After ending the call with Aeolus, Luoshu immediately dialed Waiter again.
"Hey, I need another favor—urgent!"
"No problem! Happy to help. By the way, our operation is about to launch. Results in two hours!"
Waiter was referring to Alpha "Bandit's" plan to raid a Foundation site for the Scranton Reality Anchor.
"Good, but that can wait. Right now, I have a life-or-death situation. Does Chaos have anyone in Dushanbe? A fellow reality bender is in danger!"
"Dushanbe?" Waiter drew a blank.
Honestly, if not for his prior mission with Achilles' Heel to contain Prester John, Luoshu wouldn't have known the place either.
"Capital of Tajikistan!" Luoshu clarified.
"Tajikistan…" Waiter hesitated. He'd heard of the country but had no clue where it was.
"Let me check and get back to you. Who's the target? Where are they?"
"Aeolus from Achilles' Heel. Hiding in Dushanbe Airport. Hurry—'The God' will execute him!"
As soon as Luoshu hung up, Aeolus called back from a payphone in the airport lounge.
"I'll hide nearby, but this airport's tiny. My Lord—if 'The God' finds me, I'll martyr myself for you!"
Aeolus's decision was smart.
If "The God" caught him, the consequences would be dire.
If executed by "The God," Aeolus would become a neutralized anomaly—erasing Luoshu's Reverse Warping ability forever.
But if Aeolus died by his own hand as a martyr, it would count as Luoshu's kill, locking the ability into his Anomaly Slayer milestone.
Still, Luoshu refused to accept this outcome.
"Don't talk nonsense! I will save you!"
He and Aeolus had no grudge—in fact, Aeolus now worshipped him as the Lord of Anomalies.
Luoshu wouldn't let SCP-CN-722-5's tragedy repeat.
After a tense pause, Luoshu decided not to wait for Chaos.
Waiter's cluelessness about Tajikistan suggested minimal Chaos presence there.
Better to act alone.
He'd go to Dushanbe himself.
Addressing the hallway security camera, he asked:
"'Bamboo Slips,' where are 'The God' and Barbie?"
"My Lord! B1, exiting the facility."
"Delay them one minute."
"The God" avoided spatial tunnels underground—they destabilized Hume levels, risking containment breaches.
Short-range spatial warps were fine, but long-distance required surface access.
Thanks to "Bamboo Slips," every security door lagged like a glitching system, buying Luoshu time.
Meanwhile, Luoshu took a shortcut—the TV portal he'd once hidden in the female restroom.
Soon, he caught up to "The God" and Barbie aboveground.
Rather than warping, they boarded a 7-seat van headed to the Temple of Heaven—likely another portal site.
Luoshu slipped in unseen, squeezing into the last seat.
Mid-ride, his Reverse Warping expired—but no one noticed.
His Degradation Aura had fried their Kant Counter glasses during the shadowing.
As for Foundation satellites?
The van blazed like a sun on their scans—"The God" and Barbie's Hume-500 auras dwarfed Luoshu's 250.
Only Abel felt uneasy.
"Something's off…"
"The God" dismissed him. "Focus. We need Aeolus."
Barbie checked her tablet. "He's still at the airport. 'The Master' is scanning via satellite."
She seethed—first Jianjia, then "White Eyes," now Aeolus.
Half her team had defected to Luoshu.
"Who is he? Why do anomalies obey him?"
"The God" darkened. "That's need-to-know. Just remember: Luoshu dies."