Cold Bay Fort, the city on the Empire’s northern border where Tanaka and Kiro first met.
The city walls here were built from gray iron rock unique to the North. Tempered by cold winds all year round, the surface was rough and hard, dyed with a layer of frost white.
The waterways winding through parts of the city had long frozen over, reflecting cold light under the sun.
A young demon soldier wrapped his not-too-thick standard cloak tighter, tentatively extending a scale-covered foot to step on the ice surface at the edge of the waterway.
Crack—
A faint but clear cracking sound rang out. The ice surface sank a fraction but didn’t shatter.
He withdrew his foot, exhaling a long breath of white vapor from under the bone armor covering his face:
“Finally warmer. I really thought I was going to freeze to death in this ghost place. The wind in those days past scraped into the cracks of my scales like knives slicing meat.”
Another slightly older soldier with curved horns on his forehead leaned against the stone wall opposite. Hearing this, he just pulled the corner of his mouth.
His gaze swept over the frighteningly quiet street. Most houses on both sides had doors and windows tightly shut; some were even damaged and collapsed, half-covered by accumulated snow.
“So what if it warmed up? Look around. In this Cold Bay Fort, besides us unlucky devils tied down by military orders unable to leave even if we wanted to, how many breathing ones are left?”
“Anyone with nimble legs and a bit of connections ran the fuck away long ago! Going south, going inland—where isn’t better than staying here drinking the northwest wind? Even if it’s warm now, who dares to come back? Aren’t they afraid of freezing into ice sculptures in their sleep one day? People’s hearts have scattered. This place is just like this ice: looks like it’s still there, but underneath it’s long been empty.”
The young soldier still held a bit of hope: “Previously… didn’t I hear there was movement from above? Lord Duke Eugene seems to want to take advantage of this warming to unite with the Demon-born Duke Dean on the other side to investigate the ins and outs of this extreme cold clearly? With two Northern Dukes joining hands, what can’t be handled?”
The older soldier was just about to say something more,
Splat—!
A muffled sound, like wet mud falling onto hard ground, came from not far away. In this empty city where only the sound of wind and their own idle chat remained, it seemed exceptionally abrupt.
Both fell silent instantly, muscles tensed, almost simultaneously pressing their hands on the weapons at their waists.
They exchanged a glance, carefully moving their feet toward the direction the sound came from.
Finally, in a corner, they found a puddle of white mycelium. Its splattered shape looked like it had fallen directly from an extreme height.
The two demon soldiers looked up at the sky, but there wasn’t even the shadow of a flying bird.
…
Storage Puchi No. 6 detached! Remote airdrop sequence, continue forward!
In the extremely high airspace unreachable by conventional detection means, five Puchis with small bat wings were flapping vigorously in the sky.
Unless one possessed extraordinary eyesight like Sophia’s, it was almost impossible to distinguish them from the vast clouds and sky background.
The wind here was strong. The Puchis had to flap their wings with all their might, even relying on magical assistance to maintain a certain speed forward.
They were tightly entangled with each other by mycelial tentacles, connecting into a strange aerial queue, looking like a flying centipede.
Except for the head being a Knight Puchi, the ones connected behind were all Mana Puchis storing full mana, providing continuous energy support for this long cross-border journey.
Whenever a Storage Puchi’s energy was exhausted, it would actively detach from the connection and fall downward, with subsequent companions taking over to supply mana.
After all, they were airdropping the Yellow Codex into the Empire’s interior; the journey was long.
Lin Jun ultimately gave the Yellow Codex this chance. Whether it was to secretly arrange that large-scale magic circle concerning the transfer of the abandoned space coordinates within the Empire, or to create enough chaos to distract the Empire’s attention and buy precious time for the Mushroom Fortress, it was a necessary move.
And under Lin Jun’s command, the Yellow Codex was almost the only choice capable of completing these tasks in the short term.
In exchange, Lin Jun promised the Yellow Codex that if this mission could be completed smoothly and it returned safely, he would formally begin researching how to shape a soul truly belonging to it.
But after all, causing trouble within the Empire was fraught with danger.
Although Elinore had temporarily shelved the mission of searching for the Holy Codex due to the previous rift transfer method and was now busy exchanging feelings with No. 13 to deal with Qisi in the sea, no one could say for sure when she would refocus her attention back.
