In the passage outside the door, those who saw through the gaps between houses the plane landing in the courtyard of a farmhouse next door were somewhat startled, stretching their necks and standing on their tiptoes.
“How could this be?“
Their hearts thumped as they tried to confirm if it was real.
Such a blatant hint—how dire must the situation be to use it? Or… could it be that they themselves had already been abandoned by Mr. Adingzan, intended to be used as bait to distract the searchers?
Before a minute of their anxious worry had passed, someone called them over to the entrance of the office belonging to Mr. Gon Adinzan, who had just arrived.
A group of figures drew near.
Inside the dim and oppressive room, the man with the thick eyebrows slowly surveyed those gathered inside and just outside the doorway.
“Everyone, rest assured. You will be resurrected under my Ring of Wealth. “
Some people trembled and lowered their heads, while others stood frozen in place, either dazed or caught off guard.
Then, regardless of their reactions, they all felt a powerful force spreading against their skin.
“Ugh… Ahh! “
They felt their skin begin to flow. They opened their hoarse mouths, raised their arms to look, and saw bumps emerging on their skin like snowflakes of deep red amber, in various sizes.
Appearing like countless dense goosebumps, as soon as they formed, they burst through the skin, splitting and cutting in several directions.
A few drops of blood fell to the ground, followed hastily by more pattering sounds.
Through blurring vision, they saw inside the hazy red room that irritable-looking gentleman, his arm draped with his own coat as he quickly strode from before them towards the doorway and left.
……
By the time a crowd rushed to the deserted community on the edge of this sparsely populated town, it was once again empty—already looted of people.
Several figures wearing hats bearing anchor insignias, along with soldiers and personnel from the Security Department, listened to the report from the Demon-Blood Warrior who had just arrived.
“The people inside have already fled. Apart from a floor full of waxed, skin-like corpses, we couldn’t find a single living thing.“
“Can’t even detect any lingering aura?“
“Even an ordinary person would leave an aura when fleeing, let alone someone using tainted Demon Blood powers. That should have left behind even more abnormal traces.“
Facing the gruff, low-voiced inquiry from the man before him—whose jawline was rather prominent and whose expression had darkened—the Bloodline Warrior was just about to answer, suggesting that perhaps something had cleared or scrambled the aura of Demon Blood. However, another person beside him spoke up faster.
This was a lieutenant who had followed along. “I have something here that can track him,” the man said.
“You do? This suspect’s strength and counter-reconnaissance abilities are incredibly formidable.“
Hearing several gentlemen nearby ask this, the Demon-Blood Warrior inwardly relaxed a little, realizing that these high-ranking officers weren’t as clueless about the question they had just put to him as he had initially feared; they didn’t seem completely out of their depth or amateurish at all.
“According to intelligence from Tarco, although this individual is very powerful, he hasn’t reached the level of a Wealth Angel yet.“
Some corpses were being carried out, the stench of foul blood wafting from them.
The man in the foreign military uniform frowned and asked the lieutenant:
“Many of these people have absorbed Demon Blood, but now all the polluted Demon Blood auras in this place have been thrown into disorder. Do you really have a way?“
This burly middle lieutenant turned his head to glance at the houses around, then said, “Relax. We’ve already brought that thing along, just to be prepared. As long as the target’s aura still lingers here — however faint it may be — it won’t get away.“
It was not even ten minutes before the lieutenant, who had just departed, returned in a truck being escorted like a prisoner transport van.
A cage was unloaded from the vehicle by soldiers clad in dark combat gear. The lieutenant walked up, turned the key with a sharp clang, and snapped open the iron door.
“What’s that!“
Both the uniformed officer and his Blood Warrior men, along with most of the others present, stared at the leopard-sized creature that sat inside.
It was a hound — its spine pitch-black, with pale brown hairs covering its limbs and belly. But this was no ordinary dog.
This creature, radiating an unsettling menace, had an additional pair of heads sprouting from either side of its main head.
