Versatile Mage: Undying Fire

Chapter 153: Evil Infection
The corridor in the East Guard Pavilion was very narrow. Lin Ran, who had just arrived here, naturally did not understand where the road inside could lead to. From what he had seen so far, at least 70% of the corridor was walls.

"There is something I need to tell you. Just consider it a friendly reminder from me... The video of your previous competition with our gym guards has been sent to our national players." Mochizuki Chisaki is obviously an upright person and cannot accept such things.

If you want to record it, you need the consent of Lin Ran and others.

"It doesn't matter." Lin Ran said disapprovingly. By that time, even if the entire island country team fought against him alone, they would have no chance of winning.

It was very quiet here, which was an environment that Lin Ran liked very much. Thinking back to the warning light before, he asked, "What was the giant creature in the ocean before? Is it related to the commotion here?"

"I'm not sure, but I think creatures of that level cannot be mobilized easily." Mochizuki Chixun also fell into deep thought at this time.

"You haven't told me yet who the person was who used the same plant spirit seed as you before, and why he wanted to kill the guards." Lin Ran couldn't help but ask.

"He is my half brother. He grew up with me. Last year, he suddenly disappeared and could not be found anywhere..." Mochizuki Chixun thought for a while and then told Lin Ran.

"So you are here to find him?" Lin Ran said.

"Well, the plant spirit species we used is called - stalk pedicel, which has two flowers on one stalk. I got one and my brother got the other." Mochizuki Chixun said.

"In other words, the person who killed the guard was your elder brother Tsuruta? But why did your elder brother appear in prison? Could it be..." Lin Ran said.

"I don't know the specifics... General Takagi is in charge of escorting all the people in this prison. If my brother was secretly imprisoned here, there is no way he wouldn't know about it. Although my brother's surname is not Mochizuki, he is loyal to the West Guard Tower and it is impossible for him to commit any crime... I will definitely get to the bottom of this matter!" Mochizuki Chisaki said very seriously.

"Several people died just now..."

Mochizuki Chixun suddenly glared at Lin Ran fiercely, and then said: "So we need to investigate!"

"Then we have to find him, but do you know where he is being held?"

"He caused a riot before, so he will only be sent to one place next..." Mochizuki Chixun said very confidently. In prison, prisoners who made mistakes would be put into a small dark room to reflect on their mistakes. There was no light at all and even the air was very scarce. Staying in such an environment for a long time would drive people crazy.

Similarly, in the East Guard Pavilion, criminals who cause riots will also be imprisoned in a cursed room known as the Nightmare Room.

The cursed room will make the prisoners drowsy, and after falling asleep, they will be haunted by nightmares and then immersed in nightmares and unable to wake up. Even if they wake up, they will find that they are actually in another nightmare, and their spirits will suffer great torture every moment. This is the punishment of the Dongshou Pavilion for disturbing prisoners. Even the evil demons have fears in their hearts, and the nightmare room will dig out these fears and then present them in dreams. This feeling is definitely not pleasant.

Mochizuki Chixun understood that if her brother really killed three guards, he would be thrown into the nightmare room. As long as she went to the nightmare room, she could get to the bottom of the matter.

The two of them passed through the narrow road. Along the way, Lin Ran hadn't seen a cell or a door. This castle gave people a very strange feeling.

"There should be someone guarding this so-called nightmare room, right?" Lin Ran asked.

"Well, why else would I ask you to come here?" Mochizuki Chixun said.

"In other words, you want me to deal with those guards?" Lin Ran said.

"Don't worry, it's not difficult for you to deal with these guards, and you also have the Dark Wolf, which will be of great use here." Mochizuki Chixun said.

With the Dark Wolf around, few people could find him.

There were dim candles on both sides of the aisle, and the flames cast the furtive figures of two people on the wall.

Although the two of them walked very lightly, the sound of their footsteps could still be heard from far away.

The road ahead of the two began to gradually sink. It was a spiral staircase, which was obviously the underground passage leading to the East Guard Pavilion.

