NOVPUBWatching the retreating figures of the trio, Mike couldn’t help but blurt out, "Who the hell are these guys? So arrogant, aren’t they?"
The Investigation Bureau is an official agency, recognized and fully supported by countries around the globe.
Its authority is immense.
Most civilian Evolvers would give anything to join, and even private Evolver organizations aspire to merge with it.
Yet, Rebirth Corporation treats the Investigation Bureau with nothing but audacity.
Daniel gazed calmly at the fading figures on the street, pondering Morrison’s bold move to offer him an olive branch and what the late Nine had revealed about the true intent of Rebirth Corporation.
The corporation’s ambitions were anything but ordinary.
Growing impatient waiting for Daniel to pay, the motel owner finally spoke up, "Hey! Are you staying or not? If not, get lost and quit wasting my time."
Mike was far from meek, "Could you be a little polite? It’s a miracle this godforsaken place has customers like us. Couldn’t you be a bit more accommodating?"
The old man shot back with icy disdain, "Take it or leave it. If you’re not staying, get out."
Irked, Mike turned on his heels, "Fine, we’ll sleep in the car. No need to waste money to endure your crap."
Just then, Daniel interjected, "Three rooms. How much?"
Mike immediately turned back, mumbling under his breath, "If they can put up with it, so can I."
After paying, the four settled into rooms at the only motel in town.
However, a minor hiccup occurred while distributing the keys.
Daniel handed a key each to Julia and Alex, keeping one for himself.
This left Mike literally hanging in the wind.
"Damn it, Dan, where’s my room?" Mike exclaimed.
"Julia and Alex each have one. Go bunk with whoever you prefer," Daniel responded.
Mike paused, then broke into elation. "Dan, I always knew you were a good guy!" With that, he scampered after Julia. "Looks like it’s just you and me sharing a room tonight, Julia."
Suddenly, with a crackling sound, Mike felt a tingling sensation all over his body and tumbled down the stairs.
Curious about the commotion, the motel owner craned his neck over his desk, only to jump back at the sight of a disheveled, smoke-emanating, charred figure clambering up.
Still shaky, Mike got to his feet, coughed up a plume of black smoke, and said, "Give me... another room."
The owner shook his head, "No more rooms, I only have six."
"What?!" Disgruntled, Mike turned back upstairs, "No wonder Daniel initially asked for just three rooms. He must’ve known all along."
"Ah well, I’ll have to go beg Alex, I suppose."
Contrary to Mike’s assumption, Daniel had no prior knowledge; it was purely coincidental.
After a cursory inspection of the room that revealed nothing out of the ordinary, he and the others left the motel.
They dispersed throughout the small town, searching for any signs of the creature.
After tirelessly scouring every nook and cranny, they came up empty-handed.
It wasn’t until noon that they finally regrouped.
"Did any of you find anything?" Daniel asked.
All three shook their heads. The morning’s investigation had yielded nothing.
"Look, I’ve talked to some of the townspeople, and none of them say anything strange has been going on," Mike said impatiently. "The weather has been sunny every single day. Not even a cloud, let alone any fog."
"Do you think Andy’s intel could be wrong?" he pondered aloud.
Julia and Alex offered no counterargument.
The unsettling tranquility of this town made it hard to believe anything was amiss.
Coupled with the fact that Andy had turned into a minion for the creatures before his death, the idea that he’d intentionally misled them wasn’t far-fetched.
"There’s no reason for Andy to have given us false information," Daniel shook his head softly. "The original tip about supernatural occurrences in this town came from the intelligence arm of the Investigation Bureau. Though their risk assessment might not always be reliable, I doubt they could mess this up." 𝓷ℴ𝓿𝓹𝓾𝓫.𝓬ℴ𝓶
"Besides," he continued, "the rest of Andy’s team did, in fact, die here."
He looked around at the sunlit streets teeming with pedestrians—mostly elderly folks strolling casually.
Shops on either side of the street were open but scarcely patronized.
"On the surface, all looks serene. But often, greater storms lie beneath calm waters," Daniel mused. "We’ll give it one more day. If nothing turns up by tomorrow noon, we’ll pull out."
