years and was now confused about his future.

In fact, Colonel Faulkner planned to follow the example of his good friend Brigadier General Hammer in the United States Army and form a PMC team to take on jobs suitable for veterans like himself who have spent half their lives in the military. This is also the choice of many veterans. It's not that they don't have enough pensions or salaries, but it's difficult to save money after returning to society:

Work, marriage, childbirth, family... The power of life is no less than bullets and cannons, and it will also scrape away the flesh and spirit bit by bit like a blunt knife, throwing people into countless complicated trivial matters and concerns, until decades later, when they recall the past with some regrets.

Under such circumstances, General Hammer, who left the United States Army but was able to continue his "military life", naturally became the object of envy of many officers and soldiers who were about to retire. In addition to supervising training every day, this old man wrote letters and made phone calls to show off his current situation and frantically poached talents from NATO countries' armies.

How to recruit? The promise of an Army Without Borders salary is enough to attract applicants! Even those who fail the assessment will have their round-trip airfare reimbursed. Since applicants are essentially all elite soldiers from NATO countries, there are few unqualified candidates, and even if they do, they will be eliminated in the subsequent assessment.

Although there will definitely be a few more spies and undercover agents mixed in in the future, those disguises will be meaningless under the gaze of Rhode's all-seeing eye patch.

But at this moment, these things had little to do with the girls who were heading to Colonel Faulkner's residence. They walked through the shadows cast by the old house in the bright sunshine and pressed the doorbell amid the laughter of children running around them.

The bell rang, but it took a minute or two for the door to open.

A man with graying temples opened the door. His face looked like a valley washed by floods, with the helplessness of time. When he saw the visitors, the old colonel frowned and said impatiently:

"Ladies, today is not Halloween, and it's not appropriate for an old bachelor like me to invite you in for tea. Let's go and don't waste my time."

"Colonel Alan Faulkner of the British Royal Army?" Hinai glanced at the notebook in his hand, which contained some information about the colonel and a blurry photo.

"There's no 'royal'," Mary tugged at Hinai's sleeve, meeting his puzzled gaze and whispered, "The British Army chopped off the head of the British King before, so there's no royal family."

"That's because the British Army is not legally under the Crown's jurisdiction!"

The old colonel glared at the girl in front of him who had a look of "I see" on her face, and then prepared to close the door, while at the same time saying in a bad mood:

"Listen, lovely ladies, I don't care if you're here to make fun of me or what, I have guests at home, so get out of my sight!"

"General Hammer said you need some work and money," Hinata said calmly, causing the old colonel to stop closing the door. He eyed the three people suspiciously. The girl then continued, "We're here on behalf of the Army Without Borders to recruit you... well, we're considered advance personnel. There will be a more formal introduction later."

"Tsk, forget it, come in," the old colonel made way. "There are no slippers, and you don't have to take off your shoes. The last time I mopped the floor was last Friday. I can't afford a housemaid. Those damn housekeeping companies charge too much, and there's a lot of tax... Hey, Price! Make room. There are some new guests here. Put on your damn shoes!"

Price?

Hearing the name, Mary and Hinai looked at each other, and then remembered what Rhodes had mentioned - Lee Christmas and Gideon who were from the SAS. They had both trained and fought with the famous Captain John Price, and had a high opinion of the latter.

The house where Colonel Allen Faulkner lived was by no means bad, just a little old. The messy furniture and accumulated dust inside were mostly due to neglect. If Mrs. Faulkner were still alive, she would never allow her home and her husband to remain in this state. However, when this respectable woman who accompanied the colonel from a private to a senior officer passed away from bone cancer, there was no one to nag in the corridor anymore, talking about trivial matters and happy complaints.

Retracting their gaze from the photos hanging on the wall, Hina, Mary, and Laura walked into the reception room and saw the bearded man holding a beer bottle. The man scratched his hair, hiding the bottle behind his back rather embarrassedly, and said helplessly:

"Colonel, you didn't say the new guests would be some lovely girls...are they your granddaughters?"

"I don't have such a lovely granddaughter with my old face, and my three children have rarely been with me since their mother passed away. Well, you know, I'm not a good family man." The old colonel sneered, kicked the bottles away, took out a few clean blankets from the closet and draped them on the sofa, and said to the girls:

"Come on, little princesses, we can chat slowly—Oh, my God! Château Leroy red wine and Cuban cigars? Are you really princesses?!"

"General Hammer said, 'This is a gift from his personal rations,' and also said, 'You can't get this privilege even if you join the Army Without Borders now, you can only get the secondary rations.'"

"Damn bald guy, the upstart from the New World... Oh, sorry kids, I'm not talking about you."

Colonel Faulkner reached out and touched his brown hair, which had begun to darken, and paced around the room angrily, but finally hid the wine and cigars behind the sofa to block Price's eager gaze. The old colonel, frightened by that gaze, thought for a moment and felt that if he didn't take out a few cigars, a group of petty thieves would sneak in at night in a couple of days.

The colonel took out a few cigars and stuffed them into Price's arms. With a look of heartache on his face, he sat on the sofa and introduced Price to the girls:

"This one is also a soldier. You can call him John..."

"Captain John Price, an elite member of the SAS. I send my regards to you on behalf of Gideon and Mr. Lee Christmas. They both recommended you to General Hammer," Hinai nodded. She ignored Price's surprised look and continued on her own. "And Sensei also said that Captain Price was in the first batch of recruits. You are very capable, very capable."

"...It's an honor to have so many people willing to recruit me," Captain Price twirled his beard and sighed, "but I'm sorry, ladies, I can't respond to the call. I have a team in the making, and it's because General Hammer has left with the elite Marines. This is an order from General Herschel Sheffield of the United States. Just go back and tell General Hammer, he'll understand."