The two of them walked for an unknown amount of time before they realized that the space was gradually becoming wider. They hid in the corner under the stairs. At this time, Mochizuki Chixun carefully poked her head out and looked at a hall in front of her.

The hall looked like a vase. They were now at the narrow mouth of the vase. In the long hall, there were four mages wearing indigo guard uniforms. Judging from their aura, they were only mid-level mages.

"Most of the prisoners in Dongshou Pavilion have their strength suppressed by the restrictions here, so a mid-level magician is already a very powerful existence here." Mochizuki Qianxun explained in a low voice.

"I'll deal with the ones at the far end, and you take care of the others." Mochizuki Chixun said.

……

The only lighting in the hall was the faint firelight on the walls. It was obvious that the owner of the castle was not confident in the current technology, so he hardly connected any electrical equipment.

This dim environment actually gave Lin Ran a handy situation. The dim light made it very easy for the wolf to hide...

"Sanji, what are you looking at?" suddenly one of the guards who looked a little lazy asked.

"The dark aura seems to be a bit strong in there." said the guard named Sanji.

"There is a very powerful dark formation set up in the East Guard Pavilion. It is normal to see the dark aura. Don't make a fuss about the riot that just happened. The guys who are causing trouble are probably enjoying their sweet dreams in there!" said another guard.

"It's better to check it out." Sanji said.

"It's probably because the wall lamp is out." The lazy guard pointed to one of the dimmed wall lamps.

"Well, maybe so."

"Hahaha, I just started working here and I was just as suspicious as you, don't... Hey, wait, why is another light out?"

"Let me see...it's dark again, this is not right!!"

The four guards noticed that some of the wall lamps had dimmed, and their expressions changed instantly.

At this time, the dark thread fell quickly, and soon entangled and controlled the four guards. Mochizuki Chishun walked out of the darkness and said, "It's very strong!"

She only wanted Lin Ran to solve three problems, but she didn't expect him to solve four problems at once.

"You..." The guard named Sanji was a light mage. Others could hardly even move their eyes, but he could still barely speak.

Sanji looked at Lin Ran and Mochizuki Chisaki shrouded in darkness. Lin Ran was not a fool and knew that it would be bad if his face was seen clearly, so he asked Dark Wolf to cover his face. "Good night!" Lin Ran walked over and knocked out the guards.

"Let's go quickly." Lin Ran glanced at Mochizuki Qianxun behind him and said.

Mochizuki Qianxun looked at Lin Ran and nodded, "...Thank you."

Then Mochizuki Chixun walked quickly to the narrow stone door not far away. She understood that these guards could not have the key to the nightmare room, so she stuck to the thick door and spoke to the people inside.

Mochizuki Chixun spoke in Japanese language, which Lin Ran could not understand.

"Why did they lock you up here? Weren't you the guard here before?" Mochizuki Chixun's emotions fluctuated greatly, and her eyes were red.

Tsuruta has been missing for a long time, and she thought her brother had disappeared, but she didn't expect him to be here. As a member of the West Guard Pavilion, Mochizuki Chisaki naturally knew how terrible this prison was!
"I... I found the Condensed Pearl, and originally wanted to tell the Osaka government about it, but it was intercepted by General Takagi. He wanted to embezzle the Condensed Pearl himself, so he put me under house arrest. Because I refused to tell him, he imprisoned me here..."
The voice sounded very weak, and it seemed that he was being tortured severely.

"Don't talk about this for now. How can I rescue you? You can't die in there." Mochizuki Chixun interrupted.

The two talked for a long time, and Lin Ran felt that it was a bit too long.

"Is there no way to open the nightmare room?" Lin Ran asked.

Mochizuki Chisaki shook her head, her expression somewhat dull. It was obvious that what Tsuruta said had dealt her a huge blow.

"What's wrong?" Lin Ran asked.

"The Dongshou Pavilion not only has a dark formation, but also a huge curse. This curse will extract the soul power of the people here bit by bit. I used to think that this was the effect of the curse formation, but I didn't expect that the curse formation could not only extract the soul power from the prisoner's body, but also condense them into a bead..." said Mochizuki Qianxun.

