Yama Rising

Mictetikasiwa seemed to have gleaned his thoughts, and she leaned forward slightly as she said, "Yanluo Qin, we didn't send anyone to deliver the golden box to you. Our plan was to hand over the golden box to you in person tomorrow."

Qin Ye's pupils contracted slightly upon hearing this. This meant that someone had managed to infiltrate the heart of the new continent's most confidential plan!

Could it be the three pillars?

No... If it were someone from the three pillars, then they would already be aware of the new continent's space exploration plan, and they wouldn't have been so stunned by Qin Ye's declaration of his intentions to develop space exploration.

Even the underworld emissary who had delivered the golden box to him had been an imposter, which meant that whatever this third party was, they had to have infiltrated extremely deep into the plan!

"I can't think of any potential candidate aside from the three pillars, but it can't be them!" Qin Ye said with tightly furrowed brows. The meddling party had almost turned the new continent against the Cathayan Underworld, and he was desperate to dig them up, yet he didn't even know where to begin his investigation!

"No other underworld would have the power or the courage to pull this off." He forced himself to take a deep breath and repress the fury in his heart as he mused, "Could it be one of Xolotl, Ah Puch, or Supay?"

Mictlantecutli shook his head in response. "No, it couldn't have been them. They want nothing more than to see us leave, so our objectives are aligned. If we had been any less trusting of one another, then that situation could've easily escalated into an all-out war between our underworlds! If that were to happen, our new continent would have to go to battle against the Cathayan Underworld, thereby making it impossible for us to focus on the Tonatyw plan, and that is the complete opposite of what they want to see."

Not only could they not derive any benefit from this, they would also be running the risk of being caught by the three ruler death gods. Furthermore, if they were caught, then death would be the only possible fate that awaited them, and there was no way they would be so foolish.

"In that case, who could it be?" Qin Ye asked. "You told me that you would give me an explanation."

Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa were also furious. They were fighting for their lives here, yet someone was trying to thwart their plans! If they could track down the culprit, they would be sure to tear them to shreds!

They exchanged a glance, following which Mictetikasiwa explained, "There were no residual traces of netherfire for us to examine, but through the residual Yin energy in the area, we were able to determine that the culprit was the number zero special Yin spirit by the codename of Death Star. They are at least an Abyssal Prefect, and they've taken over the body of the original messenger, 'Anoia'."

Death Star?

A grim look appeared in Qin Ye's eyes upon hearing this.

All special Yin spirits were extremely troublesome beings to deal with for underworld emissaries, and they had all arisen from extremely special circumstances. For example, Ryu Changmin had emerged from the MV Sewol incident, which had stunned the entire nation of Daehan, following which nationwide protests had taken place.

Then there was Kwon Kyung-ho, who had emerged on the train to Busan, and he had perished before he was even born. As soon as he caught a glimpse of the light of the outside world, he had been shot dead by a gun, thereby dying an extremely tragic and unique death.

This made it extremely difficult for special Yin spirits to emerge. As soon as any incident concerning major losses of life took place in the mortal realm, underworld emissaries would instantly arrive on the scene, and if any single-digit special Yin spirits were discovered to have taken shape, then they would immediately be taken care of. Thus, single-digit special Yin spirits were exceedingly rare, let alone number zero, which stood at the top of the pack.

He had heard of Death Stars as well.

Anyone who saw a Death Star would immediately die, and even Yin spirits were no exception to this!

Furthermore, Death Stars were also capable of shapeshifting into any form, as well as simulating the Yin energy of other beings. It was an extremely strange existence, of which there were no historical records, and the only mentions of it in history books came from its involvement in major events concerning entire races.

"Has the new continent's security system been breached?" Qin Ye asked in a calm voice.

Despite his calm tone, his words were like a slap to the face for Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa.

The number of times that Death Stars had appeared in history could be counted on a single hand, yet they couldn't even keep out something like this?

Not only was there a number zero special Yin spirit roaming their territory, they had even allowed it to become an Abyssal Prefect!

Were their underworld emissaries not afraid of death? How could they be so incompetent?

"We'll do everything in our power to track it down as soon as possible. However, what we should be doing now is to find out who the mastermind behind this Death Star is!"

Why would a Death Star steal information on space exploration? It had no use for such information!

Qin Ye set down his coffee cup as he leaned forward slightly with a serious expression, then said, "I want the information that the Death Star has taken. I also want to know where and why it appeared, as well as how it disappeared!"

Qin Ye was making it very apparent that he didn't trust the new continent's ability to resolve this issue quickly, and both Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa were quite disgruntled by this, but they couldn't say anything.

"We'll do that as soon as possible," Mictlantecutli replied. "Within a month, we'll be sure to give you an answer. I can sense that the information still hasn't left the new continent. We have no plans to reveal this information to the public, but at the same time, we're well aware of just how important the information is. We've made marks on every single page, but they've somehow been covered up at the moment, making it impossible for us to sense their exact location. All we can be sure of is that they're still on the new continent."

Mictetikasiwa's voice was full of ice-cold killing intent as she said, "Rest assured, Yanluo Qin, as long as the information and the Death Star are still on the new continent, we'll be sure to give you a satisfactory answer."

Are you sure about that?

Qin Ye nodded in response, but he wasn't reassured in the slightest.

It wasn't going to be so easy!

Whoever the mastermind behind this heist was, they had managed to pull this off right under the noses of two advanced death gods, and their minion was a number zero Prefect-level special Yin spirit! This had to be an extremely deep rabbit hole, and Qin Ye wasn't confident that they would be able to get to the bottom of it within a month.

