Soul Trigger

Chapter 598 Stowaways

Misa quickly got up, grabbed the white rabbit, and fled. After turning countless corners and confirming that there were no pursuers, she put on her cloak and skillfully slipped into a Limbo prison.

Because of the existence of "territory" and the control of the cluster of spirits, there are not many man-made spirit prisons on White Island, and only a handful in the entire city of Birmingham.

The place Jin Misha entered was the largest underground trading market in Birmingham, a large-scale Limbo prison directly and secretly controlled by the Royal Investigative Service.

Although it is the largest official agency of the White Island faction, it was just chasing her around.

However, due to its nature, it allows suspicious individuals like her, who appear to be "wandering knights" but whose identities are actually unknown, to enter.

Once she gets inside, it means she has completely broken free from the surveillance.

Stepping onto solid ground, Jin Misha let out a long breath, put on her cloak, and disappeared into the crowd.

Recently, for some reason, the atmosphere on White Island has become a bit tense. The authorities have been making a lot of moves, but they're not targeting the Dead Apostles.

The layout of this prison is a network of streets and alleys, full of the rustic charm of the White Island.

Jin Misha slipped into a tavern, skillfully handed over a small box to the bartender.

"Good efficiency, wandering knight. Here's your reward."

After inspecting it, the other party handed her a small box of a similar shape.

"I haven't been in the city lately, has something happened?"

Jin Misha's voice became high-pitched after being processed by spiritual energy.

The bartender laughed:

“It is indeed a major event. A duke’s body has been destroyed, and it is related to Shulong.”

Jin Misha paused slightly:
Shulong?

"Make a price."

The bartender didn't respond, but instead extended an olive branch:
Would you like to work for us?

"Not interested in."

"The wandering knights have no organization, no lord or territory to protect them, and no stable intelligence channels."

Even if your skills are superb, and you're considered top-tier among wandering knights, have you ever thought about pursuing a better future?

"I said I'm not interested, name your price."

"Tsk."

Seeing Jin Misha's reaction, the bartender didn't insist.
"As everyone knows, this time it's free."

"You've suddenly changed your personality."

After reviewing the information provided by the bartender, Jin Misha went to the wanted poster board and saw the huge wanted poster: —
[Wanted: Yuanling's heir; Ji Li.]

[Spiritual Quality Level: Echoing Immortal]

[Criminal charge: Murder of the Grand Duke of Shiroshima.]

[Scope of Arrest: Global]

[Current Activity Area: White Island]

[Posted by: Shiroshima]

[Bounty: Netherworld-class Restraint, Knighthood Qualification, Oath Qualification, Platinum Pass to the Avalon Vault, Royal Containment Investigation Agency Advisor Position]
-
Ji Li...

The similar name and unfamiliar face dimmed Jin Misha's eyes, and she remained silent for a moment:

"What an amazing reward!"

Bai Misha's voice came from my ear:

"Nonsense, that's a Grand Duke who died."

Misa quickly snapped out of her reverie and back to the present:
"An Echoing-level Immortal can kill the Grand Duke of White Island... This guy is truly monstrous, but why was he on White Island? And how did White Island find out?"

"Why are we thinking about this? We should continue investigating the Tower of Babel. We finally found a clue related to the Duke's mansion, we can't let it end like this!"

"Do you think the clues we found about Duke Ludwig's mansion might actually be related to this deceased duke?"

"I don't believe such a coincidence could happen."

It's possible that those in high positions and within the system might know which duke has died, but for these "wandering knights" to find out, they would have to pay a price.

Misha remained silent on this matter.

She had been on White Island for some time now, but she hadn't been able to keep up with the tombstones, and there was no sign of any Dead Apostles appearing on White Island.

Therefore, she could only start her investigation from the perspective of the Elders. After all, she couldn't openly inquire about the Dead Apostles everywhere. She could only loosen some keywords and investigate the deeds of the Elders that were easier to find out about, which would yield more results.

