Hide and Seek: The Mad Girl Sees All novel Chapter 114

Chapter 114

Chapter 114

STEA

Zoe opened the car door. “Get in.”

Lyra hopped into the passenger seat, while Jane’s soul slipped into the back. The relics bundled up in her soul power couldn’t phase through the car like she could.

Zoe hit the gas, the SUV spun around, tires crunching over gravel as it shot forward.

The car jolted a couple of times, and Lyra shot Zoe a look. “Zoe, I didn’t even send out the red alert yet, how’d you get here so fast?”

Zoe kept her hands on the wheel, eyes fixed on the road ahead.

“HQ figured you were about done exploring, so the Chief Advisor sent me to pick you up.” Zoe replied.

“Perfect timing,” Lyra said with a grin.

Lyra giggled. “Lana’s got perfect timing, as always.”

Zoe smiled, glancing in the rearview mirror at the back seat.

Jane’s soul was floating there, a bundle of items wrapped in her soul power hovering beside her. Zoe could tell at a glance. they were military gear.

Zoe’s grip on the wheel tightened. “Captain, what are these?”

Jane lowered her head, her gaze falling on the bundle. “They belonged to the soldiers who went into the Mist Zone before.”

She paused for a moment. “These are their belongings.”

The car fell silent. Outside the window, the cracked ground sped by beneath the wheels, and the distant Ghost Wall faded away, growing smaller and smaller.

The SUV pulled up inside the perimeter, where Garrett and his team were waiting on the helipad.

Lyra hopped out, and Garrett came over, giving her a quick once-over to make sure she was okay before asking, “Lyra, how’d it go?”

“Uncle Garrett, we were on fire! Jane and I totally crushed it.” Lyra replied.

Jane’s soul floated out from the back of the car, the bundle of belongings hovering beside her, held up by her soul power.

Garrett stopped in his tracks, staring at the items. He swallowed hard, didn’t ask who they belonged to or where they’d been found. He just reached out and took them, gently supported by her soul power.

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He gathered them up one by one, handling each with care.

The five helicopters made their way back along the same route, and two and a half hours later, they landed on the Command Center’s helipad.

Lana was already there, waiting on the helipad.

Lyra spotted her from afar and jogged over. Lana caught her by the shoulders, giving her a quick once-over.

“Everything go smoothly?” Lana asked.

“Smooth as silk.” Lyra thumped her chest. “Not a single hair out of place. Fired off the green flare and bailed right away,

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Chapter 114

didn’t linger at all.”

Lana let go of her shoulders, grinning. “Lyra, you’re the best soldier on the planet! Seriously, you crushed it

Lyra let out a happy giggle, beaming with pride.

“Everyone, meeting in ten minutes, Lana announced.

The conference room lights were all on, and the long table was packed with people on both sides.

Lana stood in front of the whiteboard, marker in hand. “Lyra, let’s start from the beginning.”

“Sure thing,” Lyra said, standing up. “Wait, I’ve got cameras on me. We can play the footage while Jane and I explain, it’ll make things clearer.”

Lana nodded at Zoe. “Go ahead.”

“On it.” Zoe got up, unclipped the cameras from Lyra’s collar and waistband, and connected them to the big screen.

The footage appeared on the screen, and Zoe skipped ahead to the moment they entered the Mist Zone.

“First thing we found: there’s a Ghost Wall inside the mist wall, right here,” Lyra said, pointing it out. “But for some reason, it didn’t show up on camera.”

“What kind of Ghost Wall?” Lana asked.

“There were so many ghosts, crammed together, all facing outward, forming a wall about thirty feet thick. Thousands, maybe tens of thousands of them, just standing there, totally still, not attacking, didn’t even seem to notice us,” Lyra explained.

“Souls can get through, but living people get stopped. I didn’t try to push through or anything,” she added.

Lana wrote “Ghost Wall” on the whiteboard, then added in parentheses: “Blocks living people, allows souls to pass.”

“I used a Transform Card to turn into a soul and slipped right through,” Lyra explained.

The video kept playing.

“These were the first Wraiths we saw. They were all lying flat over the cracks in the ground, mouths pressed right up against them, sucking up something from below,” Lyra said.

Jane pointed at their weird posture. “The dirt around the cracks is going black and dead, spreading out. Lyra said they’re sucking up the earth’s life force.”

Everyone in the conference room exchanged glances. This lined up with what Lyra said before about the Wraiths feeding on life force.

Lana paused for a second, then wrote on the whiteboard: “Wraiths, devour earth’s life force.”

Next, the video showed their first fight with the Wraiths. Lana paused it and added a few more keywords to the whiteboard:

[Wraiths regenerate fast, souls can absorb their energy, kill Wraiths to level up, turn your soul golden)

“So Wraiths feed on life force, and souls must absorb the energy in their brains to kill them. If that energy is also life force, do both sides grow stronger the same way?” Ms. Reed wondered.

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