Chapter 529 Nowhere to Hide
The Weeping Willow Mountain is not actually a mountain, but a vast willow garden, far from Huai Shui Town.
It takes the three of them to cross three states and towns to reach the location of the Weeping Willow Mountain. At their previous traveling speed, it would take at least five days.
Ah Xing wasn’t worried at all that by the time they struggled to get there, the bizarre disaster would have already been resolved. Because if it were that easy to solve, it wouldn’t be called a bizarre disaster.
“You mean, there’s more than just our team to deal with the bizarre disaster?”
This was surprising to Su Hao.
Generally, a task would only be assigned to one location. After being accepted by the Source Mage Team, it would be marked until the task was completed or failed.
Ah Xing said, “For natural disasters and Source Beast disasters, usually one Source Mage Team can handle it independently. Events that require multiple teams to work together are very tricky.
But bizarre disasters are different. Sometimes no matter how many teams are sent in, it’s not enough. And the most crucial thing is that bizarre disasters don’t disappear easily; instead, they spread outward and grow stronger.
So, after a bizarre disaster is discovered, the local branch of the Origin Mage Association will report it to the headquarters, and then the headquarters will issue tasks to various towns under its jurisdiction to solve the disaster as soon as possible.
Teams interested in this will rush to the disaster area to try to solve it. According to past situations, at least twenty teams are involved, and if it can’t be solved for a long time, even more Source Mage Teams will be deployed.
When we get to the Weeping Willow Mountain, you’ll see all sorts of Origin Mage teams, and you might even meet various legendary figures.”
Su Hao puzzled, “So, whether our team participates or not, it doesn’t matter much to this bizarre disaster, right? After all, so many teams are involved in this event.”
Ah Xing chuckled, “You can’t say that. Solving a bizarre event doesn’t just rely on strength; luck is even more important. Whoever solves the bizarre event is the protagonist. Maybe it’ll be us three who solve it?”
Su Hao quickly understood the official approach to solving bizarre disasters: relying on luck, investing a large number of teams into the bizarre disaster. As long as one team is lucky enough to successfully resolve it, the event will end.
It’s like even if the probability of one team solving the bizarre event is only one percent, as long as a hundred teams are deployed, the probability of successfully solving the bizarre event will greatly increase.
But Su Hao had another question, “If bizarre disasters are so dangerous, why are there still so many teams willing to enter them?”
Before Ah Xing could respond, Ah Wang interjected helplessly, “There are always people who enjoy excitement and use this method to prove their strength, and Ah Xing is one of them.”
Ah Xing immediately retorted, “Ah Wang, you’re too one-sided. Enjoying excitement is just one aspect of it. Moreover, isn’t it the responsibility of an Origin Mage to handle all kinds of disasters? How can one retreat in the face of disasters?”
Ah Wang sighed, “But you also need to consider your own strength. Aren’t there still plenty of teams who died because their strength couldn’t match the excitement they sought?”
Ah Xing smiled, “But Ah Wang, how can you become stronger without going out to experience more disasters? The ‘strength’ I understand might be different from what you understand. What I aspire to is the kind of strength that can find solutions to any problem and is extremely reliable, the feeling of being able to hold up the sky, not just the usual ‘destructive power.’
My father told me that to become a strong man, simply hiding in a safe house is not the way to achieve it.”
Ah Wang fell silent. He knew that Ah Xing’s father was a powerful Origin Mage who unfortunately died in a bizarre disaster several years ago.
And Ah Xing has always wanted to conquer all sorts of bizarre disasters, which might be related to this.
He couldn’t understand Ah Xing’s obsession. His father also died in a bizarre disaster, but he avoided them, hoping to never encounter one and just live peacefully.
But oh! Who made Ah Xing his good brother?
Since Ah Xing wants to go, he can only accompany him, even if it means dying like this.
Ah Xing didn’t know what Ah Wang was thinking and continued to explain to Su Hao, “Of course, besides that, the rewards for solving bizarre disasters are unimaginable. After each bizarre disaster is solved, a special ‘Source Artifact’ will be generated. This ‘Source Artifact’ will eventually be taken by the association, but the team that solves the disaster will receive a reward of one thousand high-quality Source Stones.
What’s the concept of one thousand high-quality Source Stones? It’s a fortune! You won’t need to worry about money for a long time and can enjoy life. The car you dreamt of before can be bought and driven casually…
Of course, money is secondary. The most crucial thing is that the team that successfully solves the bizarre disaster will gain immense prestige. Everyone who sees us will have to respect us a little.”