A triple-headed dog — one head lying flat and drowsy, two with lowered expressions in deep sleep. Sensing the disturbance outside, it snapped all three up tonight.
“A three-headed hound?“
“Correct,” said the lieutenant. “He’s been like that since birth.“
Murmurs of amazement arose as the hound, its neck trussed by a red collar dangling from three different throats, was solemnly handed on a ring from the chains, lead on tight rope offered along side to one gloved hand — detection specialist stepping forward toward the corpses and they dwellings beyond.
After searching for only a short while, the hound understood its owner’s query, raising its head to gaze fixedly in one direction, as motionless as if it were staring down prey from afar.
“Found it. ” The lieutenant, who was half-kneeling beside the hound with a cushion in hand, turned his head and raised his arm toward the people nearby, pointing northwest to say, “This is the direction. “
……
Colonel Brownlion tore off his mask inside the room.
“You go ahead and keep using it for now, ” said Yang Zicang, who stood opposite him.
“Seems this mask is kind of unusual. It says it can record the features of any face that has previously worn it. “
As he spoke, Colonel Brownlion looked up at Yang Zicang, his expression turning worried, and asked, “President Buchen, can the people of our world really make it through this impending disaster? “
“So you’ve sensed it too? “
“Yeah. I see it. “
Colonel Ang Pailisi lifted his head toward Yang Buchen. He was silent for two seconds before speaking:
“Truth be told, it wasn’t until this very moment that I truly believed your assessment to be its aim. It drove me to look upon the Kingdom’s Last Treasure operation, even though that will destine hundreds of millions fighting desperately for survival to certain deaths. I feel nothing but despair. The creeping iron vines of the end will only keep climbing up, inescapable. “
“Actually, there is another kind of future—or more precisely, another kind of past. “
Yang Zicang fixed his gaze on Pailisi as he spoke:
“Everyone in this world had been spreading this entire life, so wait transformation! Through a dissolving venom that has changed become whatever which have gotten entire beings called pimple. “
“Non-human beings? ” Ang Pailisi of the Pointed Ear Canton looked at Yang Zicang with some confusion, then at the single page of paper he had handed him.
On it were blurry words, and Pailisi stared at the text on the paper.
“The Memoirs of Seyolnusim…? “
He found some of the handwriting illegible, but upon closer inspection, it seemed he could make out the characters.
“June… the nineteenth, today’s date? ” Colonel Brownlion stared with some difficulty at the date displayed, but under close examination, the already ethereal words became as if soaked through with dampness, making them difficult to read.
Yet he could feel the power recorded within them, a force striving to break through despair.
“I thought, if in the desperate situation recorded by the saint, could there be any way to allow civilization to continue existing. “
Yang Zicang said to the man who was reading the text seated by the bedside, looking as if he was completely frozen in place.
“At the same time, that solution can also be applied in our world. “
“Our world. ” The man murmured.
Colonel Brownlion felt a warm hand rest on his shoulder.
He looked up to see that the young man’s gaze seemed to contain a burgeoning strength as it met his own.
“Reading this should be very dangerous for you, but there’s no other way. I know, the more you know, the sooner you will find that method. “
“Thank you. ” The Colonel immediately regained his usual forceful bearing. He glanced at the seemingly ordinary hotel room around them, then his gaze fell upon the slightly blurry piece of paper in his hands.
“Then, let me find a way to resolve this all-crisis. “
“Yes!” Yang Zicang nodded firmly, encouraging with energetic confidence. “Then we’ll leave it to you, Colonel. But there’s one more thing that might need your priority analysis.“
Colonel Brownlion lifted his head, his eyes shifting slightly to the side.
“The Golden Path,” Yang Zicang said. “It’s the power that, when you touch the key, lets you see what happened in the world before it was rewritten.“
“The holder of this power… is it related to the organization that tried to make a public example of you with that assassination trial yesterday?“
“I think so.” Yang Zicang, wearing his Soldier Army jacket but having already neatly put away his medals, said with a nod.
