Chapter 66: CH 66

The sunglasses-wearing Si Yan spun the steering wheel in his hand and slammed on the brakes. “Who did you say was coming?” he asked coldly. 

“That kid, Zong Yan ah!” He Yuan felt distressed. The number he just tried to dial showed that the other party had switched off his phone. Clearly the kid decided to act first, report later. He must have contacted the MU Logistics Department directly. “I just saw his name on the MU registration list. I can’t get through to his phone. He’s probably on a plane to the United States right now.”

As he spoke, He Yuan got so angry that he slapped his thigh. “That kid’s wings have really hardened. He’s supposed to be prepping for the college entrance exam in China right now. Such a big thing, but he came over here to join the fun. It’s good that he was promoted to Monarch level, but he doesn’t have any experience against the enemy!”

“Give me your phone.”

Si Yan’s entire body was like a grumpy air conditioner, filling the vehicle with cold air. He reached over, grabbed He Yuan’s phone, and made a call.

He Yuan watched closely and saw his captain hit the number for the Logistics Department of MU.

“Vice-captain, what are you two talking about?”

The other members of Team 7 sitting in the back of the truck were exchanging gossip and assembling their firearms. They all began trading glances.

“Is it about the new tenth Monarch?”

Some of the team members picked up on key words in their conversation, immediately opened the MU app to check the list of applicants, and found the red name that had suddenly been added. “The new Monarch signed up too?!”

“No way!” exclaimed a team member who knew the inside story. “The tenth Monarch isn’t even an adult yet. He’s two weeks away.”

“Then the rumor’s true? The tenth Monarch is in his third year of high school?”

“The current chief of MU is the tenth Monarch, right? But he went through the process to take a leave of absence. They say he’ll return to school after the college entrance exam.”

“A leave of absence? And MU went along with it?”

“I can’t say I disagree. He’s already a Monarch. Monarchs don’t need to study magic patterns for combat, and his grades in other subjects are top-notch. I even heard that he’s completed several B-rank monster missions independently in Jiangzhou.”

By default, B-rank monster missions were assigned to senior-level and veteran investigators. The fact that an underage teen was able to handle them could only make people marvel.

“He completed B-rank creature missions on his own? No wonder the MU Logistics Department agreed to send him to New York…. The situation’s critical right now. Even a gifted Monarch will have to grow up fast.”

Investigators weren’t greenhouse flowers. Of the first nine Monarchs who were widely known, aside from the seventh Monarch who pursued prophecy, every one of the others had waded through battlefields of blood and fire.

When Si Yan was promoted to Monarch level, Dragon Team 7 was performing a confidential peacekeeping mission in the Middle East. They were convoying a group of sick, elderly, and disabled civilians when they ran into the local reactionary forces. There was artillery fire everywhere, fighter jets flying overhead, and countless missiles raining down. It was then that Si Yan’s ability awakened from Auxiliary phase to Monarch level.

As for the second Monarch, Si Xun, the current commander of the Dragon Group, he’d been even more powerful in his younger days. He was a famous general on the world stage.

“Those who offend our nation will be punished no matter how far away they are!”

The young second Monarch, with a folding knife in his hand, made a stunning impact during World War II. It wasn’t clear how many enemy invaders he killed.

This was also the period during which Lockes, the first Monarch, had set one foot in the grave.

After awakening to Monarch level, an Awakened person’s physical fitness would greatly improve. In addition, their awakening ability gave them a longer lifespan. The oldest known Monarchs in history were nearly two hundred years old.

Lockes had been alive even longer than Si Xun. He was active on the battlefield in World War I. However, at the end of the last World War, the formidable first Monarch suddenly disappeared. The occult world hadn’t heard news of him for forty or fifty years. Investigators could only speculate whether the great man had fallen to otherworldly beings.

It was a fitting end for an investigator. Investigators were people who gambled with their lives, walking a tightrope over the abyss, and died at the hands of extra-dimensional creatures.

Which senior investigator didn’t have a résumé stained with blood?