"This bead that gathers the soul power of these demons should be a treasure, right?" Lin Ran said.

"Well, Gao Mu, that bastard, he even did such a thing in order to allow Tianling Beast to advance to the monarch level... As the military leader of Xishou Pavilion, he harmed others for the sake of profit, which is extremely despicable!!" Mochizuki Chixun said angrily.

Lin Ran remained silent. There was no doubt that this was a magical bead. To be honest, he wanted it because the Dark Wolf also needed resources to advance. If this bead could allow the Tianling Beast to advance, then it could also allow the Dark Wolf to advance. If he missed this opportunity, he didn't know when he would be able to advance the Dark Wolf.

"Let's take the Condensed Pearl away. Otherwise, if General Takagi finds it, he will definitely kill my brother to silence him." Mochizuki Chixun said.

"Hmmmm!" Lin Ran said. This thing would probably affect the mind. When Mochizuki Qianxun lost control, he could just take the bead away and let the Dark Wolf devour the power in it. As for the excuse, he could say that he would go crazy if he took it, so he had to let the Dark Wolf take it, and then absorbed the power in it by mistake.

……

Following Tsuruta's instructions, Lin Ran and Mochizuki Chixun began to walk towards the bottom of the East Guard Tower. The Ninghua Pearl was hidden at the bottom of the castle, but the entire castle was extremely complicated. Without certain guidance, it would be difficult to reach the pearl.

However, Tsuruta had already told Mochizuki Chixun the path and the dark maze to be careful of, so Lin Ran and Mochizuki Chixun arrived at the place Tsuruta mentioned smoothly.

There are no guards here, and Tsuruta probably arrived here by accident and discovered the bead.

The array point is a very inconspicuous small space with walls on all four sides and only a narrow opening at the top through which one can jump in.

There was nothing in this array room, and it looked no different from a shabby basement, except that a bead with a turbid luster and an evil nature was floating in the center of the room.

This bead seemed to be full of evil, and Lin Ran looked at the bead silently.

Mochizuki Qianxun took the beads and turned to leave. At this time, Lin Ran said, "What are you going to do next?"

Mochizuki Qianxun looked back at Lin Ran and said, "I won't need you from now on. You'd better behave yourself, or I will tell your country what you have done."

The petite woman in front of me seemed like a different person.

Lin Ran knew that it was the bead that was infecting Mochizuki Chixun. She didn't expect that such a brief contact could change her personality. It was really amazing. Her brother was probably infected more deeply. If she was asked to get the bead, he would take the bead away for her and then influence more people. Her brother was probably already a demon.

Afterwards, Lin Ran and Mochizuki Chixun kept a certain distance until they parted ways.

Of course Lin Ran did not leave, he hid in the shadows.

Mochizuki Chisaki strode forward, and when the light fell on her, it was as if she had entered darkness.

Her speed was getting faster and faster, and her direction was gradually deviating, but she didn't know it yet.

As time passed, Lin Ran's reflection in the glass gradually turned into a ghostly wooden monster, looking hideous and terrifying.

Lin Ran even saw a three-year-old girl crying out of fear.

Hearing the girl's crying, Mochizuki Chiaki thought it was very noisy, so she yelled.

"Why are you crying? Did your mother die?" Mochizuki Chishun's voice was hoarse and scary, just like a ghost in a horror movie.

The little girl cried even harder, and her mother began to apologize hurriedly.

Mochizuki Chixun approached the little girl, and Lin Ran tensed his body. If Mochizuki Chixun made any unusual movement, he would take action immediately.

The little girl was so frightened that she dared not cry out loud.

Mochizuki Chixun looked at the little girl coldly and turned away.

Suddenly, Mochizuki Qianxun looked in the direction of Lin Ran.

The dark wolf took Lin Ran and dived into deeper shadows in an instant.

"Sure enough, you didn't leave." Mochizuki Chixun looked away with a sneer. In her mind, the image of Lin Ran being pierced by the ghost tree appeared. In this way, he would not be able to hinder the National Government Team, right? Crazy thoughts were growing.

(End of this chapter)