105. The Hero and the Witch's Investigation
The moonlight poured down, the wind as cold as frozen spring water, engulfing the slumbering city. The alleyways meandered in this silvery glow, the cobblestone streets gleaming, reflecting the silent, towering, dark walls on either side, as oppressive as the intestinal lining of some gigantic creature.
"What...what kind of hellish place is this?!" The young knight's voice trembled, his grip on the hilt of his sword tightening unconsciously, his knuckles turning white.
His companion patted his shoulder, offering words of comfort.
"Don't worry too much. With so many people disappearing, the Magic Society will undoubtedly send people to handle the situation. If we hold this line and prevent that thing from sneaking into the residential areas, that'll be a huge achievement! If we can hold out, there will be a great reward when we get out of here."
Perhaps his companion's words had an effect; the young knight calmed down slightly.
"Hahaha, that's it! You're still too young. Cheer up! If we all give up hope, who will protect the people?"
His companion patted him heavily on the shoulder again, laughing as they continued their patrol.
But their laughter abruptly stopped.
Tap...tap...tap...
Heavy, sluggish footsteps tore through the deathly silence.
A shadow slowly crept in, and a figure clad in the standard armor of a city guard knight, its breastplate torn and its abdomen gaping open, stepped into the moonlight. It dragged a rusty longsword, the tip scraping against the stone slabs with a grating creak.
"Clang—!" The knights drew their swords, the cold blades all pointing at their former comrades, now walking corpses.
Under the moonlight, another battle began.
—
Meanwhile, atop the town's tallest lighthouse.
Xiling sat cross-legged on the cold bricks, a light screen floating and unfolding before him.
[Fire Moth Warrior]: Open the door! You bastard, how dare you post this kind of picture! I'm going to kick your ass to pieces with my boots!
[Grand Magician Tarnished]: You really need to be disciplined, Xiling. You're inhuman!
[I Am a Witch]: I just ate, you jerk!
[I Am the Savior]: It's all Xiling's fault for posting this kind of picture. I had to shout in class, and now I'm standing outside as punishment!
Sitting atop the tallest lighthouse in town, Xiling happily looked at the messages in the chat group.
[I Don't Want to Be a Hero Anymore]: Hehehe, I just wanted to broaden your horizons! This is a noble ancient god of our world! Its existence is unrecorded; it's a god, but at the same time it's also a monster! Don't you know how to appreciate art?!
[I Am a Witch]: A god like this? Your world is hopeless.
[Fire Moth Warrior]: Enough with the nonsense, open the door for me! I am going over there!
[I Am a Witch]: Me too!
[The Great Magician Tarnished]: I can't come over and can only do this because I'm busy right now; otherwise, I'd definitely go over and teach you a lesson.
Xiling had just opened the access gate permission when Kevin, who walked through the portal, used a Death Coil on him.
"You bastard, I was eating, and I almost spat it all out! If I had to do that, my cool image would be ruined in everyone's eyes!"
"You're still trying to maintain your cool image! Are you crazy?!"
Just then, another figure walked out of the portal. Her long, greyish-white hair fluttered gently in the night breeze, and beneath her signature witch's hat lay a delicate face etched with obvious disdain.
Ignoring the two childish punks, her gaze swept past their playful antics and landed on the edge of the lighthouse. The wind picked up higher, whipping her greyish-white hair and dark witch's robes into a fluttering gust. She took a few steps forward, placing her hands lightly on the cold stone railing, facing the cool evening breeze as she looked down upon the entire town.
Moonlight Town was indeed beautiful. The city's layout was astonishingly intricate. Rows of uniformly styled, pointed-roofed houses stood in elegant rows, the streets laid out in a grid pattern, forming a large, orderly design.
The meaning of travel lies in witnessing: scenery, cities, and the local people's way of life.
However, Elaina's smile quickly vanished. The silence was deafening. The entire town was deathly quiet; an empty town was far more eerie than a barren wilderness.
The two who had been playfully fighting stopped what they were doing, and Xiling stood up and straightened his clothes.
"I actually didn't recommend you come here right now. Looking at this entire town, you see that tens of thousands of its people have mysteriously disappeared. I suspect they're no longer in this world, not dead, but they have entered another dimension. My intuition tells me the clues are in this town, but unfortunately, I haven't found them yet."
Kevin's eyes swept across the town.
"The hidden corpse of an ancient god brought disease, followed by the disappearance of people. It smells like a serious conspiracy."
"Yes," Xiling nodded.
Elaina then turned to look at Xiling.
"Didn't you manage to find any clues?"
Xiling shrugged helplessly.
"As you can see, if I manage to find any clues, I wouldn't be waiting here."
"Then," Elaina pointed down from the edge of the lighthouse in the direction of the town, "let's go investigate it."
Xiling nodded.
Kevin spoke up at that moment, "I have something to do. Just call me when the raid starts."
Xiling gave Kevin a disdainful look.
"I thought you came to help, but it turns out you just came to get revenge on me, right?"
Kevin gave a thumbs-up.
"Attacking group members through the internet connection—it's one of my dreams. Alright, I'm leaving. Remember to let us know in the group if you have any leads."
After saying this, Kevin turned and returned to his own world.
Only Xiling and Elaina remained at the top of the tower.
Xiling turned to look at Elaina.
"Looks like it'll just be the two of us doing the investigation."
Elaina raised her delicate chin slightly, a sly smile playing on her lips.
"Hmm, then, I'll have to trouble our hero to take good care of this weak witch who can't even kill a chicken?"
