Extraordinary Pedigree.

Chapter 718 Dark Lord Turmoil III
Xia Xiu stood quietly in the center of the church, his slightly lowered golden eyes like the surface of an icy lake, reflecting a deep light.

After listening to Father Gray's narration, he raised his head slightly and asked in a calm tone:
"Where does the purple-robed wizard live? Are there any relevant investigation reports and intelligence collection?"

Father Gray lowered his head, frowning slightly, and recalled the conversation between him and the management staff, trying his best to reproduce every detail.

"Sir, he is in the commercial district in the west of Grey Harbor Town. It is located between the port area and the residential area and is the most prosperous part of Grey Harbor Town. That area is home to a variety of shops, resource markets, and hotels. It is the commercial core of the entire town."

"Investigation report and intelligence gathering, the latest investigation content was not uploaded synchronously by the operators. Now only the most basic information is left. I have uploaded it to Eden's database. You can retrieve the information at any time."

Father Gray continued, "By the way, regarding the commercial district, the secret market there occasionally offers rare magic materials and ancient relics from the Hundred Layers World, thus attracting many mid-level wizards and merchants. The attraction of these secret transactions makes the commercial district a gathering place for wizards, especially people like the purple-robed wizard."

There was a hint of helplessness in his voice:
"The commercial district is about 20 kilometers away from here, and it will take a long time for the operators to go back and forth to investigate.

So at first, I didn’t think they were missing, I just thought the investigation would take more time. Besides, they also gave me timely feedback through Adam, and everything seemed to be going according to plan, without any abnormalities. ”

Having said that, Father Gray frowned again, and it was obvious that something was beginning to make him feel uneasy.

"Everything was going on normally until the prophecy about the Dark Lord appeared..."

When he said this, his tone became heavier, and he glanced at Xia Xiu cautiously, as if he was afraid of touching the bottom line of this angel.

"Until then, the night before the arrival, the operators did not return as scheduled, and the peripheral lineage could no longer contact them..."

Father Gray's voice grew deeper and deeper, as he felt guilty about the missing operators.

He is old and his health is not good.

There are many things he cannot do now, and he can only watch helplessly as the young people do them.

"I need to take responsibility for this mistake. I will report this failure to Eden and the Ethics Committee. Of course, Mr. Abraham can also punish me for my failure here."

Having said that, the guilt on Father Gray's face became even stronger, and he lowered his head slightly, as if waiting for Xia Xiu's judgment.

Xia Xiu gently reached out and picked up the silver cane, and said to Father Gray:

"I will investigate personally. And... you know. Whether it's Heaven or the Administration, whether it's Angels or Operators, everyone has been on the front line of resisting the Honkai Impact and anomalies."

There was no blame in Xia Xiu's words, but rather a calm and composed attitude towards reality, as well as a barely detectable hint of murderous intent.

There was a deep understanding in his words: in the battle against Honkai and anomalies, sacrifice is inevitable.

Angels and operators are always on the front line, and being on the front line means that encountering emergencies and accidents is inevitable.

Even though there is Eden in heaven, many angels die in battle every year.

Sacrifice is the foundation of the Kingdom of Heaven.

Whoever wants to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.

Sacrifice will also become the cornerstone of the Administration.

However, sacrifice does not mean that Heaven and the Administration will let the enemies go.

There is a program engraved in the Supreme Program that is well known to the Kingdom of Heaven. That program can be summarized in one line:

"Vengeance is mine, I will repay!"

Xia Xiu kept these words in mind and carried them forward.

Treat your enemy as you treat others, and repay him double for what he has done.

Xia Xiu stood there, having just told Father Gray that he would personally handle the issue of the missing operators. In his golden eyes flowed sets of data that only he could see.

This is early intelligence retrieved from Adam's massive database.

Each line of data flowed quickly across his field of vision, showing the clues that the operators had investigated at the beginning of the mission - coordinates, time, environmental variables, related people, and a detailed report of the mission.

These data flashed by quickly and finally stopped at a specific location, a secret coordinate somewhere in the western commercial district of Huigang Town.

After determining the target, Xia Xiu slightly raised his silver cane, and the [Heavenly Lever] in his hand emitted a slight metallic vibration.

He tapped the floor lightly with his cane, making a crisp sound. The moment the cane tapped, faint ripples began to appear in the air and the edge of the space began to twist gently, like ripples on the water.