The current clues point to a Grand Duke named Ludwig.

The family's early rise to power is suspected to be related to the Elders, and perhaps the Dead Apostles are behind it.

A moment later, Kim Mi-sa took away a wanted poster.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"I'll give it a try just based on the Avalon Vault Platinum Pass and the Netherworld-level Personality Relic. Even if I don't try, I can at least take a look, right?"

"Why not take it? It even comes with intelligence. If we do run into him on White Island, we'll pay a higher price and use the power of the Shadow Lord to finish him off."

A spiritual light flickered in Misa's eyes.

After all, to take down a Dead Apostle, especially an ancient Dead Apostle organization that has existed for many years, her and Bai Misha's current strength is still far from enough.

"Let's follow the previous clues first. The discovery of the Illuminati is a pleasant surprise."

The fact that their people own territory here means that they have mastered the channels through which outsiders can be granted titles or even become lords.

Perhaps we could try to make contact with them; the chances would be better if there were any Silla people among them.

You must understand that even wandering knights have been officially recognized. We are currently disguised as wandering knights, and we are completely unregistered when facing the Cluster of Spirits…

Clutching the box the bartender had just handed her, Misha knew she was one step closer to finding Lao Ji.

……

In the northern British Isles, several police officers are searching through the woods. "Are you sure something really fell down?"

The fat police officer in the lead spoke with a heavy White Island accent, shining his flashlight into the woods with a hint of disbelief.

The young man said with absolute certainty:

“I received a call to the police earlier, but the signal suddenly dropped. There must be illegal immigrants here…”

"You're overthinking it. A place like this? Smuggling? Parachuting?"

The fat police officer laughed heartily, then yawned and shone his flashlight on his subordinate's face:

"Alright, let's get out of here. There's nothing here except the footprints of those idiotic college students."

"Perhaps we should ask them; their camp is not far away."

"Alright, Sonny, I acknowledge your dedication, but this is the last time tonight. I'm going back to sleep."

As the two were discussing leaving the woods, the portly police officer suddenly stopped and pointed into the distance through a gap in the dense forest, saying:

"Sonny, hasn't that dilapidated house been demolished yet?"

The young officer looked and saw it was the old house that had always been in town; it was said to have once been a nice mansion, but now it was dirty and dilapidated.
“The demolition team came once last week, but left again, saying that… something was wrong inside, and the city hall had also ordered them to leave.”

"Wait a minute, isn't that the college student you mentioned earlier?"

The young officer was startled, exchanged a glance with the fat officer, and simultaneously drew his pistol, heading towards the front of the dense forest.

The surroundings were eerily quiet. Neither of them realized that it was too quiet; they could only hear the cracking sound of their boots on the soil and leaves.

Gradually, they approached the cars.

A moment later, Ji Li emerged from the depths of the dense forest, his head covered in fallen leaves, and holding a map in his hand.

He pointed at the mansion in front of him on the map for a long time, then shoved it into his clothes, a hint of annoyance on his face:
"Damn it, this is actually north. We really did pick the map upside down..."

Having been in this world for so long, he still can't get used to these old-fashioned things.

Without fully intelligent navigation and voice prompts, without spiritual sensing, all I have is a broken flat map with some terrain features. How am I supposed to find a house in this forest?
All I can say is that the Tower of Babel design is too inhumane. Couldn't they have put some useful features on my phone's navigation app that an old person like me would understand?
Ji Li took out his phone and glanced at it; indeed, there was no signal, so giving him navigation probably wouldn't help.

He had been off the plane for over an hour before finally finding his first destination.

You're saying the famous Odin would get lost in the forest? That's laughable!

Ji Li said, "Isn't that obvious? In Murphy's mega-structures, where every inch of land is precious, even the parks are places where only big capitalists can enjoy taking a stroll."

Don't even mention forests of this scale. Ji Li remembers that the largest jungle in the Murphy Manor was the one built in the backyard of Michel's house, designed by a top landscape architect.

