Chapter 1397: Chapter 1397

"What about the last person?"

Jenkins asked, his voice tinged with urgency.

"He... he was captured by the old man from the clock tower. He tried to cheat his way through, breaking the rules of the Mysterious Realm..."

As he spoke these words, the man, his mind under control, actually began to show signs of regaining his senses.

"Did you see him die?" Fınd the newest release on novel fire.net

Magic Miss asked. At her question, the man, who had been teetering on the edge of a breakdown, finally shattered. He clutched his head, wailing uncontrollably. He thrashed on the floor like a maggot, tears and snot smearing the front of his clothes.

"So, when the old man from the clock tower told me three died and two survived, he meant one of them was trapped in the Mysterious Realm? What for?"

Jenkins frowned, his gaze fixed on the man on the floor, and turned to Magic Miss.

"There must be a reason, and it's probably connected to the appearance of this Doomsday Illusion. But our lead ends here. If you want to keep investigating, you'll have to go back into the apocalyptic Nolan, but..."

The two scrambled back to the doorway, watching as a rift tore open in the space before them. The man thrashing on the floor immediately slipped through the gap.

Before the rift sealed itself shut, Jenkins and Magic Miss both saw what lay on the other side: the familiar, apocalyptic Nolan.

Neither of them had expected this. Snapping back to reality, they immediately raced toward the villa in the mountains. To their relief, Miss Silver Flute was perfectly fine. When Jenkins and Magic Miss burst into the house, they found her in the kitchen, busy kneading a ball of dough.

"What... what happened to you two?"

she inquired, her curiosity piqued.

Jenkins and Magic Miss finally let out a breath of relief. But as they collected themselves, they started to ponder what had just occurred.

"Could it be? Did he reveal too much to us? Is that why the old man from the clock tower dragged him back into the Doomsday Illusion?"

Magic Miss speculated.

"I doubt that's it," Jenkins reasoned. "If the old man from the clock tower could constantly monitor the real world, we never would have gotten that information in the first place. I think it's more likely he finally realized the only reason the Church could destroy the beacons was because that man leaked the intel. Taking him back was an attempt at damage control."

"So you're saying the old man thinks he knew more than just about the beacons? That he had other valuable intelligence?"

"The other valuable intelligence... it must be about the second survivor who was taken."

Jenkins sighed and gazed out the window. "I've decided. I'm going back into the Doomsday Illusion. The Church might be able to solve this, but I can't just sit around and do nothing."

He knew his "Real Illusion" ability would let him leave the Doomsday Illusion whenever he wanted, so he wasn't concerned about his safety. The real problem was figuring out how to get back in. For that, he would need Magic Miss's help.

Magic Miss, of course, disapproved of Jenkins's plan. She felt Mr. Candle was acting a bit like Mr. Hood, overcome with a meddlesome sense of justice. But it was his decision, and seeing she couldn't dissuade him, she offered a plan that seemed rather risky.

"The two worlds are incredibly close right now. You just need to find a point where they converge, then use a powerful force to temporarily tear open a passage. That should let you get inside."

"A point where they converge... you mean up there?"

He pointed to the sky.

"Yes. I remember you have a unicorn. Just have it fly you up into the sky, and that should be enough."

Magic Miss nodded, then tried to dissuade him one last time:

"You really don't have to do this, you know."

A few months ago, Jenkins would never have taken such a risk. But the "Disaster Poem" was pressing him to gather more gems for the stone slate, especially since he knew that somewhere out of sight, the demigod from the Tree House was doing the exact same thing.

The whole world had grown turbulent lately, and it was hard to tell which events were connected to the Tree House. Because of this, Jenkins had to be the first to understand the full meaning of the "Disaster Poem," and that meant wading into all kinds of disasters.

Before he departed, both Magic Miss and Miss Silver Flute came to see him off. The two women were deeply pessimistic about his reckless venture, but they could do nothing but watch him go.

As parting gifts, Magic Miss gave Jenkins a ring threaded onto a thin red string, claiming it would bring him luck. Miss Silver Flute offered a small piece of charred black wood; like Jenkins, she possessed a green life-type Soul Emblem and could sense the immense life force contained within it.

Back in Ruen, Alexia neither approved nor disapproved of Jenkins's reckless plan. Once she confirmed he was truly going through with it, she insisted on traveling to Nolan to await news of him instead of remaining in Ruen.

"You know that once I've made up my mind, it's very difficult to change it. You and I are the same in that regard."

So the petite woman had said. Jenkins had agreed, but on the condition that she stay at his house, which would also make it easier to look after Chocolate. After all, if things went south, he could use "Real Illusion" to escape the Doomsday Illusion and return to the real world, but his cat could not.

From the second-floor bedroom window of Jenkins's house on St. George Avenue, Alexia and the cat on the sill watched him depart. She glanced down at Chocolate, and the cat looked back up at her.

Both human and cat had beautiful eyes, and in their silent, shared gaze, each could read a wealth of intriguing meaning in the other's expression.

"I'm going to find this Hathaway Hersha. Are you going to stay here and watch the house, or are you coming with me?"

Alexia asked Chocolate.

Chocolate crouched on the windowsill and licked a paw, then hopped down to stand by Alexia's feet, making its intentions clear.

Night had fallen deep. Though the Church stood on high alert, guarding against any further mutations from the inverted city hanging overhead, for the average citizen it was still a peaceful and quiet weekend night.

Alexia and Chocolate moved fast. The woman and her feline companion didn't exchange a word, merely slipping through the streets and alleys of Nolan until they arrived outside the walls of the Hersha estate. It was Sunday, and according to the Hersha family customs, Hathaway was certain to be home. Alexia intended to seize this rare opportunity to finally meet the young woman she had heard so much about.