"Grave danger? From the Red Eye Craze phenomenon?" Anda asked in surprise.
The Red Eye Craze had certainly been causing countless problems throughout the continent, but she found it hard to imagine how it could escalate into something capable of threatening the entire Cloud Continent.
She wanted something exciting to happen, but this was definitely not what she had in mind.
Leyvi nodded slowly. "Inside the chimpanzee's deeper consciousness, I found a foreign memory that didn't belong there. I don't know how it got there, but I'm certain it is the source of the overwhelming hatred every crazed demonic beast has toward humans."
He continued, "That hatred wasn't normal. It was so intense that it completely consumed their minds, causing them to lose all rationality and act solely on the desire to kill humans. It was powerful enough to override even their instincts. The fact that Leylin lost control of his spirit beast despite refining its bloodline source proves that. Even bloodline authority couldn't suppress it."
Anda nodded thoughtfully. Among everyone, she understood this point better than anyone. Every time she encountered a crazed demonic beast, her ability had always sensed that terrifying hatred hidden deep within them.
"Before the foreign memory destroyed itself, I managed to catch a glimpse of it," Leyvi continued. "I saw someone screaming in agony. Judging from the voice, it was most likely a woman. Around a dozen people were extracting something from her body. Before the memory collapsed, I heard her swear that she would eradicate humanity for what they had done to her."
Anda fell silent for a moment before replying, "She must have experienced something far more horrifying than the fragment you saw. I can understand why someone would develop such overwhelming hatred toward humanity after that."
She paused, then frowned. "But Leyvi, even if she really is the one behind the Red Eye Craze phenomenon, I still don't see how that alone puts our continent in grave danger."
"You're right," Leyvi agreed. "That alone wouldn't be enough for me to reach such a conclusion."
He looked at Anda seriously.
"But what if I told you that the language I heard... and the writing I saw inside that memory... were both in the ancient language?"
"The ancient language?" Anda's eyes widened.
She was very familiar with the history of the ancient civilization on their continent.
They had originally been remnants of an alchemy civilization that fled from the Mystic Realm Planet and arrived here through a void tunnel.
After settling, they rebuilt their alchemy civilization. Many years later, however, they were completely wiped out for reasons that remained unknown, leaving behind only animals and plants.
The alchemy civilization had left many relics, but most had been destroyed or heavily damaged by the passage of time. The ancient steles in Caterina's museum were among the few that still remained.
Following their sudden disappearance, Cloud Continent entered a period known as the Void Era. For a hundred thousand years, the land remained empty of humans until people from another continent eventually arrived and began to repopulate it.
What her husband was suggesting was that the same kind of extinction event that had occurred in the past might now be repeating itself. The humans of Cloud Continent could be facing the same threat that had once erased an entire civilization.
It was possible that the Red Eye Craze phenomenon itself had been the cause of the ancient civilization's complete extinction.
Even though the memory Leyvi had described could not be considered solid proof that the Red Eye Craze had brought about the fall of the ancient civilization, it was still far too significant to ignore. It needed to be reported to the Cloud Continent Protectors without delay.
If the theory turned out to be wrong, that would be fine. But if it was true, they would have to prevent history from repeating itself at any cost.
"Do you have any way to contact any of the Protectors?" Leyvi asked the silent Anda.
"Hmm… Not directly. We can try contacting Envoy Gareth first," Anda replied.
"Envoy Gareth…?" Leyvi paused, trying to recall the name.
"Oh! He's the one who came here to deliver the Deed of Sovereignty. The guy with a unique taste in women."
He remembered that Envoy Gareth had a lover with a hulking figure named Emma. Although she was nowhere near as large as Bodo, she was still considered quite huge for a woman.
"How long will it take to contact him?" Leyvi asked.
"You should already know how these things work. Several days, maybe a week, or even longer," Anda replied.
"Hmm… Too long." He shook his head.