Su Hao smiled. No matter where you go, no one can escape the cage of ‘money, fame, and emotions.’
For an ordinary person, these three are indeed enough to pursue for a lifetime.
After leaving the town, without Su Hao’s prompting, Ah Xing and Ah Wang conscientiously assembled a crude flying machine on the spot, exactly like the last one, and then eagerly sat on the small stools, waiting for Su Hao to join them.
Who would want to walk when they could fly?
Ah Xing said, “If we make money from solving this bizarre event, let’s get a fixed flying machine.”
…
In less than a day of high-speed flight, Su Hao and his companions arrived at the nearest town to the Weeping Willow Mountain, the town of Drooping Willow.
The scale of Drooping Willow Town was much larger than that of Huai Shui Town, with the population alone being tens of times larger.
At this moment, Drooping Willow Town was extremely lively, with people coming and going on the streets, tea houses filled with all kinds of people, talking loudly or quietly, all discussing this bizarre disaster.
There were those who had always lived in Drooping Willow Town, as well as those who had come from elsewhere to join in the excitement, and of course, there were no shortage of Origin Mages here to solve the bizarre disaster.
“I noticed something wrong with that willow forest early on, but I didn’t expect something to happen!”
“Exactly! Thinking back now, every time it’s night, that forest always feels strange. Over the years, there have been rumors of hundreds of people dying in there. Tsk tsk, it’s terrifying!”
“I won’t dare to go there again! It’s been five days already, and there’s still no movement. I don’t know when the Origin Mages will be able to solve it. It feels so stifling in my heart. If it spreads for a few more days, we might have to move.”
“Don’t worry, small teams have been entering one after another these days. Maybe it will be solved soon. And I heard that the association has officially named this bizarre event ‘Nowhere to Hide.’ We ordinary people just need to wait for news.”
“Nowhere to Hide…hiss— I don’t know why, but just hearing that gives me goosebumps all over. I hope the Origin Mages who enter it come back safely.”
“Isn’t that true? If I could awaken as an Origin Mage, I would rush in and solve the disaster!”
“Oh, come on!”
…
As Su Hao walked along, various pieces of information entered his ears, and soon, Little Light organized them neatly and systematically.
He wondered, “Nowhere to Hide? Could it be a type of bizarre hide-and-seek like in ghost stories?”
Ah Xing also seemed to be carefully discerning various pieces of information and shook his head after a moment, saying, “There’s no useful information. Let’s just go directly to the association hall and ask!”
The association hall in Drooping Willow Town was larger and wider than in Huai Shui Town, with more people, and Origin Mages wearing various weapons and strange attire could be seen everywhere.
Su Hao and his companions entered among them, appearing like ordinary people on the street.
This was related to the configuration of the Yang Wang Star Gazing Team. If they had a Gold Source Mage in their team, then probably all the members could be equipped with gorgeous metal armor, but unfortunately, they didn’t have one.
Just as they were about to go to the counter to inquire, Ah Wang’s eyes suddenly widened, and he blurted out, “Xiao Tang? What is she doing here?”
Su Hao and Ah Xing followed Ah Wang’s gaze and saw a girl blending in the crowd, looking up at the latest announcement.
Su Hao was surprised. Wasn’t this the armored girl he had encountered when he first reincarnated?
Ah Xing leaned close to Su Hao and whispered, “Ah Yang, this is the girl Ah Wang has been thinking about, his secret crush, but he hasn’t dared to confess.”
Su Hao looked amazed, “The face of this Xiao Tang isn’t fair! Why would he like her? Could it be that he wants to sell their family’s ancestral whitening cream to this girl?”
Ah Xing whispered, “Who knows? Maybe he just likes her.”
Ah Wang, listening to the nonsense of the two, turned black in the face.
What he wanted to say was, when you like someone, do you care whether she’s fair-skinned or not? As long as she’s cute and lovely, that’s enough!
Ah Xing pushed him and said, “What are you staring at! Go over and say hi!”
Ah Wang, who usually seemed quite flirtatious, like an old hand in the romantic field, was now trembling a bit.
Pushed all the way by Ah Xing, when Xiao Tang turned to see him, he put on a smiley face and stuttered, “Xiao Tang, uh… what a coincidence, hehe!”
Su Hao: “Is that all?”
