CHAPTER 529: CHAPTER 260: 404

The sudden series of misfortunes left Sue chilled to the bone, her pale complexion reflected in the mirror.

The unpredictable planes, the consecutive error codes, these circumstances had never appeared in the Guild’s investigation records.

Coupled with the deaths of two confirmed Guild members...

Sue almost immediately walked towards the door, wanting to catch up with her roommates who had left not long ago. The dormitory was far too quiet, and every second she stayed here added to the heaviness in her heart.

Zack and Zul’gara were both experienced veterans of the Guild. They had completed numerous plane exploration missions before. Even when she was a newly chosen rookie for the Guild, she had heard their names many times, demonstrating the Guild’s high regard for this plane exploration mission.

However...

The two had barely arrived at this plane when they met their demise.

The Magic Book was her last reliance; the information it provided was absolutely accurate.

"Sue, why did you come out like this?"

Upon hearing her urgent call, her roommates halted their steps, staring at Sue—still dressed in her gold-trimmed magical robe—with surprise. Her complexion was terrible, and her body trembled uncontrollably.

"Are you okay?"

Once it was confirmed that Sue was in no condition to compete for attention, they could amiably display their sisterly affection. "Should we escort you to the infirmary? But I heard the infirmary’s teacher is attending the banquet tonight..."

"No! I want to attend the banquet and go with you!"

Sue panted heavily, emphasizing her desire to be among the majority.

Summer 1793, Academy.

The base of the Elemental Shapers, this place witnessed the evolution of civilization. Almost every plane explored by the Guild had records related to Elemental Shapers.

They valued lineage, but a notable flaw was the arrogance of many senior Elemental Shapers. Yet, they often upheld their status; as long as you didn’t offend them proactively, they were almost harmless.

Thus, this should have been a harmless investigation task, and their mission as the advanced team was simple—to collect as much information about this plane as possible, to find clues related to the goddess, and then assist the Guild in clearing the teleportation network to allow more investigators to come here.

However, now Sue had cast away all tasks.

Her only task was one—to survive!

Persist until contact with the Guild is obtained, then retreat from this plane.

The light of the grand hall drew closer, and the crowd around her grew, with everyone dressed in proper evening attire. Sue even saw many professors from the academy, including the white-haired dean standing at the hall’s entrance, conversing with several professors, and students courteously greeting them as they passed by.

Everything was normal so far, but the more normal it seemed, the stronger Sue’s inner unease grew.

She couldn’t predict how danger would manifest.

In theory, the Guild would protect every investigator. Even if they suffered fatal injuries during their investigation, their bodies would return to their original state—this was a gift of equality from the goddess to every investigator, and since Sue joined the Guild, there had never been a record of investigator deaths.

But in this erratic plane, even the goddess’s blessing had lost its effect.

Keeping her head down, Sue dared not make eye contact with anyone. She drifted among the crowd, eventually getting dragged to her seat by her roommates without realizing it, not wanting to be noticed by anyone.

She clutched the Magic Book tightly, her last support on this plane.

As expected, upon arriving at this plane, communication with the Guild was severed.

The last communication from Zack and Zul’gara was a week ago. They had observed dramatic fluctuations on the plane and tracked the source of the fluctuations, making a significant discovery—they found a rotating white sphere somewhere in the academy, material akin to the teleportation network, from which they extracted energy closely resembling that of the goddess.

Zul’gara, an expert in energy research, believed this was the abnormal signal intercepted by the Guild. He was confident that regardless of whether the goddess was present on this plane now, she must have been here recently!

This was undoubtedly exciting news, signifying that the Guild’s long-standing investigation finally made progress. The two investigators almost immediately received the task to "continue investigating the energy source."

After that, there was no further news from them.

They vanished as though they evaporated from the world, hence she was dispatched as the second batch of investigators to this plane.

The worst-case scenario had occurred.

The reason for losing contact with the two was that they died on this plane.

These two experienced investigators barely left any crucial clues for the Guild before their deaths, indicating they encountered unexpected situations and suffered their fates without any preparation.

Sue’s thoughts were suddenly interrupted by the students’ exclamations. She instinctively looked up towards the stage in the hall, but regretted it almost immediately.

The intense pain made her brain go blank, as though someone was driving a hundred needles along the scalp into her brain, nearly driving her insane. With a "thud," she collapsed onto the table, the only action that allowed her to regain control over her body.