dark moon

Chapter 36 Missing
Shure had a good night's sleep.

Although there was a shadow lingering in his heart, even though he was surrounded by hostility, he still slept soundly.

Leaning on Moria's toned and elastic deer back, smelling the fragrance from the forest exuding from her body, and listening to the lazy and pleasant forest tunes humming from her nose, no matter how many worries she has, she can still be relieved. Soon I will fall asleep.

However, he still woke up early and was woken up by Moria.

"Something happened." Lin Jing's hoof kicked Xiu'er several times in the back, "Besides, you slept with me again, and my back was numb from sleep."

"Stop making trouble, who is it and what is the specific situation?"

"Makajaren, he is missing." Moria said calmly, "For you, it is reasonable."

"It's reasonable, but unexpected." Shuer shook his head and looked around. There was no one else around. Everyone should have gathered in the living room outside.

"Let's go out and take a look." Xiuer moved his body a little harder, but everything was normal, and he didn't feel any discomfort. After resting for a night, the mental energy consumed by the large-scale magic spell yesterday afternoon had already been replenished, and he was very energetic.

After walking out of the bedroom, several teammates gathered around the dining table in the living room. No one spoke, and the entire living room was immersed in silence.Even when Shuuer appeared, everyone just signaled with their eyes, and no one said a word.

"The current time." Shuer sat in the middle position and went straight to the topic without any nonsense like what happened.

"Four thirty-seven." Staring at the pocket watch left by the halfling on the table, Moback lost all his previous energy and replied in a muffled voice, "It's Parvati's time."

"Well, four thirty-seven, your class and his."

"Yes, we are on the last shift." Since Macajerun always coughed when he choked, in order to take care of him, he was assigned to the last shift, which could reduce the vigil time by one hour.

"You didn't take anything with you?"

"Not sure." Mia took over. It was obvious that this was something she had just handled. "Everything on the surface is still there, including the pocket watch that was hung on the backpack and not taken away. As for the things in the backpack, there is no way Judgment, after all, we don’t know what he brought.”

What equipment and supplies they carry on adventures are often very private information, and mercenaries rarely reveal it to each other no matter how close they are.

"Yes, I understand. When did you find out?"

"10 minutes ago." The dwarf lowered his head and said, "I thought he went to the toilet and would be back soon, so I didn't wake you up in time. It wasn't until 5 minutes ago that I felt something was wrong and I warned him."

"Hiss, I slept so hard?" Shuer frowned. Logically speaking, Moback would definitely not intentionally wake everyone up and leave him alone. Since everyone was up and he was the only one who didn't wake up, then This is the only possibility.

"You read those words too late yesterday." Moria said softly, "Sasa has come to take over, and if you don't go back to sleep, it means that you have been on duty for three hours in the end and have too little sleep."

"Let's just treat it like this." Xiuer was silent for a moment and sighed softly, "This is very important, but there is no condition to delve into it now. Let's put it aside for the time being and study the affairs of Macajerun first."

"Mobak, you didn't see him leave? Where were you at that time?" Shuer stipulated from the beginning that any action must be done in groups of at least two, and no one should be left alone, even when going to the toilet. .There will be team members missing, and it could only be Moback and Makajlen who did not follow his orders.

However, Seure was wrong.

"Yes, I didn't see it." Unexpectedly, the dwarf pulled his hair in annoyance and his beard trembled. "We were here at the time, chatting while playing with the bits and pieces of today's harvest. He was sitting opposite me. As soon as I lowered my head, he disappeared."

"Huh?" Xiuer raised his eyebrows and tapped his fingers lightly on the table, "Disappeared suddenly? Please tell me the specific situation at that time."

"Well, we were just sitting and chatting, discussing the value of this copper coin..."

"Stop, it doesn't need to be specific about the content of your conversation. The main thing is whether you noticed anything unusual before he disappeared."

"No, oh, by the way, halfway through the conversation, he suddenly stopped talking. He didn't speak for several minutes, and continued until he suddenly disappeared."

"That's not normal..." Xiure sighed. If you have been with dwarves for a long time, you will know that it is quite normal to be unable to say anything for a few minutes. Most of the time, he was the only one talking. No one else bothered to chime in.

"Yeah, so I didn't care. But thinking about it carefully, the two times I asked him, he ignored me. I thought he was tired and dozing off."

"Then you continued to talk?" Shuer felt a headache. The dwarf's gift of speaking was unparalleled. "How long did it take from the time you noticed he was silent to the time he disappeared?"

"I haven't confirmed this, but it will take about four to five minutes."

Nagging for four or five minutes alone is considered an extraordinary skill. "Da da da." Xiuer didn't say anything else, he tapped his fingers on the table habitually, narrowed his eyes and fell into deep thought.

"Now, there are two possibilities. For these two possibilities, we need to take completely opposite responses." For some reason, Xiuer glanced at Moria before speaking, and exchanged a familiar smile.

