1847 Raven
Inside the base, people continued to become infected. Han Sen wanted to leave, taking Little Angel, Zero, and the others with him. But he was not sure if the strange contagion had already spread to his companions. If he left now, with an infection amongst them, things could turn pretty bleak.
If they stayed there and did get infected, at least Deep Blue Viscount might be able to deduce a way in which it could be stopped.
Deep Blue Viscount said that when he had originally been afflicted with the mark, he had eaten the root of a lotus that he found in the palace. He reckoned that was why the mark hadn’t affected him. All the other n.o.bles with him died, leaving him as the sole survivor. But now, the mark had returned, and it was getting darker and darker. That was why he wanted to return to the planet and revisit the hall in order to eat more of the lotus roots.
But there was a group of xenogeneics outside the entrance to the palace, and some of them were Earl rank. So, Deep Blue Viscount had been unable to find a way in which he could access the place.
Deep Blue Viscount was curious about how Wind Viscount had managed to penetrate the palace. He figured he would have to return there to find out how.
Han Sen then thought of an important question to ask. When Deep Blue Viscount entered the palace the first time, he was just a Kate with geno armor. Now he was a Viscount. Becoming a n.o.ble of that rank was not an easy task.
Even a wealthy elite like Yisha only had a dozen of the geno fluids that could encourage a second evolution, so how could Deep Blue Viscount achieve such a rank? Han Sen asked this question, and Deep Blue said that he did not know how he had managed to evolve a second time, either. To his knowledge, he had not used any treasures. But it wasn’t long before he left this planet that he evolved for a second time. Perhaps it had something to do with the lotus root.
Matters were proceeding to get worse, though. It wasn’t long before Gu Qingcheng developed a mark on her forehead. Han Sen told her about the palace and the lotus root, and he told her not to worry. When the time came, they would head out and get one of the lotus roots.
Black Steel was accurate, and four and a half hours later, he did indeed land outside the front gate. But aside from Black Steel, a few other of the Rebate had come as well. Judging from the strength of their auras, Han Sen could immediately tell they were not ordinary folk.
“Han Sen! What’s going on now?” Black Steel looked at Han Sen’s forehead.
“It’s bad! Half of my people have been infected with the mark of an egg.” It was starting to depress Han Sen.
“You go and confirm it,” one of the superior-looking Rebate said.
The other Rebate went to check the foreheads of the women and children, while Black Steel went into Han Sen’s office. With a serious look, he said, “You are in trouble. If I am not mistaken, Wind Viscount touched something which belonged to the Raven.”
“Raven?” Han Sen looked confused.
Black Steel explained to him, “Before the Rebate took over Narrow Moon, it was the Raven who owned this place. They were a strong xenogeneic group that had a grip on the entirety of Narrow Moon. History says that they had the ability to mark other xenogeneics and control them.”
Black Steel went on to say, “When we took down Narrow Moon, it came at a great cost. If it wasn’t for our deified elder, it was highly unlikely that we’d have won the fight. We thought the Raven were entirely destroyed, following the battle.
I did not expect a relic of theirs to remain, especially one that is still so deadly.”
“Is there a way to erase the mark of the Raven?” Han Sen thought that if the Rebate took down Narrow Moon, there had to be a way. If there wasn’t, they’d all have ended up infected, and they’d all be dead.
“Not yet.” Black Steel shook his head.
“What do you mean by not yet?” Han Sen was confused.
“Many of my race suffered this mark. We discovered that killing the Raven and drinking their blood was the only way to make the mark disappear. If you want to get rid of it, the only way to achieve that is to find the item Wind Viscount found. And then, maybe you can.” Black Steel looked straight at Han Sen and went on to say, “I am not sure if you are infected. We need to make sure that the infection does not leave this place. And we must locate the source of the infection, wherever it may be.”
Han Sen relayed to him what Deep Blue Viscount had told him. Black Steel nodded and said, “If someone has info like this, that is great. I brought one of my father’s guards with us. Captain Wood is a Duke. The rest are Marquise. We are all prepared to go to the Raven palace.”
Black Steel went to find Captain Wood and Deep Blue Viscount, letting Deep Blue Viscount explain the situation again to him.
Captain Wood looked at Deep Blue Viscount and asked, “Why didn’t you say this sooner?”
Deep Blue Viscount gave a wry smile. They were all dead, and only I survived. I was worried I might get in trouble for telling people what happened. Especially with the mark gone.”
Han Sen understood the man’s reasoning. If he admitted what had happened, it was likely that the Rebate would have grown suspicious. The only reason he was telling the story now was because he had to go back to the palace. If the mark hadn’t returned, he would not have wanted to come back to such a wretched place.
After Captain Wood had finished asking Deep Blue Viscount about various details, he decided to go to the Raven palace, as well.
Last time, Chiron Earl had taken some Viscounts and Earls, and even some creatures with him. This time, they had Captain Wood and four Marquise. It shouldn’t have been too hard to reach the same point as Chiron.
Wood allowed Han Sen to select a few people to come along. Deep Blue Viscount said there was a pool with the lotus fruit, and there were many of them. It would be best if he brought some people to collect as many roots as they could, in order to suppress the mark.
Gu Qingcheng had the mark, so she elected to go there herself. Xie Qing King wanted to go, too. Han Sen stopped Little Angel and Zero, though. If no one was watching the base, it was impossible to tell what the Barons might do after they became infected. There was a high chance the women and children would be in danger.
“This doesn’t seem too bad. We can eat the roots as soon as we get them,” Han Sen thought to himself.
Aside from them, Han Sen picked ten Barons to go with him. They could help gather the roots, at the very least. There were so many of them, and their time was almost up. If they couldn’t get to the bottom of the issue, they’d have to bring a lot of the roots back.
Han Sen brought Lake Viscount with him, as well. With Wood there, he wouldn’t dare to say no.