Abyssal Chronicles

Chapter 853 - 854: Falling

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In the Visizer Mountains of western Holy Lomari, what was once a barren mountainous region ignored by the empire had instantly become a hotspot attracting the attention of countless people.

The empire’s military, police, medical staff, reporters, and countless adventurers began to gather in this mountainous area continuously.

The reason for the gathering of countless people here was mainly due to the crimson meteor that had fallen here last night.

And this crimson meteor was none other than the renowned luxury airship of the Holy Lomari Empire—the White Swallow.

An airship that embodied the essence of the empire’s technology, a mobile banquet hall that hosted hundreds of social elites, had unexpectedly met with a disaster.

It had turned into a fiery meteor, falling from the sky and crashing into this mountainous region.

This was undoubtedly the top news in the empire, and the empire’s higher-ups attached great importance to it.

In their view, a perfectly maintained airship could not have crashed due to a malfunction. Even if a malfunction had occurred, the information would have been transmitted back to the aviation headquarters, rather than crashing silently like this.

Therefore, the higher-ups of Holy Lomari suspected that this was a premeditated terrorist attack!

As a result, an elite investigation team led by Paffet quickly arrived at the Visizer Mountains and swiftly sealed off the area.

...

At this moment, in front of the airship wreckage, Paffet, the leader of the investigation team, stood solemnly under the charred remains of the airship.

As the investigation deepened and more and more corpses were recovered, Paffet’s brows furrowed even more.

Apparently, even this experienced investigator found it somewhat incomprehensible what had happened on the White Swallow.

"What the hell happened here?"

From the current clues, the crash of the White Swallow was entirely due to pilot error, not a bomb explosion.

Moreover, the vast majority of the deceased did not die from the explosion but had been torn to death by some unknown entity before being burned.

Could it be that some monster had infiltrated the White Swallow?

This was Paffet’s initial guess. However, this guess was quickly negated by the evidence collected later. Because the members of their investigation team found remnants of some of the deceased’s flesh and blood in the mouths of other victims. This meant that the existence that had torn many victims to death was none other than the passengers on the White Swallow?!

"What’s going on? Did the people on the airship suddenly go crazy?"

...

Just as Paffet was feeling perplexed, a subordinate who had hurriedly run over from the side brought him a shocking piece of news.

"Leader, we have detected traces of Shadow Power in the passenger cabin!"

"What?!!"

Upon hearing this, Paffet’s expression changed drastically.

Shadow Power appeared on the airship? Could it be that Abyss Demons had already invaded Holy Lomari? Even if it wasn’t a Demon King invasion, could there be another madman like the Divine Punishment Sect secretly trying to control Shadow Power? F@ck, the severity of the situation had escalated.

Taking a deep breath, Paffet hurriedly asked, "I see. So, has the recording box been found?"

"It has been found! It’s right here!"

The young investigator handed a box containing the airship’s internal flight records and audio-visual data to Paffet.

Paffet himself also hurriedly took the recording box, intending to immediately access the internal information to understand the whole story of this tragedy.

"Also, notify the council immediately! Tell them that traces of Shadow Power have been found on the White Swallow! Please initiate a nationwide state of emergency right away!"

However, before he could finish speaking, a masculine voice with a terrifying aura suddenly entered Paffet’s ears:

"No need to notify the council, sir Paffet. Please keep the discovery of Shadow Power confidential. Also, please hand over the recording box to us."

?!!!

"Who?! Who are you?!"

Sensing the eerie voice from behind, Paffet decisively drew the magic gun from his waist and pointed it behind him, in the direction where the male voice came from. As Paffet turned around, a handsome black-haired man with an extraordinary temperament, his hands clasped behind his back, appeared before Paffet.

"You?! You are?! Black, Black Rose Duke?...?!!"

However, before Paffet could finish his words, the light in his eyes suddenly dissipated, and his entire being became like a soulless puppet, standing there in a daze.

Not only Paffet but also his subordinates, the high-ranking officials of Holy Lomari, and the hundreds of warriors guarding nearby all turned into soulless puppets at this moment, abandoning their original intention to fight and standing in place with a dazed look in their eyes.

In an instant, the investigation scene that had just been quite lively suddenly entered a chilling silence.

Faced with such an eerie and unusual scene, Xiao’s expression remained unchanged as he walked straight up to Paffet:

"Give me the recording box."

