Witch, Fireball and Steam Evil God

Chapter 278 You Need a Pill

The Merlin incident has always been shrouded in many huge mysteries, and even the guild members who participated in the raid could not know the full picture of the incident.

The staff of Unit 003, including the station manager, has been replaced. All information about this dimension has been destroyed. The investigation team was recently dispatched because the abnormal energy fluctuations attracted the attention of the guild. Just a few days after the news of the investigator's murder was reported, one of the guild's high-ranking members personally took over the case.

Of the current members of the Council of Six, only two have experienced the war against Merlin.

One is Crowley, who has followed the Golden King from the very beginning; the other is Yoda, whose style of doing things is the most mysterious among them.

A perpetual neutral, devoid of any personal emotion in his conduct, like a heartless machine.

He was deeply trusted by the Gold King, so when he conveyed the Gold King's orders to the other councilors, he never doubted their authenticity. But now it seems that Yoda was the one who was the most secretive.

Cynthia was also quite surprised by this.

She had always thought that she was fighting alone and that the other members of the council had long since become numb. However, she did not expect that more than half of the council members had their own considerations, but they were hidden in a more secretive way, so secret that even the Golden King might not have been able to detect their true thoughts.

"This is……?"

Kara's gaze was drawn to the strange objects on the table.

A black cube, a dim and lifeless screen—it didn't look like anything from this world.

These creations are closely linked to certain special planes, and the guild has categorized all those planes that defy common sense into a special manual.

The building, with its transparent outer layer, soars into the sky and reaches hundreds of stories high. It is a masterpiece that only gods could create. These strange buildings are filled with many things they have never seen before: square, luminous boxes that can display changing images. Clearly, this black cube also comes from those special dimensions.

Kara vaguely guessed Yoda's thoughts.

He is pursuing a secret, a secret that the guild's higher-ups have deliberately concealed and do not want anyone to know, a secret that has puzzled many people—why did Merlin betray the guild?

His status was comparable to that of the King of Gold.

Fame, power, wealth, even creating his own kingdom and branding his name onto a plane of existence—Merlin could have almost anything in this world if he wanted to.

Merlin, however, was willing to give up all his wealth and glory and become an enemy of the guild.

Kara knew what this meant.

They are subjects of the Golden King, and despite holding extremely high positions within the guild, guild investigators who have pursued these questions have all met with the same fate.

Missing.

A common tactic used by guilds is to issue transfer orders, transferring people to different dimensional transit stations in a short period of time, and then disappearing completely shortly afterward. Every friend of theirs thinks they have simply been transferred away and that they have settled down in another transit station. Personnel changes are very common in guilds.

If the king finds out what they've done, it won't be long before they join the ranks of the missing.

Kokara couldn't understand what kind of secret required the guild to guard it so closely that anyone who dared to touch it would be made to disappear.

At least on the surface, the guild is an organization that encourages adventure and exploration, and many guild investigators come for this purpose.

During their investigations, they can witness different planes and civilization structures. If they get tired, they can apply to the guild for a long vacation and live in the plane that best suits their taste for a period of time. Even for those planes with the most unique structures, the guild mainly encourages them. Any investigator who discovers a special plane can apply to the guild for an extra reward.

“This is a cell phone.”

The sound from behind startled Kara, and she almost reflexively assumed a fighting stance.

Ethan walked silently, and she hadn't even noticed when he appeared. His presence here meant that the battle on the surface had already begun…

Kara dared not think any further.

It should be noted that the Golden Kingdom's fleet was anchored over the capital of West Valantin. The council had mobilized all the Golden Kingdom's residents and war machines, putting them into a state of war. However, even with the blessing of the divine artifact, they still could not stop Ethan's advance.

Now, Ethan has even recognized the items as originating from a special dimension.

After the first special dimension was discovered, the guild established a corresponding research institution, but to this day they still cannot explain the origin of the items in the building.

Fortunately, Ethan didn't seem to be there to fight; his gaze was drawn to the black cube on the table, which he examined very closely.

A smartphone that looks like it has been out of power for a long time.

No modern person would fail to recognize the object on the table. Although he had a vague premonition, Ethan's heart still pounded with excitement when he actually saw the item from "another world".

The objects placed quietly on the table had already definitively identified Merlin.

The time traveler was likely from the same place as him.

As a transmigrator, Ethan felt he was not qualified. He did not carry any items that could prove his identity. The moment he regained consciousness, he found himself in the refugee caravan heading to Riverwood. The people around him reeked of not having bathed in a long time, and they were in low spirits, talking about the recent turmoil in the Empire.

The team leader poured cold water on everyone's enthusiasm.

Even if they do reach Riverwood, their lives may not necessarily be better.

For the first two years after his transmigration, Ethan faced the same dilemma as all the adventurers in the novels—he had to figure out a way to survive in this messed-up world.

In order to ensure that he would not be easily crushed by social changes, he tried every means to find information about the extraordinary path.

Merlin placed his phone in the most conspicuous position to ensure that anyone who came here could recognize him immediately through the phone.

He was waiting for a fellow countryman, but Ethan was certain it wasn't one of his "comrades" from the guild.

It's easy to see that Merlin spent his final years in anxiety. His "alchemy workshop" can only be described as a mess, with torn parchment scattered everywhere. There was only a small bed, and the wall beside the bed was covered with Chinese characters that Cynthia and the others couldn't understand, but that Ethan was very familiar with.

We've finally found this place.

We'll be able to leave soon.

Why is there still no progress?

Is it because it was sealed?

Hurry up, there's almost no time left.

