Chapter 253
Chapter 253
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 253
Chapter Title: Closed Dimension (2)
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Ornate decorations filled the office.
Countless pieces of information flashed rapidly across the work monitor placed there.
It was a speed at which even the sharpest dynamic vision couldn't catch a single line...
'I've gotten used to this now.'
The man sitting in front of it simply gazed at the screen calmly, without any change in expression.
Bzzz—
Along with a faint vibration from one of his eyes, the flood of massive information reflected in his vision was projected directly into his mind.
For an ordinary person, it would have been a dangerous ordeal that could drive them insane, but for him, with his transcendent mental abilities, it was merely light brain training.
'Is that everything?'
Truly, the pinnacle of magitech engineering, the ultimate prosthetic eye.
Thanks to its overwhelming performance, the man—the Ruler—had instantly imprinted a vast amount of reports into his memory. He closed his eyes tightly and quickly reviewed the information in his head.
'...Where are you, Hahoe Mask.'
The Hahoe Mask, who had vanished right after the battle in Japan that day, still hadn't shown itself.
A vampire named Heinz had begun prowling Seoul's streets right after, as if taking up the chase, but the Doctor was personally handling that, so it wasn't his place to interfere.
'The fact that it hasn't appeared yet means something must have gone wrong during that fight.'
He nodded quietly.
Of course. They had deliberately unleashed a mental assault to neutralize it from the start.
If it had come out unscathed, he would have felt cheated instead.
The Ruler, reopening his eyes, glanced at his limp right arm.
Facing the body parts he had lost—one eye, both legs, and now this—due to the aftermath of the Hahoe Mask's attack, rage boiled in his chest.
'Hahoe Mask...'
As he mulled over his situation and rekindled his grudge—
-Beep beep!
A communication request alert suddenly blared from the office speaker.
Confirming the sender, he slowly extended his left hand and approved the connection.
-Ah, ah— This is Doctor. Is this the Ruler~?
"Yes, Doctor. What is it?"
A frivolous voice came through the speaker.
He frowned slightly at it but responded calmly.
-Whoa~ Oh, I called to let you know the Chairman has left again! I tried waiting as long as possible, but he said it's no longer feasible. What a shame!
Quite some time had passed since the clash with the Hahoe Mask in Japan.
During that period, the Chairman had been reorganizing the group in preparation for its reappearance, but even that borrowed time seemed to have reached its limit.
-He said fighting Smile Mask drew more attention from 'Earth' than expected, so there was no choice! We wanted to catch it for sure even if it meant pushing a bit, but... Ah well~ This is no small loss!
"...I'm sorry. Because I failed to finish it properly, it feels like we wasted the Chairman's chance to move."
He didn't truly think it was mostly his fault, but with the stakes so high, he couldn't just pretend ignorance.
The meticulously laid plans had derailed, delaying the Reverse Heaven Society's grand scheme across the board.
-Ah~ When do things ever go exactly as planned? If the best option fails, go for the next best. The Chairman will handle things wherever he is, so we should just do what we can!
The Doctor seemed to understand it was an unavoidable situation, offering no real rebuke.
He merely vented frustration at the root cause of it all.
-Tsk, but this situation... It really rubs me the wrong way. How long do we have to dance to the gods' whims!
This wasn't blame toward the Hahoe Mask that had disrupted things, but toward the reason the Chairman couldn't fully exert his power—and the very purpose of the Reverse Heaven Society's existence.
"This level of deviation is within expectations, isn't it? It's not far off now."
-Sigh— You're right, yes! Ah, I can't wait for that time! With irrational beings like gods around, scientific progress, new discoveries, and inventions all become meaningless! Human affairs should be settled among humans, so how dare gods interfere—!
He had seemed unusually restrained for once.
But sure enough, madness began creeping into the Doctor's voice as he muttered rapidly to himself.
'Here we go again.'
Just like this, he was the epitome of the Reverse Heaven Society's mad representatives.
The Ruler nodded half-heartedly in resignation and chimed in appropriately.
The Doctor's impassioned rant continued for quite a while.
Finally, unable to contain his fervor, he huffed to himself before abruptly cutting the communication, saying he'd pour his energy into research.
In the sudden silence.
"Haa."
The Ruler let out a short sigh, leaned back in his chair, closed his eyes, and sank into deep thought.
Suddenly, he recalled what he had said in the Hahoe Mask's mental world during their first encounter.
-The freedom of the Returners. Creating a world we lead.
-We have existed far longer. And we've been fighting for freedom all along.
'Freedom...'
Those words had been sincere at the time.
He simply hadn't mentioned that the opponent was divine rather than human authorities.
Of course, in the end, world hegemony would fall into their hands anyway, so it wasn't much different.
'Sacrifices are inevitable for the greater good.'
The terror attack was merely part of the process to complete the ritual for their grand undertaking.
If all went according to plan, roughly half of Earth's population would be sacrificed in the end.
The Hahoe Mask seemed unwilling to accept that, but one person's interference had its limits anyway.
The plan was proceeding smoothly even now.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ 'Reverse Heaven Society Chairman... Could it be that guy?'
It was pure speculation without concrete evidence or context, but a razor-sharp intuition beyond the norm clearly warned him.
That the mastermind behind the current incident was that person.
Feeling the need for more detailed information, Harris spared no effort in stimulating Jin Deokman's memory.
Crackle—!
"Urghhh—! I really don't know! I don't know!"
"Hm? Speaking informally?"
"N-no! I said I don't know anything more! That's all I know!"
