Chapter 497: Confirmed
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 497: Confirmed
Phut.
Phut.
Two muffled, subtle sounds echoed in the darkness, like the puncturing of a paper drum. They failed to cause even the slightest ripple in the silent, pitch-black environment.
The air rippled, and a figure in a black formal suit slowly materialized. Behind him, two sentries who had been lurking in the shadows had already had their throats slit and their hearts pierced. They had been struck in their vitals with such silent precision that terror was still frozen on their faces; they hadn't even been able to sound a final alarm.
As the two sentries lost their strength and slumped toward the ground, an invisible force seemed to catch them for a moment, making their bodies feel weightless. They touched the floor without a sound.
From the depths of the shadows, a young woman holding a parasol strolled forward. Her posture was elegant and refined, as if she were out for a leisurely walk in the countryside.
Yet, imperceptibly, frost began to spread, completely freezing the two corpses and sealing away all traces of blood and lingering life force.
"What a perfect collaboration."
Muen gave his blade a stylish flourish before sheathing it. He turned back with a smile.
"I didn't realize we were so in sync. Our chemistry is so good, we’re practically like an old married cou—"
"Shut up."
"...Oh."
Celicia stopped in her tracks and surveyed their surroundings. "We should be deep inside by now."
"Seems so. Based on the estimated size of the black market’s underground space, we’ve been sneaking around long enough that we should have reached the core."
Muen followed her gaze, looking around.
"This looks like a factory."
Through a small glass window, he could see the dim interior of a building equipped with conveyor-belt-like platforms and various workshop tools.
It was somewhat similar to the factories from his previous life, though it fell far short in terms of scale and standardization. The conveyor belts were powered by manual foot pedals; it looked more like a labor-intensive manual workshop.
However, given the productivity levels of this world, it could already be considered a well-equipped factory.
"So, it’s just an ordinary food processing plant?" Muen narrowed his eyes.
Although no production was currently taking place, the tools and molds left behind made it clear that this place was used to manufacture food. There were even food samples on a nearby shelf that hadn't been put away yet.
"It is indeed for food production."
Celicia swept her gaze over the room. "It’s a type of long-life petit cake. They’ve been very popular on the market lately. It’s not surprising to see them being produced here."
"..."
Muen blinked and looked at Celicia.
You can tell exactly what they’re making at a single glance, and you still claim your previous 'market research' wasn't just an excuse to find cake?
However, despite his internal monologue, Muen wasn't quite ready to have Celicia "play with cement" using his body, so he kept that thought strictly to himself.
"Strange. If this really is just a food processing factory, did we come to the wrong place?" Muen asked, puzzled.
"Heh. Why don't you ask the guards you just killed? If an ordinary food factory is this heavily guarded, are they selling their little cakes for a hundred thousand a piece?"
Celicia gave a cold smirk. "This is obviously just a cover."
"True. Though I should point out that in the Upper District, there actually are cakes that sell for a hundred thousand Emiels."
"..."
"Ah, I see, I see."
Before Celicia’s ice-cold gaze could pierce him, Muen rubbed his chin, his expression gradually becoming serious.
"Even with such heavy security, they still feel the need to maintain a cover on the inside. It seems whatever is hidden here is truly extraordinary."
"You don't need to repeat the obvious. I already knew that."
Without specifying what she already knew, Celicia continued her exploration. Muen followed closely behind.
This time, both of them quickened their pace. They knew that once they were forced to eliminate the hidden sentries, their time was running out.
Simply freezing the bodies to mask the scent and aura wouldn't buy them much time; the people here would soon realize something was wrong.
"No, searching like this is useless."
Before long, Celicia came to a sudden halt. She looked down the corridor, which showed no change in environment, her face darkening slightly.
"These people are more cautious than I imagined. We need to know exactly where they’ve hidden the important items."
"That is indeed a problem."
"Then I’ll leave it to you. I didn't prepare any methods for this."
As she spoke, Celicia silently shifted her gaze toward Muen.
"Me?"
Muen pointed at himself. "You mean, you want me to solve this problem?"
"If not you, then who? This well-dressed bastard of a scum man standing a meter away from me?"
"No... it feels like both of those descriptions are referring to me?"
"So you admit you're a well-dressed bastard of a scum man?" Celicia looked at him with pure disdain.
"...My apologies. I'll get right on it."
Muen, despite being insulted and looked down upon by Celicia, didn't seem particularly discouraged. His lips twitched downward for a split second, only to curl up uncontrollably the moment he turned around to head back toward the bodies.
Behind him, as Celicia watched his confident back, the disdain on her face faded. Her cold eyes flickered for a moment before returning to their usual calm.
However, a tiny curve appeared at the corner of her mouth—one she hadn't even noticed herself.
...
"Sigh, it’s a good thing I can actually do this. What would she do without me?"
Muen sighed as he crouched down before the two frozen corpses.
He raised his hand, and a black flame flickered in his palm.
Not far away, Celicia’s gaze darkened as she saw the black flame. Her expression turned solemn, and she stared deeply at Muen, but in the end, she said nothing.
Muen pressed the black flame into the corpses.
Soon, with a flash of black light from within the bodies, nothing remained inside the ice Celicia had formed but two hollow, human-shaped shells.
The black flame had completely consumed everything inside, including the lingering fragments of their souls.
Muen closed his eyes.
"Black Book."
Deep within his consciousness, the Black Book drifted upward once more, its pages flipping rapidly.
Countless streams of information, extracted from the records read from the sentries' souls, flooded into Muen’s mind.
Unfortunately, there were no specific keywords this time, as Muen didn't actually know what was hidden here.
Fortunately, the Black Book was considerate enough to suggest he filter the information by time.
To be safe, Muen adjusted the records to the past year and began rapidly scanning the fragmented data.
A year’s worth of records was still an immense and chaotic amount of information. More importantly, time was tight; Muen didn't have the luxury of browsing leisurely.
"Well, they say the capable must work harder. Since I have the heart to be on top, I must have the resolve to work until my back breaks!"
Muen gritted his teeth and shoved the entire year's worth of information into his mind, gulping it down whole.
Pain.
A tearing pain.
It felt as if a foreign object had been forcibly jammed into his brain.
But alongside the pain, a series of disorganized, fragmented images began to flash before Muen’s eyes at high speed.
Training.
Guarding.
Missions.
Sentry duty.
Dull image after dull image—the life of a nameless pawn serving some organization. There wasn't a single piece of information worth stopping for.
Until...
The images suddenly flickered to this familiar corridor.
Muen’s spirit jolted, and he forcibly slowed down the reading speed.
It was another day of guard duty, but this time, a group of people wearing white lab coats suddenly walked through the corridor.
They passed through every security checkpoint and sentry post without hindrance, a clear sign of their special status.
They walked all the way to the end of his field of vision, and then... vanished into the depths.
They went in, but they never came out.
In the subsequent images, they never appeared again.
Seeing this, Muen abruptly cut off the information flow. He turned to look toward the side of the corridor hidden in the darkness, a cold smile spreading across his face.
"I... found you."