At that time, the Yellow Codex situated within the Empire probably wouldn’t be so easy to hide.
More importantly, Lin Jun couldn’t completely trust the Yellow Codex.
Therefore, regardless of whether the Yellow Codex made some abnormal moves on its own or was unfortunately captured by the Empire, Lin Jun would choose to directly crush its core to ensure various intelligence of the Mushroom Garden wouldn’t be leaked.
The Yellow Codex knew this perfectly well itself, but it seemed to have made up its mind to gamble big.
Having stayed with Puchis for so long, it also knew a thing or two about the apocalypse.
No one knew what kind of ending the world would head towards, but before everything that might come, the Yellow Codex yearned to obtain that dreamed-of soul that would allow it to truly “exist”!
…
Storage Puchi No. 1 detached!
Arrived at the designated area, Yellow Codex dropped!
Below, a sizable caravan was moving slowly on this forest road.
“Finally almost there… Once we deliver this batch of treasures to the Giant Beast Bone Field, I must rest well for ten or fifteen days! This whole way, carrying these precious things, I have to keep one eye open even when sleeping. Damn it, haven’t had a single sound sleep!”
A Horned Demon guard with a weather-beaten face and curved horns complained, but the smile on his face couldn’t be hidden no matter what.
The goods they escorted were the most sought-after luxury goods within the Empire nowadays—Blood Jade Wine from the southern Crimson Tower!
Transported from the production site at the southernmost tip of the Empire, crossing a small half of the Empire to arrive at this Giant Beast Bone Field, its value was enough to multiply several times.
Although this caravan was equipped with nearly a hundred armed guards, making it seem like many people were splitting the money, as long as the delivery was smooth, every demon could get a generous commission, enough for him to be happy in a money-squandering den for quite a while.
Thinking of the benefits about to be obtained, the Horned Demon guard grinned, reaching out to slap the shoulder of a young clansman beside him hard: “Hey! Kruma, what are you daydreaming about? Silly boy, your luck really goes without saying! With a good big brother leading, running a caravan for the first time and you land such a lucrative job! Do you know how much you can get from this trip? Heh, enough for you to save for ten years in your mountain nest hometown!”
He leaned closer, lowering his voice with a teasing smile: “After getting the money, come with me to see the world? I’m familiar with the Bone Field side; there’s a shop opened by a Succubus, that flavor… tsk tsk!”
The young Horned Demon named Kruma withdrew his gaze cast somewhere in the sky, responding somewhat absent-mindedly: “Sorry, senior, let’s talk about those… later. I seemed to glimpse something falling over there. I’ll go take a look and come back. Please trouble yourself to tell Big Brother for me!”
Without waiting for the other party’s reaction, Kruma turned around neatly. His agile figure rose and fell a few times, disappearing into the dense and gloomy forest by the roadside.
“Tch, pretentious brat,” the old mercenary left behind curled his lips, “if not for your Big Brother’s face, who’d be happy to bother with a rookie like you…”
The light in the forest was dim. Kruma traveled through the forest relying on the direction in his memory.
Suddenly, his footsteps paused.
“A book?” Kruma’s heart skipped a beat. He stepped forward quickly, picking it up carefully.
In the Empire, ordinary demons mostly used coarse straw paper for records; slightly better ones were just leather scrolls. Something bound into a volume like this, and even having an exquisite book cover, often only appeared in the study rooms of wealthy merchants or noble lords, a symbol of knowledge and status.
This was undoubtedly a valuable windfall!
However, expectation quickly fell through.
This book had only a scant few pages, and apart from the initial page being decorated with a circle of delicate golden trim on the edge, there was no content inside.
The book itself might sell for some money, but compared to those books recording secrets, spells, or craft knowledge, the value was undoubtedly greatly discounted.
Sighing, Kruma felt he was a bit too greedy; this was a windfall to begin with.
“Take it back to show Big Brother…”
Just as the pages were about to close, his peripheral vision inadvertently swept across the paper surface that was empty just now.
In that originally blank place, a line of writing actually appeared at this moment:
[Young man, if I were you, I wouldn’t choose to go back right now.]
(End of Chapter)
