Chapter 177 AFC
At the instant that Alex completed the Main Mission on the Superhuman World, he and his Companions were immediately transported to their next world.
Right now, Alex found himself situated near the top of a steep mountain, with countless barren rocks surrounding him.
The mentioned mountain only had few trees on it, which allowed Alex to have a perfect view of the sky above him.
"Yup, this is a different world. Definitely." Alex muttered to himself as he looked up at the night sky.
Alex had the right to say this sentence, as right now, Alex could see three different-colored moons s.h.i.+ning brightly in the night sky with all their might.
"Blue, Yellow, and Green Moons. d.a.m.n, this world is weird." That was all that Alex could say as he realized that this is actually the first time that he went to a place with more than one moon.
"…"
After looking at the moons for a few more seconds, Alex looked to his side, as he wanted to see the reactions of Alina and Queen Mother.
Both of these females seemed to be unperturbed with what they were seeing, as they looked to be more focused on scouting their surroundings.
As for the dumb fairy Asteria, she was currently flying all around Alina, as if she was begging Alina to play with her.
"So, what should we do? Should we just stay here, or should we look for anyone living nearby?" As Alex developed this thought in his head, he could not help but use his FED Manipulation to sense any humans nearby.
"Hong~"
To Alex"s relief, he sensed 100+ people living on this mountain, with 98 of them living near the mountain"s base, and the last 2 living at the top of the mountain.
"Alina, there"s two people living just at the top of the mountain. Since we are already near at the top, should we approach them or not?" Alex asked Alina as he saw her stopping on looking around.
"Do you think we will be in danger?" That was Alina"s quick reply as Queen Mother looked at their conversation with interest.
"I don"t think we will be in danger…." Alex replied as he shook his head. "You know that I can somehow sense danger when its near, making it easy for me to be a little prudent about my surroundings. Right now, there"s nothing dangerous in this mountain, so I guess it will be safe for us to approach them."
"Ok" Both Alina and Queen Mother replied as Asteria let out a pout, with Alina still ignoring her.
"Hmph!" In the end, the dumb fairy only let out a hmph as she flew back to Alex, landing on top of his head.
"Yeah, let those two deal with this problem." Alex thought to himself as he decided not to meddle on whatever dispute Alina and Asteria had. "I already had my hand full on keeping us alive… I don"t want to jeopardize that by offending two scary women…."
Alex allowed Asteria to settle down on the top of his head for a few more seconds before he started to talk.
"Since we have agreed to visit, then we should set out now." Alex said as he stood up, trudging through the rocky path towards the top of the mountain.
Alina and Queen Mother followed behind him, with the both of them engaging with small talks with each other.
"…Mountain climbing really is fun." Alex thought to himself fondly, as he felt soothed by the crisp and quiet atmosphere here on the mountainside.
"Maybe I can ask for my own personal mountain? That will be reall-LOOK OUT!" Out of nowhere, Alex suddenly felt an intense sense of danger enveloping his whole body.
He immediately crouched down, as he realized that the danger that he felt just now was the greatest out of all the dangers that he had sensed before!
"Where is it coming from?" Alex snarled to himself, as he felt that the danger seems to be coming everywhere.
No, that is not the right term.
The danger IS PRESENT EVERYWHERE.
Looking behind him, he could see Alina and Queen Mother both crouching down, with their bodies tense and rigid.
Even if they do not have the same danger sense like Alex, it seemed like they were still able to sense something wrong. Couple that with Alex"s current state, and it was enough to make the two of them this wary.
"S**t, s**t, s**t!" I just came into this world, and I"m already facing the final boss? What the flying h.e.l.l?" Alex cursed to himself inwardly as he wondered if he should put himself into his full power mode right now.
But before Alex could even decide, his Emotion Sense started to detect something too.
"!!!!"
Right now, Alex could sense that all the 100 people living on this mountain were having two kinds of emotions.
FEAR AND DESPAIR.
Alex felt this tongue go numb as he could literally sense the fear and despair of these people permeating the very air around him.
Alex was surprised at the intensity of their fear and despair, as if they just saw something that was enough to make them this scared.
It was at that moment that Alex noticed that his shadow started to have a red hue on it.
"Red?" After seeing the sudden s.h.i.+ft on his shadow"s appearance, Alex could not help but look up.
"What the…" And there, Alex saw it.
There was a fourth moon hovering in the sky right now, and its color was Blood-Red.
Even with Alex"s advanced eyesight, he still could not observe the features of this moon perfectly.
The only thing that he was sure of was that the moon"s blood-red color was of the same intensity with the first three moons.
"…: As Alex stared at this moon, he became more and more sure of it.
This Red Moon was the source of the intense danger that Alex was still sensing now!
"That explains why the people in this mountain suddenly became fearful and despaired." Alex thought to himself as he decided to stay in his current place. "They must have known what the meaning of a Red Moons was. That could be the only reason why they became scared as the Red Moon appeared…"
As Alex reached this conclusion, he realized what he must do right now.
"I need to know everything about the Moons of his world! There"s no doubt my Main Mission is related to this!" Alex thought to himself as he started to climb up.
