The Ultimate Evolution
chapter-1224

After the signing of the contract, Zi gave Curtis $100,000 in cash, then told Curtis he only had three hours to deal with his personal matters before he had to start work.

Thanks to Sheyan's previous suggestion, Curtis did not raise any objection to this unreasonable request. He merely treated it as part of the $700,000 annual salary job -- or, more precisely, as the deliberate attempt of a crazy interviewer to cause trouble for him.

After going back into his house to pack up in a hurry (the explosion happened on the road outside his house), he gave his ex-wife a call to boast about his new job. He gestured that he was ready to go after that.

On the pretext of a free medical examination, Sheyan took a sample of Curtis' blood and dripped it onto his 'Chris Redfield's Lucky Bracelet'. The bloody glow of the bracelet shone even brighter, like a red agate. It seemed to be close to getting unsealed.

On the way back, Party Ace eagerly stuffed the DVD Rocky gave them into a DVD player. They were really curious on what was on the damn DVD.

The first thing to appear on screen seemed to be something like a church. Zi and Reef were both slightly surprised to see it.

"Rome?"

Sheyan could not recognise the subtle differences between various European cultures, just as many westerners could not distinguish the differences between Chinese architecture and Indian architecture.

"Rocky's legendary weapon initially had no weapon soul, so he targeted the soul of the Lance of Longinus. It makes sense that he would go to Italy," remarked Sheyan after hearing what they said.

"I see. Because of the apocalypse, these sacred relics must be transported to the arks. Since they'll no longer be protected inside the church, the difficulty of obtaining them is naturally much lower," Zi suddenly understood.

Next, they saw Rocky appear on screen in a rather sorry state. He was wearing an ill-fitting priest robe that had many holes on it. The parts of his skin that were exposed through the holes were red, as if they had been scalded by boiling water. A large number of people were in pursuit behind him, but from Rocky's relaxed expression, you would think that it was a group of ants that were chasing after him instead of a group of people.

"This is probably recorded with the recording function of the Nightmare Imprint," Zi said in a subdued voice, "I'll do the same next time. This can help us review our mistakes."

They then saw Rocky shake off his pursuers and arrive at the top of a building. He suddenly scowled, and there seemed to be sounds of glass shattering coming from his body. Rocky immediately pulled out a blue bead the size of a finger joint from his shirt. The bead was covered in cracks.

Rocky threw the bead to the ground. Smoke immediately rose from it. Carlos' battered figure, half kneeling on the ground, appeared within the smoke. He shouted in a hoarse voice, "Boss, help!"

Rocky frowned, and the priest robe on his body was instantly torn to pieces by a strong gale. Thunder and lightning appeared on his right hand. He grasped the legendary weapon behind his back. The wrapping cloth instantly shattered!

Party Ace were interested in how the spear, which had combined two legendary weapons, looked like, but its specific shape could not be seen because it was completely covered in a milky-white light. However, they could all feel the wild ferocity of the light it emitted.

Rocky performed a throwing motion, but Gungnir did not leave his hand. An incorporeal ray of white light shot out from its tip instead. A black hole suddenly appeared about 50 to 60 meters away, and the astonishingly sharp ray of light drilled into the black hole!

The scene shifted to the JFK Airport. A black hole had suddenly appeared above the airport. Carlos, Razor and Taji were on the verge of being wiped out by the Divine Servant. Suddenly, the light from Gungnir pierced straight down into the Divine Servant's chest, nailing him to the ground!!

There was a cut in the video after that. It now depicted Rocky's fierce encounter with the man called Bind. The scenes of this fight did not seem coherent, as if they had been edited. It felt like they were watching a comic strip instead of a video broadcast.

The Bind in the video had a very ordinary appearance, that of a middle-aged man in a suit commonly seen on Wall Street. The Gungnir in Rocky's hand should be the real Gungnir. Whenever it moved, twisting electric currents about five meters long would coil around it, and illusionary images of crosses and angels would appear. The object in Rocky's hands seemed like a bunch of electricity without substance, and yet it felt as wild and frantic as a three-thousand-foot waterfall!

