Chapter 1801: Chapter 1800: The ‘Stance’ of an Ancient Family
Outside the Ellison family estate
"I can’t reach Medala by phone."
A burly, rugged man sitting in a corner café, clutching a coffee cup, gazed at the bright lights outside, the passersby, and the dim sky, frowning slightly.
"Bart," a slender man with a slightly sharp voice sat across the table, looking at the rugged man, "are we really going to betray our little sister? The status and power we have in the family now, it’s all because she’s been protecting us."
"When you mocked her before, you were the most enthusiastic, calling her a wretched woman," the rugged man glanced at the slender man, "and now, when it’s time to act, you’re suddenly hesitating and calling her little sister?"
"Mocking is one thing; she indeed has a terrible attitude towards us and often behaves arrogantly, which is very hateful," the slender man said slowly, "but after all, she’s never truly wronged us, and now we’re going to betray her, isn’t that not quite right?"
"What? Don’t you want to advance further in the family?" the rugged man said coldly.
"Of course I do, those family members have belittled us for so long, I dream every night of becoming successful, and getting back at them, showing them how times have changed," the slender man said without hesitation, but he hesitated for a moment, then continued, "but if we have to betray our little sister for such status, isn’t it a bit wrong?"
He looked at the rugged man, "Our parents died early, leaving just the three of us relying on each other, the little sister, though bad-tempered and with a poor attitude, is still our blood relative, and if we trade her for status, the family will look down on us. And will Uncle Mete really value us because of this?"
"In this world, power and status always speak," the rugged man sneered, "as long as we have absolute power and status, no matter how dissatisfied they are, they can only keep it to themselves."
The slender man looked at the rugged man, speechless for a moment.
"Alright, stop preaching like a big brother," the rugged man snorted, continuing, "when you were whispering behind Medala’s back and calling her names, where was this ’sense of justice’ of yours?
"As for whether Uncle Mete will reward us, since he entrusted us with this task, he will surely reward us, or who would do things for him in the future?"
He stood up, his voice gradually turning icy, with a hint of a sharp cold laugh, "If you really don’t want to work with me, you better stay far away and don’t leak the information to Medala, or I’ll send you to die with me."
"Bart! Your leg injury just healed, even with nanobot stitches, you can’t exert yourself!" the slender man also stood up abruptly.
But by this time, the rugged man had already left him, heading towards the café’s exit.
He hurried after him, chasing out of the café.
And at that moment, he suddenly noticed that the surrounding streets were already shrouded in a dark, thick mist.
He raised his head and looked around, his gaze somewhat confused.
In front of him, the rugged man also paused after rushing into the mist, raising his head to look around at the fog.
People walking on the street also began looking up in confusion at the surrounding mist.
Caw——
At this moment, a bird suddenly fell from the sky, crashing to the ground, landing right in front of the rugged man.
The rugged man was momentarily stunned at the sight of the bird.
Immediately after, he saw the dark mist envelop the bird’s flesh, clinging to it as if sucking it dry.
In an instant, the bird’s body shriveled at a visibly fast pace, its flesh seemingly sucked away by an invisible straw, rapidly disappearing.
"Dad! What’s wrong with you!"
Among the pedestrians on the road, an elderly man in simple clothes suddenly staggered and fell back, seemingly fainting, as his daughter hurriedly reached out to support him.
Seeing this scene, the surrounding crowd wanted to help, but their actions slowed slightly.
The rugged man looked at the surrounding mist, vaguely feeling a sense of dizziness rising within him.
"Run, it’s the power of an Evil God’s sacrifice." At this moment, the slender man behind suddenly realized something and shouted loudly, "Run, back to the family castle!"
His shout awakened the rugged man, who instinctively looked up, towards the scene behind the green plants ahead.
A faint radiance was flashing vigorously in the depths of the dark mist behind it.
That’s the family’s power!
Seeing that radiance, hope suddenly sparked in the rugged man’s eyes, and he leaped forward towards the lawn, jumping in without hesitation.
The patrolling combat drones immediately detected him, and a sharp mechanical voice rang out instantly, "Warning, you have entered a high-level area, warning, you have entered a high-level area, please stop for inspection immediately, otherwise, fire control will be executed."
The rugged man glanced around, through the black mist, vaguely seeing beautiful flowers hidden around.
This area is precisely the private garden of the family’s senior members for cultivating rare flowers, a place he, as an "ordinary member," has no access to.
Hearing the drone’s warning, he instinctively wanted to stop.
But feeling the encroaching black mist around, he gritted his teeth and continued charging forward.
"Warning! Stop! If you continue, fire control will commence."
"Warning! Stop! If you continue, fire control will commence."
"Three warnings completed, commencing fire control."
Intense rays suddenly pierced through the black mist, shooting towards the rugged man’s back, the bullets were sharp.
But perhaps the black mist interfered with the drones’ cameras and radar, as the bullets were inaccurate, allowing the rugged man a chance to escape.
Even so, the bullets exploding behind him sounded like a death knell, ringing in his ears.
A moment’s hesitation, and he’d be killed by the bullets.
At that moment, he showcased a speed far beyond his physical capability, sprinting swiftly across the garden as if on the Federation competition field.
The bright radiance ahead grew stronger, and the towering castle appeared fully before the rugged man.
The brilliant lights within the castle dispelled the surrounding black mist completely, illuminating a blank area.
The radiance was so bright, seemingly from the castle lights, yet surpassing them.