As for the Milky Way, it's all about bombardment and intelligent navigation using military satellite positioning and matching ascension protocols. What kind of person would walk through this forest with a flat map?

He is Odin, not some native hunter who crawls around everywhere digging and sniffing.

Having finally found the destination that the Tower of Babel had arranged for him, Ji Li quickened his pace to get closer.

According to Kaoru Yuya, his death was a perfect confession to the Knights, but he still needed to complete his identity in the face of the White Island's shattered white ring's comprehensive surveillance.

The Shattered White Ring, as a cluster of spiritual cores covering the entire White Island, shares similar characteristics with the Divine Dragon Vein of Shulong, namely, full-area coverage monitoring, and is highly integrated with the White Island system.

On a spiritual level, the shattered white ring crowns the royal family, the royal family bestows titles upon nobles, and the nobles in turn bestow titles upon knights.

In other words, the broken white ring itself has its own "household registration" system.

If Ji Liyuan, the heir of the mausoleum, were to enter the country normally, he would be wanted. If he were to forge an identity, he would not be able to match his "Knight" status with the Broken White Ring.

Therefore, the first problem he had to solve upon arriving at White Island was this one. Fortunately, the tombstone had already been arranged for him, but the map was not very helpful.

But the closer Ji Li got to the house, the more he sensed that the spiritual energy fluctuations around him were strange and unstable.

The vehicles ahead clearly indicated that someone had been here, and the footprints were clear and orderly, suggesting that something had happened.

Arriving at the parked vehicles, Ji Li inspected them. Apart from some personal belongings and clothes he had temporarily taken off, there was nothing unusual. Moreover, the engines were still warm, indicating that the cars had not been parked there for long.

The gate of the house was wide open, and Ji Li immediately saw two corpses lying inside, one fat and one thin.

He strode forward and saw the lingering look of terror on their faces.

A person was disemboweled, his entire abdomen and chest cavity were turned inside out, and his internal organs were scattered all over the ground.

The other person had his heart ripped out and his arm torn off and thrown aside.

"The blood is still warm; he just died recently..."

Seeing the calculations that popped up on the Ascension Agreement, Ji Li narrowed his eyes:
"He had only been dead for less than a minute."

Ji Li suddenly raised his hand and grabbed a bloodstained blade.

He looked up at the figure that had appeared silently beside him.

The opponent was a corpse with a large exposed facial skeleton, dressed in tattered clothes and stained with dried blood. The knife in its hand was covered in rust, yet its malevolent aura was extremely faint.

Just as Kaoru Yuya had said, it's very strange... Is it that the personal relics, or 'resting objects' here, have been liberated?

Ji Li pondered as he slowly rose, the monster's blade barely catching him.
"But the tombstone says that this area is a stable zone, there won't be any patrolling knights, and the number of noble territories is relatively small..."

Was it another Reflection Walker passing by, or... was it an ordinary human spirit that went in and triggered the Resting Object?

Thinking of the cars at the entrance and the clothes with youthful male and female characteristics, Ji Li could roughly imagine some of the reckless behaviors unique to young people.

He twisted the blade off with his backhand, shattering the monster into a cloud of blood and foam, and walked into the mansion.

Right beneath his feet was a labyrinthine castle.

Several blonde, blue-eyed young women covered their mouths, listening intently to the sound of the monster strutting about, barely daring to breathe—

"Anya...we'll be alright, right...how many seconds left? What should we do now?"

“Anya…please say something, I beg you…”

The brown-haired girl, tears streaming down her face, tried to turn her head towards her companions, only to be met with a rotting face and Anya's headless corpse—

The screams were almost piercing eardrums and echoed throughout the space.

In an instant, the group of college students were thrown into chaos and began to flee in a panic.
-
P.S.: I fell asleep last night, so I'll add an extra chapter today.

(End of this chapter)