Chapter 335
The outpost was a portable building constructed out of brushed aluminium. Its exterior looked like a rectangular prism, multiple bolted on sections and multiple floors. Inside were harsh LED lights that made the interior look more like a hospital than a facility.
It was very different compared to the Kair rift. This one didn't even have a kitchen. Everyone ate MREs, which Gale didn't really mind, but it didn't have the bubble tea he wanted.
Gale sat beside Rachel, watching her work on one of the fallen knights who had multiple lacerations of blood Qi on his person.
A soft green flame covered entire gashes as she held her palm towards the still bleeding wound. The fire seemed to sizzle as it met what looked like the murky Qi.
The knight winced as he clenched his jaw shut to stop himself from shouting. Dark wisps burned off, falling onto the floor along with bits of flesh that melted off the wide open wound.
Once the gashes were all cleansed by Rachel's fire, one of the uninjured knights muttered an incantation.
"In nomine regis, benedic vulnera haec," he whispered.
Green light formed all over the body of the fallen. The flesh in the open wounds began writhing, stitching itself back, as skin pulled itself together to seal the flesh. Compared to last time, the healing worked.
"Blood Blade techniques aren't just about offense," Rachel said, moving to the next patient with Gale following her. "They're designed to prevent healing. Any wound they inflict stays open because the Blood Qi keeps interfering with natural recovery and magical treatment alike."
Placing her hand over another knight's shoulder, green flame covered the wounds again, repeating the process.
She continued, "That's why even in the Jiuling, their rank is at the very bottom. Their whole style goes against the Geneva Conventions. The only reason they're not completely expelled from the alliance is politics and the fact that they're useful for dirty work."
Elias stood near the centre of the room, arms crossed over his chest plate. His helmet was off now, revealing his black hair and bearded face. Dark circles under his eyes told everyone that this man barely slept in the past month.
"The Jiuling operations in this area were first reported about a month ago," Elias said. "The Guatemalan government contacted us directly for assistance with what they initially described as a missing persons case."
"Missing persons?" Lily asked.
"That's what we thought at first. But it wasn't just any missing persons case." Elias massaged the back of his neck. "Two or three people were disappearing every day. Sometimes more. It started slow, but the rate kept accelerating. By the time we arrived, the local authorities were completely overwhelmed. They had no idea what they were dealing with."
Gale's tendrils felt the increasing heart rate of Elias. The man wasn't necessarily evil. He was undoubtedly clearly shaken up by the events that he had just described. Justice to a fault... the signature of the United Knights philosophy.
"Why isn't the Path involved?" Kyle asked, leaning over one of the crates that contained swords and maces instead of guns.
Elias's expression soured. "The Guatemalan government specifically requested United Knights for assistance. They didn't want Path involvement."
"Why not?" Clyde asked.
"Because the Path pigs would ask for too much money," Elias said.
Kyle shrugged. "Fair enough. But they've got their own vagrant guilds, right? Nothing stopping them from hiring locals to solve this themselves."
"They tried. Three guilds took the contract. All three lost members within the first week. After that, no one else wanted to touch it."
"Damn."
Clyde shifted in his seat, pulling a twinkie from his pocket. Lily shot him a look, but he just held it without opening it.
For now.
Gale wanted one too, but it was Rachel that was glaring at him instead.
"What's the current lead on the case?" Clyde asked.
Elias sighed. "There's a high chance that the missing persons are being used as cauldrons."
"What's that?" Gale asked.
Rachel answered instead. "The Jiuling has a bad history with certain cultivation practices. One of the worst is using human bodies as vessels to cultivate medicinal pills. The theory is that growing pills inside a living person increases the success rate and improves the quality and efficacy of the final product."
"Does it work?" Gale asked.
Elias answered immediately. "It does not work."
"So it does work."
"It does not."
"If it didn't work, no one would do it."
"It works, but..." Rachel muttered. "The practice was abandoned centuries ago because the results were inconsistent and the methods were..." She paused. "Unethical doesn't begin to cover it. Most sects consider it barbaric. The Blood Blade are one of the few who still practice it, which is another reason they're treated like pariahs within the alliance."
Kyle leaned forward. "Are you sure it's a human vessel case though? They wouldn't need THAT many people for just cauldrons."
"What do you mean?" Elias asked.
"Two or three people a day for a month. That's what, sixty to ninety bodies? Maybe more?" Kyle scratched his chin. "That's way too many for pill cultivation. The process takes weeks per person, and you can only run so many at once before the Qi interference starts causing failures."
Clyde nodded, finally unwrapping his Twinkie. Lily glared at him, but he ignored her and took a bite.
