Mystery Paradise: Wishing Power Demon

Chapter 175: Chapter 174 Aibuvich Chapter 175: Chapter 174 Aibuvich At that moment, a guard hurried into the banquet hall and whispered a few words into the manager’s ear.

The latter’s expression immediately turned stern.

He clapped his hands and bellowed at everyone, “Hurry, hurry, hurry, you have ten minutes left to prepare, the guests will be here any moment now, finish up your tasks quickly! Otherwise, I’ll whip your asses raw!”

After arranging the last two tables, the six were herded by the guard into a small room in the corner of the hall.

“Listen up, do not make a sound, and do not draw the guests’ attention. You are not to touch the door unless the manager needs you to come out and work; otherwise you definitely must not touch the door! Once the banquet is over, someone will naturally let you out, understood?” the guard asked, looking fierce and menacing.

“Yes, we know the rules,” Ailuodi took the initiative to respond.

With a bang, the latter closed the door, followed by the sound of a chain sliding from the outside.

Clearly, they were not going to place too much trust in the crew’s promises; the door locked with chains was undoubtedly more reliable.

“If something happens to this ship, I guess no one will remember us,” Cui Zhen’en sighed.

“One look at this room and you can tell,” Anthony snorted.

The room they were in was about six or seven square meters, but most of it was filled with wooden boxes, shelves, and kitchen equipment. The five of them could only squeeze into an area of about three square meters. The only way they could rest was by sitting facing each other, without even enough space to lie down. There was no light in the room, only a latticed window that led to the outside, welded shut, through which only a palm-sized amount of moonlight could seep through.

“I’ve played plenty of historical games set in modern times, clawing my way up from the bottom to save the world is nothing special… but you don’t realize how good civilization is until you’re actually treated like a slave,” Cui Zhen’en said, her voice full of emotion.

“You’re not even a slave yet. The miners on the high heavens are,” Zhou Zhi added.

“Fiend’s little sister is really impressive, being able to immerse herself so much into character, indifferent to praise or criticism, something I just can’t do,” she said, glancing sideways at Ailuodi, “When that moron started trouble with Anthony, I was thinking that if he took the first swing, I would definitely rush up and slap him twice.”

“It’s nothing, I’ve been through worse,” Ailuodi said with an easy smile.

“Really?”

“Stop chitchatting now, listen, the guests are entering,” Zhang Zhiyuan pressed his ear against the door, “We need to find a way to see outside.”

Everyone quieted down and, sure enough, the sounds of bustling footsteps and laughter came from the hall.

The door wasn’t very soundproof, and when they listened attentively, they could even make out what some of the guests nearby were specifically talking about.

“Heh, I actually scoped it out earlier,” Cui Zhen’en said in a hushed, somewhat proud voice, “See that small white dot on the wall to the left of the door?”

“Did you leave that there?”

“Yes, most of the interior dividing walls in the banquet hall are made of door panels, which can be easily pierced with a hand drill. On the other side of the wall is a large painting. I made a small cut in a hidden spot and then fixed a piece of polarized sunglasses lens to it with double-sided tape.”

“You exchanged for sunglasses?” Zhou Zhi asked, surprised.

“Mm, since the task included covert observation, I thought a one-way light-transmitting lens might be useful.”

“What about from the outside? Is the lens noticeable?”

“It’s almost unnoticeable. The paint in that area is blackish-brown, and whether close up or standing far away, it’s hard to spot anything extra on the canvas,” Cui Zhen’en said confidently, “Unless they have backlighting or projection lighting, that corner of the hall is always going to be a little dimmer.”

“You’re pretty clever, little girl,” Anthony complimented.

“Thinking of a sneaky trick isn’t hard,” she modestly replied.

“Since that’s the case, let me do the drilling,” Zhang Zhiyuan offered.

He dragged a backpack out from the jumbled heap of miscellaneous items—it was their equipment they had hidden in advance. Inside was not only unassembled firearm components but also some common tools such as screwdrivers, wire cutters, and a hand drill.

He found the drill in the bag, aimed at the white dot, and began to slowly turn his arm.

