Exploring Technology in a Wizard World
Chapter 312 - Chapter 312 Chapter 311 All Forms of Life

Chapter 312: Chapter 311: All Forms of Life Chapter 312: Chapter 311: All Forms of Life “Ke Gurli… Ancient?” Richard muttered to himself, paused, and then said again, “Du… ermon…”

He shook his head, somewhat puzzled, not knowing what this could be.

A spell?

A place name?

Or, had he been wrong from the start, and this wasn’t the way to decode it at all?

Because he was still missing three books, he couldn’t draw any conclusive conclusions yet.

“Ke Gurli… Ancient, Du… ermon…” Richard repeated several times, his eyes flickered, and a strange feeling arose in his heart, feeling as if he had seen or heard these words before, but he couldn’t remember where.

This feeling was a bit strange and quite annoying, causing Richard to furrow his brow deeply.

After pondering for a long time, Richard still couldn’t figure it out, he said aloud, “Alright, alright, this… still needs some time to study…”

…

The night continued.

White Stone City, north of the city, civilian slums.

Returning from a city outing to worship his ancestors, Alex looked up to see no lights in the house and breathed a sigh of relief. He climbed the stairs built outside the wooden house, treading carefully upward.

Reaching the door of the house, Alex pressed his ear against the wooden door, listened intently for a long while to ensure there were no sounds, and then slowly pushed the door open.

As he entered, Alex scanned the room, and his heart suddenly turned cold; followed by his legs going weak and his back aching.

He saw on the living room dining table, an oil lamp was lit, casting dim light, and faintly outlining the figure of a woman. The woman lay on the dining table, possibly having fallen asleep from waiting too long, but ready to awake at any moment.

“Gulp!”

Alex swallowed his saliva, regretting returning too early; he should have stayed in the cemetery until dawn. Just as he was about to turn and leave, the woman on the dining table sensed something, raised her head, and showed the face of a woman no longer young but still charming, looked at Alex, and her voice carried a hint of laziness and complaint, “Little Alex, why have you only just come back, I’ve been waiting for you all night!”

“Uh, that… Lady Amanda, the thing is…” Alex’s eyes darted around quickly, “the business was too good today, so… I came back a bit late.”

“Oh, is that so.” The woman stood up and walked towards Alex, with a hint of coquettish complaint, “Business may be good, but you still need to take care of your body, right? What if you wear yourself out? After all, your body isn’t just yours; it’s mine too…”

“Uh, that…”

“By the way, Little Alex, have you eaten anything…”

“I’ve had something to eat…”

“Oh, is that so, then maybe you have the strength to do something you love…” The woman walked behind Alex, pressing against him, speaking seductively.

“Uh, that…”

“Heh, I knew you were thinking about it. Alright, Little Alex, I will definitely satisfy you, and give you a wonderful night…”

“Uh, Lady Amanda, actually… ah, Lady Amanda, you… I… sob sob…”

“What’s wrong, why are you crying?” the woman suddenly exclaimed.

“I, I, I… I just suddenly missed my ancestors, and feel like I’ve disgraced them. My ancestor was such a great captain, and now I’m just a fat businessman who can’t do anything right…”

“…”

…

The night prolonged.

An underground secret room.

At a long table, a silver candlestick was placed with three large candles burning. Due to the long burning time, the candle wicks protruded too much, making the flame unstable.

Great Scholar Socrates, dressed in a Black Robe, sat at one end of the long table, the flickering flames casting an unsettled light on his face.

On high-backed leather chairs on either side of the long table sat many people, all too afraid to breathe, heads low, looking at the table, creating a very oppressive atmosphere.

After a long while, Great Scholar Socrates spoke, asking, “Vick, Harry, and Henry, have the three of them not returned yet?”

The people sitting on the high-backed leather chairs on both sides of the table looked at each other, and one person bravely answered, “Master, they haven’t returned yet.”

“Huh–” Socrates let out a long breath, slightly tilted his head, and called out, “Ken!”

“Shush!”

A cold shadow appeared beside Socrates: “Teacher, you called for me?”

“Hm.” Socrates nodded, “Didn’t you just say that you took people to check and found some information? Speak up.”

“Yes,” the young man named Ken nodded and quickly began, “Previously, Vick, Harry, and Henry, following the Council’s directive, went to investigate the residence of a suspicious target under the cover of darkness. They tried to ascertain the situation of the target, and if conditions permitted, they intended to seize the books in his possession.

