CHAPTER 48: CHAPTER 3: SMUGGLING INTO REALITY

The person is not dead.

Dr. Enid is remarkable; she managed to save them.

Just as Shawn was catching his breath, a burly man walked over, extended his hand to Shawn, and said, "Jason Tangel. Death Pilgrim."

This man’s presence was formidable.

Shawn reached out his hand and said, "Shawn. Investigator."

The man named Jason patted Shawn on the shoulder and said, "I owe you one."

"If you ever have any trouble, feel free to find me."

After speaking, he nodded to Dr. Enid beside him and said, "Thank you for this time."

Dr. Enid shook her head with a smile and said, "It’s my job."

Shawn hesitated slightly.

He looked around and softly asked, "Could you tell me what happened?"

"Of course, if it involves confidentiality protocols, then forget I asked."

Death Pilgrim.

This is a High Sequence Transcendent; there aren’t many of them in Dorne City, or rather, the quasi-ceiling of the real world is akin to them. Even Destiny Legends must enter the Bizarre Realm to complete their promotion; most would not stay in the real world.

Jason hesitated for a moment, then slowly said, "Ancient Race. Polluter."

"When we were tracking the Lady of the House, we encountered a high-tier Clan of the Path of Flesh and Blood; all the abilities of the Path of Flesh and Blood are ineffective against it."

"We suffered a great loss."

After speaking, he patted Shawn’s shoulder and said, "Headquarters should issue a notice soon; don’t leave Dorne City for now."

Jason nodded towards Dr. Enid and then turned toward the direction of the underground passage.

He was very likely going to apply for the use of a Holy Relic or even a Sealed Object.

"Ancient Race?"

"Traitors to humanity?" Shawn’s expression was grave.

In the Bizarre Realm, betraying humanity to follow the Ancient leads to no good outcome, as Chaotic Madness will erode their minds and bodies. From appearance, the Ancient Race no longer belongs to the human scope.

Even aligning with an Evil God is better than following the Ancient.

Unless you enjoy going insane.

Lady Hecate mentioned long ago that the source of Transcendents’ abilities is ancient and indescribable.

Thus, abilities of the same tier rarely affect the Clan of the Ancient.

Take Benjamin’s mastery of ’Damage Transfer’ as an example; his special ability has no effect on the high sequencing Clan of the Path of Flesh and Blood of Ancient Race.

This is the suppression by Upper Positions.

"Investigator Sean?" A short-haired, competent-looking woman walked over.

Holding a thick file, she glanced at Shawn and said, "You’re right on time. Head to the meeting room on the third floor immediately."

Many Night Watchers were already waiting on the third floor.

Among them were some Shawn hadn’t met before, possibly even High Sequence strong individuals akin to Death Pilgrims, as they sat alone in the corners of the meeting room.

Five minutes later.

A middle-aged man with a stern face walked in; his eyes were deep, expression serious, and he glanced at everyone saying, "The Ancient Race has appeared within the borders of Dorne Kingdom."

"Polluters of the Path of Flesh and Blood."

"Our losses are significant."

After speaking, he glanced at Shawn’s position, scanning past a few individuals and said, "Recently, another batch of polluted Extraordinary Relics appeared; we currently don’t know their whereabouts."

"Headquarters is recalling other investigators."

"Our intelligence indicates someone was planning this operation since a year ago."

"They secretly brought Extraordinary Relics into Dorne and scattered them among ordinary people mingling in the grey zone. If the operation in the market area hadn’t gone smoothly, there might have been dozens of out-of-control Transcendents by now."

"They are planning a chaotic ritual, offering it to an ancient existence unknown to us."

The ancient honorable name isn’t mentioned lightly.

Ordinary citizens might not dare to merge with Extraordinary Relics; these dangerous relics initially ended up in the hands of gray zone individuals.

The main discovered groups included tomb raiders, gang members, street workers, social bottom dwellers, etc.

They desperately crave the power to change their destiny.

