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*This was supposed to be the extra chapter for Halloween, but I kind of procrastinated until it got pushed to today. Sorry about that*
Chapter 1: The Small Town That Disappeared
Atlantis 11:06 AM
"Lake Town, according to the information, the town was built about seventy years ago, and is a small town in the mountains."
It was the next day. We were all gathered in the player's lounge as Senior, who got the information about the final compet.i.tion's location, circulated the data in his hands to us in turns. "It's considered to be a very recent human town that's located around eighteen miles from Barren Valley. About a week ago, the Guild received a distress call and later they dispatched groups of intelligence teams there to explore. But strangely enough, not a single person was found in the town. It was as if every one of them had evaporated."
Why is this plot so similar to a certain video game…? "Then just the day before yesterday, the intelligence teams that were supposed to make regular reports suddenly disappeared as well. The General a.s.sembly couldn't contact the dispatched intelligence teams no matter what they did, as if they too had followed the town's people in evaporating. Because this matter occurred all of a sudden, Lake Town has already entered the third level of the protection zones in accordance with the emergency differentiation categories, which prohibits normal people from entering." Wait a minute, basically I should be a normal person, right? "As soon as you stepped into this school, you were no longer a normal person, so face it already!" Senior suddenly turned toward me and threw down those words, almost scaring me into a heart attack. "What about not being a normal person?" The five-colored rooster head, who was still flipping through the data, asked curiously. "No, it's nothing." In order to prevent him from saying too much and get beaten up by Senior again, I was a step ahead of him in speaking. "Go look at your data." "Tsk, there's so much words, it's way too troublesome. Next time can it come with ill.u.s.trations?" Looking at the dense data file in his hands, the five-colored rooster head frowned and then complained. You even want ill.u.s.trations! I bet that it's a hundred percent impossible for Senior to provide such a good service. "Sure." Unexpectedly, Senior actually showed an amiable smile, "I could use a curse seal to seal you inside the book, and then you could just act out whatever ill.u.s.trations you want. Wouldn't that be so convenient?" The words he spoke was completely out of place with his expression, and an icy, white mist even rose up beside him. Sometimes when you talk too much, it really is called "courting death". "No, no need." The five-colored rooster head was very much aware of his own limitations as he went back to reading the information. "Before the first group of intelligence teams disappeared, they should have sent some videos, right? Did you receive that?" Gasai, who quickly finished reading everything, asked about another matter before making a conclusion. "Of course." Sitting down at the table, Senior used his index finger to tap the table. An array about thirty centimeters directly appeared above it. It was a bit similar to the thing that Chifuyu used before to track, but it's also different. "Before they disappeared, they were doing a video recording, but after fifteen seconds or so, it was interrupted." We immediately gathered around the table. The array slowly began to rotate, and at the same time, a small scene also materialized above it. It looks like a small town. Most of what appeared were these little houses that resembled those of a foreign country. A bit further and you could see a rather tall thing that might be a hostel or a whatchamacallit trading floor or so. There was not a single person in the small town. All around were empty sceneries, making one feel somewhat strange. Usually when you see this sort of scene on TV, it'd often be in thrillers, so I felt that this Lake Town probably also had those kinds of things at work and the like. For the first few seconds, the scene was still motionless. Then a few seconds later, the entire screen suddenly became blurry. During that confusion, the red clothes of the intelligence team also got filmed. "This is…" "Hurry up and report back. We found the secret of Lake Town…" At that moment, the entire image directly vanished and the screen turned black. "Those were the last images that were sent." Jumping off the table, with the array above it disappearing as well, Senior folded his arms. "According to the a.n.a.lysis and speculation of the intelligence team, at the end when the video became blurry, it was probably because they fell into some curse trap and the like. But since it wasn't recorded in the video, there's no way of knowing what type of spell it was. However, if the intelligence team was able to find the secret at the scene, then for a black robe, it should be easy to solve it." That's why I said that black robes aren't human, they're ghosts! "Both missions have at least three or more black robes partic.i.p.ating. I never would've expected for the General a.s.sembly to think so highly of the events in both places that they even used two compet.i.tions to