CHAPTER 43: FORBIDDEN WASTELAND

Atop the shop were the words, "detailed informations about the outside world."

It seemed to be a poster and with the people flocking in and out of the shop Arthur guessed that the place at least held some credibility.

Intrigued, he quickly approached the shop.

Outside, more than three men clad in black suits had just stepped out.

They seemed professional and most likely came from some sort of big organisation to obtain information.

Arthur glanced inside and noticed about three people still in there.

Leaning to the side, he waited for them to finish dealing with the people inside.

A few minutes went by before the group stepped out.

Arthur glanced at them as they spared him a look, most likely studying him before he entered.

"I’d like to obtain some informaiton about the outside world." Arthur said the moment he stepped inside.

Seated behind the desk were about ten people lined up in neat rows.

Studying them, Arthur noticed that each of them seemed to contain a sense of mysteriousness.

’Even this world has its own kind of research organisation?’ Arthur thought, bewildered.

From the group of ten, a young lady stepped out and smiled professionally at Arthur.

"What kind of information would you like to obtain about the outside world?"

Arthur thought briefly before replying.

"Are there any danger in the outside world?"

"It depends on which part you will be heading to."

Arthur fell silent at her words.

He had forgotten to ask Aella what direction they would be going in.

Frowning, he glanced toward the lady and said,

"How about places with lots of dungeons?"

The lady glanced toward her coworkers and shook her head, having no idea where Arthur was referring to.

Then, a slightly more mature lady stepped out from the group and glanced at Arthur briefly before answering.

"Are you talking about a forbidden ground?"

"Forbidden ground?" Arthur pondered on the words before nodding.

"Information on the forbidden ground is slightly classified and will require 10,000 gold coins to obtain."

’Ten thousand?’ Arthur felt the number was absurd.

Luckily, from the system he had obtained that much and the amount of gold coins he had was roughly fifteen thousand.

"Do you have somewhere I can place it?" Arthur asked.

Seeing that he was willing to pay, the lady’s smile widened slightly.

She handed Arthur a bag.

Arthur ordered the system to pour in ten thousand gold coins into the bag before handing it to the lady.

"You can count it if you want."

The lady collected the bag then handed it to the first woman who had attended to Arthur.

The lady stepped aside and started counting the coins while the mature one continued attending to him.

"There are quite a few forbidden grounds around the country, however the closest one is located about 30 kilometers from there."

"It’s called the Alphonze Wasteland, where Alphonze, a level 100 player, along with a couple of his mates, died. There, the space is extremely unstable and a dungeon can form at any time, dragging one in."

"Aside from that, the dungeons there are usually at hell level with a rare few being at abysal level. However, there are rumors that Alphonze left some of the treasures he gathered while alive in that place, though the truth of the matter is unknown."

Arthur was astonished by her words, feeling they were incredulous.

The wasteland sounded... interesting.

Placing his thoughts aside, Arthur raised a brow toward the lady. "Any other informations?"

"That’s basically it. But I’d advise you to be careful around those parts. There are a few rogue players present around the city and I’ve heard rumors about something big brewing in the shadows..."

"Thank you for the heads up." Arthur thanked her, and seeing nothing else to discuss, he swiftly departed.

Along the way he fell into deep thoughts, pondering what she meant by her last statement.

Although he felt that exploring the wasteland would be interesting, the talk of there being rumors about the city didn’t sit well with him.

’I’ll just go along with it and see how things play out. In the meantime, I need to find a way to obtain sufficient strength to protect myself in case of any crisis.’

After resolving himself internally, Arthur strolled through the city for a bit before, feeling that the three hours were approaching their end, he quickly bought a lot of foodstuffs, stored them in the system, and headed in the direction of the meet up.

Strangely, he noticed the same three men in black suits he had seen when he first went to obtain information.

Through the corner of his eyes, he spotted them sneakily approaching an abandoned building.

A surge of curiosity rose through Arthur.

’I shouldn’t check it out. It might be dangerous!’ he cautioned himself.

However, he had already begun sneaking behind the three men, trailing them from far away.

The men occasionally glanced around as though they were afraid someone was following them.

Thankfully, Arthur always hid successfully each time.

He followed them through the abandoned house and deeper into another abandoned building.

The air changed subtly as he walked forward and Arthur felt a chill creeping up his spine.

Shivering slightly, he wondered as he continued following them, ’Why is the place suddenly so cold?’

The air felt as though winter had arrived, causing Arthur to be unable to control the shiver in his body.

As they headed deeper and deeper, the air only grew colder and a slightly whitish mist began spreading.

Arthur stifled his sneeze then raised his eyes to meet the men he was following.

Suddenly, his pupils shrank.

The men were nowhere to be found.

Arthur’s face twisted with disbelief and without hesitation he turned around and took to his heels.

Perhaps he had fallen into some sort of trap.

Arthur was unwilling to endanger his life.

’Indeed the saying curiosity killed the cat holds true.’ As Arthur ran, he couldn’t help musing internally with an amused chuckle.

Just then, his movements came to a halt.

Because in front of him were the three men from before.

Due to the whitish fog he couldn’t see them clearly, but their muscular frames bulging out of their suits told Arthur all he needed to know.

Arthur stalled his movements then twisted his lips into a smile.

Rubbing his bald head, he awkwardly chatted, "Gentlemen. I just followed you accidentally, can we settle this amicably?"

Growllllll...

Rather than answering Arthur, the three men growled and charged toward him.

The moment they did, one of the men’s shadows twisted violently, then he collapsed with a dull thud, lifeless.

Blood sprayed from the slit on his neck.

The other two men turned to each other, terrified.

However, the next instant, one of their necks split open, revealing veins wriggling underneath as blood poured out.

Instantly, he too collapsed to the ground lifelessly.

The third man turned to Arthur with horror filled eyes only to notice Arthur waving at him... goodbye?

"You—" Before the man could finish speaking, his shadow twisted violently and a fountain of blood sprayed from his neck.

His head tilted off his body, then his body collapsed lifelessly next to it.

"Thanks Nephis." Arthur thanked the calamity as she materialised into view, her veil covering her facial expression.

At the same time, he was silently astounded.

If his guess wasn’t wrong, then the men were at level 16 thereabout.

To think Nephis, who was at level 10, could so easily slaughter them.

Arthur’s thoughts were filled with questions.

Restraining his wandering thoughts, he decided to explore the place briefly before leaving.

Since he could sense something suspicious in the building, Arthur was curious.

After walking for a few meters, Arthur came to a stop.

The expression on his face was frozen as he stared at what was in front of him.