Chapter 565: The Missing Girl

As the last of the rubble was cleared off, it was time for Crysta to yet again turn shocked at what she saw. The object was indeed something extraordinary, far from being some simple stone slab, a meager brick!

The crystalline-like touch turned out to be correct, the smooth, polished surface was not just a fluke. From the looks of it, Crysta was staring at some sort of rare mineral. From the earthly, deep, orange faint glimmer, it was probably an exceedingly rare one at that! 

Yet, though it looked completely unbelievable, even as she was staring at it, the other theory was also proven to be correct. Looking at the shape of the rare, exquisite mineral, its incredible potential was used, no, wasted on it being turned into a brick, a building block of some structure.

Looking at its immediate surroundings, it was clear that she was looking at the top of some ruins buried beneath the sand. A sort of wall, maybe the top of a structure with a slightly arched, curved top. 

"Hmm…" Crysta looked at it, delving deeper into her thoughts. 'Maybe… a temple of some sort? The ruins of a civilization that once lived here?' He pondered. 

Thinking about the possibilities, Crysta was growing more and more excited about her find. She was already basking in the glory of her own achievement! Just how many points could such a find net her and her entire team? Just how happy would the Captain be, when he hears of this?

"Ehehehe… He will be happy!" She giggled, elated by the praise she could already smell coming her way from the person she was thinking of as her father figure.

Still, she was hesitant to leave. She had barely scratched the surface of her find. Shouldn't she search some more and try to find out more about what this structure or this whole place could have been?

She still wasn't completely certain that what he was looking at was truly the remnants of an old civilization, a holy site of some sort of god, or guardian, protector of this deserted plane or maybe… just maybe, something else. 

'I guess… The curve… It could also be a gate of some sort… Maybe this is the wall, the border of an ancient city!' She pondered, quickly convincing herself to stay and continue excavating rather than alerting the rest of the team. 

'After all, I need to be sure before I go back! It wouldn't do any good if I would alert the rest and it would turn out to be nothing worthwhile!' She argued, trying to convince her slightly guilty psyche that what she was doing had a much better purpose rather than what it looked like on the surface. She wasn't greedy, her actions weren't questionable at all!

With glinting eyes, Crysta completely pushed these unnecessary thoughts to the back of her head, losing herself in an attempt to dig deeper and deeper under the scorching, blazing heat of the sun.

Her figure was soon drenched with sweat, yet she didn't bother with the uncomfortable feeling at all. In her eyes, she could only see the luster and sparkles of glory she would soon be basking in. Who cares about some stench, some sweat!

—

"We have been waiting for a while now, yet there is just no sign of her." A middle-aged-looking brawny man, a mercenary exclaimed with a slightly worried face. He turned his unshaven, coarse gaze towards the horizon. Squinting, he tried to scan the distance for a sign, a silhouette of their missing member, however, no matter how hard he tried, how hard he looked, the little girl was nowhere to be seen.

"D-do you think…" A thin figure standing next to the man, a young short black-haired and matching slanted eyes stuttered as she voiced the restlessness in his heart. "W-what do you think, Joe… D-did she… d-did she met some t-trouble perhaps?"

"Hey! Don't even say something like that!" A woman, with shoulder-length, wavy light-brown hair and a mature, hourglass-like figure exclaimed with an accusing, angry look in her eyes. "She is definitely fine! I bet, Crysta just found something and as usual, lost her sense of time!" She argued, with surprising precision in her theory, albeit she was completely unaware of it at the moment.

"Calm down guys." Eventually, Sara had enough of the cries, she raised her hands, silencing the agitated, nervous, and worried crowd. 

Looking at their distressed eyes, the deep concern in their expression, she could only sigh helplessly. She reached for the top of her head, combing several adventurous, wild flocks of her deep purple hair to the back. With a stern, heavy gaze, she turned her attention to the distance, lamenting on what the best course of action they should take in this situation.

'I wonder… What would you do if you were here, Aiden?' She lamented inwardly, her mind was still worried about her missing team leader and friend's situation. 

'No, I need to focus now. I can't think about him when we have someone missing!' Sara shook her head, clearing it from the unnecessary worries, and focusing it on the issue at hand. 

"We have waited for long enough." She said after a bit of thinking. "We have agreed on the return time, which would have been when the sun reached directly above us. Yet that time had already passed, and there is clearly no sign of Crysta anywhere."

The team turned silent, nodding at the girl's words. Despite their age difference, they have quickly accepted her as their temporary group's leader. They didn't mind it at all and instead appreciated her levelheadedness and attention to detail and on-point insights.

"What should we do, Miss Sara?" The middle-aged, coarse-looking warrior figure, the one they called Joe asked hesitantly. 

"Hmm… We will form three small groups to search for her whilst I and someone else will stay here with me." Sara thought for a bit, thinking about the direction Crysta might have taken when she wandered off a couple of hours ago.

"Let's see…" She looked towards the south, then slowly towards the west before eventually humming and saying and pointing towards the southwest"…Unless she took a turn at some point, or have found the entrance to the tribe of those creatures, she should be somewhere in that direction."

Looking at the group, she continued whilst waving her hands in an attempt to urge them to hurry up.

"Quickly, form 3 groups and go search for her! If you find her, and it turns out she is in trouble, send someone back to us!"

She then looked at the mature light-brown-haired woman who spoke before.

"You… ehrm… Alda right?… You should stay here with me and wait in case Crysta wanders back in some way. The rest, go and find her!" She exclaimed.

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