The sun leaned westward, and the vampires within the manor began to stir. Someone was moving underground.
Mo Yu retreated to his own room.
He handed the 《Demon Hunter's Research Records on the Origin of Magic Power》 to Alpha, having it scan the contents of the records and cross-reference the keywords with the historical archive.
Alpha quickly turned up an important clue.
It concerned the Eight Sages.
According to historical records, every so often a powerful Monster would emerge claiming to be one of the Eight Sages. Their titles, abilities, personalities, and goals all differed, but they all shared the same self-proclaimed prefix: one of the Eight Sages.
"'King' loved power and excelled at manipulation, establishing a Great Fusion Dynasty of monsters during the Warlord Era."
"'Flower Spirit' moved without a fixed trace, her abilities unfathomable. As long as her curiosity was satisfied, one could make a wish of her."
"'Abomination' was a killing machine that slaughtered life indiscriminately. The Great Fusion Dynasty built by 'King' was ultimately destroyed at Abomination's hands."
"'Quantum' joined the Human Revival Organization during the Destruction Era, providing crucial momentum for the Organization's development. Most of the technology behind the Space Station was closely tied to Quantum, but the detailed records related to her have been erased."
Alpha stopped answering.
There was very little information.
Mo Yu rubbed his chin, quite curious about the Eight Sages. Judging by the situation, there should still be four more Sages, only their deeds had gone unrecorded.
This research record must have come from the hand of one of the Eight Sages active during that era, only the author had left no title behind.
Mo Yu opened the window to watch the sunset.
As he was thinking about what to eat for dinner, someone knocked on the door.
He opened it to find the maid standing there, a box in her hands.
The maid pushed the box into Mo Yu's hands and instructed him, "The Young Miss asked me to bring this to you. Eat it quickly. Once the sun has fully set, you're to go out with the Young Miss."
Mo Yu asked, puzzled, "Go out to do what?"
The maid said, "Have you forgotten what you said yesterday?"
Mo Yu understood at once.
It was about the matter concerning Alice.
Elise was going to act in person — it seemed this matter mattered a great deal to her.
The maid added, "According to the informant's intelligence, the Two Great Families and the Moon Tear Organization held talks last night. Starting today, Demon Hunters have already begun gathering toward the Black City. It's estimated that in a few days, a large-scale operation will break out. Best to act early — in another two days, the place will be crawling with Demon Hunters."
"Understood. I'll go find the Young Miss once I've eaten."
The maid left.
Mo Yu returned to his room and opened the Food Box.
Four dishes, a soup, and rice — two meat dishes, two vegetable dishes, all quite exquisite.
The treatment here wasn't bad at all.
He ate his fill, thoroughly satisfied.
He walked over to his bed, where seven or eight weapons lay. Blades, swords, spears — all of them Spirit Tools. Because of the limitations of his Rewind Ability, he was destined to need many weapons.
He picked out a short spear about 1.2 meters long and wrapped it in cloth.
This would do for tonight.
A spear was a good thing.
It could be thrown,
and Rewind provided a margin for error.
A 100% Hit-rate Sonic Spear was more than enough to snipe down most Monsters.
Instructing Alpha to scan the book, Mo Yu shouldered his short spear and left.
By the time he found Elise, he discovered the Vampire Maiden had finished changing. She wore a Gothic-style long dress, black as its base tone with red accents, black silk stockings paired with High Heels, her hair pinned up, a feathered lady's hat atop her head, and a black veil draped over her face. At a glance, it was a classical, dreamlike Noble lady's ensemble.
The three of them made their way to the Underground garage.
The maid drove.
Mo Yu took the Co-pilot seat.
Elise sat in the back seat.
The car started up, left the Underground garage, and drove along the Outer ring road.
There was no wind and no moon tonight, the sky overcast, not a star in sight. Beyond the reach of the streetlights lay nothing but darkness, so thick one couldn't see a hand in front of one's face. Only by gazing into the distance could one catch the glow leaking out from the city.
