Inside a dark, shadowy orchard outside the school, three figures each peered into a telescope, looking towards a distant direction.
“Still nothing, ” one person muttered.
“I think they said we just need to watch, ” said another, a middle-aged man with the appearance of a laborer, raising his telescope and moving it slowly as he spoke.
There seemed to be some extra noise in the wind.
The leader, holding the long telescope, slightly twitched his pointed ears. He turned his head, his face changing as he saw behind him, among the tree shadows, a tall, dark figure holding a charcoaled fire lantern, followed by many other men walking over from that direction.
This made the sharp-eared man’s face change color slightly.
Just as he was unclear whether the other party was merely passing by or looking for the three of them, the sound of footsteps quickly ran over toward them.
“Damn it. ” Lung Hanson, the sharp-eared man, muttered tensely, looking at the telescope in his hand and raising it to smash it to the ground.
“Grab him! “
Two male figures immediately lunged, rushing forward.
Bang!
A gunshot rang out, and sharp-eared Lung Hanson’s shoulder streamed with blood. “Ah! You! ” The telescope in his hand was snatched away by the man who rushed over swiftly.
The other two, still peering ahead, turned back in shock and immediately saw several arms grabbing at their own.
“What do you think you’re doing, trying to kill someone? Murder! Murder! “
“The thing we should be asking is, what the hell are you three up to? Especially you, you little bastard,” the man in the raincoat said, yanking at Lung Hanson’s clothes as he was about to smash the telescope, snatching it from the hands of the man who had just taken it from him, and then he started to examine it.
“You were planning to destroy the evidence as soon as we showed up, weren’t you?“
“What do you mean by that?” a pained and surprised voice came through.
“Ha, you bastards. Talk. What trick are you pulling?“
“We don’t know anything,” the other two said, crouched down.
Just as he was speaking, Zhang Yu came over carrying a wire lantern filled with charcoal fire. He grabbed the telescope from the young man in the raincoat and, under the close gaze of the gathered crowd, brought it close to his face to look at it. Then, he let out a small gasp of surprise.
“These are polished gemstone lenses?“
Lung Hanson kept his mouth tightly shut.
Zhang Yu raised the telescope and looked through it. The distant, black, curved silhouette of the mountain range suddenly seemed to be just a step away, right in front of him. He couldn’t help but be taken aback.
“Not much of a breakthrough, maybe, but this isn’t the kind of technology you’d see in this era.“
Zhang Yu gave a soft hiss of surprise. As the three crouching men glanced up at him, he turned the telescope around and peered down into its barrel to inspect the inner construction.
“Impressive. This is a luxurious item that’s both low-key and arrogant.“
The others searched through the pockets and inside jackets of the three men.
“Who do you think you are!” one of them yelled.
“You come, so we destroy the tools. Damn distributors, mm. “
“Xiao Yu, we found this. ” One person handed over a piece of paper they had searched.
Zhang Yu took it, glanced at Lung Hanson, who was kneeling on the ground with his arms twisted, then looked at the dark text on the paper. With several companions blocking the wind around him in alert, he lifted the lamp and tried hard to discern the handwriting.
“That one, ” Lung Hanson said. “We were actually waiting for that boss. He’s coming from that direction. “
The man kneeling on the ground twisted around to point into the distance, in the direction of the far south.
“Oh? ” The men looked at him.
Lung Hanson said through gritted teeth:
“I was wrong. Please give us three a break. We were just here to receive him. If you’re not afraid, you could send someone strong here with binoculars to wait for him. The movements themselves are the signals. “
“I see. “
“Hah, three petty thieves. “
“Who’s going? ” A man in the crowd grinned, stepped forward, and looked left and right as he asked.
Zhang Yu put away the binoculars he had used and tucked them into his bosom. Casually, he said to the men around him:
“You two stay here with binoculars and wait. But careful, don’t get too far from us, or it will be dangerous. “
……
Inside the Prime Minister’s office.
Looking at that familiar face, which he had seen on documents before, burned by fire, the Executive Secretary before him said in a low voice:
“You really want to leave? Even if I promise to let you preside over the construction of the Five-Star Building that is to be built next? “
Ang Pailisi gave a faint smile. Those pieces of information, which were extremely secret and valuable to the Fogfolk, were indeed both fascinating and dangerous. Whether it was candy or poison depended solely on the strength of the person who held it. For someone with his upbringing and the knowledge of the master of this room, this strength did not merely refer to muscle and arms. It was a synergy that combined knowledge with experience.
“I am grateful for your offer to stay. However, I still choose to leave. “
“Why? ” asked Prime Minister Stephen Fern, who rarely appeared so casual, as he walked over, just after drying his freshly washed hands.
