Marvel Magic Case Files

Chapter 1215 Chase Through the Dense Forest (Second Update)

The ferocious firepower elicited a gasp of astonishment from Laura Crawford. The automatic feeding system continuously churned heavy-explosive rounds, which were then ejected at imperceptible speeds, their large spent casings raining down on the armored vehicle's roof and scattering along the roadside as it lurched. "It's a machine gun!" Camilla shouted, pressing her head against the firing port and looking up at Laura Crawford. "It's a machine gun!"

"I know!" the archaeologist exclaimed excitedly. Although the recoil was reduced by the tripod, the feedback from the grip still made Laura Crawford's hands go numb. This weapon was far more powerful than the Vulcan machine gun on an attack helicopter; whatever the muzzle pointed at—rocks and trees—were blasted into indistinguishable fragments. Even a drug cartel pickup truck following behind was torn to shreds and burned to smithereens. "The firepower is immense; we can take out the cartel's pursuers!"

"What I mean is, we're running low on ammo!" Camilla shouted angrily. "Don't keep pulling the trigger! The last resupply was a month ago!"

Laura Crawford stuck out her tongue awkwardly and released the trigger to begin firing in bursts.

Even with just a single shot, the firepower advantage of the heavy explosive rounds still pierced through another car of the drug cartel. Even the fuel in the fuel tank burned, exploded, and finally turned into twisted, burning, charred steel due to the high temperature released by the armor-piercing high explosive warhead. The billowing smoke, like the beacon fires lit in ancient wars, shot straight into the sky to indicate their location.

More and more pickup trucks sped through the thick black smoke and along the muddy, overgrown roads, their spinning wheels kicking up dirt. Armed men in the truck beds and driver's seats fired wildly toward the armored personnel carriers. As usual, the overcast sky poured down a torrential downpour, enveloping the world in a misty curtain of water. Rain poured in from the machine gun emplacement where Laura Crawford had half-peeked out. The archaeologist initially tried to search for the enemy with her eyes, but the increasingly heavy rain blinded her, forcing her to close the hatch and retreat back into the crew compartment.

Her face and hair were covered in mud, and Laura Crawford looked even more disheveled than before.

The armored vehicle gradually slowed down, switching from rapid speed to normal driving. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief, thankful they didn't have to wear helmets all the time. Although the gunfire from behind gradually subsided, Camilla remained vigilant. The air in the crew compartment was still humid and stuffy. Using the dim light from the roof lamp and flashlight, Laura Crawford rested for a while before beginning her study of the stone slab in her seat. She wiped the dirt off the slab with her dirty fingers, and the ancient characters appeared under her fingers like Braille. She tried to read the hieroglyphs, and strange, intermittent sounds escaped her lips.

“This stuff had better be worth the risk,” Camilla said. She and her team used the handheld suture machine and medicine powder from their medical supply packs to bandage their wounds, then took out emergency protein rations from their marching supply packs and ate them. They didn't know if the drug traffickers would continue to track them, and their familiarity with the surrounding terrain was far less than that of the locals, so only by rushing back to the towns controlled by the Immortal City overnight could they get a safe rest. “We’re now outside the Immortal City’s sphere of influence, and we have no help until the next supply arrives,” Camilla said gravely. “No Black Armor Guards, no Royal Guards, and no ground attack aircraft.”

"We need to find the altar where Quetzalcoatl awakened." Laura Crawford didn't look up. She was certain that she had gone to great lengths to obtain the stele within the ruins, even at the cost of shooting the drug dealers occupying the site, because the clues she had previously obtained had led her to this sacrificial ritual site deep in the primeval forest. She had just confirmed that it was an inscription in the Cholti language. Deciphering inscriptions in this extinct script would require a great deal of work and reference material. The documents in her portable database were insufficient to fully interpret this fragment; she would have to combine it with the photographs she had taken in the past and the artifacts she had acquired.

Linguists and technicians in the Immortal City are working on a Cholti translation software, but so far they haven't gathered enough data, and Laura Crawford knows her progress is insufficient to meet her patron's goals. She knows her patron wants to prevent the awakening of Quetzalcoatl and the great flood that could engulf the world; her immortal, enchanting, and wise patron knew of the impending catastrophe long before she deciphered the other stelae.

"So, have you found it?"

"I don't know, I need more information." Laura Crawford flipped through her phone, looking at photos she had taken earlier. "I need more information and documents. Perhaps... we need to go back to that site; there's more to it than meets the eye."

Camilla didn't object, but remained silent. She glanced at her companions, and only after seeing the equally mud-covered warriors nod did she turn back to the ever-energetic archaeologist. "Okay, but we need to rest," Camilla said. "We don't know which cartel's drug lab we've interfered with. If they get wind of it, there will be more than just this few people tracking us down."

Before this, Camilla had no interest in the so-called Feathered Serpent God.

The ruler of the Immortal City promised her that he would transform her homeland into the image she envisioned: free from cartels, corrupt politicians, exploitation and oppression, lies and ignorance. Over the course of a year, the order and peace created by the Immortal City far surpassed the chaos instigated by the anti-government forces she had previously participated in. New ideas began to spread, the oppressed took up arms to defend their homes, guerrillas who had strayed and colluded with drug traffickers were wiped out, and those who submitted to the new ideas rallied under the banner of order.

This was a scene Camilla had always dreamed of, all thanks to the Immortal City's high regard for the archaeologist before her. But her long-term interaction with Laura Crawford and her archaeological experiences had given Camilla a completely new perspective, leading her to drastically change her previous dismissive attitude towards Crawford's work. She knew that supernatural forces existed in this world—the device Agent Coulson had seized was Nazi alien technology, not supernatural power—and that the Immortal City's rulers were users of such power, and that the feathered serpent they were searching for was a terrifying beast from mythology. The Immortal City's rulers were protecting their homeland for a greater purpose; this alone was enough for Camilla and her companions to swear allegiance to them.

Camilla and her companions concealed the armored vehicle in the dense forest, using camouflage tarpaulins from a small cargo hold to conceal the all-black vehicle. Camilla then arranged for sentries to be on guard duty and for personnel to take turns resting, while Laura Crawford remained in the crew compartment, continuing her deciphering work by the light of a flashlight and the documents in the database. "Where have you been?!" Camilla whispered. A giant clad in golden power armor parted the leaves and emerged from the shadows. "We need help."

"I know," Supiluliumas said softly. A massive shadow still loomed over him, and the helmet and visor obscuring his expression made him look like a beast lurking in the forest. "But my lord needs to serve, and the task he has given me takes far greater priority than yours."

"Okay, so what's next?"

"I will stay here and await His arrival," Supiluliumas said. "Our Lord is about to visit Cuba, and he will use a state visit as an excuse to leave the group and come here. He will meet with Laura Crawford, and before that, I need Laura Crawford to produce results that will satisfy our Lord."

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(End of this chapter)