"Ou," Xiling replied, his gaze returning to the street below, seemingly pondering where to begin their investigation.
Elaina raised an eyebrow, utterly dissatisfied with this perfunctory attitude:
"Hey! Attitude! Attitude matters, okay! Isn't a hero protecting a witch a classic trope? Show some heroism!"
Xiling rolled his eyes, then adopted a serious expression, patting his chest.
"Thou, the noble, elegant, and exceptionally wise, beautiful witch! I, Xiling, hereby swear by my life and honor! No matter what lies ahead, whether it's a mountain of knives, a sea of fire, or an ancient god who has lost its sanity, as long as I haven't breathed my last, I will never let a speck of dust stain your noble robes! Your safety is the highest meaning of my existence!"
Completely unaffected by Xiling's exaggerated tone, Elaina smiled with satisfaction and nodded.
"Hmm~ That's right, I am the noble, elegant, and exceptionally wise, beautiful witch. Remember your oath, hero."
As soon as she finished speaking, Elaina gracefully mounted her floating broom.
"Alright, let's get started."
As Elaina finished speaking, her broom carried her nimbly down the town street below! The evening breeze instantly billowed her witch's hat and robe.
When Elaina landed steadily in the middle of an empty street below, she put away her broom and stood still, speechless at the application agreement that suddenly appeared in front of her. After agreeing, a portal appeared, and Xiling stepped out from it, landing beside Elaina.
Elaina rolled her eyes dramatically on this, drawing out her words, "Hey~ I said, could you be any lazier?"
"I'm just making good use of all the resources at hand. The chat group's teleportation function isn't just for show; I might as well use it."
Xiling looked completely at ease and said it matter-of-factly.
Elaina crossed her arms, staring at Xiling for a few seconds, her gaze was as if she were looking at some rare, terminally ill, lazy creature.
"You're right, I'll do it again next time."
Twilight deepened, and Xiling and Elaina walked side by side down the deserted street. The echoes of their boots on the cold cobblestones were particularly clear in the deathly silence. The tightly closed doors and windows, the dark, gaping openings, seemed like countless pairs of prying eyes in the dim light, casting unsettling gazes upon the two living beings alone in the middle of the street.
A chilly, dusty evening breeze swept by.
"Ugh…" Elaina couldn't help but rub her arms lightly, instinctively taking a step closer to Xiling.
"This feeling… It's really eerily unsettling."
"Then why did you insist on doing it?" Xiling said irritably, looking around.
"Hmph!" Elaina immediately straightened her back.
"It's all because you've been wandering around aimlessly without finding any clues! So, this incredibly clever and knowledgeable Gray Witch has taken pity on you and personally come down to help you look out for any clues and leads!"
To emphasize her contribution, she lightly poked Xiling in the back with her wand.
"Yes, yes, thank you for your help, Witch! I'm extremely grateful," Xiling smiled.
Just as the two passed a shop, Elaina stopped and looked inside.
"Hmm?" Xiling also stopped, following Elaina's focused gaze—it was a very ordinary bakery.
"What's wrong? Is something amiss?"
Elaina didn't answer immediately. She walked straight ahead, her wand tracing an arc in the air, pointing towards the bakery's lock.
The tightly closed wooden door silently slid open a crack.
Elaina stepped inside.
Xiling tilted his head and followed her. When he entered, he saw Elaina standing in the center of the shop, her back to him. She was slightly bowed, one hand supporting her chin, lost in thought. She was looking at a few pieces of… bread? Those were scattered on the ground not far in front of her.
Xiling didn't interrupt Elaina's thoughts, but quietly waited for the witch. After a few seconds, Elaina turned to look at the shop window and quickly walked outside.
Xiling quietly followed behind, initially finding Elaina's behavior somewhat strange—she didn't seem to be searching for a specific item, but rather verifying some conjecture. As Elaina pushed open the doors of the fourth and fifth shops, the vague idea in Xiling's mind became clearer.
A loaf of bread lying on the floor in the bakery, a few shriveled apples rolled over the counter of the general store, spools of needles and thread scattered under the window of the tailor shop, and in the bookstore, several hardcover books, seemingly knocked over in a hurry, lay scattered near the bookshelf by the huge display window.
Each time, Elaina pointed precisely to the spot near the window, to those items scattered on the floor, their state frozen in a moment. They weren't randomly discarded; it was more like… their owner had been operating or using them, suddenly disappearing, causing them to lose their support and fall to the ground according to the laws of gravity. Time seemed to freeze at the point where these items fell.
After Elaina pushed open the door to the seventh shop and silently withdrew, the two stood in the middle of the increasingly dim street, their gazes meeting in the air.
No words were needed; a bold conjecture appeared in their minds.
"It's the window…" Xiling murmured.
"The location…" Elaina spoke at the same time.
Xiling's senses instantly expanded, no longer searching for life or aura, but precisely capturing the scattered objects he had just discovered near the windows, now suddenly derailed.
Soon, Xiling found many houses to the east exhibiting this phenomenon, but it wasn't present elsewhere.
The strange locations in Xiling's perception densely pointed to a common feature—windows.
All the houses and shops where objects had been scattered shared a common characteristic—their windows all faced the same direction!
Xiling and Elena looked up almost simultaneously, following the direction the dark windows were focused on.
There, in the night sky, a huge full moon was quietly rising, casting its light upon the earth.
When Xiling saw the moon, he noticed a problem.
Why was there only one moon? There should be three moons in this world!
Just then, Xiling turned sharply, and behind him, the gray-haired witch had vanished.
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