"So, you don't have the luxury, boy."

Colonel Faulkner smiled and said that although he was an officer in the British Army, in 1989, the total strength of the British Armed Forces was only about 31. The SAS, a model of special forces worldwide, had obviously worked with many units. Not to mention, at his age, Colonel Faulkner could even perform a HALO (High Altitude Low Opening)! And he did it with fifty mercenaries at the same time!

This level of combat prowess, organizational prowess, and training capabilities... Colonel Faulkner and the people he could find must have something to offer, and it must be related to the SAS. That's why Price came to him, hoping to see if he had any suitable candidates to recommend to his squad.

After joking for a while, Colonel Faulkner put away his smile and said to Hina and Mary seriously:

"To be honest, I'm short of money, and I know a lot of good people who need money. They're clean people who don't take drugs, don't steal, are loyal to their employers, and are willing to sacrifice their lives for their families to have a better life. But I need to know, what are we going to do next?"

"You'll know, Colonel. I can pay you a deposit first, recruit some people, and then charter a plane to the United States. As for the assembly point..."

"We can go to Crawford Manor first," Laura suddenly said, meeting their gazes with a hint of embarrassment. "Those who don't want to join can try working in Greece. The 'Ruins Guardians', who protect ancient ruins and museums, also need help."

"If that's the case, it's not impossible. Let's set it as Crawford Manor. We'll leave a message for Sensei."

Hinai looked at Mari, but she only gave him a warm smile, clearly determined to follow Hinai's opinion. Having made up her mind, Hinai looked at Captain Price and asked:

"Captain Price, go check it out too. Meet our Sensei, and maybe he'll change your mind. You might even meet the team member you want there."

"Well...you've convinced me, young lady. More importantly, I still have four days of vacation. Maybe it would be nice to enjoy life a little."

Chapter 179 Heading to Crawford Manor

After dumping James Bond somewhere, Rhodes and his party left Exham Priory and stopped briefly in Lancaster, northern England.

Under the slightly gloomy sky, Rhodes waited for nearly two hours until Dr. Flett and Mr. Delapur, who was still half asleep and half awake, successfully reunited with the hurried Plessy Logistics Company personnel. That's right, it wasn't Atlas Company:

Director Charles Jean Plessis, who was born in France, owns a large logistics company called "Plessis Logistics". Its site network covers the entire Western Europe, Southern Europe, North Africa and a small part of Eastern Europe. Together with the Argos Panoptos family, which focuses on developing the Balkan Peninsula, it monitors the activities of the other world in the European part... Although it is monitoring, it is more of a collection of specific intelligence. It is also difficult to distinguish the truly useful information from the complex intelligence.

For this reason, the directors of the Cogito Foundation are integrating their resources and personal networks, preparing to gradually transfer them to the established Army Without Borders.

The girls at Hill Villa were so busy with this that they sent emails to Rhodes one after another as a routine.

After reading the financial audit report email from Yuuka, Rhodes took the opportunity to comfort the girl who was accumulating "Rhodes Energy" - at the end of the email, he attached a small incident from his recent trip, and at the same time described his experience of meeting an indescribable existence in a trivial tone... Although it was unlikely that they would believe it, it could at least reduce some meaningless worries.

After sending the message, Rhodes stretched, started the car, and drove towards London amid the noise of Abigail and Nayako.

Driving on the country roads of England is truly a pleasure. The bumpy and undulating low hills in the distance are covered with wildly grown green grass, which contrasts with the occasional touch of blue between the overlapping clouds, thus displaying the breath of life unreservedly to every human passing by.

Even the fallen gravel fences and crudely collapsed stone houses by the roadside looked much more pleasing to the eye than the blasphemous and twisted grandeur of the cave of bones.

Rod planned to drive along the motorway through Manchester and Birmingham, then via Oxford, directly to Crawford Hall in outer London. He had actually asked Dr. Timothy Flyte, a former Oxford professor, if he wanted to visit the university, but the old doctor simply waved his hand, declaring he'd wait a few years before confronting those bald idiots... As a rare British man without a bald head, Dr. Flyte clearly had a more powerful weapon in his mouth.

"Hey, Rhodes, have you heard of Cthugha? And Hastur, I think it's called this using human pronunciation habits."

Nayako sat behind the driver's seat, stretched out her arms and put them around Rhodes' neck. The touch of her soft and smooth slender arms and the warmth that came out of his lips when he spoke brought about a strange and charming atmosphere.

However, Rhode just opened his eyes and pulled out a fork from his pocket - a fork stained with his own blood - and after waving it in front of Nayako, she immediately retreated back to the seat, smirking and saying:

"Don't take it so seriously, I was just joking."

"Don't try to pollute my mind with all that nonsense, Nayako," Rhodes put his fork back and took out a cigarette pack from his jacket pocket. He pinched it with his fingers and found that there were only a few cigarettes left. He stuffed the pack back in and said helplessly, "I already understand how chaotic this world is, but I definitely don't want my mind to be affected by the same. By the way, are there other Outer Gods or followers of the Old Ones on Earth?"

"Do you want to know, Rhode? If you want it, you have to come and get it yourself - you already know the rules."

With her mouth curved into an ω shape, the ahoge on Nyako's head began to spin like a fan, waking up Abigail who was resting with her eyes half closed. The latter rubbed her eyes, turned over and continued to hug Pickman as a pillow to sleep - this girl had been tense all the time, but now she finally couldn't hold on any longer and let herself be overwhelmed by fatigue... Or maybe she ran to the dream world to complain to Asuka Iki.