Chapter 2592 Ice Mirror World <TOC> Chapter 2594 Sewer Ditch
Translator: SumTLMan
Meanwhile, outside the empty underground church, a burst of footsteps suddenly rang out.
Soon after, a tall man wearing a white mask with the character “Merchant” written on it walked in.
This man was one of the leaders of the Traveling Merchants organization, who had recently detected energy fluctuations at the underground church while at their base outside the Garden Labyrinth and chose to come and investigate.
As the white mask entered the underground church and observed the emptiness, the eyebrows beneath the mask slightly lifted.
His finger gently brushed a pole leaning against the wall, picking up a layer of still-warm grease. From the scent wafting from the pole and the nearby extinguished campfire, it was evident that someone had recently been roasting meat on the pole.
However, now… there was no living soul to be seen.
“How can this be? The logistics members of the Hero Squad are usually here, I, I…” At that moment, a man in a black Traveling Merchants uniform and hood expressed his surprise.
“Now, do you still think there’s nothing unusual here?” The light voice of the white mask reached the hooded man’s ears.
Previously, although the hooded man outwardly agreed with the white mask that there might be some problems here, deep down, he felt it was a bit of an overreaction, especially since the energy fluctuations detected earlier were very, very minor.
“Are the members of the Hero Squad… dead?”
A light chuckle from the white mask followed: “You didn’t answer my question directly, so do you still think there’s no problem here?”
The hooded man laughed awkwardly: “My lord misunderstands, I naturally trust your judgment.”
A scoff came from beneath the mask: “You haven’t learned the discernment of your mentor. Instead, you’ve fully inherited the insincerity of the Black Merchant.”
The Traveling Merchants organization has three main leaders: the White Merchant, the Black Merchant, and the Gray Merchant.
The White Merchant, or white mask, is responsible for direct interactions with adventuring teams, such as trading supplies and logistical support.
The Black Merchant handles magic formation maintenance, energy fluctuation monitoring, and enforcer duties.
As for the Gray Merchant, they are tasked with handling the monsters in the underground labyrinth.
Apart from the Gray Merchant, the White and Black Merchants, due to their differing authorities and responsibilities, have overlapping and conflicting interests, which also leads their apprentices to covertly oppose each other.
Thus, this Black Merchant’s apprentice harbors some dissatisfaction towards the White Merchant, not without reason.
White Merchant: “To answer your earlier question, the logistics of the Hero Squad are not dead. I can’t guarantee that they are all alive, but at least not all are dead.”
Reasons were simple. This underground church served as a storage point for the Hero Squad’s supplies, but now, all the supplies were gone, evidently moved elsewhere.
In the rooms on the second floor, even the clothes and sheets were missing, indicating that when they left, they had enough time to pack their belongings, an unhurried departure, not resembling one made in the face of disaster.
The hooded man also noticed some clues and lowered his head, saying: “I will contact the patrol team immediately to have them track down the members of the Hero Squad.”
No sooner had the hooded man spoken than his figure flashed and disappeared.
After the hooded man vanished, White Merchant spoke softly to the air: “Come out, I’m still not familiar with your scent?”
As soon as he finished speaking, a faint human figure appeared beside White Merchant.
This man, nearly identical in build and height to White Merchant, was wearing a black mask.
This person was Black Merchant.
Upon seeing Black Merchant appear, White Merchant took off his mask, revealing a scholarly and refined face, albeit with a hint of helplessness: “You seem to enjoy pitting our people against each other?”
“Quite enjoy it, yes. Without competition, there is no growth,” Black Merchant replied in a frivolous tone, with an air of irreverence.
“Competition and conflict are different things. Never mind, I won’t discuss this with you. Have you discovered anything?” White Merchant looked at Black Merchant.
“Made a significant discovery, and an interesting one at that.”
While speaking, Black Merchant also removed his mask, revealing a face identical to White Merchant’s, though where White Merchant looked scholarly and refined, Black Merchant had a rakish, rogue-like charm.
Inside the Traveling Merchants organization, it seemed like Black Merchant and White Merchant were at odds, but at the higher echelons of the Bylron family, everyone knew it was just a minor tactic by Black Merchant to get more attention from his elder brother White Merchant.
The two were twins, having grown up together and shared a telepathic bond, if there were any real enmity, they would have grown apart long ago.
