Chapter 214: Reviewing the Entire Operation

After a bout of intense dizziness, Irving found himself back in his sanctuary.

Seeing the familiar surroundings of the shelter quickly stabilized Irving's emotions.

"Good thing I reacted quickly. If I hadn't responded in time and warned my companions, we might have been destroyed along with Shadow City," Irving said with a hint of relief.

Not far from Irving, Wendy slowly got up from the ground. In the sanctuary, Wendy's injuries would gradually heal, but she was still gravely wounded at the moment.

Irving walked over to Wendy and examined her injuries before taking out some supplies to heal her.

"Take these supplies first. If your injuries aren't fully healed after this, we'll think of other ways," Irving instructed.

Wendy nodded and consumed all the supplies Irving handed her. In less than five minutes, her injuries began to heal rapidly.

"What should we do next? Do we still need to go to the Desolate Canyon?" Wendy asked once her injuries were fully healed.

Irving shook his head. "We made a lot of mistakes during our previous operation. We need to first review the entire mission."

As he answered Wendy's question, Irving also contacted Benjamin and the others.

Benjamin and the rest had also returned to their respective shelters.

"We don't need to meet in the shelter game. Let's return to the real world; it's safer there," Irving decided, informing the others of his plan.

He then led Wendy back to the real world.

Upon returning to their home in the real world, Irving and Wendy were shocked to find their house surrounded by hostile individuals.

"We have a lot of professional assassins around us! Don't act rashly!" Wendy, being a professional assassin herself, was highly sensitive to the presence of other assassins.

Irving nodded. "We do have many professional assassins around us, but I don't have time to waste on them!"

As soon as he finished speaking, Irving pulled out the [Staff of Calamity]. S~eaʀᴄh the nôᴠel Fire.nёt website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

As the tip of the staff glowed with a fierce red light, the professional assassins hidden around Irving's house were subjected to extreme heat almost simultaneously.

Most of the assassins were annihilated in an instant.

Though a few assassins weren't killed outright, they were severely injured.

"We must head to the Ocean Group headquarters immediately. I've already arranged for us to meet everyone there!" Irving said, grabbing Wendy and quickly leaving the house.

Irving paid no mind to the dead or injured professional assassins around him; he had more pressing matters to attend to.

As Irving and Wendy hurried to the Ocean Group headquarters, Benjamin was already in Miss Vicky's office, reporting everything that had happened in the shelter game.

Benjamin gave a brief rundown of the events.

After listening, Vicky sighed, "I really didn't expect such major issues to arise in your cooperation with Aron. I remember my collaborations with Aron used to go very smoothly. He never saw me as an enemy and never took any precautions against me."

Vicky felt that the Aron Benjamin described was quite different from the Aron she knew.

Benjamin nodded in agreement. "I'm also very puzzled. I don't understand why Aron has changed so drastically."

Vicky looked out the window, seemingly lost in thought. After a moment, she turned back to Benjamin and said, "Regardless, you must strive to get along with Aron. You're the head of security for the Ocean Group and the president of the Ocean Group Guild. If you and Aron come into conflict, our cooperation with the Angel Guild will be impossible."

Benjamin nodded. "Miss Vicky, rest assured! I will act according to your orders!"

Benjamin's response pleased Vicky greatly.

Just then, the phone on Vicky's desk rang. She picked it up and pressed the speakerphone button.

"Miss Vicky, there are some people at the company entrance who say they want to see you. They claim to be members of the Angel Guild. Should we let them come to your office?"

"Let them in! I did invite them over."

"Understood, Miss Vicky! I'll bring them up now."

After hanging up the phone, Vicky turned to Benjamin and said, "Irving will be here soon. I need you to manage the overall situation and prevent any direct conflict between Irving and Aron."

Vicky was well aware of the purpose of everyone's visit—reviewing the entire operation.

In the previous operation, Aron had undoubtedly made the most mistakes. Given Aron's strong sense of pride, he would not take kindly to being criticized by others.