help out." Slightly frowning, Gasai started thinking about possible plans for the final compet.i.tion. "The five teams that are going to Lake Town, besides ours, include Randall's team, Alis Academy's team, Seven Hill Academy and Clear Wind Academy's first representative team. I don't know if that should be fortunate or unfortunate, since half of them could be considered as one of us; it wouldn't be too hard for them to cooperate with us." "That's right, but that guy in Clear Wind is very difficult to deal with. I keep feeling that he'd definitely do something during this opportunity. Looks like we'll have to inform those on the same side as us about this." After taking out his phone and quickly sending a few text messages, Senior put it away again. Inside Clear Wind, that ghost king's first expert… "That…can't we just report to the General a.s.sembly that someone infiltrated the compet.i.tion?" From that day on, I've been thinking about this problem. No matter how you put it, a purple robe was erased by a subordinate of the ghost king and had his ident.i.ty used to infiltrate the compet.i.tion. This sort of thing would certainly cause a huge commotion, right? Senior turned around to look at me, "Already told them. The General a.s.sembly has already sent people out to investigate Tenju, but they couldn't find anything at all, so there's no way to confirm whether he's the real person or not. In addition, I also reported this matter to the school, and they've already sent people to Clear Wind Academy. Before the results of the investigation come out, we'll have to be careful on our own." Haha…Be careful on our own… For some reason, my right eyelid's been twitching until it's about to cramp up. "That's right. I forgot to tell you guys that since this is considered an official mission, each of the locations will have three medical teams on standby. So as long as you don't die to the point where not even your ashes and bones are left, you'd probably able to be saved." Senior's words seemed to be specifically said for me to hear…since I'm the one who would easily die until my bones aren't left, I know… Speaking of the medical team, I seemed to have remembered a certain someone whom I haven't seen in a long time… Forget it, it shouldn't be that coincidental, right? Just as Senior finished his explanation, a sound was heard from the lounge's door. "Chu, someone's looking for you." "For me?" As soon as I opened the door, sure enough, it's a familiar face. "Excuse me." Outside the door was Ran, who seemed to love wandering around randomly. "There's no match today. I never thought you guys would still be gathered around here." "Can I help you with anything?" Surprised that he actually came here to look for me, I opened the door slightly wider. "Yes, are you free right now?" He nodded, and then greeted everyone in the lounge before turning back to me. "Can I borrow some of your time? We can talk in the saloon outside." Saloon! This is bad, I have a grudge with the coin-operated beverage machine. "A few days ago, the beverage machine had a hole smashed into it by an unknown person. It's been sent for repair, so the one in the saloon has been changed to a new one." Senior yawned, and then tossed something to me, "Buy some drinks on your way back." Buy drinks again!? I wonder if the new beverage machine will bite… "Then I'll borrow him from you guys and return him in ten minutes." Ran grabbed my shoulder,and happily dragged me running toward the saloon. In fact, sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by a bunch of self-centered people who do their own things without a care for my wishes… Ran's pace was very quick, dragging me into the saloon in mere moments. Sure enough, just as Senior said, the beverage machine has been changed to a new one. "What can I do for you?" Glancing around, I sat down on the saloon's sofa, and Ran also sat opposite of me. "I forgot to give this to you last time. It's a gift to congratulate you on activating your illusionary weapon." Taking out a white box from his pocket, Ran smiled as he handed me the object. "You'll definitely have an use for this thing." Have an use? I took the box and looked it over. There's nothing special about it. It's just a very normal little box, a slightly heavy one, that probably had something like accessories or so inside. Carefully opening it, inside there was only a black b.u.t.ton-like object. "This is?" It can't be that you gave me this just so I could sew it on my clothes, right? "This is a case used to hold illusionary weapons. Usually, it'd be placed on necklaces or boxes for it to work. It's something that lets an illusionary weapon rest while providing it protection in the form of an aura." Speaking of this, I forgot to buy it again and I clearly remembered it this morning. But a case? Wait a minute, why would a case be heavy!? "This is an attachment type of case. I saw you wearing a bracelet last time, so I went to find a case for you." Ran beckoned to me, and motioned for me to hold out my left hand that wore Old Man. "Rather than buying a box or storage necklace, you might as well put the case directly on something you have to make it more convenient." I watched him press the case onto the bracelet, and then a faint light was issued in between the two objects. When