Colonel Ang Pailisi turned his head slightly to look at the darkness beyond the wide hallway.
“Hmm, ” he said, turning back. “I want to seek a way to make a certain man immortal. “
Prime Minister Stephen Fern von Dirich, who had a moment ago worn the easygoing smile of an ordinary older neighbor, letting down all his defenses, now slowly resumed a solemn expression.
The administrative secretary lowered his head slightly and retreated a step, leaving no trace.
Colonel Brownlion gave a slight nod in his direction, his expression shifting slightly as he was on the verge of explaining that he wasn’t seeking more information about ‘that news’. But before he could speak, a buzzing engine sound came from outside.
A soldier ran in quickly.
“Sir, the Prayer you have been waiting for has arrived. “
“I’ll be leaving now. ” The colonel nodded in farewell, his coat draped over his arm as he turned, his lonely figure heading down the wide, dark corridor paved with old ceramic tiles.
He was about to board the plane when the administrative secretary, who belonged to the mayor’s side, quickly ran down the stone steps, rushing over against the wind.
“Wait, sir. “
“What is it? ” Pailisi turned back.
“There’s a new development, ” the secretary said, standing beside Pailisi and looking up at the man half-perched on the plane’s iron boarding ladder.
“It’s about Talco’s recent strange behavior. They’ve ignited a point of fire now. According to reports, some people in Talco who were holding telescopes are all observing the location of that fallen fire point. They claim to have already found the target’s trail. “
Colonel Brownlion jumped down from the plane’s boarding ladder.
“What’s the current situation? ” Colonel Brownlion asked as he entered the room.
A warrior who had been lying on the desk, drawing a map, immediately stood up and replied:
“Recently, these unidentified persons holding telescopes have had their observation direction unified, guided by a burning ascending marker. “
“Unified direction and point? “
Thinking about what the administrative secretary had just told him, concerning the information about finding the target, Colonel Brownlion said to the warrior ahead:
“Is there any more information about the target, President Yangliner? “
“None for now. “
“It’s already being transmitted. ” From a desk by the far wall, a woman tending a telegraph machine turned around and responded loudly, inserting herself into the conversation.
Everyone in the room looked over. The woman paused her hand pressing the machine, tore off a piece of paper, and walked over.
“This contains the personal history found on the members of the operation. However, it’s just a brief summary; there isn’t much information. “
Under the glow of the white radiance lamp, Colonel Brownlion naturally took the paper.
“The Octagonal Fund… I have no recollection of this fundraising organization. “
Ang Pailisi pondered over the two main pieces of information he had gathered so far, aside from the data on the fund’s chairman.
Scattered across various parts of the city were civilians holding telescopes.
Subsequently guided to unified observation points. What could that mean?
Searching for someone who wasn’t missing? He glanced at the telegram slip. Absolutely no clue. He thought to himself.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew through. Amid the sizzling sounds, everyone in the room looked up as the white lamp flickered.
……
In the dark underground soil.
Relying solely on the sharp instincts honed from years of danger, Tayla maneuvered through the narrow dirt cavity, trying to fend off the blade attacks.
With a metallic clang, sparks flew from the upright dagger and short sword in her hands as another fighter’s blade shimmered with temporal light, striking Tayla’s similarly glowing arm. Both weapons dimmed at once.
But the scent of blood came again.
Just as the woman closed her eyes in a pained expression, recalling the positions revealed in an instant by the silhouette of the pursuers, a white steel knight-styled long sword suddenly appeared behind them, piercing one person through. With a bang, a Stellar Yuan detonation, the compressed shockwave traveled through the chest of the other.
A masked figure emerged from behind the earth, “Hurry back, miss. I’ll hold the line here. “
“What lies below must not be lost. “
“These seekers won’t find the road that leads to Chairman Yang. The residual heat has already cooled. At this point, even we cannot locate it without using any of our abilities. We’ve tried; moving into the deeps below has become nearly impossible. “
Tayla cast a suspicious glance at the man before her eyes, “Who are you? “
“The ones who dug the tunnels and diverted the seawater underground. “
The woman’s heart stirred faintly.
As far as she knew, up until now, almost all the credit had been given to Black Wensick. No definitive, open news nor report had yet appeared revealing who this group truly was.
“Alright. Thank you. ” The woman stepped forward along the path the man made way for her. “How are things up above? ” Tayla called back, looking over her shoulder.
“Certain parties have been closely monitoring Chairman Yang’s movements—using manifold means aiming their shots down into the deep passageways. However, our friends have been blocking their advancing path, cutting them down one by one. “
Tayla muttered a half-distinct term under a breath too soft to catch, then strode forward toward the dark, partially collapsed earth-caved tunnel.