The others began to assemble their weapons too, unsure of when the conflict would erupt, but knowing that it was never wrong to be prepared.

The drill’s friction against wood created a faint noise, which was completely drowned out by the laughter and chatter of guests entering the room. No one noticed the change happening in a corner of the hall.

Half a minute later, a tiny peephole appeared in the wall.

Zhang Zhiyuan was the first to approach the hole, pressing his eye tightly against it. After a brief adjustment, the view of the hall came into his sight—
By now, the number of guests entering the room was growing, a conservative estimate put them over a hundred heads, seated in groups of three around the banquet hall. The stage was in the center of the hall, slightly lower than the rest of the room, giving Zhang Zhiyuan a clear view. Regrettably, the guests were all wearing various head decorations—some veils, some butterfly masks—making it difficult even for acquaintances to recognize each other, let alone for them, who were completely ignorant about the upper echelons of Magnificent Castle.

“Seems like there are quite a few heretics mixed into the high society… Why didn’t the city guards notice anything before?” Zhang Zhiyuan muttered to himself.

“It’s not that the heretics have infiltrated the upper class, but that the heretics have eroded the upper class,” Qianyuan Meiko said dismissively. “Like cancer cells, they start as isolated clusters, not affecting the body at all… but by the time you notice it’s gotten worse, they have spread throughout the entire body.”

So what stage are we at now? Early, middle… or has it already reached the late stage?

He thought of this question but didn’t voice it aloud.

If all these believers turned into monsters, it would likely mean the end of Magnificent Castle.

All he could hope for now was that the nobles gathered here were still in the “bewitched” phase and not the true heretics who had devoted body and soul to the Primordial Gods.

“How about it, can you see clearly?” impatiently asked Anthony, “Let me take a look.”

“Sorry, I’m closer to him, you’re going to have to wait in line if you want to look,” Qianyuan Meiko did not yield this time.

“Stop arguing, just let him drill another hole, move about ten centimeters to the left,” Cui Zhen’en chuckleled, “After all, there are two lenses in my sunglasses, and I’ve used them both up.”

…

“How is it, can you clearly see what’s happening in the hall?” Ailuodi asked telepathically.

“No problem, I can see through all of your perspectives simultaneously,” Chaoyang quickly replied. This time he chose to stay seated at Paradise Base, observing the progress of the players’ mission—because splitting himself and following onto the ship wasn’t an option, as the course of the Happy Goddess wasn’t predictable. If it went too far from land and the Angel wasn’t nearby, his true self would be in considerable danger.

Therefore, he couldn’t provide real-time support to the players this mission round, and the weapons and ammunition they carried had to be prepared in advance. Once the ship left the harbor, they wouldn’t be able to change these items on the spot.

After all the guests were seated, Fame took the stage and spoke through a brass horn, “Dear esteemed guests, welcome to this special pilgrimage event—differing from the previous gatherings, Divine Envoy prefers to call it the Rite of Divine Descent! For you shall witness the miracle’s arrival here!”

The room immediately erupted with enthusiastic applause.

However, as the applause died down, a discordant voice emerged in the hall.

“Excuse me, steward sir, I’ve heard a terrible piece of news recently, that the Divine Envoy’s assistant Mr. Aibuvich was attacked by the city guard and ended up dead at an outpost in the suburbs, is that true?”

The question seemed to lower the temperature of the room by several degrees.

The guests were all well-informed, and in fact, this was the question many were keen to verify.

“Good question indeed!” Zhou Zhi exclaimed, fist clenched, “An Evil God that can’t even protect its own people is nothing more than a paper tiger at the end of the day.”

This was a common problem with most heretical cults—full of mysterious bluster, but revealing cowardice when it came time to act, incompetent at every turn.

“It’s true because I witnessed it with my own eyes!” someone else declared at this moment.

Then the person left their seat, steadily walked onto the stage, and removed the wolf mask from their face.

“But the Divine Envoy has called me back from the void to continue serving the great existence. The fact that I can stand here in one piece is all thanks to the protection of my lord.”

Chaoyang sharply inhaled!

The man had a noticeable scar on his left cheek and his features and physique were all too familiar; he was the leader of Black Steel—Aibuvich!