Unfortunately, their subordinates, who were completely unaware of the truth, were still zealously fighting each other.
“What discovery?” White Merchant asked, puzzled.
Black Merchant grabbed White Merchant’s hand: “Come with me.”
A buoyant force rose from beneath Black Merchant’s feet, and he, holding White Merchant’s hand, flew directly to the top floor of the underground church.
To the naked eye, there was nothing unusual here, but by using mental power to see, one could discern a very conspicuous illusion node not far away.
If it had been a large and complex illusion, White Merchant might not have been so surprised, since he had vaguely guessed that transcendents had been here.
But the appearance of a harmless illusion node was somewhat peculiar.
Black Merchant approached the illusion node and lightly touched it.
A vision, like a screen of light, appeared before them.
Simultaneously, rows of text began to appear on the light screen. At the very top, startlingly, was a——Friendly Guidance.
“It’s even giving us friendly guidance, isn’t that interesting?” The Black Merchant laughed, his mouth quirking up on one side in what he thought was a charmingly wicked smile, but to the White Merchant, it looked simply goofy.
The White Merchant paid no heed to his brother’s silly antics, focusing instead on the characters displayed on the light screen.
“Underground church…repaired by this unknown person, followers of the Demon God…”
“The magic formation has been repaired, and the method to activate it is…”
“Last reminder, matters concerning the transcendent should be resolved by the transcendent themselves.”
After reading the entire content on the light screen, the White Merchant was slightly stunned, initially thinking it was a provocation but realizing it was actually guidance. The information mentioned many important details, most notably the discovery of a new passage leading deep into the underground labyrinth.
And this unknown transcendent had disclosed everything, even repairing the magic formation and revealing how to activate it.
What does this mean?
Is it a ploy to sow confusion, a gesture of goodwill, or perhaps something else?
In a brief moment, many possibilities sprang to the White Merchant’s mind, but he could not determine which was most likely.
Meanwhile, the Black Merchant had followed the instructions on the light screen and activated the master control rune.
A magic formation as dazzling as a sky full of stars immediately appeared overhead, and the passage was also revealed.
“There really is a passage; shall I go take a look?” the Black Merchant flew up, whispering to the White Merchant.
The White Merchant shook his head: “We don’t even know who the other party is, and their purpose is quite odd. Notify the Grey Merchant, and we’ll decide what to do after he arrives.”
The Black Merchant frowned: “Why make it so complicated?”
As the White Merchant was about to continue speaking, suddenly, his ears twitched slightly, and he looked at the Black Merchant; both nodded and put their masks back on.
The Black Merchant silently vanished into the darkness, while the White Merchant descended to the ground and deactivated the magic formation; the magical energy above slowly faded away.
The moment the magic formation disappeared, the hooded man reappeared in the underground church.
“Lord, the inspection team has located the members of the Hero Squad. After questioning them, it turns out that the disturbance here was caused by a quartet, but exactly who they are, they don’t know. However, one person, who once went out with the quartet, has been brought here.”
As the hooded man finished speaking, he stepped back, and behind him was a woman restrained by energy, holding a trembling child in her arms.
The individuals were none other than Marsha and her son Colo.
“Please spare my son, he knows nothing,” Marsha implored, gazing at White Merchant as she spoke rapidly.
White Merchant remained silent, scrutinizing Marsha closely; he detected a familiar illusion aura about her.
Marsha continued: “I know what information you seek, but I am also unaware. Though I have been out with them, they have blocked this part of my memory… I had intended for them to erase my memory, but for some reason, it was only blocked.”
“So, I only know that I went out with them, but I have no clarity on what was done.”
“Please believe me.”
White Merchant didn’t need to judge to know that her words were true. However, what concerned him more was the familiar illusion aura, likely the work of an unknown transcendent that had blocked Marsha’s memories.
However, the method seemed rather crude.
White Merchant slowly approached Marsha, who clutched Colo tightly, her whole body trembling.
“Don’t be afraid, I’m just going to take a little trinket from you,” White Merchant said, extending a finger and touching Marsha’s forehead.
The exposed illusion aura was instantly drawn out by White Merchant.
Once the illusion aura was extracted, a faint silhouette appeared before White Merchant.
“Must be someone from the Traveling Merchants organization,” a clear voice spoke from the indistinct face of the vague silhouette.