However, he didn't say anything else. If he were to press any further, then he would risk irking Mictlantecutli and Mictetikasiwa.

"I still have some other places to go during this period of time, so I'll see you in a month," he said as he rose to his feet. "I hope to hear your verdict when I return."

…………………………………

Professor Horner was watering his plants.

It was already deep into the night, but he had a habit of watering his plants at this time.

As a university professor, the remuneration he received was quite impressive. As a result, he owned a very nice apartment with a lawn and a swimming pool. He and his wife, as well as his son and daughter, all lived together in the apartment.

The apartment's construction wasn't all that lavish. At the very least, it didn't appear to be so on the surface. On the top floor of the apartment, his wife was holding their children, trembling as she looked down at the man watering his plants down below.

Their son was holding a notepad, and his hand was also trembling as he wrote: "He's watering the plants again. Every day at this time, he would appear on the lawn. He's my father. At the very least, he was my father up until several months ago, but I don't know what kind of monster he is right now under that human skin!"

His pen was slapped out of his hand by his mother, whose face was deathly pale, and she said in a trembling voice, "Stop writing! I don't want to relive that memory again! Stop!!"

After that desperate wail, the woman hugged her two children tightly to her, and the three of them sobbed into each other's arms, not daring to separate from one another.

It had been four months.

Prior to the past four months, her husband had been an easygoing and refined gentleman, but one day, he suddenly became something else entirely.

They had all seen him fall down the staircase. His hand had been twisted into a mangled mess as a result of the fall, but it returned to normal after just a few twists.

While cooking, he cut his hand with his knife, but no blood came out of the gash!

While watering the plants at night, the water in his watering can was as red as blood, and when facing the mirror, he had no reflection!

He's no longer a human...

The woman was trembling uncontrollably. Every single night felt like an eternity to them, and they didn't dare to try and leave. During the several dozen times that they had tried to escape, he would always appear in the room out of nowhere just in the nick of time.

He would then smile at them as his head twisted to an impossible angle, watching them without a single hint of emotion in his eyes, as if he were sizing up a flock of lambs to be slaughtered.

There was no escape for them...

Professor Horner didn't know what was happening on the top floor, nor did he have any interest in finding out.

All he was doing was quietly watering his plants. Right as he reached the last plant, he suddenly noticed that something had appeared in the flower pot.

He picked it up with an intrigued expression and took a look at it, upon which he discovered that it was a cutout from a newspaper. The backside had an English passage written on it, while the front side bore a photograph.

The newspaper cut out was clearly very old, as evidenced by the fact that it was already yellow with age. It was so frail that even a gentle breeze could cause it to disintegrate, yet somehow, it managed to remain intact even as Professor Horner picked it up.

He inspected the cutout with a curious expression to find that the photograph bore the image of a black adolescent male who appeared to be around 13 to 14 years of age.

His mouth had been stuffed, and there were tear streaks all over his face. A semi-spherical silver dome was situated on his head, and his entire body was bound to a chair.

In the instant that Horner looked at the photo, he let loose an agonized shriek, and Yin energy erupted out of all of his orifices. At the same time, all of the meridians in his entire body bulged violently, and this was particularly noticeable on his arms, which looked as if they had the roots of an ancient locust tree growing under the skin.

"Shit!!" He threw away the photograph with a furious expression, and he was panting heavily as he looked around with bloodshot eyes. "Who's there?"

No one offered a response.

The place where they were living wasn't a rural or secluded area, yet for some reason, there wasn't any sound that could be heard.

A flock of crows had landed on the apple tree in the yard, and they were squawking incessantly.

Right as Horner was about to withdraw his gaze, a calm voice suddenly rang out from behind him. "Only past death gods would be able to see a photograph of a Death Star and remain alive."

As soon as he heard this voice, all of the muscles all over Horner's entire body tensed up, and Yin energy surged out of all of his orifices once again, but he relaxed again in the next instant.

"Yanluo Qin." Horner dabbed at the non-existent cold sweat on his forehead before turning around with a smile. "I didn't think that we would ever meet again."

At some point, a folding stool had appeared in front of the apartment, and a young man with shoulder-length black hair, wearing a black dragon robe, was seated on the folding chair. The chair was very simple and unremarkable, but it somehow resembled a throne with him seated on it.

"Long time no see." Qin Ye was holding a cup of coffee, and he raised it as he said, "Looks like you've been recovering quite well."

"Thank you," Horner replied with a smile. "Do you need something from me?"

Qin Ye raised his chin toward the photograph that Horner had just cast aside. "Have you seen him before?"

"I'm not interested in living people," Horner replied, then picked up his garden shears and began to trim one of his plants.

Qin Ye shrugged with a disappointed expression. "That's a real pity. On that photo is the only Death Star to have escaped during the past 100 years. Anyway, that's not what I came here to see you for anyway."

Horner severed a branch as his eyes narrowed slightly. "The fact that you've come here to see me in person must mean that you have a difficult task for me to complete. Can I refuse?"

A hint of a smile appeared on Qin Ye's face as he took a sip of his coffee. "What gives you the illusion that you have the right to refuse, Tezcatlipoca?"

Horner's eyes narrowed slightly upon hearing this.

"Don't you want to see the treasure vault of your parent god?" Qin Ye continued with a smile. "The Plumed Serpent God was the one who provided me with its location."