However, they did not return even an hour past the scheduled time. After another hour, I personally led a team to check and found intense traces of a wizard-level fight in the courtyard of the target residence, along with some bloodstains.

Although we can’t be certain, it is most likely that Vick and the others were harmed.”

“So, you’re saying that the target realized Vick and the others were there and then killed them?” ask Great Scholar Socrates.

“I’m afraid the situation might be a bit more complicated,” Ken said. “Many of the spell traces are beyond what Vick and the others could cast. Moreover, the target has disappeared, and the rooms in the courtyard were searched. The books we wanted are completely missing.”

“What do you think?” asked Socrates.

“I…” Ken hesitated for a moment before saying, “Teacher, I think that besides our people, there were others interested in the books. It was they who killed the target and Vick’s group and took the books.”

…”

Socrates fell silent, as if contemplating something.

After a while, Socrates looked towards the people sitting on the high-backed leather chairs on both sides of the long table and said, “About the investigation I asked you to conduct regarding someone deliberately leaking the existence of our organization, how is it coming along?”

“This…” People looked at each other, and finally, the unfortunate person caught by Socrates’ gaze hesitantly replied, “Master, we have made no progress yet.”

“Smack!” Socrates, somewhat angrily, slapped the table, startling everyone.

Socrates said, “The situation today with Vick, and the earlier incidents of leaking our organization and using our emblem, must be thoroughly investigated! I’m starting to suspect that these events were orchestrated by the same group.”

“This!” People were shocked. Ken, standing beside Socrates, blinked, unsure why Socrates would think this. Was it merely a guess? Or some kind of premonition?

“Did everyone hear me clearly?” Socrates asked sternly.

“Yes.” Everyone shuddered and replied in unison.

“Good, I hope you won’t disappoint me again,” Socrates said, standing up and walking toward the exit of the secret room, with Ken following closely.

Those left in the secret room breathed a sigh of relief after Socrates left, then exchanged looks, their faces tangled with confusion.

“Could these incidents have been orchestrated by the same group?”

“Who knows?”

“The Master seemed certain.”

“But how do we investigate that?”

“That…”

…

On the eve of dawn, when night was darkest.

Suo Men and Mu Konni slowly emerged from a courtyard in White Stone City and walked toward the distance.

Behind them, a faint firelight glowed through the gap in the courtyard door.

…

At dawn, the light broke through the horizon.

Dressed from head to toe in white–white boots, white trousers, white shirt, white hat–Macbeth looked at the courtyard reduced to ashes before him and shook his head slightly before whistling and remarking, “Tsk, tsk, unfortunate incidents like this keep happening!”

Standing next to Macbeth was a short wizard, barely one and a half meters tall, who looked at the ruins with a somber expression: “Incidents happen from time to time, but… having it occur at such a critical moment is problematic! We’re currently hosting the East Coast Joint Exchange Conference, an event that takes place only once every several years. Constant troubles are embarrassing for our White Stone Tower. That Plague Magic incident at the academy was bad enough, and now this. Luckily, we can still cover this up, but what about next time?”

“Speaking of which, Armstrong, don’t you think these troublesome incidents could be orchestrated by the wizard organizations participating in the conference? They might want to cause trouble on purpose.” Macbeth voiced.

“Hm?” Armstrong, the wizard, paused for a moment before shaking his head, “Unlikely.”

“Why?”

“Well, take the academy’s Plague Magic incident for example. Every wizard organization lost quite a few students; all were affected. If it were really one of the wizard organizations behind this, the cost would be too great, right? Plus, if exposed, wouldn’t they provoke all the wizard organizations attending the conference and risk being wiped out collectively?”

“Hmm, that does make sense. But then… what exactly is going on here?” Macbeth continued, stepping forward and pointing at a strange symbol on a broken wall, “And what’s with this symbol? This must be the second time it’s appeared, right?”

“I guess…” Armstrong squinted his eyes, “it could be a wizard organization that’s been hiding in our White Stone City and holds a grudge against us. They might be seizing the opportunity to strike at us. This symbol could represent their organization. It’s a provocation.”

“If that’s the case… should we inform the higher-ups?”

“They probably won’t pay any heed.”

“Do what we can, then.”

“That would be best.”

Macbeth and Armstrong walked towards the distance, with the sun fully risen behind them on the horizon.

Day… had broken…