he removed his hand, the bracelet now had something like a small circular base on it. "Just as I thought, Old Man is compatible with cases." Ran clapped his hands with a pleased I-guessed-correctly expression. "Then, try putting your illusionary weapon in." "Nn." Taking out Minas' soybean, I carefully placed her on that base. Just as the soybean came into contact with the base, its surroundings was immediately swarmed with a black metal that pushed the soybean into the bracelet. Not long after, the bracelet returned to its normal appearance, and even the soybean's shape was gone. "It's a hidden type of active case, so that whenever you want to use your illusionary weapon, you'll just need to tap the bracelet and she'll fall out." Beside me, the usage narrator immediately helped me clear away my doubts. "I understand, thank you." It really does feel easier to use compared to a necklace or box. I held the bracelet up high to get a good look. Not a trace could be seen at all, the illusionary soybean was completely hidden inside. Ran stood up, and I hurriedly followed him and stood up as well. "How about you try taking it out and activating it?" "Alright." Lifting my hand, I tapped the bracelet and the illusionary soybean really did fall out onto my palm. At the same time, that base also emerged. "Yǔ wǒ qiāndìng qìyuē zhī wù, qǐng ràng hàoqí zhě jiànshì nǐ de xíng tài." In a blink of an eye, the tiny derringer once again appeared in my hand. [T/N: The one who signed a contract with me, please allow the curious one to witness your form.] "Good, now point your gun over there." Ran gestured in a direction, and without questioning him, I pointed the gun at that side. But, why do I need to point my gun there? I turned my head to look. The muzzle's target was actually that beverage machine which was replaced not too long ago. Ran was standing at the side and showed a devious smile that I seriously never thought I would see on his face. "The beverage machine over there, hand over your drinks and I'll spare your life, otherwise I'll shoot." Did you get possessed by Senior!? That unlawful threat seriously came out of your mouth!? I took one step back. I can't believe I actually became Gangster A's accomplice! The beverage machine a few steps away began to tremble. In just a few seconds, several "kuang kuang" sounds could be heard, and then about five or six cans fell out. Ran walked over, and used a very natural att.i.tude to take out all the drinks. Is this really okay…? I had a feeling of committing a crime. "Here's the money." After Ran took out some coins from his pocket, and inserted them into the beverage machine, he walked over to my side and then placed the drinks in my hands. I had a kind of feeling that if the one standing here today was Senior or the five-colored rooster head, they definitely wouldn't be so kind as to insert the coins. I don't know why but my intuition seemed to be telling me that this is what'd happen. "Thank you, it's almost time for me to go back to the lounge as well." Carrying a bunch of drinks, I glanced at the time. It just so happen to be ten minutes since I came out. "That's right, you can bring this back with you too." Ran took out a yellow crystal and stuffed it into my pocket. "It should be very helpful to you guys." Helpful? What could it be? "Hand it over." As soon as I came back to the lounge, Senior instantly stretched his hand out towards me. You want a drink already… I put the can of fruit juice with an apple picture on it into his hand. In the next second, the can of fruit juice directly flew over and hit me on the head. After the sharp pain and darkness pa.s.sed, for a second I seemed to have seen the blissful garden and some kind of bizarre flower scent. [T/N: The blissful garden is where the Buddha lives.] "Who said I wanted a drink!? Are you looking to die!?" The a.s.sailant who used a beverage can to hit someone, Senior, spoke in a ferocious tone, "Give me the object that Ran just gave you." You knew that he gave me something again! In fact, you've been hiding behind me and peeping the whole time, right!? Without saying a word, Senior began to crack his knuckles, sending out terrifying "ka ka" sounds. "Uh, here it is." I immediately threw the drinks on the nearby table, and then handed him the yellow crystal. "Chu, you've worked hard." Helping me tidy up the drinks on the table, Gasai patted my shoulder. "What is that thing?" The five-colored rooster, who already moved closer to Senior to look at the crystal, asked. Putting the yellow crystal upright on the table, Senior made a few hand seals. "This is Seven Hill Academy's information." Then, the crystal emitted a faint light and gradually floated up until something similar to a scene appeared inside. That scene was very familiar, unusually familiar, so familiar that it was as if I had just seen it ten or so minutes ago. However, this time there was people in the scene. "This is the video recording of the day before Lake Town's residents disappeared, which is also the auto recording of the last night they requested for help from the Guild." Looking at the small scene, Senior coldly said, "It's said that when the Guild's intelligence team arrived at the scene and was about to take it out for a look, they weren't able to find it. Never