Those people have come looking for us.

We can no longer sit idly by and wait for our demise.

The further you go, the more illegible the writing on the walls becomes, and some areas are even severely dented.

A strong sense of unease made Merlin somewhat erratic, but from the lines of seemingly random Chinese characters, Ethan discerned the purpose of his visit.

Merlin was searching for a way to leave this place. At least in his understanding, it was related to the sealed Old Gods. Those special planes controlled by the Old Gods might be the edge of this "black box." If they could reach one of the edge areas and then manage to break through the outermost barrier, they could get out of the "black box." He had a reason to leave.

"Can you read ancient texts?"

Ethan gained another surprising quality in Cynthia's eyes: "What's written on this?"

"It reflects Merlin's homesickness."

Ethan gave a brief summary: "Where we're from, this isn't called ancient writing."

Very modern, unique yet approachable, although Merlin's handwriting looks very messy, like a doctor's prescription, and he will never understand what medicine is written on it.

"There are many identical characters in those special planes, and the guild has established a special department to study the meaning of those characters."

Cynthia leaned closer and examined it for a long time.

Many within the guild believe that only the guild's founders could decipher the meaning of these ancient texts, which they consider the source of their power and the reason they are different from others.

They may possess some ancient and mysterious bloodline, which is not uncommon in various planes.

"what does that mean?"

This time it was Yoda who asked the question. His golden mask masked his original voice, which was accompanied by some annoying "electromagnetic interference." He looked agitated and pressed Ethan for answers, "What exactly did Merlin write? Why did he betray the guild? What is he researching here?"

Without a doubt, this was Merlin's last stop, where he left everything he hadn't yet completed.

But Yoda was filled with disappointment.

He had gone to great lengths and taken enormous risks to get here, only to be met with ancient scripts whose meaning he could not comprehend.

This was Merlin's encryption method; all the research he left here was done in ancient script. However, just as he was about to lose control of his emotions, a person who was proficient in ancient script appeared before him.

Perhaps this is fate.

Yoda believed this, and he desperately needed Ethan to give him answers and explain the meaning of fate to him.

"This is a treasure hunt game, and you have now successfully completed it."

Ethan said, "But it's better if you don't know the rest."

Even for him, this was an enormous problem.

How could he explain to Princess Vivian, Cynthia, Yoda, and Kara that it was all a lie?
The suffering they endured, the war raging outside, the dead souls, and everything they valued were all just a string of code. Their birth did not originate from their parents as they imagined; that was merely the setting of this world. The real creators of them were a group of working-class people sitting in offices, facing computer screens all day long.

Most of their names are meaningless, perhaps just something someone came up with on a whim.

For example, Yoda reminded him of Star Wars, and Kara was the female protagonist in Detroit: Become Human. As a modern person, Ethan could connect the origins of these names.

So, what about Ethan?

If we disregard the time travel aspect, which cannot be explained by science, this refugee youth seems more like the name of a side NPC that a player encounters while passing through a town.

On the other hand, these codes and NPCs are just too real. In the world he knows, programs and code simply cannot achieve such anthropomorphic settings. Whenever rationality arises, another voice in his mind tells him that all of this is real.

A long time has passed since Ethan faced Sincarlo, yet he still cannot define this world.

Although he had never been a scientist, what was happening before his eyes at that moment forced him to consider that old and direct question—if something looks like steak, smells like steak, and tastes like steak, is it actually steak?
Distinguishing these things was far more mentally taxing than studying elemental magic, to the point that Ethan felt he might need to swallow some blue pills to calm down.

Now, Merlin has provided his suggested answer.

This world is an illusion, and perhaps the exit lies in one of the planes controlled by an old god. In order to reach it, they must break the old god's seal.

This is the most special dimension, and in his view, the place closest to the edge of the "black box".

As for the calamity that would be brought to the inhabitants of this world after the seal was broken, that was not something Merlin needed to consider.

This is just a collection of data; even death and suffering are merely pre-programmed feedback.

As for his reasons for insisting on leaving...

The hand-drawn sketches hidden in the drawer seem to say it all.

That's a family photo.

The parents held their newborn baby, their faces beaming with smiles, filled with anticipation for the future.

Perhaps it was because Merlin couldn't find photographic technology at the time, so he could only record these things with his pen.

The scroll had been turned over countless times, and it was covered with creases, with small cracks at the edges.

We must leave here.

This sentence was written on the back of the painting, seemingly giving him a strong psychological suggestion every day.

Yoda did not recognize the man in the painting.

He was quite certain that it wasn't Merlin. According to his description and the biographies left by the Galog dynasty, Merlin was a charismatic sage who always wore a long black robe and was imposing and heroic. The middle-aged man in the painting, who was grinning foolishly, was no match for the legendary warrior of the Galog dynasty.

But this answer clearly failed to satisfy Cynthia and the others.

Although they didn't press for details, they all stared at Ethan with sharp eyes, as if telling him with their eyes that this was definitely not something that could be brushed off with a "treasure hunt."

When the atmosphere became tense, Princess Vivian acted as a lubricant for the team.

Her specific action was that while she was exploring the alchemy material rack, her hand slipped, and the glass bottle fell to the ground and shattered.

The loud noise in the silence was enough to draw everyone's attention.

"Didn't you hear me?"

Princess Vivian seemed to be trying to hide her embarrassment with a smile, knowing that every item here was probably extremely valuable.

But you can't entirely blame her.

"Someone is calling my name."

She pointed to the back of the shelf, to the wall covered with ivy, "It's on the other side of the wall."

(End of this chapter)