I created the Anomaly Control Bureau

Chapter 868, Section 863: The Supernatural Night Market (4k views, early month, please vote!)

This statement reveals a lot of information.

The first debt should be the time when they went to the Eastern Federal Hospital for treatment after being chased by Shenxiao. It's not hard to imagine that the Duke really looked like he was going to die, and Maren also experienced unprecedented severe injuries - at least he had never felt such serious injuries after waking up.

Although the others seemed to still have the will and were able to move, they were all V-level powerhouses after all. Even if they were on the verge of death, they would still find a way to survive and make it to the hospital.

Judging from the way the Magician and the Grey Rabbit behaved when they arrived at the hospital, it was clear that their condition was not "as good" as it seemed, and they might even have one foot in the grave.

Otherwise, they certainly wouldn't have accepted treatment from the Eastern Federation Company on the spot. If they had a choice, they would definitely have preferred to delay and use other methods to treat themselves rather than incur more debt.

And he clearly remembered the magician's attitude at the time; it didn't seem like he couldn't afford to pay.
Did something unexpected happen later? But this is definitely not just a matter of making a few mistakes. After all, even if they can't raise the money in a short time, they shouldn't be particularly short of money in the long run.

Could there be a problem with the contract that Donglianbang Company gave them?
Perhaps it contains a trap like usury with compound interest.

This is a fairly reasonable explanation. They might sign contracts with such traps, not because they were desperate at the time, but because they simply didn't notice the traps.

Maren didn't think the magician was illiterate.

In reality, their biggest problem might be their ability to read.

Clearly, most of the ability users in the past were influenced by the Eastern Federation Corporation. Those slogans made them ignore many obvious problems. The magician and he in the past should not have escaped the clutches of the little golden man either.

Of course, the Eastern Federation Company itself may not be much worse than the slogans it claims, after all, they really did save the Duke, but they did not realize what price they would have to pay.

The slogans serve more as a means for them to pay these "prices".

Thinking about this, Maren was somewhat glad that he hadn't lingered. If he had been influenced by those dangerous slogans, he might have unconsciously developed a potentially fatal habit.

However, before Ma En could ask any further questions, the surrounding air began to fluctuate.

The tall, cold woman known as Gray Rabbit suddenly appeared around them, her left hand holding the half-dead blond boy, while her right hand gripped a rusty-looking iron sword.

"I got it," she said.

The magician nodded slightly, then extended his hand:

"You take the Duke back first, and Marne and I will take care of the things."

Gray Rabbit nodded and handed over the iron sword:

"Then I'll go first."

Then the space around her distorted and fluctuated again, and then she and the Duke disappeared before their eyes.

The magician easily tucked the iron sword into his sleeve, then pulled out a white cloth from the same spot and threw it directly at Marne, covering him with it.

When Ma En was completely covered by the white cloth, although the space beneath his feet was not actually covered by the cloth, he felt completely isolated from the outside world.

Just a few seconds later, the magician pulled out the white cloth.

But he is no longer on that high mountain.

The bustling shouts instantly gave Ma En a strange sense of familiarity. The surrounding scene was like a night market that existed in reality, with all kinds of stalls on both sides of the street, and all sorts of creatures walking around them.

That's right, there were more than just humans around them.

At this moment, just two meters in front of him stood a minotaur wearing glasses, and to his left was a long blue snake with a woman's head on its head flicking its tongue. In the sky directly in front of him, winged birdmen were flying low.

Further away, there were giants seven or eight meters tall walking around, and some of them could be considered monsters in appearance. There was also a huge, intangible shadow that covered an area of ​​tens of meters, as well as ferocious monsters with various carnivorous features, and cube-shaped life forms with purely mechanical structures.

Besides, there were Atlanteans on the street, who are now almost extinct, and Marn even saw two "Victors" walking together.

That's right, it's Victor, the Second Titan King.

This bizarre and fantastical scene immediately invigorated Mar and Eng. In reality, there are indeed some non-human intelligent beings, but the variety of these beings should not be very large.

It is very likely that the different humanoid races he sees at this moment already exceed the number of the remaining intelligent humanoid races in the world. Obviously, most non-human intelligent races were wiped out before the fault line.

Besides the passersby, the vendors on both sides were clearly not selling ordinary things. Some of them resembled night market snacks, but the items they sold looked quite unusual.

For example, there was a stall with some fruits that looked very fresh, but after looking at them for a while, Maren inexplicably had the illusion that planting these fruits was like a baby crying.

Some stalls sell grilled meat skewers, but no matter how big the pieces of meat on the skewers are, they all have eyes and mouths corresponding to their size, and they even scream during the grilling process.

Of all the food stalls, only one was somewhat normal, selling the more common cookies. However, its owner looked quite bizarre, like the little black figure that appears on traffic warning signs, with an almost flat, abstract, jet-black body.

Moreover, although the things it sells look rather ordinary, no one stops in front of its stall. In fact, Ma En can sense that most people quicken their pace when they approach it, or even deliberately avoid the stall.

Aside from these stalls that are closer to a night market, the remaining stalls display things that look more like something from an alternate world, such as various equipment and props, as well as several recurring items that resemble a universal currency.

There were quite a few things that interested Maren, such as various types of cold weapons that looked particularly like those of the Eastern Federation, with the most being knives, swords, and guns.

Although many weapons in the world today are similar in shape, they are either only similar in shape or have various magical inscriptions, and the latter are basically in the style of the Western Federation.

Moreover, these Eastern Federation cold weapons all look quite simple, as if they were just ordinary cold weapons. Even if there are some patterns on them, they are basically only concentrated on the handle, and they look more like decorations.