Unfortunately... despite employing every scientific method, he couldn't extract any further details.
All Jin Deokman knew were baseless rumors like "There was such a backstory behind the empire's collapse."
"Then who told you that story?"
"Urk, my sworn brother... the Chief of the Yangtze Waterway Stronghold! He heard it somewhere too and mentioned it jokingly over drinks, so I don't know the source!"
"Yangtze Waterway Stronghold..."
The Yangtze Waterway Stronghold.
They were a bandit alliance centered around the Yangtze River, similar to the Dongting Eighteen Strongholds, but vastly superior in every aspect.
In this world without magic, logistics revolved around waterways, and controlling the massive Yangtze that crossed the continent gave them immense power.
The authorities, aware of the waterways' importance, imposed strict regulations, but bandits were experts at evading such controls by nature.
'Plus, this is a world where a few experts can overwhelm armies.'
They amassed wealth through smuggling and tolls while roaming the broad Yangtze, becoming a thorn in the government's side.
Now, with the nation crumbling and restraints loosened, they monopolized the waterways and wielded even greater influence than before the chaos.
"Hmm, this is tricky."
Recalling this, Harris furrowed his brow with a groan.
The problem was the Yangtze's enormous span and the limited time he had—barely over seven days.
It was absolutely insufficient to track and capture a target wandering somewhere along it for interrogation.
'...No, you can't fill your belly with one bite. Don't rush. The initial goal was to gather info and set up a growth-friendly environment anyway.'
Though it had somehow turned into a bandit-busting spree.
There was no need to go all-in on that right away.
"Urgh... I don't know what you're after, but if you want to know something, why bother us lowly bandits? Go find people who actually know, like the Zhuge Family in Yungzhong, Hubei beyond the Yangtze."
Jin Deokman grumbled in a pained voice, as if trying to pass his bad luck to someone else.
But he had a point.
"Zhuge Family?"
"Ahem, they know more than they don't. They've produced many imperial officials too. And they're said to be the first to discover the decline of qi and the importance of dragon veins."
Such a place likely knew the inside story of this incident.
Unlike the Waterway Stronghold Chief flitting between bases, they had a clear location, making it easy to visit.
'Hmm, and they're a renowned prestigious clan.'
In this chaos, nowhere was truly safe.
Smooth operations required local allies.
But they couldn't pick just anyone...
'...Alright, let's check it out.'
Of course, after collecting all the bandits' loot.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ A rundown fishing village near Dongting Lake.
Just days ago, it had been shrouded in a bleak atmosphere of barely clinging to life, but now the villagers buzzed with excitement over a sudden glimmer of hope.
Not only had the bandits plundering them received divine punishment, but their empty granaries had been filled, easing their hearts.
It was a fragile hope that could vanish with the next storm, but for now, it gave the struggling people the strength to endure the day.
"Heavens, this is..."
At the village edge stood a middle-aged man in worn, frayed Taoist robes, letting out an exclamation.
"Who are you?"
A hunched old man resting in the shade of a tree eyed him warily.
Strangers rarely visited such a remote fishing village even before the turmoil—let alone now.
How could he not look suspicious?
"Ah! My apologies, elder. This poor Taoist is called Cheonggwan."
"...A Taoist? What brings you here...?"
The old man's wariness softened slightly at the middle-aged man's polite bow.
In these times, Taoists and monks were equally dangerous, but someone who observed etiquette like that probably wouldn't harbor ill intent right away.
"On that note, elder, I have one thing I'd like to ask..."
As if waiting for the question, the Taoist Cheonggwan turned his head toward the lake beyond.
"Do you know what happened over there?"
His gaze fell on a small island in the vast, sea-like Dongting Lake.
That was where the Dark Dragon Stronghold—the bandit base that had ruled the area until recently—had stood.
"Oh ho! As expected of a Taoist, you see right through it. Heh heh, the Dragon King of Dongting Lake brought heavenly retribution upon those bandit scum!"
"The Dragon King... you say?"
The old man, all traces of caution gone, raised his voice excitedly and recounted the majestic, mystical scene he had witnessed that day.
A vortex of dark clouds blanketing the sky, an enormous storm enveloping the area.
And thunderbolts exploding from the ground as if the thunder god had descended.
Cheonggwan listened gravely to the old man's tall-tale-like words, nodding heavily.
His eyes turned back to the island, thick with lingering traces.
If he weren't seeing it clearly with his own eyes, he might have dismissed the old man's words as exaggeration.
The story of such phenomena was utterly fantastical.
But he could vividly sense it even now, leaving him no choice but to believe.
The enormous traces remaining there—clearly alien to this world's energy.
'...As expected, not of this world.'
The old man attributed it to the Dragon King of Dongting Lake delivering punishment, but that was probably untrue.
Whether dragon king, immortal, or demon, they were all beings of this world.
Cheonggwan thanked the old man politely for answering and hurriedly left the village for a secluded spot.
He unpacked ritual tools from his baggage to set up a simple shrine, sat at its center, held up a talisman before his face, and quietly chanted an incantation.
A brief moment passed.
Whoosh—
A blue flame suddenly rose from the talisman, scattering a soft glow around.
Yet the talisman remained pristine, unburned and unsinged.
"This poor Taoist Cheonggwan reports."
The sorcerer Cheonggwan of the Mao Mountain Sect continued in a reverent voice.
"Traces of an otherworlder wielding power from another dimension have been discovered at Dongting Lake in Hunan Province."
A message sent to their headquarter in Jiangsu Province, far away.