Nightmare's Call

501 As Fate Would Have It: Part 1

Ancellia used to leave behind a clue in the Fairy Empire. The clue was pointing to something in the Infinite City that allegedly could resist the black mist. But at the time, Lin Sheng did not know where the Infinite City was. As luck would have it, he might have found information of its whereabouts here.

“That means, the natives knew where the Infinite City was. After Ancellia left the Infinite City and arrived here, she was then sent back to the Infinite City again.”

Sitting on the sofa at home, Lin Sheng sorted his out his train of thought. He thought for a moment and decided to turn off his spiritual vision. As everything in the surroundings returned to normal in an instant, the dilapidated house restored to his formal looks. The Nightmare Plain was no longer visible outside the window. In its place was a world of flowing red light. The house in the dream had reverted to its reclusive state.

Lin Sheng looked at the stone disc in his hand. He was surprised to find that it still looked the same. Nothing had changed.

“That’s it for now. If I stay too long here and something happens in the real world, it would be a disaster.”

Lin Sheng carefully kept the stone discs with him, checked all the gaps in the walls, doors and windows for the one last time, and patched the new cracks on the wall before leaving the dream.

In the Sanctum of Shermanton, Lin Sheng sat up on the bed. Everyone else was out for patrol, pacifying the boiling emotions of the people that could explode anytime. As the black mist lockdown dragged on, people started to get anxious. Despite supply of food and water was adequate now, most people still felt worried, even panicked because of the reduced space for activity and the inability to contact the outside world. Also, it did not help when doomsday stories were spreading in the city.

Walking out of the bedroom, Lin Sheng looked up at the hazy gray moon in the sky. Blocking by the black mist, the moon outline was starting to get fuzzier. This world was going to fall into the same abyss of desperation that Blackfeather City used to experience.

If no solution was found, everything was going to turn into a meaningless bubble. Facing the constant corrosive attack from the black mist and the threat of the elusive and powerful monsters, without adequate supply, even he could only hold up just a little longer than the average Palatinates. The outcome would still be the same. He would be corroded, becoming the black mist’s monster hatchet man. Just like the Night Lord last time.

Feeling depressed, Lin Sheng contacted his commanders and generals through telepathy. Only after knowing that things in Shermanton and Henricqal were all right did he go back and took more rest in the room.

Just then, Tenko Kasumi, who had just returned to Henricqal, contacted him.

“Master, something happens here. You’d better come to take a look.”

“What happens?” Lin Sheng frowned.

“We caught two suspicious figures from the Astral Mere. Having interrogated them, we found something disturbing,” Tenko Kasumi replied at warp speed, and then sent memory of the interrogation over into his mind.

Lin Sheng received the memories with his eyes closed, carefully looking into it in his mind. Slowly, his expression turned into a surprise.

“Could the Astral Mere do this at all? You trust these people who call themselves the observers?”

“Not that I trust them. They were interrogated separately yet giving the same statement. Besides, I found the two intruders they mentioned,” Tenko Kasumi said, still at light speed.

“I’m coming over right away!” Besides, Lin Sheng did not want to stay too long in Shermanton. If the Black Tide could use him as a position tracker, then staying in Shermanton would cause a security concern to the city.

“Aye!”

Giving up sleep, Lin Sheng put on his clothes and quickly headed to the newly built portal at the back of the sanctum. The holy power-operated portal had no number of transmission limits. Just that the usage of holy power would increase as the black mist got denser. Each transmission required 1,000 units of holy power. It could handle low traffic volume without a doubt. But operating at high throughput level could still overload the system.

By the time he arrived at Henricqal from Shermanton, it was already some time past seven in the evening.

In the temporary prison in the sanctum, Lin Sheng saw the two suspicious members from the Astral Mere. The young girls looked like twins.

Inside the spotless prison, Lin Sheng was dressed in his Seagal attire, escorted by a few red armored soldiers to the cell where the two girls were held. The cell came with a separate toilet and bathroom. Everything looked nice and organized. Of course, aside from the regular prayer session in the cell by a cleric, the rest of things looked no different from a hotel.

The one guarding the cell was a lady guard, Margaret’s subordinate. Wearing a body-hugging leather suit with a leather whip in her hand, the lady was exuding an aura of fanaticism and magical charm. Rumor had it that this lady named Karls was a born sadist, and obviously a dab hand at physical abuse. And Margaret was really pleased with herself for sending Karls to take care of the female cells.

“I’m sorry, Lord. I’ve not finished fixing these two prisoners. They might be a little... rebellious?” Karls fiddled with her blonde hair as she came close and spoke to Lin Sheng.

“Let me first take a look.”

Lin Sheng stood in front of the cell, looking through the metal vertical bars. The cell was clean. Other than the toilet and washroom, everything else was within view at a glance. Inside, two prisoners sat on the edge of their beds, talking to each other in low voices, looking dispirited.

“The cell has a one-way glass window. We could see them, but they won’t be able to see us.” Karls smiled.

“Good job. Instill some holy power in them each day. Have you done that already for today?” Lin Sheng asked.

Instilling holy power was not just the simple increase of density, but also the enhancement of the purification force field. By using a special method, the Sanctum could gather the purification force field emitted from the sacred crystal font and guided it into a smaller space.

The purification force field had some extremely unique effects. Besides purifying the mind and getting rid of illnesses, it could guide people to do good. By staying long enough in a high-density purification force field, people would find peace of mind, become reverent to the holy light and saints who were willing to sacrifice everything for the sake of the holy light.

“It’s done. Compared to before, they are now more energetic and less resentful of the Sanctum,” Karls said with a low voice.

“Good job.” Lin Sheng nodded in appreciation. “Bring them to the interrogation room. I’ll personally interrogate them.”

“Aye!” Karls quickly replied

A moment later, inside the underground interrogation room of the prison, Lin Sheng sat across from the two girls from the Astral Mere, talking to them.

“It’s our pleasure to meet you, Lord Seagal,” The older of the two girls got to her feet and bowed to him in respect. “Thank you for your selfless sacrifice in defending Henricqal and protecting the life of millions of people.”

Feeling a little surprised, Lin Sheng put up his hand. “Think nothing of it. As a Holy Light believer, it is my duty to do the right thing! I’m just doing what I am supposed to do.”