But Bind was actually unharmed by these electric currents. He was like a leaf floating on water; the harder one tried to scoop it up, the further away the leaf would be pushed by the water flow. That was the impression he gave Sheyan and the rest in those dozen or so image fragments.

In the end, Rocky's electricity finally pierced through Bind's abdomen like a bloodthirsty beast, but at the same time, Rocky's tall body also convulsed, apparently receiving an injury himself. The video stopped there.

Party Ace watched the battles in the video over and over again, but besides the spectacular visual effects like those in blockbuster Hollywood movies, Bind being really good at dodging, and Rocky being really powerful, they did not discover anything else.

But Rocky's words from before were still ringing in their ears: "If you watch this DVD and perform a thorough study of Bind's actions, you'll still have a glimmer of hope!"

Because of that, they continued to look carefully for any secrets hidden within the recording.

But Sheyan suddenly turned off the video. After thinking about it for a moment, he retrieved the DVD from the DVD player and broke it into pieces.

Amidst the startled gazes of the others, Sheyan smiled and said, "Once is enough. There's no point in watching it more than once. This is just a smokescreen that Rocky threw at us. He wants us to focus our attention on this DVD, and thus ignore some other really key things. Well, maybe not key things, but it should at least be something that Rocky doesn't want us to discover."

At this point, Sheyan was already pretty confident of his deduction. His eyes turned cold.

"On the surface, Rocky seemed to have explained everything very clearly and thoroughly. I do believe that what he told us today was the truth, and he has unraveled a lot of mysteries for us, but he had lightly brushed off something that's really important - the reason Bind suddenly abandoned the fight on our side to rush over to save the Divine Servant!"

"Isn't it because he's a Divine Servant?" Reef asked in surprise.

Sheyan shook his head slightly. "We've been dealing with this guy for a while. From what I understand of him, he's definitely not a soft-hearted person. He should be someone who's narrow-minded, who thinks highly of himself, who will seek revenge for the smallest grievances, but also overflowing with talent. In the eyes of such a cold-natured person, everyone else should just be pawns to be used!"

"He's been hunting us for about three or four worlds now. The guy is obviously determined to kill us! He's worked so hard to lay out this intricate plan and managed to find such a good opportunity, but he abandoned it when he was about to wipe us all out? How could he do that for the life of a so-called Divine Servant?"

They suddenly felt enlightened after listening to what Sheyan said. Zi then speculated, "Maybe there's something on the Divine Servant that must not be lost?"

"Very likely," Sheyan's gaze was like the blade of a knife soaked in water, gleaming with sharpness. "Rocky may not necessarily have rushed over there in such a hurry to get revenge for his teammates. Maybe it's to get his hands on that thing!"

　　***

They discussed and analysed as they traveled. They soon escorted Mr. Jackson Curtis to the tightly-protected base. They arranged some tedious and time-consuming tasks for him to do first, such as checking accounts.

News of the assassinations of some heads of state and certain tycoons started appearing on television.

Party Ace paid attention to all this but was not very anxious about it. Right now, they were waiting. Rocky may be right in that Bind might not catch up to him, but as long as Party Ace keep themselves under the protection of Professor X, Bind could not do anything to them either! Sometimes, waiting was also an offensive move.

The mantis stalks the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind. Bind wished to be the oriole who swooped in from behind, but he may very well be the cicada instead!

They were also waiting for the base to grow. Right now, the base was expanding at an alarming rate in ways that were reminiscent of pyramid schemes. People who wished to board the airships came in an endless stream, almost flocking over. The moment these people paid for their tickets, they became a part of the base.

Party Ace soon managed to gather the information they needed. After all, few people could retain any professional ethics when faced with the enormous pressure of their own and their families' survival.

Sheyan held in his hand a piece of paper on which was listed the American cultural works of art. There were red ticks next to all four treasures on the list - 'Crystal Skull', 'Dagger of the Golden Priest', 'Eye of Quetzalcoatl' and 'Indian Chief's Fanged Mask'. The time these treasures would be transported to the arks, the location and even the route were clearly stated next to each item!