"Kyle's right," Clyde said, mouthful of cream filling. "One or two cauldrons at most is all you'd need to feed a whole sect with medicinal pills for months. Sixty to ninety is overkill by a factor of like... a lot."
"So what else could it be?" Kyle asked.
"Could be something else entirely," Clyde said. "There's also vessels that are much more efficient at converting medicinal ingredients to pills these days. Artificial ones. Sold by the Path, actually. No point in using humans when you can buy a machine that does it better."
Elias frowned. "Then what are they doing with all these people?"
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Kyle and Clyde glanced at each other for just a fraction of a second. Everyone knew that look. Gale knew it too. They instantly communicated to each other in their super secret telecommunications network.
After they both smirked, the twins took back to the stage.
"When did this rift pop up?" Kyle asked.
"About six months ago," Elias said. "It appeared suddenly in the middle of a protected forest area. The Guatemalan government initially tried to handle it themselves, but the monsters that came through were beyond their capabilities. They sealed off the area and requested international assistance."
"Six months." Clyde finished his Twinkie and crumpled the wrapper, shoving it into his pocket. "That's interesting."
"How so?"
"Takes the Jiuling usually four to six months to make any kind of major decision," Clyde said. "Their elders are old as dirt and they love their meetings. Can't take a shit without three rounds of committee approval."
Kyle nodded. "That timeline lines up perfectly with when they would have decided to set up an operation here. Rift opens, word gets back to the mainland, elders debate for months, finally approve an operation, Blood Blade gets sent in."
Lily elbowed both twins in the ribs. "Get to the point."
"Ow," Kyle and Clyde said at the same time.
"Point is," Clyde said, rubbing his side, "rift opens up, operation gets set up. Those two things are connected. Has to be."
"Something in the rift might have caused the Jiuling to take action," Kyle said. "Something in the rift might've caused either action or material availability of something that made them do this; something worth kidnapping lots of people for."
"It's a ritual," the twins said at the same time.
Rachel's head snapped up from her patient. "That's ridiculous!"
Erin, who had been floating silently in the corner of the room, spoke up. "That assessment is probable. Highly unlikely given materials in Origin State defense worlds are scarce for ritualistic materials, nonetheless, probable. I commend the loud one and the quieter one of the loud ones for their deduction."
Gale clapped.
"That still makes no sense!" Rachel shouted.
"How does that not make sense?" Kyle asked.
"What else are they going to use the bodies for?" Clyde added.
Rachel sucked her teeth at both twins.
"They're going to make an army with it," Kyle said.
"An army of Jiangshi," Clyde said, nodding along.
Lily slapped her forehead with her palm. For a moment, she just stood there with her hand covering her face. Then she let out a long breath.
"That actually makes sense," she muttered. "But why a rift? Why here specifically?"
"We could find that out inside the rift," Kyle said. "At least we got a lead on what's happening. Better than nothing."
Erin floated forward from her corner. "A reminder to everyone. Our venture to the rift is for materials. Once the Yinidium alloy and Fraedium gems are acquired, we shall leave immediately. The affairs of the Blood Blade Sect and their ritualistic endeavours are none of our concern."
Elias frowned, more like a resignation. Glancing at the twins, he said, "I have to admit something. The United Knights are not well versed in investigations. Our specialty is combat, defense, and enforcement. Not detective work. Would you two be willing to assist us? Your deductive abilities are... impressive."
Kyle and Clyde glanced at each other, then pointed to Gale at the same time.
"Ask Gale," Kyle said.
"He's the boss," Clyde added.
Elias turned to face Gale. "Would you and your team be willing to help us investigate while you're inside the rift? I'm not asking you to solve our problems for us. Just... keep an eye out. Report anything unusual."
If Gale recalled from the games he played with Kyle and Clyde, this thing would be a side quest. Naturally, he wanted to accept the quest, but he could feel Erin's blank eyes boring a hole into his forehead.
Child of Cev. Do not accept the mission, Erin thought to him.
But he couldn't just say no. The big bulky looking guy was using his puppy dog eyes at him. Not only that, there was something familiar about the murky Qi that the Blood Blade Sect used that he couldn't quite put his finger on. It had hints of the corruption, but of its own DNA.
"We'll help," Gale said. "But if we don't find anything useful while we're getting our materials, we're leaving right away. We're not here to solve a request sent to the United Knights. Our priority is Ollie's mission."
Elias nodded, relief washing over his features. "That's all I ask. Thank you for the consideration. Though, the twins are notorious and infamous throughout the factions. Their methods are... unconventional. But their skill is still the best I've seen."
Lily groaned. "Why did you have to say that? Now they're going to gloat all day."