“It has to do with a wooden staff.“
Scratching his head, Yang Zicang described the barefoot figure in white he had encountered, along with Huang Xu’s appearance in the train carriage.
Watching Colonel Brownlion’s expression grow more focused with every word, Yang Zicang, after finishing, thought for a moment and then spoke: “Perhaps you’ve already received some intelligence from last night about the conversation between Miss Holmes and me. She mentioned that the appearance of the Golden Path is linked to an emotion like regret.“
“No, not yet,” Ang Pailisi said.
“Our intelligence-gathering capabilities are not quite up to that level for now. However, I believe General Staffein must have certainly taken note of this matter.“
He looked at Yang Zicang and continued.
“As for the Golden Staff, I’ve actually heard a little about it. It took me thinking back all this while to even recall the term. Perhaps it’s what you mean by the wooden staff.“
Yang Zicāng smiled warmly.
“Mm! Because our enemy is so formidable, in these past few centuries, our dear Ms. Golmos has only managed to uncover fragments of knowledge on how to deal with it. And that has to do with the story of the ‘Liuli Cup’. “
A low murmur arose. “So it’s connected to that story after all. “
As the man frowned, Yang Zicāng reached inside his coat. “Besides all that, I have another piece of intelligence to give you. “
He handed over his business card.
“And this is? “
Taking the card, the Colonel’s eyes flickered with a hint of puzzlement.
“A Trait, ” Yang Zicāng said. “An elder once told me that Traits are the primary means by which the universe recognizes us. “
The Colonel’s gaze sharpened as he studied the card, focusing on those formerly puzzling syllables: ‘Trajectory Master’.
“No wonder you are Chairman Yang, the one who, in less than a month, has brought so many marvels into existence within the World Ark. To have already obtained a card like this… “
“It’s just, m, luck really. I also had a lot of help from that elder, as well as some friends. “
Yang Zicāng continued, still with a faint smile.
“Though we still don’t know the exact form of the Path’s emergence, I think this qualifies as a piece of information. Mm… That is, I’m not sure how it will apply here, but if it does end up making a difference… “
Yang Zicang scratched his head and said, “Then I still can’t connect the story of the Colored Glaze Cup toit, nor to what’s hindering the appearance of the Golden Path. But hey, my friends are already out gathering intel. Plus, before the radio silence kicked in, I heard that some countries are urgently collecting relevant materials on that story ‘Mist Maiden and the Colored Glaze Cup’ that Miss Gormore mentioned. “
“There’s probably going to be materials from a lot of countries. This seems like a big project. ” Colonel Brownlion pinched the top of the business card and the book page, saying, “President, I’ve heard this story too. If I remember right… the main gist of it seems to be… “
“Please, hold on. ” Yang Zicang suddenly raised his hand.
“What? “
“Let’s not talk about this for now. The friends I sent out to gather intel should be back with the content soon enough. ” Yang Zicang let out a slight, self-deprecating smirk, then gave a small cough before adding, “Anyway, I think it’ll be really interesting once we all come together to piece the story of the Colored Glaze Cup into one cohesive picture. “
The book page in the Colonel Brownlion’s hands slowly fluttered and gave a soft tap.
Suddenly, the faint sound of hurried footsteps came from outside, followed by a rapid “dong, dong ” of urgent knocking at the door.
Yang Zicang immediately turned around, walked over, and opened the door.
“President, ” a young man wearing a black baseball cap outside said, “they’ve found the target’s location. It’s in Solthai. “
The Brown Lion inside the room quickly put his mask back on and rushed to the door.
“Excellent, President. ” Colonel Ang Pailisi, whose emotions were rarely so stirred, spoke rapidly: “Let’s go outside quickly. I need to use a communicator to contact someone. “
“Contact who? “
“Who is it? ” Yang Zicang and the youth outside the door both looked over, their questions sounding almost simultaneously.
Ang Pailisi glanced at the two of them. The youth in the black peaked cap outside the door rubbed the tip of his nose with his fingers.
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