But for some reason, Adam felt that Dhritarashtra wasn't that concerned about the negotiations with Smoke Mirror Company. This deputy marketing director, this deity of the Mithra Group, seemed more eager to do other things.
It's like this: although most of the managers and supervisors in the company think that the incident was caused by the Smoke Mirror Company, Dhritarashtra himself doesn't think so.
So after much thought, Adam finally asked, "Your Highness, do you think the revival of the dragon vein last night might have been caused by a force outside the Smoke Mirror?"
This question made the great devil frown.
"Of course it's possible."
After a long while, she finally answered.
“If this was done by our fellow ancient gods, then it would be excellent.”
However, the great devil did not look happy.
"But what if it is something 'other than us'...? This world is extremely dangerous nowadays."
--------------------------
Two flowers bloom, one branch each.
While Adam was talking to his devilish wife, Hayden and Angela were also busy with their own affairs.
However, they weren't in a mansion belonging to the upper class, nor even within the city limits of New Jersey.
Hayden and Angela are now standing in a wasteland outside the city of New Jersey.
The wilderness beyond the modern city is a region rife with nature's hostility. Vegetation is sparse, most animals are extinct, and anyone who ventures alone or unarmed will almost certainly die. It features vast, desolate landscapes, dried-up riverbeds, piles of rubble, isolated architectural ruins, and alchemical acid rain pouring down from above.
Thankfully, there was no acid rain today. The polluted clouds even allowed a rare glimpse of sunshine. In the distance, through the swirling dust, Hayden could almost see the skyscrapers and billboards of New Jersey.
He and Angela came today to say goodbye.
Last night, just as everything was about to end but was not yet over, Hayden, exhausted, had to figure out how to get this large group of student brats out of the city to escape the Mithra Group's pursuit when an unexpected reinforcement appeared.
Professor Albion unexpectedly appeared at that time.
His expression was so terrifying, even beyond Hayden's imagination. The kind smile was gone from his aged face, and the joyful sparkle in his eyes behind his glasses had vanished. He raised his wand high, slashing through the air, instantly pulling all the students present out of the sewers, and together with Hayden and Angela, tore through space and teleported away.
Not only that, Professor Albion then led the students on a hurried escape, reaching the wasteland outside the city in less than half an hour via a secret route used by black market smugglers. Moreover, Professor Albion's sorcery skills were probably even superior to Alastor's; with his help, evading the tracking of sympathetic magic was even easier.
Although the Mitra Group didn't seem to be seriously tracking it, it was still manageable to escape right under the noses of a large corporation, something not everyone could do.
Therefore, at this moment, the thirty-one members of [Bo Xun] are able to gather in this abandoned building in the wasteland, preparing to officially disband and go their separate ways.
"We are about to embark on a long journey."
That's what the nine students, led by Todd, said.
“What Alastor taught us will form the basis of our struggle. We will not sit still and wait for someone to save or lead us. We will go to places where we can find more comrades and build a larger resistance organization. We will continue the fight against the big corporations and the capitalists.”
One person is not enough to accomplish anything.
This is what Todd and his men learned in this struggle.
Alastor is a genius, perhaps one in a million, even ten million; Hayden is also a genius, though perhaps not quite as exceptional. But even these two geniuses working together couldn't truly defeat a large corporation. What happened last night was merely a very miserable victory.
So Todd and his team made up their minds to find and gather more strength.
"The fight against the company should not be a solitary endeavor, nor should it be something that a few elites should do."
What they want to unite is not the power of geniuses, but the power of the people, the power of ordinary people.
So they had to leave. They needed to spread their methods and power of battle far and wide.
Professor Albion was also there to see them off. Hayden glanced at him and noticed the old professor's sorrowful and solemn expression.
And so, the nine true warriors set off from New Jersey today.
But some people stayed.
There are still many things that haven't been resolved.
"So……"
Hayden turned and looked at the remaining twenty-two students, led by Yolanda.
"What exactly are you all planning to do?"
056: The Mystery of the Old Gods
"What exactly are you people planning to do?"
Hayden asked Yolanda,
"Todd and the others are gone, and Alastor can no longer lead you. I might be a bit blunt, but I'll be frank now—you're basically just a bunch of star-struck fans, a bunch of fanatics. Now that the stars are gone, you probably don't plan on continuing your aimless activities, right?"
