Mystery: Those years when I was a foreign aid for the Aurora Club

925
Even at noon, Bansi is extremely eerie, with the calls of crows or other seabirds echoing from time to time.

An inconspicuous red light quickly approached the dilapidated wharf and the dead city in ruins, and entered the abandoned Banxi city.This uninhabited island is waiting for a small pirate ship that is not afraid of death and wants to search for previous items in the ruins. Naturally, no one will notice this sudden arrival.

The red figure stretched his body, looked around a few times, and continued moving deeper into the city without saying a word.

As it walked, its outline continued to change. Medici's image gradually faded, and his iconic red and black armor also gradually faded and disappeared. It became like a mass of vague blood-colored mist. humanoid silhouette.Sometimes it is an image of an image with slightly curly red hair tied up on the back of the head, sometimes it is a tall figure with blond hair, and a man with a majestic temperament wearing a crown.

These images are constantly changing.

Finally, its face disappeared, as if it had given up on choosing a definite image for itself. Only its eyes were vaguely visible, like a humanoid creature made of mist.

When the figure walked into the depths of Banxi, rustling sounds began to come from the surrounding ruins.There seemed to be something like a snake slithering through the weeds and dead leaves, following the red figure's feet, but leaving behind meandering blood-red traces.Finally, at a corner ahead, something hidden in the grass revealed its true appearance.

——It was a human head, with a complete spine extending from the back.

The head that drags its spine is just like the walking dead without a head. They are both unknown specialties of Bansi Port.

Apparently, this thing was using its spine to snake along the ground, leaving shocking traces.

While walking, the figure suddenly stopped and found the original location of the Banxi Telegraph Office.In the open space in the middle of the collapsed building, there were two still bright blood-red traces, as if they were left after two people were crushed into pulp.

Next to these two shadows, the door of the telegraph office fell to the ground, and on the other broken wall, there was a painting of an octopus-headed monster wearing armor, walking on waves, and holding a trident.

Its face turned to the armored octopus-headed monster, and it seemed to think for a moment, but in the end it did nothing, acquiescing to this weird abstract work to continue to stay in its territory.

Then, the figure walked purposefully to where the upside-down wooden door was, stretched out his hand to hold the door up, and leaned it against the broken wall.

It reached out and opened the wooden door, and a blurry world suddenly appeared behind the door frame. It tried to enter the space behind the door, but a layer of gray mist suddenly appeared on its body, isolating it from the outside.

After it tried several times and confirmed that it still could not enter the world behind the door, the red figure suddenly stopped, as if it was lost in thought and didn't know what to do next.After a while, the red figure closed the wooden door, and his body suddenly collapsed.After realizing that something containing the aura and brand of "Origin Castle" appeared on his body, and that it would also prevent it from converging with the "original body" on the other side of the seal, the City of Disaster immediately dematerialized itself and integrated itself into Banxi Port among the entire ruins.

It needs a certain amount of time to ensure its own safety, and it also needs to find the location of the "Origin Castle" related items and eliminate them as soon as possible.

Soon, a thin white mist appeared on this island without any life, and the hidden monsters also hunkered down quietly. The city and ruins were gradually engulfed by the thick fog, and they were invisible behind the fog. .

The fog seemed to spread endlessly around it, and finally, the entire Bansi Island was shrouded and disappeared.

……

In the afternoon, Anderson, who had been busy all morning, saw off the last familiar guest and finally had a chance to breathe.

After quickly wiping the tables in the restaurant, Anderson found an excuse and slipped out.Bailang is different from the Northern Continent. Although it is afternoon, there are not many people on the street.

However, when Anderson first came here, the operation here was the same as that of the Northern Continent. It was the river that was still under construction that changed the living habits of the Bailang people.At first, only the Extraordinaries of the Church of Death were preparing to dig out the river. Although many people were moved by the church's propaganda and took the initiative to help, even Bailang's government did not participate in the church's actions.However, ten days and a half later, the high priest of the Church of Death—the Pope and His Holiness on their side—suddenly announced the closure of the government, and only those involved needed to continue working.

Since then, day and night in Balam have been reversed, because the Church of Death only allows construction from after sunset to before noon, and no civilians are allowed to approach the river at other times.

“This country is incredible.”

"In a religious event, all the people can actually participate."

Anderson looked at the direction of the river, shook his head, and walked away.

Although the restaurant provided two meals, Anderson was tired of the skills of his fellow cooks, not to mention that he had just received property from several old and well-connected customers, so he had plenty of money.He strolled leisurely down the street and headed towards the snack shop he often went to.From a distance, he could see the old woman in the pastry shop clumsily closing the door, squinting to find the keyhole of the old iron lock.