At this moment, several people who appeared to be gardeners were kneeling at the castle’s front entrance, seemingly praying for something, their bodies shrouded in black mist, blocked by robots and armed personnel outside the radiance.
The gardeners seemed to be pleading with the ’guardians’ to let them into the castle.
As the rough man approached quickly, the robots and armed personnel raised their Gauss rifles at him.
The rough man looked up just in time to see the figure standing in the center of the main entrance—none other than Mete, the newly appointed acting director of the intelligence bureau.
He hastily shouted, "Uncle Mete! I’m family! I’m not an outsider! Save me!"
The robots and armed personnel seemed not to hear his words and continued aiming their guns at him, fingers poised on the triggers.
He shouted loudly again, "Uncle Mete! It’s me! It’s me!"
This time, the man standing in the entrance seemed to hear his voice, looked up, and glanced towards him.
After a slight pause, Mete raised his hand, and the surrounding robots and personnel lowered their guns.
The rough man breathed a sigh of relief.
Just then, the drone chasing him from behind seemed to receive some command, stopping and becoming engulfed in the black mist.
The rough man let out a heavy sigh of relief, quickly passing by the pleading gardeners and arriving at the front of the main entrance.
At that moment, the surrounding black mist suddenly intensified like a fluctuating tide, surging toward the rough man.
Behind the rough man, the gardeners on their knees were swept over by the tide, their bodies suddenly stiffening, collapsing to the ground like their souls were drawn out.
Witnessing this, the rough man’s body tensed, his muscles bulging, and he accelerated further.
But just then, his calf suddenly twitched, already soaked in blood without him realizing.
This was the injury he suffered in the morning when the hall collapsed; even though it was briefly stitched, the vigorous movement tore the wound apart again.
In extreme tension, driven by adrenaline, he naturally overlooked it, forcing his body to run.
Yet, it was clear that, at this moment, even adrenaline had reached its limit.
He looked towards the castle bathed in light, his body falling forward as the thick darkness rushed up behind him.
Clap—
At this moment, a hand grabbed his palm and pulled him into the light.
The black mist collided with the castle’s barrier of light as if hitting an invisible wall, pausing briefly before retreating.
The rough man tumbled into the light, gasping heavily. He looked up to see the source of the hand—it was Mete.
"Thanks, Uncle Mete!" he laughed loudly.
Meanwhile, outside in the black mist, one by one, the gardeners fell in the fog, and the black mist began to recede.
"Bart!" At this point, a voice echoed in the waning black mist, and a thin silhouette appeared deep within the fog.
"Oh, is that your brother?" Mete looked up at the silhouette, "He managed to avoid the mist tide, quite clever of him. He seems to be calling you?"
He turned to look at the rough man, paused, then smiled, "Did you argue? I heard you seem to have some disagreements?"
Upon hearing this, the rough man intended to nod but suddenly stiffened.
He looked up to Mete standing in front of him, seeing only Mete’s gentle and ’kind’ smile.
His body froze, then without hesitation, he dashed towards the armed personnel and snatched the Gauss rifle from them.
"Bart!" The voice called again from the mist, as the thin figure gradually revealed itself, showing the features of a thin man.
At this moment, the rough man pulled the trigger.
Bam—
The first shot missed, without hesitation he fired a second shot.
Poof—
The second shot hit directly in the chest, and the already visible thin man looked up in confusion, his body stiffened, then slowly fell backwards.
The rough man wanted to fire a third shot, but a hand reached out, gripping his Gauss rifle—it was Mete.
Worried, he looked at the rough man, "Bart, something’s not right, that looks like your brother?"
"Well, it might be." The rough man trembled as he lowered his gun, gazing at the silhouette already fallen in the black mist, "The mist was too thick, I couldn’t see clearly, I thought it was a dangerous intruder trying to break into the castle."
"Is that so?" Mete turned to glance at the mist behind him, "Perhaps I was mistaken? Your brother has God’s luck, he should be fine."
"Probably, probably," the rough man nodded, his body swaying slightly, leaning back as he relaxed his grip on the Gauss rifle.
Mete casually tossed the Gauss rifle back to the armed personnel beside him. He looked at the rough man, "Let’s go inside, once the mist fades, maybe your brother will come out."
"Alright, alright," the rough man nodded slightly, turning to glance once more at the darkness behind him before taking a deep breath and looking at Mete beside him, "Uncle Mete, I’ve just sent a message to my little sister, asking her to come back as soon as possible."
"Now?" Mete paused slightly, glanced back, "The mist outside looks dangerous."
"I’ll ’remind’ her to be cautious," the rough man laughed, looking up at the shimmering lights dispersing the black mist outside, "These lights are amazing, completely isolating the strange black mist."
"That’s the Angel-level item of our Ellison family," Mete smiled, "Of course, it’s powerful."
"Angel-level item?" The rough man was slightly stunned.
"You’ll understand later, this is what forms the foundation of our ancient family." Mete smiled, leading the rough man inside.
"Alright, alright," realizing it seemed to be a kind of ’confidential information’, the rough man quickly nodded, whispering with pride, "Can our family’s items disperse the black mist?"
"It can, theoretically," Mete replied casually, taking a slight pause as he glanced at the gardeners’ bodies outside the door swallowed by the black mist, chuckling, "But why bother?"
With that, he turned and without bothering about the rough man, walked deeper into the castle.