Not long after she had been weaving in, a road appeared that seemed to have been dug out by all kinds of large machinery. These people are indeed efficient. She glanced helplessly at the winding road of unknown depth, then began pedaling and climbing up for a while. After making sure no one was around, she turned to another direction and started digging a new tunnel.
On the high ground, over a dozen kilometers on the surface, a fierce struggle had just ceased.
The plane, having dropped off a few figures, turned around in the wind and headed back towards the direction of Blackwich Consolidated Capital.
The pilot looked at the pitch-black earth under the distant night sky.
Occasionally, patches of raging fire burned across the ground.
No new Doom Vines were born.
He had kept a tough and resilient mood all day. At this moment, his chest heaved with difficulty a few times before he withdrew his gaze and flew forward faster.
Far in the sky on the other side, pale and glowing cracks like thunderbolts flickered on and off, accompanied by muffled explosions.
That was the direction of Fluorine City. Although it was in a neighboring country and located in a remote area, it must not rain, he thought to himself.
But he suddenly gave a start, as if waking from a sudden daze; the aircraft’s signal transceiver emitted a high-pitched whine before fading back down.
Faint, fine sparks of electric current flickered amidst the clouds.
The pilot’s eyes narrowed as he stared into the high altitude; within the clouds, lightning, as if drawn and concentrated by an invisible force toward the direction of Hvarvenzic, appeared and dissipated with unprecedented strangeness.
“This isn’t good. ” He glanced at the various instrument panel needles, which were somewhat abnormally flickering.
Suddenly, a faint crackling sound sounded in his hair. This time, the pilot, sharply sensing the incoming static-like force, quickly banked the aircraft downwards, diving towards the dark ground.
Shua-la-la-la…!
In the flowing clouds of the sky, another arc of dense thunder stretching for an unknown thousands of kilometers rapidly converged towards the distant, dark night sky, driven by the air’s strange turbulence causing the clouds to rub and quake in an uncanny friction.
Outside Tarco’s courtyard.
On the dark, long street that had been bustling that afternoon, four figures in air force uniforms were approaching.
Inside the courtyard, after several people had been looking up for over an hour, one person finally took a break, replaced by another.
“Too bad we lost it that quickly. “
Several people, while stretching their necks, arms, and legs, whispered to each other about what they had just discovered.
“I don’t know if you noticed, but I think I saw it falling towards the ground. “
“Have they already contacted the association president? “
In the light cast upon the scattered flagstones in the center of the courtyard, the stout fellow stared at the sky, then turned his head towards the entrance of the courtyard leading into the house.
“What’s wrong? ” Seeing his reaction, the others who were resting also turned their heads to look.
The men in air force uniforms walked out.
The two groups faced each other, locking eyes.
Suddenly, as if sensing something, they all looked up.
They felt faint, surging waves congregating, as if converging on a star-like lamp in the sky.
“What is that? “
One of the four men immediately pulled out a portable telescope and looked.
“I see it! ” The man in the courtyard said in a low voice, with a hint of delight.
The circular lens soon caught sight of several beams of light and shadow floating in the sky beneath the rapidly drifting clouds.
What’s wrong with my eyes?
Sergeant Major Lorenz, observing the high sky, rubbed his eyes a bit puzzled, then looked again through the telescope.
It was like the overlapping images of astigmatism coming into focus.
The blurred double image of a balloon’s basket converged multiple times into one under his gaze.
The figure in the courtyard stared upward, veins bulging on his face. “Quick! ” this Warrior of conviction suddenly shouted loudly, “Quick, look there together! President Yangliner is inside that crate! “
Almost without dissent, the people nearby, completely ignoring the arrival of the Air Force, either stood up and raised their arms or rushed down the edge of the yard to use their telescopes, fixing their gaze in that direction.
Rumble… a thunder that could hardly be truly heard echoed faintly from within the thin clouds.
These people with telescopes. Lorenz responded with a snort.
A ring of dense lightning far beyond the distant sky rapidly oscillated and converged.
The expression of the Air Force soldier watching that spot changed slightly.
Relying on his own vision, he suddenly realized he had been mistaken just now.
It was a suspended, dim, square wooden cabinet…
Another ring of tiny details converged.
Rumble…
Or vertical pinewood siding.
This time, the overlapping image was very clear.
“Why did it change? ” The person beside Lorenz muttered subconsciously.
“Is it because of the difference in who’s observing? ” A lieutenant scratched his head and said.
“You mean it’s caused by different observers?! ” Major Lorenz exclaimed in surprise.
“What does that mean? ” The three air force personnel and the man in the courtyard looked over.
“Quick, catch them! ” Several men saluted and rushed forward.
The air force major with rounded ears stared solemnly and muttered, “Damn, it can’t be true, can it? “
Leave a Reply