thought that Seven Hill Academy was actually a step ahead in taking it." A step ahead? According to what was said, this should be a very important object, so why did Ran give it to me? "Shh, there're some sounds." Noticing the subtle noises in the scene, Gasai immediately motioned for us to quiet down. The scene slightly shook a bit as if it started to get windy there. "This is Lake Town. Just earlier this morning, we sent out a distress call, but the invader was far from what we had imagined." It was a women's voice and then the scene began to move around to record the surroundings. "If we still don't receive help by evening, I hope that this last video will let the people coming to help know what really happened here." There were people coming and going from time to time in the scene, as well as people who seemed like they were packing their luggage. "The entrance of the town has been sealed, and the rest of the roads leading out of here are unable to be used either. The town's white robe, Roziya, has drawn a teleportation array in the main square to send the residents out in batches." Then, we saw the scene moving inside. After moving a quite a distance, we saw a white-robed person at the center of a huge open s.p.a.ce. It wasn't a human, felt like some kind of race. "Directly send it to the Guild for help…" The sound suddenly stopped. It's not that the person disappeared but including in front of her, within the scene that we were watching, a horrifying picture appeared. "This is, this is…" The trembling voice led us to look at an unimaginable scene before us. The white robe, who was originally drawing the array, stood up and seemed as if he was going to greet her. The moment he stood up, some sort of thick, white fog appeared at his feet, and next, it suddenly began to rapidly expand. That white robe was instantly engulfed by the white fog; in a blink of an eye, the fog dispersed and the person had disappeared as well. "Dis, disappeared…just like the others, even the white robe has disappeared…" The voice of the woman recording the scene couldn't stop trembling, and then she started to move back. "So far…thirty-three people have already disappeared…If help still doesn't arrive…" She stopped talking. A little girl appeared in the video. She was probably around five or six years old. The girl was dressed in pink children's clothing, and was looking up at her with her head raised from below her. "Big sister, I'm looking for Mommy." The girl stretched her hands out towards the video. "Alright, first, first we'll go find your Mommy." A hand entered the video, and held onto that little girl's hand. The little girl suddenly lifted her head. Her yellow eyes were wide open without even a trace of emotion, "But, my Mommy is already dead." "Huh?" That was the last sound from the video. Then the video that was originally reflecting the scene, all of a sudden turned completely black with a "swish", and nothing was there. For quite a long time, there was not a sound in the whole lounge. In my mind, all I could think about was that little girl from just now. That pair of eyes overlapped with the horrifying pile of living corpses in my memory. "That white robe from just now is already dead. I'm afraid the other residents who disappeared are the same too." Picking up the yellow crystal that stopped playing the video and tossing it around, Senior's tone was very cold. "It looks like this isn't just some accidental disappearances, but it's something that invaded Lake Town." "Aih?" I looked at Senior, puzzled. He was already able to know what it was with only a short video recording? "I once saw a video very similar to this before. It probably occurred a few hundred years ago, the matter that happened during the largest elvin war." Placing the yellow crystal in his hand down, Senior seemed to have suddenly entered some kind of memory. "You guys should also know about this matter, the battle with the greatest elvin alliance, and the final victory at the Ghost King's Tomb." The Ghost King's Tomb! I remembered that horrifying outdoor lesson. That Ghost King who had his corpse sunk into the water. "That's right, it's that one." Senior's red eyes looked straight into mine, so deep that they're like a thick pool of blood. "A thousand years ago, during the largest battle that Ghost King Yelu had ever caused, there were many villages that began disappearing for unknown reasons. The day before that, they were still lively areas full of crowds, and in just the separation of one night, they became as empty as ghost towns. And it all happened in the nearby areas that Ghost King Yelu occupied. To this day, that mystery still hasn't been solved. For more than a thousand years, the people who disappeared also never appeared again. The inference at that time was that they were probably already dead and unable to be found." Why did this happen? Never thought that we would actually run into this sort of thing. I had a I'm-about-to-be-very-unlucky-soon kind of feeling. "The mystery that not even the elvin race was able to solve a thousand years ago, a thousand years later will be solved by us to show them!" The five-colored rooster head suddenly became very pa.s.sionate, and his whole body was blazing wildly, "Ahaha-!" How terrifying… "Nn, we must definitely uncover the truth." Gasai caught the yellow crystal that Senior tossed to him, and nodded. "Then it's settled! Let's swear by the names of all our grandfathers that until we uncover the truth, we aren't allowed to return here!" The five-colored rooster head, who was burning up to the highest point, stepped his foot onto the table, and began using other people's grandfathers to simply swear at the sun outside. … …Wait a minute… Where did you learn this phrase from!?