Then, a Möbius strip with an [∞] pattern appeared at his feet. The Möbius strip emerged beside him. The silver strip flashed with mysterious light, and the twisted geometric shape was filled with incomprehensible spatial fluctuations.

Xia Xiu raised his hand slightly, gently pressed the black top hat on his head, nodded to Father Gray, and said goodbye to him.

As Xia Xiu moved, the Möbius strip began to twist violently. The surface of the strip seemed to be constantly deforming, pulling the surrounding space in.

The ripples of space fluctuations became stronger and stronger, gradually spreading out, enveloping Xia Xiu's figure, and layers of transparent film peeled him off from this world.

Father Gray bowed deeply, his eyes filled with reverence and awe, his voice low and pious:
“May the glory of heaven be with you always, Master Abraham.

May your path be illuminated by glory, and may all your enemies bow their heads before you."

Amid Father Gray's pious blessing, Xia Xiu's figure gradually became blurred in the ripples.

His body was swallowed by the distorted space and gradually became illusory.

The ripples enveloped him, carrying him away from the reality of the church, and he disappeared little by little into the air.

*
*
9:30AM.
Huigang Town-Port Area (North)

The early morning sea breeze howled in the port area of ​​Huigang Town, bringing with it a damp, cold, salty smell from the distant sea.

The sea was covered with fog, and the shadow of a ship could be vaguely seen floating in the distance.

Camille, Ushas, ​​Muji, and the members of the Emerald Watch stood quietly at the port. Everything around them seemed quiet and normal, but there was an inexplicable chill in the air.

10 minutes ago, the students of Deer Academy were arguing with the Emerald Watcher about a third-party extradition treaty, striving for a peaceful resolution to Professor Wilson's Wildlife Response Team and issues related to Deer Academy's sheltering of magical animals here.

As they chatted, they collectively felt a sudden chill, as if... some invisible eyes were scanning them from the void.

The feeling was without sound, without substance, and at the same time, without any disguise.

He just glanced at them nakedly, as if he were looking at ants.

That feeling was like a cold hand brushing across their backs; everyone's hair stood up involuntarily and their skin felt an indescribable stinging and pressure.

Ushas was the first to react. His three eyes trembled slightly, and a hint of uneasiness flashed in his purple pupils.

"Damn~ I'm not so unlucky as to run into big trouble~~"

She gently rubbed the wood on her shoulder, as if trying to relieve the strange tension.

The leader of the Emerald Watchers, the usually calm and composed wizard, suddenly behaved in a completely different way than usual at this moment.

Aldress, the druid leader, suddenly seemed to be angered or frightened by some power. She suddenly took out a purple crystal ball and clenched her fingers tightly. One could even see her knuckles turn white from the force. The crystal ball emitted a strange light, resonating with some ancient power.

Her expression became frantic, her eyes were red, and she seemed to be in a state of madness.

The crystal ball in her hand began to vibrate, responding to her mental fluctuations.

Before the students of the Deer Academy and the professors of Wilson's Wildlife Response Team could fully react, Eldress suddenly began to mutter in a hoarse voice and performed some crazy divination ritual.

"The five origins of the Hundred Worlds... the five great magics... the gods in the void in the void... the eyes, the angels with countless eyes... He is..."

Her voice seemed to come from another world, with an eerie echo, and her words did not come from her own, but from some power speaking through her.

Her eyes were empty, as if she had fallen into an endless void. Her body began to twitch slightly and she spoke some illogical nonsense.

"He is watching us... His eyes are all over the starry sky... The void... The endless void..."

"Crack!"

A crisp sound broke the silence of the air.

The purple crystal ball suddenly exploded, and the purple light scattered like a sharp blade.

Eldris's body trembled violently, and then she fell down, unconscious, with blood flowing from all her orifices.

The bright red blood flowed down her pale cheek and dyed her purple robe red, but her fingers were still tightly grasping the broken pieces of the crystal ball, unwilling to let go.

The other members of the Emerald Watch immediately gathered around in panic, trying to wake up their leader.

The air was filled with tension and panic. Eldris fell to the ground, unconscious, with only the blood on her face proving the violent impact that had just occurred.

"Chief! Chief! Wake up!"

"what happened!?"

In the chaos, the shouts and movements of the Emerald Watchers seemed hurried and chaotic.