Gang members act out of ambition, deservedly meeting their fate, but the enemies also target those struggling ordinary lower-class people, exploiting their current predicament to lure them into the pollution pathway of Transcendents.

That’s unforgivable.

This is a long-planned operation; many investigators have already suffered mental pollution, and Hank among others frequently touched the rationality warning line (experiencing auditory hallucinations). If not for Shawn’s arrival, many might have died during the market area incident.

Investigators are the Night Watchers’ eyes.

These special individuals with high inspiration have been working under extreme pressure lately.

The meeting lasted about half an hour; others had their secret missions, leaving Shawn alone sitting quietly at the back row.

Benjamin had also rushed back, nodded for a brief greeting, and quickly left.

"Investigator Sean."

The middle-aged man hosting the meeting glanced at Shawn and said, "Come with me."

Some curious glances were cast his way.

Shawn silently stood up to follow; being new, it’s best to be low-key.

Inside the office.

The middle-aged man entered the room, leaving quickly thereafter. A very tall woman was waiting for Shawn.

Is it her?

The mysterious woman responsible for leading him into the underground during his return to the Bizarre Realm.

The woman before Shawn was tall, about two meters, her back slightly hunched, her long gray-white hair nearly touching the ground, wearing a classical black long robe, holding a lamp in hand.

"You may call me ’Tomb Guardian,’" she said, her voice slightly hoarse.

She gestured for Shawn to sit down, then gently raised her hand, causing a pen to float in the air.

"You’re from the Bizarre Realm. No need to explain some things," Tomb Guardian waved a finger, and the floating pen drew an X on a sheet of white paper, followed by one after another X cross points emerging, all concentrated in one location.

Numerous lines intersected at one spot; the pattern puzzled Shawn.

Finally, Tomb Guardian picked up the pen herself, her gray-white fingers writing on the other side of the diagram, "This side is the Bizarre Realm."

"This side is the real world."

"This is the door linking the two worlds, the ’Mister Door’ you’ve seen."

Shawn seemed to understand better.

The real world and the Bizarre Realm are isolated but not entirely; there’s still a door for traveling back and forth. It’s the mysterious Mister Door.

These are the Wizard Path’s transmission points.

Each line is a connected transmission point, all sharing a common intersection; that position is Mister Door, without whom these points are ineffective.

"Someone used means unknown to us to smuggle into the real world."

Tomb Guardian’s voice was icy, full of killing intent, slowly saying, "Now, we need you to help us find this smuggled ’Hidden Gate.’"

If one person can smuggle, then a group can smuggle.

Indescribable Evil Objects can also smuggle into the real world.

Order is the foundation of the real world.

Madness and chaos will destroy all of it.

The real world constantly faces threats from the Bizarre Realm, even with the protection of Clockwork Nirvana Twelve Realms, it’s still unable to completely prevent bizarre creatures from infiltrating.

Shawn always felt that Clockwork Nirvana Twelve Realms were meant to deter certain unspeakable ancient existences.

He nodded silently, "What should I do?"

Among investigators, very few have inspiration as strong as his, so it’s not surprising for this task to find him.

"Follow me,"

the tall woman stood up and left; along the way, everyone seemed oblivious to her presence, clearly face-to-face yet seemingly not seeing her, even actively stepping aside without knowing she existed.

"A strange ability approaching conceptual-level being ignored by people," Shawn’s pupils contracted.

This exceeded his knowledge comprehension.

Destiny Legendary!

A concept-level ability can only be explained by legendary destiny.

"Do you know about Sealed Objects?" the woman’s deep voice sounded.

Shawn nodded.

Even if she spoke, nearby people seemed not to hear and included Shawn in their complete disregard.

"There are 172 Sealed Objects preserved underground in Dorne City,"

the tall woman said solemnly, "Among them is a Sealed Object only you can use, to find the smuggled Hidden Gate."

Sealed Object?

Isn’t the usage of Sealed Objects supposed to come with severe costs?

Shawn became instantly alert.

.........