As Xiao issued the command, Paffet, who had just shown a hostile expression, instantly displayed a dull and obedient look. He bowed and lowered his head before Xiao, presenting the recording box to him with both hands.

"Yes, Your Grace."

"Hmm."

After casually taking the box, Xiao began to use the nearby equipment with ease, impatiently starting to retrieve the information from the box.

As the leader of the Black Rose family, Xiao was naturally not a foolish person.

After Yumo left home, Xiao immediately focused his attention on the Holy Lomari Empire. After all, among the four great empires, this was the only force that had not been infiltrated by the Black Rose. After listening to their confessions earlier, Lady Yumo must have known this as well.

Yumo, who had left home, certainly would not want to be found by them so quickly.

Therefore, there was an eighty to ninety percent chance that she would choose to come to Holy Lomari.

Anticipating this, Xiao had long ago sent people to begin infiltrating Holy Lomari and had been keeping a close eye on the news here. Upon learning that the luxury airship White Swallow had crashed for no reason, Xiao immediately rushed here. Both his reason and intuition told him that he could find information related to Yumo here.

The facts proved that Xiao’s judgment was not wrong.

Staring at the image on the magic display screen, Xiao’s eyes narrowed slightly:

"Indeed, the reason there was no news of Lady Yumo these past few days was that she had changed her appearance and aura. That damn Deceptive Veil... However, silver hair and jade-green eyes? Also... her breasts have gotten much bigger..."

Staring at the slightly majestic chest of the silver-haired girl in the image, Xiao couldn’t help but twitch his brows slightly.

Almost at the same moment, a blue-gold light rippled around Xiao, and a blue-haired girl who appeared somewhat ethereal, her entire body shrouded in mist, quietly appeared beside Xiao. This girl, with one eye a golden flower and looking slightly fatigued, was clearly our little friend Shuoyue.

It was Shuoyue who had just used her skill Puppet Theater to instantly erode the consciousness of the people of Holy Lomari, allowing Xiao to enter the heavily guarded investigation scene so smoothly and obtain the airship’s recording box.

After coming to Xiao’s side, Shuoyue’s first priority was to anxiously inquire about her mother’s whereabouts.

"Xiao! Xiao!! Is, is there any news about Mommy?! This, this was done by Mommy, right?!!"

Like the other children, Shuoyue, who was utterly sad that her beloved mother had abandoned her, had been in a state of high tension these past few days. She no longer had her usual liveliness and cuteness, looking quite haggard.

Faced with Shuoyue’s urgent inquiry, Xiao slowly nodded:

"Yes, it was done by Lady Yumo."

"Then?!! Where is Mommy?!! Is she in the Holy Lomari?!! I, I’ll immediately ask Big Brother Pierre to take action!! Directly take down Holy Lomari!! That way, it will be easier for us to find Mommy!!"

"Calm down! miss Shuoyue!"

Xiao understood Shuoyue’s urgency but did not agree with her actions:

"Controlling Holy Lomari can indeed allow them to better assist us in searching for Lady Yumo. But violent means are not advisable. If we let Sir Pierre take direct action, we might be able to control this empire, but the end result will only make Lady Yumo even more disappointed and heartbroken."

"Then, then... what should we do?!"

The anxious Shuoyue, who wanted to see her mother, had already lost some of her rationality. Her little eyes were filled with ripples, as if she would burst into tears at any moment.

"Sigh, calm down."

Xiao spoke again to comfort her:

"It’s okay, I have a plan. Isn’t sir Pierre’s little girlfriend a candidate for the Imperial set of Holy Lomari? Using her and your ability, I am confident that we can control Holy Lomari within a week."

"My, my ability? But, but that old woman in Holy Lomari, she... she’s not afraid of mind control, right?"

"It’s fine. For those who are not afraid of mind control, let sir Pierre handle them. You just need to control those council members."

"I, I understand."

"With this, we will quickly gain control of Holy Lomari. Once we control Holy Lomari, almost the entire continent will be under our control. When our full-scale search system is complete, I believe we will quickly find Lady Yumo! Although Lady Yumo is powerful, she is essentially a naive, pitifully inexperienced in worldly matters, foo-... ah no, a simple young lady from a deep boudoir!"

Xiao confidently said to Shuoyue and slowly raised his hand, gently stroking Shuoyue’s head.

"Believe me. Wait another two weeks, and we will quickly find Lady Yumo!"