Kiana and the Captain's Bizarre Adventure

Chapter 391 Lycahn and Hugo

It's that name again. Zhe frowned imperceptibly.

"Can you tell us specific information about this organization?" Ling suddenly asked, her anxious expression suggesting she genuinely wanted to know more about the Praise Society.

It's a pity--

"I'm sorry, even we know very little about them. We've already told you everything we know," the captain said.

Kiana looked at the two people in front of her with a hint of disappointment and asked, "Can you tell us why?"

Zhe Ling and the other woman exchanged a glance, and then, seemingly having made up their minds, began to explain.

“Just as you know, Ling and I grew up in the Helios Agency, and our teacher is now seen by the world as the culprit who caused the fall of the old capital,” Zhe said slowly, his head bowed.

Ling then picked up the conversation.

"But our teacher is innocent. On the day the old capital fell, we saw with our own eyes a giant white hand abduct our teacher! It was the same hand that appeared when Blinger transformed into a skeleton in the cavern of Episport!"

"Is it true?" Kiana asked.

"It's true!" Ling said, her voice trembling with emotion. "You have to believe me!"

“Of course we believe you,” the captain said. “We are also investigating the Hand and the Originator that Bringer mentioned, but they are tight-lipped about this information, and we haven’t made any progress for the time being.”

“The captain is right.” Kiana came to Ling’s side and gently wiped away the tears from the corners of her eyes. “I assure you that I will share any relevant developments with you as soon as possible.”

Perhaps because she had vented her frustrations a little, Ling seemed to be in a good mood.

"By the way, Kiana, can you tell us why you went missing? Everyone is very worried about you..."

Kiana's eyes dimmed when she heard Ling's question. She remained silent, her right hand gripping her left arm tightly.

After a long silence, Kiana finally spoke.

"I'm sorry, I really don't know how to face you because of that incident, and besides, my body is no longer purely human."

As she spoke, Kiana reached out and removed the colored contact lenses from her eyes, instantly revealing one gold and one blue heterochromatic eye to everyone. Moreover, a cross-shaped pattern could be seen in the gold pupil.

This…

Zhe, Ling, and Lycan exchanged glances, especially Ling, since Hoshimi Aya had mentioned Kiana's heterochromatic eyes (one gold and one blue) back in the Molinor Hollow, though Ling hadn't believed it at the time.

Although Zhe also saw Kiana at the scene through Ies's visual sharing, he subconsciously regarded her as another person who looked very similar to Kiana.

Seeing the three's reaction, Kiana gave a wry smile and began to explain.

It turns out that ever since she was defeated and rescued by the crowd that day, Kiana has been keenly aware of the abnormality in her body.

First, it allows the free creation and use of the Void Spear, the strangely shaped black and white spear that Zhe and the others had seen before. Second, it has a pupil that has turned golden.

Kiana can see the flow of aether through this pupil, making it easier for her to manipulate aether energy.

However, the price is that Kiana's body is being constantly eroded by ether energy, and even Kiana herself doesn't know if she will one day completely turn into a skeleton.

Therefore, in order to avoid her family and companions having to kill her with their own hands, Kiana chose to leave.

Kiana intends to use her limited life to help people, and then personally end her own life at the very last moment.

As for the captain, he is both an insider and an assistant, helping Kiana conceal her whereabouts while supporting her actions in the Void, and also searching for a way to heal Kiana's body.

"No wonder we've been hearing news of the Void's activity weakening lately. So it's all thanks to Kiana and the Captain?" Zhe murmured. "And no wonder we can't find Kiana. It turns out the Captain is acting as an inside agent, helping to cover up their whereabouts."

However, Zhe was more concerned about Kiana's specific situation than these things.

"Speaking of which, are you really alright right now?"

"Don't worry, I'm fine for now. And since it was the praise that turned me into this, perhaps they have a way to save me. But..."

"but?"

Kiana sighed and fell into a brief silence with a somber expression. Upon seeing this, the captain immediately spoke up.

"But we found no clues about the Praise Society. They are very cunning and their strongholds are almost impossible to find in New Elidu."

After composing herself, Kiana said, "Since this auction involves the stolen Demon Core, I realized that I absolutely couldn't miss it, so after hearing about it from the captain, I disguised myself and came along."

"So that's how it is... I didn't expect that a simple request would lead to all this. It seems we need to reassess this request."

"This is Mr. Natural Rope Craftsman. Even my master, the mayor, did not expect that this would involve a eulogy meeting."

Lykan bowed slightly and said, "If you intend to increase the fee for the commission, I will personally explain it to the mayor..."

Just then, Lykahn's phone rang. After answering, Lykahn pressed the speakerphone button, and the mayor's voice immediately came through the phone.

"Children, I know the details. I assure you that the reward after success will be substantial, and your budget this time will be unlimited. I hope you will spare no effort to successfully acquire that core. And Kiana..."

The mayor paused for a moment before continuing, "Although I don't know exactly what happened to you, I still hope you can come back. Your family and companions miss you very much. We will definitely find a way to solve your problem, so please believe me, and believe in Otto."

"...I'm sorry, I'm not coming back. Could you and the others please keep it a secret that I was here today?"

Needless to say, the captain, as the only person who knew the truth and was the only one who helped, would naturally continue to conceal Kiana's whereabouts.

Lycaon, on the other hand, kept himself out of the picture, knowing that the mayor would definitely grant Kiana's request. This would essentially give the mayor a pawn lurking in the shadows, and Kiana and the captain would certainly understand the reasoning behind it, yet they still made the request.

Only the siblings Zhe and Ling, who were present, were the ones who needed to be persuaded.

