Chapter 68: Moonlit Night

Chapter 68: Moonlit Night

MI9’s office building was located on Bellotto Street in the West Borough. It was a plain-looking three-story building.

At its entrance, there was no sign that explained its identity. Only a simple doorplate hung there:

“9.”

The most essential part of the office building lay underground. The portion above ground mainly housed clerks. Of course, the majority of Beyonders affiliated with MI9 would not go underground unless they had business there either. The environment was poor, the atmosphere oppressive, and accidents could occur at any moment due to improper containment of Sealed Artifacts.

At present, Xio had already become deputy head of the “Domestic Security and Counterintelligence Team.” She directly managed a Beyonder team of no small size and was responsible for handling spy cases related to Intis in the Backlund region.

“Here is a mission.” Her direct superior, MI9 Deputy Director and head of the Domestic Security and Counterintelligence Team, Lieutenant General Pantek, picked up a document and passed it across the desk.

“Is it urgent?” Xio reached out to take it and asked cautiously.

Lieutenant General Pantek was a typical old Loen gentleman, with a hairline that had retreated considerably. He picked up his white-glazed porcelain coffee cup, took a gentle sip, and said,

“Not urgent. Low risk.

“In fact, this mission will be issued to all members, in the hope that someone might be lucky enough to complete it.”

That description was somewhat beyond Xio’s expectations, but she did not open the envelope on the spot and directly replied,

“I will relay it to my team members.”

After leaving Lieutenant General Pantek’s office, Xio returned to her own room.

When she threw herself into her seat, her entire person seemed to become hidden.

After quickly skimming the document in her hand, Xio roughly understood why the deputy director had described it that way.

The Utopia that needed investigation seemed to be absent from every place on the Northern and Southern Continents. It was also not on any known island in the Five Seas.

Over the past two weeks, quite a few people had entered the so-called Utopia. Yet the methods and locations of entry differed completely. Some had arrived in the Berserk Sea, near the Sonia Sea, during a terrifying storm. Some had made an erroneous stop in that city during a torrential downpour on the middle section of the railway from Desi Bay to Backlund. Some had entered after getting lost in Sivellaus County…

So far, no one had suffered harm or been left with mental influence after entering Utopia… No wonder Deputy Director Pantek said the danger level is low… Also, the current cases cannot be used to summarize a pattern. There is no way to use them to find Utopia’s true location, so no one can be specially sent inside to investigate. Mm… It really is only possible to inform all members of the specific circumstances and hope that, if one of them happens to arrive in Utopia, they can cautiously and covertly gather some information… Xio put down the document and stood with slight regret, preparing to inform her subordinate Beyonders of the matter.

She felt regret because the mission’s difficulty was extremely high, with almost no visible hope of completion. That meant she could not accumulate more merit through it.

Over the past half year or so, in order to respond to the prophesied apocalypse, Xio had been busy every day. On one hand, she handled MI9 affairs. On the other, she completed all kinds of missions given by Mr. Fool. Through both routes, she accumulated contributions, preparing to exchange for the Imperative Mage potion formula and Beyonder characteristic, so that she could realize her wish of becoming a demigod.

And up to now, Xio was still a little short in both aspects—especially inside MI9. Without some major contribution, she saw no hope whatsoever.

If not for the fact that she could still receive a generous salary from MI9, enjoy benefits in various areas, and rely on her position and identity to access large amounts of intelligence, using it to help herself complete the missions given by Mr. Fool, Xio would already have wanted to resign directly and become a bounty hunter again. That would make her schedule much freer.

At the next Tarot Gathering, I can ask about this case. Perhaps Mr. World and the others will have some clues… Thinking this, Xio pushed open the door to the room where her team members were.

After explaining the mission regarding Utopia, Xio deliberately added a reminder:

“If anything seems wrong, even if you have a chance to enter Utopia, you may directly give it up. That town, whether real or false, may have shown no harmfulness only because it has not been provoked.”

After staying busy for a while longer, Xio finally ended her exhausting day. Before seven-thirty, she returned home and ate dinner with her mother, her younger brother, and Fors, enjoying a limited measure of relaxation.

In the early hours, after washing up, she walked to her bedroom window, pinched the curtain cloth, and prepared to pull it shut.

During this process, Xio naturally cast her gaze outside and discovered that the crimson moon high in the sky had, at some unknown time, become round and large. Its color had deepened noticeably, like flowing blood.

“Blood moon”… Xio abruptly turned her head and looked toward the neighboring room with concern, worrying a little about her friend’s condition.

However, she quickly remembered that Fors was already a Sequence 4 demigod and was no longer afraid of the influence of the “full moon ravings.”

