Night Journey

Chapter 55 The Tide Rises
Shortly after Cillian left, Anya pushed open the office door.

"It seems you and Cillian had a good chat. Did you find any clues?"

"A little."

Dai Lin stretched vigorously and said slowly.

“Anya, our previous raids on the alleys all came up empty-handed. We didn’t even catch a glimpse of these Chaos cultists. But on his first night patrol of the city, Cillian swaggered right into their lair.”

Anya listened quietly.

Daelin continued, "There are only two possibilities: either Cillian is a chosen unlucky guy, or Cillian possesses some means of detecting traces of chaos."

Anya didn't finish her sentence, "What do you think..."

“I believe that Ciri is a spy from the Holy City of the Sun. Perhaps the Fire Guardian Cult is about to make a big move in Hel City, no… or even the entire Outer Flame Frontier.”

Dai Lin reminded him, "Do you remember the predictions made by the stargazers a while ago?"

When the topic of prophecy came up, Anya felt inexplicably depressed. "The prophecies of stargazers are sometimes inaccurate."

“But this prophecy is known only to the city councils. We only learned about it because you got it from Director Decal.”

"This is enough to prove the importance of this prophecy," Dai Lin emphasized.

Through her ambiguous relationship with Decal, Anya often managed to obtain some secret information from him.

"Neither the city council nor Director Decal has released this prophecy, probably for fear of causing confusion."

Dalyn then recounted the contents of the prophecy.

"The blazing sun will rise from the edge of darkness, bringing forth all evils and the beginning of strife."

He continued, "Since this prophecy appeared, the Fiends have become increasingly active in Hel City, followed by that strange energy tide a while ago, and the destruction of a city-state..."

Something is definitely going to happen.

The two fell into a long silence, and after a long while, Anya slowly spoke.

“Dailin, we are just humble little people.”

“So what?” Dailin shook his head. “Can small people just surrender to the tide of the times? If we were that easy to compromise, we would probably be dead many years ago.”

Dai Lin agreed, saying, "We are indeed small people, but small people also have their own way of living."

"What are you going to do?"

“There’s nothing we can do,” Dalin said, pulling out another cigarette. “There’s no direct evidence to prove Cillian’s identity. Until things happen, we just need to wait patiently.”

"Wait...wait for the event to happen, wait for the event to change."

Dai Lin suddenly added, "But before that, life goes on."

He looked at Anya with a smile, "Excuse me, do you have time this weekend? I found a nice restaurant downstream of the Huahe River."

……

Cillian arrived at work as scheduled and sat down at his workstation.

The workstations were just a table and a chair, completely empty. Behind one partition was Elton's workstation, filled with all sorts of strange tools and equipment, while behind the other partition was Maefuni's workstation, which was covered with cute little toys.

As the eldest daughter of the Centipede Merchant Guild, Meifuni obviously doesn't need to be on duty on time.

Elton, who was on the other side, had arrived early and started adjusting the knobs on the Yanxun communication console. He put on his headphones and tried to catch snippets of conversation amidst the clattering noise.

Cillian didn't rest. He picked up a pile of files and began to carefully read through them, trying to find clues about the evil claws in these cases.

Before he knew it, it was noon, and someone patted Cillian on the shoulder.

Cillian turned around and saw that Maefuni had arrived at some point. She was handing him a cup of coffee with a smile on her face.

"Thank you for your hard work, everyone."

Mafoni placed the coffee on Cillian's table and handed another cup to Elton.

Cillian said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome."

Meifuni sat back down at her workstation, opened the dessert box, and started munching on cookies while reading a book.

Cillian had been working at the City Guard Bureau for a while, but during that time he had hardly ever been to the office. He was either on duty outside or catching up on sleep at home.

Today was the first time Cillian had spent a full day at the City Guard Bureau, and the first time he had learned about the daily work of his colleagues.

Mefuni noticed Cillian's gaze, wiped the crumbs from the corner of her mouth, hesitated for a moment, and then reluctantly picked up a cookie and handed it to him.

Would you like a piece?

Cillian paused for a moment, then waved his hand, "It's okay, you can eat it yourself."

"Well."

Meifuni quickly stuffed the remaining piece into her mouth and crunched it down.

Cillian shifted his gaze to Elton, who was still fiddling with the Yanxun communications station, nervously turning the knobs as if defusing a bomb, lest the entire office be blown to bits by the slightest mistake.

After waiting for quite some time, Elton let out a weary sigh and slumped into his chair, as if he had just survived a major battle.

Cillian asked curiously, "What were you doing just now?"

Elton and Cillian have become somewhat more familiar with each other, unlike before when they were distant.

"I'm searching for a friend's signal, but the spirit world seems to be quite turbulent lately, full of chaotic interference, making it impossible to extract any useful information."

Cillian asked in confusion, "What is Xunyou?"

"Yanxun technology enthusiasts, we live in different cities and use Yanxun communication platform to communicate, connect, and share our lives, just like pen pals in another form."

Elton is usually lifeless, but he always becomes incredibly enthusiastic when it comes to Yanxun Technology.

But this enthusiasm was fleeting, and Elton became dejected again, muttering to himself.

