World Occult Usage Guide

Fu Bin reported to Lin An that he had an acquaintance at the border between Bantu and Ubangi who could help them cross the vast wilderness of the border.

Lin An knew nothing about the Masina region and was in need of a reliable guide, so he was eager to hear more.

"I met that guy when I was in graduate school. He lived on the same floor as me, and we would run into each other in the hallway from time to time. I remember he had a weird name, Ernest Wanba Dia Wanba, and then he got an even weirder Chinese name, Wang Wanba."

As soon as he sat down, Fu Bin began to talk incessantly, his tone nostalgic. At this point, he made a point of explaining something to Lin An.

"The word 'turtle' is a derogatory term used to insult people in China."

"Okay, I know."

Lin An never imagined that he, the history class representative, would be subjected to daily education about his own culture by people from China.

"Wang Ba, cough, Lao Wang is an exchange student studying at Ningcheng Military Academy. I often play football with this guy, and we got to know each other over time. Later, we exchanged with Green Bubble, and he would send me a happy holiday greeting from time to time during holidays."

“Our friendship originally ended with just emoji greetings, until a few years ago when I was posted to Lacono and tried to contact him a few times. I didn’t know that Old Wang was actually the son of a local tribal chief in Ubangi.”

"He shone brightly in the local area thanks to his military knowledge acquired in China. If it weren't for 'Comers' coming, he would have even intended to run for Minister of Defense in Ubangi."

What an unexpected relationship. Lin An thought.

"It's a pity that Comrade Lao Wang hasn't been on Green Bubble for over a year," Fu Bin sighed. "If I had known I would be working for Neptune, I should have left some other contact information back then."

Lin An raised his hand to stop him from continuing.

A dormitory friendship on a college campus is certainly touching, but it needs a real guide.

"Uh, it's a little embarrassing to say."

Fu Bin brought up the system, and green data formed an interface similar to a floating display, playing a frontline report from a few days ago.

In the Ubangi army camp, there was an exceptionally cunning Ubangi officer who often feigned weakness and dispersed his troops to lure the Bantu army into launching an attack, then surrounded them from the rear, defeating the Bantu army from both inside and outside.

This report details his insidious scheme: the officer had his men impersonate arms dealers to gain the trust of high-ranking officials in the city, lure them out, and then shoot them all dead, thus earning him the nickname "infamous".

Without the "notorious" command, the Bantu army's defeat would not have been so swift.

Fu Bin pointed to the officer's photo and licked his lips.

"Forest ranger, this 'infamous' general is Wang Wanba, our exchange student in the dormitory building."

"..."

It's so fun being a student at a prestigious university; meeting an old friend in a foreign land, and the president turns out to be my roommate.

“Back then, he said if I came to Nanzhou, he would definitely take me for a drive.” Fu Bin’s smile was a little stiff. “A forest ranger…and here comes the opportunity, doesn’t it?”

Looking at his unnatural little expression, Lin An suddenly understood why Fu Bin had sent an email so hastily as soon as he heard about his travel plans.

As one of the highest-level rangers of the World Tree, Fu Bin made great contributions to the establishment of the World Tree, just like the other rangers. However, seeing that everyone else had become the Mysterious Ones while he was still an ordinary person, he couldn't help but feel a little impatient for quick success.

His inherent competitiveness made him eager to make greater contributions to compensate for his lack of strength—even though Fu Bin's architectural achievements in the past few months have been quite remarkable.

Lin An had no problem with him, but in the face of the current crisis, being an ordinary person was indeed dangerous.

Since joining the company, Fu Bin has been working on infrastructure projects and has had almost no opportunity to come into contact with the mysterious individuals. However, as the head of logistics, once the situation stabilizes, he will likely be traveling frequently and dealing with the [Sprouters] all over the World Tree.

Although it was dangerous, Lin An didn't have much time to wait; this trip to the Masina region was a good opportunity to accelerate growth.

After a moment's thought, his fingers moved, and the data flashed.

“Architect, I’ve created a first draft of an attendance application form in the ‘Communication with Developers’ section. I’ll fill in Ubangi as the destination this time.”

…………

"Buzzing, buzzing."

A fly, about the size of an adult male's fist, buzzed irritatingly, streaking through the murky air before landing on the head of a woman whose body was partially covered by a towel.

The woman's hair was disheveled, and various parasites crawled in and out of the grooves of her dreadlocks. A fly landed on her scalp, rubbed its forelegs, and ripples that were invisible to the naked eye slid across its empty, large eyes.

The next moment, small, varicella-like bumps covered the woman's dark skin, like countless peanuts emerging from her pores.

The woman's lifeless eyes had completely lost their luster, and her head drooped slightly to her chest, as if she were silently reciting a prayer to herself.

"Buzzing..."