Why is this plot so similar to a certain video game…? "Then just the day before yesterday, the intelligence teams that were supposed to make regular reports suddenly disappeared as well. The General a.s.sembly couldn't contact the dispatched intelligence teams no matter what they did, as if they too had followed the town's people in evaporating. Because this matter occurred all of a sudden, Lake Town has already entered the third level of the protection zones in accordance with the emergency differentiation categories, which prohibits normal people from entering." Wait a minute, basically I should be a normal person, right? "As soon as you stepped into this school, you were no longer a normal person, so face it already!" Senior suddenly turned toward me and threw down those words, almost scaring me into a heart attack. "What about not being a normal person?" The five-colored rooster head, who was still flipping through the data, asked curiously. "No, it's nothing." In order to prevent him from saying too much and get beaten up by Senior again, I was a step ahead of him in speaking. "Go look at your data." "Tsk, there's so much words, it's way too troublesome. Next time can it come with ill.u.s.trations?" Looking at the dense data file in his hands, the five-colored rooster head frowned and then complained. You even want ill.u.s.trations! I bet that it's a hundred percent impossible for Senior to provide such a good service. "Sure." Unexpectedly, Senior actually showed an amiable smile, "I could use a curse seal to seal you inside the book, and then you could just act out whatever ill.u.s.trations you want. Wouldn't that be so convenient?" The words he spoke was completely out of place with his expression, and an icy, white mist even rose up beside him. Sometimes when you talk too much, it really is called "courting death". "No, no need." The five-colored rooster head was very much aware of his own limitations as he went back to reading the information. "Before the first group of intelligence teams disappeared, they should have sent some videos, right? Did you receive that?" Gasai, who quickly finished reading everything, asked about another matter before making a conclusion. "Of course." Sitting down at the table, Senior used his index finger to tap the table. An array about thirty centimeters directly appeared above it. It was a bit similar to the thing that Chifuyu used before to track, but it's also different. "Before they disappeared, they were doing a video recording, but after fifteen seconds or so, it was interrupted." We immediately gathered around the table. The array slowly began to rotate, and at the same time, a small scene also materialized above it. It looks like a small town. Most of what appeared were these little houses that resembled those of a foreign country. A bit further and you could see a rather tall thing that might be a hostel or a whatchamacallit trading floor or so. There was not a single person in the small town. All around were empty sceneries, making one feel somewhat strange. Usually when you see this sort of scene on TV, it'd often be in thrillers, so I felt that this Lake Town probably also had those kinds of things at work and the like. For the first few seconds, the scene was still motionless. Then a few seconds later, the entire screen suddenly became blurry. During that confusion, the red clothes of the intelligence team also got filmed. "This is…" "Hurry up and report back. We found the secret of Lake Town…" At that moment, the entire image directly vanished and the screen turned black. "Those were the last images that were sent." Jumping off the table, with the array above it disappearing as well, Senior folded his arms. "According to the a.n.a.lysis and speculation of the intelligence team, at the end when the video became blurry, it was probably because they fell into some curse trap and the like. But since it wasn't recorded in the video, there's no way of knowing what type of spell it was. However, if the intelligence team was able to find the secret at the scene, then for a black robe, it should be easy to solve it." That's why I said that black robes aren't human, they're ghosts! "Both missions have at least three or more black robes partic.i.p.ating. I never would've expected for the General a.s.sembly to think so highly of the events in both places that they even used two compet.i.tions to help out." Slightly frowning, Gasai started thinking about possible plans for the final compet.i.tion. "The five teams that are going to Lake Town, besides ours, include Randall's team, Alis Academy's team, Seven Hill Academy and Clear Wind Academy's first representative team. I don't know if that should be fortunate or unfortunate, since half of them could be considered as one of us; it wouldn't be too hard for them to cooperate with us." "That's