Wizard: My magic facility can be upgraded!

Chapter 102 The Strange Villagers

Captain Eric nodded slightly. The team members understood, discreetly pouring the liquor into the shadows at their feet or into the cracks of the windowsill, then pretending to clink glasses and drink. As they "drank," they discreetly glanced around.

Soon, Elisa noticed a small, blank picture hanging on the tavern wall, similar to the murals they had observed in the passageway.

After a thorough search, finding no further clues, the group left the tavern.

The following day, they explored the village's restaurant and the simple church, encountering similar situations.

The villagers were slow to react, their conversations were repetitive, and inside all of these buildings, the same kind of blank portrait was found.

In the evening, everyone returned to the two-story building. Captain Eric once again deployed the soundproof barrier.

The captains of the three squads reported the results of the day's search to Commander Negan.

Negan quickly compiled their information, and through cross-referencing, summarized two useful pieces of information.

First, the villagers generally have low intelligence and poor language skills. Most of them can only repeat one or two fixed phrases. Only a very few individuals, such as the village chief, can have slightly more complex conversations, but their logic is chaotic.

Second, apart from the two-story building where they were temporarily staying, all the other buildings in the village had the same kind of blank portraits hanging inside.

Commander Negan then shared his findings:

"When I hugged the village chief this morning, I took the opportunity to confirm... he wasn't breathing and had no body temperature."

This conclusion sent chills down everyone's spine, yet it wasn't entirely unexpected.

Commander Negan continued, "Moreover, their logic is actually quite chaotic. The so-called 'depletion of the mineral vein' and 'landslides caused by torrential rain' are just random pieces of information based on their limited knowledge, full of loopholes."

He concluded, "As for those blank frames... it seems that they were not unfinished, but rather because the 'thing' they believed in itself had no fixed form."

"But in any case," Commander Negan's gaze swept over each team member, "Deacon Seronster's reinforcements will arrive tomorrow. Everyone take turns on guard duty tonight and get some rest. Tomorrow will likely be a tough battle."

After saying this, he returned to the second floor and then used the badge to send the day's investigation progress and speculations about formless faith back to the tower in encrypted form, requesting the tower's assistance in investigating the relevant records.

There was a longer silence than usual on the other end of the badge, as if they were carefully considering and verifying the information.

Ultimately, the reply that came back was still concise and clear:

"Received. Deacon Celons has gone to provide support. Continue your investigation, but avoid alerting the enemy."

Commander Negan hung up the communication, a sense of unease flashing through his mind.

But this sense of unease was quickly overshadowed by the reassurance brought about by the impending support.

Meanwhile, most of the team members downstairs relaxed their tense nerves because reinforcements were about to arrive.

Their hushed conversation was filled with the relief of surviving a disaster, as if the appearance of Deacon Celonst would resolve all the crises.

A sense of almost blind trust permeated the air, which also diminished the necessary caution regarding the potential battle that might break out tomorrow.

Li Ang leaned against the wall, his brows slightly furrowed. This collective relaxation made him feel vaguely uneasy.

Even though Seronster is a formidable force, a fierce battle is likely inevitable against such a bizarre and unpredictable enemy. The team members are perhaps too optimistic at the moment.

What troubled him even more was that his thoughts seemed to be veiled by an invisible net, making it difficult for him to concentrate and think deeply.

The group spent the entire night in a daze.

The following morning, Captain Negan issued another reconnaissance order, attempting to gather more information before reinforcements arrived.

However, today's exploration was forced to stop as soon as it began. As soon as they pushed open the door of the small building, the scene in front of them made everyone gasp for breath.

Outside the door, a large number of villagers knelt down, no longer standing still or wandering around as they had yesterday.

Instead, he faced the two-story building, lay prostrate on the ground, and touched his forehead to the ground, kowtowing over and over again.

Their movements were perfectly synchronized, exuding a chilling eeriness.

"Are they kneeling before us?" Elena was startled by the scene before her and muttered in confusion.

Li Ang immediately realized that the people kneeling and kowtowing to were not his group, but the house behind them. There was something strange about this house!

Meanwhile, Captain Negan tried to communicate with the village chief and Ronald, who were kneeling in the front row.

But both the village chief and the captain of the twelfth squad seemed to have completely lost their last bit of intelligence. They ignored Commander Negan's questions and just numbly and continuously performed their prostrations.

When Commander Negan tentatively signaled for the troops to move forward, indicating an intention to leave, all the villagers who were kowtowing suddenly stopped, and hundreds of empty eyes snapped up, staring intently at them.

Those eyes held no emotion, yet they sent chills down your spine, as if these 'villagers' would transform into ferocious beasts ready to pounce at you at any moment.

Commander Negan's heart sank. He immediately raised his hand to stop the troops from moving any further and hissed, "Retreat back inside first."

The door closed again, shutting out the suffocating gaze from outside.

Without the slightest hesitation, Negan immediately contacted headquarters again via his badge, his tone urgent:

"Headquarters, this is Negan. We are completely surrounded. The villagers are behaving extremely strangely and are highly aggressive. When will Deacon Celonst's reinforcements arrive? Please reply immediately!"

However, the response from the other end of the badge was exactly the same as the previous two times in terms of tone, rhythm, and content:

"Received. Deacon Celons has gone to provide support. Continue your investigation, but avoid alerting the enemy."

Negan's expression changed drastically, and he asked several more questions, but the other party's response was like a pre-programmed phonograph, always repeating the same few fixed phrases.

"No! The communication has been cut off. The person I was talking to isn't from headquarters anymore." Negan suddenly realized, and the vague sense of unease he had felt earlier suddenly became clear.

Their connection with the outside world has been completely severed at some point, and the so-called support may not exist at all.

He immediately pulled out the red positioning rune stone from his pocket, no longer pinning his hopes on any vague support; he had to fight his way out on his own.

Without hesitation, he channeled his mental energy, activated the runestone, and requested artillery support from the Hunter.

"Everyone assemble, prepare to break out!" Negan shouted downstairs as he strode down the stairs.