Chapter 1298

"Where are they?" The Reaper's heart pounded—this shouldn't be happening.

Earlier they'd been talking about what they were doing, but since it didn't sound important, I just went to the bathroom.

When I came back, I followed the plan to intercept the vehicle—so where are my teammates?

Did they retreat?

Even if they retreated, they should have signaled me.

"Come out, all of you!" The Reaper tried again to rally his comrades, but still no one answered.

The Reaper cursed furiously in his heart—a bunch of unreliable bastards. With things as they are, I'll have to handle this myself!

Lu Yang was also somewhat surprised by the Reaper's appearance. After dealing with those genetically modified warriors, he had followed their instructions to find a High Conclave outpost nearby.

Thinking it was just a minor task, he went over and used a few small tricks to get everyone at the outpost to turn themselves in at the police station.

He had handled everything so thoroughly—how could there still be a slip like the Reaper?

Indeed, rushing things leads to oversights.

"You guys hurry up and leave!" Moxie shoved everyone aside and stepped forward to face the Reaper.

"I'll help too!" Yangran volunteered.

As soon as the Reaper clashed with Moxie, he sensed something off: "You're hiding your strength!"

According to the intel, Moxie shouldn't be this strong!

Yangran's attacks came one after another. Though her strength wasn't on par with Moxie's or the Reaper's, it was enough to create an opening for Moxie to strike.

Outmatched by the two women, the Reaper thought of retreating—but escaping now wasn't that simple.

He feinted an opening; Moxie, lacking combat experience, truly fell for it. He seized the moment to lunge at Lu Yang and Yangran, grabbing Lu Yang by the neck. His hand was his sharpest weapon—just a little pressure could sever Lu Yang's neck!

"Don't move, or I'll kill him!"

Moxie and Yangran, who had been preparing to charge forward, abruptly halted their steps, afraid to move again.

"Ah, I've been kidnapped." Lu Yang raised his hands in surrender.

The Reaper smirked, dragging Lu Yang backward as he retreated, and before leaving, he tossed down a small note.

"If you want this person to live, go to this place!"

The High Conclave has an outpost nearby—he intends to lure Moxie and the others into it!

Moxie picked up the note with a grim expression. As she stood up, both the Reaper and Lu Yang had vanished.

……

The Reaper dragged Lu Yang in a frantic sprint, trying to contact his companions, but still no reply. His heart skipped—something felt terribly wrong.

He entered the underground secret outpost via the elevator.

The secret outpost was brightly lit, yet utterly empty. The coffee on the table was still steaming.

Moreover, there were no signs of a struggle. The Reaper felt a chill run down his spine—it was as if some sudden emergency had caused the outpost personnel to evacuate en masse.

"Hey, Extreme Cold Ice Freeze—are you guys in here——"

"Myriad Things Born—if you're here, say something——"

The Reaper's voice echoed down the long corridor, but no one answered.

Suddenly, a voice rang out from the end of the hallway: "Mr. Reaper, I'm here."

The Reaper overjoyed, he sprinted over, knowing someone had to be present.

But standing at the end of the corridor was a domestic robot. The robot looked at the Reaper with empty eyes, while emergency lights flickered behind it: "Mr. Reaper, would you like some coffee?"

Seeing this, the Reaper recoiled in terror, stumbling backward repeatedly.

He gasped heavily, as if he'd just survived an invisible life-or-death struggle, then went to the surveillance room and retrieved the footage from after he left.

The footage after his departure showed everything normal at first. The Reaper grew agitated and sped up the playback.

Originally, the outpost was staffed by people—but in the next instant, they all vanished, startling the Reaper into a jerk.

He commanded the surveillance to replay that segment, slowing it to double, then quadruple speed… all the way to thirty-two times slower, yet he still couldn't make out what had happened.

In the thirty-two-times-slowed footage, the outpost personnel disappeared one by one. They seemed unaware of their companions vanishing—until they themselves disappeared, as if some ineffable presence had silently consumed them all.

Thinking of his missing teammates, extreme panic spread through his heart. The outpost's air circulation was normal, the fluorescent lights warm—but to the Reaper, the outpost felt like a monster's maw, dark and gaping, waiting for him to walk right into it.

Someone tapped his shoulder, making him jump straight up: "You okay?"

The Reaper turned around, relieved—it was Lu Yang. Turns out he wasn't the only one here.

Moreover, Lu Yang's expressionless face gave him a bit of confidence.

"It's just us two here—aren't you scared?"

"Two people?" Lu Yang showed a hint of confusion. "Hasn't there always been three people here?"

As his words faded, a yellow-clad figure slowly materialized in midair.

"Ah——"

The Reaper completely broke down, fear utterly consuming his heart.

No mistake, no missing character, one line, one view!

Ding-dong—

The elevator sound rang out. The Reaper, as if seeing a savior, went mad with joy and sprinted toward the elevator.

It was the Blue Sea Trio riding the elevator to rescue Lu Yang.

By now, the Reaper had long abandoned his mission, gone mad with fear, and came charging at the Blue Sea Trio, startling them greatly.

"Stand still—don't move!" Moxie stepped forward, eyes wary on the Reaper.

"Run! There's a ghost! There's a ghost!" the Reaper screamed hysterically, uttering incomprehensible words.

Moxie frowned, easily subdued the Reaper, then eyed the surroundings warily—also finding it strange that not a single person remained in the outpost.

She had already prepared for a mass slaughter.

Could it be a trap?

"Miser, She Ran, Blue Sea, I'm here." Lu Yang walked out of the surveillance room, and from afar greeted everyone.

Seeing the calm and composed Lu Yang, the Reaper was so frightened he sat down on the ground, pointing at Lu Yang as his feet frantically scraped the floor while he backed away.

"Ghost! Ghost! Ghost!"

"Brother Meng, you're alright, that's really great." Miser and the others, seeing Lu Yang safe and sound, breathed a sigh of relief.

"I'm fine, it's just this guy called the Reaper, who brought me here and then picked up someone else's coffee, didn't drink it, and started shouting loudly, overjoyed when he heard the home service robot respond. When the home service robot asked if he wanted coffee, he was so scared he couldn't take it."

"I thought he was acting crazy, so I took the chance to escape from his grasp." Lu Yang patted his chest, still feeling uneasy.

"How strange."

"Yeah, really strange. Could he have been possessed?"

"He keeps muttering about ghosts—did he see a ghost?"

"We should talk about science—where would ghosts come from in this world? Brother Meng, you agree, right?"

Lu Yang nodded, expressing full agreement: "Exactly, where would ghosts come from."

"There really are ghosts!" To get Blue Sea and the others to side with him, the Reaper plucked up his courage and led them to the surveillance room to check the footage.

However, the recording only showed snow, nothing could be seen.

"It's you! You deleted it!" The Reaper pointed at Lu Yang and shouted loudly; now, in his eyes, Lu Yang was a person possessed by an evil spirit.

Lu Yang spread his hands, looking utterly innocent: "I didn't do anything."

What Lu Yang said was true—he indeed hadn't touched the surveillance system, and whether it was deleted or not didn't matter, since Blue Sea and the others couldn't see themselves on the surveillance anyway.

If it wasn't me who did it, then was it deleted by the Ether?

So, did the Ether notice me?

(End of Chapter)