"Hey! Hey! Don't close the door yet!" Anderson greeted loudly. He walked over quickly and spoke to the old lady skillfully in Dutan with a local accent, "Are you going back so early today? I still want to come and eat. Here’s a piece of the dried fruit milk cake you made!”

The old woman was old and her ears were not working well, but there were not many people who still liked this old-fashioned pastry. She vaguely saw a person with a familiar hair color, heard a familiar voice, and immediately recognized him. the other party’s identity.

"You're here again." The white-haired old man also said the honorific, "Sorry, I can't make snacks today. I have to go home and sleep."

The word "sleep" in Dutan language originally means a peaceful sleep and a long sleep. Anderson naturally understood what the other party meant, but he didn't know that his own understanding was biased:

"Are you going home to rest so early? Are you going to do business that night?"

Among all the traditional Bailang snack shops that Anderson has eaten at in the past few months, this old lady makes the best ones. I heard that her ancestors cooked palace snacks for the Eggers family or a certain declining Bailang noble. division.Not only does Anderson like it, he also plans to buy a few more copies and give them to Edwina as souvenirs.After all, she is an old friend whom she hasn't seen for a long time, and she bothered her to come two days early to pick her up. She will definitely be interested in this kind of food with a historical atmosphere, and maybe she can save some money on her ferry ticket.

"I won't come out at night." The old woman smiled and shook her head, "I won't come here anymore."

Um?Anderson was stunned for a moment, then belatedly realized that this "sleep" seemed to have a different meaning. He quickly asked: "Today, is it today? Has the church notified you that you should prepare to go to the kingdom of God?"

Anderson looked at the other person up and down and didn't believe it: "But you still look very energetic. Could it be..." Is it an accident?

"No," the old man said, "that moment is coming."

“We will all have eternal silence…that’s what the Church tells us.”

Anderson was stunned for a moment, then his eyes slowly opened wide and his breathing suddenly became rapid.He immediately raised his head and looked around the streets, which were indeed more depressed than before, and cold sweat broke out on his back.

He twitched the corners of his mouth, his eyes were a little flustered, and his expression forced a smile:

"Mother-in-law, is this... what I'm thinking about? That river... isn't it said next week? Why is it... today?"

"It's not only a river, it's also the royal road for our god's return, so the high priest worked hard and everyone worked hard."

The old woman's eyesight was not good and she could not see the slight uneasy expression on Anderson's face. She thought that the other party's trembling voice was due to excitement, so she grabbed Anderson's hand with her old hand and patted it twice: "Yes, It's today, the high priest has told us..."

"We have fallen into a peaceful sleep, and will soon return to the embrace of God together to welcome eternal silence."

"Kid, don't move around anymore and go home."

"Lie down with your family, hold the bones of your ancestors, close your eyes... We will be forever, this is forever."

The old woman's words were gentle and had a strange reassuring power, as if she was still caring about Anderson as a deceased junior.Even Anderson was brought to calm down a little, and for a moment he thought that this might not be a bad idea.

...Not a bad size!No matter how poetic and picturesque death is, it is still death. I don’t want to die yet!

The smile on Anderson's face disappeared in an instant. He suddenly no longer cared about bringing some souvenirs to Edwina and his old acquaintances, but immediately said goodbye to them and racked his brains to think about how to leave.

Although Anderson neither knew the Sefirot nor what the "River of Styx" was, the high priest said that it was something related to the God of Death. No matter how arrogant Anderson was, he would never think that he could survive being covered by such a thing. leave!

Why is it today, why is today coming!
No, no, calm down for now, at least for the night...

It's not too late to send a message to Edwina!Maybe extraordinary abilities such as traveling through the spirit world are still useful!

Anderson initially used the simplest way of sending letters to contact Edwina. After all, Balam's private port also had contacts with many pirates. In this way, he found "Vice Admiral Iceberg" and obtained some occult contact methods.He could have spent the last 30 hours in Balam leisurely. In the middle of the night tomorrow, when others were busy working on the construction site, he left quietly and was on the boat with Edwina. Observe the moment when the "River Styx" gushes out from the spirit world - but I didn't expect it to be tonight!Why is it tonight!
Anderson was really panicked now. He didn't care about absenteeism and hurried back to the small house he rented and started to arrange a simple ceremony.

Roselto's dream technique... useless!
"Edwina is still far away from me now..." Anderson's pupils narrowed.

More than ten minutes later, the spirit summoning Edwina failed as expected.

"All of them have exceeded the effective distance."