“I haven’t been able to contact her for a long time since the energy tide a while ago.” After resting for a while, Elton adjusted the Yanxun communication station again. Seeing how engrossed he was, Cillian didn’t want to disturb him.

"Hey!"

Maefuni called out to Cillian in a low voice.

Cillian shifted her chair and leaned closer. She leaned against the partition and whispered in Cillian's ear.

Do you know why Elton is so disappointed?

"what happened?"

Cillian's curiosity was piqued.

“His friend is a girl, and the two have been in contact for many years,” Mae Fonnie said with a wicked smile. “Elton thought he was hiding it well, but everyone can see that he has fallen in love with that girl.”

"Now that we've lost contact with them, of course we're extremely anxious."

"You've known each other for many years?" Cillian asked, puzzled. "Has he never met the other person?"

“The other party is in another city-state. Besides, Elton is just an ordinary person… He tried to become a superhuman, but he failed to wake up from the dream of the soul several times.”

Meifuni recounted this unfortunate fact: "How can an ordinary person cross the wilderness and reach another city-state?"

Even traveling with a tour group is fraught with deadly risks, and the tickets are incredibly expensive—you'd probably have to go bankrupt to get one, and there's no return trip.

In the era of fragmented city-states, the price that ordinary people had to pay to travel from one city-state to another was unimaginable.

Therefore, for the vast majority of people, the city-state they live in is their entire world, and no matter how glorious the so-called Holy City of the Day may be, it is just a legendary existence to them.

Looking at Elton again, Cillian understood his personality to some extent.

Elton was withdrawn and uninteresting, and he devoted all his energy and emotions to the ephemeral world of Xunyou.

Cillian lowered his voice and asked in return, "Well, Mafoni, are you the know-it-all here? How do you know everything?"

"Clerical work is very boring, so I have to find some fun on my own."

Mefuni blinked and said, "I also know a lot of gossip about Dalin and Anya, you..."

Cillian waved his hand. "Forget it, forget it. I'd better not know too much about these things."

"Haha."

Mafone chuckled a few times and asked, "Oh, by the way, aren't you interested in Valerie? I heard from her that you're quite indifferent to her."

"I'm not interested in romantic relationships right now."

Cillian abruptly interrupted the conversation.

Time passed slowly, the sun set, and dawn and dusk enveloped everything.

Tonight, Cirion's shift has been reassigned to someone else. As it's nearing the end of his shift, Cirion is at a loss for what to do and doesn't know where to go.

"I'm off work now, wanna grab something to drink?" Mefuni invited Cillian.

“If it’s just you, I don’t mind,” Cillian guessed, “but I’m afraid your friend Valerie will come too, won’t she?”

Meifuni looked a little embarrassed and said wearily, "She keeps bothering me to introduce you to her."

"I don't understand," Cillian complained. "Did she fall in love with me at first sight?"

"I don't know, she rarely does that."

Mefuni didn't force him, but suggested, "How about this, Cillian, you go see her once and refuse her outright. That way, she won't bother me, and you won't have to either."

Valerie's overtures made Cillian uncomfortable, but he couldn't very well turn against her directly. Maefuni's suggestion was a good one, as it resolved all the troublesome issues.

Just as Ciri was about to agree, a strong sense of crisis erupted from the depths of his heart, followed by a chill that seeped into his very bones.

Not only did Cillian notice this abnormality, but Mefuni's face also turned pale, and her body trembled instinctively.

A cold wind swept through the streets, and before the two could even start their car, a piercing alarm blared throughout the streets and alleys.

"A tidal wave has been detected and is expected to arrive in three minutes. Citizens are advised to evacuate immediately."

A resolute female voice came over the loudspeaker, and moments later, chaos erupted in the streets as citizens fled to the nearest buildings, their screams of terror filling the air.

“Cillian!”

Dailin strode over, followed by Anya and other city guards.

“The Stargazers predict that a surge of energy is erupting around Hel City, and we need to hold the high walls.”

Without any hesitation, Cillian deftly drew his Boiling Sword.

Like a gray torrent, they quickly passed through the chaotic crowd, boarded the emergency-arranged light rail, and were taken to the high wall.

Cillian murmured, "This happened far too suddenly."

“This isn’t the first time,” Dailin said. “It happened a while ago too, with a sudden energy tide that caught us off guard.”

“Hel City is in chaos, and the Claws will surely take advantage of this to cause trouble, right?” Cillian silently gripped the hilt of his sword. “Perhaps, this energy tide was also caused by them.”

"The affairs within the city are no longer our concern."

Dailin looked out the car window at the street, where humanoid armored figures suddenly appeared, issuing warnings and driving away the crowd, announcing the start of the curfew in Hull City.

Cillian had seen these iron giants before. They were creations of the Institute of All Machines and Laws, and with the assistance of the Source Engine and Source Crystal, even mortals could easily control them.

When Cillian climbed the high wall, in addition to the city guards, superhumans from other factions also arrived at the scene.

Although there was still some time before the sunlight completely disappeared, the pitch-black sky was visibly swallowing up the remaining light until a pure black dome enveloped the city of Hel.

"It's coming," Dai Lin whispered.

At the pitch-black end, gray fog enveloped the earth.

(End of this chapter)