"Nothing drastic has happened in the past ten years, but we can't be certain it will stay that way. Things could escalate for the worse without warning. I don't want to take any chances. Is there a faster way to contact them?"
Leyvi was not satisfied with such a long delay.
If possible, he would have liked to use Senior Lapin's power to advance the continent's communication system so that people could contact one another instantly.
Doing so, however, would completely revolutionize every aspect of life on the continent. Unfortunately, because of the enormous change it would bring, many people would inevitably want to seize that ability for themselves. For that reason, he could not easily expose it until he had enough safety assurance.
"Hmm… A faster way to contact them…" Anda muttered thoughtfully.
"Oh, right. There is a way to alert them and have an envoy sent here immediately. I'm just not sure if you'll want to use it. It could easily cause a false alarm," she said, as if something had just come to mind.
"Doesn't matter. Just tell me," Leyvi said firmly.
He did not want to take any chances at all, even if it meant dealing with something troublesome. Under normal circumstances, he preferred to avoid complicated matters and stayed far away from them whenever he could.
The scale of this problem, however, was far too large. Whether he liked it or not, he could no longer ignore it the way he usually would.
"Alright. Do you know that our city has an emergency mechanism that will automatically send a distress signal to our Protector?" Anda revealed.
"Oh? How do we activate it?" Leyvi asked, now curious.
"We have to fully deploy our city's grand barrier. Once it's activated, it will automatically send a distress signal. The city will then remain in total lockdown until an Envoy or Protector arrives and confirms that the threats are gone," Anda explained.
"I see. No wonder it could cause a false alarm," Leyvi nodded.
If the grand barrier was fully deployed, everyone in the city would immediately assume they were in great danger, and panic would spread quickly.
He recalled the total lockdown that had taken place in Holy Cat City more than twenty years ago during that disaster.
Enemies had somehow appeared inside the city, trapping everyone together with them. In the end, he had been forced to dismantle the formation just so he and his family could escape.
Leyvi sighed inwardly. A great deal of time had passed since then. He was now in his late forties. If he were still a mortal, he would already be considered a middle-aged man.
As a cultivator in his current realm, however, he was still regarded as young.
"Don't worry. Let's proceed with this. We'll inform everyone in advance that we are going to fully deploy the grand barrier so they won't panic," he decided.
"Sure. Let's meet Layla and prepare right away," Anda said.
She would naturally support whatever decision her husband made.
Afterward, Leyvi and Anda went to Layla's office and explained everything. The sudden news about a potential human wipeout across their continent naturally shocked her greatly.
Of course, Layla fully supported Leyvi's decision to treat the situation as an utmost emergency and contact the Protectors as soon as possible.
She first announced to the citizens that they would be conducting a grand barrier test that day to make sure it was still working properly after so many years. This would help avoid any false alarm.
The test also meant the city would be under total lockdown for quite some time, which would hinder many of their daily jobs.
However, because Layla had been an excellent City Lord for many years, no one complained about the inconvenience.
After everyone received the announcement, Layla activated the grand barrier to its fullest capacity.
Additional layers of barrier quickly formed over the usual translucent, enormous barrier surrounding the city, making the entire structure far less see-through.
Bara City was now in complete lockdown. Only an Envoy or a Protector could undo it.
Thanks to the earlier notification, no one actually panicked. People continued with their daily routines as best they could. Those whose work had been affected simply found something else to do or waited patiently for the lockdown to end.
…
Somewhere in the South Region.
An old man with fully white hair and beard was in the middle of demonstrating an exquisite Qi control technique to his three disciples when he suddenly stopped.
A flashing token appeared in his hand.
"What? This is Bara City's token! Are they in trouble?" Gandolf muttered.
Leyvi's face immediately came to mind.
"Master, what's going on? What is that token?" one of the disciples asked.
"Pack your things. We are leaving immediately. There's an emergency," Gandolf said as he turned to face the direction of Bara City.