Anderson's expression suddenly became very ugly.

He hasn't been an adventurer at sea for a long time, but he still remembers the approximate sailing speed of ships at sea.Since the "Roselto Dream Technique" has not yet reached the applicable range, it means that the straight-line distance between Edwina and him exceeds 1000 nautical miles.

If there are still 30 hours left, the speed of the extraordinary ship "Golden Dream" can definitely be reached, but today - after dark at seven o'clock, they will get up and continue working. It is impossible for Edwina to make it within these five hours. Come! ——She may not even know that she can't make it, because no one told her that the channel was completed more than two days in advance, and she might not have left the port yet!

Anderson's heart fell to the bottom for a moment.

But after being stunned for two seconds, he immediately stood up and ran wildly outside, running wildly on the deserted streets.

At this time, Anderson heard the footsteps of others, and he found that another Balang man was also running wildly. They accidentally looked at each other, with bottomless fear and desire for life in their eyes.

……

Because the west side is close to the sea, there are many piers, and it seems to be the only place to escape.But when Anderson ran over and looked at the steady waves on the sea, he suddenly felt a sense of extreme fear.

With a dangerous intuition, he stopped in front of the dock and waited for a moment before Anderson activated his spiritual vision.

When he opened it like this, he immediately saw countless spirits and spiritual creatures that were as powerful as himself or even more powerful, wandering on the seaside, and there were almost invisible clouds floating on the sea, and they were hidden in the clouds.When he got close, many spiritual creatures stared at him, even opened their mouths and stretched out their claws, eager to walk over and walk into their mouths.

"Hold."

Anderson couldn't help but curse, turned around and ran in the other direction.

The territory of the Balam Empire is very vast. If he can't walk by the sea, then he has no way to escape.Even if he is a Sequence 5 Beyonder, he cannot cross a country in a few hours.

But despite knowing he had no way out, Anderson ran as fast as he could.

Time passed by minute by minute. I don't know if it was a psychological effect. Anderson felt that it seemed to get dark very early today - even in winter, the night in Balam would not arrive until around seven o'clock, but it was not yet five o'clock today. Oh, it's actually starting to get dark!

The surrounding temperature was also dropping rapidly, and Anderson's hair stood on end. Even strenuous exercise could not dispel the chill in his heart.

He realized that he had no way to escape, and the "River Styx" was really coming to the earth tonight!

While running, a voice suddenly floated into his ears.

"It is actually not difficult to stabilize the existence of Medici. Since you said that his soul has not completely died, and you have used other methods to temporarily stabilize his state, it is very simple to continue his destiny on this premise."

"Oh, okay, just think about it when you need help, I will notice it."

"That's it."

Medici?
Medici isn't... the one who can talk about Him must be a high-sequence powerhouse, right?

Anderson perked up and immediately made plans to kneel down. He immediately turned around and ran towards the source of the sound. On the way, he heard the other party starting to talk to another person:

"...Really? I actually like Bailang's death culture very much. In the Fourth Age, when the collaboration between the Emperor of Hades and the Original Witch was still ambiguous, love and death were the main themes here. I remember that there were many derivatives. Fun holidays and anniversaries.”

"The human being you control, wasn't he also very interested in these foreign cultures when he was a child? Maya, Aztec, Inca... Hahaha, it's a pity that at the end of those books and documentaries, these civilizations always 'mysteriously disappeared' , became a mystery that will never be solved. Only when he grew up did he gradually realize why these civilizations 'mysteriously disappeared', and they could only be recorded as 'mysterious disappearances'."

"Now, this place is about to 'mysteriously disappear', and it's real..."

Before he finished speaking, Anderson saw the other party.

A man with gray hair, wearing some strange clothes, holding something that seemed to be a camera, but smaller and more sophisticated.

At first glance, he seems to be an ordinary tourist taking sightseeing and taking pictures everywhere.

"I've seen you."

Just when Anderson began to think about the content of the slip-and-kneel technique, the person opposite suddenly spoke, and then denied himself with a smile: "No, you can't say that. Human beings have a relatively simple understanding of identity. Isn't it true that I saw you?" I."

"..."

This sentence brought a chill to Anderson that was no less than that of "Styx" who had entered the countdown to his arrival. He instantly realized that the person facing him might not only be a high-sequence person, but might even be a high-ranking person from other races that was not even a human being. !
Anderson immediately backed down.

"Your life will end in less than five hours."

The other party suddenly said again, looking at him with those strange eyes without pupils: "So that's it, the River of Eternal Darkness came to the earth at that time, and his movements were quite fast."

TBC
------

"What did you want to do when you came here?"