…

Inside the neighboring room, Fors was leaning against the bed. While admiring the blood moon outside the window, she endured the needle-stabbing pain in her head and listened to Mr. Door speak:

“Although advancing from Sequence 3 to Sequence 2, from an incomplete mythical creature to a true mythical creature, is indeed a qualitative transformation, I believe that Sequence 4 to Sequence 3 also involves a qualitative change to a certain degree. One might even say that Sequence 3 is the most wonderful level among the Beyonder pathways.

“At this level, one neither needs to rely on external force to resist madness and the tendency to lose control, nor endure torment every moment. One also possesses Beyonder abilities that completely surpass ordinary humans, becoming more like a god than a human. Furthermore, one can harvest a small number of anchors, further stabilizing one’s mental state.

“If most Sequence 3s did not lack sufficient lifespan, making it very difficult for them to live beyond five hundred years, I believe not many Saints would have the motivation to advance to angel…”

“Mm-hm.” Fors nodded repeatedly, indicating that she was clear on it.

At the same time, the corner of her forehead twitched slightly as she yawned in an extremely concealed way.

She had already somewhat adapted to the pain brought by directly conversing with Mr. Door.

Mr. Door continued,

“Sequence 3 of the Apprentice pathway is called Wanderer. This means that even the spirit world can no longer trap you. You can enter the starry sky, roam the astral world, travel to different planets, witness true dead silence, true barrenness, true grandeur, and civilizations completely different from this place.

“Only after personally experiencing those things will you know how tiny the world you live in truly is…”

Mr. Door briefly described His experiences, using them to display the majesty and splendor of the starry sky, as well as the weight and charm of different civilizations.

Fors became somewhat absorbed as she listened. If not for the stabbing pain in her head still reminding her, she would almost have forgotten that the speaker was a dangerous King of Angels.

“As long as you help me escape my predicament, I will give you the Wanderer potion formula and Beyonder characteristic, and help you complete the ritual. Of course, all of that can be paid in advance.” At the end of the full moon ravings, Mr. Door once again made His promise.

“It truly is something to yearn for.” Fors praised sincerely.

After Mr. Door’s voice gradually weakened and vanished, Fors abruptly pulled away the cushion behind her lower back and lay down.

In less than three minutes, she had fallen asleep peacefully.

To her, the vast starry sky truly was full of charm, but it also carried danger where merely understanding it would lead to corruption. She had absolutely no motivation to explore it.

“I’ll consider it after I’ve finished traveling every place on the Northern and Southern Continents and all Five Seas…” In her sleep, Fors nearly soundlessly muttered a sentence.

At that moment, the blood-red moon outside the window had long since faded, returning to a lighter crimson, and was no longer complete.

…

A huge blood-red full moon hung at the edge of a cliff, illuminating the swamp below.

The swamp was dark red, constantly bubbling. At the bottom, it seemed that magma was boiling everything.

At a glance, the swamp had no edge at all, like a vast ocean.

Pa!

A stone fell from the edge of the cliff and dropped into the swamp.

The next second, a bubble surfaced and silently burst, giving birth to an infant covered in blood.

The infant swayed, swimming closer to the cliff wall and trying to climb upward.

Pa!

A stone beneath Emlyn White’s foot shattered, and his entire body fell from the cliff, plunging toward the swamp.

This sanguine earl abruptly woke from the dream, looking around in both lingering fear and confusion.

After confirming that this was his room and that the surroundings were filled with the many dolls he knew so well, large and small, Emlyn slowly exhaled. With a grave expression, he muttered to himself,

“That dream just now was not simple.”

As a Witch King, he possessed sufficient understanding of the dream domain.

Could that have been the so-called “divine revelation”? But I received no revelation at all… Emlyn thought for several dozen seconds without finding an answer. Then he decided not to care about the problem for now and to ask Father Utravsky when he had time.

…

The moon, no longer blood-red and no longer full, cast a hazy glow over the garden of the Church of Waves.

Alger reached out and caught the slip of paper that the gale had “delivered” to him. He unfolded it and read:

“Verdu is searching for a pirate ship or smuggling ship headed for Bansy.”

—Bansy Harbor had not yet been rebuilt, and there were no passenger ships to that place from anywhere. Verdu, who cherished every chance to use Teleportation, could only rely on unconventional methods.

Going to Bansy? Alger immediately furrowed his brows.

He knew very clearly what Bansy meant, yet he could not understand why Verdu wanted to go there.

There should be nothing left there!

No, even though the Church flattened Bansy, certain abnormalities still remain there. Besides, back then, the Church did not fully investigate what problem Bansy was hiding… As a cardinal, Alger had the authority to read some confidential documents, including the records of the Church of Storms’ actions against Bansy.

In addition, he had learned even more from Mr. Fool and The World Gehrman Sparrow.

After thinking for a while, Alger quickly made a decision. He prepared to have his shadow guards arrange a pirate ship for Verdu.

In this respect, Alger knew many key figures. There was no need for him to act personally, nor in his own name.

Of course, in the Rorsted Archipelago, smuggling ships often also meant pirate ships.