Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 203 - 123: Beware of Business Cards on Business Trips

Chapter 203: Chapter 123: Beware of Business Cards on Business Trips

After the flagship of the Baptism ceremony departed, the Second Prince and others at the Imperial Court who were affected gradually returned to normal. However, for the Second Prince who had painfully lost his claim to the throne, this might not be considered good news.

The battle for the throne came to an end in a way that no one had anticipated.

Ning Ruyue decided to return to the academy, and the Third Prince had no interest in the throne either. After discussion, the people at the Imperial Court decided there was no longer a need for a next Prime Monarch. This civilization would no longer be a dictatorship, nor would it be manipulated by corporations.

The arrival of the recommendation letter united everyone at the Imperial Court like never before, and joining the Sixteen Star Summit became their next primary goal.

During this period, a piece of bad news struck.

The bearer of the bad news was Da Jiang.

In the three days the group had been absent, the Hunter Association’s various local stations, with their collective efforts, had gotten back on track. Upon learning of the changes at the Imperial Court, retired hunters who had been out of the game for years answered the call to return to the organization. Just as Da Jiang and other station managers were discussing whether to prepare a "veterans’ return gift package" for the hunters, the station in Siyang City detected signs of Wangxu’s activity.

An experienced senior hunter volunteered to investigate the site of the anomaly and lost contact on the very same night.

Then, the next morning, Siyang City experienced a shocking mass disappearance that alarmed the entire city.

During a company meeting, upper management mysteriously disappeared from their offices; when the janitors found the scene, the executives had all vanished without a trace, leaving behind only the bloodstained walls and ceiling. Terrified, the janitor scrambled out of the office.

The local police’s investigation hit a dead end and they sought assistance from the station.

But problems arose.

The missing senior hunter was the most capable local hunter. While some young, vigorous hunters from the association wanted to take over the unfinished investigation, they were stopped by the station personnel in Siyang City.

They sought help from the Royal Hunting Court.

According to the tradition of the association, once an incident exceeded the scope of the local station’s capabilities, to prevent unnecessary casualties, they should seek assistance from the Royal Hunting Court as quickly as possible.

But the Royal Hunting Court had only just been activated recently, and its core members consisted of only Duan Mingyuan and Jiuyue, both of whom happened to have been invited onto the company’s flagship.

So, on the very evening he returned to the Imperial Court, Duan Mingyuan once again embarked on a rare business trip.

Although Jiuyue strongly requested to accompany Duan Mingyuan, considering safety issues, she was to escort Ning Ruyue back to Cloud Sea Academy.

After all, although the Second Prince had fallen, there was still a considerable faction at the Imperial Court that blamed the sudden return of the Elder Princess for the Second Prince’s failure and might take retaliatory action.

Before the plane took off, Duan Mingyuan had uploaded all the news bits that Da Jiang had organized into his computer. As the story developed, this news continued to dominate the headlines, with the public buzzing with various speculations. Some believed it was the work of a cult, while others thought it was a supernatural phenomenon.

In a bizarre and bloody manner akin to a horror movie, 13 notable individuals, often seen in newspapers and on TV, disappeared all at once, making such sensational news invariably pique people’s interest.

Both the station chief and Da Jiang suspected the Wangxu Organization was behind it, but this did not quite fit with the organization’s usual modus operandi.

After all, the organization was mostly composed of criminals wanted in the Star Zone. They often acted discreetly; they might have had compelling reasons to make those 13 individuals disappear, but they almost never resorted to such conspicuous methods, opting instead to let them become missing people under the cover of some deep night.

Each year, numerous disappearance cases occur throughout the regions, which even the local police have become accustomed to.

Before boarding the plane, Duan Mingyuan had already booked a hotel.

It was the hotel where the senior hunter had stayed the night he disappeared. The hunter had gone through disguise, and all identity information cards were forged. In theory, even if he happened to encounter Wangxu, it should not have immediately given him away. Yet, the reality was that he disappeared without relaying the slightest bit of information.

Before dawn arrived, Duan Mingyuan, who had concluded his day’s journey, checked into the room next to where the senior hunter had stayed.

The neighboring room was vacant. Since it was the off-season for tourism, there were few others staying in the entire corridor.

Duan Mingyuan assessed the structure of the two rooms, came to the wall, and with a light stroke on the wall with his fingers, a door leading to the next room appeared before him.

There was no room card inserted in the next door, and the room was pitch black. Duan Mingyuan turned on his cellphone’s flashlight and roughly observed the scene inside the room.

Everything was tidily arranged, with no signs of destruction, suggesting that no struggle had occurred in the room.

The station master of Siyang City was certain that the old hunter had disappeared in this very room, as they had spoken on the phone just before the disappearance. The old hunter had said he was in the room and wouldn’t go anywhere that night. The station master had also pulled some strings to check the surveillance footage, which showed that the old hunter had not stepped out of his room after entering.

According to the information provided by Da Jiang, this old hunter was, at minimum, a distinguished hunter with a mid-level title, according to the ranking theory proposed by Duan Mingyuan. Long before the destruction of the early Royal Hunting Court, the old hunter was capable of creating simple barriers and had served as an instructor for new hunters in Siyang City.

For safety reasons, the old hunter had set up a simple barrier in his room as soon as he checked in.

From the looks of the scene, this simple barrier seemed to have been ineffective.

The old hunter had witnessed the rise and fall of the Hunter Association. Now that the Association was facing a new turning point, no one had expected such an incident to occur.

"Thump, thump, thump - thump, thump, thump - !"

Suddenly, knocking sounds came from next door, which was Duan Mingyuan’s room.

Duan Mingyuan immediately retreated to his own room, erased the door on the wall, and quickly went to the door.

"Who is it?"

No one responded from outside the door.

It was almost dawn now; it shouldn’t be the hotel staff.

Duan Mingyuan opened the door, and the corridor was still empty, with not a soul in sight. It had been less than a minute from when he retreated to his own room to when he opened the door.

The silence in the corridor was eerie, and the dark red carpet always felt uncomfortable.

If a regular guest encountered this situation, they would probably be frightened, thinking it was haunted, and wouldn’t be able to sleep all night. However, instead of closing the door, Duan Mingyuan took a step outside toward the corridor.

He looked around, fully expressing his willingness to communicate with his surroundings.

But to his dismay, after standing at the door for a minute, no evil spirit came out to interact with him, so he had to go back into the room.

When he shut the door again, he noticed a change in the room.

A card had appeared on the carpet at the entrance without notice.

It turned out to be a flyer drop.

Duan Mingyuan picked up the card. Unlike the traditional cards printed with the images of young girls, this card had a sinister black background, which looked like twisted tree branches.

It seemed that the person who printed these cards was more interested in discussing some deeper issues with the hotel guests, rather than helping him find amusement.

"Are you tired of your current life?"

"Do you wish to change your life?"

"Do you want to know the truth behind this world?"

"Come to us, and all your questions will be answered."