Chapter 119 The Cycle (Part 1)

A little boy, not wearing pants, with his taut, muddy-gray belly, wobbled down a step, then bent over and walked forward, trying to catch two balloons at once. He only managed to catch one; the other flew away, and he fell to the ground.

He watched helplessly as the balloon flew away, and he was about to cry.

Just then, a man in his forties came along, stretched out his nimble hands, and leaped up to catch the balloon.

When he returned the balloon to the boy, the boy gave him half a wet orange peel as a gift.

Not far away was a coffee shop, and on the terrace, a waiter was wiping tables. He immediately recognized the man with a worried face.

"White, I heard you've recently been involved in the investigation of Irenshere. How's the investigation going?"

White handed him half an orange peel, said nothing, and left.

The rain stopped a few hours ago, but the ring road is still very wet and damp.

With each small step, White would look up at the sky, looking preoccupied, as if he felt increasingly lost. Despite being fully committed to his work as a secret agent, no one, except for that boy from earlier, had anything good to say about him.

Thinking about this made all my blood vessels freeze, my nerves tense, and the voice in my head buzzed.

'You did something you shouldn't have done; your career is over!'

'Who told them to be so curious?'

'You know perfectly well what's in the mirror, don't you? You know Ryan will yell at you, right?'

'What could I do at the time? Further investigation would only make things more complicated; I could only send them in!'

'Sigh, what an incompetent brain.'

White stood there dumbfounded, and before he knew it, he had arrived in Raine's courtyard.

Coincidentally, the crocodile-man was swimming in the mud, covered in mud, and almost unrecognizable at first glance.

Even the yellow scarf on the tree began to flutter in the wind, as if the dog recognized its owner before White did.

Although White stood motionless behind the tree, he was quickly spotted by the patrolling guards. The guards told Raine that White had come, and Raine lazily put on his clothes, shook himself a couple of times, and came out of the mud.

That body shape is truly creepy!

Upon seeing Ryan like this, White's eyes widened in surprise.

"Have you found the lost copy?" Ryan asked.

"They insisted on going to the cave, so I..."

White caught the second half of his sentence; he couldn't bring himself to say it.

Raine's face was already ugly, but now it was even uglier than described. His entire face looked like it had collapsed, with several thick tree branches sticking out of his body.

A pale sunlight shone from the horizon, and if one emerged from the surrounding grove, one could see a ring of yellowish light on the mountaintop. This light was not bright; it was even more somber than the night, making everything around it feel even colder.

White dared not think further, and the chilling voice echoed in his mind again.

Compared to Irenshere, you're nothing but a coward and a piece of trash.

The more afraid White was, the more likely he was to hear the voices in his head.

'I just noticed that you actually wanted the Alliance's approval, which is why you listened to Renn...'

Without hesitation, White punched himself. A huge object collided with his skull; it couldn't possibly be the force of a physical body.

'A useless brain, utterly tasteless!'

White punched himself again.

It felt like something flew out of my head, and the sound suddenly disappeared.

White's brain seemed to have gone through a long year, and his ability to accept things had become extraordinary, absorbing everything.

He mustered his courage and told Ryan that those guys were finished.

Losing several detectives means that Ryan's secret document could be found and exposed by others at any time.

Ryan only said one word: Get out.

There's no need to find the exact term to describe Ryan's anger; White has never been this angry in any of his previous encounters.

He completely messed up the whole thing.

White already knows he can't work for Ryan anymore, and he might leave the league and go home, hoping things will turn around.

Lying in bed, it was as quiet as being buried in a grave, and I couldn't imagine what I should do the next day.

But the impression those four agents left on him became more and more profound.

When I first met them, like most people in their thirties, I thought they were a group of self-important people. Later, I found that their cold words were actually quite pleasant to hear, and the agent named Billy left me with an impression as warm as velvet.

Their shadows overlapped with Irenschel's.

I already couldn't fall asleep, and now I can't even remember why I listened to Ryan's arrangements in the first place.

The light in the window came on, its long beam falling onto the undulating green ground, reflecting the fan-shaped light above the front door.

A commotion arose from the quiet darkness.

It comes from underground.

White himself didn't know how he panicked or how he tried to escape the sound. He pushed open the door and looked at the gloomy red light in the sky. Did that mean a big fire was about to break out?

He gritted his teeth and thought for a while before running towards the red light.

The obelisk of Rebilio, its doors tightly locked, glowed red light like a flashlight, flickering incessantly on the second floor.

White was unaware that there was a portrait there; had he known, he might have learned more about the Sky City.

The portrait existed before the Great Reboot. The few who saw it said it depicted an ancient duke. The portrait only showed the area above the fur collar, and apart from taking up too much space, it was almost useless.

The builders of the alliance couldn't bear to throw it away, so they just piled the portrait up casually in the storeroom on the second floor.

A sudden burst of commotion erupted as two lovers hid beside the obelisk, laughing, panting, and kissing passionately. Before long, their gestures and postures overlapped.

White, clearly not wanting to get in their way, left.

On the road, the light and shadow became blurred, and the slightest rustling of the wind made one feel as if a demon might appear.

The surrounding halo grew larger and larger, and White had even come to believe that death was coming. There really was something following him.

Like a golden blade suddenly piercing the tranquility, the notes, rising and falling, echoed in the vast space, while a series of dazzling lights shone down, illuminating the pulsating shadows in the coniferous forest.

White used an invisibility spell, but still couldn't dodge it.

I can't remember what happened after that.

The next morning, White got up and found the bed sticky, his hands and mouth sticky and covered in blood.

What happened?

Without giving it much thought, he went outside and heard more bad news.

Last night, two young agents went missing.

White had no idea what he had done. Around him, it seemed as if countless bewildered shadows were staring at him. Even more surprisingly, when he arrived at the security checkpoint on the west side of the ring road, Ryan was already waiting there, and his attitude had changed from yesterday's rain and snow to sunny friendliness.

"White, why did you lie yesterday?"

"Me? Lying?"

"The investigators said they hadn't gone inside the mirror, and that they already knew where the secret document was hidden."

"This is impossible! I saw it with my own eyes..."

As soon as he finished speaking, two agents stepped out from behind Ryan: Mia and Aisha.