Book 10: Chapter 20: Gathering Clouds (Two)

Setting aside Hu Fei and Little Lian’s complicated feelings, Wolf thought back on the source of this information.

Big Apostle Teams and High-Rank Apostles mostly had their own intelligence channels. They built these connections over many Quest Worlds. Looking at it this way, all elite Apostles, especially the Five Serial Killers of Devil’s Horn, were all moving in this direction, whether they planned it or not.

No matter how you looked at it, an Apostle City was just a small town with tens of thousands of people. As soon as someone got huge gains in a Quest World, they needed to trade back in the City. So an outstanding Apostle stood out like a nail in a bag. People would notice sooner or later.

Meeting other Apostle Teams or folks from other Apostle Cities was also unavoidable inside Quest Worlds. All things considered, top Apostles like Qin Lun and Robin were sure to catch the attention of other Apostle Teams. After some ten or twenty Quest Worlds passed, even the color of their underwear was known to others.

Wolf trying to recruit Robin from the Lost Team might seem odd. But to High-Rank Apostles, it felt perfectly normal. Robin was loyal to Lost, no doubt. But that didn’t mean she would never join the Holy Light Team, regardless of the situation.

Just think back: Kelly, the famous Golden Jackal of Devil’s Horn, ended up joining Lost because her own team was badly hurt! Lost now showed signs of that same trouble. So the Holy Light Team reaching out to Robin was totally understandable.

However, what really made Wolf think was the news about the Lost Team being in trouble. As a big Law Team themselves, Holy Light had some friendly contacts within the Order Front.

But this time, the news didn’t come from them. It arrived way too fast and with way too much detail. This puzzled Wolf and Holy Light’s other top members.

Yes, Lost faced problems now, maybe leaving Devil’s Horn pushed out by the other two Alliances, or the whole team falling apart. But at this moment, they hadn’t really collapsed yet.

Word about the Light Team’s complete failure spread only among a small group. Most middle and lower-tier Apostles on the Order Front knew nothing. Besides, with Lost still intact and information strictly controlled, non-Alliance core members couldn’t make an accurate judgment.

Exactly at this time, an unknown Apostle deliberately traveled to Tyrant City. They passed this news through the Mercenary Guild to the Holy Light Team. It was clearly someone wanting more trouble.

Holy Light having close ties to Devil’s Horn wasn’t a secret people could dig out. Still, this couldn’t be the work of Chaos or Apostle Monument. They were busy trying to grab as much as possible. They wouldn’t want big teams from other Apostle Cities coming to take people away.

It also wasn’t someone with a grudge against Lost trying to annoy them. Big teams from other Apostle Cities couldn’t poach Apostles from Devil’s Horn as easily as Chaos or Apostle Monument.

To poach an Apostle in a Quest World, you had to track that Apostle’s world coordinates.

Reaching that level generally took one of three ways. The first used an Apostle’s number, which was easiest but nearly impossible. Even Probationary Apostles were warned about this when first entering the Star Void. Qin Lun got that warning long ago from Beruses of the Demon Clan.

The second way required the Apostle to carry a traceable Apostle item. Like Hansen and Hill being chased down by Fink’s team over that MT shield.

The last method tracked them through the core of an Apostle City. Every Apostle City was built by Sapient Races, but its city core had a mysterious link to the Shattered Starry Sky. The Identity Plate that let Apostles carry Shattered Crystals worked this way.

However, tracking an Apostle through a city core not only cost a huge price, but the tracker needed enough power within Devil’s Horn. That meant their Apostle rank had to be high enough so the Shattered Starry Sky would stop protecting the target’s information.

For instance, an Apostle with a second-tier rank could only be tracked by a third-tier Apostle. Once someone reached the third tier, almost no one could track them, except the very few fourth-tier Apostles.

Like the High-Rank members of the Lost Team this time: they fought by agreement, not because someone tracked them down. Only low or mid-tier Apostles being scouted faced tracking from High-Rank members of other Alliances.

While Holy Light’s High-Rank members also had Identity Plates, those belonged to Tyrant City. They couldn’t track Devils’ Horn’s Apostles. Not Robin, already a third-tier Apostle. Not even a Probationary Apostle. They simply couldn’t locate them.

The strangest thing was this: the unknown Apostle who deliberately spread the news in Tyrant City also gave Holy Light a third-tier Apostle Identity Plate…

Holy Light’s top members checked it. This plate belonged to a Light Team High-Rank member. Understanding this fact gave Holy Light’s leaders faces full of expression.