right, but that guy in Clear Wind is very difficult to deal with. I keep feeling that he'd definitely do something during this opportunity. Looks like we'll have to inform those on the same side as us about this." After taking out his phone and quickly sending a few text messages, Senior put it away again. Inside Clear Wind, that ghost king's first expert… "That…can't we just report to the General a.s.sembly that someone infiltrated the compet.i.tion?" From that day on, I've been thinking about this problem. No matter how you put it, a purple robe was erased by a subordinate of the ghost king and had his ident.i.ty used to infiltrate the compet.i.tion. This sort of thing would certainly cause a huge commotion, right? Senior turned around to look at me, "Already told them. The General a.s.sembly has already sent people out to investigate Tenju, but they couldn't find anything at all, so there's no way to confirm whether he's the real person or not. In addition, I also reported this matter to the school, and they've already sent people to Clear Wind Academy. Before the results of the investigation come out, we'll have to be careful on our own." Haha…Be careful on our own… For some reason, my right eyelid's been twitching until it's about to cramp up. "That's right. I forgot to tell you guys that since this is considered an official mission, each of the locations will have three medical teams on standby. So as long as you don't die to the point where not even your ashes and bones are left, you'd probably able to be saved." Senior's words seemed to be specifically said for me to hear…since I'm the one who would easily die until my bones aren't left, I know… Speaking of the medical team, I seemed to have remembered a certain someone whom I haven't seen in a long time… Forget it, it shouldn't be that coincidental, right? Just as Senior finished his explanation, a sound was heard from the lounge's door. "Chu, someone's looking for you." "For me?" As soon as I opened the door, sure enough, it's a familiar face. "Excuse me." Outside the door was Ran, who seemed to love wandering around randomly. "There's no match today. I never thought you guys would still be gathered around here." "Can I help you with anything?" Surprised that he actually came here to look for me, I opened the door slightly wider. "Yes, are you free right now?" He nodded, and then greeted everyone in the lounge before turning back to me. "Can I borrow some of your time? We can talk in the saloon outside." Saloon! This is bad, I have a grudge with the coin-operated beverage machine. "A few days ago, the beverage machine had a hole smashed into it by an unknown person. It's been sent for repair, so the one in the saloon has been changed to a new one." Senior yawned, and then tossed something to me, "Buy some drinks on your way back." Buy drinks again!? I wonder if the new beverage machine will bite… "Then I'll borrow him from you guys and return him in ten minutes." Ran grabbed my shoulder,and happily dragged me running toward the saloon. In fact, sometimes I feel like I'm surrounded by a bunch of self-centered people who do their own things without a care for my wishes… Ran's pace was very quick, dragging me into the saloon in mere moments. Sure enough, just as Senior said, the beverage machine has been changed to a new one. "What can I do for you?" Glancing around, I sat down on the saloon's sofa, and Ran also sat opposite of me. "I forgot to give this to you last time. It's a gift to congratulate you on activating your illusionary weapon." Taking out a white box from his pocket, Ran smiled as he handed me the object. "You'll definitely have an use for this thing." Have an use? I took the box and looked it over. There's nothing special about it. It's just a very normal little box, a slightly heavy one, that probably had something like accessories or so inside. Carefully opening it, inside there was only a black b.u.t.ton-like object. "This is?" It can't be that you gave me this just so I could sew it on my clothes, right? "This is a case used to hold illusionary weapons. Usually, it'd be placed on necklaces or boxes for it to work. It's something that lets an illusionary weapon rest while providing it protection in the form of an aura." Speaking of this, I forgot to buy it again and I clearly remembered it this morning. But a case? Wait a minute, why would a case be heavy!? "This is an attachment type of case. I saw you wearing a bracelet last time, so I went to find a case for you." Ran beckoned to me, and motioned for me to hold out my left hand that wore Old Man. "Rather than buying a box or storage necklace, you might as well put the case directly on something you have to make it more convenient." I watched him press the case onto the bracelet, and then a faint light was issued in between the two objects. When he removed his hand, the bracelet now had something like a small circular base on it. "Just as I thought, Old Man is compatible with cases." Ran clapped his hands with a pleased I-guessed-correctly expression. "Then, try putting your illusionary weapon in." "Nn." Taking out Minas' soybean, I carefully placed her on that base. Just as the soybean came into contact with the base, its surroundings was immediately swarmed with a black metal that pushed the