Life Game In Other World
Chapter 506: The Stage (Long - , Requesting Monthly Passes)

Chapter 506: Chapter 506: The Stage (Long Chapter, Requesting Monthly Passes)

"My informant in the gang told me that Alerio recently joined a mysterious club,"

"He boasted in the tavern that this club could give him great power."

"He calls this club the ’Molt Shadow Club,’ and according to him, there are mysterious performances every day."

"He even wants to bring other gang members to watch the shows, but he’s always been full of hot air, mixing truth with lies, and none of the gang members believe him, so you might need to sift through that."

The voice of the gendarmerie captain came through the phone, "He didn’t say the exact location of the club, but my informant saw him frequently heading towards Oak Street recently, so you might want to check it out."

"Alright, I got it, thanks for the trouble."

He Ao replied gratefully.

"No problem, wish you all the best."

The gendarmerie captain responded with a laugh and then hung up the phone.

He did not ask He Ao why he wanted this information, nor what He Ao was going to do with it.

For fear that He Ao might have misheard, he texted the name ’Molt Shadow Club’ in written form to confirm.

However, even though the gendarmerie captain mentioned that the Molt Shadow Club might be on Oak Street, He Ao felt that this address sounded familiar.

He opened the map and searched for the location of Oak Street.

Then he was suddenly struck by the realization that the abandoned courtyard where the Transcendent Dog was killed by the Black Shadow yesterday was right behind Oak Street.

He Ao had not visited Oak Street yesterday, but the name of this street had appeared in his memory several times.

While tracking the ’victims’ movements, it seemed that He Ao had noticed the street signs for this particular street more than once.

He carefully recalled the memories in his head and then took out the case files he had brought back and tucked in his arms to review them again.

He found a blank piece of paper from the files and sketched the approximate layout of Oak Street and its surrounding streets based on the map on his phone.

Then he marked out the locations of the crime scenes where the bodies were found yesterday with a pen.

In the end, he had a map filled with spots.

The area included on this map was not extensive, but it did cover most of the places where homicides had occurred.

If one were to consider Oak Street as the center, these crime scenes were all within a three-kilometer radius of Oak Street, which is roughly the average person’s free movement radius.

However, only most of the spots where the deceased were found were included in this area; many other victims were discovered far away from Oak Street, scattered irregularly throughout South City.

Yet the information the gendarmerie captain gave to He Ao also included similar cases found in the previous few days.

The number of victims from these earlier cases, added together, did not amount to as many as those found yesterday, and He Ao also marked the locations where these victims were discovered on the map.

Then he noticed that the earlier the victims were found, the higher the proportion of them located within this three-kilometer radius around Oak Street.

One could also forcibly explain the distribution of these crime scenes with other places; these incidents might not necessarily be related to Oak Street or the Molt Shadow Club on Oak Street.

But without any other leads, this might actually be a breakthrough.

Either way, going there and checking it out would reveal whether the club was indeed that Divine Being-worshipping Primitive Sect.

He Ao glanced at the streets surrounding the area on the map, then realized that the bed and breakfast where Elfia previously stayed was also situated on the edge of this three-kilometer radius around Oak Street.

Someone with her Soul strength was likely to become ’Prey’ or a proselytization target for the Primitive Sect.

Considering how the Black Shadow chose to attack her without hesitation last night, she might have been within the Primitive Sect’s sights for some time already.

She might have come in contact with the "Molt Shadow Club."

With that thought, He Ao put away the files and walked out.

······

"Molt Shadow Club?"

Elfia was cleaning at the doorway when she heard He Ao’s question, she pondered for a moment, "I seem to remember seeing their flyers. They wanted to invite me to a performance, but I was busy setting up my stall at the time, so I refused. However, their name was a bit odd, so it stuck in my mind."

Handing out flyers on the street, they really don’t hide, do they?

He Ao looked at Elfia, "Do you remember where they were handing out flyers?"

"It was just a bit further down the street from the guesthouse where I stay, there’s a small square there."

After a moment of thought, Elfia said, "How about I take you there? I need to go back and pick up some things anyway."

"Okay."

He Ao nodded.