"The first is that he takes the initiative to leave."

"I don't think anyone will be unfamiliar with what is the most dangerous thing in chasing shadows. Yes, the most dangerous thing is one's own people."

"In the alien projection, even an ordinary person, if he is lucky, can kill the most powerful demigod, as long as he is one of our own, as long as... he passes through the escape point in advance."

According to the rules of alien projection, once a higher soul passes through the entrance or exit, the stability of the connection will be disturbed. The entrance or exit will disappear within 15 minutes. Although there are multiple exits, they will disappear at the same time.

In other words, as long as someone sneaks through the escape point, if the people inside do not leave within 15 minutes, they will never be able to get out again. They can only wait for the projection maintenance time to end and be annihilated in the void together with the projected world.Because of this, the shadow chasers would rather not enter the projection world than chase shadows with someone who doesn't know their roots, no matter how strong that person is.

Therefore, for Shadow Chasers, it is extremely dangerous for teammates to suddenly disappear. The most common way to deal with it is to rush to the escape point as quickly as possible and leave the world first. This can at least ensure that you will not will disappear inexplicably.

"I don't want to comment too much on the first possibility. Everyone has a balance in their hearts and has their own ideas. Now I will mainly talk about the second possibility."

"The second possibility is that he was controlled by a parasitic plant."

"There is no doubt that we are being parasitized. Grass is growing on Moria's body."

"In fact, I told everyone yesterday that we have all been parasitized, but it is very likely that his situation is the most serious, so he is the first to be controlled by plants. Presumably, we will also be controlled one after another, it is just a matter of time. , I was worried about this, so I hurried back, but unfortunately I couldn’t make it in time. If I could go back in time, I would still have a chance to go to the Temple of Life and find a way to get rid of the parasitic state."

"Huh? Captain, that's not right. Plants are also living things. They shouldn't be able to..." Moback suddenly stopped talking because he found that there was a very stern and ferocious meaning in Shuer's seemingly calm eyes. It made the dwarf feel that if he said one more syllable, the captain would pounce on him and beat him to death.

"Yes, it is difficult to get rid of plant parasitism, but the Temple of Life still has a way, I'm sure. Although there is a price to pay, as long as everyone believes in me, everything will eventually be solved." Xiul paused and left a message for the others. After spending enough time thinking, everyone vaguely guessed what he was thinking from the parts of his words that were contrary to common sense, and then they nodded with satisfaction.

"Now that everyone understands, let's not mention this point and continue with the question just now. We are at risk of being controlled at any time, and some people have even reached the most dangerous border."

"It shouldn't be." Although the dwarf didn't fully understand the captain's intention, Soul must have had his reasons for stopping him from finishing what he just said. The smart dwarf shouldn't continue to pester him, so Moback simply clumsily changed the subject. Moving away, "I think everyone is quite normal."

"Are you sure?" Xiuer asked with a half-smile, "Why do you think Macajeron suddenly disappeared from your eyes? Is it really because you were dazzled?"

"Are we starting to be interfered with?" The Necromancer's face changed. She was still very clear about mental interference. "The things he saw were tampered with? No wonder Macajron didn't talk to him in the last few minutes. "

"If this second possibility is true, then this conclusion is likely to be true. The parasitic plant can only affect Moback's vision now, and there is nothing that can be done about his hearing, so we can only let him 'see' that Macajron is still sitting Opposite him."

"Get out, get out." Moback slapped his eyelids and muttered in a low voice, "Those are the eyes of the dwarf, not your nest."

"If it's the second possibility." Ignoring the dwarf who was scaring him, Shuer said solemnly, "Then we need to get him back. I don't want to say anything about leaving him alone, let's go back by ourselves." I don’t think anyone here will agree, including myself.”

"So, completely opposite ways of coping emerged, whether to leave as soon as possible or continue to look for him."

"That idiot is not the kind of person who leaves alone and wants to kill us." The dwarf jumped up first and said, "It is definitely the second possibility."

"Reason? Don't say it was your guess. Making a decision based solely on guessing is tantamount to tying everyone's lives to the accuracy of your guess."

"It's not a guess, it's just that I believe him." Moback said with certainty.

"I believe in him too, but now that things have happened, you must prepare for the worst."

"but……"

"No but, if I ask you to start looking for an exit now and leave immediately, how do you choose?" Shuer asked coldly.

"I...I will cooperate with you to find an exit and leave, and then I will stay and bring that idiot back. Otherwise, if I let him wait for death alone with those damn plants, he will probably cry."

"Haha, I understand." Xiure nodded, "Then, the first step of the mission is to continue to search for the exit, find the exact location of the escape point, and ensure the escape route... Haha, let's go back and bring that idiot back together. Otherwise, it will really happen. I'll let you find him alone. It's okay if you don't come back. If you come back alive, I'm afraid you'll annoy us all to death."

"Hey, thanks, Captain."

(End of this chapter)