Right now the occult world was facing a situation that would provide the best and cruelest form of training. No wonder the MU Logistics Department had agreed.

Of course, accepting something rationally wasn’t the same as accepting it emotionally.

“Shut up,” Si Yan coldly reprimanded. Suddenly everyone in the pickup truck was as quiet as a chicken.

Everyone knew about the captain’s temper. He was irritable as hell, and he wasn’t in a good mood at the moment. No one wanted to try their luck.

“Hello, you’ve reached the Logistics Department of Miskatonic University.”

The phone finally connected.

The call, which was encrypted by the satellite phone, was entirely confidential. Only specific phone IPs were allowed to dial in.

“Is the tenth Monarch coming to New York? Which flight?”

The other party was surprised and quickly checked the IP address of the phone. “I’m sorry, Mr. He, you’re not cleared to check the itinerary of a Monarch…”

“This is Si Yan.” He impatiently recited a string of numbers. “The tenth Monarch’s guide happens to be my adjutant. What’s wrong with asking about it?”

It was indeed true that He Yuan was Zong Yan’s guide. It was stated in the first classified briefing document.

The member of the Logistics Department on the other end of the line hurriedly ran the voiceprint test, then began to handle the captain’s inquiry.

Everyone in the truck was silent.

The team members exchanged shocked glances.

‘I wouldn’t have guessed that Officer He turned out to be the Little Monarch’s guide!’

‘The tenth Monarch is one of our own!’

‘To be honest, I haven’t seen the captain’s face look this bad since the commander-in-chief was diagnosed with high blood pressure after his physical….’

He Yuan didn’t bother with the gossipy team members behind him. He looked sideways out of the truck window.

At the end of the paved highway stood a silent city in permanent darkness. Everything around its borders was brightly illuminated, like it was forever divided into night. It was a mystical sight, like something out of a Hollywood movie with top-notch special effects.

It was hard to imagine that New York was once known as the city where night never falls. Right now it was a metropolis populated only by the homeless. The former financial center was deserted.

There was nothing accidental about the current situation. The occult world was treating it with the highest importance.

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Ghouls and humans almost never mixed with each other. The last time a ghoul riot had occurred was in medieval Europe. At the time, the Black Death was raging through the continent, decimating nearly a third of the population. Corpses were stacked up at random and the graves overflowed underground, encroaching on the habitat of the ghouls and reducing their living space. Many humans became infected and turned into ghouls. They eventually became the notorious “vampires” of the middle ages. The Church was eventually forced to acknowledge their existence.

Compared to other extra-dimensional creatures, ghouls were one of the few species that had an ecological niche distinct from humans. They had their own way of life and cultural and social traditions. Even if every human on Earth was wiped out, the ghouls would survive.

The appearance of such a serious ghoul infestation might be the biggest warning sign so far of the return of the stars. 

The return of the stars might sound mysterious and vague. But if human beings failed to halt the warning signs and passively stood by, the stars’ return would only accelerate.

Right now everyone in the occult world was in danger, and the Spire Council was holding its most difficult gathering of the century.

They had met to decide whether to terminate the 《Treaty of Seclusion》 signed in the 18th century. This would announce the existence of the occult community to the world.

The situation in New York was known to them all. In order to minimize the effects on their country’s international standing, U.S. authorities eagerly cooperated with the occult world’s initiatives. Both the media and the military were keeping a tight lid on the news.

But the black fog was spreading. If they didn’t solve the problem in New York, the fog would likely spread across the globe, and if that happened, the occult world would be exposed.

The biology professors in MU held more than ten symposiums and finally determined that the ghouls were trying to summon their master.

If a Great Old One was really summoned to Earth, it wouldn’t be New York that lost the sun, but the whole world.

With the situation so urgent, every Awakened was a valuable strategic resource.

MU was urgently working on moving the Gate of Truth to Boston within the next few days to make it easier for investigators to get in and out. Now that the semester at MU was over, students were also taking on practical investigation tasks. This year’s practice fieldwork missions were all related to New York. For the first time ever, advisors were organizing and leading student teams, which was an attempt to solve some low-level problems.