Elfia gathered her tools and then left the martial arts studio with He Ao.

She had intended to take the bus, but He Ao pulled her into a cab instead.

The two stopped at the entrance of the alley, then Elfia led He Ao towards the inside.

"This square has some basic fitness equipment, as well as a basketball court and badminton courts. The local residents like to exercise here, and there are also some small shops around selling daily necessities and barbecue,"

Elfia explained while walking, "I was setting up my stall around here the last few days, only moving to the entrance of that street yesterday."

After walking a short distance, the tight and dark alleyway ended, and a small square surrounded by low-rise old buildings appeared before He Ao.

The square was clearly old; the cement on the ground showed potholes, and the paint on the iron fitness equipment was peeling, revealing the somewhat rusted steel within.

There were many shops with their doors open around the square, where some elderly people were wandering around.

Nearby were a few areas surrounded by broken wire mesh that seemed to be basketball and badminton courts, but there were few people playing at this time.

"It’s afternoon now, everybody is still at work. Later, after work in the evening, there will be more people. That was when I received the flyer from the ’Molt Shadow Club’ last time,"

Elfia said softly, glancing around as if she couldn’t find the person who had been handing out flyers that day, "But it seems he’s not here today."

"No problem," He Ao shook his head, "I’ll take a look around here. You go ahead and pack up your things."

"Alright," Elfia nodded, "If you have something to do, please go ahead. I’ll be packing up late and need to contact the landlord to check out. You don’t have to wait for me; I can get back to the studio on my own later."

"Okay."

He Ao responded, and then Elfia said goodbye.

Elfia headed inside the alley, while he walked towards the small square.

He scanned around and didn’t find anything particularly notable in the small square.

It was already four or five in the afternoon, approaching dusk, and the people in the square were gradually increasing.

He Ao mingled in the crowd, buying a few skewers of Rodan’s local specialty barbecue, eating while walking along.

People usually hand out flyers when there’s a crowd, so He Ao decided to wait and see.

While waiting, Yang De sent him a message.

The message contained a list of C-level and possibly even B-level individuals that the Research Institute believed might appear near Eren City recently.

He Ao found a chair to sit down and opened the list.

This list was divided by power groups, including Yang De’s comments and analysis.

First was Moonlight, which theoretically should be the most powerful entity controlling Rodan.

After the Velora incident, one of Moonlight’s two B-level individuals died, and the other was injured; they hardly had the capacity to interfere in Rodan any further.

However, to ensure the control of the artifact portal did not fall into others’ hands, they sent three C-level individuals as heads to Rodan this time.

The leader among them was a top C-level code-named ’Mysterious Seeker,’ about whom the Research Institute had little information, only that his combat power was very strong.

The other two C-levels had already died at the hands of He Ao.

However, the Research Institute received intel that following the inaction of those two C-levels, Moonlight sent two more C-levels from their homeland, both not weak in strength.

After Sloane was killed and they lost a B-level, the opening of this portal was the first blow Moonlight faced.

If they did not handle this well and appeared too weak, they might immediately be devoured by the Western Lands and the Research Institute.

Thus, Moonlight was determined to control this portal at all costs.

On the other hand, the World Tree organization from the Western Lands was also very interested in this portal.

Even though the World Tree had just been allies with Moonlight, they were all too happy to uproot Moonlight’s foothold in Rodan, a thorn stabbed deep into the Western Lands.

But the World Tree’s territories border the Research Institute’s directly on the land.

After Moonlight’s B-level stationed in the Tia Empire had been gravely wounded by a home invasion by the Research Institute, the World Tree had amassed many on the border to monitor the Institute’s actions and likely would not dare let a B-level leave its domain and enter Rodan to contend with Moonlight.

After all, on the surface, they were still allies, needing to confront the Research Institute together.

And if they just entered Rodan and then, just like Moonlight, suffered a sneak attack from the Research Institute, they would have nowhere to turn to, and it would be unworthy to sustain such a loss for a single opportunity to enter the portal.

Hence, Yang De speculated that the World Tree would likely send at least two C-levels to Eren, but not B-levels.