soybean into the bracelet. Not long after, the bracelet returned to its normal appearance, and even the soybean's shape was gone. "It's a hidden type of active case, so that whenever you want to use your illusionary weapon, you'll just need to tap the bracelet and she'll fall out." Beside me, the usage narrator immediately helped me clear away my doubts. "I understand, thank you." It really does feel easier to use compared to a necklace or box. I held the bracelet up high to get a good look. Not a trace could be seen at all, the illusionary soybean was completely hidden inside. Ran stood up, and I hurriedly followed him and stood up as well. "How about you try taking it out and activating it?" "Alright." Lifting my hand, I tapped the bracelet and the illusionary soybean really did fall out onto my palm. At the same time, that base also emerged. "Yǔ wǒ qiāndìng qìyuē zhī wù, qǐng ràng hàoqí zhě jiànshì nǐ de xíng tài." In a blink of an eye, the tiny derringer once again appeared in my hand. [T/N: The one who signed a contract with me, please allow the curious one to witness your form.] "Good, now point your gun over there." Ran gestured in a direction, and without questioning him, I pointed the gun at that side. But, why do I need to point my gun there? I turned my head to look. The muzzle's target was actually that beverage machine which was replaced not too long ago. Ran was standing at the side and showed a devious smile that I seriously never thought I would see on his face. "The beverage machine over there, hand over your drinks and I'll spare your life, otherwise I'll shoot." Did you get possessed by Senior!? That unlawful threat seriously came out of your mouth!? I took one step back. I can't believe I actually became Gangster A's accomplice! The beverage machine a few steps away began to tremble. In just a few seconds, several "kuang kuang" sounds could be heard, and then about five or six cans fell out. Ran walked over, and used a very natural att.i.tude to take out all the drinks. Is this really okay…? I had a feeling of committing a crime. "Here's the money." After Ran took out some coins from his pocket, and inserted them into the beverage machine, he walked over to my side and then placed the drinks in my hands. I had a kind of feeling that if the one standing here today was Senior or the five-colored rooster head, they definitely wouldn't be so kind as to insert the coins. I don't know why but my intuition seemed to be telling me that this is what'd happen. "Thank you, it's almost time for me to go back to the lounge as well." Carrying a bunch of drinks, I glanced at the time. It just so happen to be ten minutes since I came out. "That's right, you can bring this back with you too." Ran took out a yellow crystal and stuffed it into my pocket. "It should be very helpful to you guys." Helpful? What could it be? "Hand it over." As soon as I came back to the lounge, Senior instantly stretched his hand out towards me. You want a drink already… I put the can of fruit juice with an apple picture on it into his hand. In the next second, the can of fruit juice directly flew over and hit me on the head. After the sharp pain and darkness pa.s.sed, for a second I seemed to have seen the blissful garden and some kind of bizarre flower scent. [T/N: The blissful garden is where the Buddha lives.] "Who said I wanted a drink!? Are you looking to die!?" The a.s.sailant who used a beverage can to hit someone, Senior, spoke in a ferocious tone, "Give me the object that Ran just gave you." You knew that he gave me something again! In fact, you've been hiding behind me and peeping the whole time, right!? Without saying a word, Senior began to crack his knuckles, sending out terrifying "ka ka" sounds. "Uh, here it is." I immediately threw the drinks on the nearby table, and then handed him the yellow crystal. "Chu, you've worked hard." Helping me tidy up the drinks on the table, Gasai patted my shoulder. "What is that thing?" The five-colored rooster, who already moved closer to Senior to look at the crystal, asked. Putting the yellow crystal upright on the table, Senior made a few hand seals. "This is Seven Hill Academy's information." Then, the crystal emitted a faint light and gradually floated up until something similar to a scene appeared inside. That scene was very familiar, unusually familiar, so familiar that it was as if I had just seen it ten or so minutes ago. However, this time there was people in the scene. "This is the video recording of the day before Lake Town's residents disappeared, which is also the auto recording of the last night they requested for help from the Guild." Looking at the small scene, Senior coldly said, "It's said that when the Guild's intelligence team arrived at the scene and was about to take it out for a look, they weren't able to find it. Never thought that Seven Hill Academy was actually a step ahead in taking it." A step ahead? According to what was said, this should be a very important object, so why did Ran give it to me? "Shh, there're some sounds." Noticing the subtle noises in the scene, Gasai immediately motioned for us to quiet down. The scene slightly shook a bit as if it started to get windy there. "This is Lake Town. Just earlier this morning, we sent out a distress call, but the invader was