He Yuan sighed inwardly. His eyes became dark and determined again.

He just hoped MU would be somewhat humane and assign an easy task to the fledgling Little Monarch.

After the call ended, Si Yan threw the phone into He Yuan’s hands. Then he stepped on the gas pedal, and the pickup truck hurtled towards New York like an arrow from a bowstring.

—

He’d studied physics for more than fifty hours, and now he had to do it again?

Zong Yan wanted to cry but didn’t have any tears.

He was right to run away. The problem was that he’d followed his usual habits of thought and ignored the most important point—

“Nothing can be hidden from the great and all-knowing, all-powerful Lord.” 

Yog gave him a rather cruel sneer, and Zong Yan felt chills run down his back. “You’re only half done. Let’s continue.”

In the end, Zong Yan managed to complete Yog-Sothoth’s directives, only to be assigned another paper to test whether the more than one hundred hours of tutoring had managed to sink in.

Of course, it was difficult to get a perfect score the first time, not to mention the other party was the strictest teacher in the universe.

After the evil god was done correcting the paper, Zong Yan was forced to listen to an analysis of the mistakes he’d made…. Finally, the moment he reached the end of a third paper and stopped writing, only then did the gray-haired evil god show mercy and let him go.

“Although it’s far from my standards, it’s good enough for human beings.”

The Lord of Time and Space casually lifted the suspension of time. The next second, the people in the cabin resumed their movements. The plane taxied to the runway and launched itself into the blue sky.

Zong Yan felt so exhausted and sleepy that he couldn’t bring himself to move.

He didn’t even have time to connect to the WiFi on the plane before he leaned back in his seat and fell asleep.

The Lord of Time and Space stared at him steadily for a couple of seconds, then carelessly turned his eyes away.

He gazed at the timeline of the entire Earth.

There were only ten days before the arrival of Ghroth and the return of the stars.

In ten days, all the Great Old Ones sealed on this planet would break free from their cages.

And the Earth, a planet which had endured for 4.6 billion years, would completely cease to exist.

—

The author has something to say:

This isn’t the last arc. It won’t end so soon _(:з」∠)_ Our Yan hasn’t taken the college entrance exam yet, how can it be over so fast?

TL Notes:

The next chapter is a little weird. If I remember right, it’s basically about homeless people and not a whole lot happens with the main cast. For that reason I’m going to do my best to post two chapters tomorrow. That way, if you don’t like the chapter, you can skim it and read the next one immediately (っ◔◡◔)っ ♥ 

If there’s a delay or the schedule changes I’ll post a comment or update the TL Notes.

act first, report later – 先斩后奏 – behead sb. first then make all known to the Emperor; act first and report afterwards; execute one on the spot without prior approval from the court; kill sb. first then to report

wings have really hardened – 翅膀硬 – hard wings – A common idiom that refers to young birds whose feathers are soft and unable to fly on their own. When their feathers harden, they fly away. It means that when people gain abilities, they forget those who helped them in the past and become ungrateful.

Those who offend our nation will be punished… – from 犯我华夏者，虽远必诛！ – This is a slightly modified version of a famous line from Volume 70 of the Book of Han, a historical work completed in year 111. It also appears in the 2015 movie Wolf Warrior

homeless – from 流浪汉 – “tramp, hobo; bum; vagrant”, “wanderer, vagabond” – I’ll discuss the reason I chose the word “homeless” in the next chapter

almost never mixed with each other – from 井水不犯河水 – The well water does not intrude into the river water – Refer to Ch. 24 for a longer note

Transliterated names, titles, and places—new in this chapter:

vice-captain – 副队 – Alternatively: assistant captain, alternate captain. Previously translated as “second in command” for a random NPC in Ch 36

Lockes – 洛克斯 – Luòkèsī – Alternatively: Locus, Roxas, Rocks, Rox, Roques, Locksey

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