The professor stood aside, his brows furrowed, his face full of confusion and helplessness.

"I have a bad feeling..."

He obviously had no idea about the wizard's crazy actions. He looked at the inexplicable scene in front of him with a pained look on his face, completely at a loss.

The students of Luyuan looked at each other, obviously overwhelmed by the scene before them.

Just as everyone was busy surrounding the leader, the little frog Muji standing on Ushas's shoulder suddenly raised his monocular, widened his eyes, and exclaimed in an uncontrollable voice:
"On the sea! Look at the sea!"

Everyone was suddenly attracted by the startled breath and turned their heads towards the sea outside the port area. This exclamation instantly broke the chaos of the crowd.

Everyone's attention was drawn at once, and they turned their heads sharply, all looking towards the sea outside the port.

The gray sea fog is still thick, covering the sea surface like a heavy curtain.

However, a huge black shadow vaguely emerged in the fog.

The outlines of these shadows are vague, but everyone can clearly feel their hugeness.

That huge sense of presence, as if something ancient and mysterious is slowly emerging from the depths of the ocean, makes people feel an invisible sense of oppression.

"What is that...?" Ghost Lifenel murmured in a low voice, his voice full of anxiety.

After a while, these black shadows became clearer and their outlines gradually emerged - they were covered with thick white fur, which glowed faintly under the reflection of sea mist and sea water. These giant beasts slowly rose from the deep sea with some mysterious power.

Their huge bodies float slowly on the water, and each of them has a huge trunk, like an elephant's long trunk that sways gently on the sea.

The long trunks of these white whales sway gently on the sea, like white pillars, as if they are searching for something.

As they approached, the water began to ripple slightly, as if the sea was responding to their presence.

"That's... a whale!" Ushas quickly saw the thing clearly.

Professor Jason Hendrix stood at the port, staring with wide eyes at the huge white figure gradually appearing on the sea. For a moment, he could not believe what he saw.

His expression gradually changed from shock to disbelief, and he murmured in a low voice:
"Trenko... Oh my god, there are more than one! How did they get here? "

The group of creatures in front of him made Jason feel tense all over for a moment, and his mind quickly emerged with the knowledge he had mastered in the field of parasitology - Trenco, an extremely strange creature in the world of parasitology.

These massive sea creatures, covered in thick white fur and with long trunks, look like a cross between an elephant and a whale, but there’s more to them than just their strange looks.

Tronks are a species of mysterious marine creatures, but what really makes them famous is their unique mechanism of death.

Of course, the death mechanism mentioned here is not "whale fall", but another mechanism that is the opposite of "whale fall":

Once a Trenco dies, their bodies rapidly decompose within seconds, completely collapsing into an unrecognizable substance.

The remains of the corpses were barely recognizable, as if they were trying desperately to conceal their true nature and deny humans or any other creatures any resources from their deaths.

This property makes Truncos a mystery that defies conventional research—all clues to their biology disappear within seconds of their death.

However, the mystery of these creatures has not stopped humans from greedily extracting resources from them.

Instead, humans have found another chilling means - extracting resources from the bodies of truncated animals while they are still alive.

The Trenco must be stripped of its fur, flesh, fat, etc. while it is still alive. Only in this way will these materials not decompose immediately and will be preserved for use.

To ensure they harvested these precious materials, whalers would keep the beasts alive on their ships, enduring long periods of agony, while they steadily stripped them of their most valuable parts over a three-month period.

Jason couldn't help but frown when he thought about this.

He knew that these removed parts had different stability periods:
The skin and hair become ineffective almost immediately after being removed, but the flesh and blood in the stomach can be preserved for about two days, the flesh and blood on the torso can be preserved for up to a week, and as for oils and fats, these most valuable components, they can even be stable for three months.

This means that in order to keep these materials available, these giant creatures would delay their deaths for long periods of time just to ensure that resources would not be wasted.

If they were caught by whalers hunting the truncated whales, they would be skinned alive for three months.

Their oil, fat, and even flesh are considered precious ingredients in many traditional medicines, with all kinds of magical effects - treating infertility, improving blood circulation, and even in some areas, their fur is regarded as having the mysterious power to prolong life.

"What on earth is going on here...?" the professor whispered again.

How could Gray Harbor, a declining port city, attract such a large group of Tronk?

……

……