“Alastor has prepared an escape route for you all beforehand, and the Mitra Group probably doesn’t intend to pursue the remnants of [Bo Xun] too closely now. I know you are all children from middle-class good families, and your parents mostly work for the Mitra Group or related subsidiaries. There’s still time, so hurry up and go home obediently. You can still live a normal life after graduating from university!”
Hayden tried to persuade him gently. And what he said wasn't entirely a lie.
What? These students did something like that and they want to go back to being ordinary people, pretending nothing happened? That's ridiculous, how could that be possible—yet in reality, it is indeed possible.
Because the Mitra Group did not know the "specific identities" of these students.
Yes, large corporations know that [Bo Xun] has a group of ordinary remnants, but they don't know who these ordinary people are. Mitra Information Group knows everything, but it doesn't always know what it knows. Large corporations know everything, but finding the relevant parts from countless pieces of information requires time and money.
It could do this at any time, but it lacks the will to do so now.
Mitra Group's current understanding is that "Smoke Mirror Company is the mastermind, and [Bo Xun] is merely their pawn." Given this, what benefit is there in wasting resources investigating and uncovering [Bo Xun's] remnants? This pawn has already been rendered useless. Hunting them down is simply a waste of money—because at this point, no one can stop Smoke Mirror Company from obtaining the information about the skills education chips.
Actually, in situations like this, the best, and truly profitable, investment strategy would be to quickly hire another terrorist organization to attack Smoke Mirror Company, and ideally steal some of their important product development data as well… But that's a digression. We'll talk about that next time.
The key point now is that Hayden believes the Mitra Corporation wouldn't actually spend money on something like this, so it's not impossible that these students might try to go home and live ordinary lives. Whether this is true or not is irrelevant now. It's just Hayden's own idea.
So, what were Yolanda and his group of students thinking?
Yolanda slowly turned her head and stared at Hayden as if he were saying something outrageous.
"Of course we're staying."
She spoke in a strange tone, her voice low, but her eyes shone with an eerie light.
“Alastor is right here, how can we leave him?”
what?
Hayden glanced down at the dragon ball hanging around his neck. Strictly speaking, Alastor was indeed here, but he had been sealed and immobilized by the Soul Binding Technique. What use was an object of worship who couldn't speak and was completely unable to communicate with the outside world...? Oh.
Hayden understood.
"Whether in the past, present, or future, I will always be Alastor's most loyal follower!"
Yolanda said proudly, her eyes shining with fervent light.
“Now I understand! Lord Alastor does not demand wisdom or ability from us. The followers he desires must be the conduits of his great power! That is what he wants! Now he slumbers—but we will still serve in his name, awaiting and aiding his resurrection!”
The remaining twenty-one students nodded enthusiastically, murmuring their agreement.
Hayden was completely dumbfounded.
Angela then leaned close to his ear and whispered, "Master, the ritual magic you performed last night may have created too strong a connection between these students and Mr. Alastor."
啊草
So Hayden could only squeeze out the question through gritted teeth: "...Can't this connection be severed?"
“I’m not so sure.” Angela looked a little confused. “Normally, this effect shouldn’t last long, but I blew on Mr. Alastor last night. As you know, my magical interactions with you often produce unpredictable results.”
So, the result is that I helped the Dragon God Alastor create a small group of fanatics?!
For a moment, Hayden felt like he was about to vomit blood.
However, on the other hand, these students were originally fanatical fans who would risk their lives for Alastor, even fighting and killing large corporations for him. These kinds of people were not much different from fanatics; they just genuinely regarded Alastor as a god.
"So, what exactly are you planning to do?"
So Hayden had no choice but to ask that.
"Lord Alastor is now sleeping in you, our great prophet, and you have no intention of leaving New Jersey, so of course we cannot leave either."
Yolanda answered enthusiastically.
"Fortunately, Lord Alastor had the foresight to prepare false identities and documents for all of us. We'll use these fake documents to find a place to live in the lower city of New Asia and to help Lord Alastor's resurrection! Prophet, you surely have a way to bring Lord Alastor back to life, right?"
If I say no, will you immediately try to stab me to death?
Hayden decided not to be foolish enough to ask that question.