An Apostle Identity Plate was a special Apostle item that disappeared when an Apostle died. This plate still existing meant that Light Team High-Rank member was captured alive. And it happened inside Devil’s Horn, since Identity Plates couldn’t enter Quest Worlds.

Connecting this with the Light Team’s strange total defeat in that fight against Superstring Space’s outer force, Holy Light’s High-Rank members all smelled a heavy plot.

Thinking it over and over, they only came to one surprising conclusion. There must be a Superstring Space spy inside the Shattered Starry Sky. This spy could both capture a High-Rank Apostle alive and also had enough influence within the Superstring Space to contact and help the Superstring Reincarnators wipe out the Light Team.

Yet as soon as they reached this conclusion, Holy Light rejected it themselves. Moving from Superstring Space to Shattered Starry Sky required immense cost. Making such a move also meant totally cutting ties with former allies.

Leaving identity questions aside, Apostles and Reincarnators shared one thing: they were like hired fighters. They held no loyalty to either Shattered Starry Sky or Superstring Space.

A Reincarnator switching to Shattered Starry Sky, then helping Superstring Space trap Apostles seemed like pointless effort. Holy Light found no motive for anyone to do this!

Of course, since they couldn’t see a reason, they stopped trying. Having that third-tier Identity Plate now meant Holy Light could track Lost’s Apostles.

They just couldn’t target Robin, who was also third-tier. This time, they used friendly contacts on the Order Front to look up part of the Patroller Team’s member list. Then they located a Novice Apostle definitely entering the Quest World alongside Robin.

What Deputy Leader Wolf of Holy Light didn’t realize was this: Some people don’t act for reasons at all. Their actions come purely from sudden, morbid whims. Take Qin Lun, or another troublesome young lady just like him.

…

At that very moment, halfway along the second spiral arm of the Scorpius Galaxy, a giant space battleship was also flying towards the galaxy’s edge. Unlike the Faith with its mechanical, technological style, this ship looked strangely magical. Its shape was a perfect cube, sparkling with star-like flickers. It resembled a dizzying, changing puzzle box.

On each of this enormous cube’s six faces rested a mysterious network pattern full of lines and dots. These lines and dots occasionally gleamed with light, like beautiful points of starlight. Seen from far off, it looked like a small star map rushing nearer and nearer, creating a breathtaking vision.

Actually, the luminous spots covering the cube ship were different observation rooms within the ship, facing space.

In one such room on a single face of the cube, over ten Apostles sat or stood. But most looked anxious. Their eyes kept drifting towards the two girls playing star chess at the room’s center.

These Apostles resembled the Angel Clones Qin Lun and others possessed. Yet their bodies felt entirely different.

Qin Lun and his companions’ clones were tall and powerful, far beyond ordinary humans, but still looked like flesh and blood.

In stark contrast, except for their appearances, these Apostles bodies had a semi-transparent, glass-like quality. Inside, something liquid seemed to swirl, as if transparent jelly filled a skin container.

Though appearing delicate and pretty, their bodies weren’t truly solid. This state came after dense Souls solidified into physical forms. They could shift back into smoky Soul forms anytime needed.

“My Lady, I give up,” Junko said without emotion, laying down a chess piece.

“Hey, hey! You could definitely save this here! Look, here!” The lovely girl across from her pouted lightly, tapping several areas on the board. “Surrendering already? Junko, you need persistence! Doesn’t your Yamato clan teach you stick-to-it-iveness?”

“My Lady, please stop teasing me. All those spots are traps, aren’t they?” The Japanese girl replied sharply, gathering the chess pieces without looking up.

“Oh! You figured it out!” Qin Mei faked surprise, covering her mouth with one hand. She lazily yawned. “Knowing the trick sucks the fun away. Fine, I’m getting some sleep. Not enough rest is a young girl’s worst enemy!”

“Nothing you do fits the ‘young girl’ image,” Junko sighed in her mind, watching the beautiful demon turn into mist and drift through the wall. “What do you expect?”

Right after Qin Mei left, the Apostles, pretending to be busy, all suddenly rushed over to Junko.

“Junko, do you think Lady Qin Mei will let us go after this Quest?” one asked hurriedly.

“If you want to die, you can ask Her yourself!” Junko answered blank-faced. “Besides, what’s wrong staying near Her? Your rewards from Quests have skyrocketed!”

“Junko, getting rich under Lady Mei’s command… totally true! But Her strange personality? That’s basically suicide!” The Apostles swapped worried glances. “Can’t you persuade her? Sure, Apostles die eventually. But dying because you sought trouble? That’s different!”