No one opposed.
They all implicitly agreed with Daniel’s suggestion.
Suddenly, a weak, hacking cough broke the silence, sounding as if it were emanating from someone on their deathbed.
The sound seemed to be coming from behind them, and it was close.
Mike jumped, "Who’s there?"
All four spun around but saw no one.
Only an old, decrepit wooden cabin stood behind them, its timbers seeming to creak in anticipation.
The cabin looked weather-beaten and on the verge of collapse, its glass windows shattered and half its door missing.
An enveloping darkness reigned inside, and even from the street, the air was thick with the pungent smell of rot and mold.
It was a place so desolate that not even a stray cat or dog would seek shelter within its walls, let alone a human being.
A chill ran down Mike’s spine. "You don’t think it’s..." He didn’t finish his sentence, but the implication hung heavy in the air.
Unfazed, Alex marched right up to the entrance and kicked what was left of the door inward.
With a loud crack, the weakened wood splintered, scattering fragments all around, revealing the bleak interior of the house.
Under the dim light filtering in, it was evident that the cabin was deserted, overrun with weeds.
Julia waved away the cloud of dust that rose into the air. "This doesn’t look like a place anyone—or anything—would call home," she said, her eyebrows furrowing.
"Could it be a monster?" Mike asked, his voice tinged with apprehension.
Daniel sensed the energy within the cabin.
No presence of any creatures, but he had indeed heard that hacking cough earlier.
"I can’t be certain," he said, glancing around.
"It could’ve been an old man passing by in the alley behind this place. This town is crawling with elderly folks, after all. It’s not uncommon for someone to just walk by."
Alex and Julia nodded in agreement.
Julia shot Mike a disdainful look. "I never realized you were such a scaredy-cat."
Mike shrank back a little. "Well, it was usually just the two of us on missions before. I couldn’t exactly act all meek in front of you, could I?"
Julia puckered her lips dismissively. "Typical man."
The quartet searched the cabin but found nothing of suspicion.
Finally, they stepped back out onto the sunlit street.
Suddenly, Daniel remembered the three Evolvers from Rebirth Corporation. "Can we reach out to the intelligence unit to see if they can find out what the people from Rebirth Corporation are looking for here?"
Julia quickly responded, "I’ve already checked in with them while we were in the cabin. There are no updates concerning Isaac’s Town, and as for Rebirth Corporation, still no information."
A frown settled on Daniel’s face. "I’m hesitant to say this, but it’s rather disappointing. The Investigation Bureau’s intelligence unit claims to be the best in the world, yet they can’t even gather information on a private organization."
Alex found it perplexing too. "It’s unlike them to be this inefficient. I’ve always known them to be competent; they rarely make mistakes—except that one time I got severely injured."
Suddenly, it clicked for Daniel.
The monster during Alex’s injury was Dasteni, which was later lured to a supermarket by Rebirth Corporation and destroyed by him.
Every time Rebirth Corporation was involved, the intelligence was faulty.
Coincidence or something more?
Daniel chose not to dwell on it; that was not his business to handle.
It was now noon, and the four grabbed a quick lunch at a local eatery.
They spent the rest of the afternoon wandering aimlessly through the town, finding nothing out of the ordinary, before heading back to their inn. Even Evolvers get tired.
Lying on his bed, Daniel pondered the events of the day.
A typical small town with nothing unusual.
Had the monster left, or was it hiding somewhere?
He resolved to stay for one more day.
If nothing happened, they would leave for Mauritania to find the pyramid.
Daniel had volunteered for this mission for a specific reason—to urgently enhance his own capabilities.
With less than a month left before Rachel’s wedding, he had no time to waste.
His goal was to reclaim her from her father, using his strengthened abilities.
As he drifted off to sleep with these thoughts swirling in his mind, a nagging sensation in his dreams unsettled him—it felt as though someone was watching him from the shadows.
The sensation was chilling, as though he were being sized up by some monstrous aquatic predator.
A tangible aura of death washed over him, making his skin crawl with an indescribable, eerie feeling.