In such a scenario, it was highly likely that Aron and Irving might engage in a fierce argument during the review process.

"Miss Vicky, understood! I'll do my best, but I can't guarantee success," Benjamin said, his expression remaining calm. However, he wanted to manage Vicky's expectations, hinting that failure was a real possibility.

Vicky sighed and nodded. "Just do your best."

As soon as Vicky finished speaking, there was a knock on her office door. Aron, Nick, and Anna walked into the room.

"I've already been briefed on the situation. Although the mission was not successful, I believe each of you gave it your all," Vicky said with a smile as she saw the three members of the Angel Guild.

Aron and Nick looked a bit embarrassed, while Anna managed a small smile at Vicky.

Faced with this awkward situation, Vicky felt at a loss for words and wasn't sure what to say next.

While Vicky hesitated, Irving and Wendy finally arrived.

"Now that everyone is here, let's start reviewing the entire operation," Irving said coldly after scanning the room.

"I want you all to understand one thing: during the mission, you must follow the orders of the strongest person. Do not act on your own," Irving said sternly, directing his gaze at Nick and Aron.

Nick naturally acknowledged Irving's authority, but Aron was less convinced.

"I believe we should follow the most reasonable orders, not necessarily those of the strongest person," Aron retorted. "Just because someone is the strongest doesn't mean their judgment is always correct. Does having greater strength automatically make someone's decisions right?"

Aron's rebuttal drew a gasp from everyone in the room, who realized that a conflict between Aron and Irving was now almost inevitable.

"And what are you implying?" Irving asked coldly, glaring at Aron. "Are you saying my judgment during the mission was seriously flawed?"

"I'm not saying that!" Aron replied. "I just think we shouldn't rely solely on personal strength to determine whether a decision is right or wrong."

Though Aron didn't outright challenge Irving, it was clear he didn't believe Irving had the right to criticize him.

Upon hearing Aron's words, Irving let out a derisive laugh.

"You don't need to continue beating around the bush here. Just speak your mind directly. Do you really think you performed well in our previous mission? Do you believe you didn't hold everyone back? It was your mistakes that led to the complete failure of our operation!"

Irving finally pointed the finger directly at Aron.

Aron didn't back down. He replied immediately, "I don't believe my mistakes caused the mission to fail. In fact, I think I made very few mistakes in our previous operation. I didn't collaborate with the werewolf leader. I didn't misjudge the true intentions of the werewolf leader and Elder Lawrence. I even warned everyone in advance to be aware of the potential arrival of Night Blades reinforcements."

Aron listed all the things he did right. But he conveniently left out his errors.

Benjamin couldn't hold back any longer after hearing Aron's words.

Before Irving could respond, Benjamin coldly interjected, "We can't just talk about what we did right and ignore what we did wrong. If everyone made the right decisions, how could our mission have failed? Although Shadow City was completely destroyed, the two elders of Night Blades were not eliminated. Our overall operation cannot be deemed a success."

Benjamin's words managed to somewhat diffuse Irving's anger.

After Benjamin finished speaking, Irving coldly turned to Aron and asked, "And who was it that recklessly ventured into the underground catacombs? Who was it that fell for Elder Lawrence's deceit? Wasn't it you who led us into a dead end? If you hadn't led everyone into the underground catacombs, Elder Lawrence and the werewolf leader's ritual would never have succeeded."

Irving directly pointed out Aron's biggest mistake.

Although Aron's expression was one of defiance, he had no way to argue back because it was indeed him who led everyone into the catacombs.

"Even if I hadn't done that, the werewolf leader would have gone into the catacombs anyway," Aron retorted, trying to maintain his composure.

Aron's rebuttal completely enraged Irving.

"The only reason the werewolf leader and I entered the catacombs was to rescue you all! If you had followed my orders from the start and stayed at your positions without taking any other actions, none of this would have happened. The Desolate Canyon wouldn't have ended up with a creature we could barely handle!"