Chapter 438
The auction would go on.
There was no way Shermaine’s carefully laid trap could be unraveled just like that. In fact, her sudden disappearance might be exactly what those people were behind.
“We’re going too,” Molly said firmly.
Roy shook his head. “Joshua gave me strict orders. I need to keep eyes on them. Can’t afford to let them slip away.”
Molly nodded, her voice cool and steady. “Then I’ll stay with you.”
Shermaine had invested too much in this operation. Her absence could not be allowed to derail it.
Meanwhile, in the shadows, Harry couldn’t help but feel that Judy had gone too far.
That weapon she’d used on Shermaine wasn’t just some trinket. It was a prison built in four-dimensional space. Judy had been saving it for a moment when her own life was on the line.
Once someone entered that dimension, escape was almost impossible. Worse yet, it only worked three times.
This was the final use. After this, there would be no second chance.
If Shermaine couldn’t make it out, she’d be trapped inside, left to rot.
And yet, even knowing that, Harry still thought it was a waste to use something so rare on someone like Shermaine.
But later, he changed his mind. Looking back, Judy had made the right call.
And still, that so-called prison hadn’t been enough to kill her. Shermaine wasn’t someone who could be taken out so easily. Some people were simply born to survive.
“Where’s Joshua now?” Judy asked.
“He’s already gone to Mount Hordeum.”
Judy had it all calculated. Once she got her hands on the book, she’d head to Mount Hordeum to find him.
He had royal blood, and if she could convince him to wield Apocalypse for her, he’d be the perfect weapon.
Shermaine was the key to controlling him. That much was clear.
Inside that mysterious four-dimensional space, Shermaine and Neil had barely dodged a tornado. Somehow, they were still alive.
The helicopter circled, scanning for signs of life.
After one slow pass, Neil turned to her. “Mrs. York, I think I see a wreckage in the forest. Looks like a crashed plane.”
Shermaine narrowed her eyes. “Take us down.”
The helicopter touched down in a clearing, and Shermaine stepped out, walking straight toward the wreck.
It was a fighter jet.
But the design didn’t match anything from their time.
Inside the cockpit sat a skeleton, still dressed in a flight suit.
Whoever it was had been dead for years, nothing left but bones.
Neil stared, frozen. A cold chill crept up his spine.
Are we going to die here too? he thought. Did we just… travel through time?
Other people who got thrown through time ended up ruling kingdoms. But here they were, dumped in the middle of a wasteland.
The weather shifted abruptly. The sky darkened like spilled ink, thunder rumbling low and deep.
And then came the rain, fast, hard, and merciless. It pounded the earth like war drums.
Shermaine didn’t flinch. Calm as ever, she kept studying the fighter jet.
Her fingers brushed something, and suddenly a blue holographic screen sprang to life in midair.
“Hello, fellow exile,” said a man’s voice. “My name is Maverick Kirk. If you’re seeing this, I’m probably already gone…”
But the language was foreign, completely incomprehensible.
Shermaine and the pilot stared at the screen, unable to make sense of a single word.
Still, that message confirmed her suspicions. Whoever was looking for the booklet, they weren’t from this world.
They were from a parallel universe, or maybe another planet altogether. And their technology was far more advanced than anything on Earth.
In fact, Dave’s appearance had already hinted at it.
The secret of the crystal sarcophagus wasn’t just big. It was cosmic.
It turned out that visitors from another world had been living among them for a thousand years, maybe more.
Suddenly, something moved outside.
Neil blinked, thinking he imagined it. But there it was, a pair of glowing red eyes. A towering silver humanoid robot, nearly six feet tall, stood at the entrance of the helicopter.
Its hands began to twist and shift with a mechanical snap. In seconds, they transformed into curved, gleaming blades. “Life form detected,” it said in a flat, robotic voice. “Engaging termination protocol.”