"Family, don't scare me!"
Guinaifen shrank her neck and chose to sidestep the topic.
"Um… Miss Huohuo, can you let Lord Tail come out for a photo together?"
Huohuo politely refused: "Miss Guinaifen, we are currently carrying out official duties…"
"Okay."
"So quiet ah… it's getting more and more scary…" Huohuo said in a low voice.
Huh?
Stelle looked at Huohuo with astonishment mixed in her gaze.
You, a proper Ten Lords Commission Judge, saying it's scary— isn't that a bit inappropriate?
"Did you hear that? Wh-what is this strange sound?"
Guinaifen's voice was filled with terror. Before Stelle and Huohuo could speak, she suddenly let out a shrill scream.
"There's a ghost ahhhhhhh—"
"Waaaah!! Wh-wh-wh-what happened?"
Huohuo wasn't scared by the nonexistent ghost. Instead, she was startled by Guinaifen's sudden high-pitched scream.
Clearly a Judge, yet she subconsciously hugged Stelle's arm.
Stelle: "…"
No way, one or two acting like quails. Then who should I be afraid of?
"Did you see Lord Tail's kin?"
Tail: "See my ass. This Lord didn't see anything."
Huohuo felt a bit more at ease. Somewhat embarrassed, she let go. Her gaze swept around behind Stelle and she suddenly froze.
"…Um, where is Miss Guinaifen? Miss Guinaifen—"
Stelle looked around in a circle and frowned.
Heliobi shouldn't have the ability to make people disappear instantly, right?
Then… where is she?
Did they enter some bizarre illusion, or were their vision or cognition interfered with by something unknown?
Huohuo: "She… couldn't have been… No way, w-we should go find Miss Guinaifen…"
Tail couldn't help sneering: "Ha, find the person? You should worry about yourself first."
Huohuo ignored Tail. Her two small hands clenched tightly together.
"Isn't the surrounding atmosphere a bit off… I'm so scared. Miss Stelle, stay closer to me. I'm afraid you'll disappear too…"
Stelle looked toward the bamboo forest beside them. There was a dim path inside.
Guinaifen might have run inside in her panic.
"Go into the bamboo forest to search."
"Okay… okay."
The two of them went deeper into the bamboo forest path.
The sounds of nocturnal insects chirping around them grew denser and denser. Stelle's attention was highly tense.
Something's wrong.
Along the way, it seemed like there were no residual footprints. This path instead looked like no one had walked it for decades.
"Guinaifen? Where are you? Huohuo, follow my footsteps—"
A gate appeared not far away. Stelle's spirits lifted and she sped up.
After walking inside, she realized something and abruptly turned around.
Completely empty.
"Bad, Huohuo has disappeared too…"
As soon as her words fell, the gate closed instantly.
Stelle instantly assumed a combat stance, her gaze alert.
"Sneaky thing, come out and eat this young lady's bat!"
No movement.
"I've already seen you, and you still won't come out?"
Still no movement.
"…"
Couldn't lure it out.
Stelle's brows furrowed deeper. Her gaze carefully swept around and stopped on an object not far away.
①: A strange object. Go over and investigate.
②: This place is not suitable to stay long. Try kicking open the gate and return the way you came.
③: When in doubt, call for help.
Options appeared.
Ah Xian thought for a few seconds, glanced at the quest marker in front of the object not far away, and chose to return the way she came.
But unexpectedly, after Stelle kicked open the gate and walked back, she ended up returning to the original courtyard again after walking for a while.
"Ghost hitting the wall?"
"Then if I use the Domain Anchor Grand Technique, what will you do… Damn, the map actually won't open!"
[Best to call for help!]
"Calling for help has a saying? Okay."
Seeing the live stream chat reminders, Ah Xian also gave up the idea of exploring further.
Originally, she didn't want to ask Leon for help so quickly.
It should be Leon, right?
She clicked the option.
The view switched to the perspective of opening the phone, showing the chat history with Leon.
The help message was clicked to send, but it kept spinning in circles. It was unknown whether it could be sent successfully.
"Even the signal suddenly disappeared… This Fyxestroll Garden does have some strangeness."
Stelle put away her phone.
Ah Xian wasn't in a hurry. Seeing the quest marker point back to the original position, she directly controlled the character to walk over.
Entering the cutscene CG.
Stelle stood in front of the strange object.
"…A mirror? It looks rather eerie."
Staring at herself in the mirror, Stelle rubbed her eyes a few times, stroked her chin, leaned closer, and carefully examined it.
"What a great face. Worthy of me."
The sudden narcissistic words made the players unable to help but smile.
Stelle changed into several poses, admiring her own beauty. Only after getting somewhat tired of it did she raise her hand and greet.
"Hi?"
Of course there was no reaction. Stelle shrugged and turned around.
But she didn't notice that her reflection in the mirror did not make the same movement. Instead, its expression became eerie.
Just as Stelle completely turned around, the Stelle in the mirror suddenly stretched out her hand and dragged her into the mirror.
Stelle only had time to let out a cry of alarm.
The inexplicable dizziness of passing through unknown space dissipated. Stelle opened her eyes and quickly surveyed her surroundings.
Unfamiliar space, unfamiliar buildings.
"Still in Fyxestroll Garden? It seems a bit different again."
Behind her was a wall with no path.
She knocked it with her bat. The sound was very dull.
"Solid thick wall… Forget it. Walk forward first and see."
Stelle calmly walked for quite a while, still constantly returning to the starting point.
She wasn't exactly afraid, just felt a bit annoyed.
Guinaifen and Huohuo had probably encountered similar situations too.
She wasn't too worried about Huohuo. No matter what, she had one of the same kind on her. Even if weak, she was still a Judge and unlikely to have an accident.
The worrying one was Guinaifen.
Guinaifen was purely an ordinary outworlder. If targeted by an evil Heliobus, the danger level would be high.
After walking forward for quite a while, constantly returning to the starting point.
"Looping over and over. Is there no end?"
At this moment, eerie laughter with no discernible source rang out from all directions.
"Come, lost one. Do you desire to leave? If you want to, then come find me."
"Then why don't you quickly point the way?"
"Hee hee hee… Forward left left forward forward right forward left forward forward forward right…"
Stelle narrowed her eyes and memorized the path before sprinting forward.
...
Exalting Sanctum.
Leon took out his phone to check messages and couldn't help but be stunned.
[Stelle (Galaxy Baseball Girl): I seem to have really encountered a ghost in Fyxestroll Garden. I keep walking but can't get out of a certain area.]
[MelonLad: What area?]
[Send failed. The other party is temporarily unable to receive.]
Leon's pupils turned half a circle. He put away his phone and looked toward the person across the table.
"General, has something important happened in Fyxestroll Garden recently?"
Jing Yuan was first stunned, then without thinking chose to violate regulations and directly revealed the Ten Lords Commission's secret operation.
"Heliobi that escaped from the Creation Furnace have slipped into Fyxestroll Garden at some unknown time."
"That place has been sparsely populated for years. It is indeed suitable for Heliobi to hide."
"Ordinary people cannot deal with Heliobi. According to the information I received, the Ten Lords Commission dispatched Judges to handle it two days ago. What's wrong?"