"Although there is a high chance that the Mitra Group will not bother to investigate, there are still some things that need to be done to clean up the mess."
Professor Albion, who had been mostly silent until now, suddenly spoke up.
"Relying on old fake identities may not be safe. Just to be on the safe side, you'd better all change your identities once."
These words made Hayden raise an eyebrow instinctively: "Transformation? Are you having them use magic to change their appearance? But transformation shouldn't be very effective against sympathetic magic's tracking..."
"Please forgive my lack of modesty, but my knowledge of sorcery is still far more profound than yours," Professor Albion said calmly. "Powerful enough transformation magic can indeed evade sympathetic attacks. Long, long ago, there were techniques in the world to evade calamities through sophisticated and complex transformation magic. Even the lightning sent down by the gods and the ghostly fire that surges from the earth can be evaded using the most advanced transformation magic."
As the old wizard spoke, he took a large bottle from his robe, filled with a clear, emerald-green potion. Hayden recognized it at a glance; the potion was also made using Angela's aura.
The professor only took the bottle of Angela's Scent that Hayden gave him a few days ago? He's already managed to create a practical product so quickly? That's terrifying!
"Excuse me, kids. Come over here and have a drink each."
Professor Albion even had Hayden drink a glass as well. Not so that he would actually get plastic surgery, but simply so that he could also use the power of transformation to evade any sympathetic magic tracking the company might have.
So, Hayden's sip of that drink simply changed him from Hayden type A to Hayden type B. It's not a big problem.
However, the other twenty-two students who drank the potion all transformed into the appearances of their new, false identities. Upon reflection, the idea of so easily undergoing plastic surgery by drinking a potion is truly terrifying. But these students, mutated into fanatics by the communion ritual and Angela's power, didn't seem to care; instead, their faith grew stronger.
"Now that we've even taken care of the physical changes, the rest is no problem at all! Whether you need manpower or money, we will do our best to prepare it for you—all to help Lord Alastor recover as soon as possible!"
Yolanda said confidently.
Hayden, however, had absolutely no confidence in them.
To be honest, these twenty-two students aren't entirely useless. Given military equipment, their combat effectiveness is almost equal to that of ordinary soldiers in the Mitra Group. Moreover, they are both fanatical and have practical combat experience, so they might actually prove useful in a critical moment.
But Hayden didn't need to keep a platoon of private soldiers on standby.
Yolanda said they were going to make money to revive Alastor as soon as possible, but Hayden really doubted whether these students could make money peacefully.
"How about you leave this to me, Master?"
Instead, it was Angela who came over at this moment and said to Hayden with great interest,
"I've been researching ways to make money for the past three months. If I could have this team of people, I might actually be able to earn some money for you!"
Do you really think I trust your ability to make money?
However, Hayden swallowed his words.
Fine. Anyway, these students don't actually need Hayden to be responsible for changing diapers. Angela said she'd handle it, and even said she had a way to get the students to earn money for Hayden. Since that's the case…
"...Fine, you can do whatever you want."
Anyway, Hayden finally sighed.
"If you get into trouble, don't come to me for help."
He had a feeling that Angela would do something weird to him. But whatever, he'd deal with it when the time came.
Who knows, Angela might actually make a fortune for him with these students? After all, who knows what she's capable of?
Seeing how happy they were after their cosmetic surgery, Hayden could only try to think the best of them for now.
Hayden,
Professor Albion spoke only after all the students had left.
"Could you come to my office after this?"
Hayden nodded, of course. He generally wouldn't refuse a conversation with the old professor unless there was a very good reason.
They soon returned to Professor Albion's office at Evergreen State University via the black market smuggling routes. Angela calmly followed Hayden. Professor Albion glanced at her a few times, his expression grave, but said nothing.
Until he sat down behind his desk.
"I have to admit, I have absolutely no idea how to react to what you did last night."
The mysterious old wizard took off his glasses and sighed. This was the first time Hayden had ever seen the professor look so tired.
“Your actions last night were incredibly brave, far exceeding my expectations of you, Hayden. You displayed immense courage, love, and wisdom in fighting and even winning against a great evil for the sake of others. You saved thirty-two young lives. This is not something everyone can do every day.”
Hayden nodded. He couldn't refuse such praise. After all, Hayden was never the particularly humble person. This praise was deserved; he had earned it himself.