However, the World Tree’s actions in Rodan were conducted in strict secrecy, so the Research Institute had little information on them. Yang De only knew that a C-level with the code name ’Puppeteer’ should have entered Rodan.

Beyond the World Tree and Moonlight, the Research Institute provided information about other C-levels that might appear near Eren.

Daybreak had recently withdrawn in several regions. Yang De suspected that the C-levels from those places had been relocated, although it was unclear what those C-levels were up to, but it was unlikely that they were dispatched to appear in Eren.

Yang De estimated that at least three of Daybreak’s C-levels might appear in Eren City, hence this was also a hidden force that was not weak.

However, Yang De was not sure if Daybreak’s B-level would appear in Eren.

Logically, if Daybreak’s B-level were to forcefully seize this portal, it would offend both the World Tree and Moonlight, resulting in a loss that outweighed the gain; therefore, Yang De surmised that Daybreak’s B-level would not intervene.

Apart from Daybreak, Yang De also mentioned another uncontrollable factor, but one that was very likely to appear in Rodan—a ’B-level’ individual.

That was the mysterious ’Hao Yi’ from the Velora incident.

Hao Yi, unlike other B-level individuals who had organizations and thus had concerns, had none.

He controlled the Velora, which was capable of fast spatial travel, had extremely high mobility, and had already offended the World Tree and Moonlight once during the previous Velora incident, not worrying about offending a second time.

Therefore, Yang De considered him to be the biggest variable in the upcoming portal Advent.

However, "Hao Yi" had once shown goodwill towards the Research Institute, so he should be someone we can cooperate with.

If "Hao Yi" ends up appearing in Eren City, Yang De advised He Ao not to forcefully snatch the passage but consider cooperating with Hao Yi and even letting him have it.

After all, as long as it wasn’t enemy forces like the World Tree or Moonlight getting their hands on the passage, it would be a good thing for the Research Institute.

Here, Yang De particularly emphasized that if He Ao really met "Hao Yi," he should try to maintain a good relationship with him.

Seeing this, He Ao’s gaze paused for a moment.

He and "Hao Yi"... probably didn’t need to work on their relationship.

Later on, Yang De analyzed information on C-levels of some small groups active near Rodan. These groups didn’t have the capability to monitor the Advent of passages, so they might not get involved in this incident.

This time in Eren, it was a grand ’stage,’ where all powers that mattered in the main world would step up and perform, and the space-time anchor of the relic passage would be the crown for the final victor.

He Ao closed the document and put away his phone.

He looked up. The sky was growing darker, and the crowd of passersby was constantly coming and going.

The shops surrounding the square had already placed some tables and stalls on the roads outside their premises, and the barbecue shops had started their charcoal fires.

More and more people were arriving.

"Brother,"

Just then, a soft voice called out from beside He Ao.

He Ao looked up to see a little girl with two ponytails, holding a flower basket, standing next to him, offering him a rose, "Buy a flower?"

The little girl spoke the local Rodan language. He Ao managed to understand her through the words from a translation dictionary in his memory.

"No need."

He Ao shook his head.

"Oh," the little girl said disappointedly, withdrawing the flower, before she fiddled with her basket and pulled out a flyer, "Then how about a performance?"

He Ao looked at the flyer in her hand, which was chiefly a deep red background.

A youthful female Dancer was outlined in simple lines on the flyer, with a faint Shadow covering her body.

In the instant he fixed his gaze on the flyer, He Ao felt as though the Dancer, otherwise frozen in the image, began to move slowly.

As she gracefully danced, the pitch-black Shadow on her peeled off bit by bit—along with her fair skin. Yet, the Dancer seemed oblivious to it all, not even feeling pain, continuing to dance unabashedly.

Bright red covered her body.

But such a horrific and odd image gave He Ao a sense of bizarre beauty, as if it was the most exquisite art in the world.

He Ao lowered his head to look at the text at the bottom of the flyer.

It was written in both Tia and Rodan languages.

[Molt Shadow Club]

[Oak Street No. 72, starts at 10 p.m. every night]

[With this flyer, one can watch a performance for free]

[This is a soul-shattering, unimaginably fantastic show]