far from what we had imagined." It was a women's voice and then the scene began to move around to record the surroundings. "If we still don't receive help by evening, I hope that this last video will let the people coming to help know what really happened here." There were people coming and going from time to time in the scene, as well as people who seemed like they were packing their luggage. "The entrance of the town has been sealed, and the rest of the roads leading out of here are unable to be used either. The town's white robe, Roziya, has drawn a teleportation array in the main square to send the residents out in batches." Then, we saw the scene moving inside. After moving a quite a distance, we saw a white-robed person at the center of a huge open s.p.a.ce. It wasn't a human, felt like some kind of race. "Directly send it to the Guild for help…" The sound suddenly stopped. It's not that the person disappeared but including in front of her, within the scene that we were watching, a horrifying picture appeared. "This is, this is…" The trembling voice led us to look at an unimaginable scene before us. The white robe, who was originally drawing the array, stood up and seemed as if he was going to greet her. The moment he stood up, some sort of thick, white fog appeared at his feet, and next, it suddenly began to rapidly expand. That white robe was instantly engulfed by the white fog; in a blink of an eye, the fog dispersed and the person had disappeared as well. "Dis, disappeared…just like the others, even the white robe has disappeared…" The voice of the woman recording the scene couldn't stop trembling, and then she started to move back. "So far…thirty-three people have already disappeared…If help still doesn't arrive…" She stopped talking. A little girl appeared in the video. She was probably around five or six years old. The girl was dressed in pink children's clothing, and was looking up at her with her head raised from below her. "Big sister, I'm looking for Mommy." The girl stretched her hands out towards the video. "Alright, first, first we'll go find your Mommy." A hand entered the video, and held onto that little girl's hand. The little girl suddenly lifted her head. Her yellow eyes were wide open without even a trace of emotion, "But, my Mommy is already dead." "Huh?" That was the last sound from the video. Then the video that was originally reflecting the scene, all of a sudden turned completely black with a "swish", and nothing was there. For quite a long time, there was not a sound in the whole lounge. In my mind, all I could think about was that little girl from just now. That pair of eyes overlapped with the horrifying pile of living corpses in my memory. "That white robe from just now is already dead. I'm afraid the other residents who disappeared are the same too." Picking up the yellow crystal that stopped playing the video and tossing it around, Senior's tone was very cold. "It looks like this isn't just some accidental disappearances, but it's something that invaded Lake Town." "Aih?" I looked at Senior, puzzled. He was already able to know what it was with only a short video recording? "I once saw a video very similar to this before. It probably occurred a few hundred years ago, the matter that happened during the largest elvin war." Placing the yellow crystal in his hand down, Senior seemed to have suddenly entered some kind of memory. "You guys should also know about this matter, the battle with the greatest elvin alliance, and the final victory at the Ghost King's Tomb." The Ghost King's Tomb! I remembered that horrifying outdoor lesson. That Ghost King who had his corpse sunk into the water. "That's right, it's that one." Senior's red eyes looked straight into mine, so deep that they're like a thick pool of blood. "A thousand years ago, during the largest battle that Ghost King Yelu had ever caused, there were many villages that began disappearing for unknown reasons. The day before that, they were still lively areas full of crowds, and in just the separation of one night, they became as empty as ghost towns. And it all happened in the nearby areas that Ghost King Yelu occupied. To this day, that mystery still hasn't been solved. For more than a thousand years, the people who disappeared also never appeared again. The inference at that time was that they were probably already dead and unable to be found." Why did this happen? Never thought that we would actually run into this sort of thing. I had a I'm-about-to-be-very-unlucky-soon kind of feeling. "The mystery that not even the elvin race was able to solve a thousand years ago, a thousand years later will be solved by us to show them!" The five-colored rooster head suddenly became very pa.s.sionate, and his whole body was blazing wildly, "Ahaha-!" How terrifying… "Nn, we must definitely uncover the truth." Gasai caught the yellow crystal that Senior tossed to him, and nodded. "Then it's settled! Let's swear by the names of all our grandfathers that until we uncover the truth, we aren't allowed to return here!" The five-colored rooster head, who was burning up to the highest point, stepped his foot onto the table, and began using other people's grandfathers to simply swear at the sun outside. … …Wait a minute… Where did you learn this phrase from!?