With Asteria saying that she still does not have the data of their Main Mission in this world, Alex was left with no choice but to investigate everything that he can before the directive for their Main Mission arrives.
Because of that, Alex decided to approach the 2 people living at the top of the mountain, knowing that they would be helpful for his information gathering.
Alina and Queen Mother seems to have understood what Alex was thinking, as they started to follow him.
This time around, Alex did not climb the mountain like a relaxed tourist.
He hastened his pace, as he knew that the faster he can get the info, the higher the chances for him and his Companions to survive.
After a minute of intense walking, Alex and his Companions arrived at their target location.
Just 10 meters in front of Alex was an old bamboo hut, whose walls are frayed and peppered with holes.
Its roof and body seemed to be barely holding themselves together, and the only thing stopping the whole hut from collapsing was a bunch of straws tied all around the hut.
It"s quite obvious with just one look that whoever lives in this hut were extremely poor.
This gave Alex some good options, as he knew that as long as he entices the residents of this hut with good things, they will give Alex all the info that he wanted.
But before Alex could plan the things that he could use, the door of the hut suddenly opened.
As the hut"s door opened, Alex saw a tall figure lumbering out.
The tall figure was a long, lanky old man with white hair and beard that were way longer than what they should normally be.
This old man was also wearing some rags, making his appearance look extremely disheveled.
"You! What the h.e.l.l are you doing here!" These were the first words that came out of the old man"s mouth as he stared at Alex and his Companions with hostility. "Were you sent here to bother us again?"
As the old man said these words, Alex sensed that the old man"s fear and despair disappeared, only for it to be replaced by smoldering rage.
"Hey! We"re not like that!" Alex hastily replied, as he started waving his hands atop his head. "We are travelers who just happened to get here! We don"t plan on bringing harm on you! I swear that with my life!"
The old man suddenly paused after hearing what Alex said, as if he was busy on dissecting it.
A few seconds pa.s.sed by before the old man gave his reply.
"Young lad… it seems like you are not lying at all. Interesting." The old man suddenly said, much to Alex"s relief and surprise.
"You know that I"m not lying?" Alex could not help but ask, as he gave a sideways glance at Alina. "Do you really trust that judgement of yours?"
"…" After hearing what Alex said, the old man went silent for a few seconds, before he started to laugh loudly.
"Hahaha! You"re worried that this old man will be wrong with his judgement? Naïve youngsters!"
The old man then continued laughing for more than a minute as Alex watched him with confusion.
"I lived a long life already. Of course I will know when someone is lying!" The old man finally said as his laughing stopped. "When you"re as old and as experienced as me, you can use those experience to know who"s lying or not!"
"He"s not lying Alex, he"s telling the truth." Alina muttered behind Alex as a sense of awe could be heard from her voice.
"I do not know if I should be happy from hearing that or not." Alex thought to himself glumly as he looked back at the old man.
The old man just looked at Alex back, prompting an awkward staring contest.
"…"
"…"
When the staring contest between the two started to take long enough, the old man broke out as he let out a cough.
"So, what do you travelers want to do in my house?" The old man asked Alex as he leaned against the hut.
The hut slightly swayed from the old man"s weight, but it held firm.
"Well…" Alex started to scratch his head as he tried to say something, but before he could talk, someone beat him to the punch.
"We"re here to eat, and I will be happy if you will join us on our dinner." Alina said as she placed her hand on Alex"s shoulder. "We brought fried chicken with us, and I will appreciate it if you will join us for dinner."
"Dinner? But-" The old man looked like he wanted to refuse Alina"s offer, but before he could finish the rejection, another person went out of the hut.
"Did somebody just said fried chicken?" The one who uttered this question was a young girl, who appeared to be around 4-5 years old.
Her long, silky black hair and her pretty face, coupled with her bright eyes gave her a very welcoming look.
Her cuteness was so great that even Alex found her to be admirable.
However, that cuteness of hers was marred by the old clothes that she was wearing. They were still able to function as clothes pretty well, but they looked so old and worn up that they could be broken any second now.
As Alex looked at the little girl, he felt some slight pity for her, as he realized that the little girl must have been living in poor conditions these days.
"What a poor little girl." Alex thought to himself as he looked at the little girl, who seemed to be salivating right now.
"…"
After seeing this, Alex could not help but glare at the old man, as he felt somewhat angry that this old man was letting a little girl live in these kind of conditions.
"…"
Alina seemed to be thinking of the same thing too, although her gaze was solely concentrated on the little girl.
"…"
Alina started to give the little girl a kind gaze as she asked her,
"Little girl, I have fried chicken with me. Do you want to eat with us? I invited your old man to eat, but it seems like he does not want to…"
"Grandpa! Please don"t reject them! I want to eat fried chicken!" The little girl shouted out, as she gave the old man a pleading look. "Pleasepleaepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease!"
"You heard what your granddaughter just said. She wants to eat, so you should let her eat." Alex said as saw the little girl pulling her grandpa"s left am. "You don"t want making your granddaughter cry, right?"
"…"