Alice lived on the other side of the city, in a large manor villa out in the Suburbs.
Half an hour later.
The car stopped at their destination.
The place was remote — not a soul for two kilometers in any direction, just a single manor standing alone.
This manor was unusual.
On such a pitch-black night, the sprawling manor showed no light at all.
Total darkness, like a place of death.
A short silhouette emerged from the darkness — a vampire crawled out and knelt on one knee before Elise. "Young Miss, there's something strange about this manor. Whether we post lookouts or send in a team, contact is quickly lost. Every team sent in has been elite."
"I understand."
Elise answered, lifting her head to stare straight ahead, her gaze cutting through the night and fixing on the manor.
Mo Yu was observing as well.
Vampires had Night Vision; Mo Yu did not. He could barely make out the people around him. He was mainly waiting for a prompt from the Panel, but nothing came — he could only see the vampires and Bloodthirsty Bats lurking nearby.
Instinct told him this place was dangerous.
Surely Alice had noticed the visitors by now? Given her attitude toward Elise, she should have come out to meet them directly.
Elise fell silent for a moment, then gave an order:
"Let's go in."
The maid and the short vampire took the lead.
Both of them were Knight-level Vampires.
Elise walked in the middle.
Mo Yu brought up the rear.
The manor's iron gate wasn't locked; the short vampire pushed it open with ease.
The group entered one after another.
After only a few steps, all three vampires suddenly stopped in their tracks.
To Mo Yu, this whole venture was no different from stumbling around blind. He walked straight into Elise's back, stepped back, and said in a low voice, "What happened?"
Elise said, "Fog's rolled in. Stay close to me. There's no scent of the living here."
Mo Yu moved in closer.
A dark red pool of blood spread out beneath Elise's feet, Blood Thorns extending outward, radiating from her as the center and covering a three-meter range, taking Mo Yu under its protection as well.
Both the maid and the short vampire grew wary, blood welling up from within their bodies and condensing into weapons in their hands.
They pressed onward.
A large fountain basin emerged from the fog, looking as though it had been abandoned for a long time.
The basin was empty, save for a scatter of fallen leaves and debris.
The moment the four of them drew close, points of red light surfaced in the darkness, converging from all directions.
"Here they come."
The maid and the short vampire charged out, and all manner of sounds rang out from the darkness — blades tearing through flesh, metal clashing, eerie shrieks, cries of pain, bones shattering, and more.
Mo Yu frowned.
Without Night Vision, he couldn't clearly see what was happening. He could only watch as the red points swiftly vanished, dealt with by the maid and the short vampire.
What unsettled him was that the Panel gave no prompt at all.
Those red points weren't Monsters.
He thought back to the Zombie Dogs.
Same thing — no prompt then either.
Which meant that whatever lurked in the darkness, trying to ambush and hold them back, was some Monster's Special Ability, not an individual Monster itself.
The Zombie Dogs' master — he'd found them.
It really was connected to Alice.
He just didn't understand what Alice was trying to do.
From the Intelligence gathered before, her feelings toward Elise were something special.
And now Elise had come in person, to her own doorstep.
Setting up an ambush — what did that mean? Did she want to chase after her wife straight into the crematorium?
As Mo Yu was pondering this, he sensed something drawing near, but it was instantly torn apart by the Blood Thorns, nothing left but blood splattering across the ground and a gust of hot, bloody air.
He pretended to be frightened, crouching down and wrapping his arms around Elise's thigh.
Elise's voice came, displeased: "What are you doing?"
"Young Miss, what's all around us? I can't see anything, and it feels dangerous here." Mo Yu answered, glancing warily side to side.
Elise gave a soft snort but didn't answer, nor did she push him away — tacitly allowing his behavior.
Mo Yu swept his gaze quickly around, his cheek pressed against Elise's thigh. If Alice was watching from hiding, she'd surely want him dead — and the moment she showed herself, the Panel would lock onto her.
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