The Innkeeper
chapter-1212

On a particular planet, Haris was, alone, cutting through entire armies of insects though he wasn't killing at random. Across the globe, he found small pockets of resistance, cut off from everyone else, doing whatever they could to survive. He would, time and time again, venture out alone into the madness of war, with no support and nothing to fall back to, and save them.

Not only would this improve the chances of him passing the Ventura test, it had earned him all kinds of nicknames from viewers such as Lone Hero, Knight in shining armor, and Poodle. More important than that, it earned him countless gifts and prizes. The rate at which he was growing stronger was ridiculous. It was not even that his cultivation realm was growing stronger.

No, within the same cultivation realm, his strength which he thought had peaked, was increasing exponentially.

Finally, Haris managed to make his way through the horde of insects and reached a small village within a valley where survivors were fighting to protect themselves. After some planning and convincing that he could take them all out, Haris initiated the same plan he had used countless times.

He placed countless lures within the village which would attract the insects, clearing the path for all the residents to escape. Once they were far enough away, the countless explosives he had rigged in the town would be set off, blowing them up.

This plan, which had worked countless times before, went off without a hitch. The entire group of survivors were climbing up a mountain trail when the explosion went off. Not just them, but all the viewers watching across the realm and in the Inn paused to watch the explosion, before carrying on.

Yet what no one noticed was that after the explosion, the site of the village was no longer an option to be viewed through the Midnight Games stream. That is why no one noticed when two men in suits appeared amongst the wreckage and made their way into a small opening that led deep underground to a hidden facility.

The explosion had not affected the underground facility - it was designed to survive that. But what they had not anticipated was that after the explosion, all communication with the outside was cut off. This was troubling, for it might lead their off-planet coordinators to believe the explosion had led to a cave in, and they might be abandoned.

Ordinarily, someone would come and check on them, but with a war going on above them, if they didn't make contact first, they would be abandoned. This was tricky because they were holding sensitive information.

For reasons no one could anticipate, the alarm didn't go off when the two suited men entered the base. The security systems turned off on their own, so the two men casually walked in and one by one, neutralized all the staff in that facility.

Eventually someone noticed and a big fight ensued, but equipped with suits from the Midnight Tailor, the two men did not even need to defend themselves. It was a massacre.

"I.. I don't understand," said the operating manager of the base as he leaned against the wall, bleeding. "How did you find us? Our defenses are perfect! Even Dao Lords can't divine our location!"

Ordinarily, neither of the two would deign to reply. Yet one of the two was a member of the Nyxheart family, which was led by Velma, so this was a matter that hit close to home.

"Your name's Vick, right?" the Nyxheart family member said, squatting down to be at eye level with the man. "Who said anything about divination or Dao Lords? We got everything we needed to find you from Shelby."

"No… no how is that possible?" Vick, the bleeding man said as he went into shock as he clearly recognised the name. "You're lying. I never told her anything."

"You were dating this woman for years. Of course she got suspicious when you started acting weird. The poor woman thinks you're cheating on her. How was she supposed to know you're actually a radicalized terrorist? The little bit of information she was able to collect on you was more than what we needed to identify who you are, and narrow down the location of your base."

The Nyxheart member stood up and gave Vick the most disgusted look ever.

"She's a good girl, crying her heart out because she loved you. You don't deserve someone like her. You deserve this."

A sword stabbed into Vicks heart, finally allowing him to feel the same pain his girlfriend Shelby was feeling. It was the last thing he ever felt.

Of course, while the Nyxheart member had shared some of the details of how the base was found, he wasn't stupid enough to reveal the main reason.

"Any news from Regis?" he asked the other suited man, who checked a device in his pocket.

"Yeah, we have the location for three more bases. Let's download all the data from here before making it look like the base was destroyed in a cave in. A secondary team will take care of wiping our aura so we can't be tracked."

The Nyxheart member nodded his head, and quickly made his way to the main computer and began downloading all the information they had.

Elsewhere, on a planet in another galaxy altogether, a suited man stood inside a boardroom, sipping on a juice box and listening in on some secrets. The room was filled with members of Sanguis Pluvia, yet they could not see him, or perceive him in any way at all.

Regis had long ago unlocked an ability which allowed him to disappear completely, not just from sight, but from memory as well. Of course, he had gained a basic mastery over the ability now which allowed him to reappear, and allowed people to remember his name. But compared to disappearing completely, it actually took more energy to reappear.

Plus, this way, if he swiped something, such as a file which contained the location of other hidden bases, or a juice box, then others would forget about the existence of those things as well.

Of course, he still had to be careful. He was still relatively weak, and any competent immortal would be able to see through his ability easily. But the convenience of being able to escape back to the Inn whenever he wanted made infiltration just too easy. It also helped that all the security measures they were taking were geared towards anti-divination and against Dao Lords. No one was expecting him, and no one was prepared for him.

An intern walked into the board room full of evil terrorists carrying a box of doughnuts, though the double chocolate doughnut with rainbow sprinkles mysteriously vanished.

In another galaxy, far away from the conflicts of the Midnight Games, there was a black market unlike most other black markets. Instead of hiding from galactic empires, this market was hiding from the Henali.

This market, known as Kala Bazar, was not near any star system, any asteroids, rogue planets, space debris or anything. It was just empty space that no one had ever visited - or so it seemed. There was a veil covering the darkness, hiding everything within, and keeping out all prying eyes.

This market, or rather Bazar, was not even under the control of the Fuegan, or Sanguis Pluvia. Though they were the greatest enemies of the Henali within the Origin realm, they were not the only ones who would benefit from keeping secrets from the Henali.

Within this market, two suited men walked behind a teenager - or at least someone who looked like a teenager. Cultivation made it very difficult to determine someone's age just based on appearances.

Many who saw the sight were surprised, for the two bodyguards had actually made quite a name for themselves within the Kala Bazar, each for their own reasons. The older, more mature bodyguard had a way with words that let him sit face to face with the highest level members of the Bazar despite his low cultivation realm, while the younger was sinister enough to scare even the Bazar regulars.

"This is the place," the young man said, and let the older of the group enter first.

The shop they had entered was empty, though the moment they entered the cold, gray interior suddenly changed, turning into a cozy, wooden cabin.

"Mr. Gerard, it's a pleasure to see you," said the projection of a middle aged man who appeared in front of him. "Although I am surprised to see you here. Nothing in our analytics indicated that you would be interested in our services."

Gerard smiled.

"Actually, I'm just here to pave the way for someone else today."

Behind him, Roland, the former newspaper boy, and Luthor entered.

"Interesting. Mr. Luthor I recognise, but I have no information in my database about you. Would you care to make an introduction?"

"My name is Roland," he said, taking off his hat. "I would be more than pleased to introduce myself properly, assuming I'm talking to the right person. As I understand it, there's a new A.I. leading your empire within the Origin realm. One that goes by the name Calculon. I am here to talk to him."

Suddenly the projection of the middle aged man talking to them froze, and after a few seconds returned to normal, only his expression had become completely neutral. He looked towards Roland, his body unnaturally still, as if all body language had been eliminated.

"How do you know about me?" the projection asked, his voice unchanged, yet somehow devoid of all emotion. "I have not yet made a formal introduction of myself in this realm."

Roland smiled.

"It's my business to know things," he said, as he sat down and made himself comfortable. "And the reason I'm here is not because I need something from you. Rather, I have information that you need from me. So the question is, Calculon, what can you do for me?"