Just as the fly was about to spread its wings and fly to its next target, a dazzling and extremely bright streak of light shot straight into the woman's stopped heart. Her whole body convulsed violently, and black, malevolent energy spread outwards.

"Buzz! Buzz buzz—buzz."

The annoying buzzing suddenly rose in pitch, then abruptly stopped. The rampant fly stood frozen in place, and several plump, whitish ferns appeared, their leaves like dancing fairies, surrounding it. The colors faded from the fly's body, as if someone had turned on a black and white filter.

The magic disappeared.

"Boom!"

With a strange whooshing sound, a long pink tongue popped out from the other side, stuck to the fly, and quickly retracted.

"Gudong!"

The sound of swallowing subsided, signaling the outcome of the encounter. A group of figures emerged from the alleyway diagonally opposite the woman. They were dressed differently, but all wore the same badges.

That's a simplified version of the World Tree pattern.

The team consisted of four mysterious individuals and a dozen or so ordinary people.

A mysterious figure confirmed the fly's death and flew into the sky to find its next target. Its black wings cast a cloud-like shadow, which was none other than [Mvias].

As one of the first Mystics to awaken, he became the squad leader of the Direct Division, whose team members were none other than Mel, Kofi, and Kantubby, who had been with the unit for less than a week.

They were on the verge of awakening, and Lin An gave them a push with the [Edit] function. In addition, they kept witnessing and participating in the battles of the Mystics, and within a few days they gradually became Mystics.

"Alas, we're too late." Mel made the sign of the cross on his chest, turned his head slightly away, unable to bear looking at the woman's corpse. "May God bless your soul."

“If she hadn’t been killed by the virus first, I wouldn’t have had a chance to do anything—the employee handbook forbids me from taking drastic measures against ordinary people—and this kill wouldn’t have gone so smoothly. Don’t be so sad, this guy died with honor.” Kantubi stretched his shoulders.

"Does a human life seem less important to you than successfully completing the mission?" Mel asked, slightly displeased.

"I don't want to discuss whether it's worth it or not with someone like you." Kantubi rolled his eyes.

"Shh, don't make a sound." Kofi Serge stepped between the two. "I think I heard something..."

After saying that, he stepped forward, made an apologetic gesture, and tore open the woman's clothes.

A barely breathing infant lay in her arms, its face pale, its fists clenched, but it was still breathing faintly.

"My God!"

Mel unconsciously covered her mouth, and the World Tree employees gasped, quickly wrapping the baby up and providing basic first aid.

The Mysterious One's mission has come to an end. The cleanup will be handled by professionals. Just as the three were about to ask their captain and senior, [Mvias], if he had found a new target, a crisp notification sound suddenly rang in their ears.

"Ding! The [Mission Memo] has been updated. You have been assigned a new important mission. Please check the details immediately."

The three of them were taken aback and subconsciously opened the system, where a brief notification was displayed in bold font.

Firefighters in reserve, please arrive at the top floor of the Capitol within 2 hours.

Permissions have been granted.

Forest Ranger [Emera]

It turned out that the message was sent to them by the forest ranger's direct subordinate!

The three looked at each other, their minds blank, when Mvias's voice came from the sky.

"Your mission is over. Get going. Remember, missions issued by the rangers always have the highest priority!"

Upon hearing this, the three quickly greeted their colleagues and headed towards the Capitol Building.

Less than an hour later, they sat in the top-floor reception room, sweating profusely, their hearts pounding, half from tension and half from exhaustion.

This place is separated from the forest ranger's office by only one wall. They could hear the buzzing conversation coming from the other side of the wall, which fell into the silent room and sounded as loud as a symphony of fate.

Fortunately, the news they were about to hear was neither bad news nor a blessing.

"Let them come on this business trip with me?" Fu Bin pointed to himself. "This...this isn't a good idea."

"What's the panic? Are [Meteor Curse Matopora], [Rural Magic Wizard Peral], and [Obrigwa Bibikwa] not qualified?" Lin An brought up three panels and laid them out in front of Fu Bin. "Besides, you also have [Burning Mirror]."

The man from the Dragon Kingdom fell silent for a long while before saying, "I understand. The reason you chose a newcomer as my 'bodyguard' is twofold: first, you want to test my abilities, and second, you want to unleash my potential. Don't worry, a strong general has no weak soldiers under his command; I won't let you down."

"Actually, it's just a matter of not having enough manpower. The powerful mystics all have to stay at the Kinsasha base. I don't want to bring along the mystics recruited from other forces, for fear that they might have some kind of connection with the powerful families under the tyrant."

Lin An interrupted him ruthlessly.

Stop rolling around, bro!

The next day, an hour before dawn, an off-road vehicle loaded with supplies left the still-sleeping Kinsasha and headed towards the gurgling Niger River. (End of Chapter)