In addition, the stalls selling these weapons often also sell books, and these books do not look like products of this era, with no trace of modern printing.

Moreover, Marx and Engels sensed a dangerous aura in many of these books.

Clearly, these ancient books are unusual items.

Besides that, Ma En also saw something more familiar: a hooded man who looked “evil” had a stall filled with all sorts of body parts.

Internal organs, arms, a beautiful head, and pure white wings.

That's right, this stall sells angels.

Conversely, there were also many other examples. One stall featured creatures that appeared to be demons, dismembered into pieces, while the vendor behind the stall was a fallen angel with black wings. Opposite him was another stall run by a demon. However, compared to humans and fallen angels, the demon's wares were much more normal, mostly small trinkets with a mysterious aura. One wondered if these items contained any traps.

Of all the stalls, the one that attracted Marne's attention the most was the one with only one item.

Although it was called a stall, there was actually only a simple cage inside, where a young dragon was imprisoned, lying on the ground. Its body was only a little over three meters long, and its wings on its back did not look fully developed.

But its eyes were filled with hatred for the humans around it.

Clearly, it is also a kind of intelligent being.

But this was not what Mar and Eng were most concerned about.

"What's wrong?" the magician asked curiously.

Marne looked at him:

"Can you handle this yourself? I'd like to take a look around a bit."

The magician nodded:
"Of course, although those who hired us are from the demonic path, they should have heard of my reputation. They wouldn't try anything funny with me. Shall I come back here later to take you back?"

Marx and Engels nodded:

"Well, I'll go take a look."

After the magician had disappeared into the distance, Ma En walked up to the stall.

"Don't touch it if you're not buying." The vendor said.

He was a wild young man with bright brown skin, dressed in exotic clothes, but he sat in a very casual posture, as if he wasn't selling a terrifying dragon.

Marx and Engels asked curiously:
"A goose?"

The other person was the boy he had traveled with in the Gulama illusion. He had joined their dragon-slaying team at the beginning, but after encountering the fairy, the boy disappeared from the story.

At that time, Quran seemed to have simply erased his existence, but let's leave that aside for now...

Why is he here? Is he someone from my memories? And a real person at that? Does that mean that Gulan created some kind of clone of this boy back then?
But why would the Quran do this? Is that boy still alive today?
Upon hearing Maren's words, the brown-skinned boy's expression changed.

He looked up at Marx and Engels with a hint of displeasure:
"Who are you? How dare you call me by my real name? Since you can recognize me, you should know that I don't like those self-righteous fools bothering me."

But Marx and Engels asked curiously:
"Are you famous? I'm sorry, I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought you were someone I had met before, probably back when the Gulamar Empire was still standing."

Ma En felt that the flow rate of the drug in his body was also increasing, but it did not suddenly reach a truly unstable level; it was closer to a slightly abnormal situation.

It's as if such a dialogue is theoretically possible and could actually take place.

The boy narrowed his eyes:
"You know my real name, but you don't know who I am? That's strange. You shouldn't be one of those crazy people who think I'm some kind of god, otherwise you would have pounced on me and hugged my leg."

Marx and Engels carefully chose their words and spoke as quickly as possible:

"Could you please tell me who you are? Perhaps I have something to tell you as well."

The boy also became interested in his words and actions:
"Have you ever heard of the name of the Undying King?"

Marx and Eng said with slight surprise:
"Cao Yan?"

The boy raised his hand in a shushing gesture:

"Keep your voice down. Since you know who I am, you must know what the consequences would be if those lunatics heard our conversation. I don't want to never be able to walk on the street with this face again."

"Alright, I've told you who you are. You'd better not disappoint me."

In a mere instant, Marx and Engels made their decision:

"I don't know why I remember you, but this isn't the real world, it's my memory. We're friends in reality, though you probably don't know..."

"At some point after that, there was an apocalypse that ultimately caused everyone to lose their memories. This event seems to have some subtle connection to the destruction of your Gulamar Empire."

"That's roughly it."

The King of Magic wasn't surprised and immediately accepted the fact:
"Oh, a memory illusion, huh? Well then, I'm not really the King of Magic. My essence is just some kind of illusion woven from your memories. But if that's the case, perhaps I can offer you some help."

Maren then said:

"Our conversation is rapidly depleting the effects of the medication in my body, and the effects of your last sentence are far greater than those of the other sentences. This memory is on the verge of collapse."

Cao Yan pondered for a moment and said:

"Consumption? If my speculation is correct, the rate of this consumption actually depends on the amount of information you are about to recall, and the strength of the counter-memory effect it is subjected to."

"In other words, if we want to have a deep conversation, you have to prepare enough of the drug's effects, otherwise I have to avoid words that could give you an excessive amount of information to remember."

"Here's a few simple tips for you. First, try to stay in the city as much as possible. There are many harmful things that can be transmitted through memory, such as in the suburbs and countryside."

"Secondly, don't go online. There's a lot of harmful information there. If you get infected, you might not be able to safely return to your reality. Also, don't go to the Eastern Federation Company. A1 is also an entity that causes harm through information."

"Besides that, there's another very useful piece of information: you know me very well."

"This understanding is not just about knowing what my two forms mean, nor is it just about you having heard of me, the Immortal King. You are certainly familiar with my personality and even know my abilities."

"Otherwise, you couldn't possibly make such a real mistake..."

The medication has run its course.

I'll try my best to have perfect attendance this month (unless the doctor decides to get rid of me), and finally, I'm asking for your votes at the beginning of next month!