“To be honest, we don’t know,” Rin said. “But since Kiana chose to appear in front of us, it means she trusts us. My brother and I don’t want to betray your trust.”

Kiana secretly breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing Rin's words, and then Tetsuya added.

"But you must also promise us that when you encounter something you can't solve on your own, you must not try to solve it alone. You must come to us, even if it's just to come to us."

Kiana nodded. She had also considered that she would need to spend a lot of time persuading them, but fortunately, Tetsuya and Rin did not choose to make things difficult for Kiana.

The second half of the auction began shortly afterward. Thanks to the complete lack of financial restrictions this time, Zhe spent very generously when it came to the key item.

They seemed determined to win, which caused some unsuspecting people to give up bidding.

Only Hartman, the leader of the Ravenlock family, persisted in pursuing the matter. However, the Ravenlock family's wealth was not unlimited, and moreover, the Ravenlock family's power was declining, and even their influence in TOPS had decreased significantly.

Therefore, after realizing that he could no longer raise the price, he began to persuade Zhe to give up bidding against him.

But Zhe, backed by the mayor and the Kaslana family, didn't care. Could a mere Ravenlock family possibly turn the world upside down?

So, ignoring Hartmann's gritted teeth, Zhe raised the price again. He then raised an eyebrow at Hartmann, his expression full of provocation, as if to say—

That's it?

Hartman had no choice but to bid, since only by winning the bid could he have the leverage to discuss cooperation. While bidding, Hartman would also launch verbal attacks.

Now it's clear to everyone that Hartmann is short of funds, which is why he's trying to persuade his opponent to back down.

So everyone present put down their signs and began to quietly enjoy the comedy performed by Hartman, the clown.

Next, whenever Hartman followed up with a price, Zhe would always casually follow up again with a sarcastic remark about cooperation.

Hartmann could only wear a sour face and couldn't lash out at all. After all, there were too many people at this auction, and it was already embarrassing enough that he couldn't win any bids. Hartmann didn't want to make Ravenlock lose face completely here.

Ultimately, the auction item sold for a price that Hartmann could not accept, forcing him to give up and leave in anger.

However, at that moment the lights in the auction hall dimmed, and then a mysterious person with golden hair wearing a mask as a disguise suddenly appeared from the dome.

The man claimed to be a member of the Mockingbird organization and said he came today to steal a collectible, and he has now succeeded.

Although the man's face was obscured, Zhe still recognized him by his unique voice and knew that it was Hugo.

Moreover, it was obvious that Lycaon recognized Hugo, since Lycaon had gritted his teeth and stared fiercely at Hugo the moment he appeared.

Zhe rarely saw Lycan so distraught, but now was not the time to ask about his relationship with Hugo. The Demon Core was currently in Hugo's possession, and Hugo then vanished with it before everyone's eyes.

Lycaon immediately gave chase, and Tetsuya and Rin quickly followed after realizing what was happening.

Soon, under Lykan's pursuit, the three cornered Hugo against the wall. But Hugo used the same trick again, taking advantage of the sudden darkness to jump out of the window before anyone could react, and disappeared into the night.

Lycaen stood by the window, watching the direction Hugo had left in, and quickly deduced that he had fled towards the cave. So Zhe suggested that he follow Lycaen in pursuit, while Ling returned to the recording point and activated H.D.D. to keep track of their movements.

Without further ado, the three quickly split up and began their pursuit. During the chase, Zhe discovered that Lycan seemed to be very familiar with the behavior and logic of the Mockingbird, or rather, Hugo. So, under Zhe's questioning, Lycan explained his relationship with Hugo.

It turns out that Lycahn and Hugo were both adopted by the man they called Old Jack. Lycahn was an orphan, while Hugo was the illegitimate son of a nobleman.

Unable to endure the crazy and oppressive life in her family, she chose to run away from home and was eventually adopted by old Jack.

The two were once very good friends, and they also learned a lot of skills from Old Jack, including those related to thieves.

The Mockingbirds were originally a phantom thief organization founded by the two of them, with the aim of stealing the wealth of the rich to help the poor at the bottom of society.

Their targets were invariably wicked individuals, and they swore an oath never to kill, no matter how dire the situation.

However, how could they possibly hide their secret from Old Jack? One day, Old Jack called them to his side and confessed everything to them. However, Old Jack did not intend to stop them; after asking them about their motives, he chose to let them be.

Until one day, old Jack called Lycaen to his side and talked to him about Hugo. He told Lycaen that a demon lived deep inside Hugo, and that his beliefs were very different from Lycaen's.

Sooner or later they will go their separate ways, and old Jack warns Lycaon that the demon deep within Hugo is awakening. Perhaps one day in the future he will completely transform into a demon, bringing disaster to the world.

By then, old Jack hoped that Lycahn would follow his gut feeling and make the right judgment, stopping Hugo or rather... killing him before he completely made a grave mistake.

Not long after that day, old Jack passed away. Hugo did not attend old Jack's funeral that day, and in the end, the lonely old Jack was accompanied only by Lycaon.

Afterwards, Lycaen questioned Hugo about why he didn't attend the funeral. Hugo didn't answer directly, but instead said that Lycaen had also secretly talked about him with old Jack behind his back.

It turned out that he had known all along. Lycahn realized that Hugo actually knew everything, but had not said it outright because of his friendship with him.

From that moment on, a rift appeared in their relationship. Lycaon had naively thought that time would heal the rift, but he was wrong.

Without old Jack's restraint, Hugo's actions became increasingly extreme, until one day when Lycaon, unable to wait for Hugo's retreat, returned to the scene to check the situation.

The scene was a mess, with corpses everywhere, while Hugo sat quietly on the stairs, surrounded by blood.