Rachel just shook her head, not even bothering to say anything anymore. She had finished healing the last of the injured knights and was wiping her hands on a cloth someone had given her.
Kyle puffed out his chest. "We're numero uno."
"Absolutely special," Clyde added.
"For a reason," they said together.
"Special in the head idiots," Lily said.
Standing up from where he had been sitting beside Rachel, Gale stretched his arms and legs. "Wanna go now? All the knights look patched up already."
Elias nodded. "I'll escort you to the entry point."
The group walked out of the facility. The night air hit Gale's face immediately. Lily had turned off the sigil for now to conserve energy while the healing and the talking happened.
Taking in the humid air into his lungs, it felt like home number 6 as dad called it.
They headed left down a dirt path that cut through the jungle. The trees were thick here, branches forming a canopy overhead that blocked out most of the moonlight and view from any peering eyes that tried to peek inside.
After a few minutes of walking, they emerged into another clearing.
The rift stood at the centre.
It was triangular in shape, just like all the other rifts Gale had seen. A tear in reality that shimmered a slight red, magenta, and blue, paradoxically all in one solid colour.
Four knights stood guard around the perimeter. They snapped to attention when they saw Elias approaching.
"At ease," Elias said. "These individuals have permission to enter the rift. They're assisting with the investigation."
The knights relaxed, but their eyes followed Gale, and so did his. No one could outstare him.
Elias turned to face the group one last time. Suddenly, the man saluted them with a fist onto his chest.
"Stay safe in there, Aurians. The rift environment is harsh. Desert climate, extreme heat during the day, freezing temperatures at night. The monsters inside are adapted to those conditions. Don't underestimate them."
"Sure, we're all vets here," Rachel said.
"I know. Just... be careful." Elias's eyes lingered on the twins for a moment. "And try not to cause an international incident while you're at it."
"No promises," Kyle said.
"Absolutely none," Clyde nodded.
Elias sighed.
It made Gale all the more curious about this twinkie incident in their previous Guatemala trip. Stepping forward first, he passed through the rift. The sensation of being transferred elsewhere had now become something he was familiar with.
The world shifted.
Heat slammed onto his face first before the rest of his body. He almost choked in the sandy air. Tendrils fed him the visual of everything. There was nothing but desert around them. In the distance were vast mountains and canyons.
Behind him, the triangular rift portal shimmered, still staying in its current place, not disappearing.
The others came through one by one. Rachel first, then Kyle and Clyde together, then Lily, and finally Erin, who floated through the portal without any visible reaction to the environmental change.
Lily immediately whispered under her breath. Blue light gathered at her fingertips as 6 sigils appeared in the air. Each sigil moved to each person's back of the neck, and the temperature they felt reverted back to a comfortable state.
"Thanks," Kyle said.
"You owe me an Aur coin by the time we're out of here," Lily replied.
"I didn't even do anything!"
"Stop arguing!"
"What about a twinkie?" Clyde asked.
"NO TWINKIES!" Lily shouted.
Erin floated toward Gale. "Search for the nearest canyons. The geological formations in desert rifts tend to concentrate mineral deposits in canyon walls and riverbeds."
Gale extended his tendrils outward. They stretched across the sand, sweeping through dunes and around rock formations, mapping the terrain in his mind. The signatures of desert creatures flickered at the edges of his perception. There were no monsters or anything above the sand, but he could feel a flickering sense of signatures underground.
Further out, he sensed larger signatures in the rocky formations within caves. There was even a small oasis where camel looking things drank from, except the camels had two legs and claws for arms.
Then he found it. Canyons and riverbeds.
"West," Gale said, pointing. "Canyons are that way. Maybe 8 kilometres."
"Then we head west," Rachel said.
The group started to move. Gale took point, his tendrils sweeping the path ahead for threats. Lily and Kyle flanked on each side while Rachel, Erin, and Clyde took to the rear.
No one needed to be told where to stand in formation anymore.
They hadn't taken more than a dozen steps when Gale stopped.
His tendrils had caught something in the distance. But even his own eyes could see the cloud of dust rising from afar. The cloud grew larger with every passing second, spreading across the desert like a brown wave.
"What is that?" Lily asked.
Gale's tendrils stretched further, trying to identify the source. Multiple signatures. Dozens of them. All moving together in a tight formation. The cloud of dust made it difficult to see what was inside using Presence Between. However, he caught a glance of what was inside for a split second.
Hundreds of worms, the size of dogs.
"Dog worms! Prepare for battle!" Gale shouted.
"Worms?!" Rachel shouted. "Are they slimy?!"
"That's not the point, is it?" Lily muttered.