“Although I’d like to introduce myself first out of politeness, it would be a loss since I’m doing so to an illusion and don’t know who you are.”
“So, I’ll save my introduction for when we meet in person.”
“I believe you will come looking for us, so, we shall meet, right?”
“Not much time left, one last thing: the people of the Hero Squad are just ordinary folks, and Marsha here is just an ordinary mother. Matters of the transcendents should be resolved by transcendents, don’t you think?”
With that, the illusion slowly faded away. And the seemingly crude illusion node, like dispersing mist, vanished as well.
White Merchant initially wanted to retain a wisp of this aura to track it, but he clearly underestimated the other party’s strength.
The illusion was not crude; it was meant only to convey certain matters.
“I remember now,” Marsha suddenly exclaimed, lifting her head: “I remember now, they asked me to lead the way to meet a nearby Traveling Merchant!”
With the illusion shackles gone, Marsha’s memories quickly resurfaced.
At this point, White Merchant lost any desire to continue listening, as the lack of memory clearance from Marsha suggested that the adversaries did not care if the Traveling Merchants organization tracked their movements.
What the adversaries truly cared about, it seemed, was the lives of these ordinary people.
White Merchant remained silent for a moment, then turned his head towards the hooded man: “Take them down and make a record, then let them go. That includes the people from the Hero Squad; there’s no need to keep them locked up, let them all go.”
“As for the record, tell Gray Merchant when he arrives.”
The hooded man looked up in surprise: “Lord Gray Merchant is also coming?”
“Yes, he will be here. What do you think now? Is my judgment right, or wrong?”
The hooded man’s face showed embarrassment: “I, I have always trusted your judgment, lord.”
White Merchant closed his eyes, unwilling to say more: “Go on then.”
The hooded man nodded and left the underground church with Marsha.
After they had gone, White Merchant’s ears caught a mischievous voice again: “This illusion wizard is interesting, so interesting!”
“Even introducing oneself requires seeking equality.” Black Merchant said: “Moreover, compared to caring about us, he seems to care more about ordinary people. Is it overconfidence, or is he underestimating the power of the Bylron family?”
White Merchant said: “I know you have many questions, but as he said, as long as we keep tracking, we will inevitably meet. Then, you can pose these questions to him.”
“When we actually meet, I won’t start with questions. I’ll start with a beating.” Black Merchant laughed wickedly: “You know, I hate these sanctimonious academics the most. Of course, except for a certain cutie.”
Being called “cutie,” White Merchant didn’t mind the nickname; compared to other names, this was one of the few normal ones he received.
“An academic wizard? That’s not certain, duplicity is a common human trait.”
Black Merchant said: “Don’t escalate to grand principles; it gives me a headache. If you want to know whether he is an academic wizard, we’ll know when we meet. I trust my intuition.”
Black Merchant’s words raised a sense of alertness in White Merchant: “What are you planning to do?”
Black Merchant, with a sly grin, replied: “Didn’t you guess? I’ll go ahead and scout the path, and by the way, give that illusion wizard a good beating. Bye bye, my little pretty brother.”
Just as Black Merchant was about to stop him, he realized that somehow, the magic formation had been activated again, and Black Merchant’s figure was already standing at the entrance of the cave.
Before Black Merchant could speak, Black Merchant had already dived in, not forgetting to throw a flying kiss at Black Merchant before he did.
“What a fool!” Black Merchant clenched his fists, exhaling a deep breath of pent-up frustration.
He wished he could chase after him right now, but the illusion aura above had already dissipated, and this place was connected to a passage leading to the underground labyrinth. Dealing with the underground labyrinth was under the jurisdiction of Gray Merchant.
Now that Black Merchant had run off, White Merchant could only stay behind to report to Gray Merchant.
Although White Merchant was very angry, he also felt somewhat relieved. The caster of the illusion must truly be an academic white wizard, as being twins, White Merchant could clearly sense that Black Merchant was in no danger at all, and even seemed to be in a good mood.
This indicated that the guidance left by the other was genuine.
Black Merchant’s impulsive action had saved them the time to check if the magic formation was booby-trapped.
Still, this did nothing to soothe White Merchant’s anger.
His only thought now was to wait for Gray Merchant to arrive and then enter the underground labyrinth to catch that fool and give him a thorough thrashing!
Chapter 2592 Ice Mirror World <TOC> Chapter 2594 Sewer Ditch