In a desolate desert, the sun mercilessly scorched the earth, the air seeming to warp in the distance. A twenty-centimeter-long lizard stretched its neck, lying on the scorching sand, its two front feet lifted to avoid direct contact with the ground's intense heat.
Suddenly, the lizard darted away. In its previous spot, space rapidly twisted, and a colossal building materialized out of nowhere. It was a library.
At the library's entrance, a sun lounger was placed. A man lay on it, a rustic book in his hand, with a winged golden eye hovering beside him.
"Meijia Sanctuary has lost contact. Was it the Hunter Association? That old fossil Qiao is useless..."
"No, even the Hunter Association couldn't have taken Meijia Sanctuary that quickly."
"Unless... A Jin, show me what happened."
The golden eye flickered twice, and a ray of light flashed within its iris. A spectral light screen appeared before the man.
The screen displayed events that had transpired at Meijia Sanctuary. However, the image was extremely blurry, and the scene was devoid of sound.
"Meijia Sanctuary didn't resist the invader. In fact, they cooperated with him. As expected... The Disaster Containment Facility has returned."
"So the Black Cross was indeed the master of the Disaster Containment Facility. They vanished a thousand years ago, why are they meddling in this mess now?"
The man shook his head, opening the book in his hand. Twelve figures materialized before him, all semi-transparent.
"Grand Sage!"
The twelve figures bowed to the man simultaneously. It turned out this person was the president of the Truth Society, a mysterious super-powered individual codenamed 'Grand Sage'.
The twelve figures summoned were the twelve professors of the Truth Society. They weren't present in person but were phantoms created by the Grand Sage's abilities to conduct a virtual meeting.
"Old fossil Qiao lost Meijia Sanctuary and was captured by the enemy," the Grand Sage stated his intelligence directly, without beating around the bush.
The pronouncement stunned the twelve professors. Professor Qiao's strength was comparable to theirs, and he was in charge of Meijia Sanctuary, capable of wielding nearly disaster-level power. How could he have been captured so easily?
The Grand Sage continued, "Washington Sanctuary and Golden Eagle Sanctuary, immediately enter alert status. The enemy may launch another attack at any moment. The enemy we face is powerful, so do not be arrogant!"
"For our Truth Society, this new group of enemies is more dangerous than the Hunter Association."
One professor raised his hand and asked, "Grand Sage, shouldn't we try to retake Meijia Sanctuary? You know the value of a sanctuary."
The Grand Sage shook his head. "Do not entertain such thoughts. Furthermore, none of you are allowed to approach Meijia Sanctuary again."
Upon hearing this, the other professors offered no further objections. Within the Truth Society, the Grand Sage's word carried absolute authority, and no one could defy his decisions.
"I have called you here for two matters."
"Firstly, our plan to unite with other clandestine organizations may have been exposed. Therefore, you must expedite your efforts to contact other clandestine organizations. If your subordinates cannot handle it, you will go yourselves." Sudan Novel Network
The professors appeared somewhat troubled. Contacting other organizations was not an easy task, and the Grand Sage's demand for increased speed made it even more difficult.
Take, for instance, the suddenly appearing disaster-level powerhouse, Moon God, who resided in the Arctic's Natural Will. She was utterly unyielding, and they couldn't even secure an audience with her. As for the Blood of Blasphemy, leaderless, they didn't know who to approach as a representative.
"Secondly, I have removed Old Fossil Qiao from his professorial position and revoked all his privileges. I need you to provide a new professor candidate."
Upon hearing this, the professors began to discuss amongst themselves.
The Grand Sage's ability to remove their professorial positions at any time was the primary reason for their fear of him.
Each professor possessed a ring symbolizing their status, which allowed them to better utilize forbidden knowledge. Many professors owed their True Order level of strength to these symbolic rings.
To select a new professor, one had to choose from the doctorates. If the chosen doctor was close to them, they would benefit considerably. Thus, everyone began to eagerly recommend doctors they were acquainted with.
Ultimately, the Grand Sage selected the most suitable candidate from the numerous contenders. This candidate was a rising star in the Truth Society in recent years, possessing strong administrative skills, unlike the other professors who were bookworms.
This person's name was – Wen Rui!
...
Compared to Arkham City or Newuz City, Dunsinriyd appeared much more dilapidated.
The streets were filthy, and the people were sluggish. The entire city exuded an unpleasant odor.
However, the people's spirits were not entirely broken. Smiles adorned their faces, and even the beggars did not appear overly distressed.
Public rumor-mongers used this to promote Dunsinriyd as a paradise on earth, where even beggars lived happily.
But in reality, it was merely a result of the city being destroyed too many times, coupled with the populace being largely mentally numb and lacking basic skills.
Furthermore, the city inadvertently weakened one of Wen Wen's abilities. After containing Ordinet, he gained the ability to create Toilet Knights. Due to the lower density of toilets in this city compared to others, this ability could not exert its normal potency.
Wen Wen furrowed his brow as he walked through the city streets. Finding someone in such a large city who had left no clues whatsoever seemed like an immense challenge.
As he walked, he perused the materials provided by the Night Knight.
The condition of the victims was largely as Wen Wen had speculated, and even the Night Knight hadn't found a solution.
There were many theories regarding the coma incidents. The two most plausible ones were 'illusion' and 'dream'.
A Dream Weaver had once infiltrated the dreams of the comatose and discovered that all victims' dreams were peaceful and serene. While this might be normal for an individual, the fact that all victims' dreams were so positive was highly suspicious.
However, this single anomaly was not enough to prevent the victims from waking up, leading to the illusion theory. These victims were trapped in extremely sophisticated illusions that could not be detected by normal means.
The most in-depth research on this paranormal event was not conducted by the Night Knight but by two disaster-level super-powered individuals.
One was the Dream Weaver, Meivena, and the other was an old friend of Wen Wen, Moyadi, who had previously lent Wen Wen the Heavenly Garment of Desires.
Both of them were currently in Dunsinriyd City, so Wen Wen intended to seek them out first for information and to ask the local Hunter Association for assistance in tracking the mysterious youth.